The August Wilson Center for African American Culture served as host to the Association of African American Museums annual conference, Aug. 4-7. Pleased with the results of the convention, Samuel W. Black, AAAM vice president and curator, African American Collection for the John Heinz History Center said over 200 people were in attendance.

WOMAN TO WOMAN—Kathe Hambrick Jackson, newly elected president of AAAM, is up to the challenge to lead the organization.

The theme for this year was “I’ve Known Rivers: Presenting African American Arts, Culture and History.” Group officials said the theme was inspired by renowned poet Langston Hughes. The poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” is labeled as one of his most famous.

The subject matter of the conference was said to explore efforts by metropolitan museums and cultural institutions to preserve and present the ancient through contemporary African-American history and arts.

Sydney “Syd” L. Small, one of the nation’s pre-eminent African-American broadcast owners for more than three decades, died suddenly this past weekend in New York. He was 72 years old.

His death was confirmed by Access.1 Communications where he was chairman and CEO. Further information about his passing was not immediately available. The company owns radio stations in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas and Louisi­ana, also has television stations in Atlantic City and parts of New Jersey.

SYDNEY L. SMALL

Small’s pioneering career as an owner in broadcasting spanned 37 years. A native of Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant, he left an executive position at Time Inc. in 1972 to co-found, with partner Eugene Jackson, Unity Broadcasting Network and National Black Network. NBN was the first African-American-owned line connected radio network in the U.S.

Michael Douglas, portraying the egomaniac stockbroker Gordon Gecko in the movie “Wall Street” boastfully stated, “...greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works.” And so it seems that in our capitalistic society, the endless quest for the almighty dollar, the single minded pursuit of self-interest and resulting conspicuous consumption are all considered to be part of the American way. But is the system causing us to become a slave to our greed? Is your greed holding you back?

Were you one of the first to run out and grab an iPad when they hit the market this spring? If you’re a more affluent 25- to 36-year-old, you would be part of Apple’s most fertile consumer market. That’s according to The Nielsen Co.’s latest iPhone and iPad User Profiles. I work for Nielsen, which is a market research company; the largest one in the world. And we measure what you buy and what you watch—including mobile and online services. (And yes, television, which is still a strong contender in this growing technological universe. There are just more and more ways to watch it.) One of the perks of my job is being the recipient of the latest tech toys, which is how I have come to be the owner of an iPod, a Flip Video Camera, a Slingbox, a Kindle, and as of today, an iPhone 4.