fiction and musings from a gay black dude with delusions above his station
For the past 16 years, my partner and I have vacationed in Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He grew up in the Boston area, and we always planned our vacation to coincide with his family’s, so that we can spend time with them. A lot has changed in 16 years. Our visit to P-town usually began…
Apple lays an egg this fiscal quarter, so says the stock market. After all, it only earned $8.8 billion, a mere 21% increase over last quarter and a 22% increase over this time last year. I mean, what’s up with that? And check this out. From April to June, Apple only shipped 26 million iPhones….
Dad was walking home from work one day when he suddenly started crying. He got home and Mom asked what was the matter. He couldn’t get the images of Vietnam out of his head. “How can we keep our boys away from that?” he said. Their boys, my older brothers, were coming close to the…
As fast as he could, Ángel raced back with the book. All during the calibration, he felt that something was wrong. It shouldn’t be this hard, he thought. He scanned through he pages, to see if there had been something they missed. “Shit!” he yelled. “Cut the power! Cut it!” Gabriel frantically slammed down all…
On the roof deck, guests mingled while nibbling hors d’oeuvres as mellow music played in the background. A-Five arrived late, and when he did, he made an entrance. “What’s with the fatigues?” “Hey, Buddy, you didn’t say this was a fancy dress affair!” A-Five smiled. “Didn’t I?” He grabbed grub from a nearby tray and…
In the days after Aileen’s visit, Ángel doubled down on his reading. He took her words to heart and read like their very survival depended on it. His mother was proud of him, but worried that he pushed himself too hard. “It’s wicked important, Momma,” he told her. His grandmother felt proud of him, too,…
Albertson Wallet V had a peculiar way of walking that mixed a prance with a swagger. He had a large build – he played rugby in college – which accentuated his peculiar locomotion’s menacing air. His father, Albertson Wallet IV, taught him to always have a presence when entering a room. A-Five, as he was…
I don’t remember Roots too well. I was fairly young when it came out and, truth be told, at that time I was not yet ready to process the painful history that forms the backbone of the African American experience. But I remember one scene very well. Emancipation had occurred and one slave turned the…
Anderson Cooper came out. Jim Parsons came out. Ricky Martin came out. Neil Patrick Harris and George Takei are out all over the place. Each one of these celebrity outings has weakened the walls of the closet that much more. In his eloquent coming out statement, Mr. Cooper explains that he always wanted to keep…
