fiction and musings from a gay black dude with delusions above his station
The oddest moment during the last night of the Republican National Convention wasn’t the awkward pantomime by Clint Eastwood. It came later, during Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech. He spent part of his time introducing himself, going on about his family history, how he likes strong women, and so forth; and part of the time bashing…
Intermediaries arranged a meeting. They selected a neutral location, the house of a mutual friend, which granted privacy and gave neither side an advantage. Lorraine’s mother thought it a waste of time. “Can’t mend a cracked teapot,” she intoned several times. Lorraine had to maintain hope, however, because her very existence hung in the balance. …
(Ed. note: Loosely based on a true story.) Mrs. Cobb stood in the classroom doorway during recess watching her flock. Two of her colleagues stood by an adjacent classroom talking, their voices deliberately hushed. Mrs. Cobb paid no attention to them, nor did she take their two-way chatter as a slight. She focused her attention…
Rachel Maddow, God bless her, has tried and tried to educate the men in politics and power about the whys and wherefores of women’s anatomy. She has her crew bring out the props — pennants, football helmets, brewskies — to help her enter the Man Cave, replete with a CGI backdrop of a pool table,…
Republicans have been playing a game of ‘wait, wait, don’t tell me,’ but with a twist. Instead, their version goes “wait, wait, don’t tell you!” Phantom campaigns are all the rage, ever since the Republican take over of everything in 2010. In addition to retaking the House, they took over numerous state legislatures and governorships….
He walked tepidly to the end of the diving board, then stopped. He contemplated in stillness, waiting. Then he sprang into action, leapt, turned, flipped, spun, pirouetted, before straightening his body and slicing into the water with the stillness of a Zen master. He kept the splash and ripples to a minimum, as if he…
So Mr. Romney chose Paul “Vouchers” Ryan as his running mate, choosing the quick and easy path of a no-nonsense, white male, dyed-in-the-wool conservative who isn’t a complete kook (like Sarah Palin), but who also still appeals to the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party. Mr. Romney chose against having a woman or a…
In an era decades before cellphones and Twitter, word spread instantly throughout campus: Clayton was to get a butt whipping. Mrs. Hamilton, though, was not naïve. She kept Clayton after class on a trumped up pretext. When the room had emptied, she walked slowly towards him. “You know they’re waiting for you, Clayton,” she said. …
Equality Matters has all of the facts. Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy created the charitable wing of his chicken enterprise, the WinShape Foundation, in 1984. The lion’s share of WinShape’s money has come from Chick-fil-A — over $8 million in 2010 alone, reports Equality Matters. That same year, they doled out a generous portion to…
(Editor’s Note: The ‘growing up gay’ tag is usually applied to essays. This story is strictly fictional.) For a 12 year old, Clayton Simmons maintained the most peculiar habits. By a calculus all his own, he computed the precise number of movements and amount of time necessary to complete his morning rituals so that he…
