fiction and musings from a gay black dude with delusions above his station
Once upon a time, I had plane tickets and lodging reservations for New Orleans to attend the 2020 Saints & Sinners LGBTQ Literary Festival. It was scheduled for March 27 – 29, ending on my birthday. And then, well, we all know what happened next. SAS has held virtual events in light of the pandemic….
The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power is a diverse, non-partisan group of individuals, united in anger and committed to direct action to end the AIDS crisis. –ACT UP New York’s motto, recited at the start of each meeting. Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 is a must-read book….
Within an hour of polls closing, news outlets called the California Gubernatorial Recall Election for Governor Gavin Newsom. We won’t know final results for a while, but the No vote ran away with it. As of this writing, the California Secretary of State’s office is reporting 64% No and 36% Yes. Therefore, it is fair…
My agent got me a gig on a public service announcement about Juneteenth, a 30-second ad to recognize and celebrate the new national holiday. Who’s doing it, the government? I asked. After a pause, he answered Step Right Up, Inc., real quick, like at 80 MPH. When he talked fast, that meant he wanted to…
Photo taken by the author at the Oakland Marina, March 10, 2020. The last sunset before the world changed saw me at the Oakland Marina, hanging out, waiting for the start of a show at Yoshi’s. Such gorgeous colors filled the sky, reflected off the still water. A gift or a warning? Did I know…
I’m very excited to moderate Black Literature, Black Lives as part of Noe Valley’s Word Week 2021 on Wednesday, March 10 at 7pm (PST). Black writers have explored the many shades of Black lives for centuries, reflecting and reporting the hopes and challenges of the community. This panel will present readings by three contemporary voices…
Michael, or Misha as many of us from UCLA called him, and I were in some cafe in the South Bay long ago when Beethoven’s Third came over the speakers. We paused our chatter to listen from time to time. What a badass piece this is, we concluded. We both had heard it countless times,…
I remember the morning after more clearly. My father had the whole month of December off for vacation, so he was home that day. He drove my sister and me to school. We went to a magnet school and normally rode a school bus. It was a four and a half mile drive. Dad had…
Ask me who instigated the plot and with hand raised timidly I have to confess my guilt. We were at the Mulholland Tennis Club celebrating our friend Suzanne’s bat mitzvah. A bar served drinks; us kids were consigned to non-alcoholic of course. I had Shirley Temples, probably one too many. A group of us went…
They recklessly harassed a Biden/Harris bus on a busy highway because we scare them. They threatened to march around polling places with guns because we scare them. They pepper-sprayed children, children, during a march to go vote because we scare them. They sue to invalidate legally submitted ballots, ostensibly because they didn’t like the collection…
