fiction and musings from a gay black dude with delusions above his station
The Senate will soon discuss potential ways of modifying the filibuster so that, basically, the Republican minority will no longer be able to capriciously and maliciously block legislation and presidential appointments. As has been noted in many stories, the filibuster hath run amok. According to official Senate records, since 2007, when the Democrats took control…
Their bodies glided across a stage ankle deep in white mist and glittered with streams of tiny lights draped from above. “Newton, isn’t her dress lovely?” his mother said. “Yes, it is,” he answered. However, Newton wasn’t looking at the ballerina or her dress. He was looking at the guy in the tights, which left…
The day began in Sandy Hook, Connecticut with the tolling of bells. While the nation paused for a moment of silence in observance of the one week anniversary of the mass shooting, National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre prepared to take the stage. The NRA had been conspicuously silent about the mass shooting, which left 28…
The garage looked as cluttered as the yard. Boxes filled every nook. And stacked on top of them were assorted doodads that the darkness of the space would not reveal. But in the midst of all the clutter, Creepy Man had created a clear pocket for folding chairs that faced what looked like a covered…
Most of the ghost stories centered around 313 Greene Street. It fit the bill as the requisite scary house of the neighborhood. Each generation of neighborhood kids learned the tales about the house and embellished on them. It wasn’t hard to make up stuff about the place. For one, the house itself looked like it…
In the masthead for the gar spot you’ll see the bottom part of my tabla sitting just above the keyboard. This is the instrument I actually ended up studying, and continue to study after over a quarter century. But my first Indian instrument, the first instrument I ever studied seriously, was the sitar. I had two…
When the tweets came out that the US Supreme Court would hear cases challenging 1996’s Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and 2008’s Proposition 8, I paused. Most of the initial responses I saw seemed happy that the cases would have their day before the Supremes. My enthusiasm was tempered, however, and I can explain my…
When I wake up in my own bed, I think sometimes of the morning I woke up in a totally different environment, the tropical paradise known as the Island. I half expected Rover to bounce by, though at the time I was far from amused. I remember how I first looked at Rick with both…
(Editor’s note: Because this story takes place on Thanksgiving Day, I thought it appropriate to repeat it today. A safe and happy Thanksgiving to all from the gar spot.) Originally published January 30, 2012. Grease splattering, water boiling, pots and pans clanking, bodies moving and shuffling, and layered above it all were the voices of the…
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree. It was stately and it was a dome. Rick and I rode the tram around to the other side of the island, a longer ride than I would have expected. But around one final bluff there it appeared, a translucent, geodesic dome at least six stories…
