fiction and musings from a gay black dude with delusions above his station
While bounding down the corridor carrying a US mail container, I’m stopped by someone who asked me if I was picking up the mail. I explained pleasantly that no, I wasn’t. The person grew indignant and insisted that I do pick up the mail, and that she saw me do so the day before. I…
Dear Washington, Congratulations! After much civil, heart felt debate you have swiftly adopted marriage equality for your citizens. This is a wonderful moment, and you should be rightly proud. You have now joined an elite club, though we both know that history is on our side and this club’s exclusivity will not last. In time,…
I was trying to think of words to describe my feelings about last weekend’s Occupy Oakland demonstration, where protesters broke into City Hall and smashed things. But I think Robert Gammon at the East Bay Express pretty much captured it all. Check it. Some commenters to Mr. Gammon’s piece are trying to argue that it…
Grease splattering, water boiling, pots and pans clanking, bodies moving and shuffling, and layered above it all were the voices of the too many chefs against a backdrop of old school blues moaning its heart out. Crissy got annoyed. She always got annoyed. “Can’t we play something more upbeat than this? When I’m cooking I…
In the numbing haze in which I found myself on that fateful day in June 1996 when Mom died, I managed to focus while packing for the trip to L.A. to join my family on that which was most important: Music. In those pre-MP3, pre-iPod days, I carted about a dozen or so CDs with…
(Ed.’s note: This story is vaguely inspired by a dream.) A motley group of Americans found themselves wandering around a rail yard in the outskirts of Pyongyang, North Korea. They were captured and taken in for questioning. They didn’t know how they got there, so the story goes, and they were anxious to get home….
From Digby via blue aardvark on Daily Kos: Since 1986, the US has observed the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the third Monday of January, which typically falls within a few days of his actual birthday, January 15. All 50 states first observed the holiday in 2000. But in the good state…
It’s depressing that queer storytelling is still regarded as something rare, unique, or extraordinary. Even in an age where queer characters populate more films and TV shows, the voices from these characters are usually just a footnote rather then the main subject. The film 54, from 1998, pops to mind. Named after and set in…
On Salon I found a wonderful coming out essay written by Jean Melasaine in which she recounts the multiple communities she has grown into during her life. She was born to Samoan parents who immigrated to the US. Her parents speak little English. Her family was poor. And they attended the Mormon church, where she quickly…
I came up the long escalator from the Underground and found myself on the grey streets of London, home to Doctor Who, The Prisoner, and Monty Python. I was in heaven. Late March 2000, just in time for my birthday, saw my partner and me overseas for the first time. Everything about the trip excited…
