fiction and musings from a gay black dude with delusions above his station
Sunday, February 13, 2157 I’m still here in my palace. This really is a nice place. At one point, some well-to-do lot probably owned it. At least until the rationing started. They probably had money to go to the north. You see, they charge for the wet in Grade A and B zones. So only…
Friday, February 11, 2157 Sorry, I know it’s been a few days. Haven’t been keeping up. I’ve been watching Mad Max, the first time in a while. I guess I’ve watched it, I don’t know, four or five times a day. From the time I wake up to when the sun goes down and I…
“Love him, and let him love you.” – James Baldwin Out of nowhere, my friend started making loud, “Eww!” sounds. Over and over again, “Eeeeewwwww!!!” I was like, what? He said he saw two men on the TV, kissing. I had missed it. He continued to register his disgust on our eardrums. My other friend…
Defenders of the death penalty like to claim that it is not about vengeance, but about justice. I completely disagree. The death penalty is wholly and fully about vengeance. Our most base instincts feed its existence. It is the ultimate comeuppance. Death penalty defenders maintain that it removes criminals from society so that they cannot commit crimes…
In January 2005, Harvard President Larry Summers made some observations about the proportional lack of women in the upper echelons of academia. First, he stated that women are too busy being mommies to devote the 80-plus hours a week necessary to achieve standing in the academy. Second, he stated, in the most obtuse language possible,…
Cliven Bundy for me has been nothing more than a sideshow freak. His sole useful purpose has been to demonstrate, yet again, how desperate the radical right is for a hero to champion in their unremitting war against their loss of privilege. Here we have random white dude who has been breaking the law for…
Those who use religion as a bludgeon to pummel anyone who fails to follow their dogma are getting desperate. Despite years of proselytizing, society Just Won’t Get It. States continue to grant marriage equality rights. Courts continue to overturn anti same-sex marriage laws. And to make matters worse, the dreaded Affordable Care Act had made…
Dinosaur. Dinosaur. Dinosaur. I’m lost. I enter rooms and forget where I am. I drive streets I’ve known since childhood aimlessly. I make wrong turns to correct other wrong turns. Robert called me when both Mom and Dad, in their turns, passed on. I had to call my other siblings once I got word from…
My dear brother, Robert A. Russell, passed away last week at the too young age of 58. Cancer. I hate cancer. It has been a whirlwind of emotions, feelings, history, day-to-day which has all been overwhelming. In time I expect to start writing about things. Until that point, the gar spot will be on a temporary…
[Originally published January 2013] When he opened his eyes, a bright light hit him, though despite its brilliance, it did not make him flinch. He felt warmth from it, but it did not make him perspire. He turned around and saw behind him unfocussed blobs, like muted watercolor brush strokes. Their shapes looked familiar, like…
