fiction and musings from a gay black dude with delusions above his station
“…[G]ay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.” – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Addressing the United Nations on International Human Rights Day Do read or watch Secretary Clinton’s remarkable speech on LGBT rights. She spent about a half-hour talking about the need to further the cause for LGBT human…
Within a couple of months of coming out in 1988, I took my first HIV test. It took two weeks to get the results at that time. Two weeks. They counseled you when they drew blood. And they counseled you when they gave you the results. But for two weeks, you were on your own….
The Doctor: Professor Watson, any being that can exist let alone thrive inside a nuclear pile is hardly likely to be deterred by a few primitive missiles. Professor Watson: But they’re the most powerful missiles we have! The Doctor: On your standards, perhaps. I think we should try much older weapons. Sarah Jane Smith: Like?…
“When they said Berkeley was ‘crunchy,’ I didn’t know they meant students’ rib cages.” – Stephen Colbert Gathered together to protest the injustices of the day, they linked arms and held firm. They linked arms as they crossed a bridge, knowing that police cars, batons, dogs, and fire hoses waited at the other end. They…
Have you ever used a pickax? The first time I ever used one was to create a ditch for a french drainage system on one side of the house. In the Bay Area, the soil is generally some type of clay. When it rains, it’s mud. But when it’s dry all bets are off. It’s…
Mom sat me in front of the TV one day in 1969. I was four and fidgety. Eventually, a big yellow bird came on the screen and introduced me and the rest of the world to Sesame Street. The rest was history. I quickly became hooked and watched it happily for many years. The fast…
At a long forgotten antiwar demonstration around 20 odd years ago, I stood tense as the atmosphere grew dank from humidity and angst. We were gathered in front of the federal building on Golden Gate Ave. in San Francisco. We wanted to take the steps, but a police line blocked it off. They were in…
Today California held what was called the Great California Shakeout, an annual earthquake preparedness drill where everyone ducks and covers at the appointed time. At 10:20 a.m. PDT sirens rang out and everyone hit the desks. For those who didn’t, Mother Nature provided a different incentive: a real earthquake. Berkeley, near the gar spot headquarters,…
I’ve always liked older boys. One summer day long ago my mother took me to the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round. I don’t remember if it was my first trip to a merry-go-round, but I remember how excited I was to be able to ride on it by myself. I felt all grown-up. Mom gave me…
“My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.” – President Obama, April 2009 First we saw Wisconsin and the movement to save union rights for public service employees, a justified reaction to a gross conservative overreach. Citizens in Ohio followed soon after in reaction to a gross conservative overreach in that state…
