fiction and musings from a gay black dude with delusions above his station
Big Bird and I have grown grey together. If you look at him closely, you’ll see a tuft of white feathers on top of his head. It’s been there for a while, but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t born that way. Maybe he was, and I just don’t remember. But in any case, it pleases…
I was hoping to put up more short stories. Some need revisions before I’m willing to put them out there on the internets. However, I’ve still working on revisions to my novel. I find that every time I think I’m done, I realize that no, in fact, I’m not. This is a good thing. Chapter…
I wanted to wait a few days before putting something down about the sudden resignation (termination?) of Keith Olbermann from MSNBC. My thoughts are influx about what really went down — and we may never fully know the answer. But I still don’t think he was necessarily pushed, even if Keith himself used language suggestive…
My voyage on the shortwaves, mentioned a couple of posts ago, long ago took me to the peculiar country of North Korea — or more formally the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. DPRK is sort of a bizarre anachronism, a microcosm of old school Stalinism living into the present day. So its shortwave station, Voice of Korea…
This story could be called a love letter to the Duke Ellington Orchestra. I wrote it around the time I fell head over heels for all things Ellington and started listening to his music 23 out of 24 hours in the day — a practice I continue to the present time. I immersed myself in…
With the Republicans taking control of the House, there will be ample examples of ptolemaic logic in the coming days and months. Chief among them will be items pertaining to the budget. They will cut, cut, cut the budget until the cows come home and scrutinize any new expenditures to the hilt. But they will…
I am not a Christian, but I will gladly say Merry Christmas. I am not a Muslim, but I will gladly say Ramadan Mubarak. I am not a Hindu or a Jain or a Sikh, but I will gladly say Happy Diwali. I am not a Jew, but I will gladly say Happy Hanukkah. I…
Some time in November 1975, I was home from school and in something I think we can call a funk. My older brother Robert and I shared a bedroom. I was 10. On this day he showed me what the funny looking metal thing with the vacuum tubes was all about. It’s a 1937 Stromberg-Carlson…
I’m really not happy with the way the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal is being handled. The policy, born in 1993, is pure discrimination, nothing less. It places on a certain segment of the population an unfair burden, that is, that LBGT service members cannot reveal or discuss in any way, shape or manner their…
Ptolemy was an Egyptian-born Roman philosopher and scientist who lived around the First and Second centuries AD. He’s best known for the Ptolemaic System of the universe, an expansion of Aristotle’s view that the Earth laid at the center of universe and all the heavenly bodies, including the sun and stars, revolved around it. Aristotle’s…
