fiction and musings from a gay black dude with delusions above his station
I’ve heard Bay Area-based singer Tiffany Austin several times. She frequently returns to her alma mater, Berkeley Law, to perform at the commencement day after party. My work often keeps me from hanging out and listening to her and her band perform. Last weekend, I had the pleasure of hearing her perform in a more…
My husband, our friend, and I had dinner at a Thai restaurant just around the corner from the theater. Across the room from us sat a group of about 10 African-Americans, ranging in age from youngster to auntie. Most wore beautiful prints of African origin. Some of the men wore hats. We smiled. No need…
So what have I been doing that kept me away from blogging for about a month and a half? Writing a book. More on that later. Meanwhile, I’ll be reading from and talking about said book, Sin Against the Race, this coming Wednesday as part of Perfectly Queer‘s reading series. Details! You Are the Author! Wednesday,…
Signs of resistance. I began noticing them on my trips for take-out Cambodian food, just here and there. I thought vaguely that I should photograph them, but then wouldn’t, too distracted. But on each viewing, each time I passed, they kept calling to me. Finally, the Oakland Museum of California opened an excellent exhibit of…
I wonder how many folks avoided watching the inauguration the day before, as I had. For me, January 20 was a day of pause. I worked on writing stuff, stayed out of view. All that changed on Saturday. I arrived early. But things were already busy. In no time, it became even busier. Revulsion. Fear….
I once knew a space like the Ghost Ship. It may still be around, I don’t know. I visited it once when a friend had an art exhibition there. It wound around, corridor after corridor of sectioned off studios. The ceiling seemed impossibly high. It had a primitive feel to it, the quintessence of two-by-four…
In addition to the noisy campaign for president, in California we have propositions. Lots and lots of propositions. I have a love/hate relationship with the proposition process. I suspect most Californians feel the same way. On the one hand, propositions encourage direct democracy. The electorate has a say on issues ranging from taxes to insurance…
Oakland, California, a city of about 396,000 residents, saw 131 homicides in 2012. This is the highest homicide rate for Oakland since 2006, when 145 people lost their lives. I actually have a deep distrust and loathing for firearms and could never see myself owning one. OK, I do have a friend who once…
Dad was walking home from work one day when he suddenly started crying. He got home and Mom asked what was the matter. He couldn’t get the images of Vietnam out of his head. “How can we keep our boys away from that?” he said. Their boys, my older brothers, were coming close to the…
