fiction and musings from a gay black dude with delusions above his station
When the Republican-controlled House of Representatives finally approved bills to raise the debt ceiling and to reopen the federal government, voices near and far swore up and down that such a thing would never happen again. Senate Minority Leader Mitch O’Connell declared, “There is no education in the second kick of the mule.” He further…
A horrid highway accident occurred this week in Tennessee, killing eight people. The National Transportation and Safety Board will not be investigating it because all of that department’s employees are furloughed. The US Geological Survey is in partial shutdown mode. They posted this on their earthquakes website: Due to a lapse in Federal funding, the…
Art Spiegelman’s masterpiece Maus deftly illustrates the slow descent into chaos experienced by European Jews as the Nazi menace took hold over their lives. The nightmare did not hit all at once, but in slow, dreadful paces. During the descent, everyone tried to live as normal a life as possible. They went to the store. …
I have read a variety of views on the nine-hour detention of Glen Greenwald’s partner David Miranda at London Heathrow Airport last weekend. Unfortunately some can’t seem to separate their disdain for Glen Greenwald from the detention of his partner and what that detention signifies. They somehow think that the issue is overblown or fear…
George Zimmerman was found not guilty. He goes free. Trayvon Martin is still dead. Mr. Zimmerman got his wish. He wanted to be a police officer. He yearned for it. He ached for it. He acted with the air of authority and entitlement of a police officer the day he stalked and shot Trayvon Martin…
This is an easy one. On the one hand we have Orson Scott Card, an award-winning science fiction writer, who is also a raging homophobe who lives in his own little world of homophobia-land. On the other hand we have reality. One of Mr. Card’s works, Ender’s Game, has been made into a motion picture….
At one point during my writing of this book, someone suggested to me that I title it “Thoughts on Post-Racial America.” I calmly informed this person that the only way the term “post-racial” America was getting into the title of my book is if it was called “Post-Racial America Is Some Bullshit, and Other Thought…
Last year I wrote that I just wanted George Zimmerman to face trial for shooting Trayvon Martin. This was when a trial seemed doubtful because no one seemed willing to file charges against him. Mr. Zimmerman was allowed to remain free and unencumbered from February 26, 2012, the date of the shooting, to April 11, 2012,…
Statues with camera eyes. The Control Room with the teeter-totter cameras mounted at both ends. The large, balled camera with the shutter lens, always revolving, always watching. The Supervisor with his bald head and thick, black glasses and his familiar battle cry: ORANGE ALERT. Rover, the deadly weather ballon. Questions are a burden to others….
Two big time apologies concerning gay issues came out this past week, almost back to back. Both were in response to stupid, homophobic or at least homophobic-tinged statements made by the speaker. And in both cases, they were genuine apologies, not those silly, half-assed “I’m sorry if you’re offended” type apologies. First we had Howard…
