Future
i have to find a way out of my current funk. Unemployment is not sexy but people who urge me to “take advantage of the time” are surfing in shark infested water looking decidedly like baby seals. It isn’t because they aren’t right. It is true that i have waaaaayyyy more time than i will […]
It wasn’t a happy conversation. My family gathered in the kitchen – a rare occurrence now that my sister and I are grown and gone from the house, her married with a family of her own. But there we were, my parents and sister seated casually around the glass dining table cluttered with the day’s […]
I’m not a texist. Honestly, some of my best friends –hell, family – are Texans. Some would classify me as Texan given my middle and high school residencies, but that leaves room for debate. Besides, being a Texan doesn’t preclude anyone from being a texist. People have hated what they are for centuries, be it […]
Despite being well versed, hell- down right prolific, in both the art and execution of farewells; they wear on me. Not simply the act of saying goodbye – but the brief intervals between the ends…the end of the job or travel that has occupied my time for a eight months or two years and the […]
Change gon’ come… Time is so relative, despite appearances to the contrary. Sixty seconds to 60 minutes to 24 hours…and days turn into months turn into years. Neat. Orderly. The same for everyone. Except it isn’t. For the last five months time has been this slow moving vehicle transporting me through my Liberian experience. And […]
Liberia takes everything back. The land, the people. They are all seemingly swallowed, digested, and then sprout anew. Be it the banana peel I throw beside the trail to my house. The next day I see it brown and trampled. in a week it is gone. Eaten or carried away. Ground into the earth to […]
“you’ll only know a world where this is possible,” I whispered to my niece. Less than a year old, she bounced and drooled on my lap as her mother screamed with joy in the background. Obama is president. For a moment my eyes stung with tears. But I smiled. Listening to him calmly and humbly […]
"I know one thing: this is no time for further gambling. John McCain rolled the dice on Sarah Palin. I’m grateful to Bob Rice of Tangent Capital for pointing out that the actuarial risk, based on mortality tables, of Palin becoming president if the Republican ticket wins the election is about 1 in 6 or […]
i wish i had something more profound to say. it feels like a moment when my former poet skills would be useful…to remember…to showcase…to chronicle this moment in history. we have a black man as one of two contenders for the presidency. we have a black man as one of two contenders for the presidency. […]
Walking While Black
I can’t seem to find the words to make people understand – really understand – that the accepted fear of a man, not in particular clothing but in particular skin, is how we got to a bullet in the chest. Listening to NPR today, a panel began a meandering discussion which at one point had […]
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