Ghost signs, finite energy, and the weight of souls “Fuck you,” the voice cries out from below in the darkness. “Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you.” It is quiet for a bit, then the sobbing that ends in a wail rises up, before falling into the now familiar refrain, “Fuck you,…
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What To Do With What’s Left
A meditation on life and death, and the meaning of it all Jane’s best friend lost her husband. This was just the other day, the day before yesterday, in fact. Jane is my wife. One minute, the husband was fine, or so everyone thought, and the next, he was gone. Collapsed…
All The Words Are Not Gold
Why keeping a diary will release you from the anxiety of the blank page There are whole books, entire conferences, and multiple post-graduate courses dedicated to helping writers find their way when they find themselves staring at a blank page or screen. I don’t know if it’s intentionally cruel or just…
My Life As A Project
I live in a project. Not a low-income housing project—not that kind. A different sort of project. One that never seems to be finished and is always at some stage of birth, disrepair or demise. A never-ending experiment in coaxing something out of nothing. An early 18th century home in…
The Benefit of Judgment
“Judge not, lest ye be judged.” —Matthew 7:1 “Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of another. There are just some kind of men who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this…
The Rules Are The Rules
Possibly the most disappointed I’ve been with President Biden since he took office was yesterday, when in response to questions concerning Sha’Carri Richardson’s ban from competing in the Olympics for marijuana use, he answered “the rules are the rules.” Sigh. Deep breath. Citing “the rules” reveals an astounding ignorance of…
The American Flag As A Symbol of Aggression
No less than three different people have commented to me today about witnessing ostentatious displays of aggressive patriotism in the form of American flags flown with what could only be described as hateful intent. The pickup truck with the oversized flag hanging off the back. The home with way too…
I Feel The Tide Turning
One of the more bizarre side effects of life on social media, specifically on Facebook, is how it’s allowed us to track our lives over the course of time. We are constantly reminded about what we thought or said in years past, how we looked, what we wore, what upset…
America’s Gift To The World Is Hope
We talk a lot in this country about the American Dream. This idea of transcending our station in life. Of doing better than the generation before. Of meritocracy that would allow one to go from pauper to prince. It is, in a sentiment, optimism. In a word, hope. The writer…
Code Switching
The sociolinguist Einar Haugen coined the term “code-switching” in 1954 to describe language alternation, or the mixing of two or more languages, or dialects. In the 1970s it was adopted by Black academics to describe communication between the Black community in relation to white society at large. W.E.B Dubois, world-renowned…