Appreciation
Part of my appreciation of the world is born in his encouragement of me to “see;” in mine of him, to “look.”
A complex connection
One would have to know more about my mind and my habits to understand my complex connection to Black History Month. First, my mind. Among my most vivid early school memories comes one from kindergarten. Although one day on the way home from school I was hit by a car, my clearest recollection from that…
I told you so
In 2000, I argued that condensing our understanding of voting patterns into two teams, red or blue, was a big mistake. After watching election results that year, I worried aloud that reductionist approaches would only further the political schism in the U.S. Our electoral decisions, after all, are not football scores. I recall asking you…
Unprecedented
A year like no other. So far out there. Wonder if we’ll ever get back to normal. It has been an amazing year, for sure. Emily, Mitchell, Erich, Zen, Laya, Jennifer, Jay, Liz, Erica, and Ira are all progressing in school. We met when they were undergrads,…
Chocolate Carrot Cake
While coming out as gay man 56 years ago is associated with lots of crap that happened back then and regularly since, coming out has never been the source of the crap itself. Coming out actually launched a world of good for me. At age 16, I got honest with my parents in ways that…
Fruitcake
Blue, green, or brown were okay on Thursdays. But not yellow, red, or orange. Those were fruit colors and spoke volumes about you if you wore them on the wrong day. The thing is, when these rules dominated parts of my life in fourth and fifth grade, there was no one to tell how important…
Pandemic Elegy
Houses in my neighborhood were built during a pandemic. Federally guaranteed loans were easiest to come by in neighborhoods that were deemed desirable (White middle-class) and most difficult to get in other neighborhoods that were rated as undesirable (Black and poor or working class). Many suburbs like mine had language in land deeds that clarified…
The right time
In the past couple years, I have noticed a shift among some friends when talking about the births of their babies — actually about babies they call theirs, like I call William mine, even though he is Patrick and Jason’s son. These babies are, as often as not, community babies, young people in whom many…
Getting it right
While shoveling snow from my driveway today, I had plenty of opportunity to reflect. The drive is long and wide and, even though I get it plowed by a service, getting it right can take me an extra hour. When I was about eight years old, I started shoveling snow for neighbors. By that point…
This is dedicated
Just this morning I asked a friend to listen to me for a time, uninterrupted. I needed to feel some things that have been rumbling within for weeks. We’ve been friends for about 25 years. We’ve been listening to each other regularly, taking turns as each other’s peer counselor for a decade or more. I…
Creating Community for Everyone 