…you brought me in this world Happy Ancestral Birthday, Mom! As I celebrate your 95th year—only 68 on this side of the plane, way too short—it’s hard to say I miss you because, although you’re…
Category: Life
45th Reunion
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Yesterday was homecoming and my 45th high school class reunion. The class of ’80, the first desegregated class to matriculate through the Evanston Public School District. When we began our educational journey as five- and…
Happy Ninety-Ninth
No paper trail.No midwife’s mark.No certificate to prove the day. Just Marlboro County fields,tobacco barns breathing their smoke,and the cry of the first of twelve —a Black child under Jim Crow skies. If he went…
To Momma
The last few days my head has been a little muzzy; I’ve been in a weird place. At first, I thought it was just the constant barrage of ridiculous news cycles. I kept hearing a…
Better (not) Call Tyrone
This one is personal. I’m sharing it here because I know some of y’all will feel this too—maybe too well. I’m not writing him off, but I had to write this down. As a form…
The Ghost in the Mulch Pile
Originally written August 2022 This weekend I had an “ah-ha” moment—one of those realizations that many Black people may already know deep down, but I hadn’t fully connected the dots until now. I now have…
Bunny Rabbits & Fireflies
Bunny Rabbits & Fireflies This morning, I sat on my deck and watched three bunnies nibble at the morning dew in the grass. Not for the first time, I noticed how many rabbits are out…
Fatherhood
By definition, it’s just “the state or time of being a father.”But for me, it’s something deeper—one of the greatest joys a man can ever have. Like every Father’s Day, I find myself overwhelmed and…
Dear Momma,
Twenty-seven—the number of years you’ve been gone. It still hurts. I still don’t really celebrate Mother’s Day. I used to say after you were gone that Michelle is not my mother, so I don’t have…
Lighthouse
This Easter morning, I dropped Michelle and her mom off at Mass, then headed to church. Like most Easters in my life, I didn’t really want to go. The days of knowing what I’d wear…