Category Archives: Uncategorized

Quantum

Quantum The air is sharp. The sun is cloud-cloaked, light escaping its flimsy white negligee, and tufted titmice glow grey-orange and blue jays are ornamental. The afternoon is soft the breeze is coldsoft, and acorn caps rise sideways and roll … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sunday in the Diner with Orville on the Mississippi river

Sunday in the Diner with Orville on the Mississippi River A guy walks into Joe K.’s diner for Sunday lunch and a voice calls out, “Join us!” Normally the guy sits at the counter, but the speaker is none other … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

True Colors

True Colors I spent part of this day with a physician specialist. He told me I need a delicate eye surgery; he is arranging for me to meet “the top doctor in the country [in the field].” My doc scanned … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jim Crow’s Grandkids

Jim Crow’s Grandkids The right wing posits affirmative action as a Communist plot, subtext the privileges Whitey and his/her children get . . . constantly. The most egregious example of affirmative action goes all the way back to the end … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bikers

Bikers In 1897, twenty Black U.S. cavalrymen, dubbed “buffalo soldiers” by Native American tribes in the West, mounted their bicycles—yes, bicycles (no gears)—and rode nineteen hundred miles to St. Louis, where their arrival in Forest Park was roundly cheered. The … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Brave

The Brave At the top of LaVista hill, Mulligan the dog (sixty pounds of part Pitbull, part Shepherd, full handsome) pulling his leash, was tugging his mistress along a row of newly planted trees. He stopped at each tree, raised … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rapture

Rapture  Black lives do not matter, which explains why its opposite has become a rallying cry. All lives matter, obvious as that statement may be is not pertinent to what’s going on in this rapidly insane country of ours. To … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fakely I’m Amazed

Fakely I’m Amazed A few years ago, a friend of mine’s new, pushy wife came with him to a summer camp where he and I worked. She happened to be walking on the road when a newspaper reporter, coming to … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Black Boys

Black Boys I was artist-in-residence at Washington Irving School for over a decade. At a school assembly circa 1990, my friend Roy Chappell, one of the first Tuskegee Airmen in history, sat on the stage and talked to my kids. … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Shirley You Jest

Shirley You Jest I recall the thrill when I first read Shirley Jackson’s masterful 1948 story “The Lottery,” and the shock (I was a kid) of the story’s end. I’ve reread it several times and I’ve come to appreciate the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment