“…” Special. I didn’t have a girlfriend halfway through 9th grade and it wasn’t because I had wider hips than Lisa Louis or because I hated the smell of deodorant or because I treated my blue sweat rag like that white boy, Linus, treated his blanket. It wasn’t even because Principal Jankins was heard over [...]
Dear Nichole The week you were born, I hid behind a Raggedy Ann and Andy toy box and waited for your Mama to bring you home. I didn’t hide simply because I was sad that you were taking my place as the baby of the family; nor did I hide because I, as a 7 year old child, had never [...]
“LONG DIVISION” Would you change the future of Mississippi even if it meant never falling in love with girl you were destined to marry? 14 year-old City Coldson will do anything to make Shalaya Crump love him … including traveling 26 years into the future, stealing a lap top and jetting 21 years into the [...]
1. Our Grandmas used to beat us to remind us that there was a massive price to pay for being black, free and imperfect. Years later, we’re still paying that price and we have yet to accept the probability that, all things considered, not one black man in this country really deserves the positive or [...]
Dear Air, The air down here feels even hotter with you gone. In the Spring of 95, after I was suspended from Millsaps College, I went to Jackson State University. You destroyed us that year, 52-34 while completing a freakish 29 of 34 passes for 533 yards and 5 touchdowns … but don’t front! You [...]
Ether. When I was a sophomore at Millsaps College, I agreed to tutor a Japanese exchange student named Hideki for extra credit. I can’t remember Hideki’s last name to save my life, but I do remember that he drove a maroon Dodge mini-van, rocked a backwards Waffle House hat and wore these extremely high-waisted Japanese [...]
1. Mama wanted me to love Michael Jackson as she did, but I couldn’t because all I could see was his work. My Mama, a 53 year-old woman from Forest Mississippi felt like she grew up looking horizontally at Michael and his brothers. Mama heard not only the Jackson 5’s work, but also their asphalted [...]
The following is a letter sent to two senior members of the faculty a few months ago. It’s a response to some things said out loud in a faculty meeting about growth, cuts, excellence and diversity. I’m sure comments like the ones made in our faculty meeting and letters like this one are being written [...]
Ether. I never expected to keep my job as a professor at Vassar, not even waaaaaay back in the day when money folded both ways and people still bought new cars. So of course, I don’t expect to keep my job in this recession. But what fool does? I’ve been on the tenure track at [...]
Ether. Where is the chicken on ice? Ether.