This will piss an awful lot of people off. I know this upfront so I beg some patience here to read through this posting with an open mind. There is within the activist community in the United States, a bit of subculture within a subculture that probably is the stuff… Read full post »

I was born the youngest of four boys, boys spread out over a 14 year period. There was my two oldest brothers, then a big gap, then my next brother and then myself. It's in many ways like there were two different families, two whole different experiences growing up.

My older… Read full post »

It had been a rough year, my partner of 10 years had just passed away from AIDS. This was back in early 90s too when the deaths were grisly, long-drawn out, movie-of-the-week affairs. He'd been in and out of the hospital for three years, until he finally got sent home… Read full post »

It's a phrase I've heard more often than I care to admit lately, "You know, I'm seeing more and more people just like you these days," which at one point might have been comforting, but over time it's just started to feel patronizing, and truthfully, just not that helpful. I guess… Read full post »

OUTSOURCING SALES EXECUTIVE

Months of Experience: 60

Years of Education: 12

Salary: $50,000 - $80,000 year

Job Type: Permanent Full Time

During my regular rounds of searching job boards, I often check my local state Department of Labor postings. I couldn't help but notice this nice litt… Read full post »

 During my regular rounds of searching job boards, I often check my local state Department of Labor postings. I couldn't help but notice this nice little posting. How ironic though to post this on a Dept. of Labor sight for thousands of unemployed job seekers to do the very work… Read full post »

Okay, being from Atlanta, I just couldn't help it, I found myself setting aside time to watch the recent Tyler Perry interview on Oprah. The one where he now famously goes on and on about his much documented abuse as a young boy,  the beatings at the hands of his/… Read full post »

I had always been very proud of the fact that my dad's side of the family, who were Scottish refugees, had from all reports rejected slavery in America as did many of Scottish heritage in the U.S. because of their own history facing indentured slavery… Read full post »

Arguably the ultimate expression of the disco experience and culture , the Saint opened in September of 1980.  It is something that is hard to explain to people today, but I'll try. It's also something that looking back 30 years now, represents a lost paradise and in many respects/… Read full post »

This past weekend I visited B*ATL, a weekend commemoration of the 147th anniversary of the Battle of Atlanta. It wasn't a long trip, my intown neighborhood was actually built over the battleground, but it proved an eye-opening event.

Now, I'm very much a son of the So… Read full post »

Where is this generations Mark Twain, Roy Rogers, Arlo Guthrie, Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan?

Every generation tends to produce a voice, a guiding spirit that calls us back to basic American principals and values. A voice that reminds us just who we are above the din of politics and pop… Read full post »

With my current unemployment and things getting tight, I've hesitantly had to ask my older brothers for help with making the mortgage and paying bills. I've heard too that I've become the topic of some conversation in the family and realized that OMG I've become the very stereotype of the troubled… Read full post »

I was recently reminded how fickle cats can be. I've had my cat, Ava, for going on seven years now and she's always been a loving, friendly cat. With summer and open windows she'll come and go as she pleases, but always returns to eat her very healthy premium, high fiber,… Read full post »

I always say half the battle is framing an argument in a way that other people can understand. That's how it occurred to me that perhaps people would understand civil rights if it was framed in terms of a social tax that minorities pay.

A tax is a percentage of… Read full post »

The word "shakedown" has gotten a lot of use lately, and I actually have run across lately what may be a real honest-to-goodness application of the word. It seems to be the season of the "would you like to donate a dollar for...?" charity shakedown.

Now let me preface this… Read full post »

I'm just not feeling the warm and fuzzies this Fourth of July like I have in the past. It could be because of my recent bout with "underemployment", maybe it's the increasingly hard scraping together of a mortgage payment every month for an underwater house. Maybe it's the longest American war… Read full post »

I was really upset recently to read that one of my favorite metaphors was no longer true. That the old boiled frog story was basically an old wives’ tale. It persisted so long though because it’s such a useful one. The notion that if you throw someone in metapho… Read full post »

District 9 is a throwback of a movie. Yes, there’s lots of explosions, and special effects, neat CGI aliens, and of course the now obligatory giant hovering ship (remember when space ships used to actually land?); but it is in many ways a throwback to the thinking man’s sc… Read full post »

There’s an old saying that comes to mind, about how nothing dates faster than one’s vision of the future. That seems true for Arcosanti. Though it manages to feel classic, new, and stuck in the 70s all at the same time. The master plan (there have been many) has a… Read full post »

Left El Paso with my new rental car and headed north to Phoenix. .

I’d been told earlier about how El Paso was a “unique” situation being such a border town. I didn’t realize just how much that was true until I drove through downtown in the morning light. I… Read full post »

El Paso, TX: Texas is a big f’ing state. I’ve just spent one long day traveling across most of it. I got to watch the relative lushness of the Austin Area and it’s oaks, yield over time to scrub, then prairie, then just out right desert. Likewise, the sandstone canyons… Read full post »

Highway 10 through Texas doesn’t have any of the large oil fields, but you do spot the occasional lone rusty well or sometimes a small cluster. What you do see though are the massive wind farms of Central/West Texas. Driving west the first batch are off in the distance behind… Read full post »

STARBUCKS, AUSTIN - After leaving Gonzales, LA hit the road through southern LA and TX, This is a land of bridges, being down in the wetlands and where so many of the great American rivers come to the Gulf (see poem below). I’m reminded of the power of rivers and… Read full post »

Post-Katrina new bridge construction I-10 coming into New Orleans

GONZALES, LOUISIANA - I’ve had to come up with a new cover story. In striking up conversations with people, the whole “I’m a writer and blogger” thing has been a conversation killer, people don&rsq… Read full post »

STARBUCKS, MOBILE AL -I got little sleep last night with final technology glitches and coordinating trip details, but my friend Collin was nice enough to pick me up and drop me off at the subway station pretty much at the crack of dawn.

I was surprised to see… Read full post »