Category Archives: The Written Word
Starting Over: My journey as a writer
Maya Angelou Reading Still I Rise Reading Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise made me want to be a poet at 14. I wrote silly poems, kept in a 3-ring binder, and read them to anyone who listened. By the time … Continue reading
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Toni Newman Interview with DJ Baker about LL Cool J and Eddie Murphy and other Celebrity Clients
DJ Baker interviewed Toni Newman today on his 900th show, the Da Doo-Dirty Show. The Da Doo-Dirty Show is the longest running LGBT urban daily syndicated radio program on the internet. In the interview Toni Discusses her life on the … Continue reading
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Porn Allowed to be Watched at LA County Libraries
A man watching porn online at a Los Angeles library sparked a major First Amendment right’s debate leading to the L.A. City Council approving porn to be viewed in the city’s libraries. The L.A. City Council voted against installing porn-filtering … Continue reading
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Musical to Watch: Baby It’s You! in New York starring Beth Leavel and Dionne Warwick Lawsuit News
A Sneak Preview of Broadway’s BABY IT’S YOU! Baby It’s You!, the original Broadway musical, received a Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. Beth Leavel who plays Florence Greenberg, creator of The Shirelles, told Broadway.com “My agents called … Continue reading
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The Significance of Objects: When I kinda met playwright August Wilson
Wilson Reciting “Poem for my Grandfather” “Who’s this white man,” I said walking past August Wilson. It was 2001 or 2002. I can’t remember the year but it was on Morehouse’s campus. Morehouse College is an HBCU. I found out … Continue reading
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flava works sues sizzle miami
Flava Works, Inc, the controversial black/Latino gay pornography company, is suing Sizzle Miami’s parent company. Dated March 9 2011 the court papers show ” Flava Works seeks to “recover damages arising from infringement of Plaintiff’s copyrights and trademarks in its … Continue reading
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Caveat Emptor Administratio
In between penis enlargement, Viagra, erectile dysfunction, and free iPod emails clogging up my inbox, I received a warm email from my student loan provider, the federal government. It seems I’m overdue on my student loan payment. My loan is … Continue reading
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NFL player Ayanbadejo continues to speak out in support of gay rights
Brendon Ayanbadejo Says Yes to Marriage Equality in Maryland Back in March Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo teamed up with Equality Maryland and released a video supporting same-sex marriage. “This should not be a subjective issue. Gay and lesbian couples … Continue reading
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Big City Bright Lights: A tourist guide to visiting New York
My first trip to New York, New York began with me being scammed right outside the airport. A college friend invited me and another friend, Mo, to the city and said that catching a taxi cab from LaGuardia Airport to … Continue reading
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to self-publish or not self-publish
that is the question Four years into writing the Taste of Scars I slammed into a brick wall headfirst and was ready to self-publish. I looked at different self-publishing or print-on-demand (POD) companies. BookSurge (now CreateSpace), iUniverse, AuthorHouse, and Xlibris. … Continue reading
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happy endings and mic stands
hot java is a community coffee house in long beach’s gay ghetto at broadway and junipero. across the street from the coffee house is bixby park, a notorious park where gay men cruise (i accidentally found out it’s a cruising … Continue reading
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believing with nothing
The Book of Revelation is the last book of the New Testament. Revelation contains 5 major visions. L. Michael White, bible scholar and director of the Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins, believes the book unfolds like … Continue reading
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Excerpt from The Taste of Scars: Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Pages 1-5 Dad told us the drive was four hours. It’s been eight. He misread an interstate sign and drove the wrong way in Battle Creek heading toward Chicago. The windy city. Where we’re from. Where as a … Continue reading
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Book Tour Annoucement Coming Soon
When I started writing, The Taste of Scars, I’d daydream about reading it to people (sometimes while driving). Reading it at bookstores. At coffee shops. At book club meetings. Wherever. The connection from mouth and word to ears is hardening. … Continue reading
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yeah x 3: i just got signed to a book publisher
hardwork does pay off in the end. i starting writing my first book, the taste of scars, in 2005 while working for two newspapers while living in ann arbor. newspaper writing was my life. i stopped working for the newspapers … Continue reading
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The Creative Spark: how to unlock the creative process and inspire (a new ongoing series)
by David Mason (of Slickitup) 1. Read a fairy tale. 2. Watch Bladerunner, Beyond the Thunderdome, and View to a kill. 3. Learn the color wheel.
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All Things Black, Art-sy and Gay: Resources for Black LGBT Artists
Film Festivals Los Angeles: Fusion Film Festival, Outfest, Los Angeles‘ LGBT people of color film festival, March San Francisco: Queer Women of Color Film Festival, San Francisco’s National Queer Arts Festival Cape Town: Out in Africa, Cape Town, South Africa‘s … Continue reading
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foreign films and friends
Plot driven foreign films are like my respirator. They give me life. Ask any of my friends. I make them watch foreign films with me. I have even opted not to tell friends, when they let me pick movies to … Continue reading
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the wink and the nod: a poem
I wait for it the wink and the nod hand to waist it’s dark enough for this to be ok come this way no come this way he walks his way if I walk his way we might be seen … Continue reading
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the shadow and weight of him
as we laugh juice drips on my thigh from the spoon he stole from the cafeteria as we laugh watching the relationship between events unraveling on TV his TV in his room as we laugh eating syrupy pineapples out the … Continue reading
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