I’ll say his name: Stephon Clark. Because I could have an actual gun in my hand in my backyard and the police wouldn’t shoot me dead in three seconds. Pretty sure I’d live to eat a Happy Meal like Dylann Roof after he killed 9 black worshipers at Mother Emanuel. And I’ll be honest: part […]
I’ve told this story for a dozen years. It was deeply meaningful to me. But I just recently realized I was telling it all wrong. Because I got the meaning deeply wrong. If you’ve heard me share this story before a few months ago, I’d like to set the record straight now: In 2005, I […]
Hey kids! I’ve got a story for y’all, in honor of today being Presidents Day, AND the 76th anniversary of FDR’s Executive Order 9066 which incarcerated tens of thousands of American citizens of Japanese descent, AND we’re still in Black History Month. Guess what? All of those things are mashed up in a pair of […]
Let’s thank the President for reminding us why we must march today. I will march because nothing this Administration has done threatens me directly. Nobody sees me as a thug or terrorist. My family won’t get deported. Nobody cares about my marriage or where I pee. I can afford the higher taxes. My neighborhood isn’t […]
Happy new year to all of you, my wonderful friends and family. It’s been an intense #VacationOfNewIdeas, and I’ve got quite a lot to report out as we start the year together. Please forgive the length — this feels big to me and I don’t know how to turn it into a snappy meme. I […]
“It’s hard for our country to move the ball on racial justice when white people don’t know we *have* the ball or that we’re even on the field. We think we’re just watching from the bleachers.” Reflecting on this challenging wisdom and so much more from last week’s Day 1 of internal staff-wide racial justice […]
The scariest #metoo that ever happened to me… didn’t actually happen. Bit of a long story but hope you’ll bear with me because it’s about the male side of the equation in a couple of ways. Early in first semester freshman year, I got some bad scary news about my mom’s health and decided to deal with […]
No disrespect at all to #metoo, because, well, #metoo. But I was struck this morning by a #notme: driving along, noticed my headlight was out. Didn’t start worrying that I would get shot or deported if I got pulled over. So I kept speeding. At that moment, a CHP motorcycle zipped past me. And kept right on […]
A few years ago, I was in a touristy public park with my mom. A youngish guy with a bike was hanging around nearby. I felt his attention on me and I tried to do the dance of ignoring his interest while indicating polite awareness of his existence so he wouldn’t get angry – ladies, […]
It’s not about the pronouns. Deeply surprised to find myself messing up again and again and again with someone who requested they/them. I mean, I’m a liberal! I’m polite! I have friends who transitioned FTM or MTF and I never deadname them! And yet I consistently find myself thinking, and saying, “Oh wait, I need […]