Reflection on the Supreme Court’s Loving Decision

Here’s a short piece written for the ACLU of Virginia, in anticipation of the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality. Why Loving Matters In 1973 I moved to Richmond for grad school, and met my future wife. It was love at first sight, or pretty damn close at least on my part. And so we …

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Real-Life Chindogu—an Unuseless Invention

I found these bottles of carbonated drink–a genuine product of Japan–at a local salvage store.   Here are the actual directions printed on the plastic wrap covering the top of the bottle: “1. Serve Ramune drink chilled. 2. Remove the plastic film from the top. 3. Pop out the center from the cap, which will …

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Don’t knock down the church-state wall

First grade. The first day of public school. The very first memory I can locate specifically in time and place. Our teacher leads a recitation of words I’ve never heard before. Yet somehow all the other students already have the words memorized, and join in. I don’t understand. Why do all the other kids know …

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Stopped by Weeds on a Summer Morning

  Whose weeds these are I’m sure I know. I’ve watched them as they sprout and grow. No time to rest or sip a beer— I better run and grab my hoe.   My little garden slowly clears of undergrowth. I persevere. My fingers blister; shoulders ache This longest evening of the year.   I …

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In the Aftermath of Isabel

Ten years ago Hurricane Isabelle roared through Virginia, leaving a new landscape in her wake.  Behind our house, Isabelle uprooted hundreds of mature trees.  In some places, they fell like dominoes, each leafy giant toppling the next. But in the aftermath of destruction has come regeneration.  The rebirth began immediately after the storm, and continues …

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Book Review: Leading the Resistance

Come August, Come Freedom:  The Bellows, the Gallows and the Black General Gabriel by Gigi Amateau, Candlewick Press, September 2012, ISBN978-0-7636-4792-6 (Ages 12-up)   One of the least-known stories from our nation’s history is that of the widespread Black resistance to enslavement.  From the very beginnings of European settlement of the new world, Africans and …

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