2012 on-campus. A crowded claustrophobic classroom. The horse in me wanted to bolt. English 101 discussing “Shame” from Dick Gregory’s autobiography Nigger. (A book the book banners will surely ban) A place kicker on a football scholarship groaned in protest.  “Why do we have to read this stuff? Aren’t we done with racism in this…

Like my father jingling the change in his pocket, I used to always be ahead of time, pushing the timing so that I could avert bad timing and arrive with time to spare. Time was pressure, cause for anxiety. To be late was to break your word. But for my mother, time was more fluid,…

I look for Shadow in the shadows, her blue gray fur, bold yellow eyes, and the scar behind her right ear. I miss our catnaps on the couch, her paws kneading my belly, her face burrowing into mine, the tickle of her long white whiskers. I miss her sideways arched-back hop of delight and how…