Why Nigeria Is More Important Than You Think – Part 1 of 4
As an African American, Nigeria and Africa in general are important places because they represent an historic part of my identity. And as a “global citizen” who is concerned about the future of the planet, Nigeria is a significant player in the “new globalism” that is...
Fiction Friday: Spared Parts – Part 3
Read Part 2 Here Mom had left in August, but we treated her leaving like the threshold to winter. We ate out the flesh out of a small watermelon and carved the rind into a Jack o’ Lantern. We cut a candle down to a little stub and its shallow flame and caused the...
Podcast: Two Things You Have in Common with Murderers…
You are always at a specific place at a specific time. Wherever you go, there you are. When introducing the topic of criminal psychology to a class, I often ask students to brainstorm a list of factors that increase the likelihood that an individual will commit a...
Fiction Friday: Spared Parts – Part 2
Read Part 1 Here We both have had a rough ride getting here, you and I. You know, put through the grater by friends and family. From middle school through high school, I was an easy target for ridicule or pity. I had a toad’s complexion but lacked an amphibian’s...
Fiction Friday: Spared Parts – Part 1
Usually there’d be a few dozen ears spread out on the white counter sorted out by size and complexion near a jumbled heap of them, as though someone had been called away from a grisly game of solitaire. I’d usually scoop them up in a box, pretending I thought they had...
Fiction Friday: Permitted Voyage – Part 4
Read Part 3 here. Permit me voyage, Love, into your hands. – James Agee The sun was high in the smoky-blue haze by the time they began, making every step an effort. When she saw two goldfinches dart by, she warned the boys not to brush against the thistles...
Fiction Friday: Permitted Voyage – Part 3
Read Part 2 here. Permit me voyage, Love, into your hands. – James Agee When school was out for the year, her secret became almost impossible to keep, and her desire to keep it private seemed important, yet odd to her. She wasn’t able to do Miss...
Fiction Friday: Permitted Voyage – Part 2
Read Part 1 here. Permit me voyage, Love, into your hands. – James Agee Once at home, Missouri felt awkward about the few minutes she had spent talking to the woman. She felt the need to hide them from Phyllis, to produce some sort of alibi for herself, as if...
Fiction Friday: Permitted Voyage – Part 1
Permit me voyage, Love, into your hands. – James Agee Missouri, a tall, lanky black-skinned teenager, with an early grace to her movements, paused at the edge of the forest and closed her enormous brown eyes and took in all the scents of early spring around...Buy The Book
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