High rise residential buildings are a symbol of urban America. If you live in one, you’re either at the bottom or the top. I’m closer to the bottom, but the building I was going to was reserved for those at the top. I was on my way there to pick up a free couch. I pulled up, saw the dark blue reflective glass and a homeless woman sitting on a dirty blanket just steps from the entrance and I knew I had reached my destination before the GPS announced that I had arrived. I turned on my hazard lights because…

What is it to achieve parity? My life was one of juxtaposition. A life of contrast is prone to conflict; both internal and external. As a teenager I was morbidly obese. At one point more than 350 pounds hung from my suffering skeleton. I had an epiphany and slimmed down. My skeleton suffered no longer, but my skin was empty. Loose folds sat shamefully under my shirt. To make matters worse, during my weight loss, I became strikingly handsome. My cheekbones were pronounced, my lips were thick and full, my eyes were shaped like almonds and all of these desirable…

I was just released from prison. They let me out of San Quentin and it was the first time since 1992 that I felt the breeze come off the shores of San Francisco Bay on the right side of the barbed wire fence. I needed to go back to Oakland. All I knew was Oakland. On the way out, a CO gave me a blue plastic card with the word “clipper” written on it. He said there was $20.00 on the card and told me to “get the fuck out of Marin, and stay out.” There was a bus stop…

I consider my relationship with my father unorthodox at best. It could be characterized as horrible at worst, but that doesn’t change the fact that there are moments that still linger and make me wonder what he could have been, had the dealer that dealt him his cards in the casino called life been less cruel.

My father wasn’t a free man. He was shackled by something. A tangible trauma. …

During the Bush Administration

Cuts were made.

One of the biggest cuts was to HUD.

Housing and Urban Development

Low-income housing falls under HUD.

I had an old refrigerator.

And like many old appliances, it suddenly stopped WORKING.

The broken fridge was owned by broken people.

Who made broken systems.

To break down more people.

To keep things…

Broken

We filed a request.

We requested that HUD repair or replace the fridge.

We heard nothing.

Nothing at all.

We stored food at a neighbor's house.

She ate little.

She smoked a lot.

She allowed us to keep our food with…

Every town in America has their legends, their hauntings, their myths, and we’re no different. For kids who grew up in Vallejo and Benicia, we had ‘The Ghost.’

He wasn’t actually a ghost, but a man we called ‘The Ghost.’ Everyone in town knew of ‘The Ghost,’ but despite universal knowledge of ‘the Ghost’s’ existence, very little information could be verified in relation to this man.

We knew he was homeless and we knew he frequented Mare Island, a decommissioned naval base that closed in 1996, which is ultimately what led to Vallejo’s economic deterioration.