“Fear of the journey will ensure you never reach the destination,” he said aloud to no one in particular. “You’re always spendin’ time, make sure you spend it wisely.” Maybe he should take his own advice, I thought to myself. I tried not to look at him. His hair was…

I had to drive her home, but I didn’t want to. I wanted her to lie beside me and watch dumb cartoons forever, but I had work in the morning and she had a family to go home to. …

“You ever feel like you’ve wasted your life?” That’s what I said to my best friend on the phone as I walked to my car. I had just gotten out of a Best Buy and I was looking for one of those stupid iPhone dongles because Apple’s unquenchable need for…

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…

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…

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…

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. …