If she was trying to get me to go away, she failed. If her intent was to entice, if she wanted my money, if this was a big elaborate scheme to draw me in with the need to know what secrets awaited the backroom, then she had me right where she wanted me. I was…
Sorry for te typos — writing and posting in a flurry You get it to, that feeling during the limbo hours in between leaving and having left–that nostalgic question part anticipation part reluctance part kangaroo. You muse: should I have ordered the pilsner instead if the Nile beer? Did I even give the pilsner a…
Originally Published in GoMadNomad July 2012 My little brother and I met Leroy in New Orleans on a corner just off Bourbon Street. By that time our busking duo had swelled to include Cass, A Brit touring the USA to “prove that not all Americans were stupid,” three local street musicians, and a bearded man in…
My days in rural Kenya have fallen in a a routine, a necessary state of affairs if I’m to do what I’m setting out to here. The passage of time is marked by dinosaurs. Each morning as Anita prepares tea and breakfast, I ask her to pick a color. She picks red, yellow, green or…
Today we danced the mud dance. With the energy of puppies locked in a meat locker, we covered ourselves in mud cakes dug from the ground. Mud flew everywhere, it lodged in our fingernails—red soil of the earth, the mythical kind wreaking of life—and probably containing some stuff we’re glad we didn’t know was in…
I not sure how to tell you this story. If I introspect, I’m uncertain of either side of an extreme—worried that the medium of writing won’t throw the curtain separating a happening and it’s recounting far enough for you to peer behind, and also fearful it will swing too far, leaving me exposed. I’ll do…
Why To Lend A Hand It wasn’t our original impetus for coming to Kenya, but after we read Calvin’s email, it became our raison d’être for being here. Calvin, had come across three AIDS orphans (Wilfred [17], Samuel [15] and Simon [13]) a half-kilometer from where he and his brothers had been orphaned by the…
On Monday, with Tyler finally here, we left the cray-cray-craziness of busy Nairobi to the countryside to discover the youthful stomping grounds of our brotha-brothers, Calvin and Joash. As if reminding us why we were leaving, Nairobi showed us one of her least attractive qualities and kept us fighting traffic for three hours before we…
Our rail car tumbled through lands now hidden by the set sun. To my right, a baby fondled his sleeping mother; two snack venders sat across from each other, pulling at their pant legs to examine their knees; a boy in a tie walked past selling soft drinks, eager to profit from our thirst. The…
Loving The Leave I love leaving Pieces of myself Everywhere There is a man Who is completely content To play checkers Until a forgotten Fanta cap skips Over its overtaken Sprite and Coke Counterparts Becoming the only Moment worth Recounting. Later When the Diligent details Call to mind The moment One possibility In a billion…
