My father is an honest man among pirates. It’s a hard role to fill, a difficult task to achieve, keeping your integrity and principles when corruption surrounds you.
He believed in respect and chivalry, whisked my mother away from the sea dogs in her family. Because he was sensitive and respectful, the pirates judged him as […]

The last time I was in New Orleans was three years ago, which was a year before Katrina blew through town. It’s still the city I remember, filled with family I’ve missed. But it’s also gravely wounded.
I’m here in mourning, and my new journal is filled with eulogies. I visited a cousin who’s been rebuilding […]

Because of Mother’s Day and the recent death of my grandmother, I’ve been thinking a lot about the women in my family. Somehow, each of them is linked in my mind to a kind of food, and the thoughts have been pouring in since I cooked dinner on Friday evening.
I grew up with three grandmothers. […]

It’s a year for big family events - births, graduations, weddings, funerals. Two of my girlfriends will be having babies soon, and another just got married. My nephew is graduating from high school in two weeks, and my young cousin is getting married in August. So, I’ve been thinking a lot about hopes and wishes, […]

Something of the divine has touched me this week. I started a new book, Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert. A dozen books were waiting on my shelves to be read, and none of them seemed right, until I spotted this one, a recent birthday gift from a dear friend. I felt something akin to […]

Yeah, I know Christmas season is over. Oftentimes, when we think of the Baby Jesus, we think of peace on earth, with the hopefulness that such a thing could somehow be possible. Everyone looking up at the same star, this same beam of light in the sky, leading us to this pure gift from God.
Two […]

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has a lot to teach us about embracing our individuality. The Island of Misfit Toys is a place where insecure freaks go to grumble about being victims of a society that doesn’t want them. Boo hoo! Rudolph didn’t belong there, because he didn’t enjoy the pity party. Rudolph wanted to let […]

My man used to ask me why our gay friends always wanted to hang out at gay bars. After all, we don’t always want to hang out at straight bars. They should live a little, mix it up, you know?
The reason was obvious to me. People want to hang out where they can be comfortable […]

They call New Mexico the Land of Enchantment, and I don’t think it’s all about the peyote, either. If you want to fall in love with New Mexico, just visit. If you can’t go there, pick up a copy of the movie Off the Map, and you’ll get a small taste of the beauty.
Off the […]