Emails from My Father’s Mistress, Posthumously [Part II]
After I met Wendy in the fall of 2002, I treated her like I did all of my Dad’s friends whom I met and liked: I got her e-mail address and sent her an e-mail saying it was nice to have met her and suggesting we should keep in...
Emails from My Father’s Mistress, Posthumously
This is an excerpt from the e-mail I received from my father’s mistress today: Hey JD, I’ve been meaning to let you know I’m finally settled in a little apartment in Palmyra, one town east of Hershey, right by the railroad tracks. I love it. I’m going through boxes...
Call Up Yer Dead
My father’s study when he died suddenly at the age of 53: the flooring was red saltillo tile and the focus of the room was my father’s desktop computer, which was a larger IBM type model. In the early mornings before work and/or before my mother woke up, my...
The Gift of Dreaming
My father showed up in a dream of mine last night. He has made intermittent appearances in my dreams since he died 13.5 years ago. I have always been a vivid dreamer. It was not until my father and his best friend Jim died (both suddenly, within exactly one month...
The Intersection of a Transguy, A School Cross Walk, and a Policeman.
As a police officer walked towards the driver’s side of my car on that fall day in 2009, I shook with anxiety as I though of how I was going to explain myself. Just fifteen minutes prior, I had stopped my Toyota Prius in front of the cross walk leading to Thomas...
A Thousand Kindnesses
Basil was the first ever person to ask a musician to play a Bruce Springsteen song for me. Basil always insists on carrying heavy bags for me. Basil always gets the umbrella from the car so I don’t get rained on in my work clothes. Basil makes whatever I...
Don’t Think Twice: It’s Alright I’m Trans
The minute I was certain Evelyn and I were going to become friends is when she told me she makes her own tahini from scratch. We had just gotten on the light rail and were headed back to Union Station in Newark to catch trains back home. A group...
If I Weren’t All Dressed Up, I Would Just Piss On You
Traveling constantly on highways for work has made me a pro at finding the cleanest bathroom at any highway exit. Part of what stops folks from finding tidy bathrooms during long distance drives is limiting oneself to the usual suspects: truck stops, fast food joints, a Starbucks. Mid-range hotels (Holiday Inn Express, Hampton...
This Little Light
I expected the orange and white glass of the car headlight to explode across the parking lot. I instinctively covered my eyes and turned away, crying out. The actual result of the forceful impact was anti-climactic: the glass was (obviously) tempered. The headlight cracked beneath the force of Rick’s...
Winter Coat
It was not a big set of stairs from the front door of my Aunt Terry’s house to her kitchen: maybe six to eight steps at best. But I had never tried to carry or push a human being up a set of stairs before and wasn’t sure where to...