Jan 05

Why I wrote Trick or Treat

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
AVAILABLE FOR THE HOLIDAYS ON AMAZON FOR $2.99, Trick or Treat, who’s my sweet? Long before Bruce Jenner became Kaitlin Jenner, I’d seen this reality show that tracked a woman’s sex change process and operation from female into male. I grew fascinated with the program, the ideas and theories behind it. I wondered why would a person do that kind of major life change? I tried to imagine what it must be like to feel uncomfortable in the gender you were born into or to hate your body. What if you felt you didn’t have a choice in the matter? Every time you looked at your naked reflection in the mirror, did you feel at odds with what you saw? Would you want to change your looks? Would you change your gender, too? After you went through the testing, monitoring, and the gender change process, how would you feel? Would you be happy or sad that you’d made the gender change? Who would you be attracted to with your gender changed? I started to research the topic of sex change operations and bumped into another topic that was somewhat related … cross dressing. Did you know that women have been […]
Jan 01

Tyson with IAN badge

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
AVAILABLE FOR THE HOLIDAYS ON AMAZON FOR $2.99, TYSON, a sister’s love be limitless.   I’ve always wondered what Black lesbian life was like in the Harlem of the 20s and 30s. I decided to do some research before I started writing Tyson a bittersweet tale of loyalty, murder and romance during Harlem’s Renaissance. My purpose was to write a fictional murder mystery that takes place during that time. What I discovered was nothing. There were volumes written about white gays and lesbians living in New York during that time but very little, usually one or two paragraphs sometimes an entire page or two about Black gay life in Harlem. I found even less information, mainly antidotal information about Black lesbians living during the time period I was interested in. I enjoyed the research I’ve done on the subject of Black lesbians of Harlem in the 20s and 30s. Back in 2003, when I began researching this novel, I worked full time for the city so I did research at local libraries, cultural organizations like Herstory (lesbian archives) in Brooklyn, the LGBT Community Center’s historical collections at 13th Street in lower Manhattan, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture on […]
Dec 29

DECEMBER OF SORROWS

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
I’ve been thinking a lot about God lately. Unlike earlier this year, this time I know why. Permit me to explain as best I can. Towards the end of December, is said to be the birth of God’s son Jesus. It’s a wonderful time for amazing celebrations of his birth to a relatively poor couple. His foster father Joseph was an unemployed carpenter and his birth mother Mary was a simple housewife. For me and my family December has been a month of deep sorrow and regret. My father died on December 29, 2001. My sister only two years older than me, died in the early morning on December 11, 2017. I miss them both so much and wish they were both still here. At times, it’s difficult for me to celebrate Christmas or New Year’s Eve with their deaths hanging over my head like a permanent dark mistletoe. I try to remember with a great deal of fondness, celebrating Christmas when I was a child and now missing family members were alive and well. Back then, my mother loved this time of year. She hung ribbons full of hundreds of Christmas cards in the hallway by the front door […]
Dec 22

WHY I WROTE: GAME CHANGERS

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
I decided to examine a gay woman, who was an ex-veteran with a permanent disability and what her life might be like. What is her disability? Is it visible or can she hide it easily? Does she tell people about her disability? Does she talk about her tour of duty where the disability occurred? Has she stayed in touch with her old buddies in the military? How does she handle her disability on the job and off the job? What kind of job does she have? How does she feel about her job? Does she hate her job? Or does she love it? What is her social life outside the job like? Does she have any family and who are they? Does she have friends and lovers? Who are her friends if she has any? Who are her lovers if she has any? I knew if I made her perfect, I never find out who she was. I decided to give my character plenty of flaws. I investigated those questions and more when I wrote my romantic drama. Game Changers, add one then two & everything changes is available for pre-order 11/19/19 on Kindle. The release date is 12/2/19. Here […]
Dec 15

CAN WE TALK? LET’S DO LUNCH.

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
On Thursday, October 11, 2018, I caught a snippet of one of the oddest sights I’d seen and heard in the White House in quite a long time. Kanye West startled President Donald Trump by hugging him. I was startled too. It was obvious to me that the president was uncomfortable with Kanye’s hug. He wasn’t quite sure what to do with his own hands, which he raised in the air rather than return Kanye’s hug. The president finally resorted a friendly man-to-man back slap when Kanye finished the hug. I was surprised the president allowed the embrace in front of all the cameras. I’d read somewhere he was a germophobe. I was surprised he didn’t try to do a strongman handshake as he’d done before that pushed Kanye away or prevented the embrace altogether. I grew curious. What was Kanye doing in the White House? I knew he wasn’t an international leader of another country, nor was he a representative of any community organization. Why was he hugging the president? Why was he wearing that red MAGA cap in front of the cameras? Why was Jim Brown, the famous running back from the fifties, sitting next to Kanye? Who […]
Dec 08

LOSS

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
The picture above is a view of the Hudson River during a stormy day. The fog is partly covering the New Jersey shoreline near the Palisades. The road with the cars on it is the West Side Highway. It’s one of the major highways in Manhattan that runs along a body of water called the Hudson. The other roadway that runs alongside a river is the FDR Drive on the eastside, running along the East River. The bridge located over the West Side Highway is one of the entrances to Riverbank State Park. When I look at this picture, I think that’s how I feel. Sometimes, I’m sunless and kind of foggy, as if my brain is on permanent default. I get lost in the fog. There are no lights to help guide me to the light or a better day. My sister died on December 12, 2017. She was two years older than I. We didn’t speak daily. I’m not much of a caller. I never have been one to call first. If you call me and I’m in the mood, I will talk your ear off. My sister and I would talk on birthdays and winter holidays like […]
Dec 01

GAME CHANGERS, add one then two & everything changes

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
Deanna Jones, a transportation director for the city, stamps an indelible impression on her new boss when she makes a pass at her before Deanna is introduced. From there, it is all downhill for Deanna, who cannot stop bumping heads with Deputy Commissioner Amanda Taylor. The two women continue take potshots at each other every time they come within range, sniping about lost furniture, bad manners, and dressing and acting professional. Matters come to a head when a brawl ensues in the basement over expansion into a much-needed storage space and Deanna wades in to mediate. Can a nearly forty-year-old, womanizing director of transportation swear off women long enough to raise her thirteen-year-old niece? Can a deputy commissioner fresh from a bad divorce tame the director of transportation? Will these two women be able to work together without losing their jobs or their minds? Find out in Game Changers, add one then two & everything changes. Game Changers, add one then two & everything changes is available for pre-order 11/19/19 on Kindle. The release date is 12/2/19. ASIN: B081LK7S62 (Kindle Version $2.99) ASIN: 1709189703 (Print Version $16.99) ASIN: 978-1709189708 (Print Version $16.99) Here are the links for; Game Changers, add […]
Nov 25

GIVING THANKS

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
GIVING THANKS I wrote this blog post in 2016 and it still applies now in 2019. I’m writing this post prior to knowing the outcome of the 2016 Presidential election. By the time this is posted, it will be too late to encourage people to vote, as the election will have already happened. What I hope is that our country will maintain the same freedoms we have always had or hope to have and that our Constitution with its amendments and our Bill of Rights guarantee. This year is especially important for us appreciate that the United States of America is still the most democratic country in the world. As one of its citizen, I still have the right to debate that fact, write about that fact and publish that fact and scream that fact from the rooftops of the big cities of the north; to the prairies of the west; the farmlands of the south and the coal mines of the east. I say thanks America for being the country you are. I realize you can be loud, not always fair, opinionated and wrong, but in the end, you allow us citizens to be. Happy Thanksgiving America and may […]
Nov 18

Why I wrote Tyson

by B.L. in Latest Novels 0 comments
MORE REASONS WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK I wondered if there was a way to write an interesting book about Black lesbians who lived during the 1920’ and 30s. I also wanted to tell the story of the first great migration of Black folks from an agricultural south to the industrial north. What must that like for Black women with elementary school educations and very little skills. Which states did these Black women relocate? What would make them leave home and go into the unknown north? How did these women fair in their newly adopted homes. I debated if this book I wanted to write should be an official history book or a fictional account. I’d read a couple of fictional books who did a good job of teaching a bit of actual history by blending in personal accounts. I wanted to write a similar book. I was curious what Black lesbian life was like in the Harlem of the 20s and 30s. I decided to do some research before I started writing “TYSON” a bittersweet tale of loyalty, murder and romance during Harlem’s Renaissance. My purpose was to write a fictional murder mystery that takes place during that time. […]
Nov 10

VETERAN’S DAY 2019

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
The photos above are of my family. The photo on the left is my father in his army uniform 1943. He was a medical officer trained as a paratrooper. The photo on the right is my uncle who also served in the army. He went overseas and served in Germany during World War II. My father joined the paratroopers at a time when America’s military was segregated. Most Negro soldiers were relegated to being entertainers, cooks or monitoring supplies or digging latrines. Back then, the military had to be convinced that Negroes troops wouldn’t abandon their commands and runaway under fire. Almost convinced, the army decided to create a Negro unit of paratroopers. Since my father was a medical doctor with several degrees, the army made him an officer. Had he not broken an ankle during one of his training jumps, he would have been one of the first Negro officers sent overseas to fight in the European theater. Once his ankle healed, while still in the paratroopers my father became a smoke jumper. He helped put forest fires out all over the Southwest United States. Years later, I met some of my father’s old unit. They called themselves the […]
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