Jun 17

COMING OUT AT 47

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
I read this article from a worried parent years ago. I found the question interesting enough to write about. The mother says, “My sixteen-year-old son told me that he is gay. What should I do about it?” Today, I’d add my own experience of coming out as a lesbian. I wasn’t as young as that mother’s son was when he said, “Guess what, Mom? I’m gay.” Nope, that wasn’t me. I was forty-seven years old before I finally admitted to me that I was gay and then I admitted it to my family. Question: Isn’t 47 a little old to discover one’s orientation? Shouldn’t a person know before they reach 30 who or what they like? At 47, a person has lived over half her life in the shadows and maybe with the wrong gender as well. How is a major life change possible at that age? Permit me to explain my particular situation. I’m a Baby Boomer. When I grew up, young women were just beginning to flex their muscles. They were thinking about working in non-traditional jobs and considered living non-traditional lives. Most of the women I knew when I was a kid wore traditional clothes to represent […]
Jun 10

RIB BONES & MY FATHER

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
That’s a photo of my father in 1953 when we lived on Douglas Street which no longer exist as I knew it back then. My mother likes to tell two stories about me. One shows or purports to show how creative with the truth I was at a young age. As for the second of my mother’s tales, I’ll save that one for another time. I think I was five at the time. Apparently, we—meaning my parents, my sister who was seven, my brother who was three and I were enjoying one of my favorite dinner meals. We were seated around the dinner table in the dining room of our old house on Douglas Street. I should say right now, I don’t remember experiencing this tale myself, but I’ve heard the story so often, I could tell it in my sleep. Knowing my mother, the home economics teacher, believed in balanced meals, I’m sure we had string beans, a green salad, a starch—baked potatoes or something like it, meat or fish, milk for us kids and coffee for her and my father. My parents believed social graces at the dinner table. That usually meant my father would ask my mother […]
Jun 01

Love With Strings Attached

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
Dr. Lena Johns is an excellent but stubborn surgeon who finds herself at-risk for a malpractice suit, rekindles a tumultuous romance, and receives devastating news all in the same short period of time. To add to the stress, she has inherited three children, and the father of the youngest is on his way across the country to possibly kill them all. Can Lena raise three orphaned children alone? Will the surgeon accept help from her medical friends, especially her ex-lover, bossy nurse Eugenia Martin? Will raising the children bring the doctor and the nurse closer together or split them apart? And will the law apprehend a dangerous fugitive before he catches up with his only witness? It all comes together in Love, With Strings Attached. Love, With Strings Attached is available now for pre-order on Kindle. The release date is 6/02/19. ASIN: B07SL9PY1T (Kindle Version $2.99) ASIN: B07S86J864 (Print Version $13.99) Here are the links for: Love, With Strings Attached Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SL9PY1T Kindle Print: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S86J864 Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/941673 Book trailer: https://youtu.be/R2OyK3-Oxd8 Ask David: http://askdavid.com/books/10892
May 27

DECORATION DAY & MY UNCLE HERBIE

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
On this Decoration Day, also known as Memorial Day, I wanted to honor my uncle, a Black veteran who fought in Germany during World War II in some small way. The photo you see above was taken in 1989. I’m not sure what my son and my uncle are looking at. My son was probably grinning at my younger sister, who was taking the picture. I imagine Uncle Herbie was thinking about his big sister, my Aunt Sadie, who had just died. I tried to find a photo of my uncle alone and in uniform, but I couldn’t find one. When I was a kid, I really admired my uncle because he was s-o-o different from my father the medical doctor, who was also his big brother. Uncle Herbie was the only surviving uncle that I had. My father came from a very large family of nine kids, but only three survived to adulthood (my father, my uncle, and my aunt). He was the first one to attend college and went on to get a medical degree. In contrast, my uncle worked in a factory. I’m not sure whether the factory produced tires or automotive parts. We lived in Akron, […]
May 20

THREE CARD MONTY

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
When I first arrived in New York during the summer of 1968, my mother was afraid for me. She worried that her wild child, meaning me, would go crazy in the Big Apple. We had this agreement. When I turned 18, I wanted to join the Peace Corps or the domestic peace corps called VISTA. Before that, at 16 or 17, I wanted to join the Freedom Rides going on in the Deep South. My parents said no, citing either my need for higher education or my lack of temper control. I tried to make an end run around all of their negativity by asking if I could go the University of California’s Berkley campus. That way, I’d meet their higher education rules, but I’d also be able to join all kinds of anti-war and civil rights demonstrations on the campus. Of course, my parents knew that too. At 18, I thought I knew more than they did about current events. I was wrong. My parents said no, then we argued. They finally said, Try college at our alma mater, Ohio State University, for two years. If after two years you want to do something else, we’ll support you. Fast […]
May 13

GB

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
Something very unusual is happening in my life right now and I’m not sure what to think about it. Do I like it or not? I’m used to living alone and doing my own thing. It’s been that way with me for years … at least 15 of them and counting. Perhaps, I should back up a minute and tell you a little bit about myself, or rather, my status in life. I’m a new grandmother. There, I said it … the word “grandmother.” My grandkid calls me GB, which is shorthand for Grammy B. should back up a minute and tell you a little bit about myself, or rather, my status in life. I’m a new grandmother. There, I said it … the word “grandmother.” My grandkid calls me GB, which is shorthand for Grammy B. I always thought if I was one, I’d be the coolest grandma alive. I’d drink a little wine, smoke one of those skinny cigars, and give free advice about anything from love and marriage to raising kind children. In my mind, I’d have just right the figure to wear the latest clothes. I’d know all the words to the latest blues, hip-hop, or […]
May 06

DRUGS ANYONE?

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
I put off writing this one for some time because I didn’t want to write about the subject matter while I was angry. This time I couldn’t stop myself. I just watched NY1 a local Time Warner/Spectrum cable channel that I really like a lot because it keeps me tuned into what’s going on around the city. The channel mentioned a new drug treatment program starting in Staten Island soon. The program sponsored in part by the Staten Island DA’s office and arranges for treatment programs for substance abuse addicts rather than prison sentences. Apparently the other part of the program, the punitive side, prosecutes the sellers of illegal drugs. I have nothing against going after folks who commit certain crimes. Heaven knows in my job as a NYC property manager during the crack/cocaine epidemic of the late seventies, eighties and nineties, I’ve met a number of folks who were either users or sellers. Sometimes, they engaged in both activities. I wonder how the Staten Island program will deal with cases like this? As for me, I think the sentencing should match the crime. In the case of many first time sellers and buyer (users), the crime didn’t justify the […]
May 01

WHY PEOPLE LIE

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
For most of my life, I’ve been curious about something that seems to be a human phenomenon. Little kids do it. Teenagers do it. And adults do it. Even Disney characters (think Pinocchio) do it. It’s called lying. Lately I find myself wondering why people do it. Most people make such a mess of it. They tell whoppers that can so easily be uncovered. In this age of cellphone videos, body cams, social media, and information breaches, who doesn’t know your business? To me, lying seems worthless or at least more work than it’s worth. Yet people still do it. And I keeping asking myself, why do people lie? Experts Victoria Talwar and Kang Lee say that there are three types of lies. The first one is called a primary lie. This type of lie is told to hide what the teller did but fails to consider the mental state of the listener. Children as young as two and as old as four tell these kinds of lies. By the time children are four, they learn to tell secondary lies. These lies are more plausible. The teller has learned through trial and error to shape the lie to the listener’s […]
Apr 22

WHY I WROTE ME & MRS. JONES

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
  This is my second book in the newly minted series “SONGBOOKS.” I give older popular songs, modern viewpoints that turn into novels. I always loved the song “Me and Mrs. Jones.” It was a ballad sung by smooth, jazzy Billy Paul in 1972. The ballad told the tale of a man committing adultery with a married woman. He knows she knows that it’s wrong. He knows it’s wrong to keep seeing her; but he can’t stop. She can’t stop the affair either. The two of them have a favorite meeting place where nobody knows them so nobody can tell their respective spouses about their affair. They can listen to their favorite songs and share their favorite meals together at this special meeting spot. By the end of the song, I understood how difficult it was to stop doing something that was so very wrong but felt oh, so-o-o very good. After hearing this song recently on a long drive to visit my mother and my sister in Ohio, I thought. Whoa! Wouldn’t it be interesting to write a novel based on the tale that I heard in my head every time I listened to the lyrics? What I imagined […]
Apr 15

WADE IN THE WATERS

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
I’m not one for religious symbolism but the more I hear about foreign involvement in our democratic election system, I keep thinking of a song I used to hear in church Sunday mornings. I was a kid back then. Everybody knows Baby boomer children couldn’t say. “Mom, Dad I’m not going to church. It’s Sunday morning. I think I just sit this visit out. I don’t like how that old guy wearing that long robe talks to us. He’s always screaming about devils and doing bad stuff from that platform he stands on. You and Dad might like him; but he scares the mess out of me. Today, I’ll just sit home and do something that makes me happy. Watching Sunday morning cartoons makes me happy and so I’ll be doing that today, okay? I’ll see you both when you get back from church if I’m not napping, right?” No way was that going to fly with my parents back then. In the only thing flying, would be my butt into next week. That would be after I was released from the children’s ward of the hospital, my father’s opened can of whup my backside sent me. But I digress. […]
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