Near the end of my junior year at Independence High School in 1984, our wrestling coach, Jesse Barajas, let the team know that a young stud, Marco Sanchez, an eighth grader from one of the feeder middle schools (Sheppard), would be coming to join the 76ers at IHS the following year. We didn’t know a …
About a week ago in New Jersey, Trader Joe’s customer, Karma Lawrence, thought that one of the clerks working at the store resembled the affable character, Elvin Tibideaux, from The Cosby Show of the late ’80s and early ’90s. After a quick internet search, she realized it was in fact, Geoffrey Owens, the actor. Lawrence …
There’s something about being held in times of need. Sometimes a short hug is enough, other times a much longer embrace is needed, and sometimes people need a human touch for much longer periods — hours, days, weeks, and even months at a time. The picture you see on the left was taken on June …
This story stinks. Back to that in a moment. Any time my family and I take even the shortest of road trips, it doesn’t take long for my son, Atticus, to ask: “Are we there, yet?” And no matter our response, he usually has some follow-up questions — to which answers are never adequate. At …
“You’re coming, too. I’ll wait for you.” As the youngest boy cousin on my mom’s side of the family, I constantly worried about being “left out.” And because I was the youngest, I couldn’t always depend on my older brother to extend an invitation. To that end, I habitually hoped that one of my older …
For the past few days I’ve been thinking a lot about a person whom I never met: Thomas Gregory Griffin, Jr. Just 17 days ago, Thomas took his final breath. His wife, Orianna Dixon Griffin was in a familiar place: by his side. Back to Thomas in a moment. I’ve known “Ori” for about 38 …
Hotel, motel … I bet plenty of y’all know what comes next. Back to that in a moment. In second grade I had a crush on the nurse, so I pretended to be sick. My teacher sent me to the office; the nurse sent me home — for two days! In third grade I stayed …
Of all the memories people recall, childhood “firsts” have to rank near the top: first day of school, first time riding a bike, first crush, first kiss, first dance. More on that in a second. Back when I was a child, before life removed all the innocence, there was something that I both loved and …
By now you’ve probably heard about 45’s alleged “sh**hole” comments during a private immigration meeting regarding DACA in the Oval Office. While 45 denies using disparaging language, albeit – well after severe condemnation and backlash, he acknowledges that the words he used were “tough.” (Based on the evidence, I believe that the comment was said.) …
“Oh my God, oh my God, don’t let me die!” Not exactly the words I wanted to read before boarding a 737 one night ago. I’ll get back to that in a moment. If you spend a lot of time in airports, “people-watching” may not be something that you do much of when you’re at …