“My sister is always talking about God and heaven and how Jesus has a mansion waiting for us after we die, so I asked her: if heaven is so great, what’s the point of living here on earth?” she said. “Let’s just cut to the chase,” I responded. “What’s the point of living, period?” That’s…
My name is Jam Stunna. I was born Jamil Rashad Ragland on October 21st, 1985. Names are a funny thing, because they determine so much of who you are and how the world relates to you, yet you have almost no say in picking your name. Your parents say, “You’re a Jamil,” so I’m a…
I cried during the scene in Black Panther when Erik Killmonger spoke with his father, because he was expressing the hurt that I’ve had so much trouble putting into words. Erik’s rage is overblown and genocidal for the sake of a Hollywood blockbuster, but that rage is so real and so raw for so many…
I was listening to the breathless coverage of Rex Tillerson’s firing, and how various people from news show talking heads to Deep State prognosticators were discussing how it would effect Iran, North Korea, Russia, and pretty much the entire globe when Mike Pompeo takes over. With that understanding of the Secretary of State as super…
As a white person, I feel like any opinions I voice on race need to be heavily discounted. As a white person, I’m not sure I have the right to say much of anything at all. The thing is, because of the social circles I’m in and because one of my jobs is at Capital…
What were you doing when you were 22 years old? You may have been looking forward to graduating from college in a few short months, or you were working in a dead end job that you hated. Perhaps you were falling in love, or cursing your ex’s name. Whatever you were doing, if you’re reading…
I’ve failed at one of my life goals. I’ve always wanted to die with a full complement of body parts. Of course I’m not counting baby teeth or hair. I would have failed years ago if those counted. I mean I wanted to keep everything I’m supposed to have. No amputations, no ectomies, nothing of…
I successfully completely my goal of a post a day for the month of December. Overall I think it went pretty well. I’m not proud of everything I wrote, but I wrote every day and I hit every deadline. The site had 646 views by 360 individuals. I don’t normally pay any attention to those…
While driving with my daughter today, she said, “They should call you ‘the red light hitter.’” She then added, “I know why green’s your favorite color, you’re always waiting for it.” I had no response, except to laugh. She’s absolutely right. I hit more red lights than anyone. It doesn’t matter where I’m going or…
Today was the big day. After a month of prepping, Christmas finally happened. It went well. Santa was overly generous to my daughter. So were her grandparents. She had a great day overall. One of the strange things since my divorce (or at least one thing I didn’t expect) is that I feel a lot…
