<![CDATA[Today, October 1st, I updated my Facebook status thusly: Sometime around 1988, an enterprising urban pastor asked his youngest son to put together a rap for an outreach event. He dutifully complied, and although it was kind of awkward and he didn’t have any beats so he had to use his favorite EPMD instrumental, the…

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<![CDATA[(Editor’s Note: This post began as an addendum to something I wrote in April about life in Portland as a black person. For more context, or if you’re not intimidated by a 3,000-word post, check it out.)       My social media feed has been blown up with old school nostalgia. I’m seeing a ton of…

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<![CDATA[ Recently, my friend and brother Evan Wiggs passed away. And if you never got the chance to meet or talk to Evan, let me describe him for you. He was a Christian, in every good sense of the word.

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<![CDATA[So it seems that a series of circumstances have all led me to reminisce, Pete-Rock-&-CL-Smooth-style, about my upbringing here in Portland Oregon, the undisputed whitest major city in America. Reconnecting with old friends from high school, being a little less homebound and a little more out-and-about in the city (which is a typical, if subconscious…

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<![CDATA[Imagine if your car was a clunker, (back in the day, we would've called it a "hooptie") but it was the only car you've ever known.  Both your parents drove that car, practically raised you in that car, before passing it onto you. You drive it all through high school and college, doing your best to…

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<![CDATA[There are several reasons why I went back and forth about whether or not I would even do this review. It was getting to the point where I was arguing with myself about it: Come on… you haven’t posted anything in forever. No… it’s late and I have more important things to do. Okay, but…

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<![CDATA[I’m way too busy to pontificate like normal, but I am majorly excited that Don Miller’s indie memoir classic, Blue Like Jazz, is being adapted into a feature film. With a title taken from his idea that sometimes beauty can be found in ideas that don’t resolve, Miller’s work is slated to begin shooting in…

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