Hello All, and Happy Sunday!

First off, let me start by saying I am a bad blogger! Shame on me. I promised last Sunday that there would be a one-day delay, yet there was a week-long delay. For those of you that look forward to my blog, I thank you, and I am sorry. Something threw me off my game last week, and the more I followed up, the more I learned, but then there was another event….. This is why I am a writer, not a Reader’s Digest editor. It is not in my makeup to do short and precise.

Two weeks ago, I wrote a blog about going to a couple of outdoor markets and gave out business cards and some of my blogs, and I gave a shout-out to all the small businesses I met. I was thrilled with being able to give back to others due to my feeling of an outpouring of love and support for my writing. However, on what is my most controversial blog, I got 3 nasty comments, all variations of asking me to procreate with myself. Even weirder to me was that 8 people chose an angry emoji. That was out of 158 reactions, but how could giving a shout-out irk 11 different people to react as they did. I was beginning to question if I understood people and what they were looking for in a writer. I have struggled with self-esteem in every area of my life, so I didn’t believe this, but I was perplexed.

Then I remembered an incident online from two weeks earlier. A “constitutional auditor” made a video at the town hall about 5 doors from my house. As many of you know from previous blogs, I come from not just a big city but from an extremely corrupt police force big city, Baltimore City. I grew up in 21206 in Hamilton, adjacent Raspeburg. Anyone from Baltimore will get those references. Homicide, The Wire, and We Own This City are all about the issues in Baltimore City. Out of the last 4 mayors, one was caught stealing gift cards for the homeless and poor, the next threw herself a $350K going away party, and the next was indicted and sentenced to three years in federal prison. So, I know bad town politics and bad cops.

I was quite perplexed by it until I thought there might be a connection between my comment and people trying to sabotage my writing. I took all of this knowledge and put it on a back burner in my brain to let it simmer. Then on Tuesday, I received the news I had been waiting for. I had been accepted into the MFA program I had wanted the most!!! In fact, they sent me an acceptance two months before they usually made announcements due to the quality and potential they saw in my writing. So, at this point, I am optimistic that the reason for negative reactions can only be the fans of the auditor. And probably, most people would have let it go. But not me. Oh no, I had to verify this fact. And of the 11 negative reactions and comments, three are from constitutional audit fans. What shocked me was all of the older people from the profile pics that were angry. Then I saw what it was. It was because I mentioned I went to the one fair with my wife. It is 2023, and some still hate my writing because I am gay. First of all, there is no need for them to comment or react. Block me. Please.

I do apologize for being a bit crass. Still, I can’t see any other way to say it so simply yet so powerfully that even those who are small-minded enough to judge me purely on my attractions can understand how it makes no sense.