I wish people would stop staring at my husband Kareem Touré and I, seriously. Folks in the City of Detroit, Michigan, and its environs, have a nasty habit of staring at interracial couples, especially when half of the pair is a man of African descent. I tell myself that someday I'll get used to it but I don't see it happening anytime soon. My name is Afaf Ib...
Born in the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba, to an Anishinaabe First Nations father, Louis Okunnug, and an Irish-Canadian mother, Eileen O'Reilly, Lilianna Okunnug grew up torn between two completely different worlds. After the divorce was finalized, Lilianna's mother returned to the City of Galway, Ireland, and raised her there. At the age of eighteen, Lilianna...
As Salam Alaikum, folks. My name is Abdirashid Ismail, and I'm a young Somali Muslim man living in the City of Gothenburg, Sweden. There are over forty thousand people of Somali descent living in Sweden, and for this reason, we're among the most oppressed minorities there. Lots of Arabs and Turks also make their home in Sweden, but it's us Somalis that most...
"It's beautiful" Melinda said as they pulled onto the large plot of land and continued to drive slowly up the grassy road towards the house in the distant. In the field on their left a few horses roamed freely in the sunshine. And in the field to their right some Cattle grazed lazily on the plush grass. "Yeah. What's the catch?" Tom replied, agreeing with...
Gillian Anderson falls silent, squeezing the steering wheel with angry, white knuckles. The radio squawks futilely –Bob Seger murmuring about the sound of thunder. I turn the music off; in this close, brooding quiet, the song seems out of place. “Listen,” I say, “you asked if . . .” “Why the hell would you say that?” Gillian demands, cutting me off, “You t...
Naomi Walters rubbed her aching back. She hated parties; having never really been much of a social butterfly. But she knew the importance of this day for her partners Thyne and Wendy. This baby shower was the culmination of their dreams. As a reminder of her important role in it all, their child gave a sound kick in her horribly distended stomach. The true...
That night at dinner, the two couples laughed and ate huge plates of seafood and finished off three bottles of wine. The more wine they consumed, the more they laughed. The girls talked about spending the afternoon on the beach; the boys talked about their afternoon in town. Judit never mentioned her little exhibitionism. Immogen did catch her smiling at her...
No, I really don't feel guilty about the whole thing. Actually, I think I performed a public service--I mean, I know better than to expect a medal or anything, but at least someone should acknowledge that I was right and that they were wrong. If it hadn't been me, it would have been someone else, and the whole thing could have gone far worse. Those people sh...
Billy Bob stepped off the front porch of his house in Sturgis, South Dakota. He was an impressive young man, wearing a ten-gallon hat, a pistol belt, and two six-shooters. Bikers were in town, from all over the world, for the Black Hills Rally. It was high noon. Not exactly, but close enough. The movie, starring Gary Cooper, was his favorite. His mom made...
I have an obsession. Shall I let you in on it? Well, okay. My therapist always told me that it was best to get things out into the open. This just happens to be one of them. One of many things I've worked out of my system. My proclivity for female flesh was supposed to be one of them, but I've decided to hold onto that obsession, along with this one. And s...