The Real Memphis Mike (don't settle for imitations)

Is there some planetary alignment that I'm unaware of or have been people been regressing at the speed of light lately? Case in point: An old friend of mine who I've know since childhood, had a prospective client storm out of his office today when he found out that my friend is black. Even more ludicrous, this potential client was also black. Everybody say it with me...WTF????? In this day and age, does a person's race still mean anything to anyone other than that person? I've known, befriended, been romantically involved with and worked with people of all races in my 45 years and you know what I've learned from that? People are people. I've been fortunate enough to have traveled around the globe and once again, people are just people. But this doesn't end here. Another friend, who is also black (or African American or Negro or Person of Color or whatever the politically correct term is this week), has been dealing with a similar issue. My friend, while disc...

I spent the past two days in northeast Ohio (where I lived in the second half of the eighties). My time there was personally turbulent but never anything less than interesting (in retrospect). It's been 21 years since I left there. If I hadn't, I probably would've drank myself to death...period. In the little area I lived in, there were 88 bars (back in the day) and not much else to do. I can tell you, I was drunk in every single one of those bars at one point or other. To paraphrase Thomas Wolfe, you really can't go back. Just being back where I used to live felt, if nothing else, surreal. I described it to a friend there thusly: "It's like being somewhere you've never been but knowing where everything is". Everything changes...which is probably a good thing...but it was disconcerting to me just how much things had changed. Familiar storefronts bore strange names. The people in the streets looked different. Lots of my friends are gone, and those remai...

Yep...I cried. I'm man enough to admit it. If you're wondering why (and since you're reading this, I'll assume you do), I'll tell ya. One of my oldest and dearest friends lost his son over the weekend. My friend is obviously devastated. For once in my life, I'm at a loss as to what to say...if anything. I want so bad to be there for my friend, to try to find a way to comfort him. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain and sorrow he is feeling. It's long been said that its not the natural order of things for a parent to outlive their children. I agree with that. Ever since I found out about my friend's son's passing over the weekend, I've been trying to figure out just what part of God's plan this could be. That's my nature. I figure things out. It's what I do. But this...I have no clue. I'll leave this in God's hands. Its how my faith works. In an effort to comfort my friend, I offered some verses from the Bible. While I am a...