But what of the present crisis in Ukraine? The red line is well established by NATO country borders, and if (and when) Russia (or a Ukrainian troublemaker) crosses that line, then we will have an obligation to go to war alongside our NATO allies. Then the nukes will come out and we will have given up on the peace process far from the 10,000 tries it needed to succeed.
In those days, for a person like me who never considered himself anything other than a boy, being a homosexual (aka faggot, queer, homo, pansy) was a curse worse than death. Even though I had very little understanding of what it really meant, I was programmed to believe homosexuality was “bad.” I knew I didn’t want to be one.
Trascorsi quella notte calda in uno stato di dormiveglia, l’Adhan dei miei sogni mi chiamava a venire, inchinarmi e inginocchiarmi in una moschea fatta non da mani umane, ma foggiata dalla materia della fantasia, dalla mia coscienza mistica, ricordi distorti come riflessi in uno specchio deformante e terrori della tana del drago. Venni trascinato via come Aladino sul suo tappeto magico, nella notte stellata nera come l’inchiostro, in luoghi sconosciuti, fino a quando la mattina seguente giunse la salvezza dell’alba, i primi raggi di sole illuminavano la mia finestra e il ronzio del richiamo del Moadhin attraverso l’altoparlante, “Venite alla preghiera. Venite alla preghiera.”
Un altro giorno a Marrakesh.
Back and forth we talked for five, maybe 10 miles, his baritone voice rich and earthy, with an American dialect so familiar and musical I pray it never perishes from the earth. When we came to a fork in the road, we said our goodbyes. Sly turned left, and I turned right.
I may never see him again, but for that one stretch of road, on a bright, cold winter’s day, I felt like I had been dipped in warm, melted chocolate.
, I’ve been asked: “Brant. Exactly how did that happen?” My story begins on the careening decks of a ship caught in heavy seas somewhere off the coast of Cyprus. The year is 1967.
