James Black's Blog
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Nov.24.2011
Sophie was my protector. Not so much physically. At 25 pounds she couldn't have fended off a mugger or a monster, but she saved me from loneliness, which is one of my greatest fears.
I was lonely for the first year after we moved to Pennsylvania. I couldn't find a job in the area, and even though I...
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Sep.18.2011
A week ago, a friend wrote to tell me she dreamed of my dog, Sophie, who recently died. She dreamed she was walking Sophie and that dogs from the neighborhood surrounded them. She reported the incident to a local official, concerned that the dogs would somehow be in danger. The official told...
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Jun.22.2011
As a young queer, I read Dale Peck's novel Martin and John. John escapes abuse, meets Martin, and suffers the loss of the person and love he's found. The only detail that stays in my memory is blood in a yellow vinyl chair, "like the red speck in a spoiled egg yolk." The threat of...
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Jan.02.2011
I resolve to set reasonable minimum expectations and meet them. This approach isn't new to me. I've used it for years, finding it motivating to say, "Well, at least I'll do five pushups" or "Writing one sentence shouldn't be too hard," and then blast past the ridiculously...
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Oct.13.2010
On some sweet Saturday in April that convinced us it was June, David called me and said he had to get out of the house. By he he meant we. The rose garden at Loose Park was a known cure for cabin fever, we agreed. Although the roses weren't blooming yet, we could imagine what they would look like,...
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Aug.04.2010
About twenty years ago, standing before the selection of oranges at the supermarket near work, I heard a voice whisper: "Get the smooth ones; they're juicier."What I pictured was a Morticia Adams-like figure leaning in to give me this dish. In reality, my informer was gnome-like, dressed...
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Jul.28.2010
The doors shut me in the elevator. I can’t reach any of the buttons. To get into the elevator, I hoisted myself up onto the ash can that was about as high as my waist and I felt the rim of it dig into my little almost-four-year-old knees so I could poke the call button. I wanted really bad to make...
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About James
James Black is working on a novel about the home front experiences of the gay partner of an American soldier serving in Iraq. He lives in central Pennsylvania, USA, with his partner and blogs at http://j3quota.wordpress.com.
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