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| My mother, me and Mummy Hildred - Brooklyn, 2009 |
When you live 6000 miles away from the place you refer to as home, it's important to have folks who you can count on to stay connected. I've been away for 17 years now, and I'm thankful that there are a few friends who are tried and true. One of them is fellow Brooklyn writer
Deborah Cowell. Debbie and I met in the mid-90s when we both worked in NYC publishing. As Marie Brown's assistant, I met an array of artists and writers in Marie's office. At that time we were located in downtown Manhattan- 625 Broadway to be exact. Debbie used to be an editor at Doubleday until she left to travel and write. This is a picture that Debbie took on that day in 2009 when she and I walked from downtown Manhattan over the Brooklyn bridge to Forte Green, Brooklyn. We visited her childhood home and then to my mother's who lives just a few blocks away. As Brooklyn girls, Debbie and I always offered each other a mutual understanding of things in our Manhattan world. This picture is worth a lot to me, as it shows my grandmother before she had really succumbed to Alzheimer's. That day we all went down the street on Fulton to the Jamaican restaurant Buff patty.
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Sporting my hat I made him.
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| 9th Ward, New Orleans |
My friend Mark Valley and I go back to the early 90s. We first me when we both worked at a coffee shop on 5th Avenue - it was the first, real espresso bar to conquer our city. Mark is an actor and writer and we both bonded on literature and writing. We traveled together - a couple of trips to Louisiana - and motorcycled through Connecticut without helmets on a Triumph. We listened to Nina Simone, talked about the genius of James Baldwin and Marlon Brando. Mark went on to work in TV and film and we managed to hook up again in New Orleans in 2012. Mark reminds me of what hard work and dedication means. In many ways, we're as different as night and day, but that our friendship has endured these many years says a lot about how far the desire to understand and be understood can take you.
A recent friend I've been blessed to have in my life is the writer
Patrick A. Howell. The internet is a wonderful tool in bringing like-minded souls together, and I have it to thank for meeting this brother. Brought together by our love of writing, Patrick has become a champion of my work in a way that Brook Stephenson was. Patrick A. Howell has a few projects in the works, one of which I have had a hand, and I look forward to its imminent publication. Soon.
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| Award-winning Investment Banker now writer Patrick A. Howell |
Speaking about Brook Stephenson. Here's my latest for
NBCBLK that all about Brook and his dream that he and his brother made a reality at The Rhode Island Writer's Colony. Going out there and spending time with both Brook and Jason was one of the best things I could have ever done - and one of my greatest desires is to ensure that this space continues as Brook's legacy. I miss Brook all the time. He had this way of always being in touch - always having time to make me not feel so far away. Always encouraging, championing me. And he did this with everyone.
I am thankful for the people in my life who understand me and who, after so much time, are still here.
farvel,
