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"God and gender" How silly I am sorry if I offend you With my male gender referral But you see God is my father

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God is my mother God is my sister God is my brother God is the air I breathe

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The happiness I perceive Sometimes I say he Sometimes I say she As long as the expression expresses life

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Expresses love Expresses me. Thank you. I identify as a woman and the pronoun I enjoy is her, she,

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you know things that relate to that you know? I’m, a lesbian, I don’t particularly care for that name, but until I think of something that sounds pretty, I’ll hold with it.

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I wanted to write about my comeuppance because it had been, being gay from childhood has always been a spectrum. Just being because when I was young I was like a tomboy.

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I was a tomboy most of my childhood. I knew that I was different but I didn’t know what the difference was, because I never met anybody that was different like me. So, when I got a chance to write, I

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had so much to, I had so much to think about and the way I had been oppressed because I wouldn’t conform, I was always just “tomboy” whatever and so and I, and I know what’s changed that, so if that were, I had battles with my family.

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I had battles with my parents and battle with students, so I, that, I just wanted to write about that and when I first started writing poetry a lot about that.

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Religion doesn’t influence my work. I’m, I’m almost, there’s such a big difference between spirituality and religion. I’m almost anti-religion.

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Religion has been dappled with, messed with, and it’s becoming very political. It’s becoming one of the major players in the judgment and the line drawing, and I don’t particularly consider myself a religious person.

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I’m a spiritual person. I have a relationship with God, so that allows me to not make judgment. It allows me to be as good to the people as I can possibly be on a daily basis.

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Religion; it puts a gap in that. It says that I’m better than you or I’m right and you’re wrong, I’m saved, you’re not. You know so the lines are just being drawn, so I’m into spirituality, so and

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that’s what I try to reflect in my work. You know that there is, I believe that there is God. I believe in God. I’m a Christian. I believe in Jesus Christ you know?

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But I just think it is warped by people who have put their interpretations in and stretched it and pulled it and turned it into an instrument of hate. That’s just my opinion.

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I love jazz, and because it’s a calming and soothing to me. I remember Herbie Hancock back in the day. We used to jam to Herbie and Stanley Clark and Jimmy the organ player and so

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I used to listen to a lot of jazz but it wasn’t because I heard it at home. It was after I got to college that I got turned on to jazz. My, my parents were very much against secular music, so it

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was not allowed in our home. I had a very strict comeuppance and so everything that I got exposed to that felt good, I’ll tell you it was after I left home. I, I got a chance to experience jazz

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and pop and the Beatles and all this stuff. It just, that, that’s what influenced me though but I thank Herbie Hancock and Witches Brew, Miles Davis; these were heavy influences

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on me. I never came, I never came out. We never, my family is a Pentecostal family so basically they don’t really talk about it. And to this day, I sent my sister a manuscript

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of a novel that I’m working on. And she was offended because it had reference to homosexuality in it. I’m a homosexual and if I’m going to do my work, I have to be honest and she was offended by it, and

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look how old we are. Even now, after all these years we have to be civil with each other. That’s what we spend our time doing, being civil. Because we can’t talk about religious, religion,

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politics or sex because everybody gets upset. I don’t know if we’ll ever reach a common ground, so my family is my family. I can’t change them and I’m not changing, so we just kind of like

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make it all up as best we can and try to keep from stepping on each other’s feet. But I love them. They’re my family. But they, they’ll never understand down here. Indeed I have to. I do have and that’s why I stay here, because I do have such

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a family. I’ve got a family here and I’ve got I don’t know, these are people that you grow to love, friends that you grow to love, and who are facing the same issues in life that you are and there’s a togetherness there.

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So, yeah, definitely. You need a family outside of your family. You need support. You just do. If you want support, Houston is good place to find that support.

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You can find it here, but there are, there are a lot of places that I go for support and I’m the only Black there and I find that it’s hard to find a place where Blacks are out in and

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in but I noticed that it starting to gel. There’s this, it’s call the Truth Project, and I noticed that the young men that are putting this together are really trying to find that common ground and I’m glad to

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see that because there’s a big gap between the Black community and the support and it’s not that it’s not available for Blacks, it’s just that I really can’t put my finger on what it is.

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But, it might be a cultural thing, just a disingenuous, we just can’t get together, we can’t find that common ground. But if you, but Houston is the best place for support.

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I like this city, so if there’s going to be any change, I believe it’ll happen here. If it’s going to get better it will start in Houston. Well, when I started out it was a lot about the coming out

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process or the growing process, and now I’m a little more political. I think that I’m more concerned about people getting along in this world and that’s just important to me.

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It’s about inclusiveness. People just enjoying each other, just coming together, just can you pull up some of these stripes and lines. I would like to

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see some of the things that divide us removed. So, I’m writing around that just the coming together. Not so many haves and have nots but just a meshing, a meshing of people. That’s

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what I’m about. All of us getting along. You know I went to Taiwan during Black History Month I conducted a workshop there and it was a diversity workshop and it was just a workshop

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to bring attention to differences and how the differences were really not because we all human and we all have our needs and it went very well. It was, the students were, and there were so many different diverse students there because

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it being an American school. There were Asian Americans. There were kids from other countries and it was, it was just a, such a rainbow

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of kids and they were very receptive and they were very; the workshop went well and what we did was, we took the writing from the workshop and we used it, incorporated it into a production, so we used

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poetry and we used song and we put together a production and it went off very, very well, and it left me with a very good feeling. Afterwards, we ate soul food, went downstairs and had a good meal

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and it just, it was a wonderful experience. The kids there are so; the difference in the kids there that I had a chance to work with, that they’re intense.

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I mean they’re there to learn to get it, and they work at it hard, and there was just, it was a pleasure working with them. I mean being in a school that is open 24 hours. School, the kids always have access to books and

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computers and it was just, it was a learning experience for myself because I know that learning can be fun and everybody can work together and it was just, it was a

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wonderful thing for me. It was. Well, it was, it’s simple. That helps out a lot because some of us are not, doesn’t have a lot of technical savvy. YouTube hooked us up on that because it just about uploaded and it

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was a one-two step, so I think it’s a good thing and I think that the information is just the prime way to get information out and you don’t have to go through a lot. You can do that at home.

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Most of the videos that I posted, I posted right here in my home. I just download the poem and send them out and so that makes it easier, and that’s a good thing. I think they’re political charge because we have so many issues we are working

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on now. This whole thing with immigration and this whole thing with the borders. This whole thing with the borders. All of this, people are talking and I’m glad

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to see that the young people are actually having something to say about it of politics. We, if you vote you’re a political person and you’ve got to be political to be here.

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I think the people are becoming involved because they do have a say. We live here. If you don’t get involved, if you don’t vote, if you don’t have a voice, you just have to, you get herded and I don’t think that people are

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trying not to be herded into something by people who haves, who can afford to move things along. The people that can’t afford to move things along financially are finding out that they have a voice and with that voice

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and that vote they can make a difference. “A New Year” Today I touched my hand I touched my hair, I stare in the mirror

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Grateful to see me smiling back I have been gently born into a new year 2011 was alive with excitement and change With its blizzards, dust storms and hurricanes

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Earthquakes and droughts Texas caught fire and burned while the clouds held back and let it sizzle No rain, children Our summer was eliminated,

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Egypt was emancipated, Revolution evolved and revolved While we occupied Wall Street around the world To hell with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

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Let the gay soldiers march on We said goodbye to Liz Taylor, young Amy and amazing Steve Nick Ashwood, Phoebe Snow, Gil Scott, Fred Shellworth, and Smoking Joe Nate Dog, Heavy D, Vista and Clarence Clements all took leave

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So much, so full 2011 so here I am YouTube born into 2012 Granted another opportunity to get it right To actively seek peace, to live and let live

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I intend to be heard to be counted and considered I eased into 2012 full of gratitude and love Here’s my smile It is for you It reflects my love

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Now you pass it on. I believe that love conquers all. I really do and I’m glad to see you all young people, grabbing the flag and going on.

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Thank you very much.