Blog

Democrratic presidential candidate Joe Biden at his campaign kickoff rally in Philadelphia on May 18, 2019. All eyes are on Philadelphia and the rest of Pennsylvania as the vote count continues. Photograph by Michael Stokes.

Naked came the ballot

November 6, 2020

So, I’m in the finals at Wimbledon, up two sets to love against Novak Djokovic, who has once more secured the number one ranking in men’s tennis for the year. (Congratulations, Nole.)

In the third set, however, Nole comes roaring back. As he serves at 4-3, I halt play and, motioning to the umpire, announce, “You know what? Im good. Let’s just call it quits so I can hoist the trophy since I’m ahead and I’m sure I would’ve won had play continued anyway.”

LOL. Welcome to a sports metaphor for the 2020 presidential election, in which President Donald J. Trump has declared victory over former Vice President Joe Biden despite being behind in the electoral and popular vote count, with several key states — Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania — still to report.

The way the ball bounces: Novak Djokovic on his way to being the No.1-ranked men’s player in the world at Wimbledon in 2011. Still number one, Djokovic was bounced from the US Open last Sunday when he accidentally hit a lineswoman.

A Novak Djokovic kind of year

September 9, 2020

What kind of year has it been for you, for our global community? For many, it has been an “annus horribilis,” to borrow from what Queen Elizabeth II said of 1992. (Chuck and Di divorced. Windsor Castle burned. Your Majesty, we felt your pain.) People have lost loved ones, jobs, homes and their health to the coronavirus. Their loss and grief are incalculable, as are our feelings of inadequacy in trying to help them.

For others, it’s been “the best of times, the worst of times,” to quote another Briton, Charles Dickens. They have not lost their health, loved ones, jobs and homes. Instead they are working from and on their homes, using their extra time to acquire new skills, take up a language, a sport or an art, exercising and losing weight and generally getting their lives in order. They’ve made money in the market, as tech and pharma stocks help buoy the Dow, and have even earned honors. Or maybe they haven’t endured any losses but they’re struggling with a number of challenges, like the kids’ schooling.

In any event, it’s hard for them to take much pleasure and pride in their accomplishments and blessings with so much suffering around them — and with the occasional curve ball thrown their way. They’re having what we might call a Novak Djokovic kind of year.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, seen here at a Bernie Sanders rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa, last year, says that while haters gotta hate, you can still shine on. Amen, sister, amen. Photograph by Matt Johnson. — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, seen here at a Bernie Sanders rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa, last year, says that while haters gotta hate, you can still shine on. Amen, sister, amen. *Photograph by Matt Johnson.*

AOC and 'shining on'

July 26, 2020

I was going to do a blog post about the Ibsen-ization of Dr. Anthony Fauci,;how President Donald J. Trump has tried to turn him into Henrik Ibsen’s title character in “An Enemy of the People” for speaking truth to power,; how Trump, jealous that Fauci got to throw out the first pitch at the Washington Nationals home opener against the New York Yankees, just had to announce that he, too, would be throwing out the first pitch at the Yanks’ Aug. 14 game against the Boston Red Sox; how fans of teams and individuals who behave contrary to their beliefs are left in a quandary: Do you support your team, as you might your family, no matter what? Or do you stand on principle and part company?

I’ll always love the Yanks, but I cannot for the life of me understand how their former, legendary closer Mariano Rivera — a self-proclaimed Christian and proud Panamanian — can support Trump, whose actions are antithetical to the teachings of Jesus, particularly when it comes to Hispanic immigrants.

As I said, I was going to write about all this, and then Rep. Ted Yoho called colleague Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a “f***ing bitch “and the Repubs went after one of their own, Rep. Liz Cheney, for sticking up for Fauci, and I realized I had to write about that.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator and star of “Hamilton.” Photograph by Steve Jurvetson. — Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator and star of “Hamilton.” *Photograph by Steve Jurvetson.*

Guest blogging at JMS Books

July 13, 2020

It’s not often that I promote another blog on this one, but recently, my publisher, JMS Books, put out a call to any of its authors who wanted to guest blog on its website. Being an inveterate blogger, I jumped at the chance, and my post is running Tuesday, July 14, Bastille Day. (Vive la France.)

The post is not about France but about how I came to write “The Games Men Play” series, about power, dominance and rivalry, set mainly in the world of sports, although I’ve expanded the series to include earlier novels that have only recently been published. I won’t recount the post here, so you can discover it for yourself at jms-books.com as well as my books,, including my latest work, the short story “The Glass Door,” about love in the time of corona. (It’s a theme that’s haunting me and other writers of late.) It’s due out Aug. 10.

I will, however, discuss a subject here related to that post since many of my books are about gay or bisexual men and that is cultural appropriation.

Novak Djokovic at the moment he became the No. 1-ranked tennis player in the world, in the 2011 Wimbledon semifinals. Still No. 1, he is under fire for organizing a Balkan tour for select players that ignored the coronavirus restrictions in place el… — Novak Djokovic at the moment he became the No. 1-ranked tennis player in the world, in the 2011 Wimbledon semifinals. Still No. 1, he is under fire for organizing a Balkan tour for select players that ignored the coronavirus restrictions in place elsewhere.

The D list -- disease, denial and Djokovic

June 23, 2020

There are few emotions more confounding, crushing and ultimately useless than the love affair between a fan and an athlete — confounding because, well, it’s one-sided really. I mean, you really don’t know the athlete, only what you project unto him, which is really a dream of yourself. Crushing, because the emotion is real enough. And useless, because, well, see 1. and 2.

So it pains me to write about Novak Djokovic’s thoughtless, coronavirus-infested, aborted Balkan tennis tour.

The ancient practice of genuflecting — seen here in Leonardo’s “The Annunciation” (1472, oil on panel, the Uffizi Gallery), as the archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she is to be the mother of Jesus — has been brilliantly repurposed… — The ancient practice of genuflecting — seen here in Leonardo’s “The Annunciation” (1472, oil on panel, the Uffizi Gallery), as the archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she is to be the mother of Jesus — has been brilliantly repurposed by the Black Lives Matter protesters, beginning with Colin Kaepernick.

Taking a knee for social justice

June 9, 2020

The horrific murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police May 25 set off a tidal wave of national and global outrage that has renewed interest in and debate on Colin Kaepernick’s 2016 protests against racial inequality and police brutality.

The roar of the (distant) crowd

May 29, 2020

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

The old thought experiment is predicated on the notion that sound requires perception, not just airwaves, so no perception, no sound.

That seems to be the thinking behind those bemoaning the prospect of spectator-less spectator sports. What meaning will they have without those who provide the gate, the soundtrack, the inspo, the raison d'être?