Who I am — and what kind of trouble I make.

I write about the American experience.  That means I don’t offer much in the way of syrupy love lyrics. No — I talk about being a person right now in the United States, with all our problems, our strange obsessions. Like Whitman before me, I see an America that could be perfected if we were but willing to see ourselves as interconnected, full of promise, ,and in a struggle for a better future.

Nihilsm is so last-century. It is also not an American virtue. While I talk about our problems — and boy do we have some —I see light ahead. Is it the end of a tunnel or a train barreling toward us? Only pushing forward will show us. The only way out of tough times is through. 

My  latest  book ,  The  Bunker  Book,  talks  about  the  problems  that  have  recently  bedeviled  Americans  —  a  pandemic,  a  divided  nation,  and  the  feeling  that  so  many  of  us  have  of  being  isolated  —  and  considers  how  we  might  recover.

My  other  titles  include  Messiah,  Polite  Occasions,  and  The  White  Trash  Pantheon,  which  one  a  prize.    See  the  tab  marked  ”Books  and  Such”  for  full  details.

I  also  have  links  to  some  work  that  appears  in  online  publications  that  readers  can  access  for  free.  I  am  published  in  literary  journals  on  five  continents .  All  this  keeps  me  off  the  streets.

John  Lewis,  a  son  of  the  South,  urged  us  all  to  make  good  trouble.  I  hope  my  books  are  just  that  —  a  bit  of  good ,  high-minded  trouble.

I have lived imany places, but I live best in New Orleans, my home. New Orleans is a place that welcomes strangers, particularly eccentric ones.  This makes it a perfect place for free thinkers, pirates, and writers.

I have had the great privilege here of joining a community of the best American writers today, as New Orleans is an American literary heritage site. Streets once strolled by Tennessee Williams, Kate Chopin and Truman Capote are strolled now by Julie Kane, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, and — well — me.

I have been welcomed by the literary community since my arrival here, and I have the privilege of being part of some of the most meaningful and culturally significant conversations of this time in America. 

I have been elected the president of the Women’s National Book Association of New Orleans. I am a member of the politically progressive writers’ group, The Peauxdunque Writers’ Alliance, and I am on the editorial team for The Peauxdunque Review. I teach French language and literature at L’Union Francaise, where I am a member — it’s the oldest French language and culture organization in New Orleans. I teach writing and literature at Southeastern Louisiana University.

Oh, and I am a proud member of the Mardi Gras Krewe  of Wonder Woman.

Like I said, New Orleans welcomes the eccentrics of the United States the way that the Statue of Liberty welcomes immigrants. If you are an eccentric, there’s a good chance you may want to enter a good conversation (almost always over food and drink) in this marvelous place.  

This website is an invitation to you to join a conversation.  I have a blog. I lead you to a link to a substack newsletter. I have books.  I will soon have audiobooks. I have links to literary journal publications and academic articles. I have a sound cloud  account where you can listen to me read my work aloud.

I would love to hear from you about how anything I say relates to your experience of these interesting times in which we live.

I hope you enjoy what you find here.

Welcome to my front porch. Take a seat on the swing.

Stay a while. Breathe.