My Cardboard Balcony

I am the only openly gay teacher at the high school I work at. It sunk in this afternoon after I had some much-needed discussions with my students regarding the power of words and discriminatory comments that I or students have heard around campus. I'm not going to go into details as to what specific events led to my decision to have these conversations. What I will mention, however, is that they were necessary, and I wanted to generate an open forum for my students to speak their minds and share their thoughts. That being said, I'm not afraid to be open about my experiences as a homosexual, non-binary individual. While I have never endured major moments of discrimination due to my sexuality or my gender expression - for example, I have never been fired from a job, denied service at a business, or shunned from a community based on these factors - I have dealt with a multitude of smaller, peskier forms of prejudice and insults. I have been called a "fat dyke" by st

Eyes On You, Mr. President by Belinda Roddie Someone's a lowlife, and it ain't the people investigating you.

Here we are in a crowded parking lot, where the air conditioner doesn't work in my sedan, and it's getting way too hot to concentrate on the melting road ahead. Look, I see many mirages, waves of intensity rippling like water in front of me. Is asphalt could be an ocean, then all it needs now is salt and seawater before it consumes me. I am trying desperately to drive in a straight line, but everything is crooked, and everything is off-center.