I Hope This Helps

I stop paying attention to the news around 10 pm as a rule. I try to do something else. Anything else. Play video games. Write some short fiction. Clean my kitchen. My bathroom. Something else. I was listening to the third book in the Armored Saint trilogy and painting. I heard my front door unlock. I have four people that have a key to my whole living space and two of them are among my unofficial godchildren. “Hey,” I started to say as packed up my brushes and went toward the door. It was just another base coat anyway and one of my godchildren is standing there. And this look on their face. It’s not accusing. It’s not saying I hurt them. It’s the face of a scientist who has disproved a theory that another old scientist said was true. I say this all the time, that Baltimore is per capita no more dangerous than any major American city. And it’s not. Baltimore is barely a major American city in terms of population. But it terms of American Blackness, it’s among THE American cities. Th

  EXT. High School Science Fair in the 1980s  INT. Science Fair, it's a bunch of people doing variations on physics. This one guy, who is extremely tall and has green skin is the only one taking a swing at a botany project INT. Herman is holding a rose bush so rich and lush against the dull space of the school gymnasium it catches the eye In the improvised hallway there are guys doing physics and Herman's Roses stand out even more.  Lily is the Student Judge,