As a working-class kid growing up in Buffalo, NY, I learned numerous important lessons from my parents and loved ones chief among them are these:  trust God; work hard, never giving up; and serve others for the good.

As a writer, educator and scholar, I write to shed light; I write to build bridges.  My work delves into harsh realities murder, betrayal, alienation and lostness.  I write about racism, sexism and age-ism.   Yet, amidst the seeming chaos, I strive to show hope.   I strive to show Providence or perseverance at work.

While in graduate school, I took a class from the famed writer, James Baldwin.  In The Fire Next Time, he observes:  "Color is not a human or a personal reality; it is a political reality."  The profundity of that statement is this: we can transcend race; we can transcend difference. I write and speak and work toward the transcendence of difference and the forging of communities. My late mother was, among other things, a community and church worker, canvassing for charities, sheltering those in need, giving.  Perhaps I learned all this from her.

One aspect of my legacy is memorialized in the gospel song, "Brighten the Corner where You Are."  I hope that my writing serves as an agent of brightness and illumination.