UNPAVED moves between worlds — between past and future, between shadow and possibility, between life and death. It is the story of a man who chose questions over certainty, wonder over comfort, and nature over predictability.
UNPAVED is what happens when you take a road less traveled.
QUEER
As I stepped behind Ryan to nibble on his ear, a gust of wind blew through the flat—carrying salted air mixed with eucalyptus as I moved to his neck.
“Someone grab it!” Alain commanded from the kitchen.
The wind picked up a long strip of brightly dyed pink fabric—making it dance toward the big bay windows.
“I’ve got it!” James yelled as he…
When we Rise.., and Fall: three men who changed the world — and me.
One created the first medical cannabis dispensary in the world — the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club. Another created the LGBT rainbow pride flag. A third created the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
They housed me. Fed me. Nurtured me. Guided me. One of them betrayed me
The Fortners: A Southern Gothic Triptych
I. The night the lights went out in Barb — An Introduction to Violence.
II. Kissing cousin’s — An Introduction to Sex.
III. Tent Revivals, Talking in tongues, and the Rapture — An Introduction to God
I should have taken a left at Albuquerque.
I lay beneath the stars near the Rio Grande, Counting regrets like coins dropped in the sand. A man of motion, hitching truth to roads, Chasing the idea of home, not the house. From Texas Route 90 I watched the border stretch, The sky a velvet vault that told no lies.
Along the Guyandotte River
I didn’t choose the family by the river, but I did choose the ones who see me as sunrise, not shadow. Who love like water—constant, soft on the edges, able to reshape everything.
My Uncle Chuck
There were four of us boys in that house by the Guyandotte.
Three were my uncles— still kids, really. One of them gay.
His name was Chuck. Still in high school when he was murdered.
Friendships: What We Were, What We Are, What Remains
A Triptych in Three Voices.
I. The Soul Behind the Shattered Pane: A Villanelle of Regret
II. The Soul Beyond the Shattered Pane; A Villanelle in Reply
III. The Letter I Never Sent: A First-Person Reckoning
What to Do When You’re at a Fork in the Road: Lessons from the Road Less Traveled
If you’re at that fork, staring down a road you didn’t expect, wondering if you should take the easy path or the one that scares you—don’t do it half-assed. Don’t run home when it gets tough. If you’re going to change everything, then change everything.
And as you go, cherish your friendships along the way. The places will be temporary, but the people are what make the journey worth it. I wish I had held them closer instead of treating them as passing stops on my route.
Because in the end, the road less traveled isn’t about arriving anywhere.