HEY, THIS IS ME.
Hi, My Name is Brian is my way of connecting to the world through words. It’s just a place for me to share and start conversations and think about where I fit in this crazy life. I’ve been a filmmaker, a sales manager, a business owner. I think I’ve been the most successful being a father. I’ve got plenty of failures there too, but it doesn’t feel the same as failures in other adventures. I mean sometimes it feels worse, but mainly it always feels promising and hopeful. Like I’m hopeful they will change their attitude after these teenage years. One day they asked me why I’ve never used my English degree and why I never really tried to be a writer. That hit a little too deep. The kind of sting you feel from a baseball hitting too close to your hands on an aluminum bat. How can I push them to follow their dreams if I don’t follow mine? So this is for Levi and Cooper. I love you both and am so proud of your sensitivity and humanity and I can’t wait to see how you involve yourself with the world.
The Rape Waiver
I’ve been arrested by the FBI and handed over to the U.S. Marshals for processing. Someone thrusts a digital tablet into my hands, a document waiting for my signature. Everything around me moves in streaks of blurred colors. The room is a gray canvas, and the people swirling through it paint erratic strokes—yellow blouses, blue polos, khaki pants, white tennis shoes, brown holsters. They pivot, turn, disappear, reappear. It’s a dance—messy, yet choreographed—and I’m no more than an unwilling participant dragged onto the stage without a single rehearsal.