My daughter, Alexandra Hayden, whose pen name is Alex Wolf, was featured several years ago on Forbes’ “30 under 30” list of people to watch out for, which was wonderful as she was listed with Lin-Manuel Miranda, among others. Now, after having just become 31 last April, she made the Black Enterprise “40 under 40” list of people to watch out for!
Shando and I had a wonderful xmas gathering yesterday at my sister’s house in Granite Bay. My nephew is only 16 and towers over all of us. My brother, sister and I are there with their kids, Brooke and Nicholas, and my brother-in-law, Ken. It looks like everyone got the memo to wear grey, but my niece is actually wearing maroon (you just can’t see it in this photo).
We brought the foldable electric scooter which Shando finally agreed to try on the flat street in my sister’s neighborhood. I think he was afraid to say how much he loved it, but he is always worried about breaking a bone, since he’s proud that he has never had to wear a cast in his life.
We brought two of our senior dogs, Polar and Capulet. My sister’s brown-spotted dog Ricki was reticent about the company, but she and Polar fell in love and played a ton, which was nice to see. My brother brought Mocha, the little chihuahua mix, who was more aloof. I listened carefully to the video to make sure we protected those we were gossiping about. They are not identifiable from this video. 🙂
Gifts for my niece and nephew (from “Guncles”):
Today makes seven years since I lost my mom to fucking cancer (ovarian). She was only 73, so she would have been 80 this December. 
I was named after my mother, Giuseppina, and she was named after my Nonno, Giuseppe. I was a huge momma’s boy. We spoke all day in chat when I was at work for YEARS, not to mention at least a few calls a day even when she was visiting Italy or I was living on the East Coast.
The guy with the beer in the picture below is my dad, of course. We lost him way too early from his smoking. He was only 50, so my mom was widowed at age 47. Both my parents died before one of their own parents, so I had the most unfortunate duty of consoling my Nonna (in my mom’s case) and my grandfather (in my dad’s case) over the loss of their offspring. Continents and decades apart, I heard them both scream about how it should have been them instead.
The United Democrats of Southern Solano had a great chat with Jackie Elward. Among other things, this was a very personal dialog where I shared a very personal story of my own that Jackie and I have dealt with — namely our biracial children being teased.
She starts talking about her son’s ideation from being bullied around 9:20 into the video and I get to respond to a few things that she said around the 30 minute mark.
My daughter and my brother weren’t able to make it, but my nephew (who turned 16 three days before my 55th), my niece, sister and brother-in-law joined Shando and me today. Someone had given me a princess tiara, so I adorned that as they sang over a pride cake.
I joked that since it was technically the day after pride month, they should have insisted on half-price!
My nephew and niece are so big!
From Uncle Ruckus of Boondocks fame!
I finally got around to posting juxtaposed pictures of my previous trips to Oahu and some of the key photos of my grandparents and parents from the 1950’s and 1970’s. My dad grew up for much of his childhood in Oahu, including when Hawaii became a state, and then later lived on Moloka’i when he himself was stationed there from about 1961-1963. This project was to take photographs in places where they were photographed decades earlier.
Check out my previous Oahu trips in 2009 and 2016. I will now have my 2022 trip added.
In 2009, my friend Kawika Mueller, who I had met on Maui the year before, helped me go to the places where my grandparents and parents had traveled which were recognizable on Oahu. I sort of recreated the shots thanks to Kawika.
Kayla is my god-niece. Her grandmother Carla was my godmother and her dad is my god-brother. Here is a picture of me with my two god-brothers. We have not been in the same place in at least 38 years (since my god-brother Joe’s wedding in the Summer of 1984).
A woman in Catalonia wrote me to ask for permission to do a story on my parents, who I mention on my blog lived in the northern part of Catalonia near Girona and the French border. Our entire family lived there but my siblings were so young that they do not have as clear memories as I do. I know the picture of my parents featured in the article was one cherished by my mom. On this same cement slab is where I learned how to ride a bike. We lived there from 1975-1977, when we moved to live on base in New York City on Governor’s Island. I remember celebrating the American Bicentennial on base in Spain. It was quite a culture shock to move to NYC. The article is written in Catalan, a Latin-based language of the region of Spain where we lived.
Here is the original photo:
Enjoy!
