March 28, 2019
*** The series finale for Biker’s Island is still sizzling on the grill. I’m taking my time with it because I know you guys like it juicy and well done and if I serve it medium rare someon...
March 21, 2019
Previously on Biker’s Island … The day Alan stumbled through my door reeking of liquor, I didn’t have the foresight to stop what was coming. I was groggy from the remnants of morphine I ...
March 7, 2019
Previously on Biker’s Island… Two months into our relationship, Lenny and I had our first fight. We had had tensions before, little zaps of static from the current running between u...
February 28, 2019
The business of creating things you love most times is a neatly-wrapped gift of freedom, self-direction, and unparalleled fulfillment. But it can also be a ball of fear in your throat, the hot air of ...
February 21, 2019
Previously on Biker’s Island… At his bedroom window, I stepped behind the heavy, opaque drapes; the kind they have in hotel resorts that you can draw in the middle of the afternoon and cat...
February 14, 2019
Previously on Biker’s Island … There was a moment when I thought he would lean in and kiss me. I had given in to a pleasurable adrenaline rush that was crackling inside of me and I ...
February 7, 2019
Previously in Biker’s Island … My near-arrest catalyzed my relationship with Lenny, but what I didn’t know was that it also unfurled a set of cataclysmic events that would eventually lea...
January 31, 2019
Previously on Biker’s Island… On the days leading up to the evening when I had a brush with the law, there were signs of a sandstorm sweeping through my desert. That morning I rolled over ...
January 24, 2019
Previously on Biker’s Island… After that awkward first date, I found myself out of sorts. I had tried not to place expectations on it. I was a good sport. I talked about my son even though...
January 10, 2019
Previously on Biker’s Island It didn’t happen that first week or even the next month. Not for lack of trying on Lenny’s part. He called and messaged, and I always said, “Sure, let’s do i...
December 20, 2018
I have fragments of stories. Story lines grabbing at the seams of my conscious. Scenes of people, noises, tears, words said with quivering lips, trembling fingers, thick, heavy words that come out in ...
December 13, 2018
My breath fogs up the helmet visor. Through the haze, I see savanna grass in my peripheral field of vision. Directly above is a wisp of a cloud and a hawk hovering in a mostly clear sky. It’s...
December 6, 2018
Long Read Ahead. * The train lurches forward at exactly 3 PM. I watch as the stationary containers fall away against the backdrop of a clump of clouds. Just as we leave the Mombasa terminus, rain star...
November 1, 2018
A few weeks ago I did an interview with Bett Kinyatti of Craft It. She writes stories of Kenyans in their craft. For her miniseries about Nairobi’s creatives that she’s calling Hunt Like a Hu...
October 25, 2018
Previously in Taste of Mel As told by Mel * World Cup season finds me in Ukunda, South Coast for a three-day intercultural conference. Makena hooked me up with this photography gig but I couldn’t br...
October 18, 2018
I have good news and bad news. The bad news is, I’m away this week which means Taste of Mel will not be running. The good news is, Habiba Billal is stepping in with a guest post. Earlier this ye...
