My friend Todd Drew has a writing voice that drives me to envy. Lately, he has been posting his ruminations on the Yankees and life in general at Bronx Banter. His latest post there just blew me away.
This is what Todd did. He took his thoughts and set them to music–the poetry of Langston Hughes, to be exact:
Theme for Bronx B
By Todd Drew
People know my thoughts from a baseball blog without knowing my face. Some have asked if I am Latin because I like Alex Rodriguez. Others have said that I must be black because I like Barry Bonds.
I am.
I am Latin and black. I am from Asia and Africa and Europe and the Middle East. I am Mexican and Dominican and Cuban and Panamanian and Nicaraguan and Venezuelan and Columbian. I am everyone from everywhere. I came here in the hold of a ship. I snuck across a border in the middle of the night. I picked tomatoes in California and loaded bales of cotton in Texas and processed meat in Kansas and laid bricks in Brooklyn.
That makes me an American.
I believe we are all Americans here in America.
I write about America and Americans because that is what I see and where I live and who I know and what I think and believe. It is all I know to be true.
I’ll die happy if I could write as well.
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