#panelist

I can't quite recall how I got mixed up with NewsTalk Television maybe it was my association with Ms. Evers or possibly GMHC being from their youth program, but I did a handful of appearances playing the young Black gay. I have most of those appearances now digitized.

This is when I was living in Williamsburg, I am pretty sure Henry had moved out at this point, and I loved the thrill of NTT sending one of those luxury cars to pick me up very early in the morning. The studio was somewhere around thirty-fourth street. I remember this was when I still had some of the liquid foundation I got from Keesha Atterberry back in college, and when I got into the studio they would just powder me a little so I didn't shine.

Mostly it was just the host and one to three guest, and another lady I can't remember her name, but she would provide details or do internet searches. A few times we actually had a studio audience which was fine for me. Usually the first thing done when I arrived was getting mic'd up and then usually waiting in a green room until it was time to go to set. I can recall there were so many generic whyte men in suits who were the panelist on these shows. I was happy to be a very different kind of panelist.

This particular show, the only thing I could remember about both guest is that they seemed so stiff, even though I am the one with clearly the best posture sitting up with shoulders back. I think the guy on my right was actually gay, but not remotely flirty and the guy on the left was the enemy for all intensive purposes, I felt a bit trapped because they kept arguing with each other during the thirty minute or so segment.

That was another big thing, sometimes I was on for one segment sometimes a couple of segments. Regardless at the end of it, I was always sent home with a video tape, which I am pleased I finally got digitized. I look so young and handsome, and at this time I was much more articulate than some of my recorded college interviews. I allowed myself to be totally present, and took my time with my answers so there weren't any verbal fillers in my speech. The only thing I could have probably done better was be more argumentative, they love fighting on talk shows, even then in the early nineties.

Curiously the topic of what our children are reading in schools is still an issue. The big thing now is that librarians have some how become the targets in this war of what is, and isn't appropriate to teach children. Otherwise the arguments are more or less the same.

[Click below to watch entire segment]