First of all, could you tell us a bit about
yourself?
Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, an educator and
now first-time novelist, I grew up among ultra-conservative racist and homophobic attitudes during
the 1950s and early 1960s and saw first-hand the corrosive effects on
individuals who were different because of their skin color or sexual
orientation. Two events in particular provided the tipping point in my
education—the suicide of a friend at the University of Florida in 1958 during
the state's purge of gay and
lesbian students and teachers, and "Ax Handle Saturday" in August of 1960 when white supremacists
with baseball bats and ax handles
attacked young black activists engaged in a sit-in. These two events
influenced the next thirty years in my personal development and to the writing
of my novel, The Sin Warriors.
