Portfolio of Work

Girl in the Doorway

Memoirist 

Published on June 27, 2020

A  memoir of how a birthday party I attended when I was 8 years old changed my views on race.

“I have a dream that one day … little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” Martin Luther King Jr.

Race and money made for an easy roadmap in 1978 Atlanta. It was orderly. The white and black communities knew where to go and not to go. Each knew where to eat, where to shop, where to live, and where to send their kids to school. Against this backdrop, controversy brewed when my classmate, Raquel, delivered invitations to her birthday party.

Wrestling Joe Biden

The Good Men Project

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First Published on July 10, 2020

Years ago, as a young journalist in Washington, DC, I was assigned to attend a Senate hearing on foreign relations.  Upon entering an elevator reserved for Senators and their staff, which I was ushered into because the Capitol was under construction, I noticed the floor was covered with a bright blue mat.

As the doors were closing a man jumped on.  He carried a leather briefcase and resembled a corporate raider on his way to buy a company or unload vast amounts of stock.  I recognized him as Senator Joe Biden.

An Inglorious Night

The Haven 

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Published on November 25, 2020

Uncle Tommy insisted on talking about Ireland and Lou Holtz. He was attempting to slur through an impression of the football coach and his trademark lisp. A monsoon of spittle was pouring down on me as he switched on the basement light and asked me to get up to demonstrate what I recall was a blocking technique he had employed while playing football at Fordham.

Chris Parent