[DISCLAIMER] In high school, I had a friend who expressed a desire to one day own a gold-plated handgun. “I’m gonna call you Half Ton [stylized 1/2 Ton], because that shit’s gonna weigh about half a ton,” I laughed and responded. From then on, that’s how I’ve referred to him. Recently, when listening to “Solid Gold Guns” by rappers Banish and Conway the Machine, as well as lyricists Recognize Ali and Supreme Cerebral, on German underground hip hop production team Snowgoon

[DISCLAIMER] Three years ago, I sat with my friend “Blanca” at her residence in Virginia. Not long thereafter, for a number of reasons, we went our separate ways. Understandably, people in both my personal and professional life may experience self-distress or self-disturbance about the loss of friendship. Regarding this matter, I consider my approach to care for mental, emotional, and behavioral health (collectively “mental health”). Specifically, I frame this topic throu

[DISCLAIMER] In Existentialism: Meaning Versus Meaninglessness, I discussed a fellow military police (MP) patrolman from the United States Marine Corps, when assigned to Camp Kinser (1997-1999), to whom I referred as “Jugador.” He and I were fairly close when stationed in Okinawa, Japan. Jugador and I wound up again being stationed together when I was assigned to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (2001-2003). Unfortunately, he and I lost touch around the time when I experi

[ DISCLAIMER ] When discussing with a former friend about how I was brought up in Bomb City , where I befriended gangbangers while...