Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up across the street from the world's busiest airport in Atlanta, Georgia. Seeing the devastating environmental effects of the airport expansion in the late sixties and early seventies drove me to write An Airport Ate the Neighborhood, which is one of the essays included in Essays & More Straight from the Pen.
When did you first start writing?
In July 2003, the A.A. Grapevine published an article I wrote; however, I began writing with an intent to publish in 1981 while in the most dangerous prison in the United States. That plan was foiled when a married woman I was having an affair with said that she couldn't find the manuscripts that I had mailed her, after I had gotten released and wanted to seek publication.
Read more of this interview.