Steven Ivory: I Always Feel Like Somebody’s Watching Me
*One afternoon a year ago, I came home to find something that scared the hell out of me: wedged in the crack between my …
Steven Ivory: That Time I Dated ‘Karen’
*We met one overcast morning in the empty, dusty waiting room of a midtown L.A. tire store, conversing over a rickety …
Steven Ivory: How to Keep a Secret
*I once knew a man who used that old phrase, “Quiet as it’s kept,” ad nauseam. “Quiet as it’s kept,” he’d say, …
Steven Ivory: There is Nothing Random About Kindness
*I entered the bookstore, and merely glancing at the dreadlocked couple immediately captured their interest—first his, …
Steven Ivory: Hello, Operator? Connect Me to a Hit Song
*During her 1994 single, “I Apologize,” Anita Baker sings the narrative of a heavy-hearted woman trying to reach her …
Steven Ivory: Let Me Turn You On (to a Song)
*From the tone of his “What’s up,” I sensed something was off. Typically enthusiastic and chatty, Jonathan was …
Steven Ivory: How to Survive (and Thrive!) During Trump 2.0
*It’s amusing in a way that lacks any semblance of humor: You’ve just processed the latest absurd news from Donald …
Steven Ivory: Tito Jackson: Grief Knows No Deadline
*It’s a shame Tito Jackson’s recent passing didn’t receive more national TV news coverage. That second assassination …
Steven Ivory: Back to School
*Right about now, I’d be shaking in my boots. That’s an ancient figure of speech, and I didn’t wear boots back then …
Steven Ivory: Kamala Harris is Standing on the Verge
*My brain connects almost every thought I have with music. Anything—an emotion, a conversation, a situation, or an …
Steven Ivory: Spring Cleaning
*Spring Cleaning is the annual custom during which we commemorate springtime by ridding ourselves of the old and making …
Steven Ivory: Before Ryan Gosling’s ‘I’m Just Ken,’ There was Stew Stewart’s ‘Ken’ | LISTEN
*“My name is Ken, and I like men.” That’s the first line from “Ken,” a song about Barbie’s Forever Man written and …
Steven Ivory: Stop Playing with These People!
*In the Republic of Singapore, selling or importing chewing gum could get you a $100,000 fine and up to two years in …
Steven Ivory: The Carnal Knowledge of Sex Ed(ward)
*I’d never heard the word before. Yes, school is for learning, and indeed, this was class. But I was 11, in the sixth …
Steven Ivory: What I’ve Figured Out Thus Far
*Fresh out of the womb, we’re as pure and innocent as we’ll ever be in this life. Then immediately, our emotional …
