It was supposed to be a routine visit to the barbershop. A bi-weekly beard appointment that’s always an experience, to say the least. My barbershop is no different than the average black male safe space I’ve known since childhood. A Dutch oven of homemade stew made with camaraderie, a dash of misogyny, black pride, sports talk, and the occasional smidgeon of homophobia. On this day, it would be the latter ingredient which proved to be a bit too much for my taste buds to handle. Insert heavy sigh and deep eye roll.   To reference banging a guy out, regardless of context was a no-go, and I ..read more

My love of YouTube is strong and well-documented. I lose myself most weekends gouging on travel vlogs, creative lifestyle brands, and documentaries just to name a few. I have, however, become frustrated at the lack of representation of content from black male creatives that aren’t centered around misogyny, sex tourism, and passport bros vibes. I wanted to see brothers traveling and living their best lives but where were they on the YouTube? It must be said that there are plenty of YouTubers who are offering an inside view of their lives via concert attendance, intentionally titillating gym wo ..read more

Your vacation has been approved. You’ve packed a luggage full of fits, toiletries, and a pair of crisp, non-creased Jordans. Your direct flight from JFK was on time and chartered a seamless journey from New York City to the shores of Bavaro, a beach in Punta Cana Dominican Republic. There is only one problem. The money you paid months in advance via the event promoter for an end-of-summer party was never used to book your room. You are now stranded in one of the most sought-after Caribbean destinations with nowhere to sleep. What now?   DRtakeover, an event that was unofficially created i ..read more

The long, narrow, wooden staircase led me to my personal hell. How did I get here? Why am I here? These are the questions I asked myself while trapped at the Ugly Mug bar in Washington DC. It was Memorial Day Weekend, Black Gay Pride, and to quote the amazing Loretta Devine in Waiting to Exhale, “ I could have been home watching Good Times.”   As I paid my twenty bucks and got my wristband, a deep regret began to set in. I looked into the crowd of mature, black men packed inside the small space like sardines in a can. All I could think of at that moment was are we still doing this? Why do ..read more

Hey you! It’s been a minute. My last post was September 7, 2021. I made a conscious decision at the time that I was going to focus on starting a new chapter. Ruelon.com would have to take a backseat to my peace and overall mental health. What have I been doing? I’ve been discovering who I am in this next stage of my life. It’s also not lost on me that my last post was ironically the 32nd anniversary of my mother’s passing. A time in my life where a major shift occurred and I would never be the same.   Positivity will always be my go-to approach to continue to inspire my loyal readers, b ..read more

  You have no control over the family you’re born into. I was fortunate to have an amazing childhood with loving and supportive parents. My sister, to this day, is one of my best friends. We’re cut from the same cloth and our similarities are uncanny right down to how we store our ketchup (in the fridge).   Undoubtedly, our lives have taken on two very different paths. My sister married a man I’ve known since the 11th grade. She’s raised three amazing sons and is the grandmother of two adorable and energetic grandchildren. She settled in northern Virginia and led what some would call ..read more

The world is slowly reopening. I’m fully vaccinated and the mid-Atlantic states have already experienced their first heatwave of 2021. Now that Covid-19 and her oppressive hold on how we live and connect appear to be lifting, everyone I know is breathing out a collective sigh of relief. Since I’ve survived my second dose of Moderna, the unofficial start of summer gave way to a slew of invites from friends ready to resume the hot boy summer 2020 and Miss Rona denied us all.   Despite the amount of Americans receiving vaccines, no one should be throwing caution to the wind just yet.   ..read more

A former acquaintance asked me to write about him three years ago – I declined. There was no evidence whatsoever at the time that he was gay. I heard the rumors, but outing anyone regardless of proof was then, and still is – unacceptable! There was, however, something that vexed me about his story. The signs of a troubled soul were laid out before many of us like pieces to a jigsaw puzzle. Long before the documentaries, conviction, and ultimately his death by suicide at a correctional facility in Massachusetts, I was haunted by the turbulent life and death of Aaron Hernandez.   The once-p ..read more

Twitter isn’t the most forgiving place. Whenever I see some poor soul getting dragged over the proverbial coals on the fickle platform, I ask two questions. Is the dragging warranted? If yes then proceed with popcorn and sit back and enjoy the show. Is it mean-spirited? If so then pour a drink and enjoy the show. Just kidding, I don my keyboard warrior red cape of support and add my two cents.   Last week, legendary music producer Timbaland disrupted our pandemic Friday posting a photo of himself with a caption which read, “Good afternoon, how is your Friday going?” Harmless right? I thou ..read more

To be or not to be husband material, that is the question. As a child, I can recall hearing my mother, and aunties talk about what constitutes a good man but I must admit, I never quite understood what it meant to them, nor its connection to potential marital bliss. As an adult, I’m still not entirely sure my life experience has been able to shed any additional light on the topic.   Now of course one can assume that a man who is husband material can mean a myriad of things. He’s good-looking, gainfully employed, has all of his teeth, attends church (if that’s your thing), good to his ..read more