On PRIDE and Prejudices

Reflecting on having pride, while not feeling a connection to PRIDE. A follow-up to a piece I wrote in the Baltimore Sun in 2019, "Finding my place in PRIDE."

"Pride month and all of its colorful and now corporate celebrations often cause me to examine my place within the multiple communities in which I identify. To be clear, I respect the symbolism of the celebration, but I have no idea of what to do with “Happy Pride” well-wishes. I grew up in and around Newark, N.J. Whatever messaging that was making it to some communities about Pride had not made its way to my neighborhood. The closest contact to Pride I had as a young person were the local news clips of drag queens and men dressed like The Village People. Even squinting, I did not see myself anywhere within that frame."

Isolation Be Like is Created, Produced and Hosted by Phill Branch (aka Phill Boogie) This podcast is supported by a 2019 Rubys Artist Grant, which is a program of the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation. Phill Branch is a storyteller working in film, creative nonfiction and theater. He is the 2019 recipient of the Maryland State Arts Council’s Solo Performance Artist Award. He is also a GrandSlam Champion of The Moth in DC. An alumnus of the American Film Institute, Branch recently directed Searching for Shaniqua; his documentary about the impact names have on people's lives.The film won the HBO Best Documentary award at the 2016 Martha's Vineyard African-American Film Festival. Branch has served as a professor at his alma mater Hampton University and recently at Howard University. He is currently a Visiting Professor at Goucher College in Communication and Media Studies, focusing on race and ethnicity in film and media.

Find us at @isolationbelike and @phillbranch on Twitter and IG / phillbranch.com / isolationbelike.com

Edited by Ronald Young Jr. - follow him on Twitter and IG - @ohitsBigRon   

Music by Darryl Thomas - follow him on Twitter and IG - @theartistDT