March began as a joyous month with Ethiopians celebrating the 123rd anniversary of the Battle of Adwa. Yet the month of March 2019 turned solemn when many people lost their lives on Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, and Eritrean-American rapper Nipsey Hussle was killed. These isolated events might have all just been coincidences. But for me…
Category: 109
Carl Von Ossietzky
Ossietzky’s Nobel Peace Prize nomination telegram was numbered 109. That part! Do you see 109 within the painting? It’s not hidden. It’s right there. I found it when I visited the Nobel Peace Museum in Sweden. This was another encounter with 109. Please support 109. Buy 109 and/or artwork inspired by 109 at http://www.isee109.store
Black Jesus
ROMANS 10:9 is a reference to one’s belief in Jesus that leads to salvation. Jean Michel Basquiat once painted 109 on a painting. He even painted a male figure in the same picture that I would argue is Nipsey Hussle. Nipsey was not alive when the painting was created, but Nipsey took a photo that…
Original Artwork
In 2021, I took the picture that is displayed within this work of art. I stood near the intersection of Crenshaw Blvd and Slauson Ave. In my hands, I held a copy of my book entitled 109 — the Nipsey Blue version. I made a color print of the original picture which I adhered to…
What’s Larry Been Up To? Part 2
Visit my Shopify page to purchase a digital ebook entitled What’s Larry Been Up To? The original version of this book was created in 2017, but it has been updated. Check it out now! Click here. Also, watch this video to see what Larry’s been up to! The video is below, too!
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From Inception to Fruition
My forty-first birthday is quickly approaching. What usually happens during this time is that I have a heightened sense of the presence of the numbers one, zero, and nine (109, in that order). Like the Punch-buggy game we played as children when we saw a Volkswagon Beetle, I amuse myself when I see these numbers….
109 Cigars
I went to La Casa del Habano where I found the Conde 109 Cuban cigars which are rolled specifically in Cancun. What a serendipitous moment it was! The number 109 is only the name of the cigar. Outside the name of the cigars, the number has no significance I was told. Yet that’s bullshit because…
A Short Story: Part One
Mundane. Routine. That morning was just like any other for him. It was about 6am when he awoke from his slumber only to instinctively reach for the cellphone that lay half a foot away from his head. He expected to sleep for another fifteen minutes before getting up, getting dressed, and driving to work. What…
Friday The 13th
Neither Coronavirus nor rain deterred me from venturing to the local Ethiopian eatery, Yordano’s, to have a healthy meal of injera, lentils, and salad. I even opted to have the trout with the veggie combo. Though my appearance hints at one of Ethiopian descent, my inability to carry a conversation in Amharic suggests otherwise. However,…
What's Larry Been Up To? 
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