etcetera: my work

Ahmed Mohamed’s father, filling the family minivan with gas.

I am a freelance writer and photographer raising my three children in Dallas, Texas. My work has been seen in The Daily Beast, Buzzfeed, This Land Press, The Washington Post, et al, and I also serve as an associate editor for Hromadske in Ukraine.

My writing and photography focus on intimate portraits of minority communities in conservative areas of Texas: conflicts over the place of faith, orientation, guns, race. Texas and the surrounding areas are changing both from within and without: according to the Texas State Demographer, Texas “attracted the second highest number of immigrants between 2005 and 2013” and that pace hasn’t changed in 2015.

Because I grew up gay on a Pentecostal compound in Oklahoma and have spent a large part of my life in the area, I have a familiarity with the region that breeds both contempt and a fierce, protective kind of love.

Below are links to published pieces; Instagram is where I do a lot of work that doesn’t quite fit anywhere else: @thephatic

May 1, 2015, #blacklivesmatter rally in honor of Freddie Gray: “When I asked Cindy how she and the little girl were related I was told emphatically ‘she’s my Nana!’ Cindy smiled: ‘I’m her Nana. I heard about the protest and brought her out and explained to her what was going on. Honestly, I really think that the police have gone too far. [granddaughter — I think it’s unfair!] It’s unfair. I just think that they use their power more than they need to.’”

sample work in The Daily Beast:
The 10-year Fight for Marriage Equality in Oklahoma
Exclusive: Ahmed Mohamed’s “Best Day”
Exclusive: from inside the “Mohammad cartoon contest.”
On Texas’ newest Confederate monument.
Coverage of Kiev’s Pride Parade, before and after.

West Texas drag performer having a smoke before the show.

Photoessays:
~~ on #BlackLivesMatter in Texas: in Dallas and in McKinney
~~ West Texas gay bar in Buzzfeed
~~ Protesting Islam in Oklahoma and in Texas
~~ Black President, Red State
~~ Meditation on gender in Texas

scenes from inside the “Mohamed cartoon contest” in Garland, Texas
after the pool party: McKinney, Texas
Open Carry activists in Texas
Queer in West Texas

in This Land Press:
Floyd Martin, the King (and Queen) of Oklahoma City Pride
Tulsa & Kyiv: Family Ties
I Grew Up Gay On A Pentecostal Compound

Small-bore journalism on Instagram documenting the every day:
- #HeartlandIslam
- #DallasChin
- #24HoursinWaller — Waller County, TX
- #BlackLivesMatterVistaRidgeMall
- #QueerWestTexas -(also seen in Buzzfeed.)
- #freeversejournalismsuburbantexas

Behind the jail in Waller County, Texas
Sister of Sandra Bland, waiting for news from the Prairie View city council in Waller County, Texas

Work edited in Ukraine’s Hromadske:
Ukraine’s Troll Army
Guide to Ukraine’s Far Right
Ukraine’s Ministry of Truth
Guide to #ElectricYerevan

Protester in Garland, Texas talking to a Muslim woman in hijab.

I am also a public speaker — for booking, please contact:
rrpsquared ( g mail.) I am primarily on Twitter but I also occasionally post on Facebook.