Diversity Rules Magazine

April 2012 Dust On The Portrait of A Memory By Tarringo Vaughn Tarringo T. Vaughan al- ways believed he had a love affair with literature. One of the first pictures he saw of himself was of him at maybe the age of three or four year's old sitting with a book in his hand. University Of Massachusetts – Amherst with a Bachelors degree in English and Communica- tions as a 2nd major. Tarringo currently works in the healthcare field but is working on his 2nd poetry book for publication titled "A Crack In The Sidewalk" following his first book of po- etry titiled "Beyond Rainbows & Yellow Brick Roads." He is the founder of the Flexwriters Creative Network (http://www.flexwriterscreativenet- work.net). Future plans include a publishing company as well as actual an actual café for writers and spoken word nights. His writing consists of many styles as he does like neglecting rules and going beyond the norm. The music thumped as hesitant shadows scraped the dance floor with stiffened move- ments and wild attire. Black lights spotlighted the lint of many minds loose and intoxicated. I stood with a drink half filled with ice leaning against a crowded bar where frustrated patrons waved aim- lessly for the attention of a bartender who thought he was the hottest attrac- tion in the bar. He had much competition because many were already dancing with their own reflections in a steamed filled distorted mirror. And I re- member having my own confidence as I saw an image of who I use to be just years before. Back then I would've been standing there with a different purpose. I would've had my arms folded and judged everyone around me not be- cause I thought I was better but because I was catapulted into a new world; a world I hid for so long not to be a part of. There were many aspects of the gay world I Eighteen Tarringo T. Vaughan grad- uated in 2000 from the didn't understand because I simply didn't want to un- derstand them. I saw a lifestyle that was different than what I was exposed to and a lifestyle that didn't fit the aspirations stenciled into my ambition. I was living as a pho- tograph airbrushed and distorted to fit the vision of what those around me wanted me to be. But looking back at those self portraits I was not smiling be- cause something within me felt incomplete and with that incompleteness came a lot of insecu- rity. And if I wasn't secure with who I was how could I stand proudly behind a definition I had yet to explore? I was a portrait of a man not willing to open up and accept his own sexuality. And there was no acceptance until I al- lowed my heart to lead the way. It was during that time that I met many guys who misjudged me or didn't have the patience for me to find that confidence I needed to stand with pride in the gay community. So I shut myself off, kept quiet and judged those I saw around me. I was a portrait of a man not willing to open up and accept his own sexuality. And there was no acceptance until I allowed my heart to lead the way. So as I stood there with the music thump- ing and blowing the dust of this memory of who I was, I begin to bob my head and appreciate my surroundings. I stood there with a confidence and a new openness that made those same guys who shied away from me walk up and want to get to know me for it was my growth within myself that made me more than just a part of the gay community. It made me one of the definitions of a community that just years ago I didn't un- derstand. To find out more about Tarringo go to: flexwriterblogsonline.net/tarringovaughan www.flexwriterscreativenetwork.net

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