Jarrett Neal

Jarrett Neal's first book, What Color Is Your Hoodie?: Essays on Black Gay Identity, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. His essays, fiction, poetry, and reviews have appeared in The Gay and Lesbian Review, Chelsea Station, NewCity, Litbreak, The Good Men Project, and other publications. A graduate of the MFA program in Writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he is currently working on a collection of short stories titled The White Boy Does His Work. He lives in Oak Park, IL.

Bald is a Feel, Not a Look

Byron shook the rain off his driving cap and wool blazer before he hung them on the rack by the entrance. He handed the chubby lady behind the front desk a twenty-dollar bill. She was honey-colored with glossy yellow fingernails and plump black and gold braids coiled atop her head like a nest of vipers. When she passed him his change and gave him a receipt she said, “That’s for them,” gesturing to the phalanx of barber students several feet away.

Jarrett Neal

Jarrett Neal's first book, What Color Is Your Hoodie?: Essays on Black Gay Identity, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. His essays, fiction, poetry, and reviews have appeared in The Gay and Lesbian Review, Chelsea Station, NewCity, Litbreak, The Good Men Project, and other publications. A graduate of the MFA program in Writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he is currently working on a collection of short stories titled The White Boy Does His Work. He lives in Oak Park, IL.

Bald is a Feel, Not a Look

Byron shook the rain off his driving cap and wool blazer before he hung them on the rack by the entrance. He handed the chubby lady behind the front desk a twenty-dollar bill. She was honey-colored with glossy yellow fingernails and plump black and gold braids coiled atop her head like a nest of vipers. When she passed him his change and gave him a receipt she said, “That’s for them,” gesturing to the phalanx of barber students several feet away.

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