Johnny Be Good (…Bad & Ugly!)
Shameless, insightful, hilarious, truthful & taboo tales for men on a mission
From ‘Am I?’ To “I Am”
Do you remember learning to ride a bike?
I do. Mark Rogers from no. 25 taught me in our street, in front of all the neighbours. I remember the moment of panic as I suddenly realised that I was riding on my own, without stabilisers or Mark holding on to the back of my seat. I wobbled and nearly fell, not because I didn’t have the balance or skill, but because every thought in my panicked head began: ‘am I?’
My Wings Got Singed On My Flight For Fame
Last month my best friends and I gathered around a TV set and watched ourselves die!
Not literally, but our egos took a bashing as our shadows were paraded on Channel 4’s Cutting Edge documentary ‘The Secret Life of The Pub’. We were asked to reveal what’s actually said by men when women are not in the room.
The show did well to demonstrate how ‘the media’ would have us view men. Although it was well edited for their audience, it did men few favours.
Why I Asked The ‘Newsweek’ Journalist When He Last Ejaculated
I spent many hours chatting to ‘Newsweek’ journalist Finlay Young, even before he joined in one of our men’s groups. Fin had asked if he could meet up for help with a ‘Newsweek’ cover story article he’s writing. They quoted me, with a picture, plus wrote ‘The Man Whisperer’ chapter about my men’s groups in the book The Descent of Man.
My Wife Married a Ni**er!
Kenny D’Cruz shares how his honeymoon took an unexpected turn when he was racially abused in front of his new wife.
“Did I call you a liar? At least I’m not a ni**er and I work for a living!” was my Italian wife’s first real racist ‘attack’, behind my back, from the car rental man in a deserted Santorini Airport as we arrived around midnight for our honeymoon.
Dirty Little Secrets: Men, Trauma, and Mental Health
Kenny D’Cruz was eight years old when his father took a phone call at his family home saying ‘we’re going to come and kill you tonight.’
“My father was declared an enemy of the state by Idi Amin’s Secret Service in 1972. He made a joke about the phone call” Kenny recalls, “but the rest of us, our blood went cold. They phoned straight back, saying ‘we’re not joking, we’re coming to kill you tonight.’ I was the only one who cried. The others were in shock. I was an aware child and I knew what was going on.”
The D’Cruz family were Catholic, of Goan descent. Kenny’s father, the head of the parcel department of the Uganda postal service, had already fallen foul of the government in helping to protect helpless individuals and families from outside his community from ethnic and political persecution.
Pushed
I just got home, wearing nothing but a Mac! I was walking along the canal in London’s Camden Town, my head down as I chatted with my fiancé and our friend after her first Mixed Group with us. As we strolled along the canal a couple of young men cut between them and I....
Johnny Be Bad
You are currently watching me lose my blogging virginity ..and I must admit, yet again, it's a BIG relief! I remember walking home that morning through my adopted home town, past nosey neighbours with light breezes blowing wafts of sex from my pubescent skin into the...
John-Boy’s Death Wish (From Suicidal To Sledgehammer)
2014 Nine years old and we’d just moved from our second refugee camp – with my secret-service escapee father, who had been absent for nine months – into our new home. A tatty council house in a small town in 70s rural Wales, with lovely neighbours. The feeling I...
Ol’ Grey Hair Is Back
Originally published in my 'Changing Times' Column in 2006 This will be the third time I’ve had to deal with that pesky chest hair that so loudly contrasts all the others. I’ve treated it with far more respect than last months discovery: a grey pube which got pulled,...
I’m In Love With Your Daughter
'Changing Times' Column 2006 – 2007 They clapped when the plane landed in Pescara; and I wondered if Angela’s parents would clap when they saw the colour of my skin. Her parents were lovely. I learned a couple of lines of Italian for a respectful greeting and came...
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