Author Archives: William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

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About William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Award-winning poet, playwright, and essayist. Author of three books of poetry, "Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass: Remembrance of Things Past and Present"; "Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats"; "The Black Feminine Mystique," and a novel, "Streets of Rage," written under his pen name Easy Waters. All four books are available on Amazon.com. Waters has over 25 years of experience in the criminal legal system. He is a change agent for a just society and a catalyst for change.

Netflix’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”

Posted on October 20, 2023 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

I just finished binge-watching Netflix’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” ostensibly about Edgar Allan Poe’s short story of the same name, with a modern twist.  People familiar with Poe’s works will see that much of his work beyond … Continue reading →

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A NYC Subway Story: Just Another Day in the ‘Hood!

Posted on October 13, 2023 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

At the Utica Avenue train station (in Crown Heights, Brooklyn), a peripatetic philosophical “passenger” is lecturing two of New York’s Finest.  He tells them that they don’t patrol the streets “to serve and protect” the people,” but to perpetuate the … Continue reading →

Posted in ezwwaters, NYPD, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, Streets of Rage | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Pascal’s wager — Don’t bet against God!

Posted on October 8, 2023 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

My morning meditation was on Pascal’s wager.  Blaise Pascal was a seventeenth-century French Mathematician, philosopher, physicist, and theologian.  Pascal’s wager was posthumously published in Pensées (“Thoughts”).  The wager essentially states that if you bet against the existence of God and … Continue reading →

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Black Youthful Fate

Posted on October 1, 2023 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

As youth they couldn’t waitTo reach for the very starsFor them no such thing as fateAs youth they couldn’t waitTo reach for the very stars Their dreams never appeared to be too farFor them no such thing as fateThey’d be … Continue reading →

Posted in ezwwaters, Growing Up, Poetry, raising black boys | 2 Comments

The Watermelon Man in Williamsburg — “Only in New York!”

Posted on September 26, 2023 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

If you live in New York City, or if you have visited NYC, then you probably have an “Only in New York Story.” I am walking down the street in Williamsburg, the land of Hasidim and Hipsters, when I come … Continue reading →

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NYC Subway Story

Posted on September 14, 2023 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On my morning commute, as my train approaches the station, I see a Brother reading The Idiot, by Dostoevsky.  (People who know my literary tastes, know that I had a “Russian Period,” when I was reading many Russian authors.  Dostoevsky … Continue reading →

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Virginia on My Mind

Posted on August 19, 2023 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

There is something that keeps drawing me back to Virginia.  Although my father was born in North Carolina, he grew up in Virginia and returned there in 1946 after he was discharged from the segregated U.S. Army.  He was drafted … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, ezwwaters, Family, Fatherhood, Fathers, Genealogy, Growing Up, race, Slavery | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Remembering My Father as I Remember Maceo Snipes, Black Veteran, Shot to Death After Voting in Georgia Primary — July 18, 1946

Posted on July 19, 2023 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

As a teenager my father, a Native Southern Son (NC and VA), was drafted to serve in the segregated U.S. Army during World War II. Shortly after he was honorably discharged from the Army in 1946, he moved to Brooklyn, … Continue reading →

Posted in Black patriotism, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, crime, ezwwaters, Family, Fatherhood, Fathers, Growing Up, Lest We Forget, Murder, Politics, race, raising black boys, Relationships | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Inexplicable Endurance of the N Word

Posted on June 9, 2023 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

As some of you know, I am currently teaching a course, African American Literature in the 20th Century, for Bennington College.  The primary text for the course is The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, 3rd Edition.  In the anthology … Continue reading →

Posted in Black patriotism, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Lest We Forget, race | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

James Baldwin’s Journey Through Politics

Posted on May 6, 2023 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Thirty years ago I wrote an essay, “The Election Time Blues.”  It spoke about how political discourse in America was depressing; at least, it depressed me, and it continues to do so.  When crime is on the platform, it becomes … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, crime, ezwwaters, James Baldwin, John F. Kennedy, Lest We Forget, Patriotism, Politics, race, Slavery | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment