I ran into this gentleman during a trip to the MacArthur Blvd Everett & Jones Barbecue restaurant. He was, to use the parlance of the New York drag ball scene, giving total college boy realness, at least in terms of his outfit. Age-wise, I have a feeling he was around fifty.

I was pretty clear that he was wearing the school colors of some institution (no one would wear that much purple and black for no reason); but I could not immediately bring the name of that school to mind. Instead, when I sat down to add color to this sketch, I decided to dress him in the colors of one of my favorite college teams, the University of Tennessee Volunteers.

Why do I love UT so much? Because the UT Press has published not one, but two of my academic books, Inventing Black Women (in 2007) and Before Harlem (in 2016).

Go Vols!

Ajuan Mance