Quiet Lies, a Namesake Legacy

My middle name is Livingston. I was named after my gay, closeted great-uncle A. L. Brody (the L. is for Livingston), who everyone called “Al.” 

We never met. In the Jewish tradition, you don’t confer the name of an elder until they’ve passed away, otherwise it’s considered to be like wishing them dead. I learned about A.L. from stories and the occasional…