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In this raw and lyrical memoir as rich and insightful asHow to Say Babylonand as vulnerable and provocative asHeavy,an Emmy Award-winning director chronicles his struggle to break free fromand live outside ofthe prescribed paradigms of Blackness and masculinity that shaped him.

Long before every moment of our lives was tracked by technology, Phill Branch was under surveillance. His father was a football-playing, weed-smoking, Army vetthe guy men wanted to be around, and women loved. Phill was different. His father treated him as if he were defective and continually searched for proof to support this belief. Phill paid greatly for his failures at boyhood, especially when he was caught playing jump rope with girls. This taught him there were standards to be met, codes that were not to be violated, and strict punishment for any deviation from a Black mans assigned position in the world.

In this poignant, illuminating personal narrative, Branch reckons with the patriarchy and tradition of these social structures in Black America, their legacy, and how they molded and silenced him. Taking us from Newark, New Jersey, to Los Angeles, California, Branch writes unflinchingly about growing up as the queer black son of a complicated and often absent father with rigid ideas of masculinity. From early inappropriate relationships with men twice his age, to his successful rebranding at Hampton University, to the dichotomy of Hollywoodliving in a world of wealthy celebrities while struggling to survive as a writerBranch navigates his complex emotions surrounding success, perceptions of manhood, and ultimately his father.

The Double Dutch Fussrecounts growing up under the heavy burden of expectationto be a boy, to be Black, and to be queer in ways that conform to rigid, often unforgiving norms. It is about the knotted path of becoming, while navigating the always-present fear of emotional and physical violence, and the threat of isolation for simply being who you are. Branch explores the cosmic pull between fathers and sons, and how healing wounds can open a pathway toward freedom and wholeness. His is an insightful and surprisingly humorous reflection on identity, masculinity, and the quiet, radical act of choosing to exist on your own terms.

Phill Branchis a writer, live performance storyteller, and regional Emmy Award-winning filmmaker. He is a 2025 recipient of the Maryland State Arts Councils Creativity Grant and received the Council’s highest honor, the Individual Artist Award, for Theater (Solo Performance) in 2019. He was the GrandSLAM Champion of The Moth in D.C. in 2018 and has since traveled all over the country and overseas to tell stories with the organization. Branch was a 2014 Lambda Literary Nonfiction Emerging Voices Fellow and is the founder and Creative Director of Baltimore Story Fest, a showcase for live, personal storytelling. An alumnus of the American Film Institute, Branch has an MFA in Screenwriting. He earned his BA in Mass Media Arts at Hampton University and later returned as a professor in the English department to teach writing and develop the Film Studies program. Currently, Branch is a Resident Artist at the Howard County Center for the Arts in Maryland.

• Publisher: Amistad
• Publish Date: June 02, 2026
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• Type: Hardcover
• EAN/UPC: 9780063384934
• Dimensions:9 in H | 6 in W | 0.9 in T | 0.9 lb Wt
• BISAC Categories: Biography & Memoir, Family & Parenting