meaning making
I wrote this story five days after my beloved partner of 23 years took his last breath. Erin was 57 and wanted to die at home, with his comforts and the loving presence of our 165-pound Great Dane, Osiris. We managed to pull off the death experience we planned, with the assistance of our death doula and… Continue reading Kaua’i Kayak Redemption
My favorite hours this past weekend was at a fundraiser and birthday celebration in San Francisco to honor a legendary LGBTQ+ activist and beloved community elder. 🎉 The venue was the Hibernia, a historic bank repurposed into an event space. Cleve Jones took the stage after the crowd sang happy birthday to him. He’s 70… Continue reading The Shield
This week, I received a DM from a friend sharing this pic. That’s me getting a haircut, when four of us gay men shared an apartment close to Florida State University campus in late 1980s Tallahassee, Florida. Jeff, in the picture, worked as a hairdresser. So we all received the family discount (i.e., free) on… Continue reading A Zonian Coming Out Story
Tallahassee is in the Deep South. The largest employer in town is the State government which headquarters in a phallic Capitol complex. The city is also home to Florida State University and Florida A&M. In the late 1980s, the town held about 100,000 people, half of them being university students. Set in rural Leon County… Continue reading Club Park Avenue Trip Report: A Cocktail with the Cosmos
My first Pride event. The year was 1988 or 89. I was an undergrad at Florida State University in Tallahassee. My boyfriend and I drove my clunky Toyota Starlet to Atlanta for pride weekend celebrations. We stayed with a friend near Piedmont Park and met up with a lesbian couple (Vicky and Wendy) we were… Continue reading Thirty+ Years Ago, What I Remember from my First Pride
“Be yourself, everyone else is already taken”. ~ Oscar Wilde
Almost fifty years ago, on a hot summer night in June 1969, the patrons of a mafia-run bar in NYC's Greenwich Village found themselves subject to yet another police raid and the humiliating rough treatment that came along with it. However, on this night the patrons fought back. The combatants lived in the margin of… Continue reading In Pictures: Stonewall 25 and Gay Games IV
Blossom Jasmine Nightmusk, 20th/21st century CE. First performance & last performance (she’s in retirement). BIO: Born in Tallahassee, Blossom performed worldwide as a solo artist and with The Linen Sisters, delivering her signature Street Gutter commando style cabaret act as far away as Sydney (during Gay Games 2002). In the heart of Texas, she twirled… Continue reading All About Blossom
Lots of activity at Trafalgar Square, setting things up for Pride festivities tomorrow. And I love the Assyrian protective spirit standing guard over it all. The British Museum has several colossal statues (“lamassu”) of this winged-man-bull/lion deity from ancient Mesopotamia.
Today is National Coming Out Day. Culturally, “coming out” experiences are distinct rites of passage that are a shared experience for most rainbow people - we all have our coming out stories. It’s one of the things that unite us as a “tribe.” Coming out can be scary as hell, even life threatening. And also… Continue reading Happy National Coming Out Day – 2017