Life as a storytelling activity.
Life as Story
Sibling Story, not for the Squeamish
Warning: this story isn’t for the squeamish. My sister lived with me for a few years in Tallahassee while she studied at Florida State University. We shared a two-bedroom, one bath apartment on the ground floor of a fourplex in a leafy neighborhood close to downtown. One night, I roused from bed by a commotion… Continue reading Sibling Story, not for the Squeamish
Love is Love – #PaulandErinTLA
In a couple days, it will be 19 years since Erin and I went on our first date - a Saturday matinee of The Bourne Identity. And 5 years since our hastily-planned state-sanctioned marriage on the south lawn of the Texas Capitol. In the EARLY morning, before heat. On a Wednesday. And with the sprinklers… Continue reading Love is Love – #PaulandErinTLA
Rainbow Spirituality
Early on, there were times I wasn’t sure being gay was compatible with having a life worth living. But even during those dark times, if someone had offered me a pill to make me straight I would’ve declined it. I clung onto a belief, instilled in grade school at St Mary’s in Balboa, Panamá, that… Continue reading Rainbow Spirituality
Remembering Ancon Hill
Ready for a trip down my memory lane? This picture posted on FaceBook reminds me of my first job. It was a summer student assistant job while I was at Balboa High School, in the former Canal Zone of the Republic of Panamá. This was 1983 or 84. I was 16 or 17. The rest… Continue reading Remembering Ancon Hill
Dispatches from Mushroom Space: My Psilocybin Retreat
In college, I once drank a cup of magic mushroom tea. It was at a party, before going out to Club Park Avenue with my roommates. This was over thirty years ago, in Tallahassee. And it continues to be the most vivid and fun memory of the times I spent at CPA. My re-introduction to… Continue reading Dispatches from Mushroom Space: My Psilocybin Retreat
The “Tears in the Rain” Monologue
https://youtu.be/NoAzpa1x7jU In 1982, the science fiction movie Blade Runner came out. I loved it. The setting was 37 years into the future - in 2019 Los Angeles. A dreary, rainy, crowded place with a techno-Asian feel to it. Harrison Ford plays a detective hunting a handful of artificial humans, replicants, who have killed several humans… Continue reading The “Tears in the Rain” Monologue
Einstein on the Ego, Interconnectedness, and Liberation
A human being is a part of the whole, called by us 'Universe', a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our… Continue reading Einstein on the Ego, Interconnectedness, and Liberation
All About My Mountain Bike
His name is Hidalgo. I traveled with him from the heart of Texas to the Pyrenees mountain village of Roncesvalles for a 500-mile trip through northern Spain to the holy city of Santiago de Compostela in the emerald region of Galicia. Along the way, I trekked to the core of my being. Hidalgo accompanied me… Continue reading All About My Mountain Bike
In Pictures: Stonewall 25 and Gay Games IV
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