Currently Crushing On

I've been caught up with Friends lately.   They're on every night and if I'm not actually watching, I at least have it on in the background.   There is something about David Schwimmer that is just so freakin endearing...and he is without a doubt, my current crush!

 

 

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All Of Them Heros

September 11th is a sober memorial the world over, and today we remember those who lost their lives to hate and terrorism.  While most LGBTs remember Mark Bingham, there were many more members of our community who lost their lives that day.  Those who were flying, those who were working in the buildings and those who lost their lives trying to rescue the injured.   Here are the faces of our community, not that singling them out means anything other than recognizing those that are often completely overlooked...yet still, all of them are heros.

 

 

Father Michael Judge

Nancy Walsh

Mark Bingham

David Charlebois

Graham Berkeley

Pamela J. Boyce

Ronald Gamboa, his partner Dan Brandhorst and their adopted son David

James Joe Ferguson

Jeffrey Collmans

John Keohane

Sheila Hein

Roxy Eddie Ognilbene

Eugene Clark

Wesley Mercer

Luke A. Dudek

Michael Lepore

William Anthony Karnes

Tom Miller

Catherine Smith

Patricia McAneney

Waleska Martinez

Renee Barrett

Francis S. Coppola

 

Sadly, some of the missing rescue personnel were gay, and many of their lovers some of whom were Police and Firefighters grieved in silence and anonymity for frear of outing them.

 

 

I was getting ready for work, and trying to watch Martha Stewart in the process.  Yes, I know.  Every channel I turned to had images of a building w/smoke coming out of it, but I didn't grasp what was happening.  

 

My partner at the time said a plane had hit a building and that was when the phone rang.  It was a salesperson at the radio stations I worked at and she said "Brad told me to call you.  You're to come in right now" and she hung up.

  

I still didn't 'get' what was happening.   

 

Within the next five minutes the second tower was struck and I was out the door.    Racing inside  the station, I remember how quiet it was because everyone was in the back studio watching a small tv...but panic hung thick in the air, even in Idaho.  We knew we all had to be there...but none of us was sure what we were supposed to be doing.   It was a nightmare.

 

Like many people, I was glued to the television for the next month, watching the planes strike the Twin Towers over and over again and the constant coverage of victims and rescue efforts.  It was obsessive.... I couldn't look away.  I even slept on the couch in our living room with the TV on and the same horrific images playing over and over.

 

I know I'll never forget that day, and I'm sure you won't either.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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OUR Artist of the Week: Xavier Cortada

Many artists care about the environment, but few would actually hike to both the North & South Poles, which Xavier Cortada did in 2007 and 8.   It was at the top (and bottom) of the world that Cortada planted a green flag to reclaim it for nature and to launch a global reforestation eco-art effort.   Born in 1964 in Albany New York, Xavier now resides in Miami.   His work has been exhibited in museums, galleries and cultural venues across the Americas, Europe, and Africa.

Cortada has worked with groups internationally to produce art projects and installations, such as environmental works in Holland (2009), Quebec (2009) and Latvia (2008), peace murals in Cyprus (2000) and Northern Ireland (2000), child-welfare murals in Bolivia (1997) and Panama (1999), and the official International AIDS Conference murals in Geneva (1998) and South Africa (2000).

 

Holding three degrees from the University of Miami, a Bachelor of Arts, Master of Public Administration and Juris Doctor.  The artist's work and writings are preserved in the Xavier Cortada Collection of the University of Miami Libraries Cuban Heritage Collection.

  

In February 2000 the Holy See invited Cortada to participate in the Vatican’s "Jubilee Day for Artists", where he met Pope John Paul II. In 2004 Cortada, a former altar boy, announced that he would no longer attend Mass until the Catholic Church changed its position on homosexuality, since he felt he could no longer attend a church that discriminated against him.

 

Cortada has worked with groups across the world to produce large-scale murals and community art projects. In 2006 he received the "National Champion for Children Award" from the Child Welfare League of America.

In 2007, as a recipient of the National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, he created site-specific installations at the South Pole.

 

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VHS Goldmine!

So I'm all alone at home....as usual lately....feeling utterly alone and of course sorry for myself.   Then 'it' happens.  I run across a box of VHS tapes!  Tapes I had recorded in the early 90s including Martha Stewarts original show on PBS,  a few home movies, bachelor parties, movies like Flatline and amazingly......"Armistad Maupin's Tales From the City!!"   Beyond Exciting!     So I dug out the old VCR that hasn't been used in 15 years or more and everything works!

I recorded TFTC when it aired on PBS (around 93 I think), and omg...I loved this series!  

 

Remember the early 90s were way more homophobic than today and the airing of this was a BIG deal.  It was also pre internet so seeing 'gay' ANYTHING on TV was RARE!  

 

OMG.....Mrs Madrigal looks so beautifully young (growing old is such a bitch isn't it?)....I'm watching now!  

 

Maryanne SO sweet.  MONA!!! God I wanted her for a friend.  Billy Campbell, PARKER POSEY, Thomas Gibson, !

 

I have to say.....I am in heaven!

 

 

 

 

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Time Travel Thursday

One of my favorite TT Thursday photos to date! (Click to see the full photo!)

 

 

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Chunky Blue Jeans Bitch

So the one freakin day I forget to take my dog zapper (a harmless, supposedly sonic repelling device) I'm on my walk, burnin those carbs and jammin w/my headphones on...and I get attacked by a dog.   Yup, that's right.   On the last leg of the walk I'm crusin by a field where a farmer is baling hay and his chunky wife in her tight chunky blue jeans is out in their field with about 4 or 5 dogs...ALL unleashed.  They rushed me at the fence, but couldn't get to me so I gave her a dirty look and kept walking thinking that was that.  Wrong.   Less than a tenth of a mile away as I reached the non country portion of the walk, I feel a muzzle on my right arm.  I spin around to see one of the dogs had escaped and decided I was tasty.  I punched him before he latched on to me, spun around, hit a fence and then hit the ground where I kicked him away.   

 

When I got to my feet, I was pissed.  

 

Chunky blue jeans woman NOW decides to start calling her dog back...and I decided to start calling her a few very choice, angry, ugly words in a very very loud voice.   I'm alright, but after reporting the incident to the police I'm left scratched up, pulled muscles and kind of cranky.   

 

How's YOUR week??

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Sad Farewell

One of my favorite actors passed away today. 

Michael Clarke Duncan, whose dozens of films included an Oscar-nominated performance as a death row inmate in "The Green Mile" and other  hits such as "Armageddon," "Planet of the Apes" and "Kung Fu Panda," is dead at age 54.

Clarke died Monday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he was being treated for a heart attack, said his fiancée, "Reverend" Omarosa Manigault, in a statement released by publicist Joy Fehily. 

When he had his heart attack recently I was really saddened to learn he was involved with Omorosa....but I guess if he was happy...well it was none of my business.  I just always found him really cool, beautiful, funny and talented.  Born in Chicago in 1957, he stood 6'4 and didn't begin acting until he was in his 30s.  So sad to die so young

12/10/57 - 9/3/12

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I Heart This Photo

Yeah I'm phoning in the blog because of the holiday, but will be back to regular posting and updating tomorrow.  Hope you're having a great weekend!

Geoff

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It's Just A Part Of Life

Yesterday was a sucky day, and I couldn't think of anything to write about with the exception of what happend.  It might be kind of personal, but then I thought "we're gurrlfriends" right?   " I can share this with my internet besties" can't I?  Besides, it's a real part of life and it is definitely part of  "Life & Times of a Gay Guy":  Older parents and Home Health Care Aids. 
Odds are you'll have to deal with this at some point in your own life too.  
My mom is 81 and her health is really declining.   In may, Dawn was brought into the house to help her bathe, dress, light household chores etc for about 3 hours per day.  

As the story usually goes, at first she was just a godsend.....then....she got comfortable.   I didn't mind her lack of boundaries at the beginning , or her casual attention to showing up on time or leaving early...but then it got out of hand, and I did...mind. 

 

For instance, when I heard she was talking to my mom about 'getting poked' by this guy she liked, and her menstrul cycle etc....I politely tried to put a stop to that.

   

As for being late? Five minutes turned to 15, then to 30 and a couple times it was 45 minutes late, and she always, ALWAYS had a story.  Once it was her kid missed the school bus.  Okay, plausible.  Next it was her basement flooded.  Okay.  Then it was an eye problem, the doors on her van locked and she couldn't get out, she forgot to replug her freezer in last time and everything defrosted...it was like an episode of Murphy's Law and Dumber and Dumber.  

 

THEN, I could have sworn in court she came to work 'on something'...seriously, it was that obvious.  So I talked to my mom about it explaining if I saw that again, she was gone.  Then the attitude, then the slacking....  In short (yeah right) her behavior became worse and worse. 

 

Did I mention my mom loves Dawn?   In my mom's eyes Dawn became a defacto member of the family which P-I-S-S-E-D off my younger sister to no end.   Mom would defend, make excuses for or explain away Dawns behavior.  

 

So how do you fix a situation like that?   You're entrusting your parent to another person in your absence to help them with intimate situations and daily safekeeping.

 

A couple times I did talk to Dawn  about her lateness, sloppy dishwashing (did I mention I have to REDO all the dishes because she doesn't get them clean?) and she became incredibly defensive.   The one time I asked her to dust my mom's room (she has COPD) she argued with me that she'd already done it.  She hadn't.

 

So YESTERDAY, when she showed up 35 minutes late, I said "I wasn't sure you were showing up today" and it was "blah blah, I had to do this and that and I THOUGHT about calling but decided WHY BOTHER"......and you can guess how that sat with me.

 

I freely admit I can be a patient person, but it's not without limits.  We had a couple exchanges and then I had errands to run.  When I returned, I asked about Dawn.  Mom said she had called her boss to quit, but that her boss had talked her out of it and she would be back tuesday after the holiday.  My first reaction was guilt.  My second reaction was anger.   I didn't know what I was going to do...but then I stopped feeling guilty and I made a decision. 

 

On tuesday I'm going to talk to Dawn and just lay it out nicely.  

 

"Dawn, I appreciate you and the work you do, but if you are unable to be on time and stay for your full shift then we have a problem.  Also, I am not going to walk on egg shells with you.  I rarely ask you to do something, and if you have a problem when I do, you are going to have to go your own way".  

 

Really then, the ball is in her court and it's her decision.  I my mind she's already gone.  You just don't act that way and expect to get away with it.

 

I feel for my mom...because it can't be easy to trust someone or to have her Son making some life choices for her.   But this bullshit is not going to happen again.  

 

It's just a part of life.

 

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