Mirror, mirror

Panel on social media at NLGJA

Travel post and more to follow, once we get back to the coming storm.

Weather frenzy of the century

We'll be heading back to Manhattan tomorrow instead of going to the Jersey house. I didn't want to risk driving into a hurricane on Sunday. Meanwhile, some pix from the City of Brotherly Love.

God sends hurricane to New York as encore, wants people's vote on marriage

As if Tuesday's earthquake devastation wasn't enough punishment for gay marriage, now God is sending a tidal wave . . . or a storm surge or something the religious extremists will claim is payback for the homo-love.

We're headed for Philly late this afternoon. Hopefully we'll be driving back and not taking a boat.

From the Wall St. Journal:

MARGARETVILLE, N.Y. — New York City's Department of Environmental Protection is lowering the water level in some of its upstate reservoirs to make more room for storm runoff as Hurricane Irene approaches.

Deputy Commissioner Paul Rush says the city has increased water release rates from the Neversink and Pepacton reservoirs in Delaware and Sullivan counties.

Rush said releasing more water ahead of the storm will help minimize any potential flooding in the surrounding communities, without depleting the drinking water supply of nine million New York City residents. The storm is expected to arrive in New York on Sunday.

Bloomberg excludes witch doctors, other religious leaders from 9/11 anniversary

Jesus not invited to speak, God not amused

I love Mayor Mike, even if giving himself a third term was irksome. I don't think we'd have marriage equality without his lobbying, and this latest brings a smile to my face: he's leaving out religious figures from the upcoming 9/11 anniversary and memorial. They are, of course, outraged.

From Fox News:

Some New York politicians and religious leaders are criticizing Mayor Michael Bloomberg for not offering clergy members a role in the high-profile ceremonies marking 10 years since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"This is America, and to have a memorial service where there's no prayer, this appears to be insanity to me," said Rudy Washington, a former deputy mayor under Rudolph Giuliani. "I feel like America has lost its way."

A spokewoman from Bloomberg's office told The Journal that the focus, as in past years, will be on the family members of the fallen. Rabbi Joseph Potasnik told the paper he understood the mayor's decision, saying, "I don't know how to make it possible for everyone to have a place at the table."

Ground Control to Major Mark

Men's rooms

From the re-launched MadeMarkPhoto.net

'Mo' Bubble Butt' star loses Miami-Dade teaching job

From Miami New Times:

CNN doesn't have a problem with Shawn Loftis's big, gay porn career. Should Miami-Dade County Public Schools?

Using the nom de porn Collin O'Neal, he won awards for virtuoso performances in hard-core films such as Mo' Bubble Butt, Humping Iron, and Desperate Husbands. In 2005, Miami Beach resident Loftis started Collin O'Neal Productions. His film series, "World of Men," was based on a unique concept: He'd travel to exotic — but not necessarily sexy — locales such as Lebanon and Serbia. Between scenes of Loftis cavorting with local hunks, he'd give viewers tours of famous monuments and settings, complete with historical context.

[SNIP]

But in spring 2010, Loftis decided to dump porn to pursue his real passion: teaching. That March, he sold "World of Men" to a Canadian company, he says. And in April, he began substitute teaching in local public schools. He worked at Miami Beach High — where "they just loved me to death," he says — Nautilus Middle, Edison Middle, and Fienberg-Fisher K-8.

This past January, Loftis was informed he had been suspended. Another employee had told Nautilus principal Allyn Bernstein, she wrote, that Loftis "had his own personal gay website." When administrators Googled his "industry name," they found "sexually explicit pictures" of — if our own search is any indication — the math sub engaging in nude acrobatics with buff, furry men.

Maggie Report a tired copy of tired Drudge Report

From the genius of Maggie Gallagher

Who knew? I’m going to assume from the archives that this site has only been up since June, and I have to wonder what is going on in the disintegrating mind of Maggie Gallagher. Her ‘Maggie Report’ is a direct ripoff of the Drudge Report (with ongoing reports that Matt Drudge died several years ago, a la the “Paul McCartney is dead” meme from my childhood).

Does anyone still read the Drudge Report? And why? And will anyone bother with a replica of a site that stopped being interesting, either in design or content, a long, long time ago?

I have to say I just don’t get it.

NYC’s Boathouse restaurant sold tap water for $8 a bottle

This is why we always say tap water is fine when a waiter asks: you’re probably going to get it anyway.

Striking workers from Central Park’s Boathouse restaurant are letting the public know that those among them stupid enough to pay $8 for a bottle of “premium” water are getting it from the sink.

From Gothamist:

People have been selling packaged New York City tap water for years...but charging $8-a-pop per bottle for the champagne of municipal waters? That's a little rich for our blood. And yet that is exactly what the striking workers at the Central Park Boathouse say that operator Dean Poll has had them charge for bottles of filtered tap water for years.

Gatecrasher noted this weekend that the striking employees outside the Boathouse were handing out bottles of "REAL and FREE Bottled Spring Water" near the waterfront restaurant as part of their protest. On the bottles? Their "Dump Dean" slogan along with the claim that he "cheats his employees and the taxpayers of New York City."

BREAKING: Earhquake felt in Times Square

That was really strange! I'm on the 19th floor of an office in Times Square and the building started shaking. Turns out the quake is in Virginia.

Kathi long legs

25 percent of New York marriages now gay

It’s bound to level off, but it’s nice to see that in the month since we had marriage equality, one in four marriages has been between a same-sex couple. Which brings to mind what someone I know said: the people happiest about gay marriage are the lawyers.

From The Atlantic Wire:

The results are in: in the month since New York state's Marriage Equality Act took effect, about 1,400 gay couples have been wed in New York City, according to a New York Post report. That means that a quarter of all NYC marriages were gay since July 24, the date the law was activated.

Musical 'Ghost' coming to NYC

Something to wait breathlessly for.

Video: Ghost The Musical Is Finally Coming To NYC: Gothamist: New York City News, Food, Arts & Events

Ghost plane

Cool blogs: The Gang's All Queer

Photo by Dru Donovan

I’m not a fan of the word queer but I’ve surrendered, having led a futile and, in retrospect, silly campaign to at least get people to think about why the word remains controversial and why it will always leave a metallic taste in some of our mouths.

That said . . . there’s a very awesome tumblelog called ‘The Gang’s All Queer’. Striking.

Blue waterfall

On the blue theme . . .

Lonely blue pool

In case you wondered where the new background came from. This is among my favorite photos.

Recent Frank

West Memphis Three freed, Cub Scout murders go unsolved

It seems we’ll never know if the West Memphis Three were guilty of the horrific murders of three Cub Scouts or not. We do know an agreement has set them free after 18 years.

(Note this from Wikipedia: In July 2007, new forensic evidence was presented in the case, including evidence that none of the DNA collected at the crime scene matched the defendants, but did match Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of one of the victims, as well as a friend of Hobbs' whom he had been with on the day of the murders.)

From the AP:

JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) -- Three men convicted in the nightmarish slayings of three Cub Scouts went free Friday, nearly two decades after they were sent to prison in a case so gruesome it raised suspicions the children had been sacrificed in a Satanic ritual.

Doubts about the evidence against the trio had persisted for years and threatened to force prosecutors to put on a second trial in 2012.

Instead, the so-called West Memphis Three were permitted to plead guilty to murder in exchange for time served, ending a long long-running legal battle that had raised questions about DNA and witnesses - and attracted support from celebrities such as Johnny Depp and Eddie Vedder.

[CLIP]

The killings were particularly shocking. The boys - Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore - were found naked and hogtied, and rumors of Satanism roiled the community in the weeks following their deaths. Branch and Moore drowned in about 2 feet of water; Byers bled to death and his genitals were mutilated and partially removed.

Police had few leads until receiving a tip that Echols had been seen covered in mud the night the boys disappeared. The big break came when Misskelley unexpectedly confessed and implicated Baldwin and Echols in the killings.

New Jersey bridal shop won’t sell dress to lesbian, calls her marriage illegal

The owner of a bridal shop in New Jersey who was about to sell a dress backed out when she discovered her customer is a lesbian and there was no groom.

What’s most surprising about this isn’t the narrowness of the woman’s mind but that she said the marriage – which was planned for New York – is illegal. Maybe she’s thinking of biblical law . . .

From Philly.com:

THIS IS ONE of those stories that make me want to say "I'm sorry" to gay people for the nonsense they endure from some heterosexuals who give the rest of us straight people a bad name.

So please, Alix Genter, accept my heartfelt apology that you were denied the chance to purchase the wedding gown of your dreams from Here Comes the Bride. The manager of the salon, in Somers Point, N.J., said she didn't want to be associated with your pending "illegal action."

Yep, that's actually how she referred to your wedding, next July . . .

[SNIP]

Apparently, Donna was stunned to learn, after reviewing your customer-information sheet, that you're a lesbian. On the paperwork, you'd crossed out the word "groom" and written "partner" instead, and then inserted your fiancée's name.

"She said she wouldn't work with me because I'm gay," you recalled. "She also said that I came from a nice Jewish family, and that it was a shame I was gay. She said, 'There's right, and there's wrong. And this is wrong.' "

She also said - and you have the voicemail to prove it - that what you were planning was "illegal" and that "we do not participate in any illegal actions."

Florida high school teacher chokes on own vomit over New York gay marriage

Poor stupid man. Had he been on Google+ he could have just shared his bigotry with his bigot circle and not been suspended.

From the Daily News:

A Florida high school's "Teacher of the Year" was canned from the classroom for making homophobic remarks on Facebook, officials said.

Jerry Buell, a veteran social studies teacher at Mount Dora High School in Mount Dora, Fla., said on his Facebook page that he "almost threw up" when he read that New York legalized gay marriage last month, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Buell also slammed the same-sex unions as a "cesspool" and called gay marriage "a sin," officials said.

Lake County school officials suspended him for violating their newly-adopted social media policy that warns teachers to think before they post.

Was Reagan’s ‘welfare queen’ really Obama?

Think about it. Obama was in college right around then . . . was he paying with food stamps while driving a Coupe de Ville?

From Tulsaworld:

PRYOR - U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn spread his dire warnings through northeastern Oklahoma on Wednesday, predicting economic disaster, the quick unraveling of the debt ceiling agreement and the demise of Medicare.

[SNIP]

Responding to a man in Langley who asked if Obama "wants to destroy America," Coburn said the president is "very bright" and loves his country but has a political philosophy that is "goofy and wrong."

Obama's "intent is not to destroy, his intent is to create dependency because it worked so well for him," he said.

"As an African-American male," Coburn said, Obama received "tremendous advantage from a lot of these programs."

Turdblossom launches guerilla war against Perry

Karl 'Turdblossom' Rove may be the only person more eager to see Rick Perry fail than the gays.

From The Daily Beast:

His brazen and transparent attacks on a leader of his own party, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, may be the greatest test yet of Rove’s remarkable resilience. Some, in fact, are starting to question if we have at last reached “the moment.” Years from now, will we look back at the 2012 primary season as the time when Rove put on his Fonzie jacket, flashed a thumbs-up sign, and then—finally—jumped the shark?

[SNIP]

Now he and his henchmen are undertaking their most serious gamble. Rick Perry managed to shine in Texas without Rove's permission, and now threatens to become the current Republican frontrunner without Rove’s blessing. This, Rove has decreed, must be stopped, even if his party is destroyed in the process.

Allen West the new Harriet Tubman, calls Democratic Party a plantation

This is simply breathtaking. Allen West proclaims himself the modern Harriet Tubman, calls the Democratic Party a plantation and Maxine Waters (with a nudge from the white bobblehead hosting the interview) the slave boss.

Hershey's not so sweet for foreign exchange students

Mmm, the smell of cheap labor! Hundreds of foreign students came to Pennsylvania for a cultural exchange program and instead found themselves indentured at a chocolate factor.

From the New York Times:

PALMYRA, Pa. — Hundreds of foreign students, waving their fists and shouting defiantly in many languages, walked off their jobs on Wednesday at a plant here that packs Hershey’s chocolates, saying a summer program that was supposed to be a cultural exchange had instead turned them into underpaid labor.

The students, from countries including China, Nigeria, Romania and Ukraine, came to the United States through a long-established State Department summer visa program that allows them to work for two months and then travel. They said they were expecting to practice their English, make some money and learn what life is like in the United States.

In a way, they did. About 400 foreign students were put to work lifting heavy boxes and packing Reese’s candies, Kit-Kats and Almond Joys on a fast-moving production line, many of them on a night shift. After paycheck deductions for fees associated with the program and for their rent, students said at a rally in front of the huge packing plant that many of them were not earning nearly enough to recover what they had spent in their home countries to obtain their visas.

Rick Perry’s Mexification of Texas

Hurry to Texas amigos!

A third world country by any other name . . . Rick Perry is touting (with help from a submissive media), his “Texas miracle.” As Harold Myerson helpfully points out in the Washington Post, what this miracle amounts to is moving the Mexican border north to Oklahoma.

From the Washington Post:

Rick Perry’s Texas is Ross Perot’s Mexico come north. Through a range of enticements we more commonly associate with Third World nations — low wages, no benefits, high rates of poverty, scant taxes, few regulations and generous corporate subsidies — the state has produced its own “giant sucking sound,” attracting businesses from other states to a place where workers come cheap.

Perry’s calling card in the presidential race is his state’s record of job creation at a time when the national economy floundered. Yes, Texas has created lots of jobs, though that’s partly a reflection of the surge in oil prices, which in turn created tens of thousands of jobs in the oil and gas industries. What Perry touts in his stump speech, however, isn’t the oil boom but, rather, the low-tax, low-reg, handouts-to-business climate that prevails in Texas. It’s the kind of spiel that businesses hear every day from leaders of developing nations — Mexico and, even more, China.

Consider the Texas that Perry holds up to the rest of the nation for admiration. It has the fourth-highest poverty rate of any state. It tied with Mississippi last year for the highest percentage of workers in minimum-wage jobs. It ranks first in adults without high school diplomas. Twenty-six percent of Texans have no health insurance — the highest percentage of medically uninsured residents of any state. It leads the nation in the percentage of children who lack medical insurance. Texas has an inordinate number of employers who provide no insurance to their workers, partly because insurance rates are high, thanks to an absence of regulations.

No justice, no Droid!

Here's a clip that includes the Verizon strikers who were at the store at 42nd Street and Broadway yesterday when I went there to have my phone looked at. I did not cross the picket line. Luckily they weren't there this morning when I took my Droid in. It had crashed on me for the fourth time in a week. Sorry, strikers, but I'm not having a broken phone in this age of daily crises. Thank you for not showing up at 8:30 this morning.

Rick Perry suggests predator drones to secure Mexican border

Killer clown

I was going to stay away from the overtly political on the new MadeMark, but the emergence of Rick Perry has made me shred my pledge. This guy is very far out there, saying outrageous things in just the few days since he entered the GOP race. His latest eyebrow-raiser? Let’s use predator drones on the Mexican border. He suggests they’d be good for dealing with the drug cartels (who would then likely slaughter Americans by the hundreds), but I suspect a few dead illegals wouldn’t break his heart. (After all, this is the governor who allowed a demonstrably innocent man to be executed and took pride in it.)

The gloves are off.

From the HuffingtonPost:

Newly-minted Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry raised the idea of turning to Predator drones to help secure the country's border with Mexico during a stop in New Hampshire over the weekend, the Boston Globe reports.

According to the local outlet:

Perry noted many unarmed aircraft are already flown in the area each day as practice for the Air Force pilots who will guide them overseas.

The Texas governor asked, “Why not be flying those missions and using that real-time information to help our law enforcement?” He added, "Because if we will commit to that, I will suggest to you that we will be able to drive the drug cartels away from that border.”

When did we start giving a shit about Adam Carolla? Oh wait, we didn't

Adam Carolla, one-time sidekick to Jimmy Kimmel and now unknown, ranted on a podcast about LGBT people, with this to say about the transgender among us:

"When did everybody get fucking lumped in with the gays? Really? What percentage is transgendered? . . . When did we start giving a shit about these people?"

I think Carolla would be better off asking when we stopped giving a shit about him and his post-mortem career and why in the world we would care again.

'Glamazonia: The Uncanny Super-Tranny' now available on Apple iBooks

Hmm. A graphic novel whose title character is a 'Super-Tranny.' We'll see what kind of response this gets.

From The Beat:

Bouden’s gay-themed adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest was fighting rejection on Apple’s mobile platforms, leading to cries of a double standard where sex and violence were concerned. But now LGBT publisher Northwest Press is claiming victory by having Teleny and Camille, Glamazonia: The Uncanny Super-Tranny, and Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven’s Comics all approved by Apple. All are now available via the iBooks app.

A healthy, confident mouth saved his life

Or opened it up or inspired his teeth to do the right thing or something. From a Crest Oral B contest.

He's got that Marcus Bachmann smile

I've stayed out of this, I really have. Not just because I'm weary of the snark and political slant, but because I just don't give a shit if Marcus Bachmann is or is not gay-and-doesn't-know-it. Only to the extent that it can or has harmed people (his wife is a far greater danger) does it have any relevance outside the hen house. And then I see this . . . Marcus Bachmann granting a photo op and a squeeze to one of Fred Karger's staffers. Is this not precious?

Homeless squatter living rent-free in Ann Curry's NYC brownstone

How nice of Ann.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

A homeless man has been squatting in Ann Curry's unoccupied $2.9 million NYC brownstone for about a year.

"I'm not a drug addict; I just don't have a place to sleep," the man, who refused to give his name or age, told the New York Post on Saturday.

"Ann Curry means crap to me!" he added. "The reason I lived there was because they chased me out of Central Park."

"I'll go back if someone says, 'Here's the key. Maintain the building,'" he went on.

Because police found the man sleeping in the vestibule — and not completely inside the building -- he was taken to a homeless shelter instead of jail.

Megachurch preacher found dead in NYC hotel room

Let's not jump to conclusions. Maybe Jesus just called him home. Rare, but it happens.

From The Christian Post:

The pastor of a Florida megachurch who often appeared on TBN’s “Praise the Lord” program, has been found dead inside a New York City hotel room. Police say Zachery Tims was discovered on the floor of a room in the W Hotel in Times Square about 6 p.m. on Friday.

It was not immediately clear if Tims, 42, had been alone in the hotel room.

No foul play was suspected, officials told The Associated Press. An autopsy was expected to reveal the cause of death.

Tims and his family founded New Destiny Christian Center (NDCC) in Apopka, Fla., in 1996 where he served as senior pastor. The church boasts a congregation of about 8,000, according to its website.

New York City's bodega cats on the prowl

I've lived here since 1993, and one of the first things I noticed that set this city apart was the common sight of a cat strolling slowly and self-confidently through the corner markets (we call them bodegas). I can't imagine the health department of a city like Los Angeles or Chicago allowing cats to police the grocery stores, however small, but they're a common and oddly comforting presence here.

Atlantic City's new gay club a hit with the ladies

Gay men to the rescue once again: many women enjoying Atlantic City's nightlife are finding a safe haven at Prohibition, the city's newest gay nightclub. They can enjoy themselves there without the usual predatory behavior of straight men. Link below.

http://m.pressofatlanticcity.com/mobile/life/atlantic-city-s-newest-gay-nightclub-is-a-hit-with/article_6f9f2a14-1078-50ff-b1c3-cfc843ad76f8.html

Giant head in Madison Square Park

Zabar's sells crawdaddy salad $16.95 lb, calls it lobster

There's a sucker born every minute, and many of them shop at Zabar's. The uptown culinary ripoff has been selling what it calls lobster salad for many years. It turns out what's really in it is some river roach and mayonnaise.

From the New York Times:

Only the name has changed. The ingredients remain the same: wild freshwater crawfish, mayonnaise, celery, salt and sugar.

For at least 15 years, Zabar’s, the Upper West Side grocery with the big crowds and even bigger prices, sold that as lobster salad — thousands and thousands of pounds of it, by itself in a plastic tub or on a bagel or a roll. Apparently no one noticed.

Then Doug MacCash, a reporter from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, stopped at Zabar’s while vacationing in Manhattan last month.

“Lobster salad on a bagel: Why not?” he wrote on Aug. 1 on the newspaper’s Web site. “It was delicious, but the pink/orange tails seemed somehow familiar.”
He checked the label. “Wild fresh water crayfish?” he wrote. “Really? At $16.95 per pound?” He photographed the label, just to be sure.

Urkel adds smooth moves to Cee Lo Green video

Jaleel White, the man who gave us the most annoying television character ever created, has come back, this time as a smooth operator in Cee Lo Green’s new video.

From The Boombox:

Cee Lo Green has dropped his newest video for 'Cry Baby' featuring actor Jaleel White and ladies, Steve Urkel is all grown up and he'll break your heart. Then, he'll dance down the street with a trail of saucy '50s-styled ladies while you stand by and cry, "just like all the other ones."

Well, that's what we got from watching the 'Family Matters' actor raze his best-loved character's uber-nerd image by pulling out the best moves and mouthing along to Cee Lo's savagely funny break-up song. Remember Steve Urkel's alter-ego, the ever-suave Stefan Urquelle‎? Yeah, it's kind of like that. Check out the video below and tell us what you think!

Allen West says gay people taste like ice cream

Or being gay is like being a chocolate chip . . . or eating ice cream is like being gay . . . or some other completely ignorant, amusingly stupid thing.

From ABC25:

U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., made those comments while on a break from Congress during a meeting with South Florida Sun-Sentinel editors and reporters Tuesday.

When asked whether people should change their behavior and not be gay, West replied, "No. I like chocolate chip ice cream, and I will continue to like chocolate chip ice cream. So there's no worry about me changing to vanilla. I like to, you know, ride my motorcycle. What do you want me to do? You want me to change my behavior and ride a scooter? I'm not into that."

It's the second time in less than a month that West has sparked controversy with his words.

West sent an email to other members of Congress last month after fellow U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, D-Fla., criticized his stance on Medicare in a House speech after he left the chamber floor.

In the email, West said she was "vile, unprofessional and despicable."

Former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel, who will run against West in the next election, said his "comments continue to embarrass South Florida."

Life in a fishbowl

Mom banned for life from NYC grocery store

I'm not sure what I think of this. Was it an accident? Probably. Would she get any sympathy or be assumed to not be stealing if she was poor and/or black? Not likely. That she can afford $15 cheese and is referred to throughout the blog post as a "mom" (whatever happened to the word "mother"?) aren't reasons enough to think she couldn't be stealing. But yes, it was probably an accident. Too bad she wasn't banned for life from D'Agastino's, we should all be so lucky.

NYC Mom Banned From Supermarket For Life | Strollerderby

Housekeeper accuses Buddhist monk of slavery

Who knows what the truth of this is, but it reminds me that some of the biggest assholes I've known were devoted yoga, meditation types. Why be surprised?

Housekeeper accuses ex-NYC employer, a Buddhist monk, of forcing her to work as ‘slave’ - The Washington Post

County GOP chairwoman resigns after drunken crash with kids in car

If only she'd stuck to tea.

Columbia County GOP chairwoman resigns after drunken crash with children in the car

Home sweet 78-square feet home: smallest apartment in NYC

Up is down: Catholic Church shows love for women by opposing birth control

Some headlines just grab you. And marriage equality opponents show love for gay people by making sure we can't marry. And Fox News shows it's not racist by calling Obama's private 50th birthday party a "hip-hop BBQ."  Oy.

cleveland : Catholic Church shows love for women by opposing harmful birth-control pills

NYC man gets four months for stuffing son in oven

New York City, there's no place like it.

NYC Man Who Stuffed Son in Oven Sentenced to Four Months in Prison

Casual smoking on the rise with teens

'Casual smoking'? Right. Give it thirty years.

From Reuters:

(Reuters Life!) - U.S. high school students are unlikely to be heavy smokers, but casual and occasional smoking is on the rise, according to a new study that warns even light smoking poses health risks.

Researchers found that occasional smoking among teens rose from 67.2 percent in 1991 to 79.4 percent in 2009, while heavy smoking fell from 18 percent to 7.8 percent.
"We're seeing a broad national phenomenon," said Dr. Terry Pechachek, a study co-author from the Centers for Disease Control.

"With fewer cigarettes, the price effect, smoke-free policies and a change in the broad public awareness of risk, the heaviest patterns of use are becoming very rare," Pechachek said.

But he warned against assuming that moderate smoking is safer in the long-run.

"It is important to note that light and intermittent smoking still has significant health risks," Pechachek explained. "We think there may be an emerging pattern. We may be creating a new type of smoker that may be more durable, that are adapting to smoke-free environments and to changing social norms."

Ghosts that sell memories

Cross-posted from lgbtSr.com

I don’t know where that line comes from, “Ghosts that sell memories.” A song, I think, or at least a song whose lyrics I vaguely remember.

I came across a letter Larry Kramer wrote to Randy Shilts (via The Petrelis Files, via Andrew Sullivan) in which Kramer tells Shilts that he’s going to Los Angeles to see a production of “The Normal Heart” starring Richard Dreyfuss. I saw that production. I was there to review the play for EDGE, a long-defunct gay newspaper I wrote stories and reviews for. My late partner Jim was with me. He died in 1991, spending the last three days of his life comatose in a hospice. Prior to the very end he’d been in a tight fetal position, but for some reason he relaxed that last day. A very kind nurse shaved him and combed his hair; he was looking good for the first time in many months, though he had always been handsome to me.

Jim will be dead 20 years this November. I very rarely encounter him in dreams – maybe once every five years - but the last week or so I’ve met him again after all this time. He seems content; his sense of humor is intact, he’s easygoing, and speaking with him now, there is none of the pain and fear that was such a thick, oppressive part of our days and nights.

So much has been written about the 30th anniversary of the AIDS plague (and I do prefer to call it a plague, as Kramer calls it; “epidemic” is both an understatement and a sanitization of its horror). It wasn’t that I wanted to throw in my two sentimental cents, just that I suddenly recalled, after reading Larry Kramer’s letter, sitting in a theater in 1985 with a man I would lose six years later. And those dreams so recent, and the peace I felt seeing him again.

I’ll be marrying Frank, my partner of nearly five years. Maybe Jim just wanted to give us his blessing. Ghosts that sell memories I’m happy to buy.

Designer Michael Kors ties knot with longtime love

Some things just choke me up. Super happiness and well wishes to Michael and Lance, neither of whom I know on a first-name basis.

Us Mobile - Celebrity News - Designer Michael Kors Gets Married!

‘Rent Is Too Damn High’ candidate being evicted for low rent

Low rent marketer extraordinaire Jimmy McMillan, who became famous in the New York gubernatorial contest as the ‘Rent Is Too Damn High’ candidate, is being evicted from his apartment. He claims it’s because his rent is too damn low.

From Fox News:

New York – The man who ran for New York governor under the Rent Is Too Damn High Party banner claims he is being kicked out of his Manhattan apartment -- because the rent is too damn low, the New York Post reported Friday.

Jimmy McMillan says he pays $872.96 for a rent-controlled ground-floor apartment on St. Marks Place in the East Village -- which he's had since the late-1970s, when the rent was around $275.

But the man who founded the tenants-rights party says his landlords are giving him the boot so they can pull in way more dough.

"I've been here since 1977, and they want more money!" McMillan said. "It's about 'My Rent is Too Damn Low.'"

Ancient artifact

Sunflower Diner on a rainy day

New Jersey now has majority in support of marriage equality

Note: I'm slowly getting back into posting here, but will not be doing snark or angry polemic. I'm not sure where that's going to take things, but at least I'll feel clean at the end of the day.

Could New Jersey come around some day (soon)? It's going to be strange living in Hoboken where you can't get married, and working in Manhattan where you can.

From Talking Points Memo:

Gay marriage is not likely to become legal in New Jersey as long as Chris Christie is running things, but according to a recent poll, more New Jersey voters would support marriage equality than would not.

The PPP poll surveyed 480 voters in mid-July, who were asked "do you think same-sex marriage should be legal or illegal?" 47% answered "legal," 42% said "illegal," and 11% said they weren't sure.

When phrased in a different way, the gap between supporters of same-sex marriage and opponents was smaller, though the majority still came out in favor of it. "Which of the following best describes your opinion on gay marriage," the poll asked. "Gay couples should be allowed to legally marry, or gay couples should be allowed to form civil unions but not legally marry, or there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple's relationship?"

Chelsea Hotel closes to guests - will residents be next?

The Chelsea Hotel sits on 23rd Street near Seventh Avenue like a living cultural icon, wheezing but still standing while the rest of Manhattan kept changing. Being a diehard Janis Joplin fan (though I haven’t listened to her music in years because it still reminds me of despair and whiskey), I’ve looked at the Chelsea a thousand times and recalled an iconic photograph of her standing in front of this Hotel. It’s where Dylan Thomas had his last conscious moments, where Leonard Cohen had a tryst with Joplin that he wrote infamous lyrics about. Where Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe called home for a while. It’s part of the city’s cultural legacy, and it may be on its way to development hell.

As of last Saturday, it will no longer accept guests. The residents have been told they’ll stay, but we take these things with a choking grain of salt. It wasn’t that long ago that the YMCA just across the street still had residents and a long storied history. Now it’s a David Barton gym.

From the New York Times:

Saturday night was, by all indications, the last night that the Chelsea Hotel on West 23rd Street would be open to guests, though the duration of the closing, the first in its history, was unknown.

The building is to be sold for over $80 million to the developer Joseph Chetrit, though the deal had not closed as of Sunday, according to someone close to the matter, who asked not to be named because the negotiations were confidential. Extensive renovations are expected to take at least a year. The hotel’s 100 permanent residents will be allowed to stay, but they have been told nothing beyond what the startled hotel workers learned late last week: that all reservations after Saturday were canceled.

Boston trip

I didn't take any pictures, except a few with my phone. It was nice seeing more of the city than I have before. We must have walked five miles on Saturday, very nice long weekend.