A Gay Everyday: The World Is My Oyster

This is a new series I am starting called A Gay Everyday. Each day, or at least a few times a week, I will post an interview with one of my friends about the interesting things they are doing with their lives.

Todays featured gay is Erika, who will be journeying with me across the desert this summer as we depart the Bay Area and head back East to attend our respective grad schools. We both lived in NYC at the same time but didn't meet until my second year in San Fran. (This is her holding my birthday present, an unapologetic carnivore, she wrapped it with bacon tape--ewww.)

1. How do you know Mel?

i know Mel because i was in law school '04-06 and she was working for the NLG. as i got more and more inviolved with the NLG we became close friends and eventually yoga spouses. we bonded over the spirituality of yoga and our common neuroses. finally, when i quit law school and the NLG, we became the closest we'd been.

2. What do you do?

I work at a public policy research and advocacy organization.

3. Why did you come to the Bay Area?

i came for law school, and initially for very gay (read: girl) reasons.

4. Where will you be going to school this fall and what will you study?

i am going to school at columbia teachers college and will get an MA in Politics and Education. i might get a PhD eventually.

5. Why did you choose this area of focus and particular university?

i chose education because everytime i work in the social justice/racial justice field i hit up upon root causes of inequity, whether in juvenile justice, housing, etc. and one way to work on equity is to work on education. seems the most basic, primary, and inequitable area in my mind. so i feel passionately about it. and so i applied to one school (the best one in the field) for a PhD and got pushed out of the applicant pool into the MA program and got in.

6. Will you have to write a thesis?

yeah. even though the program is 9 mths.

7. What will it be about?

it will have to do with politics, education (uhm, of course) and will use or support the method of research called "community based participatory research" and be anti-racist in nature.

8. What are you most excited about learning?

how to make systemic change using anti-racist principles.

9. What do you want to do with your degree?

make systemic change.

10. If you could have any job, what would it be?

i'd be a state senator, an education "tzar" of a major city like NYC, a professor at a state university/ community college. and i want to have babies.

11. Do you think you'll move back to the Bay Area?

who knows? the world is my oyster.

"But we have been Lesbians for thousands of years"

Don't hate, people of Lesbos.

People of Lesbos take gay group to court over term 'Lesbian'

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS, Associated Press Writer Wed Apr 30, 10:22 AM ET

ATHENS, Greece - A Greek court has been asked to draw the line between the natives of the Aegean Sea island of Lesbos and the world's gay women.

Three islanders from Lesbos — home of the ancient poet Sappho, who praised love between women — have taken a gay rights group to court for using the word lesbian in its name.

One of the plaintiffs said Wednesday that the name of the association, Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece, "insults the identity" of the people of Lesbos, who are also known as Lesbians.

"My sister can't say she is a Lesbian," said Dimitris Lambrou. "Our geographical designation has been usurped by certain ladies who have no connection whatsoever with Lesbos," he said.

The three plaintiffs are seeking to have the group barred from using "lesbian" in its name and filed a lawsuit on April 10. The other two plaintiffs are women.

Also called Mytilene, after its capital, Lesbos is famed as the birthplace of Sappho. The island is a favored holiday destination for gay women, particularly the lyric poet's reputed home town of Eressos.

"This is not an aggressive act against gay women," Lambrou said. "Let them visit Lesbos and get married and whatever they like. We just want (the group) to remove the word lesbian from their title."

He said the plaintiffs targeted the group because it is the only officially registered gay group in Greece to use the word lesbian in its name. The case will be heard in an Athens court on June 10.

Sappho lived from the late 7th to the early 6th century B.C. and is considered one of the greatest poets of antiquity. Many of her poems, written in the first person and intended to be accompanied by music, contain passionate references to love for other women.

Lambrou said the word lesbian has only been linked with gay women in the past few decades. "But we have been Lesbians for thousands of years," said Lambrou, who publishes a small magazine on ancient Greek religion and technology that frequently criticizes the Christian Church.

Very little is known of Sappho's life. According to some ancient accounts, she was an aristocrat who married a rich merchant and had a daughter with him. One tradition says that she killed herself by jumping off a cliff over an unhappy love affair.

Lambrou says Sappho was not gay. "But even if we assume she was, how can 250,000 people of Lesbian descent — including women — be considered homosexual?"

The Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece could not be reached for comment.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

My friend Travis, who has been acting in plays and films since high school, was recently cast in a Matthew McConaughey movie with the chilling title "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past". Travis was good enough to answer a few questions about his unique experience playing a trans-man in a mainstream movie:

1. What is the plot of the movie?

A brief synopsis of this quality romantic comedy, directed by Mark Waters (the guy that did Mean Girls), is that, Connor (Matthew McConaughey), was taught by his player uncle (Michael Douglas) to never love or commit to a girl because you will just get your heart broken.

On the night of his brothers wedding, which he is fucking up and deeply resenting, he is visited first my his dead uncle's ghost to tell him he must change his ways and that he will be visited by three more ghosts. These three ghosts lead him into the past, present and future of his love live.

2. How did you get cast?

My friend forwarded me the info saying she had recommended me. I think it was originally on craigslist.

3. What was that process?

I got my line and memorized it, went to the casting agency and read for the casting director, her assistant and a camera. They then sent it to the director and I was chosen.

4. Who is your character?

My character was "barman" Conners' transgendered ex-gf Shauna. Its during his trip with the ghost of the past where he is confronted in a crowed bar full of all his ex's. In this case, one of his ex's is now a man.

5. Is it important that he is transgender?

I think it says a lot that the director was looking for and casted an trans person for this part. I feel like he could have used anyone, but he wanted a queer.

6. What purpose does it serve in the film?

The characters role is for comedy. Its probably not even in a straight man's consciousness that his ex-gf could become a man. So there is some great queer visibility for the mainstream in this, but without any degrading undertones. Conner remember Shauna, and moves on. He dosen't make a big deal out if it.

7. How do you feel about the portrayal of transsexuals in mainstream film/tv?

It's too bad that the brief amount of times transgendered people appear in sitcoms and films are usually for comic relief. I want an action hero.

8. How did you prepare for this role?

I said it over and over to myself as I rode to work. I tried saying it in different ways, but then when it came time to actually deliver, I was really nervous.

9. Describe your experience on the set:

It was me, in a suit, and then about 30 women dressed in the skimpiest outfits ever. I kept to myself most of the time, but had a few pleasant interactions about what I did when I wasn't playing Shauna.

Alot of the women came up to me and said they thought my line was the funniest. One women asked me if it made me uncomfortable to say it. I should preface this by saying I clearly did not pass as male on the set. So basically what she was asking, was if it was weird for me, a girl, to play a boy. I said no of course not, and moved on.

10. What were your interactions with Mr.McConaughey like?

Well, when he first arrived on set, I thought to myself, "Hmm...he looks a little different in the pictures." I thought maybe he got a haircut or it was because his shirt was on, but then realized, it was just his stand in, and the real Matthew came out.

He said to me he thought this bit was funny, and we shook hands. I didn't get a chance to invite him to JP to play kickball or anything, but he was fun to watch. He seemed extremely comfortable in his position, the famous guy on set, with people clawing at him, tucking in his shirt for him etc. And he looked great on camera (watching the monitors and all).

11. Based on this 1999 mugshot of Mr. McConaughey from thesmokinggun.com would you say it's likely he has had hair implants?

Defiantly possible. If he does, he should just embrace it like Poisons' frontman Bret Michaels who said this fine statement in a recent Rock of Love interview: "My hair is combined of my hair and the finest extensions Europe has to offer"

12. Do you feel it's important to have queer actors play queer roles?

Totally! We need the work! I'm mean sure, straight people out there have done a good job at different queer roles, but personally, I just have a warm feeling when I know that a person who is portraying a queer person is really queer.

13. When is this movie coming out?

February of 2009, says www.imdb.com I won't know if my bit made it in until I actually go see it!

14. What are you going to do with the $$$?

A new tattoo! Fly to SF! Pay my credit card bill!

15. If you could make a movie, what would the plot and characters be?

I'd make a mockumentary about a leather daddy competition.


Travis can be seen in the upcoming Maggots and Men, an independent film about Russian sailors in the Kronstadt Uprising of 1921, due out this summer.

MAY DAY MAY DAY!

Dudes,
Below is the Bay Area protest schedule for May Day! It's going to be awesome but we need a lot of people to volunteer to be legal observers! Let me know if you are going to be in the streets and I will look for you.

xo

May Day Marches for Workers and Immigrant Rights
Thursday, May 1, 2008

The NLG is looking for legal observers for the following May Day actions, please email mel@nlgsf.org to sign up:

10:30 AM: March with the Longshore Workers
Longshore (ILWU) Hall, Mason and Beach St. (Take Muni F-Market.)
March down Embarcadero

12 noon: Rally at Justin Herman Plaza

12:30 PM: Direct Action to Stop the War (DASW) March/protest at military recruitment center & ICE. Depart from Justin Herman Plaza (Embarcadero BART)

2 PM: Amnesty rally at Dolores Park and then march to Civic Center

3 PM: March for Immigrant rights in Oakland
Assemble at Fruitvale BART and march to city hall.

5 PM: Rally and music at SF Civic Center

6 PM: Rally and community celebration at Oakland City Hall

Through a peaceful, organized march in San Francisco and in several other major U.S. cities we seek to resurrect the historical significance of May 1st in the international labor/worker struggle and to reignite the labor movement by integrating the current undocumented worker struggle of obtaining amnesty. We believe this struggle is about worker rights, and should be incorporated into other social justice issues if we are to strive for a fairer and much more peaceful world.

Under the broad theme of “Workers Uniting without Borders –Amnesty for All” we invite all individuals and organizations interested in fighting for social justice and upholding the rights of all workers to join us to collectively demand for:

• Stop the War at Home and Abroad
• Stop the Persecution and Repression of Immigrants
• Stop the Violation of Labor, Human and Civil Rights of All Workers
• Stop the Gentrification of our San Francisco Neighborhoods
• Unconditional Amnesty-Papers for All

There He Goes!

Here are pictures of Craig running the marathon, (he's the guy in the blue shirt in front of the woman with the red shirt) representing Brookline Fire all the way! Notice how beautifully tan my brother is, it's so not fair he got the nice dark olive skin and I turn bright pink after one glass of wine!

Go, Craig, Go!

My brother Craig is running the Boston Marathon today and has done 25k already. He is running 9.5 minute miles and going so fast he didn't hear my mom calling when he ran by. So she started chasing him down the street screaming his name. My grandma said she looked like a crazy lady!

His best friend, Kevin, a fellow firefighter, called my mom and said they are waiting at the finish line with beer to pour all over him. I wish I could be there to see it!

Go to this link and watch the awesome "thrilling women's finish" http://wbztv.com/video/?cid=42&id=61666@wbz.dayport.com.

Mom In the News

My mom called me yesterday to tell me all about this, she fought her way past the police line by dropping a few names (she's officer Dick Melville's daughter, yo). I am worried that my life will be a constant update of fire activity once I move home.

I am starting to feel like my brother's job is dangerous. Everyone loved firefighters after 9/11 but did all the hometown boys who rushed to sign up forget that those guys died?

Apparently, my bro is pissed about this article because the boys at the firehouse are calling him Mary Poppins now.

A rush to rescue residents from fire

6 firefighters hurt in Brookline blaze

By James Vaznis Globe Staff / April 17, 2008

BROOKLINE - Minutes before a second-floor porch fire yesterday afternoon erupted into an inferno that sent six firefighters to the hospital, a nearby field maintenance worker and a neighbor rushed to save the residents inside.

Mark Bates, a 23-year-old maintenance worker at Northeastern University's Parsons Field, yelled to colleagues around 2:30 p.m. to call 911 before he scaled two chain link fences, darted across Harrison Street, and sped up the front steps. There he joined Elizabeth Warner, a psychologist who lives next door, and the two ran into the 2 1/2-story house and found a man in his 20s walking from the kitchen to a living room, unaware the porch was ablaze.

"He was absolutely stunned when I told him," Bates said. "He panicked."

Bates then ran to a smoky stairwell leading to the third floor, where the young man thought his father was. It turned out that the father, who walks with a cane, was on the second floor and all got out of the house safely.

Moments later, Bates heard a squealing noise, apparently from a barbecue grill's propane tank on the second-floor porch, seconds before the upper floors erupted in flames.

As the fire raged, commanders ordered an evacuation. However, a wall on the second floor collapsed where four firefighters were, triggering a flashover that ultimately trapped three of them. The heat was also so great that a portion of one of the firefighters' helmets melted.

Other firefighters were able to rescue them. "Luckily, we were able to get them out," Fire Chief Michael O'Reilly said.

The three firefighters, along with three additional firefighters at the scene, were taken to area hospitals where they were treated for shoulder injuries, burns, and other injuries that were not life-threatening.

Fire investigators were searching for a cause of the fire.

"It looked like a blazing disaster," said Peter Mulford, 45, a neighborhood resident who watched the fire with his 10-year-old daughter. "They tried spraying it but it looked like it kept getting worse. The smoke was so bad you couldn't even see down the street."

The mother of one of the firefighters, Craig Campagna, 28, teared up when she saw him walking on the sidewalk with his partially melted helmet and covered in soot.

"I was happy to see that he was safe," said Michelle Melville, who learned of the fire as she walked home from Brigham and Women's Hospital, where she is a nurse. "His face looked like a chimney sweep, like in 'Mary Poppins.' "

A pet parakeet reportedly died in the fire, and a cat sustained burns. The fire was the second on Harrison Street in recent months.

The Red Cross was assisting two families - or approximately eight people - who live in the house with temporary housing.

Warner said last night that it was frightening to run into a house on fire.

"I knew the older man would be home and that he would need help getting out," said Warner. She added, "While you are doing it, the adrenaline keeps you going. You don't think about being scared at the time."

F is for Family

Some hard conversations have been happening at casa de 69 lately. Yes, that is where I live, and no, I am not just being perverted, our actual apartment address is 69! But you know, we all feel inspired to live up to the name...no seriously, this isn't about how we are an apartment of ho's (that will be another entry) this is about how much I love my house/mates.

In June, I will have lived at casa de 69 for four years. The longest I have stayed anywhere since I left my mother's house, where I lived my whole life, when I was 18. Right now I live with Julie (aka Foolie), Ethan (aka Frome) and Finn (aka bum bum). Finn is my giant cat. (That's us, minus Finn, at my bday dinner. We're pretty cute).

Anyway, I will officially vacate the premises as of August 15 and we had a house meeting earlier in the week to talk about the ugly details. Dudes, it was sad times and it still is. Foolie, Frome and I get along really well together. Our house is a refuge from the storm of crazy city life, a place where I look forward to seeing my best friends and processing my thoughts and feelings at the end of everyday. How/why on earth would I ever leave a situation like that (especially when it is rent controlled!)? For education and personal advancement/growth are the answers. Or as Ethan, with a grim face, put it when I told him I was going to Emerson "You are going to live your dreams."

But riddle me this universe, and faithful blog readers: why must doing something good for myself hurt other people? It often does and I just don't like it.


PS Before Frome lived at casa de 69, Fairley (aka Big F) and before her, Beck (aka Beck-a-ronious) took up residency in Julie and my house/hearts.

Seriously, Again?

One of the reasons I have considered myself very fortunate these past four years living in San Francisco, is because I can walk to work. Yes, that's right New Yorkers, my "commute" is a pleasant 20+ minute stroll through the sunny Mission. It's fucking idyllic.

However, sometimes things happen on my morning jaunt that interrupt my serenity. Usually it's a big pile of feces on the ground that makes me think "That would have to be one big dog." Another thing that is not my fav is when I am walking behind someone who is smoking a j, and the weed smoke goes directly into my face/mouth/nose/lungs. Then I think "WTF? I am going to arrive at work reeking of weed and slightly high, and it won't even be on purpose!"

The first time it happened, it was a homeless guy puffing on a big fatty while slowly pushing a shopping cart up Capp Street. That time, I crossed the street. But today, it was a skinny hipster boy who I thought was just smoking a rolled cigarette at first.

Nope.

He was walking rather briskly and I wondered if he had planned to smoke the joint that morning or if the urge had just overtaken him when he saw what a nice day it was out. Either way, I trailed that fool for several blocks, as he passed families with children and other law abiding citizens going about their business. I think I began to make him nervous because he started walking faster and faster and turning around occasionally. Maybe my aviator sunglasses make me look like an undercover narc?

Even though I occasionally indulge in smoking of tobacco and ganja, I hate it when people smoke walking down the street. But I do think that weed should be legal, so then people could just sit on their front stoops and get high, like I know they want to.

It's a Killer Rush

Ok, so I didn't do my homework before I posted about Patrick Swayze. I didn't consult IMDb, nor did I even dig very far into the annals of my movie loving brain, because if I had, I would have remembered that Patrick Swayze starred in the best surfer movie ever made, Point Break.

OMG, I love this movie.

Patrick played "Bodhi", a word that translates into "enlightenment" or "awakening." Buddha actually means "one who has achieved bodhi." So you can see how appropriate it is that Patrick would play the part of such a spiritual outlaw.

Other Swayze movies I (shamefully) overlooked are: To Wong Foo, Donnie Darko, the Outsiders, and North and South. The latter is an incredibly racist, soft-core-porn-set-on-a-plantation/made-for-tv-mini-series.

He really has given us so many memories to cherish. Let's do like 9/11 and never forget.

Save Swayze

For those of you who have become concerned about the health of Patrick Swayze (according to US Weekly, he is currently fighting a brave battle with pancreatic cancer), there is something you can do! My genius friend, Tory, is hosting a Swayze-a-thon in PDX. The goal is to watch as many Patrick Swayze movies as possible in one sitting, thus sending him lots of strength and good wishes to stay strong.


I think this is an excellent idea and I am encouraging everyone out there to organize your own Swayze showing. Although, Patrick's immobile leathery face was the worst part of the truly terrible Dirty Dancing 2: Havanna Nights (why Diego Luna? Why!) we still need to rally around him. One major dilemma I am willing to acknowledge about this proposal, besides the first Dirty Dancing and Ghost, I can't really think of any Patrick Swayze movie I have enjoyed.

I know that many of you will shout "ROADHOUSE" but guess what? I haven't seen it. I know that's wrong but it's true. However, my dear friend Tucker was lucky enough to see it before she died...this is one of my favorite stories about her.

Tucker was coming home drunk from the Lex one night with a girl, but they didn't get very far away from the bar (maybe just a few houses) before they started making out on the steps of a building. It turns out that a party was going in one of the apartments right then, and Tucker and the girl would have to stop hooking up every time people walked up or came out to have a smoke. By the time they had finished, they had made friends with a few of the party goers. So they decided to go inside the apartment to use the bathroom and freshen up (who knows what time it was at that point. Also, I think this was during the week).

In the living room were a bunch of straight hipsters sitting around drinking PBR and watching Roadhouse. They greeted Tucker and her friend warmly, clearly they had become apart of the party, and offered them a beer. Of course they accepted, it was that kind of night, and for a beautiful hour, Patrick Swayze entranced the entire room, and straight and queer hipsters co-existed peacefully in the Mission.

THE END.

Adult Man Jesus Day

This year I spent Easter in the park with Miles at the Hunky Jesus Contest. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence put it on every year, and (gay) men compete to be crowned 'Hunky Jesus'. Each contestant has a theme and the first year I went, "Jewalicious Jesus" won. He had a beard and long hair and was really hot. It's a completely amazing event.

While I was eating lunch, my friend Erika sent me a text that said "Happy Adult Man Jesus Day." Well that just made no sense to us, but since San Fran is all about celebrating, we decided to record our feelings about Easter and the gays and Jesus, take a look:



If you were with us you would have seen beautiful gay bunnies:


This lady is amazing and performs in Ptown during the summer. Miles are I are so going!

"Beautiful Day for a Riot"

There has only been one arrest today, but that's what one of our more anarchistically inclined attorneys said when he walked into the office this morning.

Although the Chinese government bused in thousands of pro-China demonstrators and the SFPD said they got preference on the street, the Tibet, Burma and Darfur folks managed to throw down.

The international Olympic Torch protests are so much more entertaining to me than the regular Olympics ever are. The Left has created much harder physical feats for the torch bearers than normal runners endure. From now on, I think the winner of the Olympics should be determined by who can run the fastest holding a flaming wand, surrounded by police men with raised batons, while trailed by angry protesters and giant puppets.


The Free Tibet folks had a big fake tank they marched down the route. Yeah!










Mayor Newsom was not a happy camper. Why they thought they could successfully run the torch through SF I will never understand.

The Best Ever

A Dog, A Cat, and A Rat - We Are Family!!!!

This is a video of one of the homeless in Santa Barbara and his pets. They work State Street every week for donations. The animals are pretty well fed and are mellow. They are a family. The man who owns them rigged a harness up for his cat so she wouldn't have to walk so much (like the dog and himself). At some juncture the rat came along, and as no one wanted to eat anyone else, the rat started riding with the cat and, often, on the cat! The dog, will stand all day and let you talk to him and admire him for a few chin scratches. The Mayor of Santa Barbara filmed this clip and sent it out as a Christmas card.

Free Tibet

Yesterday some bad ass pro-Tibet activists with serious climbing skills scaled the cables of the Golden Gate Bridge and hung banners to protest the Olympic torch arrival in the city tomorrow. The three climbers stayed up there for a few hours until the signs were cut down. They are being charged with felony conspiracy because the bridge is federal property (boo).

We have been getting calls at the NLG office for weeks from Free Burma and Tibet groups asking for legal support. There are going to be people protesting China's policies happening all day long and right now we only have 6 legal observers (not enough).

Wish us luck.

P.S. I know I like to complain about all the work the crazy Bay Area activists make for me with their constant protesting but I am going to miss this stuff when I go.

Fools For Love

Tuesday, April 1st marked the 6th Anniversary of the romantic relationship between my friends Dana and Cristian. As you could perhaps guess from their anniversary falling on April Fool's Day, they have a really good attitude about dating.

For most of the 6 years, they were long distance. I once asked Dana for dating advice and she said "Take it slow." Duly noted. This picture of them was taken on the day they moved in together. Slow and steady, baby.

Cristian is a "masshole" like me and we share a "wicked" sense of humor. Cristian has a tendency to date hot queer women. Once, when I was drunk in college, I walked up to him in the hall and said "Why isn't Claire gay?!?" and then punched him in the stomach. Claire was his girlfriend at time. I didn't remember having done that until I saw him at lunch in the caf the next day. Being a really nice person, he remained my friend after that.

We were all in the same group of friends we called "Gay Fam". It was Ohio and we were bored, so we made up mythology about how we all came about. I don't remember exactly how they were originally related in the gay family tree, but we all know the queer community is incestuous.

On April Fools Day (or a few day after, when I finally finished this blog entry!) I celebrate Cristian and Dana's love, because I love them both as individuals and how great they are together. I can't wait to visit them this summer in Texas and meet their cadre of crazy pets and go swimming in Hippy Hollow.

xoxox

Prologue: In the beginning there was Gay Fam

Once upon a time, a bunch of miscreant children awoke to find themselves in a lovely little town in rural Ohio. They wandered into a glen, and came upon a bubbling spring surrounded by orange rocks. Being thirsty, the children drank from the well and the water tasted fresh, if a little metallic. The last one had just finished sating her thirst when suddenly some local children appeared.

"You fools!" They cried. "You have drank from the Yellow Springs, don't you know what this means?"

"Uh, that looks more orange than yellow to me."

"Clearly you are idiots, because you have just bonded yourself to this place for life. All those who drink from the Yellow Springs will return forever. You can leave but you will always return."

"Is there no way to brake this curse?" They asked.

"There is one way, but it is a long and arduous journey and most do not make it to the end. You must succeed in securing a degree from the once radical and reputable but currently failing liberal arts college across the street. They are the keeper of the Glen and to them you must pay your dues."

Some were happy at this news, they liked Ohio and didn't mind the idea of staying. Other's were despondent, they were from great metropolitan centers and longed to return to the hustle and bustle of city life. Either way, they all picked their way across the street to register for classes. Then began drinking heavily.

GAY FAM WAS BORN.