dear acorns

you are adorable and cute, two of my friends have your picture tattooed on their arms, and you herald the arrival of the fall, my favorite season. many cultures have linked you with fertility and life, but this year i am scared of you. as i bike down the vfw parkway i feel like you may be conspiring to end my life. there are so many of you covering the ground i try to bike upon. i think you would have sent me tumbling into on coming traffic if it weren't for my fancy hybrid bike's thick tires.

i know this is a problem for the city of boston. they should have more bike lanes and better road maintenance, but i've got to work with what we've got and right now that's a lot of you little guys. lets just try to stay out of each others way, and i hope that everything will be alright. i am planning on whimping out about biking just as soon as it gets real cold anyway.

warning people: this is a real problem in boston right now. and if you don't believe me...

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/26/acorn_crop_explosion_has_people_running_for_cover/?page=1

Rambling Man

This is me and my cousin Elaine enjoying some quality time in the car.

Scralifornia

My visit to the Bay Area was almost two weeks long, but it flew like nothing. The fact that I go crazy after being in NYC for over four days and can chill in SF with no end in sight means a lot. Mostly that I freaking love it there. Here are the highlights:

1. Lying in the Dolores Park: It's still a clusterfuck of trustfund layabouts, but I don't let their vintage sweaters or 40s get me down any more. That's right. After a year in Boston I no longer discriminate against hipsters in my people watching. I was simply delighted to see sexy people in cute clothes (and no khakis) I just sat back and enjoyed the view.
2. Food, food, glorious food: So many tacos. I tried to eat at least one a day. In the end I feel off, but I did my best. The restaurants of the Mission are better than my momma's kitchen (by a lot). Soyrizo I miss you already.
   
3. Walking: Right now I live on a tree lined street, and can walk my dog for hours without stepping over turds, used condoms or syringes. This is lovely, but nothing beats a nice walk through the city. So many sights and sounds; coffee shops to stop in and little stores to browse. Sigh.
4. Friends: Ok, these folks clearly come first before tacos and people watching, but it seems annoying to start my list out that way. All I will say is that once upon a time I had friends, and I had enough friends to feel apart of a community. I had enough acquaintances to feel like I was a part of a scene, but that was much less important. There are so many people I love in the Bay Area, I don't know how I ever left. I also don't know when I'm coming back.
5. Redwoods: You are so giant and magestic how can you be real? I went camping in Guerneville and Pescadero and the trees made me feel like I was living in a hobbit land.
   

SHORTY!!!`

Shorty's got class--oh behave!

Dear Mr. Sushi,

You are my favorite place to eat sushi in Brookline. Eleza and I plan trips to Coolidge Corner just to visit you. I bring you new customers frequently, I show you so much love. Why then, why do you queer corner me at every opportunity?

Last night Eleza and I were marched through a restaurant full of empty tables and seated in the back. Our waitress very nice, but my view of the bathroom detracted from my pleasure. I couldn't believe it when halfway through the meal two other dykes joined us in exile. Eleza and I started laughing which then seemed rude like we were laughing at them. But I hope they got it. The final straw was when the waitress brought them our check--they looked nothing like us.

My love of Mr. Sushi remains strong, but I am going to start refusing to go to the back of the bus. No more gay ghettos (unless they're self imposed).

Cheese BurGer

I know that Robot, it's Thomas of the Rude Mechanics in Austin!

Goodbye MJ

The passing of Michael Jackson upset me for various reasons. A large factor being that his music was the soundtrack to my childhood, but another is what he represents to me as a queer person. I am hesitant to claim him for our camp, but one honest look at his gender performance and I know there can be no other way.

Throughout his life the rhetoric around his cosmetic surgery remained at a base level, and the jokes, "he was a young black man who grew up to be a white woman," might of told the truth but mocked it.

To me, Michael Jackson was a trans woman who never got the chance to come out. Someone who was not attracted to women, and had to repress his gay impulses. The Catholic Church has shown us that sexual repression is the quickest way to pedophilia.

His music was the anthem of my childhood. In the time of tapes, one summer we played the Beat It album so many times it broke in the car stereo. The car my brother Craig had named The Beat It. It was he who objected whenever we played anything else.
By the time I was an adult MJ represented everything terrible about this country: the pain of racism, capitalism, and transphobia played out on his body. I cried and felt depressed when he passed. My friend said that she couldn't believe he'd died , but she also couldn't believe he was still alive.

Friday night I went out to a club and when the dj put on Wanna Be Startin' Somethin the crowd went wild. I think what I need is a whole night of danching to just MJ to heal my heart and gladden my soul.