The Third Decade

the opposite of guerrilla

The gay high holidays (a.k.a. Pride Week) are now upon us. Last Friday, some friends and I went out to the Guerrilla Queer Bar at Felt to check it out. None of us had been to one before, but based on the name and the event's reputation, we thought it would be an interesting experience. The basic premise is that the organizers choose a bar at the last minute (without telling the bar), tell a whole bunch of gay people and their friends to show up, and then the regular and new clientele mix and get to know each other. Or something like that.

So we went with a feeling of "adventure." When we arrived, however, it was anything but "guerrilla." The club prepared a special cover charge for that night and, after walking around for a while, I saw that the mens and womens bathrooms had been redesignated as "gender neutral." There was also little obvious sign that the usual non-gay crowd was there. Eventually a patron who had gone to a half dozen other similar events explained that the clubs are now given a heads-up before the events so that they can have enough staff on hand to serve the influx of a few hundred people. Suddenly it all made sense. Still, you'd think the organizers would make that clear to participants. I'm not saying that the night wasn't fun, but it was the opposite of guerrilla.

DOMA Rally at City Hall

Sometimes I don't understand why the Globe doesn't run more photos with its news stories. I went to yesterday's rally against DOMA at City Hall Plaza just for practice. Surely they could have spared one photographer or hired a freelancer. Maybe the print edition of the Globe has a photo, but it shouldn't be that hard to run just one with the online version of the article. Rallies are such great opportunities for photos and the article would've been more interesting with images.

Boston Pride 2008

Happy Pride, Boston. I wasn't expecting to be in town this year, but it was still fun partying with everyone. I'm going to try sticking to my pattern of watching one year and marching the next, which means I'll be waving a big hello from the route next year.

 

Um, thanks.

I was surfing the net tonight and came across the inaugeral edition of Savoir Flair magazine, a new LGBT publication for New England by the owners of the Pink Pages. There's an article about gay and lesbian blogs which - to my surprise - includes The Third Decade! I didn't even know about this magazine until today and am flattered to be included in their list of local gay blogs. I've been described as "contemplative." Ooh la la!

Anyway, to be fair, there are a ton of great, topical, and funny local gay blogs. I'm far too lazy to compile them myself, but luckily LeftCenterLeft is still up and linkable. The list of gay blogs is from February 2006 and is a little dated, but it's a good resource for anyone who wants to find more local gayness online. Just remember to scroll all the way down the page. There's some bug in the programming which pushes all the content to the bottom.

Thanks

To the 151 legislators who kept gay marriages legal and Massachusetts at the forefront of progressive social politics, thank you.

 

Boston Pride 2007

Happy Pride!

More Wedding Bells Soon?

New Jersey, welcome to the family. I'm surprised New York hasn't joined in the fun yet.

Episode Six

Thanks to iTunes, I'm all caught up with this season of Noah's Arc. I'll admit that I was less than thrilled with developments last season, but this year I'm looking forward to each new episode. Now that six episodes have aired, we're probably halfway through the second season and I can safely say that this one is better than the last. The characters are more nuanced, the actors seem more comfortable in their roles, and the story lines are much more interesting than last year's. I'm impressed that the show has made more serious efforts to address relationships in the age of AIDS, child rearing by gay parents, and gay bashing all in the first half of the season. Unlike last year, it looks like the my new favorite foursome (first it was Seinfeld and crew, then the Sex and the City girls, now these guys) has some real issues to deal with. I was disappointed with how last season ended. Now I'm eager to see where this one is going. Keep the intensity coming, fellas.

Buried

Apologies for the lack of posting lately (I was on a good roll for a while), but I've just been buried in work and other commitments. Roxbury Open Studios is beginning to occupy more and more of my time and energy as the October show draws nearer and just yesterday I ran into an acquaintance at Jackson Sq Station who urged me to get involved with the Bayard Rustin Breakfast again. I dropped off the planning committee last year when I found it too bureaucratic and dominated by AAC, so I'm a bit torn about reconnecting with them again. Still, I guess it won't hurt to check it out, although I hope it won't be as stodgy this year as it was last.

More immediately, the kitchen renovation project begins this weekend! The old ceiling and the pantry are slated for removal. Exposing the chimney is more than likely to happen. And the floor...well...if I'm feeling really ambitious, that will be redone as well. I wish I had more than one other set of hands to help out, but I gotta do what I gotta do. Wish me luck.

Brad Pitt On Marriage

I was getting tired of the whole Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie thing, but Brad's just earned a few extra sexy points. The October issue of Esquire will have an article in which the actor says "Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able". Thanks, Brad, we appreciate the support. But I'm wondering why now? He had no qualms marrying Jennifer Aniston back in 2000 and marriage rights (for gays and lesbians) were worse back then.