My Interview with the beautiful Brandon Lacy Campos on his blog "My Feet Only Walk Forward." Rippin' Gender and Writi' Sex

Rippin

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One thing I love about what I do as a writer is having the opportunity and the privilege of meeting the most wonderfully talented, gifted, generous, supportive and (not to mention gorgeous) like-minded artists. This year I was fortunate enough to be a part of Charlie Vazquez's fantastic monthly literary series PANIC at Nowhere in the East Village. This series rocks - and is a MUST to check out.

The incomparable Brandon Lacy Campos - poet, playwright, journalist, and life commentator, who was named #2 Queer Latin Blogger on the Web by MiApogeo.Com was one of the amazing writers on the Double Pride Panic reading. We realized we have a special affinity for each others writing style and Brandon graciously interviewed MOI, yes me, for his website. I hope you enjoy it - and make sure you subscribe to his site to follow Brandon and all his titillating updates!!! His musings on life, love, politics (and his tasty recipes) should be a part of your daily diet.

Please comment here and let me know what you think about my interview. I'm DYING to know :)

All-Black Italian Vogue Returns — With Barbie

Okay. Italian Vogue "dedicates" another issue to Black Models because of the continued lack of color on the hottest runways. A black model is NOT even on the cover and the "supplement" is a promo for Black Barbie dolls???? Not one beautiful chocolate or butterscotch face in the issue? Hey Vogue, why even bother in the first place? Really.......

Old School or Old Fool?

Enjoying the last, few relaxing moments of my beach vacation - I had one of the most, unpleasant, uninteresting conversations of the week.

A woman, a writer, lesbian and obvious baby boomer decided to engage me in a conversation about her observation of the changing "face" of Cherry Grove, Fire Island. I know what you might be thinking....sounds like changing "complexion," doesn't it? For those of you who may not know, besides Provincetown, Fire Island - both Cherry Grove and the Pines have been a beach vacation destintation for many in the Northeast LGBT community for many years. Where the Pines attracts a predominately upscale, gay male vibe, Cherry Grove attracts more women, drag queens and LGBT snow birds. She asked if I had walked along the beach lately and have I gone into town. I said yes I have. She then asked me if I noticed the new "variety" of people that have descended on the Island. I didn't have to ask her what she meant by variety because she volunteered that she was referring to "people of different races, younger people (was she referring to children - MY child? or gay teens?), people from different socio-economic backgrounds, and different orientations (different as in not "gay"). Lot's of straights." My jaw dropped just a little. Clearly, I seemed to be one of those 'different' people she was referring to as she asked me next - was it my first time out on Fire Island. I laughed. And I told her that I'm a native New Yorker and that I've been coming out to Fire Island - off and on - for nearly twenty years. I could have continued to go on - but I asked myself - why waste my time educating an "old head." I thought her sad and hoped that she was a part of a dying breed. Going into town myself later on that evening, my party and I decided to dine al fresco at the local pizza parlor. It was a beautiful, balmy night and from the outdoor dining area you can watch folks either board or disembark from the ferry. Sitting beside us was a table of eight, which consisted of white, black, latino, mixed, male, female, straight, gay, and otherwise and a few kiddies tossed in. I wondered, what is wrong with this picture? Not a damn thing. And when I thought deeper about it, maybe 20 years ago there wasn't a lot of folks "mixing" on Cherry Grove like there are today. There wasn't a lot of children of queer families either - but to me, that table represented the future of this country. With the support of straight folks, queer folks can successfully achieve the right to marry. What's the problem if straights actually want to vacation in predominately Gay venues? My son's classmates and playmates (almost all are not of color and even more are hetereosexual) see that he has same sex parents and his home life is just as ordinary as their own. It is their generation that will be even more supportive of rights for gays to marry, to adopt, and have the same rights as other human beings of this great country of ours.

Back to Old Head.

Despite her dated point of view, she is not alone. My partner recently attended a conference attended by prominent lawyers and judges. On the panel on race, one of the conference participants turns to her and says, "now that you have YOUR (black) president - you have obviously overcome." This was from an ivy league educated legal-minded individual. With Affirmative Action being the usual explanation for the Obama's and the Sotomayer's of the world and a huge black and latino underclass who hardly feels the affects of any upwardly mobility - how can anyone actually believe that we live in a country that is now suddenly color-blind, class neutral, gender-neutral and is open and accepting to various sexual orientations - just because there is a black president in office? I don't know, but I'm hopeful that my son's generation and those after him will be able to correct the wrongs, the evils and the extensive discriminatory and prejudicial damage of generations prior in a much easier, more fair, more accepting way. It would be nice if children can go to the beaches and swimming pools of this melting pot of the U.S.A. and one day, not be judged by the color of their skin, the gender of their lovers or the orientation of their parents - but - the content of their character. Someday....

no I didn't take the summer off but I am on vacation.

The King of Pop

Michael Jackson died yesterday.

Speechless.......

Pride Reading

DOUBLE PRIDE PANIC!
*twice the charm*

Charlie Vázquez and NOWHERE are excited to present DOUBLE PRIDE PANIC! -- a Pride Week reading featuring writers and poets of color Brandon Lacy Campos, Rosalind Lloyd, Ian Rafael Titus, Vincent Lofton, Claudia Narvaez-Meza and Taylor Siluwé, who will be reading from his new fiction collection, "Dancing with the Devil". Come celebrate with us!

Date: Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Time: 8:00pm - 9:30pm
Location: NOWHERE
Street: 322 E 14th St (btwn 1st/2nd Aves)
City/Town: New York, NY

understated beauty......

There is something about the understated beauty of Canada.

(photo taken in the garden of a retreat in Quebec late summer 2008)

Quote

"The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others."
Friedrich Nietzsche

The Blacks, The Gays, And Prop 8. Weighing in on Race and Same Sex Marriage

Barely opening my eyes one morning, exactly one week ago today, I switched on the news. Watching Judge Sonia Sotomayer accept the nomination to the Supreme Court was a high way to start the day. For Hispanics, for women, for my fellow Bronx-ites (BX – stand-up!) for “marginalized groups,” this was a step in the right direction for all American people. I was thoroughly elated. However, the news that followed was not so positive. The report was on the California high court’s decision not to reverse the ban on same sex marriage. All eyes were on Cali. With the ban in place, I thought, what could this mean for New York – with its own battle coming up in the not so distant future? As a native New Yorker, its easy to take certain things for granted since I live in a city with a high concentration of liberals. Like California, known for its own open minded, cosmopolitan/metropolitan enclaves like Los Angeles and San Francisco – what we tend to forget about is the high concentration of conservative-minded suburban to rural areas that make up large portions of these two states. And these voters bare no or at least little resemblance to their more “hip,” urban, more tolerant neighbors.

So my early news high was cut short by the disappointing news – one step forward, one step back. My partner and I have been together for many years, sharing a home together with our son (and our treacherous terrier). The recent Prop 8 ruling continues to remind us that our family is not equally protected and that certain decisions by law are unfair and unjust. Even in this day and age, citizens of these United States are not given the same rights and protections as other American citizens. It’s something women and people of color are no stranger to.

That night there were protests all around the nation – and the local news channel covered one such protest that took place one neighborhood over from my own. The footage showed a legion of protestors taking it to the streets to protest the decision. The reporter began interviewing one of the protestors – a middle aged man carrying his toddler in his arms. When the reporter pressed him on what he thought about the courts decision, he quipped, “It all boils down to one thing – this is racism. Pure and simple.” I leaned in closer to the flat screen to see if I could make out the expression on this guy’s face to see if he was for real. He was dead serious.

Since when is homosexuality considered a race? Did I miss something?

Okay – maybe I should give the protester the benefit of the doubt and say – perhaps he meant racism is synonymous with homophobia. Well, being that I have experienced both forms of discrimination in my life time, I believe I am more than qualified to testify to the fact that although similar, both are uniquely different experiences. Said differently, although there are obvious parallels between the Black Civil Rights Movement and the LGBT’s community’s struggle for Equal Rights, there is an unavoidable amount of evidence supporting the fact that this alignment of the two movements trivializes the potency and the profound cultural significance of the Black Civil Rights Movement and its deep, centuries old roots – pregnant with its connection to colonialism, slavery, racism, exploitation, torture, discrimination and beyond. Certain segments of the white LGBT elite denies its obvious access to its own white privilege, carelessly co-opting much of the language of the Civil Rights movement to advance the same sex marriage agenda – diminishing the importance of a critically, painful piece of American history in the process.

To watch how this entire Prop 8 scenario plays out is terribly interesting. Since the initial passage of the proposition there has been a considerable groundswell of renewed determination within the LGBT community to increase support for same sex marriage. It has now become the community’s most galvanized effort since the push became a central issue some years ago; so aggressive its reminiscent of the grass roots efforts put forth during the AIDS crisis during the 90’s with rallies, marches, fundraising drives, etc. It’s almost like November 2008 became something of a wake-up call for the community – which is a somewhat different attitude PRE to POST Election Day 2008. Am I the only one to notice this?

I’ve surfed the web checking out the coverage of Prop 8 and my research has been quite interesting. For example, one gay website which published several stories on the subject, one in particular caught my eye, titled something like “California Decision brings the issue of Race and Gay Divide to the Forefront Again.” While I won’t give an analysis of their POV, I did want to highlight a posting in response to the piece – where the poster declared, “Strange how homosexuals think of Latinos and Afro-Americans as their natural allies.” (sidebar - it really did read AFRO-American...I'm serious). Oh really? Since when? Segregation in gay & lesbian bars, organized groups, etc., continues even today in the 21st century. I hate to admit this, but there isn’t this extensive amount of racial mixing between white and people of color gays and lesbians even in the most sophisticated cities like NYC and LA. Yes, much of this is voluntary, but to me, it is still a startling fact to absorb. You can easily walk into a club in New York City that is almost entirely Black or White or upper-class - etc. Over fifteen years ago, as a young, free-lance journalist, I covered stories about gay and lesbian bars implementing the racist procedure of “carding” people of color before allowing them entrance. There continues to be minimal representation of people of color in LGBT publications (both in their editorial staff and in marketing and advertising), websites, along with minimal representation in the upper echelons of LGBT organizations. I consider it offensive to say that there is so-called unity between persons of color with the organized, largely white LGBT “elite,” when this is not totally the case. Coming out as a black, lesbian - I’ve experienced my share of racial antagonism from members of the LGBT community in a variety of social settings. Many times it was just awkward and uncomfortable but for the most part I didn’t feel the warm and fuzzy welcome. Now this was many years ago and things have certainly changed and I’m not suggesting at all that the cadre of LGBT movers and shakers have racist sentiments. But to imply that a portion of the white LGBT elite isn’t racist at all is absurd (I'll refer those who don't know to the blogs of Andrew Sullivan Dan Savage). Their response to the initial passage back in November - targeting blacks with racist venom because of their overwhelming support of Prop 8 was no surprise to me. It was, in fact, predictable. So taking this into account, I understand that I am neither warmly welcomed within the "white" LGBT elite or within the Black community completely. This really sucks. But it helps to know who my enemies are and who they continue to be.

One of my absolute favorite bloggers of all time, Jasmyne Cannick, pretty much summed up perfectly the problem with the “elite” LGBT community and its handling of Prop 8.

THE PROBLEM:
Strong feelings of entitlement, refusal to work with others, racism, extreme issues with class, sudden temper tantrums.

THE PRESCRIPTION
Take as needed, one chill pill with a large glass of reality….

All I’m really trying to say is that the LGBT community’s fight for same sex marriage is a very important cause with a more than worthy agenda. It’s a human rights issue without a doubt. But it should advance this agenda without dragging the Black Civil Rights Movement into their propaganda. As politically astute as the LGBT community has become in recent years, to simply gloss over their own dirty laundry which includes denying their own racism, classism and sometimes treating the bisexual and transgender communities as if they are evil step twins, is no way to move forward in unity as a movement. In other words, stop being such hypocrites.

No Day at the Beach

No day at the beach.

I thought being by the ocean would be soothing.

Instead, the waves seem to be crashing against the surf brutally. Their roar seems furious - louder than usual. The sand feels coarse beneath my feet - I can feel shards of glass buried deep within the tiny granules. The wind whips my face so hard it stings. It is bitterly cold. I begin to feel myself shriveling into a knot of numbness.

Feeling this I realize that I am deeply, profoundly, sad. My sadness has subconsciously stretched itself into me, infiltrating every part of my being, every cell, every action, every thought, every emotion - from my brain to the very tips of my fingers. It has nuanced how I see life, how I feel life. It is shocking to comprehend this and to admit this to myself.

A flash of daylight filters my vision. Its 5:00am. Dawns first light is a gift. The sky is a certain blue, so patient, so peaceful. Grey waves roll infinitely into its own caress. My skin captures its moisture. The air is cool, crisp, fresh, filling my anxious lungs. The taste of sea salt is light against my lips. Its coaxing, pushing, moving, encouraging.

Quote Moment

Whew....its been a while.

So, seems like a quote is in order.

“Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.”

Having said that...watch me try and dig myself out of this.