The wingnuts go on about “San Francisco values”. Here’s a clear example of what they (don’t) mean.
There’s even a dispatcher in this bunch. Cool beans!
REAL “San Francisco values”
February 10, 2012
9-1-1, commentary, Gay San Francisco Police Department, San Francisco values, SFPD It Gets Better Leave a comment
Memorials for EricJames
January 16, 2012
commentary, Gay, News, Personal eric james borges, ericjames, lgbtq-suicide, memorial for ericjames Leave a comment
Reposted here from Queerlandia.com and QueerVisalia.com:
Two memorial services are planned for EricJames, who succumbed to suicide Wednesday, January 11, in Visalia, California.
EricJames, as he was known to his friends, was 19, and his death has struck a cord world-wide. News sites and blogs around the world have carried the report, with people writing how the news has touched them with sadness, and has strengthened their convictions to work harder on suicide prevention, and the acceptance of LGBTQ+ people of all ages.
Two public memorials are planned:
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
College of the Sequoias 915 S. Mooney Blvd, Visalia The Theatre Arts Department will hold a public memorial at 3:00 – 6:00 pm. See their Facebook event site, here. A map to the College is here.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Spiritual Awareness Center 117 S. Locust St., (map)
Due to capacity considerations, this memorial has been moved. Same time, Saturday at 1pm.
New location: The Lamp Liter Inn, 3300 W. Mineral King, Visalia map.
Facebook event page, here.
I could believe in Santa again…
December 15, 2011
Gay, Humor muscle santa, Santa Claus, Secret Santa Leave a comment
He could be my secret Santa any day. (Just needs to lose the cigar)
Rolling With The Stars. Television stars. Hot Television Stars.
December 7, 2011
commentary, Gay, geek, Personal Brian Jacob Smith, Chick-Fil-A, LGBT, Stargate Universe, Twitter Leave a comment
So one of the cool things about Twitter is being able to follow “stars”. I’m not much of a star-struck type, I don’t try to get autographs, or buy lots of material licensed by famous people. It was cool to get George Takei, appearing at a Star Trek convention in Visalia years ago, to sign a copy of a science fiction novel he wrote, and I once walked past a television actor (Lance Kerwin of ‘James at 15′) on the sidewalk at Venice Beach. Late one night Steven Segal came into the liquor/convenience store I was working in (and behaved like an asshole. I think he was insulted that I didn’t recognize him. I just thought a grown man giggling that he loudly passed gas was a bit juvenile). I don’t really have a desire to meet actors, because I tend to think of them as the characters they portray, not as the real individuals they are. I think that sets you up for a disappointment, because the real person is probably not much like the character you know. The real person may be someone it would be great to get to know, but they could also be a self-absorbed jerk. Even in today’s over exposed world, the real character of a person who “fakes” a character for a living, could be something much less than their public persona.
Twitter adds a new dimension to interaction with the famous, however. I follow a few famous people, simply because they’re in something I liked, or are somehow related to something I’m interested in. Simon Pegg, George Takei, Buzz Aldrin, Bill Maher, All Mighty God, Brent Spiner, David Hewett, David Blue, and Brian Jacob Smith are a few of the “famous” I follow. Some of them Tweet only professional stuff, intended to promote their careers or particular interests. Some only randomly Tweet, and others run hot and cold. I don’t expect to actually interact with them, they simply have too many people Tweeting at them to expect that they’ll see my Tweet in the flood of messages directed at them. Every once in a while, however, quite unexpectedly, you hit paydirt.
Not expecting him to actually see it, or respond, I sent off a Tweet to an actor in a favorite show of mine, Stargate Universe. Brian Jacob Smith, who played Lt. Scott in the SyFy Channel series responded.
A Train, Two Old Queers, and the Token Straight Boy
November 28, 2011
commentary, Gay, geek amtrak, Fresno, QueerFresno, queerlandia, QueerVisalia Leave a comment
At the Fresno AMTRAK Station Sunday evening, seeing off Mike (L) and Nathan (R).
Mike and Nathan live in the Bay Area, and came to Fresno to see relatives for the Thanksgiving holiday. After a ‘business meeting’ to discuss various sundry website details and discuss future plans for Queerlandia.com and it’s associated Queer websites, I saw them off at Fresno’s downtown AMTRAK station. Mike is our glorious leader (AKA Mr. President), and Nathan is our secretary. Between Mike keeping things on an even keel, and Nathan doing a lot of the grunt work, all I have to do as Vice President is sit around and look pretty.
Don’t I do that well?
(oh, I do add a blog or three, now and then. Go check them out, if you like. You’ll find them at QueerLandia.com, QueerFresno.com, and QueerVisalia.com, to name a few)
Mike is the driving force behind the Queer sites, starting off with QueerFresno.com about mumble mumble years ago.
I came on board a few years ago, after Mike, for reasons known only to him, invited me to blog with them. I turned him down twice before deciding ‘what the hell’, and jumping in. He hasn’t run me off, yet, so I must be doing something right.
Nathan is our cute, hot, funny, intelligent, young voice on the Queer sites. He’s also our token straight boy. Sorry guys.
We have a staff of other bloggers who add to the mix, and it’s working pretty well. Go check it out, at Queerlandia.com.
Better late than never! The Visalia Times Delta publishes my letter
November 12, 2011
commentary, Gay, Personal coming out, letter to the editor, national coming out day, NCOD, Visalia Times Delta 1 Comment
October 11 was National Coming Out Day. I wrote and submitted a Letter To The Editor about it, hoping my local paper, The Visalia Times Delta, would publish it on NCOD. They didn’t, and I dismissed the hope of seeing it in the printed edition. A few days after the 11th, I went ahead and posted it in the blog section of the paper’s online site, and to QueerVisalia.com. Imagine my surprise to see it in yesterdays paper! It appeared on the 11th, but the 11th of Novemeber! Better late than never, I suppose. The comments are filling up with a lot of religious bigotry and hatred, and a couple of positive remarks. There are a lot of remarks from a few different screen names, posting multiple times, and endlessly going on about how I’m going to hell, and need to repent. Some of us who post regularly to the online forums of the VTD suspect the multiple screen names belong to one individual, but you never know. In this area, there are plenty of homophobes ready and willing to rant their anonymous diatribes. It could be more than one person, but regardless, they continue to spout lies, hatred, bigotry, and endlessly go on about how “God” hates this that and the other. But, it did get printed. Already got some nice comments at work and at my Facebook page about it.
Check it out here.
Cracking Jokes At Work – The Value of being out and proud
October 23, 2011
commentary, Gay, Humor, Personal butt buddies, gay humor Leave a comment
Thursday night a couple of the ladies at work are chatting, alternating between being silly and serious, when the conversation turned to the relative size of their tushes. One, a rather slim one, was joking that she was going to have implants done to her bottom side. The other, a bit on the heavy side, said she’d like to have some removed. Then she offered hers to the first, saying she could spare some, and that then they’d be “butt buddies”.
I spoke up and said “you know, in my world, ‘butt buddies’ has a whole different meaning!”
It’s a good thing the radio traffic was dead right then, because neither one would have been able to transmit anything but laughter.
That humorous interlude would have been impossible if I were still in the closet. Just another reason to be out and proud. You don’t have to pass on fun word play!
Spur-of-the-moment leads to fun weekend
September 11, 2011
commentary, Gay, Personal Bass Lake, Ducey's, fun weekend, Kampout Fresno, LGBT 1 Comment
Friday morning (well, just after noon, but way morning for me), as I’m in that kinda-asleep-but-kinda-not condition that you get to experience if you don’t wake up to an alarm clock, I heard the text-message chime go off on my phone. At first, I try to ignore it, after all, I’m still “asleep”, but my curiosity got the best of me, and I pick up the phone to see what was up. Ted sent me a message, saying “pack your bags ur going to bass lake for the weekend!!!!!!”. Well… you can’t argue with something like that, so I started packing.
Here are some pictures and details of the weekend.
LGBT Life Online Panel a great experience
February 21, 2012
Jim Reeves commentary, Gay, Personal being out, jimmiejoe, LGBT Life Online panel, Tulare-kings pflag 3 Comments
Sunday was the LGBT Life Online panel held at the PFLAG (Parents, Family & Friends of Lesbians and Gays) meeting here in Visalia. The Tulare-Kings PFLAG invited this group to speak on blogging and online activities of the LGBT community in the central valley. From left to right, Andrew, web manager for Tulare-Kings PFLAG‘s website and Facebook pages, Melissa of GayPorterville.com, Brooke of GayVisalia.com and GayCentralValley.com, Justin of My LGBT Plus, myself representing QueerLandia.com and the soon to be discontinued QueerVisalia.com, and Ted of My LGBT Plus sat on the panel. Each gave an overview of the history and objectives of their respective organizations. A question and answer period allowed the audience a chance to ask about the various groups and how they operate.
This is the first time I’ve been on such a panel, and it was not too long ago that you’d never have gotten me up in front of a crowd like this. I was amazed that I was completely calm, and was looking forward to the event before hand, and enjoyed being before the group. The past few years have seen quite the change in my personal growth, even if I do say so myself, in that I’m much more relaxed and confident. That’s a big change for me, and I think much of it has to do with deciding to be an out gay man.
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