They were still singing the opening hymn when I arrived for church last Sunday. People were still standing and it made my march toward the second row a little less conspicuous than it might have been a few moments later. As it was, I was too late to find my usual seat - usual as far the last month or two are concerned - and I had to occupy the ( Read more... )

This was another early morning dash to the Upper West Side, hoping that the subways system would hew to a half-way predictable weekend schedule. Miraculously, it did and I landed in one of the back pews at Si. Mike's even before the CrossTeam had assembled. Join Us beckoned me to move my seat further to the front, but I had a small agenda in mind. ( Read more... )

Deacon Lawrence died a couple of weeks ago. His funeral was last Tuesday. Not only was he one of St. Michael's oldest members, but he was probably the last remnant of that church's pioneering gay past. The story has not been told often enough, of how the place was on its last legs fiscally with its old-stock, New York Knickerbocker constituency ( Read more... )

I think I've mentioned that I am one of the few people I know who can dream, wake up, fall back to sleep and essentially begin dreaming again where the last one left off. Last night, I had another one ( Read more... )

Crosby's been back East for the better part of six months. His arrival at the peak of the first or second surge of the pandemic was punctuated by a 3,000 mile cross-continental automobile trip, probably representing the longest he has been confined to a moving vehicle with one other person since that trip down the Ganges with a sick roommate from ( Read more... )

Our EfM class was graced by the presence of a real live theologian last Tuesday, the Reverend Doctor Cheng. Dr. Cheng is the Assistant Rector at Supernatural, the same parish Huggy Bear was once attached to. Gosh, that seems a lifetime ago. I think the latter completely switched diocese once Crosby became engaged.Dr. Cheng came to answer our ( Read more... )

I must be feeling better because last night was the first time ina long time that I can remember having an early morning dream. Lately, for perhaps the last month, I have been consistently waking an hour too early and trying to make up for it by pretending I was fully awake, sometimes going so far as to brush my teeth and then going back to bed to ( Read more... )

Spending time in Middletown always makes me nostalgic. The walks up the hill to the deli and the college Wawa put me in the thick of the Nixon Era and the penultimate days of my sexual innocence. I made friends easily; I don't remember ever being homesick. And yet, sexual passion was something that was both strange and largely kept in check. I ( Read more... )

This Sabbath Day was destined for disaster from the beginning. Rainy and cold, I was in no mood to go back into "The City" for the second time in 24 hours. Saturday involved brunch with Pale Male and being brought up to speed on the Saturday Kitchen situation. It's been in the work for months, but apparently there has been an intervention by M's ( Read more... )

This was a fantastic workshop. A personal breakthrough, really. I kept thinking about those early, clumsy attempts at teaching sexuality that were initiated by my friend, Charlie Kreiner. It's clear, some thirty years later, how they were hamstringed by Charlie's and to some extent - Harvey Jackins' - need for Charlie to remain in the closet so ( Read more... )