the pride post
I'm finally, about a week later, writing about Gay Pride in Providence. I guess that's not too late...
I'm going to let the pictures tell the story, for the most part.
I'm going to jump into the middle: this table, at first glance, looks like a bunch of pastry. They're actually doggie treats from a place called Edgewoof Pet Bakery. I came really close to buying something for the Siberian husky upstairs, Heidi, because our landlady was out of town and I knew that Heidi was feeling neglected. But this was early in the day, and I got distracted and forgot. Yeah, some doting uncle I make. Anyway, the guy at the booth (I assume it's one of the owners, but I could be mistaken) was nice, and the treats look good (as well as I can actually tell), and I like the website, so I'll have to pay them a visit sometime.
Okay, so back to Pride...
I was responsible for setting up the APRI booth this year. I showed up somewhere between 10:30 and 11. I had to stop by APRI to pick up the stuff, drive over and drop it off at the checkin point, park my car back at APRI, and then walk over. As last year, I wore my leather kilt, harness, vest, and way too old Russian army boots, and it was kinda fun walking around town like that. Even though probably 70% of the ten minute walk was under a bridge or a parking garage.
I was disappointed with our booth for many reasons. For one thing, our banner was at a health fair, so Michael (the Prevention and Education director) came up with this idea of rainbow colored paper with our logo on it. Personally, I think that the health fair people should have done the colored paper and given us the banner. More than once, people told me that they were looking for our banner and walked right past our booth several times. For another thing, our booth was perfectly situated to get scorched with direct sunlight. The booth to the right was in the shade, the booth to the left had a tent... we didn't have a tent. (See the railing? That's separating our row of booths from another row, facing the opposite direction.) The last couple of years we've had a tent; last year we shared a booth with Options Magazine and I think they supplied the tent, and the year before maybe we rented one. This year the cost for renting a tent was ridiculously high, and we didn't have one laying around, so I got to tough it out.
I didn't mind the heat so much, but the sun? Bad. I was slopping on the SPF 50 sunscreen that I borrowed from quillon, but I still missed a few spots and burned, dammit. Fortunately, the new tattoo didn't get burned. (You can see it in this comment courtesy of clarkelane; depending on your layout you might have to scroll down.) The other issue was that it's probably not a good idea to leave condoms out in the sun all day. Fortunately I had a shaded spot to store most of the condoms, so I just kept refilling the buckets as they went.
And for the record? We brought about five thousand condoms (Providence pride usually draws a crowd of around 7k, for perspective) and we ended the day with maybe 100. Michael hit that right on the head. I guess that kind of balances his lack of foresight with the tent issue. Heh heh.
The pic on the left is our booth, from my perspective. I shrank it down because there's not a lot more to say.
The bike that you can kinda sorta see in the background was from the Dykes On Bikes booth, two booths down. They had about seven motorcycles on display in all, and it kinda framed our booth nicely. I kept getting questions about it from people, mostly is that yours? or about the engine specs, and I found it amusing. I might end up with a motorbike someday (it's something I would like very much, actually) but I'm not going to drive it wearing a kilt. Even if I weren't concerned about getting arrested (think about it), just think about the damage potential if I wiped out or got in an accident... yeah.
Our neighbors on the right were awesome. It was some store that sold T-shirts and art and stuff. I have no idea who or where they are, but I really liked their display...
I ended up buying a T-shirt from them. and surprisingly it's something I can wear (and already have worn) to a school.
Okay, I'm not saying enough for this left-right thing to work anymore so let's try it this way...
Since we were in Kennedy Plaza, which is the main hub for the RIPTA bus network and in the middle of downcity Providence, I had yet another opportunity to take some pics of the architecture. I am pretty sure that this is the courthouse, and at first I really didn't like this pic because the colors were just all over the place. The sun was too bright and everything I did just made it look like a Dick Tracy cartoon. Then I tried black and white, and that was better, but the sepia filter really made the shot. If it weren't for the cars in the foreground one could almost believe this is a really old picture.
This one, I managed to clean up enough to make it presentable in color. I've got an icon made from a pic of this building, back when it was the Fleet building. Actually, I still call it that, even though Bank of America bought Fleet and changed the name (I think).
Okay, this picture could set me off on an interesting rant. I've heard it argued that it's not the laws either granting or taking away our rights that matter, so much as the economic reality. Once enough companies recognize that gay people are a market to be tapped and exploited, and they start marketing to us, then we'll know we've arrived. Or something like that. I would say that the moment has arrived; probably about half of the booths were companies trying to sell us stuff. I've got kind of mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, it's not that they've accepted our right to exist or anything, so much as identified a source of revenue, and it's sad to see something that's supposed to be all about our sense of community getting turned into a spamathon. Don't I get enough of that crap just by checking my email or driving down the highway or turning on a TV? On the other hand, that's how corporate America treats everybody. So, from that perspective, I guess we're making progress. And unfortunately, there's no place that's safe from advertisers, so maybe that's a valid way of measuring the pace of shifting attitudes.
And on another level, I think it's a mistake to be looking to other people for validation. If we don't accept ourselves, or believe that we deserve the same rights and responsibilities as any other person, then no amount of outside validation is going to fix that. While fighting for equal rights is worthwhile, to focus exclusively on that is kind of missing the point. Putting all our eggs in that basket, and tying our self esteem to how other people see us, is giving "them" too much power. Who cares whether or not Budweiser makes ads targeted for the gay market, if we don't love and accept ourselves? As with so many things, the first and most important step is to look at the self.
This is another shot of both the courthouse (I think) and the booth to the right (my left as I was behind the desk). Just a random crowd shot.
I saw popicn, among other people, and posed for a pic with him. Good to see him as always.
And I took this one myself of me and clarkelane. This was later in the day, so the sunburn is really starting to show on my chest.
And then here I am with Michael, as we were taking our booth down.
I don't have any pics of the parade itself, but it was another interesting experience. I was one of the two people holding our banner (the same one I wished I'd had earlier in the day), and I was completely exhausted. I really didn't feel like being in the parade at all. And yet, once we started I was glad that I had. It was another one of those rare experiences where I felt fed by the energy of the crowd. So often I just feel drained by crowds, but there was something really neat about people seeing the banner, looking directly at me and the other folks walking with us, and cheering us on. We also covered ourselves with glow sticks (those little flexible pieces of plastic tubing that glow in the dark for a few hours after you snap them) before we set off, and at some point I realized that they would just become more clutter if I'd brought them home. So it became my goal to unload as much as I could, and actually it became a kind of fun game. I would remove one, not easy to do with one hand holding the banner, and then eye the crowd, looking for someone to make eye contact with and inviting them to play catch. Someone inevitably jumped up and down begging me to toss it to them, so I did.
When we were done, though? still wiped out. I was practically crawling in the door when it was over. No energy to even check out any of the block parties. Glad I went, ideas for next year, realize that I'm out of shape and probably want to start working out again... yeah, kinda like last year. Heh heh.
I'm going to let the pictures tell the story, for the most part.
I'm going to jump into the middle: this table, at first glance, looks like a bunch of pastry. They're actually doggie treats from a place called Edgewoof Pet Bakery. I came really close to buying something for the Siberian husky upstairs, Heidi, because our landlady was out of town and I knew that Heidi was feeling neglected. But this was early in the day, and I got distracted and forgot. Yeah, some doting uncle I make. Anyway, the guy at the booth (I assume it's one of the owners, but I could be mistaken) was nice, and the treats look good (as well as I can actually tell), and I like the website, so I'll have to pay them a visit sometime.
Okay, so back to Pride...
I was responsible for setting up the APRI booth this year. I showed up somewhere between 10:30 and 11. I had to stop by APRI to pick up the stuff, drive over and drop it off at the checkin point, park my car back at APRI, and then walk over. As last year, I wore my leather kilt, harness, vest, and way too old Russian army boots, and it was kinda fun walking around town like that. Even though probably 70% of the ten minute walk was under a bridge or a parking garage.
I was disappointed with our booth for many reasons. For one thing, our banner was at a health fair, so Michael (the Prevention and Education director) came up with this idea of rainbow colored paper with our logo on it. Personally, I think that the health fair people should have done the colored paper and given us the banner. More than once, people told me that they were looking for our banner and walked right past our booth several times. For another thing, our booth was perfectly situated to get scorched with direct sunlight. The booth to the right was in the shade, the booth to the left had a tent... we didn't have a tent. (See the railing? That's separating our row of booths from another row, facing the opposite direction.) The last couple of years we've had a tent; last year we shared a booth with Options Magazine and I think they supplied the tent, and the year before maybe we rented one. This year the cost for renting a tent was ridiculously high, and we didn't have one laying around, so I got to tough it out.
I didn't mind the heat so much, but the sun? Bad. I was slopping on the SPF 50 sunscreen that I borrowed from quillon, but I still missed a few spots and burned, dammit. Fortunately, the new tattoo didn't get burned. (You can see it in this comment courtesy of clarkelane; depending on your layout you might have to scroll down.) The other issue was that it's probably not a good idea to leave condoms out in the sun all day. Fortunately I had a shaded spot to store most of the condoms, so I just kept refilling the buckets as they went.
And for the record? We brought about five thousand condoms (Providence pride usually draws a crowd of around 7k, for perspective) and we ended the day with maybe 100. Michael hit that right on the head. I guess that kind of balances his lack of foresight with the tent issue. Heh heh.
The pic on the left is our booth, from my perspective. I shrank it down because there's not a lot more to say.
The bike that you can kinda sorta see in the background was from the Dykes On Bikes booth, two booths down. They had about seven motorcycles on display in all, and it kinda framed our booth nicely. I kept getting questions about it from people, mostly is that yours? or about the engine specs, and I found it amusing. I might end up with a motorbike someday (it's something I would like very much, actually) but I'm not going to drive it wearing a kilt. Even if I weren't concerned about getting arrested (think about it), just think about the damage potential if I wiped out or got in an accident... yeah.
Our neighbors on the right were awesome. It was some store that sold T-shirts and art and stuff. I have no idea who or where they are, but I really liked their display...
I ended up buying a T-shirt from them. and surprisingly it's something I can wear (and already have worn) to a school.
Okay, I'm not saying enough for this left-right thing to work anymore so let's try it this way...
Since we were in Kennedy Plaza, which is the main hub for the RIPTA bus network and in the middle of downcity Providence, I had yet another opportunity to take some pics of the architecture. I am pretty sure that this is the courthouse, and at first I really didn't like this pic because the colors were just all over the place. The sun was too bright and everything I did just made it look like a Dick Tracy cartoon. Then I tried black and white, and that was better, but the sepia filter really made the shot. If it weren't for the cars in the foreground one could almost believe this is a really old picture.
This one, I managed to clean up enough to make it presentable in color. I've got an icon made from a pic of this building, back when it was the Fleet building. Actually, I still call it that, even though Bank of America bought Fleet and changed the name (I think).
Okay, this picture could set me off on an interesting rant. I've heard it argued that it's not the laws either granting or taking away our rights that matter, so much as the economic reality. Once enough companies recognize that gay people are a market to be tapped and exploited, and they start marketing to us, then we'll know we've arrived. Or something like that. I would say that the moment has arrived; probably about half of the booths were companies trying to sell us stuff. I've got kind of mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, it's not that they've accepted our right to exist or anything, so much as identified a source of revenue, and it's sad to see something that's supposed to be all about our sense of community getting turned into a spamathon. Don't I get enough of that crap just by checking my email or driving down the highway or turning on a TV? On the other hand, that's how corporate America treats everybody. So, from that perspective, I guess we're making progress. And unfortunately, there's no place that's safe from advertisers, so maybe that's a valid way of measuring the pace of shifting attitudes.
And on another level, I think it's a mistake to be looking to other people for validation. If we don't accept ourselves, or believe that we deserve the same rights and responsibilities as any other person, then no amount of outside validation is going to fix that. While fighting for equal rights is worthwhile, to focus exclusively on that is kind of missing the point. Putting all our eggs in that basket, and tying our self esteem to how other people see us, is giving "them" too much power. Who cares whether or not Budweiser makes ads targeted for the gay market, if we don't love and accept ourselves? As with so many things, the first and most important step is to look at the self.
This is another shot of both the courthouse (I think) and the booth to the right (my left as I was behind the desk). Just a random crowd shot.
I saw popicn, among other people, and posed for a pic with him. Good to see him as always.
And I took this one myself of me and clarkelane. This was later in the day, so the sunburn is really starting to show on my chest.
And then here I am with Michael, as we were taking our booth down.
I don't have any pics of the parade itself, but it was another interesting experience. I was one of the two people holding our banner (the same one I wished I'd had earlier in the day), and I was completely exhausted. I really didn't feel like being in the parade at all. And yet, once we started I was glad that I had. It was another one of those rare experiences where I felt fed by the energy of the crowd. So often I just feel drained by crowds, but there was something really neat about people seeing the banner, looking directly at me and the other folks walking with us, and cheering us on. We also covered ourselves with glow sticks (those little flexible pieces of plastic tubing that glow in the dark for a few hours after you snap them) before we set off, and at some point I realized that they would just become more clutter if I'd brought them home. So it became my goal to unload as much as I could, and actually it became a kind of fun game. I would remove one, not easy to do with one hand holding the banner, and then eye the crowd, looking for someone to make eye contact with and inviting them to play catch. Someone inevitably jumped up and down begging me to toss it to them, so I did.
When we were done, though? still wiped out. I was practically crawling in the door when it was over. No energy to even check out any of the block parties. Glad I went, ideas for next year, realize that I'm out of shape and probably want to start working out again... yeah, kinda like last year. Heh heh.