Big Apple of My Eye

I'm rather surprised to say that Madonna made a statement that gave me pause for contemplation. In the recent issue of Vanity Fair, Madonna had this to say about New York City:

"It's not the exciting place it used to be. It still has great energy; I still put my finger in the socket. But it doesn't feel alive, cracking with that synergy between the art world and music world and fashion world that was happening in the 80s. A lot of people died."

First let me say she is showing her age by being nostalgic. It's not a sin. Hey, this native New Yorker often says the same thing. I fed off the energy of NYC for 38 years before moving to CT. I always feel the best time for being a New Yorker was in my early 20s. I had a 28" waist and a stamina that enabled me to enjoy all the city had to offer.

As I got older I started to see living in New York was not exactly user friendly. It takes a lot of money to live there, and the pace can wear a person down. It's the younger folks, wealthy and transplants that often find NYC exciting. The 30 and older crowd moves from having a crush with the city to realizing it's a marriage that requires work.

I was part of the 80s NYC Madonna refers to. That NYC was hip-hop, punk, new wave, trendy, avant-garde, sleazy, cruisy, graffitified, and just plain funky fresh. It is now Popafied, Disney-laden, Starbucked, Barnes & Nobled, and multi-tasked to death. It's sad to say but it is even hard to find good Pizza in Manhattan. Too many people have been trying to fix what was not broken.

I truly appreciate her reminding us that the deaths of many New Yorkers really impacted the city. So many artist and unique personalities that made NYC exciting got taken away far too soon. I can't help but to think how theatre, art, music and fashion would be in America, if these gifted and talented folks made it to an age of maturity that allowed them time for growth and exploration.

If you look at history, many a great city dies, and people fondly recall the golden age of that city. In the process of telling stories of the good old days, details are often forgotten or embellished. The fondness for the past might also cloud a person's view of what new things are available and possible.

I've learned to accept NYC will never feel the same for me. It will not feel the same, because, I am no longer the person that took his first train ride into Manhattan from Brooklyn, by himself, at the age of 13. My cherry got popped. And, good people, once a pickle, never a cucumber again.

Recently Marcos and I went to the Met with some friends and then to the East Village for dinner. It was fierce. On the subway ride home, we helped a girl that was drunk and vomiting. She then began to yell at the young boys that laughed at her predicament by telling them to "suck her dick." Only in NYC people, only in NYC. She's my first love and I will never forget it.

We Real Cool

Pedro Pietri opened my heart to poetry. Gwendolyn Brooks showed me how you rock to the beat of poetry.

We Real Cool

THE POOL PLAYERS.
SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.

We real cool. We
Left school. We

Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We
Die soon.

Did You Know?

The peace symbol above turned 50 years old on February 21st. It first appeared in protests organized by the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War and was later used as the logo for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Gerald Holtom who is credited with creating this image, said this about its creation "I was in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya’s peasant before the firing squad. I formalised the drawing into a line and put a circle round it." -- Source: Wikipedia

Hamming It Up On Easter Sunday

Marcos and I decided to dress up the dogs and head to the park on Easter Sunday. Luna got tons of smiles and compliments as she strutted in her little pink Chanel-like ensemble. Perogino was holding it down in his black hoodie with polka-dot lining.

Marcos looked very dapper in his all black gear with the smart little hat. I was very casual with my look. I threw on a lovely dress shirt and the jeans that give me a sexy ass, with some stylish shoes and wrapped myself up in my Michael Kors peacoat.

Later that day we took our dear friend Yoselin out for a festive Japanese dinner. The sake and Sapporro flowed and we ordered a little bit of everything. I then came home and pigged out on some Jolly Rancher jelly beans.

Life can be so good at times. I'm blessed.

Ahh A Pattern

Okay good people, it was not planned, but I noticed a pattern in my last three posts. They all focus on how people take on a new skin and put forth a "mask" that helps them interact with others in some unique way. It's interesting because dramatic play and fantasy that is often attribute to children, never really leaves us.

My alter-ego lives in my head. Maybe one day I will let her out into the light for that special occasion.

Interstitial Space Helmet (ISH)

The Internet, Webcams, and other forms of digital mediation of representation have created new behaviors and complex forms of social interaction. The Interstitial Space Helmet (ISH) allows a user, superimposing the preferred digital form over an actual presence. On its own the ISH offers a reflective space for meditative therapy in which someone with low self-esteem could get back in touch with his or her inner self. With two or more users it might alleviate the awkwardness of a first concounter with a stranger and other potentially embarrassing situations. Users control the face they present to the world by manipulating their live digital image "both in real and interstitial meetings, through an electronic filter offering different camera angles, lighting and digital effets," the designers explain. -- Source: MOMA.org

Furries Are Friendly Folks

Good people I believe I met some Furries a few years back. The picture above is of me and the gentleman I'll speak of shortly. For those with short-term memory or out of the loop, Furries are a new breed of man and woman. Furries are folks that have an affinity for wearing fuzzy costumes. It's not like "cosplay" it gets deeper. These fellow human beings like wearing the head to toe costume of what they call a "mascot." What does that look like you may ask. A Furry would wear a full costume of their favorite animal or fictional character.

So they wear a costume. So what! Big deal! Whatever! The twist to this tale is some of them wear these costumes to interact with others in playful and at times sexual ways. Yes darlings, fuck the latex and/or leather. Furries want to get off in a costume that has an oversized head and/or feet. They want the friction but not with all that skin to skin moments. Well, actually they want the skin to skin stuff, but only where it counts.

Anyway, I'm getting long winded here. A few years back a certain corporation I worked for was a major sponsor of AIDS Walk NY. We decided to have some "mascots" show up to recruitment events and at the walk itself, to thank the crowd and add to the festive nature of an AIDS Walk (the irony). The event called for Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Two characters that in my opinion are two big queens. Bugs and Daffy raised many a queer. Trust!

So Bugs was played by a cute guy and Daffy was played by a lovely woman. They were both interesting people. Bugs told me how he had a nervous breakdown as a corporate person and decided his life calling was to become a "mascot." Daffy was developing a career as an actress and realize she could pay her bills while "mascoting." I enjoyed their company. Hey, they were freaks like me.

Now at this point I will share what I witnessed, and you can tell me if I had some Furries on my hand. :

Scene: Bugs and Daffy return to conference room after spreading joy in the lobby of the HBO building. Both of them are moist with sweat. Those costumes are NOT made of gauzy light fabrics. Both remove the costume heads and look at each other while Allan checks his Crackberry.

Bugs: (sits down) Wow, I really worked up a sweat.
Daffy: You were great. You did so well. Look how cute you are all worked up.
Bugs: Look at me I'm dripping with sweat.
Daffy: Poor baby. Allan can we have some napkins?
Allan: Oh yeah sure, one sec. (Allan runs to bathroom and gets a ton of paper towels, stops at the pantry and gets two cold bottles of water)

Scene: Allan returns and finds Daffy massaging Bugs' neck. Allan's smiles and chuckles nervously. He hands over towels and water to Bugs and Daffy. Bugs is smiling and Daffy is attentive to his needs.

Daffy: Allan, did the agency tell you that we'll probably need a bottle of vodka?
Allan: Vodka! Why?
Daffy: (returns to stroking Bugs' neck) Oh we use that to clean the costumes at the end of our performance. It cleans sweat up really well and does not leave a stain.
Allan: Oh yeah, I saw that in Madonna's documentary Truth or Dare.
Daffy: (says to Bugs) Oh you poor baby, you got so hot in that costume. But, you did so good. Does my neck rub help? You feeling better baby? Here have some water.
Bugs: Yeah.

Scene: Bugs gets up and walks a bit, without the head of the costume but still costumed from the neck down. He wiggles the tail in Allan's direction and smirks. Allan gags, quietly.

Between the smirk, tail wiggling, neck rub and use of the word "baby" I decided not to get the vodka. I regret that. It could have been interesting.

"Cosplay"

People fascinate me. They really do!Click here to see more images of people into "cosplay".

Hmm that reminds me. I need to do a post about my encounter with two Furries back when I worked for Time Warner. Let me just say, Bugs and Daffy made me gagg! Will post the scandalous story tomorrow.

A Future Lobbyist

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was disbarred from practicing law in the nation's capital on Thursday. The former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney was convicted last year of lying to a grand jury and federal agents probing the leak of the identity of a CIA agent, Valerie Plame Wilson.

"When a member of the Bar is convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude, disbarment is mandatory," the District of Columbia Court of Appeals wrote in its opinion, which is posted on its Web

My spidey sense says that Spitzer is next.

Check Please!

Here are some numbers to think about:

-Iraq war has been going on for 5 years

-Cost of funding the war has passed $502,292,608,942 and estimated to be about $275 million per day.

-Almost 4,000 U.S. soldiers killed and more than 60,000 wounded, and 700,000 Iraqis killed and 4 million refugees

-Taxpayers in the United States will pay $137.6 billion for the cost of the Iraq War in FY 2007.

-For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided: 2,260,370 Elementary School Teachers

I Turned 40! - Curtain Rises On Act II

So I turned 40 years old yesterday. I've been flip-flopping emotionally about reaching this milestone. I can honestly say I'm grateful and feel blessed. What is important is that I still feel excited about life. I know it has a lot to do with having loving relationships. And, that I am pursuing new goals professionally and personally.

I know loving and learning is the key to a charmed life. I get joy from my family and friends (see my earlier post) and learning new things (check out my first attempt at creating something with Adobe Illustrator above. Click on the image to see the correct color version. For some reason Blogger screwed up the color scheme.)

I started this blog almost two years ago! My first post was about me changing from a life that focused on surviving, to a life that is focused on thriving.

All of these elements are making me view turning 40 as an asset. I know that my new adventures are often made possible and sometimes easier, because of the lessons I've learned from my time on this earth. While often my past experiences guide me, there are times when I think Lucy won't move the football on me, and I end up flat on my back. Hey, I'm very much human.

So good people, live, love, learn and pass it on.

Peace

I Turned 40! - We Are Family

There I am with a drink in hand. Hey good people, I turned 40 on March 8! Hallelujah. The cast of characters that turned out to celebrate my milestone are as follows (from left to right):

Latisha is a amazing women that I went to high school with. She is smart, funny and has a great heart. What usually follows her brilliant smile is the most charming laugh

Gabriel is my compadre. He is married to my sister, and we are "Compis" because I was the godfather at their son's baptism. He is one hard working dude, hence the work-drag. I admire him for not ever showing an ounce of homophobia and for taking very good care of La Familia.

Marcos, the hubby, is next. He was sooo good to me for my birthday. He took me to see The Lion King, and then we went out with our friends for a fab tapas dinner. He was focused on making sure I was having a good time. Gracias papito. I have mad love and respect for you.

David is a clever, witty and charming buddy of mine. I can always count on him to combine his twisted mind, with my twisted mind, resulting in tear inducing laughter.

Izzy is a very special friend that came into my life at a time when I was going through it. We have become allies en la lucha. We offer each other support, compassion and no judgement. He's a good man to have in your corner.

Jenny is my little sister. I think she is amazing. She's a warrior. Don't let the hotness fool you. This woman handles her business and has raised a great son.

Joslyn is sitting down and give us a bit of cheesecake. She's also a friend from high school. She is family to me. She's so creative, the art she creates is amazing. Her insightful way of living comes from an amazing spiritual connection she has with the universe. God bless her.

P.S. Gracias Victor for serving as photographer. You're a good man.

K-Fed Thick In The Cankles

It seems like K-Fed has put on what people are calling daddy weight. I don't think that it is daddy weight. Kevin has people to handle all the physically vigourous stuff most parents have to do. When he plays catch with his sons, you know he has one of his "boys" fetch the ball for him when he misses the catch.

Plus you know all of those long meetings with his lawyers are catered. Shit! Those lawyers just add it to his bill.

I think it's karma weight.

I'm So Old School

When I was 14 I worked for a woman named Paula. She overworked me and underpaid me. I've forgiven her because she introduced me to the amazing Chocolate Egg Cream.

Paula owned a gourmet ice cream parlor in the ghetto. She served Ben and Jerry, before they were Ben and Jerry. You see, Paula had the best of intentions but the worst business sense. The business failed!

Paula taught me how to make an Egg Cream beverage, which can be Chocolate or Vanilla, depending on your taste. The main ratio is 1/3 milk, three squirts of the syrup of your choice, then stir, stir, stir, while adding enough seltzer to fill the rest of the glass.

The summer of my 14th year on this planet I became addicted to Chocolate Egg Creams. During the past three weeks I have been indulging in them, but I now use vanilla soy milk.

This means that Spring is coming and I'm becoming happier by the moment.

Jean Claude...Mon Amour

I miss Jean Claude. Ohhhh, how I loved him back in the day. There has been gossip regarding his health. I hope he is well. He was my hottie and man of worship for many years.

R.I.P. Katoucha

"The body of Katoucha Niane, one of the first African women to attain international stardom as a model and a vocal opponent of female genital mutilation, was found in the Seine River, police said Friday." -- Source AP News

I'm reminded of back in the day when Iman, Katoucha, Pat Cleveland, Beverly Peale and so many other fierce Black women use to serve it on the runways. They made the shows exciting.

One night Willie Ninja and I were hanging out in Veronica Webb's apartment, while she was getting dreadlock extensions put into her hair. Also, hanging out was Iman. I was a total dork. I could not stop staring at these women. To their credit they were sweet and down-to-earth.