Former Member

…And Az rhymes with Jazz! ;–)

My typing fingers got tired! ;–)

I know I didn’t give you 40-50 Reactions to your Comments! I get annoyed when I get more than 25 Notifications at a time. It wouldn’t be so bad if I could see more than 25 of them in the popup list and the Notifications page, but 25 is the limit and I have to do a workaround to see everything. I get inundated when a specific reader Reacts to my Comments because when he binge-reads old stories, he reads four or five chapters one after another. It would be nice if the GA software automatically consolidated multiple Reactions to the same chapter or Topic into one Notification in the popup (with the link to the first of the Reactions).

I could stop if it’s too annoying… ;–)

This temporary Pink Triangle is set up annually above The Castro on Twin Peaks to celebrate Pride Weekend in June.

San Francisco’s Pink Triangle Park (across Market Street from Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro District) The gigantic Rainbow Flag flying over Harvey Milk Plaza and the entrance to the SF Muni Metro Castro Station Overhead map of Pink Triangle Park, San Francisco, showing the arrangement of the pillars and paths. Market Street is the long straight line on the lower right.

Gad Beck (June 30, 1923 – June 24, 2012), one of the men interviewed in Paragraph 175.

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. (Yes, there are several different Holocaust Memorial Days celebrated on different days.) While the largest percentage of victims of the Nazi Holocaust and Death Camps were Jewish, there were other groups targeted by the Nazis. Jehovah’s Witnesses (not my favorite group), Slavs, Gay men, and others were also imprisoned and killed. (Soviet prisoners of war were often treated even more harshly.) Of course, the group I identify with most strongly is the Gay men. While Jews were forced to wear a yellow Star of David, Gay men were forced to wear a pink Triangle. This symbol of hate was reclaimed as a symbol of pride by the LGBTQ community. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that some of the younger members of GA were unaware of this history since it isn’t usually taught in history class. But unlike other victims imprisoned in the Nazi camps, Gay men were not released when the Allies liberated the Death Camps. Gay men were forced to serve out the rest of their sentences. The law used to convict the Gay men was Paragraph 175 – a great documentary with this name was released in 2000 with four survivors being interviewed (of the fewer than ten estimated to be still alive at that time). A Lesbian who escaped to England was also interviewed.

Things certainly sound suspicious, but we are only hearing one side of the situation. This is a very frustrating position to be in and the boyfriend isn’t acting particularly innocent. I agree that trust in vital, but I don’t know what I would suggest to @WilliamC99.

So will he become Dr Erik? Maybe Dr Erik can introduce acupuncture/acupressure as a pain reliever. And I thought they were going to set up a school for the hearing impaired! ;–) I’m not sure Canadians were ever that primitive and vicious! (I guess if I looked like Prime Minister Justin, I might not mind a shirtless picture of me floating around.) Are you suggesting that Viking settlements are larger and more permanent in that world? ;–)

I have a debit card, but no credit cards. There have been times when having one would have been convenient, but not having one has saved me lots of money. No interest payments! ;–)

I was evicted and became homeless because of my ineptitude with finances. I now have my monthly bills automatically paid for out of my checking account. The ones with fixed amounts are paid by my credit union. My utility bill (gas and electric), which fluctuates, is automatically withdrawn by the utility. My Disability payment is direct deposit. This allows me to play with the remainder for things like groceries and other expenses. I had considered changing the account the Disability is paid into and having an automatic transfer move a smaller amount into checking, but not only would I need to figure out how to deal with the utility bill (non-fixed amount), but it would be extra work to set up. I would have had to declare bankruptcy, but my homelessness period plus the fact that my Disability income cannot be taken by creditors meant that my huge debt is now too old for my creditors to pursue. The only debt that I repaid was to the phone company that I get my internet connection from. It was far smaller than the amounts I owed two credit card companies (I only had two credit cards).

I recently read an article by a woman who was attempting to write about the women (mother/daughter) who created the questionnaire. Initially the company behind the questionnaire was cooperative, but required the writer to go through the training as though she was going to administer them herself – requiring her to pay the more than $1000 fee. After she completed the sessions, they declined to cover the cost as they had suggested they might and stopped responding to her. There are strong indications that the whole thing is a scam, a pyramid scheme. It is easy to intentionally change the results of the questionnaire by adjusting the answers to a few of the questions. The results are not an indication of your permanent ‘type,’ merely an indication of a particular period in your life. It is no more scientific or magical than a horoscope.

Well, Diego and Azrael are getting to know each other better. Az has all sorts of interesting tricks – and quirks. I like the idea of being able to escape time to get extra sleep – I could use that during Frameline43 at the end of June, I never get enough sleep during the festival. ;–) I hate bosses who think you need to be on-call 24/7. Why do they think they’re more important than a personal life? Don’t they have a personal life of their own or do they work 24/7?

I cannot imagine what my parents would have done if I’d been caught streaking! Body-shame was a huge deal in my family. Nudity was a big ‘sin’ (remember, my father was a conservative Protestant minister). My parents did make their extreme disapproval of the Seventies streaking fad clear to us. ;–) Is it significant that Richie called him ‘Daddy’ in the final line?

We all ‘know’ that small-town sheriffs are corrupt! Although you’ve hinted that this one leans against the uncles, they certainly seem to be able to intimidate everybody. Are the sheriff’s deputies being bribed? (Even Mayberry’s Sheriff Andy Taylor had Deputy Barney Fife!) ;–)

If you feel guilty about this chapter, @Wayne Gray, you could post another new chapter of this story tomorrow… ;–)

…and the proof starts with his unfortunate ‘fashion’ choices. Why do I get the feeling they’ve lowered his vocals by an octave or so electronically? Isn’t he supposed to say ‘It’s just a flesh wound’ or something?

They’ve pulled the sugar-in-the-gas-tank trick already, so Wren and Caleb should double-check to make sure there are no potatoes in their exhaust pipes! ;–)

Okay, Beecher has the same suspicion the rest of us do. And he gave us another key link that points to the evil brothers. Kyle acted like family should, by showing up right away to search for his brother. Wade and Jason suspiciously and conspicuously only showed up the next day. Yes, it’s all circumstantial evidence, but people are sometimes convicted on just circumstantial evidence – it’s rare, but it does happen, even in murder cases. I don’t think we want to have more happening. In this case, it’s likely to be more vandalism (or worse) by Wade, Jason, and Kyle. I wonder what Wade and Jason have over Kyle that he follows their lead.

Yay, Charlie & Noah! I know at least one other author has had his characters guesting on Ellen. His characters were also interviewed by Anderson Cooper. I had given him a list of LGBTQ journalists as suggested interviewers. It’s important to recognize the real LGBTQs who are out there reminding straight people know that not only do we exist, but we are very visible and influential – and that we come in all sorts of shapes and colors. ;–)

I’m pretty sure I read this story on themustardjar.com at some point in the past, but I cannot remember how the conflict is resolved (I’m old and forgetful). At this point, I cannot imagine a path to reconciliation between Richie and Richard. At best, I guess a truce is possible where Richard allows Richie to remain with his Aunt & Uncle and ’share custody’ of his siblings with scheduled, regular visits, somewhat reminiscent of a divorce settlement. It seems impossible for Richie to completely forgive Richard for all the things he’s done to Richie and his deceased mother. In some ways, both Richie and Richard identify Richie with his mother. Richie feels all the slights against his mother as if they were perpetrated against him! And Richard seems to have delegated all of the marital conflicts and stress on their oldest child. I think it’s possible that Richard was crying because his image as a fine, upstanding law enforcement officer was shattered by Richie’s revelations. The fact that his misdeeds were publicly aired in front of his colleagues was very embarrassing to him. Theoretically, he could still be facing serious legal consequences for hitting his son. His tears might have everything to do with himself – and not at all due to any lingering possible positive emotions related to his first son. Of course, this story is being written from Richie’s point of view with all of his biases and the imperfect interpretations of a child.

Richie and Richard are similar in more than just physical characteristics and this causes most of their conflicts.