Places To Go and Places To Be
I love where I live and this is the story of how that came to be. The story is also an appreciation of one of Barry Lopez's essays about connection to place.
The Proverbial Fat Lady Is Still in Good Voice
Going from one later decade of life into another. Looking back, looking forward.
I Playacted at Being Straight. Here’s Why I Stopped.
Coming out as a gay male in the 1060's was a lonely process. This is a story about how I arrived at the decision to come out and why it was necessary.
What is it like to be an LGBTQ teenager?
Some thoughts about what it's like to be queer and young and have to contend with the false expectations the dominant society has about you.
Downsizing and Packing Up
What's the plan to reduce your glut of stuff after you lose your partner. Are you giving up just stuff or memories too?
Better Call Saul for LGBTQIA+ Rights
Saul Alinsky wrote the book on how to get what you need from your society when the powers that be don't want you to have them. He laid the groundwork for the methods that the ACT UP movement used to poke the government to respond to the AIDS epidemic in the 80's and 90's.
The Writing Life Late in Life
The story of how I came to call myself a writer and what it does for me.
Celebrating LGBTQ Resiliency in Appalachia
West Virginia has historically been accepting of LGBTQ people. This article talks about an event I participated in to showcase the stories of a collection of queer individuals across the state.
LGBTQ Safe Spaces in the City and in the Country
A personal recollection of gay bars and a reflection on why there aren't as many of them today as there were.
Is Hoping Worth the Effort?
Hope is a word we typically utter with the expectation of some outcome, usually a positive outcome, but not necessarily. It’s typically triggered by some actual or imagined threat. The hope is made with the prospect of reducing that threat.
Go North Old Man
The story of how I came to be for a while, maybe not long enough, in Newfoundland.
Who Am I to You?
There is a pervasive tendency to label people we don’t like for some reason that offends us. Many labels are pejorative, meant not just to describe, but to tar.
The Tyranny of the Minority
Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash How is that polls consistently show ---- sometimes by a margin of 70 to 30 --- that Americans favor stricter gun control measures such as comprehensive background checks, but there is no chance that Congress will pass stricter gun control legislation? Is it some sort of fluke? Not really. Americans consistently favor --- by…
The Morality of Dishonesty
Photo by Samuel Regan-Asante on Unsplash I read with interest and incredulity Father Alexander F.C. Webster’s article published in Stars & Stripes on 24 August (Chaplains in no-win situation on ‘don’t ask.”) Father Webster asked me to read the article and tell him what I think. This is what I think. Father Webster begins by asking the reader to believe…
Straight Father and Gay Son
Fathers raise their sons with their own idea of how they will turn out. Straight fathers often don't realize their sons may be gay. This can put a strain on what it means to love and be loved.
Thwarted Ambition
The briefest history of me voluntarily or being forced to change career directions.
Gay and Out In Very Red West Virginia
A positive piece about how West Virginia is not as hateful to LGBTQ people as states farther to the south.
Poet Friends
The story of me and Lynn Kernan. One a would be poet, the other an actual poet.
The Road Taken: Figuring out when, where, and why to turn
Decision points in life can come at you unexpectedly or you can plan for them. This piece relates some decisions of both kinds I made in my life.
That Awkward Feeling
Political polarization weighs heavily on people who don't feel comfortable at either pole. How do you find a comfortable position on the spectrum?
Beyond Lectured
(Not to be distributed or copied without permission) There is considerable evidence that learners learn best when actively engaged in meaningful activity. Yet, in many instances students are subjected to fifty or sixty-minute lectures during which they sit passively accepting words showered upon them without the learners afforded an opportunity to question or explore what is being said. Even though…
Ambition
Why does a person at 78 decide to take on what is essentially a new job that they have no formal preparation for? There's got to be a reason, yes?
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Actualités récentes 83 10 39 94 83 8 36 4 85 467 84 27 99 120 25 20 14 76 5 49 42 91 47 83 48 63 88 32 90 37 97 79 69 57 82 From Jefferson County, WV, USA, the random thoughts, remembering, and projects of Jim Bauman, former linguist, former teacher, former citizen journalist Opinions and…