queer stuff: love, suffering and dancing
19 Oct 2010 1 Comment
in narrative Tags: aids, autumn, Brooklyn, dancing, eating disorder, garlic, gay, gay marriage, HIV, home cooking, justice, new york, peoria, queer, sexuality
i stood in the little cheese etc. shop watching yet another mom wrangle her Sports Utility Stroller through the door, like a camel through the eye of a needle, and public radio repeated…kidnapped, beat, tortured and sodomized. Young men in the Bronx by other young men in the Bronx. Over my eight hours behind the counter through the trickle of customers, that was the refrain of the day. Each hour: kidnapped, beat, tortured and sodomized. They did not say raped; I keep wondering why.
this drawn out headline followed by NY governor candidate Paladino’s speech about “gays brainwashing our children…” corrected with a talk show tour where he clarified that he is no homophobe, he just doesn’t think gays should marry. There’s a People magazine sprawled on the backseat of the preacher eater’s aunt’s car: cover story, bullying and teen suicide. Mostly queer kids.
gay men saved my life.
against all the recent news of suffering, I vividly recall:
the fire circle. after the talent show. drums cradled between knees in a ring in the dark.
standing woodside, pushing my hips off the beat, side to side, minidress sliding up black tights; the ground hard and cold under my thin soled boots, the laces tight. Wide-kneed stomping, he comes around the circle, naked from the waist down, pale cock half flopping, side to side, in a short formal jacket, wild white-faced with peaked sparkling eye make up glittering over his beard, over his big smile. The fire belches up sparks into the black, spraying light on his shiny elbows flapping. I step over the tarp where voyeurs curl up watching; he makes room. Slide into his square clapped out into the air for me, framing my body, we churn something older than us in the air, old like dirt. Snake through the warm pockets, sweating, long sweater sliding off. Turning, stomp hard at each other; asses jiggling. Beyond us, men share flasks of Wild Turkey, smoke out of an apple. Beyond them, a cluster of three slim figures stroke each other. My lover stretches on the blue tarp behind me into the folds of a big bearded man’s toga, glitter falling between them.
years ago, the back dance floor of DJ’s place, after the drag show, falling against the cook from the café where we all seemed to work, freckled, thin in his old jeans and white tee shirt. His arm curving around my hip and waist pulling me close, step to step, hips locked. His lips slid up my neck, “I never met a woman who loves food like you do.” “Talk to me about Garlic,” I hissed and bit his tongue.
i had a horrible eating disorder, lost whole days to it. Queers helped me get over it. All that affection. New scales for sexual desirability. New performances of femininity. All that unapologetic pleasure.
perched on a stool in the burgundy China Doll dress he had picked out for me, I looked up at his perfect cupid’s bow lips as the ice skater lined my eyes. We’d make-out with only lips touching in the parking lot before going into the Red Fox, the after hours gay club with the old high school lab tables. Kissing like the thirsty drinking water, crystalline, simple. He held me when I melted down after taking his boyfriend/my housemate’s ex-lover to the hospital when his mother had a heart attack he blamed himself for. After the little gay mechanic’s dad put his head through a windshield, and the opera singer went back in the closet so his parents would let him stay at home and in touch with his younger brother. After we unlisted our phone number because of the creepy calls. After my girlfriend’s gay sister was dragged to the front of the family church to be exorcised.
perched in the dirt at our campsite, I closed my eyes as the drag queen glued false lashes like pink polka dotted butterfly wings to my lids. Slipped into the circling conversations of foreclosure politics, fabric dying, and perverse non-sequiturs. After the majority of my closest gay men friends sero-converted to HIV-positive, and I remain relieved most live in cities with access to services and community. After the young violinist jumped off the bridge. After all the break-ups, layoffs, depression, and drama. After taking my friend to the emergency room to have a sex toy removed from his ass that, although beginning pleasurably enough, had been up there over 24-hours and another 24-hours at the hospital before surgery.
okay, the last incident was really one of the highlights of my year so far since it all turned out happy hinney. (sorry, bunny, but it was rather exciting…)
there was a Love-In in Times Square on Friday evening in response to the spasm of anti-queer hate crimes. I was in the boug-box, and Loved-In from there. I hope you’ll Love-In from where ever you are.
Number of Ads for Unhealthy Foods, Beverages on Spanish-Language Channels May Contribute to Obesity Among Hispanic Children
22 Feb 2008 1 Comment
in narrative, vegetarian Tags: class, fast food, junk food, justice, latina, latino, media, race, radical muffins love good food
[Feb 21, 2008]
Spanish-language television commercials for foods and beverages with little nutritional value might be contributing to obesity rates among Hispanic children in the U.S., according to a study published online Tuesday by the Journal of Pediatrics, Reuters reports. Nearly half of all food commercials the study examined advertised fast food, and more than half of drink commercials advertised beverages with high sugar contents.
For the study, lead author Darcy Thompson, a pediatrician at Johns Hopkins Children Center, and colleagues reviewed 60 hours of programming airing from 3 p.m. through 9 p.m. on Univision and Telemundo, the two largest Spanish-language channels in the U.S. (Fox, Reuters, 2/19). Of the 989 product advertisements that aired during the study period, 15% were for food or beverages, an average of about 2.5 food or drink ads per hour. Most of the food and drink ads were oriented toward adults, though 29% were oriented toward both children and adults, and 2% were oriented specifically toward children, the study found.
Researchers said the number of ads for a pediatric nutritional supplement, which accounted for 12% of drink commercials, was a surprise. According to the study, “The ad campaign appeals to a common concern of some Latino families that their normal-to-overweight preschool child isn’t eating enough, ‘no come nada,’ even though their child’s eating habits are typical and age-appropriate.”
Comments
Thompson said that the ad content was similar to that during English-language programs but that the findings were more significant for Hispanics because they have the highest rate of children who are overweight and at risk for being overweight of any racial or ethnic group (Phend, MedPage Today, 2/20). About 30% of Hispanic children in the U.S. are overweight, compared with 25% of white children, according to government estimates.
“While we cannot blame overweight and obesity solely on TV commercials, there is solid evidence that children exposed to such messages tend to have unhealthy diets and to be overweight,” Thompson said (Reuters, 2/19).
She added, “Pediatricians and providers for Latino children need to consider TV viewing when they are talking” about children’s weight with parents (MedPage Today, 2/20).
An abstract of the study is available online.
four excellent things
29 Mar 2007 Leave a Comment
in narrative Tags: aids, justice
With the gloom clouds lifting from my own, private Gotham, I have four Excellent Things to share with you:
1. The Willie Nelson video of Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other (thanks for sending, Mr. Goatman). Nothing like some karaoke drag queens and absurdly cute line dancers with great bums in their jeans to brighten my day. Also – a little verklempt, the queers I know in rural places having had their heads put through windshields and such.
2. ACT UP 20th anniversary demonstration: Activists staged a die-in today on Wall Street, affirming our human right to health care and demanding a national insurance plan in the U.S. The march, memorial, body bag dump at the Wall Street bull, and arrests recalled the historic first demonstrations by ACT UP on its 20th anniversary. In addition to the old ACT UP vangaurd, the crowd included people living with HIV/AIDS, at least one “Granny for Peace,” and some doctors who have never participated in civil disobedience before.
3. Short jump from bad-ass AIDS activists to the folks at Just Food. Just Food is empowering communities to generate the good food people need, the environment needs, and our economy needs while also advocating and educating for the necessary systemic changes to ensure more communities can have good food. They are looking for “community chefs,” and the announcement is pasted below.
4. My first muffin recipe post! Continuing with the cornmeal trend and the last of this year’s pears (maybe?). It is becoming spring pretty quick…mmmmm, spring greens…
Job Title: Community Chef Organization: Just Food Location: New York City Salary: PT Temporary
Job Description: Just Food is looking for people to join its team of Community Chefs. To become a Community Chef, Just Food will train you through a series of classes. You will learn how to facilitate workshops about local, seasonal cooking and eating; basic nutrition; fruit and vegetable identification; recipe creation; knife skills; and food storage and preparation. As a Community Chef, you will inspire and empower New Yorkers to create delicious and healthy meals for themselves and their families.
The training to become a Community Chef costs $100, however, the fee may be paid in installments that are deducted from your stipend or it can be paid in full at the time of the training.
Community Chefs are paid a $100 stipend per cooking demonstration workshop. Eligible Applicants:
Are great cooks
Are able to answer basic nutrition questions
Are able to plan health-supportive meals and recipe
Are concerned about eating local and where their food comes from
Are independent, self sufficient workers
Work well with groups
Are outgoing with a desire to teach
Are able to think on their feet with creative flare
Are willing to travel on public transportation with cooking equipment in tow
Applicants should contact Angela Davis, Community Food Education Program Coordinator, via e-mail at Angela@justfood.org. Organization Web Site: www.justfood.org
