Thoughts from a Queer Nudist

A Saturday in the Plaza.

2012-02-18T09:49:00.000-08:00

My friend found this image on flickr where it was tagged "disgusting." I asked the photographer how can one believe that our bodies are disgusting? That is the worst form of self-hatred.

My comment was deleted.

Out & About with the NakedSatyr!

2012-02-15T16:17:00.000-08:00

Authentically Mad

2012-01-13T23:20:00.000-08:00

"I don't want to facilitate the power structure with my conformity." ~ Andrew Martinez

One of my heros, one of the people whom I and many with views similar to mine have looked to with admiration, was Andrew Martinez. Andrew Martinez was able to achieve this admiration and respect, and some amount of national media attention, by insisting on attending classes at the University of California at Berkeley naked. He, because of this, became dubbed by the media as ‘the Naked Guy’. He inspired not only nude-in’s on campus but public nudity in the city of Berkeley as well. When charges against him were dropped because no anti-nudity law existed, the school instituted its own dress code mandating that students wear clothing. When Andrew refused, he was expelled.

Andrew, who had dropped from the public eye, surfaced once again on May 18, 2006 when it was reported that he was found dead in his jail cell in San Jose after committing suicide by placing a plastic bag over his head. According to the media stories Andrew had been suffering from incurable mental illness for years. I questioned the veracity of mental illness as a reason for Andrew’s actions at the time I read these reports. I believed there was more to Andrew’s story then could be accounted for by a facile diagnosis of mental illness and subsequent reading and research has only succeeded in cementing these beliefs further. Was Andrew mentally ill, or was it society which refused to allow him the freedom to live his life as he saw fit the illness?

Andrew first walked nude in public at the age of seventeen when he was living with his parents in Cupertino, California. He had fallen under the spell of nonconformist Henry David Thoreau, but before he began his naked quest he first went door to door, fully clothed, to ask all of his neighbors if they would mind. Soon he was walking down Highway 9 wearing only a backpack and a sign that read, “I was born naked, so were you.” It wasn’t long before he was stopped by the police who requested that he put his clothes on. He did.

Andrew started attended classes at Berkeley naked because he felt that clothes were useless in a warm environment except as “a tool for class and gender differentiation”. Andrew explained in the Oakland Tribune, "When I walk around nude, I am acting how I think it is reasonable to act, not how middle-class values tell me I should act. I am refusing to hide my dissent in normalcy even though it is very easy to do so."

Andrew started a movement in Berkeley. At the height of his naked activities he created several nude-ins on campus. At one nude-in he held, it was reported that he had 10,000 people cheering him and what he stood for that day, a society without racism, greed or oppression. Andrew had a following that including the performance group the X-Plicit Players and he inspired several other students to begin attending classes naked as well. More and more people began appearing on the streets of Berkeley naked until, like the university, the city government enacted an ordinance banning public nudity.

After being expelled from school Andrew continued to hang around Berkeley and People’s Park, but he progressively became angrier and angrier, frustrated that he had been expelled from school and by the fact that his peaceful efforts for body acceptance were thwarted. He hoped to file a lawsuit against the university, but could not find a source of funding which such a suit would require. He wrote, “I merely need to take off a four-ounce piece of cotton and reveal something that I have, everyone knows I have, half of the population has as well, to change from an average 20-year-old guy to a sex-offending criminal.” He began to wander Berkeley pushing a shopping cart filled with rocks. He would place piles of rocks at different intersections so people would have weapons for when the revolution he thought was coming began. Andrew wanted to renounce our manner of living in what he called cells, concrete eating up the world and nature, cars and pollution. He lived in a tent outside The Chateau, the Berkeley housing co-op where he lived, and made it his task to demolish the concrete driveway with a pick ax and a sledge hammer so the earth could return to a garden. It was actions like these, according to Debbie Moore, co-director of the X-Plicit players that lead to Andrew’s diagnosis of mental illness.

All of these pieces of evidential behavior used to support Andrew’s diagnosis may, if we take a Foucaldian view, actually constitute what was for Andrew his limit-experience, his living for himself an intensely true, moral and authentic life. Seen in this light it is society which manifests the tragic division of the lived experience, the world of the desired into normal and abnormal, and in doing so it is society itself which creates the mental illness. Mental illness does not exist in Andrew Martinez.

What was in actuality sick was the University’s refusal to listen critically to the logic that informed Andrew’s desires to not be bound by the irrational conventions of a culture which he saw as morally bankrupt. What was sick was the withdraw of support by the masses, myself included, who would not stand with Andrew Martinez when society cast Martinez as a “type”, and in doing so criminalized him and his authentically lived limit-experience. By being cowards, by not standing with Andrew we have relegated ourselves to those cells which Andrew strove to renounce. We are prisoners once again of the sickness of a society which would construct dungeons of moral conscious in which to incarcerate us. Andrew, a Pied Piper of his age, strove to show us the means to escape but we refused to follow.

From the artist who gave us Nipper in "His Master's Voice," François Barraud - "Les Musiciens"

2012-01-03T10:53:00.001-08:00

2012-01-01T14:51:00.000-08:00

I Love San Francisco

2011-12-19T08:44:00.001-08:00

I found this photo on the web last night while doing an image search. It made me smile. I love the casualness of it. Just in case I ever forget, we are truly blessed here in San Francisco; it is Paradise!

2011-12-12T11:29:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was SantaCon in San Francisco, so of course the Nudist Santas were out as well. It was a beautiful day, the sun shone creating just the right amount of skin temperature warming to be out naked in the 60 degree weather. Everyone seemed to enjoy us and have a good time except for the usual batch of negative nellies, the funniest one coming from a women shopper who stopped to take our photo with her iPhone and then yelled at us, "You are not as pretty as you think you are"!

Today is my last class before my week of finals. It was an interesting semester, exploring US history during the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era as well as German Literature from 1900 to 1920. Many parallels between my two classes and what is happening today such as the questioning of enlightenment thought and the supremacy of the rights of the individual over the good of society, the meaning of language and truth, the regulation of business as well as the regulation of morals.

After the break, I will be on to Graduate School.

Post Folsom Fair

2011-12-06T09:47:00.000-08:00

In and Out and Back in Disguise.

2011-10-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

Leaving the house early for school today so I could grab some lunch, I decided to get dressed as the weather seemed a little threatening. I realized I had a message on my phone from my buddy NakedKevin, so I called him. Of course I asked him if he was "in disguise." He replied that he was not and we made arrangements to meet. He inspired me to remove my disguise and continue my journey naked. One man exclaimed "Right on brother." Two women, one pushing the other in a wheelchair, saw me and started laughing and hollowing hysterically. One man asked me if this was go nude day. I replied, "Yes, it was." He said, "Going around like that is a good way to get yourself killed." I'm not sure if that was advice, a warning, or a threat. I failed to meet up with NakedKevin, but I did get to meet this lovely man named Will from Santa Rosa.

When I returned from school the weather had definitely changed. It was now much cooler and windy and felt like it could rain at any moment. I ran my remaining errands in disguise and then I spotted this on the light pole next to the Plaza where the nudists have been lounging.

Things are looking up.

Why is it?

2011-09-28T18:08:00.000-07:00

Why is it when the clothing compulsive wish to comment on a nudist's appearance, they always do so within hearing range but only after they have passed by the nudist?

This old guy, after he had passed me by, asked, "Why is it always the ugly ones?"

The San Francisco Nudity Wars

2011-09-14T22:26:00.000-07:00

Debra Suanders blames public nudity in San Francisco on "political correctness" and "some judge" who decided police can't decide what is offensive except for outright lewd acts. So Ms. Saunders is using buzzwords like "political correctness" and "judges deciding" (read activist judges). Sounds like the language of the far right to me.

My response to Ms. Saunders: Nudity only becomes inappropriate when you are taught that it is. There is nothing indecent or inappropriate with the human body. It does not hurt anyone. It is, after all, what makes us human. If people are so disturbed by the nudity of others, I suggest they examine their own body issues. Indecency, obscenity, and inappropriateness rests in your mind, not in my body.

Media attack

2011-09-06T13:01:00.000-07:00

Walking naked down Castro Street I was just attacked by four television reporters with cameras who would not take no for an answer. I did not wish to speak with them, but they surrounded me with their cameras and mics as I attempted to make my way down the street. Three dear friends came to my aid. I did end up grabbing channel five's camera after he wouldn't get it out of my face. He told me I was committing a felony and he would have me arrested. Not a good scene!
Apparently they wanted my reaction to a proposed ordinance to ban nudity in SF. Anyone hear anything about this?

Naked and Alive

2011-08-25T18:47:00.000-07:00

I saw my friend Naked Kevin, who was in disguise, today and he snapped this lovely portrait for me with his new camera. It was a great day for being out and about naked, feeling the breeze and mist and then later the warmth of the sun on my bare skin. It makes me feel so human, so alive!

How can we deal with the media?

2011-08-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

Stanley Roberts interviewed some fellow nudists and me yesterday. It wasn't until he was almost finished that he revealed who he was, and what his "news" segment was called, "People Behaving Badly." Of course, with a name like, "People Behaving Badly," I suspected he would not be unbiased in his coverage, but I did think he would at least include some of our side of the story. None of the footage he shot of us nudists speaking about why we were doing this or our ideas of body freedom and body acceptance made it into the report. The only nudist he included speaking was of course the bigoted jerk yelling at him. If it bleeds, it leads. It is also unfortunate that he must end with the bigoted comment, and his agreement to it, that only certain people should be seen nude

Summer's Closing Thoughts

2011-08-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

In this summer-break's last week before the beginning of the fall school semester, the weather has become nudist unfriendly -- cool and overcast. So I will take this opportunity to post some photos from happier, sunnier days of this past summer. I am happy to report that I spent a great deal of time out and about, naked, on the streets of my neighborhood this past summer. I am also happy to say that, for the most part, people seem to have gotten over their initial shock of seeing us nudists on the street. Sure, I still get the occasional negative comment, but I am also getting more and more positive comments or, best of all, no reaction at all as though public nudity is perfectly normal, which it should be. I am also happy to report that my beliefs about the rightness of what I am doing, my right to be naked in public, the idea that I am doing nothing wrong or shameful or obscene (yes, learned western cultural values are hard to overcome) has become stronger and stronger within me.

This coming semester I will be taking one class, United States history from 1877 until 1916 and one seminar, Crisis and Conflict in Germany - 1900. This will be my final semester as an undergrad, I will be graduating next spring with a BA in history. I am looking forward to the fall and new learning experiences.

Two police responses to public nakedness.

2011-08-02T15:58:00.000-07:00

Every Sunday after work I walk to my boyfriend’s house, usually naked. I walk past Lime, a club frequented by young hipster types. Always there are large crowds of drunk kids on the sidewalk, resulting in lots of hooting and hollering as I walk by. That does not bother me. Sometimes though, they are so drunk one can barely manage to walk through the crowd. Many people in the neighborhood have complained about the noise, the inability to use the sidewalk, the lack of respect for the neighbors. This past Sunday, while walking by, I was slapped on the ass by a young woman. She was there with a young man who was so drunk he could not enunciate one clear word, was unable to even stand erect. Now don't get me wrong. I have nothing against drinking and partying, and I certainly was not hurt. It just felt like an invasion of my personal space, an assault on my person just because I was naked. I spoke to the doorman, who responded that these were not his customers and he therefore had no control over them. Right! I got the same response from the manager. I had had enough, so when I reached my boyfriend’s house I called the police and filled a complaint. Two officers arrived about twenty minutes later. Yes, by now I had dressed. I spoke with them, explained what had happened. They told me they knew the place, had experience with the management from numerous other complaints, aways found the management compliant, and would have a word with them again. They were very sympathetic. I then disclosed that I was naked when this happened, just so they would have the full story. The officer then told me, "That doesn't matter at all. You were still assaulted." I considered that a major victory and an affirmation of our right to be socially naked in public in San Francisco!

That following Friday I was on my way to do some grocery shopping when I ran into my good friend Richard. We stopped on the corner to chat for a few minutes. He cautioned me that there were police officers a few feet down the street, as, once again, I was naked. I replied that I had spotted them as well, but was sure they would not bother me as I was not doing anything wrong. Minutes later we were approached by two officers. It is interesting the way the police work. One stands slightly back, arms folded, observant and silent. The other engages. He told me of the “tons” of complaints they receive in the neighborhood about “you naked guys.” He apprised me of the fact that if someone were to complain about me, and they were willing to sign a complaint, then they would be forced to arrest me. I enquired if they had received a specific complaint about me at this time, to which the officer replied that they had not, that this was just a “friendly little chat.” I asked the officer if he was aware that I was, in fact, breaking no laws? He responded that yes he was aware of that fact, at which time the two policemen choose to walk away.

I find it difficult to believe that the police fail to see the disconnect in the logic of there thinking. Yes, I can understand that they must respond to complaints, but how can they expect to initiate an arrest when they know that what is happening is not illegal? What would I be charged with? It has been suggested the police would charge nudists with creating a public nuisance if a complainant was willing to sign a complaint. If the officer’s very own statement that I was not in fact, doing anything illegal were true, I am not sure how this public nuisance arrest would even apply. The positive outcome of this were the two separate individuals who came up to us after the police had departed, first a man, and then a woman, both saying they had been watching the police speaking to us and wanting to know if they had hassled us and if I was all right. It is nice to know that there still exists support for freedom of expression in the Castro neighborhood.

Just push the button and leave the rest to us.

2011-07-12T16:24:00.000-07:00

I just acquired a Kodak Cartridge Hawk-eye No. 2 Model A. These cameras were marketed from 1924 to 1925. I have loaded it with a roll of 120 black & white film and took it out for the first time today. I shot three exposures so far. I cannot wait to see what sort of photos I will get with it!

San Francisco WNBR 2011

2011-07-06T17:07:00.001-07:00

photo: Greg Pennington

SF Pride Finally "Work Safe"

2011-06-27T15:41:00.000-07:00

So being Tame and Settled Down, i.e., less leather daddies and disco divas, more real police instead of "Village People Fetishists," is being "Grown-Up" according to the SF Chronicle! "So tame, in fact, one would think it had finally settled down and gotten married!"
How revolting! How assimilationist! How Heterocentric/Homophobic!

The wind engine display at the Columbian Exposition

2011-06-25T05:52:00.001-07:00

Photo from The Chicago World's Fair of 1893

SF WNBR 2011 City Hall

2011-06-25T05:43:00.000-07:00

San Francisco World Naked Bike Ride

2011-06-14T10:56:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 11, 2011

the first sight to great me.

dueling photographers

Happy Birthday Judy Garland! June 10, 1922 - June 22, 1969.

2011-06-10T08:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Allen Ginsberg!

2011-06-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for

I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache

self-conscious looking at the full moon.

In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went

into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!

What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families

shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the

avocados, babies in the tomatoes!--and you, Garcia Lorca, what

were you doing down by the watermelons?

I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber,

poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery

boys.

I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the

pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?

I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans

following you, and followed in my imagination by the store

detective.

We strode down the open corridors together in our

solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen

delicacy, and never passing the cashier.

Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in

an hour. Which way does your beard point tonight?

(I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the

supermarket and feel absurd.)

Will we walk all night through solitary streets? The

trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we'll both be

lonely.

Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love

past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage?

Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher,

what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and

you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat

disappear on the black waters of Lethe?

Berkeley, 1955

The Whitest Kids U' Know - Pledge of Allegiance

2011-06-01T07:52:00.000-07:00

2011-05-21T18:39:00.000-07:00

I went to the Bay 2 Breakers and . . .

2011-05-15T12:22:00.000-07:00

. . . I found Jesus!

My history research has taken me to United States antebellum reform movements. Emerging from the religious ferment of the second great awakening, many believed they could bring about the millennium by returning their bodies to prelapsarian purity. They thought this would be accomplished through the strict control of diet, sexuality, and dress. A few suggested clothing was a necessary evil; only one called for complete nudity -- Samuel Bower.

I thought of those reformers and Mr. Bower today when I met Jesus in the park, as well as how the public naked body comes to signify a tension between a civilization we wish to reject and a savagery we fear, artistic culture and lasciviousness. It is this very ambiguity our Western culture has assigned to nakedness which makes it such a slippery, dangerous category. For Samuel Bower, however, nakedness was simply perfect.

Naked buds!

2011-05-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

Naked Kevin and Nudewoody. Naked Kevin is amazing! He goes everywhere naked, even has a naked job, which means he walks out of his front door naked, walks to work naked, works naked, and then walks back home naked!

Naked Errands and a Confrontation

2011-05-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

I just got home from running some naked errands in my neighborhood. As I was unlocking my front door a very young man in dirty painter's work clothing came running up behind me asking me why I did this everyday? Rather then allowing me to answer he went on to say, "I know this is San Francisco, and you do this because you are waiting for someone to attack you. Then you can crucify them." I said, rather taken aback, that was not why I was doing this. "Okay, then why are you doing it?", he asked. Before I could answer he told me that I should at least respect little children, that a lot of his friends have little children and they told him they are very upset with me walking past them and they don't believe their children should have to be exposed to something harmful like that." I told him it only was harmful to little children because their parents teach them it is harmful. "Alright, alright" he responded, "I thought you would say something like that. But why do you have to do it." I said I thought it was obvious that he wasn't really interested in hearing why I did it, because every time I tried to explain to him he interrupted me with a monologue of his own as to his preconceived notions as to why I was doing it, at which point he allowed me to tell him my reasons: that our bodies are natural, not shameful, that body-shame is taught and is nothing but self-hatred, they our bodies do not always equal the sexual, that on a nice day like today it feels good, that our bodies are beautiful and do not hurt anyone. "I bet you wouldn't do this in the Mission," was his response as he walked away, still visibly angry.

Looks-ism from the sex positive crowd.

2011-05-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

Scot Brogan in the BAR writes a wonderful piece about the loss of sexual freedom to assimilation and self-policing, reminding us that what we might judge as inappropriate, someone else might judge as perfectly fine. Then he pulls out that tired ass old complaint that the guys who walk down the street naked are "Usually not anyone you want to see naked." Come on Scott, you can't have it both ways!

Ran into a buddy @ the bus stop

2011-05-06T18:46:00.000-07:00

and he snapped me me with his phone.

Harvey Milk Plaza, San Francisco, CA

2011-05-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

Naked in the Street Today.

2011-05-04T15:09:00.000-07:00

Walking through the Castro today I couldn't help but notice that most of my homeless friends have disappeared. It could be the weather, but given the strong police presence in the past several days, I doubt it. Walking down Castro Street in my usual attire, the single homeless man I saw, who was shirtless, asked me about my nakedness, saying he wished he could be naked. I explained it was not illegal. He asked about indecent exposure. I told him of the California Supreme Court ruling which stated that mere nudity is not indecent. He told me to keep standing up for my rights. Further up the street, yelled at me from a passing SUV, "Put on some pants, you're fucking gross!"

On the public naked body

2011-05-03T19:33:00.001-07:00

It is one thing to be outside somewhere and decide to get naked. You can see what is going on around you. It is quite something else to just walk out your front door naked and walk down the street!

Your opinions please - what if urban public nudity were legal?

2011-04-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

I found this excellent post by Brian Kraemer online and thought it was much too good not to repost:

From the universe's point of view, public nudity is already legal and has always

been so, in all places and at all times. Every human being has always been free

to be, to simply be. Any attempts by other human beings to take away this

freedom are null, void, invalid, meaningless. They are an offense to the

creature and to the source from whence came the creature.

A brave creature will resist the offender and insist upon his universal gift of

being. He will do this not only for himself but for others, that we might all

enjoy our being. It would take few brave souls to accomplish this because we

know it to be true. One does not teach a baby to nurse and one does not teach a

creature to live in his skin.

From the universe's point of view, some words do not exist (nude, naked,

unclothed, disrobed, unclad, unattired, garmentless) for these words have no

meaning in the natural state. There is only natural. Upon observation, we see

these words are lies. They misrepresent because they treat the hiding state as

the natural one. They falsely assert that first came the state of being clothed

and then judge others as unclothed. They falsely assert that first came the

state of being robed and then judge others to be disrobed. They falsely assert

that first came the state of being attired and then judge others as being

unattired. This distinction is not just a clever playing with words. This

distinction has us imprisoned first in our thinking and then in our lives. While

claiming to be free, we have been born in a prison state of mandatory hiding

with which we have agreed to confine ourselves.

Consider the word tan. If you were to see a man, richly colored brown above and

below his genitals, but palely white in his midsection with stark demarcation

lines from having been forced to hide behind a cloth, would you consider his

natural color to be the palely white or the rich brown? If you answered the

palely white, you are a prisoner to your own thinking. While most people will

consider his palely white genitals to be natural and would likely compliment him

on his pleasant tan, they are wrong. They have believed a lie. The man's natural

color is richly brown. The only unnatural part of this man is his palely white

genitals that have been denied their natural experience of the sun.

Stephen Gough has chosen to live free and thus, because of frightened human

beings, must spend his life in prison. He is a brave one for whom emotional and

spiritual freedom matters more than physical freedom.

In nature, a creature might hide its body to avoid a predator, but not to avoid

shame or embarrassment. If words must be created, then let us create some

unnatural words for unnatural states. Let us create hiding words, words that

might describe an infinite number of ways human creatures alone hide themselves:

clothes, garments, attire, costumes, apparel, vestments, uniforms, outfits,

raiment. If we must hide, then let us hide behind trees or bushes until danger

passes, but let us not live as if we were dead while we are yet alive.

Truth matters because the source of this universe intended that we might live

lives of fullness and meaning and satisfaction and pleasure and wholeness. We

have an obligation not only to ourselves and to others, but also to our source

to receive the gifts with which we have been entrusted. Henry David Thoreau

wrote, "The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation." Have we considered

that our disappointments in life, our longings for meaning and purpose, might be

a matter of our own refusal to receive fully what life has given?

And what is standing in our way, but fear of our fellow human beings? What shall

it be?

20 April 2011

2011-04-21T07:21:00.000-07:00

Samuel Bower in Perfect Nudity: Antebellum Health Reform and the Self

2011-04-20T07:03:00.000-07:00

Subscribers to the Water-Cure Journal would have found an article in the November 1850 edition advising them of the healthful benefits of sunlight. The Water-Cure Journal was a monthly journal devoted to hydropathy, or the water cure, a means of preventing and curing disease by the use of water, or on occasion other natural remedies. By 1850 the periodical had a circulation of 10,000. The article, entitled “New Views on Health” written by Samuel Bower of Iowa, stated that full health could only be achieved by placing oneself within natural conditions. The sun, Bower expounded, was the chief cause of all living things, therefore, people should allow the air and sun to be in contact at all times with their entire bodies. In other words, Bower was advocating people should live naked. In Bower’s words, “Why does civilized man put on, at all seasons, over that natural garb which the all-provident Creator has given him [sic], clothing? . . . Not to preserve health, certainly. These practices minister to disease.”

Espousing living naked seems a radical supposition to many today. It is difficult to imagine that idea having had much merit in 1850, and many historians have described Samuel Bower as either a nudist or “queer.” But other health reformers of the Antebellum period were speaking of the healthful benefits of nudity, although their arguments were always moderated by the dictates of climate and social norms; none would prove as insistently radical as Samuel Bower. The movement which was named nudism in 1929 has achieved a world-wide following today of millions of people, flowering from a Free Body Culture movement which had its genesis in late nineteenth-century German health-reform and perfectionism which expressed similar ideals and motivations as those put forth by Bower. Samuel Bower was not a curiosity espousing “nudism” in the wilderness of antebellum health-reform, but rather the strongest voice among a few reformers who were making a connection between the concept of the body, our relationship to it, and our relationship to the biosphere we inhabit, pre-figuring concepts and ideas which would take root some fifty years later in Germany, achieve full fruition in Interwar Germany, and continue worldwide to this day.

Respect and Admiration

2011-04-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

I am always fascinated by the amount of respect and admiration I am shown by our homeless citizens when I am out and about naked.

Naked in the City

2011-04-15T16:22:00.000-07:00

Today was sunny, warm and humid, so off came the clothes! Happy to say, nothing but affirmative responses! My good friend,the Naked Satyr, followed me for a while with his camera. One friend thanked me for beingout and and about naked, one friend said what a nice day it was, and one friend told me he loved my attire! SWEET!

Walking around the 'hood today

2011-04-04T15:39:00.001-07:00

Walking around the 'hood today, one woman asked to take my photo. While doing so, another overweight and sloppy looking woman sitting nearby kept repeating loudly, "Why do you want a picture of THAT?" I was told by a man that I had a pretty dick. One guy said as he walked past me, "I'm glad I haven't eaten yet." One man wearing a Democrats for Scott Wiener t-shirt just shook his head negatively. A loud voice started laughing hysterically from a car, then shouted, "Put some clothes on!".

2011-03-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

Health Reform, Two Centuries Views.

2011-03-14T16:33:00.001-07:00

‎"the air bath, as Dr.Franklin calls it, is exceedingly salutary to every one in health, and almost to every invalid. If the whole skin may be considered a breathing organ, then it should not only be kept clean, but for its own health and vigor, and the health and vigor of the whole system, it should be permitted to receive the full ...and free embrace of the pure air -- in short, all the physiological and physcological properties, powers and interests of the human constitution would be better sustained, as a permanent fact, from generation to generation, by entire nudity, than by the use of any kind of clothing. Strictly speaking, therefore, all clothing is in itself considered, in some measure, an evil."

Sylvester Graham. "Bathing, Air, and Clothing," from Graham's Science of Human Life. Water Cure Journal; 1 Jun. 1847; 3, 11.

Naked After Work

2011-03-12T16:54:00.000-08:00

It was lovely being naked after work today. I walked down to Harvey Milk Library, picked up a book asnd then walked home through the Castro naked. Going up 18th Street, two blocks from my house, a police officer in a cruiser stopped me and asked me if the police have talked with me before. I responded that they had. He asked me what they told me. I told him what their usual line is, about getting a complaint, and that they know it is not illegal but if the person wants to sign a complaint, blah, blah. He said, that is right. He indicated that a women flagged him over to complain about me and said she would be willing to sign a complaint. He then asked me were I lived. I indicated right up the street. He said he would go talk to her. I asked him if he was planning on explaining to her that what I was doing was not illegal. He said that yes he would. He left and I continued my walk home, naked.

A New Book.

2011-03-10T16:14:00.000-08:00

Sex Among the Rabble: An Intimate History of Gender & Power in the Age of Revolution, Philadelphia, 1730-1830, by Clare A. Lyons. I am very excited to begin reading this book which I learned about in the graduate history class I have the pleasure of attending.

On being naked.

2011-02-07T16:18:00.000-08:00

Today one person told me it was certainly a great day to be naked, one person told me he was glad to see me out and about, one person called me an asshole, one person told me he certainly hoped we could be persuaded to stop doing this because it just wasn't right, and a black man told me it was only my white male entitlement which allowed me to go around naked.

More to follow . . .

It's February!

2011-02-04T14:16:00.000-08:00

It must be Spring!

Public Nudity and the Irksome C. W. Nevius

2011-02-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

Walking home from school today, naked, after reading C.W.Nevius' one-sided, inflammatory column in today's Chronicle I passed two little old women on Castro Street. One whispered to the other in a very serious tone, "See, that's what I've been telling you about." Other than that, all of the comments and looks I received were very positive, smiles, nods, one gentleman stopped me to ask if I was taking my responsibility as a tourist attraction seriously. He told me believed everyone enjoyed the nudity. I know I certainly enjoy the nudity, and I enjoy the freedom I have in San Francisco which allows me to enjoy the nudity in spite of some bigots.

Body hatred is a bigotry, we are not born hating our bodies but rather are taught to hate them. Nudity has never caused anyone any harm that I am aware of. When I am naked, I can feel the sun and the breeze on my skin. All of my senses are heightened and I feel closer to nature as there is less that separates me from the nature around me. My animality is exposed, along with my body. I am more equal to nature, rather than removed from it, or above it. I can understand how THAT is a scary and threatening concept for some.

It threatens the status quo, the belief that we are individuals looking out only for ourselves and everything else is put here for our use. That is the paradigm which is getting us in so much trouble: rapid use of global resources, the betting on others losing their homes in the mortgage markets or not being able to afford food in the commodities market, causing untold suffering for millions just so a few of us might profit.

Clothing compulsion is more harmful, I believe, than public nudity. To always hide who we are and seperate ourselves from nature and each other with clothing, no matter what the situation or weather, seems very harmful to me. I believe we would be much better off as a society and a world if we could all experiance casual nudity from time to time. If you have the oppurtunity, and haven't tried it, I would urge you to take a step and work on overcoming some of your fears. You just might like it.

Spiegel TV - the naked freedom - the movie in full length

2011-01-30T05:26:00.000-08:00

Spiegel TV - die nackte Freiheit - der Film in voller Länge from Alex Nackt on Vimeo.

After School Nudity in the Castro.

2011-01-24T14:30:00.001-08:00

So I came out of MUNI at Harvey Milk Plaza after my first day of classes. I stopped by the benches to remove my clothing, as the weather was mighty fine. Once my clothing was off and I was preparing to walk home, I heard a mans voice loudly proclaim, "You forgot your clothes." Looking up, I saw a man in a black business suit staring at me. "I replied, "No, I did not." "Well, thanks for gracing us with your presence," he responded, staring at me. I said, "You are welcome," as he headed down into the MUNI station.

I had the sense, from the inflection in his voice while making his statements, that his commentary was not all that approving but I am not really sure. I do know I received a few disapproving glares from men while walking home, and a few friendly nods as well.

On to naked homework!

Thursday, 20 January 2011

2011-01-21T12:08:00.000-08:00

Out and about in the Castro.

Reading List from Santa

2010-12-27T15:41:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays at the Castro's Holiday Tree

2010-12-24T15:26:00.000-08:00

The Wordy Shipmates. Sarah Vowell. New York: Penguin, 2008.

2010-12-02T10:28:00.000-08:00

Sarah Vowell gives us a history of the Puritans written in a style meant to appeal to mass popular culture while chastising Americans for their distorted notion of their nation as a “Puritan nation,” because, unlike today’s Americans, “Puritan lives were overwhelmingly, fanatically literary” (13). Specifically, The Wordy Shipmates covers the period between 1629 and 1640, focusing on John Winthrop, John Cotton, Roger Williams, and Anne Hutchinson as a means to explain the origin of concepts such as American exceptionalism and manifest destiny, freedom of religion, and equality for all along with major themes in political and civic discourse such as the ongoing debate over public and private which have haunted the country since that period. Many readers accustomed to more rigorous histories will find The Wordy Shipmates controversial; ultimately Sarah Vowell produces a good read but she commits a myriad of factual errors and fails to use a historical lens when approaching her subject. This leaves room for doubts concerning the rest of what she says, especially since nothing is cited. I feel she does not accomplish what she sets out to do due to the lack of structural clarity, lack of a strong thesis, or a well constructed argument. Sarah Vowell’s argument lacks the accessibility she brings to her text, which ultimately renders her book confusing.

In The Wordy Shipmates, Sarah Vowell highlights the inconsistency she sees in our seeming obsession with being a “Puritan nation” given the fact that the Puritan movement was a scholarly, academic movement while the current state of our nation’s knowledge of its own history is anything is not. Perry Miller, one of the few sources Vowell actually acknowledges in her book, wrote that “Puritanism was a learned, scholarly movement that required knowledge and a respect for the cultural heritage” (15). Ms. Vowell goes on to contrast that Puritan mindset with the contemporary public’s knowledge of its own history, mostly learned from the mass media of the Boomer Generation, the Brady Bunch, Happy Days, Mr. Ed, or what Ms. Vowell refers to as the “Boy, people used to be so stupid school of history” (20). Ms. Vowell’s point here is that this is not a recent sin, but one which has been with us since at least Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Courtship of Miles Standish”, and “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,” both of which are full of historical inaccuracies. So part of Ms. Vowell’s project is correcting the historical mythology through her own mass media version of the story of the Puritans. The question then becomes, how accurate is Ms. Vowell’s interpretation?

Ms. Vowell warns us to be careful of judging the Puritans, to realize they were born before the Age of Reason, and to therefore use a historical lens when pondering their thoughts and actions (22). If only Ms. Vowell would take her own advice. Ms. Vowell ponders how often politicians reference the “City on a Hill” passage from John Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity” sermon, especially politicians such as Sandra Day O’Connor and John F. Kennedy who, as Ms. Vowell puts it, would cause Winthrop to roll over in his grave if he knew such people (a woman and a Catholic) held power. Ms. Vowell seems to have forgotten what she had reminded us of earlier, that times and attitudes do change. Ms. Vowell also decides from reading Roger William’s and William Wood’s thoughts on native life, that being a native woman in seventeenth century New England must have been harder than being either a white woman or a native man. Her opinion is based on the fact that native women did all of the agricultural labor and apparently were so accustomed to extraordinarily heavy labor that for them, childbirth was not difficult at all. As Carol Berkin explains in her book, First Generations: Women in Colonial America, this is an entirely white Eurocentric view which has been discounted by historians who have learned that they must handle cautiously what was written by Europeans about Native Americans, viewing them as artifacts of European’s adjustments to cultural diversity rather than as true guides to native cultures (57).

The second motif of Sarah Vowell’s book is the concept of our nation as a chosen people, a beacon of righteousness as an example for the world. Ms. Vowell claims the most obvious and most used example is the “City on a Hill” passage from Winthrop’s sermon, which Ms. Vowell tells us was not published until 1838, just in time for John L. Sullivan to declare that the United States had a right to all of Oregon due to America’s “manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us . . .” In fact, as Ms. Vowell points out, Winthrop’s sermon created absolutely no stir in 1630 when he delivered it to the Puritans who were New England bound (35). The problem with Ms. Vowell’s rendering is that John L. Sullivan was not even born until 1858, and then went on to become known as the Boston Strong Boy and the first heavyweight boxing champion of the world. It was John L. O’Sullivan who coined the phrase “Manifest Destiny” in the July/August issue of the United States Magazine and Democratic Review.

That glaring error aside, Ms. Vowell’s point is that we dig no deeper into Winthrop’s sermon than the City on a Hill passage. Winthrop’s call was for a communitarian ethos where everyone works together and gets along, where everyone is responsible for each other and where some must be rich, some poor. Not exactly what our founding fathers had in mind 146 years later when they declared that all men are created equal. It is also an ethos which has a darker side . . . especially the part about being responsible for each other when you consider everyone needed to live up to Puritan moral standards. Nor do we critically analyze our own hubristic project in the world. The Puritans’ arrogant view as being God’s chosen people was tempered by the Puritan self-loathing sense of reckoning and the Calvinistic urge to watch over themselves and each other. As Ms. Vowell puts it, “the United States is still a city on a hill; and it’s still shining--because we never turn off the lights in our torture prisons. That’s how we carry out the sleep deprivation” (72). There are moments like these in Sarah Vowell’s book which are truly brilliant.

Another such seemingly brilliant moment is when Ms. Vowell discusses Anne Hutchinson’s project for moving Protestantism further towards a more personal relationship with God, not only linking the democratization of religion to political democratization but also linking the shedding of the need for authority (the idea one need not listen to a clergy to achieve salvation) to a dangerous disregard for expertise. This anti-intellectual impulse, persistent throughout American history at least since the Jacksonian era, leads us to elect leaders who are “wisecracking good ol’ boy[s] . . . instead of a serious thinker who knows some of the pompous, brainy stuff that might actually get fewer people laid off or killed” (215). I ask myself if these are really Ms. Vowell’s ideas. This passage sounds remarkably similar to one of Richard Hofstadler’s theses in his 1964 Pulitzer Prize winning book, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (74).

In the end, Sarah Vowell tells us that it is not too late to begin again by quoting John F. Kennedy’s speech to a Joint Convention of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Kennedy told us he was guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates and “ask[s] for y[our] help and y[our] prayers, as I embark on this new and solemn journey” (248). This, Ms. Vowell reminds us, was a new beginning and Kennedy was not alone. If only she had stated this at the beginning of her book, or at least on page 24, where she tells us the most important reason she is writing what she does is because “the country I live in is haunted by the Puritan’s vision of themselves as God’s chosen people.” Ms. Vowell seems to use her book as a series of long essays in which she develops her arguments and then arrives at her conclusion, a way of writing which tends to leave the reader somewhat baffled. Fortunately, Sarah Vowell is a good enough writer that she is able to string the unwary reader along.

Ms. Vowell admits she is a fan of the Puritans and finds them fascinating. She has some excellent notions regarding our national fixation with the Puritans, our national self-image, and the reality of our current situation. I fear that is not enough to redeem The Wordy Shipmates. A major problem with Ms. Vowell’s book is its multitudinous factual errors and failure to use a historical lens. I am left wondering how many other errors occur in her book that I am not aware of. Additionally, while Ms. Vowell admittedly is tackling a complex subject (a historical overview of the Puritan’s Great Migration based on John Winthrop, John Cotton, Roger Williams, and Anne Hutchinson as well as a critical analysis of our nation’s relationship with the Puritan ethos) she fails to present a strong thesis up front, so she is therefore unable to develop an understandable argument and seems to come to a conclusion by way of writing her book. I would hand this book back to Ms. Vowell, asking her how this is an example of her intellectual vigor, and demand a re-write.

Harvey’s as the Happiest Place

2010-11-24T20:25:00.000-08:00

Situated on the south-west corner of Eighteenth and Castro Streets in San Francisco’s famous Castro district stands Harvey’s, a bar and restaurant which bills itself as the district’s “heart,” through all the changes the district has undergone. Indeed, the site is historic. But like much history its tale is multi-layered, some layers exposed and refigured for mass consumption, others hidden from sight by neglect or the intersecting lines of politics, capital, and power. In the context of the Castro as a Queer space, originally the site was home to The Elephant Walk Bar which, according to Randy Shilts, was one of the first gay bars to have large plate-glass windows facing the street. Today Harvey’s is decorated with photographic enlargements of both the Castro’s 1970s gay heyday and of Harvey Milk, the bar’s namesake who was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California and who was later assassinated along with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone by Dan White in 1978. A large graphic mural of Harvey Milk reading from a speech centered with-in earth-toned concentric circles commands one side of the room above the windows facing Eighteenth Street.

Harvey’s bar and restaurant’s claim to have played a significant role in the history and development of the community, along with its appropriation of community trauma and nostalgia as a decorating motif and method for capitalizing on community and tourist dollars is problematic on its surface. It becomes even more so when other historical layers of this story are exposed. Harvey’s is owned by Paul Langley who also owned the building in which Harvey Milk’s camera store, Castro Camera, and his apartment were located. After Milk became supervisor, Langley evicted an elderly woman from a nearby building to make room for a title insurance company. Milk used this eviction as an example of why the city needed an anti-speculation tax. In retaliation, Langley raised the rent on Milk’s camera store from $350 to $1200 per month and also boosted the rent on Milk’s apartment above the store, mentioning his retaliation in the rent increase notice. Two months later Milk was assassinated by Dan White. Following the trial and sentencing of Dan White a crowd in excess of five thousand gathered at City Hall and a riot broke out in what became known as the White Night Riots. City Hall had its glass doors and windows shattered and about a dozen police cars were torched. One young man told a reporter, as he lite fire to a police car, “Make sure you put it in the paper that I ate too many Twinkies." Dan White’s defense had claimed that White’s habitual consumption of Twinkies caused extreme variations in his blood sugar, exacerbating his existing manic-depression which then led to the killings. In retaliation for the riot at City Hall, the police staged their own riot on Castro Street later that night which culminated in the police takeover of the Elephant Walk. Police smashed the bars windows and doors, overturning tables and barstools, smashing the mirror over the bar, and assaulting patrons and employees while yelling “Banzai” and “Sick cocksuckers."

The Elephant Walk and the LGBTQ community recovered. Paul Langley, who also owned the building the Elephant Walk was located in, tried to acquire the business in 1985 but failed. In 1988, an early morning fire consumed the upper floors of the building and the Elephant Walk was closed for several years. Langley again tried to gain control of the bar and a bitter court battle ensued. Langley lost in court but, reverting to the same tactics he had used against Harvey Milk in 1978, he raised the bar’s rent to over $13,000 per month. In 1995, when the lease finally expired, Langley refused to negotiate a lease at any price and The Elephant Walk was forced to close it doors. Langley then reopened the bar as Harvey’s. The walls of Harvey’s were initially covered with memorabilia, including an original Harvey Milk campaign poster, one of Sylvester’s Gold Records, and a pair of Greg Louganis’ Speedos, but all of this historic material was subsequently lost in another fire.

Paul Langley appears to have used his position as a real estate speculator and the power of his capital to situate his own business, Harvey’s, into the climatic scene of his own version of the Harvey Milk melodrama, thereby rendering the LGBT community’s trauma bland, homogenized, and confused. He uses nostalgia to re-imagine history. Langley further erases the historical significance of the Elephant Walk by claiming Harvey’s bar to have been a constant through all of the “many changes” to the community, and by posing as the savior who rescued the Elephant Walk following its 1988 fire by omitting intervening facts.

This homogenizing nostalgia serves to render the unseemly side of this history (the riots, the Twinkie defense, the police brutality, Milk’s fight for tenets rights) safe for tourist (heterosexual) consumption while erasing the violence which capital engages in (violence such as Langley’s eviction of an elderly tenet to make room for a title insurance office which would perhaps enhance is real estate practice) to bring us the ability to consume. This allows Harvey’s and Paul Langley to also participate in what Lisa Dugan refers to as the new homonormativity, a politics which does not contest the dominant heteronormative assumptions and institutions but rather works to uphold them. It is a homonormativity which demands all gays and lesbians support the political movement du jour (Langley’s prime corner building always displays the largest most muscular political banners for the most conservative supervisorial candidates), which demands LGBTQ folks become consumers of a corporatized market seemingly tailored for them but which in actuality seeks to reshape the LGBTQ community to a malleable corporate citizenry which does not question capitalist violence. It is a homonormativity that has rendered Queer space invisible; destroying once vibrant Queer neighborhoods and re-branding them as safe, touristy neighborhoods of “historical significance” inhabited by young, urban, wealthy, and predominantly white heterosexuals and homonormative homosexuals who frequent establishments such as Harvey’s.

This is what capitalist consumption does. It depends on the ability to mediate what and how we see. A more radical understanding of our sexual identity and “Queer Home Space” insists on a recognition of the intersections of the visible, the historical, and the political systems which go into constructing the ensemble of available consumer choices that support postmodern identities.

Heterophobia?

2010-10-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

It’s quiet after the gays go home.

Early Sunday morning finds me at work at my job as a waiter in a small “family” run 24-hour diner in the heart of San Francisco’s famous Castro district, a position I have held long enough to see the neighborhood slowly evolve from being 100 percent gay male to being what it is now, a historic district and tourist destination as well as the home of a few long term gay residents and many more newly arrived, young, privileged, white, mostly heterosexual couples with strollers and children. My first table this Sunday morning is a couple, a black man and a white woman, both young, they sport a hip look, he with short cropped dread-locks, her wearing crystals and amulets along with her diaphanous silk pastels. Approaching their table, I great them with my standard, “Good morning, how are you today?” The man looks at me, smiles broadly, and replies, “Great, I love Sunday mornings, it’s always so quiet after all the gays go home.”

Now, I am sure I am not “straight acting,” to use the parlance of homosexuals who seek a certain “type” of masculine male. I, who sport a shaved head, a full grown long beard, a rather large septum piercing, three-quarter inch earplugs, and always wear a kilt or skirt and a phallic crystal around my neck, could never be mistaken for an assimilationist nor, I think, a heterosexual. I just do not pass. And I do consider “the Castro” my home, having migrated here over three decades ago in an attempt to locate a Queer community, a Queer safe space I could call home. This man’s statement, then, as to why he loved Sunday mornings so much sent me off into an exploration a series of events which occurred over the course of the previous few weeks, events which by themselves had caused me some caution, some reflection, some despair.

Being called a faggot in my own neighborhood

One of the people I have become since my migration to the Castro is a nudist activist. As a nudist, I believe that our bodies are gifts, aspects of our humanness, which we have managed to lose touch with, not something to be seen as obscene or shameful. Our bodies are our primal connection to nature and an important aspect of what should be part of our social dialogue with all of nature, with the living biosphere, which we have managed to shut ourselves away from with the compulsive wearing of clothing. To be ashamed of our bodies, to insist on the mandatory covering of our bodies, is the height of self-hatred. So I have begun to go about naked, as there is no law in San Francisco banning public nudity. When the weather is nice, I will remove my clothing when leaving work and walk home naked, or when I have errands to run in the neighborhood, I will do them naked. I, and others like me, have managed to overcome initial police resistance and seem to have managed to educate them to the fact that being naked is not illegal and, in fact, a citation will not result in a prosecution by the district attorney’s office. Of course I receive a wide range of reactions when I go about naked, most of which I am happy to say are positive. It is the negative that always stand out, however.

I was walking home from work on the Saturday prior to hearing this black man’s statement about why he loved Sunday mornings so much, naked, when I heard “Faggot,” yelled at me from a car traveling down Castro Street. As I reached the corner, a gay man walked by me and exclaimed, “That’s disgusting.” I think I am safe in assuming a heterosexual yelled, “faggot”. I have encountered this reaction in the past. Initially I thought how funny that simple nudity would be a signifier of gayness for some heterosexual body-phobic. On further examination I arrived at the conclusion that in actuality what was being addressed with the epithet “faggot” was my deviation from the perceived normative path. By walking down the street naked, I was queering what it meant to be a citizen in public on the sidewalk. Nevertheless, the violence inherent in the epithet did not go unnoticed. But the remark from the gay man saddened me in a way the violence of the word “faggot” could not. For a gay man to be so challenged by Queerness speaks volumes to the state of disarray I perceive in the LGBTQ community today.

Queer bashing in the news

That week’s news had been filled with articles stressing the grief, horror, and outrage over the recent spate of teen suicides by LGBTQ youth as a direct result of bullying and heterosexist attacks. I use the term heterosexist rather than homophobic, as a phobia is defined as an irrational fear of something. I do not believe these attacks and violence are motivated by irrational fear as much as by disgust as well as being a method of policing behaviors. Following these reports come news of a man beaten during a heterosexist attack in the restroom of the Stonewall Inn by two men and finally, nine men kidnap, torture, and sodomize three men because they assume they are gay. As much as I empathize with the pain and the outrage being felt over these deaths and attacks, the historian in me must articulate the long history of LGBTQ youth bullying, violence, and suicide which has been largely ignored by the media until now and I must ask myself why? Where was the concern, the media attention before?

Media coverage, media outrage springs from acceptance

An indifferent media was not the only problem in the past. An indifferent police force existed as well. We have witnessed a very gradual, decades long shift of police tactics away from raiding LGBTQ spaces to one of responding to violence directed at LGBTQ people. This shift in the institutional treatment of LGBTQ people came about only after resistance from LGTBQ people along with a demand for acceptance by LGTBQ people, a resistance and demand that are still occurring. Along with this resistance and demanding came visibility and knowing. Heterosexuals came to know LGBTQ people, and with that knowing came gradual acceptance, and progress. Over the past few decades, there is no question that much progress has been made for LGBTQ people.

But it is an acceptance that is gained on heteronormative terms. An acceptance which demands what Lisa Duggan refers to in her book, The Twilight of Equality?: Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics, and the Attack On Democracy, as “homonormativity, . . . a politics that does not contest dominant heteronormative assumptions and institutions but upholds and sustains them.” It is a homonormativity which demands gay men tell me my naked public body is disgusting; which demands all gays and lesbians support the political movement du jour, marriage and the military; which demands LGBTQ folks become consumers of a corporatized market seemingly tailored for them but which in actuality seeks to reshape the LGBTQ community to a malleable corporate citizen which does not question corporate capitalist violence. It is a homonormativity that has rendered Queer space invisible; destroying once vibrant Queer neighborhoods in favor of bland, touristy neighborhoods of “historical significance” inhabited by young, urban, wealthy, and predominantly white heterosexuals and homonormative homosexuals.

I have witnessed this shift occur in the place I call home, the place which had been my safe Queer space. It has become less tolerant, less a safe space in which to be Queer while it has instituted a capitalist led program of redefining what that space is in an attempt to lure tourist and consumer dollars. Daily sweeps of the new Castro Commons, soon to become the “Jane Warner Plaza,” named after a special patrol officer much beloved by the merchants who was known for bullying Queer homeless youth, clear any persons of questionable desirability from using the tables and chairs placed there for public consumption. A constant struggle is maintained between traditional LGBTQ stores’ rights to display erotic wares in their windows and parents desire to keep such images from their children's sight. The Castro neighborhood has become a “destination” for teenage shoppers with the introduction of corporate anchor stores such as Diesel, Pottery Barn, Levi’s and Sunglass Hut, teenage shoppers who feel the necessity to assert their heterosexuality in the gay Castro with public displays of affection not usually seen in most mainstream malls or shopping districts. These heterosexual youth and adults come to our LGBTQ neighborhood asserting their heterosexual privilege, unaware of its meaning, unaware of the fact that while they are free to assert their sexuality wherever they please, we, as LGBTQ folks, are still not able to do the same.

Accused of heterophobia

I, in the course of my work, find myself waiting on these shopping teens more and more. Some are perfectly fine and friendly, but I have come to be able to identify the ones who seem to not be aware of their privilege. The males usually are silent, sullen, unable to look me in the face, the females overly compensate for the males sullen attitude by being over friendly, smiling, answering for the male. They cling to each other, and usually as soon as my back turns they begin petting and hugging and kissing while making quick glances around the diner to see how they are being received.

Two weekends prior to waiting on the table who “liked the Castro after the gays went home,” I waited on such a couple, the sullen man and over eager women. This couple were in their mid to late twenties. The man never did speak to me, nor look at me. As soon as I left them they began the usual routine of displaying their affection. This is a difficult position for me, as I am not one to discourage displays of affection or sexuality. I do not relish the thought of thinking that I can second-guess someone’s motivations either. Perhaps they feel more freedom to do this in Queer space because we have done the work of making Queer space a safe space for such displays. I would truly like to believe this. When I witness it, however, I always end up feeling robbed, feeling like my space is being subverted, taken over, and compromised. Well, this day I had had enough. I went back to this couple and suggested that they should leave and come back when they learned how to treat me like a human being. They asked me what I meant. I replied that they came in here, the man could not even look at me let alone talk to me or answer my questions, and then they have the nerve to shove their heterosexuality in my face. Yes, I had lost it. Years of suppressing my feelings welled up and were vented on this couple, who got up and left the restaurant.

Not surprisingly, I received a phone call from my boss the following day wanting to know what had happened. Apparently the woman had filled a complaint with him, threatening to sue the restaurant for discrimination and heterophobia. I explained as best I could. My boss wanted to know what I thought we should do about it, how in fact, I could explain my actions to this woman. As it turned out, I did not have to, as he never heard anything more from her. I was frightened, by her reaction, by my reaction, but mostly by my confusion and inability to sort and make sense of my feelings. Am I heterophobic? Many young Queer folk have told me over the years that Queer space must be accessible to everyone, that the days of gay bars inhabited by only gay men and lesbian bars inhabited only by women are an anachronism, that the very idea of a gay neighborhood is a thing of the past.

A professor once said something about Black people that rang true for me. “The reason that Black people don’t want white people in their spaces,” she told us, “is not because Black people hate white people, it’s because when ever they let white people in, the white people try to take it over and make it about them.” This is how I feel about heterosexual people invading Queer space. Heterosexuals move into Queer space expecting it to be modified for their comfort. As Sandra Bernhard once said when Times Square was in the process of being made “kid safe,” “Don’t they have the rest of the country?” As the homonormative push for acceptance stresses homosexual acceptability, Queers are expected to become homogenized and accept the status quo, no matter the cost to individuality. I became excited two years ago when I heard a “kiss-in” was being planned for Union Square. I went with very high hopes, fondly dreaming of past days of Queer Nation actions. There might have been a half a dozen LGBT people there, none of which would kiss me (I was too old). One very cute young guy was there offering kisses for a donation to St. James Infirmary. Most of the men said they couldn’t kiss him as they were “married” and their boyfriends wouldn’t like it. Is this what we have “progressed” to? In spite of this homogenization, this acceptance of heteronormative behaviors, we still are being beaten and harassed to the point of killing ourselves. Our president makes promises and then orders his promises to be fought against in courts of law.

And I feel old, and I feel beaten. And I smiled and I served the black man and his white female companion at my job in the “historic gay Castro neighborhood” and they were happy because all the gays had gone home and it was quiet.

One more from Folsom

2010-10-02T16:40:00.000-07:00

Naked

2010-09-28T07:52:00.001-07:00

The weather has been hot for San Francisco, lovely Indian summer weather. Sunday morning I left home at 10:00, heading for the Folsom Street Fair, wearing my boots and my hat. I had a great time at the fair, saw many wonderful sights and many lovely friends. Still in boots and hat, I made my way back to my boyfriend's house. I finally went home Monday morning at 7:00 still wearing only boots and hat.

Monday was a school day, but as soon as I exited the Muni station at Castro and Market Streets, the clothes came off. I spied my friend and fellow nudist activist George Davis sitting at the Castro Commons, so I joined him for a while. Eventually we were joined by a gentleman I had met Saturday at work who was visiting from Boston. He shed his clothes and joined us for a while as well.

Walking towards home, naked , I spied my friend Naked CJ and one other naked man in front of the Starbucks on 18th Street, so I stopped by to say hello. I then proceeded to walk home up 18th Street naked.

This is how life should be.

In wildness is the preservation of the world.

2010-09-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

"We cannot adequately appreciate this aspect of nature if we approach it with any taint of human pretense. It will elude us if we allow artifacts like clothing to intervene between ourselves and this Other. To apprehend it, we cannot be naked enough."
~Henry David Thoreau

2010-09-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

Toxic World

2010-09-14T08:07:00.001-07:00

The world I inhabit feels toxic, tastes toxic, smells toxic, it even looks toxic. I no longer feel I fit into this world. It is as though I elicit a toxic reaction to everything I touch, taste, smell, see. Am I toxic, or is it my world which, in becoming no longer MY world, has become toxic to me?

Nudity as a public nuisance.

2010-09-02T13:27:00.001-07:00

This bulletin is to clarify the requirements for arrest, cite and release of persons violating Penal Codes 314 or 372.

Penal Code 314 states: Every person who willfully and lewdly, either:

Exposes his person, or the private parts thereof, in any public place, or in any place where there are present other persons to be offended or annoyed thereby; or,

Procures, counsels, or assists ant person so to expose himself or take part in any model artist exhibition of himself to the public view, or the view of any number of persons, such as is offensive to decency, or is adapted to excite to vicious or lewd thoughts or acts, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

. . . .

When presented with a similar situation where lewd conduct is not an element of the offense, officers should consider Penal Code 372, Public nuisance; maintaing; committing; breach of duty of removal, which states:

Every person who maintains or commits any public nuisance, the punishment for which is not otherwise proscribed, or who willfully omits to perform any legal duty relating to the removal of a public nuisance, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

A public nuisance is defined as:

Anything which is injurious to health, or is indecent, or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as the interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property by an entire community or neighborhood, or by any considerable number of persons, or unlawfully obstructs the free passage or use, in the customary manner, of any navigable lake . . .

Arresting for PC 372 will require a private persons arrest as detailed in DGO 5.04.

The incident report should describe the following if applicable:

The public nuisance
The amount of people present and how many of them were children
A specific statement (written if possible) from the offended person
A description of the location where the public nuisance occurred

This is from the bulletin handed to me today by the LGBT liaison from the Mission Street police station who claimed he was responding to a complaint. I was sitting

in the Castro Commons, naked, reading a book. At first he attempted to inform me that I was guilty of indecent exposure, Penal Code 314, showing me his bulletin and telling me he had received a complaint. I proceeded to inform him that I knew that was not the case, and that it was my understanding that the new police directive advised officers that there must be lewd conduct involved and simple nudity did not co

nstitute lewd conduct according to the California courts rulings. He then pointed out the code stated willfully and lewdly and I was willfully. I cautioned him as to the meaning of the logical conjunction ‘and,’ that in fact it did not say ‘or.’ He then pointed to the part about Penal Code 372, public nuisance. I would have to get dressed or risk arrest.

By this time a slender female officer approached who said she had informed the complainant that in order to be indecent, there had to be lewd conduct; that in fact simple nudity was not against the law. She said the complainant told her he did not know that and would withdraw the complaint. Bless you my dear! I responded with, “Then I guess I am free to get undressed.” The LGBT liaison admitted that technically that was the case, but as soon as he received another complaint he would be back to arrest me. I said that I would just agree to get dressed again. He responded that no I would not, I had already been warned and in fact, the next time there is a compliant about me being naked in public, I would be arrested.

He proceeded to tell me how HE did not have a problem with public nudity, but in fact, the neighborhood had changed since the days it was a gay ghetto. Now there were families who lived here with children. At the monthly public meetings held at the Mission Police Station, he claims they have been receiving dozens of complaints every month from MUMC (Merchants of Upper Market and Castro) as well as people outraged over the naked guys in the Castro, demanding to know why the police do not put a stop to it? He said that those complaints filtered up the chain of command and this new bulletin was the result. He said, “The Castro is not just a gay neighborhood any longer.”

I told him that this was not about being gay, had nothing to do with being gay. He seemed a little surprised by that, asking me how so. I responded that this was about the freedom to not be ashamed of our bodies, that which makes us human. That there was nothing indecent or wrong with our bodies and as nudists we believe that we have the right to appear in our bodies just as others have the right not to.

I wonder if PC 372 is really prosecutable in this instance. It does state, “. . . so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property by an entire community or neighborhood, or by any considerable number of persons, . . .” (italics mine). It seems that that would be awfully hard to prove, and seems rather vague. However, I have other priorities at the moment, namely me education, to have to risk arrest and court appearances to challenge this. I truly wish that were not the case.

I often think in terms of religion, as in freedom of. What if we were Jain Digambar monks, who do not wear any clothing? In today’s world the obscenity seems to be the renunciation of our humanness, the hatred of our bodies, the view that our most precious possession is dirty, immoral, and filthy. I truly believe we need to be back in touch with our bodies, our humanness, our nature; it is our only hope for saving ourselves.

Decent Exposure

2010-08-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

There comes a time when circumstances call out for one to stand up for what one believes in. How far one is willing to go to support one’s beliefs then becomes the question. I believe that our bodies are beautiful blessings, gifts which should be celebrated, not hidden under compulsory coverings. Society’s conceptions of our human bodies as indecent objects which must be kept from public view is one of the most extreme forms of self-hatred I can imagine. This belief that our bodies are indecent has allowed us to be controlled and manipulated by those very societal institutions which impose it, the church and the state. It has served not only to separate us from nature but to elevate us over nature, thereby giving us the seemingly unlimited ability to control, modify, and destroy nature for our own ends. This insistence on our indecency keeps our true selves diverted into production, consumption, and conformity. Mandatory clothing forces us into social stratification, becoming a symbol for our power or the lack thereof. We become naked heads talking above hidden bodies, having the effect of enlarging in our imaginations that which is hidden. We then have sold back to us an airbrushed, gym-toned, surgically enhanced view of our bodies which for most of us is unattainable, all because we are forbidden to see the natural beauty inherent in each and everyone of us. In challenging and rejecting these beliefs we challenge and threaten those very institutions which imprison us, just as our clothing imprisons our bodies.

Freedom of expression and freedom from censorship are intimately entwined with that freedom that we who call ourselves Americans seem to cherish most, freedom of speech. George Davis, who stood for San Francisco mayor against incumbent Gavin Newsom in 2007 is now running for the district six supervisor position in San Francisco with a platform which includes freedom of expression and freedom from censorship. George Davis has a history of nudist activism dating back to 2004 when he began practicing naked yoga at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. Now George is incorporating public nudity into his political campaigning to demonstrate those freedoms which he is campaigning for. I was privileged to be able to accompany George Davis on one of his campaign walks through San Francisco’s premier shopping district, Union Square on Wednesday, August 18. After an hour of campaigning, we were approached by a San Francisco police officer who told us to cover up, as there were “women and children” who could see us. He suggested that we should go do this “somewhere else.” When we refused to cover ourselves, as there is no law banning nudity in San Francisco, we were not being lewd, and George was campaigning for political office, the officer decided to have us cited and charged with indecent exposure. At that time, I and two others decided to cover, but George remained adamant. “I do not get dressed,” was all he said. So off George went, naked and in handcuffs, to jail. I and my two fellow campaigners were left behind with orders to appear in criminal court Monday, August 23 at 1:00 PM on charges of indecent exposure.

The day of our court appearance I admit feeling a little apprehensive, even though I knew what I was doing was not indecent. I also knew that of the many citations issued in the past for indecent exposure regarding simple public nudity in San Francisco none have ever been prosecuted, but this was my first time. Arriving at the court we found the doors still locked for lunch. At 1:00 a sheriff appeared to inform us that even though our citations said to appear at 1:00, the court did not actually open until 1:30 and we were to form a line along the side of the building. About five minutes later the same sheriff re-appeared, called my name and the names of my nudist companions, and said the judge asked him to tell us the district attorney was not prosecuting our cases, all charges were dropped, and we were free to go.

George Davis and I proceeded back to the Castro Commons area at Castro, 17th, and Market streets were we removed our clothing, found some chairs to sit on, and George proceeded to place some phone calls to police officials to try to gain assurances that this sort of harassment would not happen again. George discovered a new police directive had been issued the Friday before our court appearance directing officers that when they are issuing citations for indecent exposure there must be lewd conduct involved. The California courts have ruled that simple public nudity does not constitute lewd behavior. It would seem we have made some progress.

Many nudists or naturists feel that by being confrontational we do more harm then good to the nudist cause. They would encourage us to work for areas set aside for nude recreation, such as free beaches. That is all well and good, and I certainly support that. I believe, however, that nudist space must be made accessible to everyone. If we as nudists and naturists truly believe that our bodies are not immoral or indecent, then what could be more right than having nudist space everywhere? Only then will we be able to confront and challenge those beliefs that imprison us and by doing so openly and publicly, we can challenge our fellow citizens to question their own assumptions, beliefs, and prisons.

2010-08-04T17:30:00.000-07:00

More WNBR

2010-07-30T18:20:00.001-07:00

SF WNBR 2010

2010-07-30T09:46:00.001-07:00

George Davis for Supervisor

2010-07-29T08:45:00.000-07:00

George Davis (far right) kicked off his campaign for San Francisco Supervisor of district six on July 28, 2010 by walking the boundary of his district naked.

www.georgedavisdistrictsix.wordpress.com

Saturday afternoon at the Commons.

2010-07-27T12:18:00.000-07:00

A Sickness

2010-07-26T18:27:00.000-07:00

“That’s fucking gross.” I looked at the older man in the grey Mercedes wearing a button down striped dress shirt open at the collar staring back at me with a grimace and smiled. He repeated, louder, “That’s fucking gross,” and drove off.

The lexical data base for English at Princeton University shows gross’s semantic relations as crude, earthy, gross, vulgar (conspicuously and tastelessly indecent), but also as megascopic, gross (visible to the naked eye (especially of rocks and anatomical features)), and also, interestingly enough, gross, porcine (repellently fat).

I thought about what constituted the state of grossness. Obviously, peoples’ perceptions of what is gross vary to some degree. I would also hazard that those perceptions are learned and cultural specific, what we might find repellant other cultures possibly find acceptable. Here was a man, because he was protected by his Mercedes, able to opine on my being and escape due to the power of his internal combustion engine.

Owning an automobile costing anywhere from $34,000 to $110,500 depending on the model in a city where the poverty rate is 10.5 percent and the poverty threshold for a family of three is $18,310 of income a year and the average yearly rental rate per room is $20,400. Yes, that is per room. To my way of thinking, that seems gross. Of course, I don’t fault the man behind the wheel of the Mercedes . . . entirely. One must ask questions, however. Is he aware of his privilege, does he give back to help correct the social wrongs, does his job contribute to the well-being of society or does it profit from the exploitation and creation of problems. These are questions which, of course, have no ready answer but which I feel bear asking considering the ease with which he passes judgement.

But what was it that elicited such a visceral response from this man? Readers who are familiar with me will have likely guessed the answer by now. Yes, I was walking down the street, naked, except for my shoes, hat, and backpack. I find it extraordinary that he, or anyone, can have such a strong reaction to the sight of a naked body. What is it about the exposed human body which elicits not only a negative response in some people, but one which is almost always rabid.

I am reminded of a short story from Howard Fast’s book, Time and the Riddle: 31 Zen Stories entitled “The Sight of Eden” in which seven astronauts discover an earth-like planet on the far side of the universe which is beautiful beyond description. They find planet to be like the garden of their dreams, filled with fragrance, music, and color to delight their every moment. After three days they finally meet a man in a robe able to read their minds named Smith. Smith tells them that this particular planet is a park for the children in this part of the galaxy. Smith’s people have been watching the Earth’s inhabitants for a long time and he has been sent to talk with them about their sickness. The seven Earth astronauts argue with Smith and defend their state of civilization; they are scientists, doctors, teachers. Smith opens his robe, lets it slip off, exposing his naked body to them. They turn their heads in shock and shame. “‘In all the universe,’ Smith said, ‘there is only one race of man that holds its bodies in shame and contempt. All others walk naked in pride and unashamed. Only Earth has made the image of man into a curse and a shame. What else must I say?’”

Indeed, what else must I say?

Who Is Allowed In The Commons?

2010-07-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

According to Wikipedia, “A public space is a social space such as a town square that is open and accessible to all, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age or socio-economic level. One of the earliest examples of public spaces are commons.” San Francisco’s streets and public right of ways make up twenty-five percent of the city’s land area, even more space than is found in all of the city’s parks. Pavements to Parks is a collaborative effort between the Mayor’s Office, the Department of Public Works, the Planning Department, and the Municipal Transportation Agency to take underutilized areas of street space and re-imagine them as urban parks and plazas. The Castro Commons at 17th and Castro Streets is a part of this project.

The Castro Commons is located at the terminus of the San Francisco Muni’s Historic Streetcar line which connects the Castro neighborhood with the Embarcadero and Fisherman’s Wharf, bringing hundreds of tourists into the Castro neighborhood every weekend. Obviously, the neighborhood’s business leaders, the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro, or MUMC, have an interest in making the Castro Commons a safe and welcoming space to introduce tourists to the area.

Every weekend morning, long before the first influx of tourists arrive on the historic streetcars, a few men can be found resting at the tables and chairs of the commons. One can tell these men’s economic situation just be looking. Some are there with all of their worldly possessions stashed in a cart. Some just have to look that one soon acquires from living on the streets after awhile. Every weekend morning, like clockwork, a San Francisco bicycle patrol officer appears and engages these men in conversation. This officer never bothers to speak with other, more affluent Commons users, only those whose status is apparent by their dress.

It is a mystery what the officer says to these men, but the conversation always continues until, one by one, the men finally leave, after which the officer leaves. Perhaps the officer is directing these men to city services where they may receive food or housing. I don’t know. What is clear is that every weekend morning, after the officer comes through the Castro Commons, the area is clear of these homeless men.

A Positive Police Response

2010-07-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

It is so easy for one to be become caught up in negativity. The news is filled with terrible stories; rarely do good deeds or happy events bare reporting. Those people who complain and try to impose their own moral and behavioral agenda on others can seem so overwhelming that analyzing and writing about them can become a daily burden and can cause one to loose perspective. I am happy to be able to relay some fantastic news to those of you who follow my writings. Sanity does seem to exist in some quarters.

Today being Saturday, I was of course at work at my job in the Castro. My nudist friend CJ showed up about ten minutes before I was due to be finished. I finished my shift, did my end of shift duties, walked out the front door of the restaurant, removed my clothing, and joined him at a table on the Castro Commons. While we sat there enjoying the sun and the air folks would occasionally come over to us to ask what we were doing, why we were doing it, or just to take pictures. We happily obliged them all, CJ is quite a spokesperson for the civic nudist cause. After about an hour two police officers approached us. By now there were perhaps four or five people with cameras talking to us and three of our other nudists friends had joined us.

“Good afternoon gentleman,” the one officer said. “How are you guys today?” We responded that we were fine. He proceeded to explain that they were there because they had received several complaints that nude men were in the Commons and there were lots of families around the area. The officer than said that he could see we were not breaking any laws, that indeed there was no law against just being nude in San Francisco and he observed that we were just out getting some sun. He then asked us if we were having any problems, if anyone was harassing us. We replied that everything was fine, to which he replied that they were only responding to the complaints and that they observed that we were in fact, not breaking the law. He then told us to enjoy ourselves and left.

I cannot begin to express to you how wonderful and empowering this felt to me. In fact, my friend CJ was preparing to leave to get some food and I was planing to head off home. CJ put his clothing on to go into the restaurant where I work. We said our goodbyes, and I walked down Castro Street and up Eighteenth Street, naked, my head held high in the knowledge that I had the backing of at least two of San Francisco’s police officers.

Selling Out for Acceptance.

2010-07-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a lovely day in San Francisco, unseasonably warm weather for San Francisco summers which have the reputation of being, for the uninitiated tourist, colder than most winters. I met up with my friend Randal after work and we walked over tho the Noe Street Farmer’s Market. After some purchasing and grazing, I removed my clothing and we proceeded to walk down Market Street to Castro Street, down Castro to Eighteenth Street, and then up Eighteenth the five blocks to my house without incident. Once there, Randal entertained me on our saw which he spied on our back porch work area. He was impressed; as, according to him, musical saws are becoming difficult to find! I was impressed by his ability to produce music from our tools!

After a quick dinner we, Randal, my partner John, and I, made our way back to the Castro to see a double feature at the Castro Theatre, Mildred Pierce followed by Leave Her to Heaven. While we were driving down Eighteenth Street at Castro, we noticed a spectacle taking place in the bus stop. A homeless man was down on his hands and knees picking up what appeared to be little pieces of blue paper scattered all over the gutter. Standing in front of their patrol car, side by side some seven feet away from him with their legs slightly spread and their arms crossed, were two patrol officers. Presciently, Randall mocking said, “Now you pick everyone of those up,” as that is what we soon heard one of the officers exclaim. The pathetic man replied, “I just don’t want to be run over by he bus,” as he crawled around in the gutter picking up the trash.

After finding rock star parking directly in front of the theatre, I spied my friend Eric walking up the street, naked. He stopped to say hello and tell how one of the Castro Street Patrol officers had just been harassing him, telling Eric that every time we nudists were out he gets tons of complaints. Eric inquired as to whether he had gotten any complaints specifically addressed to him that evening. On replying no, Eric moved on, naked. While we were chatting a man a half block away started yelling very loudly, “Put some clothes on.” As he approached us he continued to yell, “How do you expect to gain acceptance if you insist on acting like that?” He then played the children card, telling how there are children around, especially on weekends when “you nudists seem to want to come out in force.”

There seems to be an intensified effort of late to police not only behavior but also the sort of people who are permitted to remain in the Castro since the Castro Commons, as the new plaza space at the Seventeenth Street, Castro Street, and Market Street intersection is ironically referred to. In the past week I have noticed four such incidents myself, the two described above, and two more which involved the police apparently engaged in persuading persons who appear “homeless” to move along, one was a transexual woman on the sidewalk in front of the Walgreens Pharmacy at Eighteenth and Castro Streets very early Sunday morning whom the police confronted and later that day, a black woman who had spent the past four hours dancing in the Commons to the music only she heard made the mistake of asking on of our upstanding Castro residents if she could purchase a cigarette from him. That request alone was enough to impel this citizen to make a call to the police.

When the police arrived, the Castro citizen who lodged his complaint insisted the officer press charges. After talking with the woman and running a check on her identification, the officer concluded that, even though the woman had been drinking, since she agreed to move along after finding something to eat it would be much more disruptive to arrest her than not. Not being appeased, the complaining Castro resident stood his ground, approaching the officer three more times to demand the satisfaction of an arrest. In the end the officer prevailed, the woman moved on, and the resident had fodder for the ongoing narrative of negativity which stigmatizes certain persons and the behaviors of persons who frequent our neighborhood.

Are we as a community that desperate for acceptance by the larger society that we are so easily willing to sell out and marginalize our own diversity to accomplish that narrow agenda? Are we really willing to become as intolerant and restrictive as our oppressors against whom we fought back at Stonewall forty-one years ago? As we live in a world were it is plain that the status quo will no longer work for the future, a world that will not be sustained by the never ending growth, extraction of resources, and dumping of pollution unbridled capitalism requires, a world were we will need to look and work locally to sustain ourselves, we in the Queer community have an opportunity to use our collective creativity and imagination that our very diversity can manifest to help achieve the change required. Sadly, we seem to be failing miserably.

A Radical Nudist

2010-07-07T14:05:00.000-07:00

There has been a new nudist face brightening the Castro neighborhood the past few weeks. I finally got an opportunity to met this handsome gentleman on Saturday, June 26, which was also Pink Saturday. I left work that day, removed my clothing, and started walking down Market Street when this fellow naked man approached me commenting on the fact of our similar dress, or lack thereof. We introduced ourselves and I had the pleasure of meeting the delightful CJ Russell, not only handsome but incredibly generous and sweet.

CJ is a real nudist activist. I have seen him since out and about naked in the Castro and on his bike, usually alone, a brave think indeed. I have added a link to CJ's blog, which I urge everyone to check out.

Naked on Market

2010-07-06T11:28:00.001-07:00

Naked on Market
Originally uploaded by Earthworm

I am on my way to the Faerie Village at SF Pride.

2010-07-01T15:32:00.000-07:00

My pride celebrations began with a viewing of the film Stonewall Uprising at Frameline’s thirty-fourth LGBT International Film Festival. The film’s exposition was quite detailed and explicit and many in the theatre were in tears before the long list of legally sanctioned violent acts and crimes perpetrated on homosexuals during the 1950s and 1960s climaxed with the Stonewall Inn raid and resistance of that famous June night in 1969. Homosexuality was illegal during the 1950s and 1960s. Homosexuals could only gather in private. To reveal ones sexuality meant not only arrest, but social ostracization, loss of ones job, and in some cases commitment to an institution where treatment methods ran the gamut from electric shock aversion therapy to lobotomies. Plainclothes police would entrap homosexuals in public restrooms by soliciting them for sex. It was illegal for bars to serve alcohol to homosexuals and homosexuality was considered a mental disorder.

In spite of these risks a few homosexuals banned together to protest for equal rights prior to 1969. The Mattachine Society was one such homophile organization which was involved with picketing Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1965. The pickets were required to wear dresses or suits and ties in order to look just like ordinary Americans. A participant told how she felt as though they were all in a fishbowl, entertainment for all of the ice-cream eating tourists, and she would not do it again.
By 1969 the mafia was in control of any gay bars which existed; being the only ones possessing the network necessary to pay the police off and keep the bars open. A gay community had formed in New York City’s West Village made up of those who already had little to loose: people of color, drag queens and transsexuals, and homeless and run-away youth. These were the clientele of the Stonewall Inn and these were the people who resisted the police raid on the first night of rioting, June 28, 1969. Although the police faced a crowd outside the Inn of between one hundred and one hundred and fifty who were attracted by the sounds of the police cars, the noise and commotion; a crowd which soon would grow to between five and six hundred, it was the crowd of lesbians, drag queens, transvestites, and effeminate queer youth inside the bar who first resisted arrest by refusing to be searched for gender conformity or to produce identification when so ordered by the police.

The rioting would continue the following night, drawing even larger crowds. Not everyone was happy about the turn of events. The Mattachine Society posted a sign on the boarded up window of the Stonewall Inn which read:

We homosexuals plead with our people to please help maintain peaceful and quiet conduct on the streets of the Village—Mattachine

When this image appeared in the film, many in the audience showed their disapproval vocally with boos and hissing. Following the uprising, the Mattachine held its now annual Philadelphia Independence Day protests. This time, however, two women decided to hold hands. The organizer of the event quickly broke them apart, saying, “None of that.” One of the lesbians who had been at Stonewall convinced about ten couples to hold hands which made the organizer from Mattachine furious, but earned more press attention than all of the previous marches combined.

The theater showing Stonewall Uprising was packed with gays, lesbians, and trans people. They all seemed to love the film, as did I. Even though I live in San Francisco, it was really quite nice to be in a venue surrounded entirely by other queer folk; to be in Queer space. It seems that lately Queer space has become so compromised through gentrification, assimilation, and acceptance. Most times it seems as though one can not truly be ones true queer self anymore but must always police ones actions.

I worked in the middle of the Castro neighborhood all Pride weekend, which was beautifully warm; warm enough that both days after work I was able to exercise my rights and walk around the neighborhood naked, enjoying the sun and the warmth and the crowds. Sunday, the day of Pride, following work I again went naked and made my way to the Civic Center. Each year I miss the parade but make the Civic Center after work were I like to relax in the Faerie Freedom Village, a commercial free Faerie space which is, like the theater, Queer space, but even more so, as everyone is in a celebratory mood and the costumes, glitter, dancing, and nudity overflow!

Monday morning, early, as I was walking home from my boyfriends house I noticed for the first time the signs which had been taped to many of the utility poles in the Castro.

Welcome to the World - Famous Castro Neighborhood!

We sincerely hope you have an enjoyable, memorable time during your visit here.
However, please note that, contrary to what you may have heard from the hordes of homeless people around here claiming to be victims of racism/sexism/homophobia/capitalism (y’know: bums), the sidewalks and streets of the Castro are NOT:

A trash can
A garbage dump
An ashtray
A vomit basin
A toilet/urinal/latrine
A bed, chair, sofa, or yoga mat
A whorehouse/crystal meth distribution center
An off-leash dog-run
A used chewing gum repository

So please enjoy yourself during your stay here, but please also remember to be considerate of others and to refrain from treating the neighborhood’s streets like they are your personal, private garbage can/toilet/ashtray. Thanks!
-The Management

It was rather difficult to miss these signs, not only by their number but also because they were the only signs still posted. For the past decade or so, there has been a concerted effort by self-appointed guardians of the Castro to take down any posters as soon as they appear on poles. Posting of poles has been a traditional way of communicating community events since the late 1970s. Which raises the question, who IS “the management”? The same self-appointed keepers of the utility poles? And what of the “hordes of homeless”? Having lived in the neighborhood for almost thirty years, I have witnessed the homeless situation escalate and decline on and off over the years and it certainly is much better now then it has been in the past.

The Castro has had an uneasy history with homeless people, instigating several concerted efforts to rid the neighborhood of panhandlers by sponsoring “Create Change” programs in which businesses urge customers to help the homeless by not giving them spare change, but rather contributing to charitable organizations or donating their time. One among the many problems with such campaigns is that the “community leaders” sponsoring such campaign s simultaneously fight against the establishment of outreach centers for homeless LGBTQ youth in their neighborhood.

Many of these youth are homeless for the very same reasons the youth who fought back at the Stonewall Inn were homeless and marginalized that June night in 1969, they are the victims of homophobia and transphobia within their families and hometown communities. They come to neighborhoods such as the West Village in the 1960s and the Castro now, seeking a space where they can safely express their gender and sexual identities only to find themselves devalued due of their positioning in social categories: young, urban, racial-ethnic minority, and poor, which leads the dominant white male capitalist gay culture to reject them.

One youth tells of finally realizing the Castro community, which they had considered themselves to be a part of, did not want them when they witnessed Officer Jane Warner, notorious among homeless youth in the Castro for constantly telling them to “move along,” engaging in a conversation with a gay man while standing in front of the youth. When asked how work was going and Officer Jane replied very well, the man said, “yes, it’s nice - hardly any homeless at all.” Turning to the youth he said, “except for that one right there.” It is obvious that this man and Officer Jane were treating the homeless youth as an object, as something they could feel free to discuss within earshot without worry about this homeless youth’s feelings or needs.

It is parodical to see these signs posted on the poles in the shiny, well tended Castro neighborhood lined with chain stores such as Levi’s, Diesel, and Pottery Barn selling high end merchandize to folks who are paying exorbitant rents and mortgages to live here, and remember the jeering, booing, and hissing which greeted the image of the Mattachine sign on the Stonewall Inn which pleaded with “our people to please help maintain peaceful and quiet conduct on the streets of the Village.” Today we do not have to wear suits and ties and dresses and not hold hands to be acceptable. All we need be are consumers with disposable income, a place to live, and an interest in marriage and the military. However you read it, it is still assimilation, it is still settling for acceptance on heteronormative terms, not queer terms. Today it seems the careful, closeted, assimilationist Mattachine project has won out over the more revolutionary uprising that was Stonewall.

WNBR 2010

2010-06-17T09:25:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday, June 12, was the seventh World Naked Bike Ride in San Francisco. We ride each year to protest our dependance on fossil fuels. This year the weather was a beautiful 86 degrees. We started at the Ferry Building and rode down the Embarcadero to Pier 39, then onto Crissy Field, the Palace of Fine Arts, through the Marina to Lombard Street, down Columbus Avenue to Montgomery, down Montgomery, across Market to Yerba Buena Gardens, back north to Union Square, and then on to the Civic Center and City Hall where we surprised a couple posing for their wedding photos. After a rest, we rode up Market to Valencia, down Valencia to Eighteenth, up Eighteenth to Castro, and up Castro to the new plaza for another breather. The group then headed over to the Haight. I, however, headed on home. A glorious day indeed.

2010-06-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhgb9hYjX3g

2010-06-04T10:27:00.000-07:00

Greed?

2010-06-04T06:02:00.000-07:00

Peter Orlovsky is dead.

2010-06-01T08:35:00.001-07:00

Snail Poem

Make my grave shape of heart so like a flower be free aired

        & handsome felt,

Grave root pillow, tung up from grave & wigle at

        blown up clowd.

Ear turnes close to underlayer of green felt moss & sound

        of rain dribble thru this layer

        down to the roots that will tickle my ear.

Hay grave, my toes need cutting so file away

        in sound curve or

Garbage grave, way above my head, blood will soon

        trickle in my ear -

        no choise but the grave, so cat & sheep are daisey

        turned.

Train will tug my grave, my breath hueing gentil vapor

        between weel & track.

So kitten string & ball, jumpe over this mound so

        gently & cutely

So my toe can curl & become a snail & go curiousely

        on its way.

1958 NYC

Saturday afternoon on the Castro.

2010-05-31T23:54:00.000-07:00

Photo courtesy of Tom Conrad

Memorial Day 2010

2010-05-31T09:51:00.001-07:00

My friend is spending today, Memorial Day, sweating over his bookkeeping records for the past year. He received a notice in Saturday's mail informing him he must show up at Social Security office on June 1 with all of his records: earnings, expenditures, bills, statements, checks, rent, medical bills, or risk losing his Social Security and his Medi-Cal. Why? Two years ago his rent was raised. Social Security, in their wisdom of budgetary cost cutting, ruled that he is voluntarily paying too much rent, so they lowered his income ceiling. The upshot, Social Security claims they overpaid him $100 each month for two years and is requiring him to reimburse them $2400. Either way, with or without the $100 extra per month, he is living close enough to the poverty line to just be getting by. Meanwhile, the biggest banks receive billions of federal dollars, no questions asked, when they practically destroy the economy by unsafe and illegal practices, and 2010 is the year all inheritances are tax free, no matter how large.

Yes, it makes me proud to be an amerikan -- happy memorial day! I know this is why those brave soldiers fought and died.

A Naked Stroll

2010-05-29T18:01:00.001-07:00

Today was one of the better days; beautiful, gloriously warm San Francisco weather. I finished work and heading out the door I spotted my two nudist buddies strolling down the street -- naked. I called to them and proceeded to join them on their naked stroll. We received many admiring compliments and high fives. One mother with two children in a stroller, when asked by one child why those people were naked, replied, “Because some people like to be naked.” I seemed perfect, this is the way life should be. Ah, but it was to good to last.

After a good hour and a half of strolling and chatting with people in the neighborhood, we were walking down Castro Street preparing to end our excursion, when a police cruiser pulled up to the curb. Two officers got out and one asked us if we would please cover up. I responded as I wrapped my kilt around my waist, “Yes, of course, as long as you understand you that we are not breaking the law.” That was not the response this officer wanted to hear. He replied that we were in fact breaking the law, that we were indecent. I responded that there was no law against mere public nudity in San Francisco, that the courts had established what constituted indecent exposure, and it was not mere nudity. He replied that he was not a judge, that they had received complaints, and as soon as some one complains we are considered indecent. He then asked me if I would like to be handcuffed, arrested, and taken downtown. At this point I am fully clothed. I replied, ”No, I would not like to be arrested, but I do want to make sure you understand that I know we were not breaking the law.” He replied that he had been doing this for twenty-three years, so I should not tell him what the law was, and then started to walk away. I responded that perhaps he might want to speak to the district attorney about it, at which point he again asked me if I would like to be cuffed and arrested. “No,” I repeated. He said, “Don’t tell me to talk to the D. A. then.”

After he left my two nudist friends told me that the police, when responding to a complaint, must provide you with a copy of it on request. I wonder if one can be arrested for requesting a copy of the complaint? Clearly, this officer was not having as good a day as I was.

The 1901 Victor Monarch Talking Machine

2010-05-28T18:08:00.001-07:00

In January of 1901, Eldredge Johnson released his first 10" diameter records, at first labeled "VICTOR TEN INCH RECORD". With in weeks, the label was changed to "VICTOR MONARCH RECORD". At this time, the 7" discs were labeled "VICTOR RECORD". In February, Johnson released the Victor Monarch Phonograph seen here, designed to play the new 10" Monarch records. In 1901, the Victor Monarch would set you back $40. That is approximately $936 in 21st century value.

The Victor name plate on this machine is lacking the ubiquitous Nipper listening to his master's voice, indicating this machine was produced before January 1902, when Victor began using the His Master's Voice trademark.

Sweet Bret Lacquement - Fan Dancer

2010-05-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

Homosexuals memorialized in Washington, D.C.

2010-05-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

The Millet - Butt Memorial Fountain in Washington, D.C., memorializing two men, the American painter, Francis Davis Millet, and the military aide to both Presidents Roosevelt and Taft, Major Archibald Butt, who both drowned in the sinking of the Titanic and who were both homosexuals and best friends. Millet had lived with Charles Warren Stoddard in Venice in the 1870s and apparently had a romantic and intimate life together. According to Edith Kermit Roosevelt, Archibald Butt was a not-so-in-the-closet homosexual and her best friend and confidant. Millet and Butt were best friends, and were returning from a vacation in Europe, traveling together on board the Titanic. Millet did marry Elizabeth Merrill in 1879. Archibald Butt never married.

Finally!

2010-05-19T09:37:00.001-07:00

Published on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 by Reuters
Africa's Oil Spills Are Far From U.S. Media Glare
by Joe Brock
LONDON - Oil gushing from an undersea well in the Gulf of Mexico has damaged BP's reputation and share price but accidents involving other companies in less scrutinized parts of the world have avoided the media glare.

In this Dec. 22, 2005 file photo, people evacuate their homes by boat, as they pass smoke and flames billowing from a burning oil pipeline belonging to the Shell Petroleum Development Company, across the Opobo Channel in Asagba Okwan Asarama, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. (AP Photo/George Osodi, File) Investors have knocked around $30 billion off BP's value since an explosion at a drilling rig killed 11 people and began an oil spill the London-based major is struggling to plug nearly a month after the accident happened.

The U.S. media and political machine has turned its full force on BP and U.S. President Barack Obama has set up a commission into the leak which is sending an estimated 5,000 barrels per day (bpd) into Gulf of Mexico waters.

In contrast, the international media has largely ignored the latest incidents of pipeline damage in Nigeria, where the public can only guess how much oil might have been leaked.

The most recent damage in Nigeria, which has not been attributed to militant attacks that have preyed on Nigerian oil infrastructure for years, forced U.S. operator ExxonMobil to relieve itself of contractual obligations by declaring force majeure on its exports of Nigerian benchmark crude.

The light sweet crude is particularly well-suited for refining into gasoline and is regularly supplied to the United States, the world's biggest oil burner.

Exxon declined the opportunity to give details of the damage, clean-up or repair work.

An industry source, who declined to be named, said 100,000 bpd of oil had leaked for a week from a pipeline that has since been mended.

"If this (the BP spill) were in the Niger Delta, no one would be batting an eyelid," said Holly Pattenden, African oil analyst at consultants Business Monitor International. "They have these kind of oil spills in Nigeria all the time."

SHARE PRICE IMPACT

BP's share price has fallen around 18 percent since news of the fire at the drilling station on April 20, while Exxon shares were largely unchanged after the force majeure announcement.

The largest operator in Nigeria, Royal Dutch Shell has clashed with the Nigerian government for decades following numerous spills in Africa's largest energy producer.

Shell said in a statement on its website that its Nigerian joint venture cleans up oil spills as quickly as possible, no matter what their cause, but is sometimes delayed by security concerns or because some communities deny access.

The Anglo-Dutch major said the volume of oil spills in Nigeria for its joint venture was almost 14,000 tonnes last year, the equivalent of around 280 bpd, mainly because of militant attacks on facilities.

"It (the U.S.) is without doubt the worse place for BP to lose their political capital," said James Marriott, oil and gas analyst at environmental organization Platform.

"If the U.S. administration gets aggressive against BP, then it's a problem for them offshore, onshore in terms of shale gas, for conventional gas, refining, some cross-border projects with Canada and further afield."

In the United States, BP's massive spill and the risk of an environmental catastrophe could have implications throughout the industry as it has reopened the debate about deepwater drilling.

Analysts say, however, the world is hugely dependent on deepwater drilling to secure oil supplies.

The ExxonMobil force majeure relates to shallow offshore oil, but much of West Africa's crude production, like that in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, is deepwater.

Analysts say it is unrealistic to veto deepwater drilling if the world's oil needs are to be met.

"Perhaps in terms of health and safety regulation (things will change), but not in terms of drilling," said Angus McPhail of Wood Mackenzie consultants.

"It is not really feasible to stop drilling altogether as long as there is good demand for the product.... It would be total economic madness."

(Additional reporting by Barbara Lewis in London and Randy Fabi in Abuja; editing by Anthony Barker)

© 2010 Reuters

16 May 2010 Bay 2 Breakers

2010-05-18T08:47:00.000-07:00

SF MOMA before the Bay 2 Breakers 2010

2010-05-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

Earth From Mars

2010-04-27T08:38:00.001-07:00

Earth From Mars
Originally uploaded by NASA Goddard Photo and Video

Let us put ourselves in perspective.

Straights Don't Get It.

2010-02-20T05:45:00.000-08:00

We went to see A Single Man last evening. The story of the last day in the life of an English professor who is mourning the sudden death of his lover eight months earlier. His lover dies while visiting his parents who live in another state. He learns of his lover's death from his lover's cousin, who calls to tell him against the wishes of his lover's parents. He also learns the funeral services are for 'family' only. During the course of the evening his best friend Charlotte, with whom he had an affair years before, tells him his relationship with Jim was not the real thing, not like the relationship she had with a man that ended in divorce and produced a child who is know estranged from her.

Of course, the film tells us at the beginning that it is November 1963. Things have changed, right? You would not guess it from the titters and snickers all around us in the theater at inappropriate moments in the film that came from nervous straight people, the same people who reacted with shock at the notion that Jim's parents would not tell George of Jim's death. During a tender moment when Jim and George are kissing each other after they find their new home, titters and laughter. Or when George and Jim first meet in a crowded bar post WWII. A woman tries to pick Jim up, but he tells her he is taken, while looking at George. More titters.

It is easy to watch pointed homophobia set in the past and recognize it. It is sad to realize that it is so ingrained and institutionalized that the very same people who can recognize still exhibit it in a city supposedly more liberal and accepting than most.

2010-02-18T17:48:00.000-08:00

An excerpt from Carl Wittman's "Refugees From Amerika: A Gay Manifesto" Dec. 22, 1970

2010-01-29T13:37:00.001-08:00

III. ON ROLES
1. Mimicry of straight society: We are children of straight society. We still think straight: that is part of our oppression. One of the worst of straight concepts is inequality. Straight (also white, English, male, capitalist) thinking views things in terms of order and comparison. A is before B, B is after A; one is below two is below three; there is no room for equality. This idea gets extended to male/female, on top/on bottom, spouse/not spouse, heterosexual/homosexual, boss/worker, white/black and rich/poor. Our social institutions cause and reflect this verbal hierarchy. This is Amerika.

We’ve lived in these institutions all our lives. Naturally we mimic the roles. For too long we mimicked these roles to protect ourselves - a survival mechanism. Now we are becoming free enough to shed the roles which we’ve picked up from the institutions which have imprisoned us.

“Stop mimicking straights, stop censoring ourselves.”

2. Marriage: Marriage is a prime example of a straight institution fraught with role playing. Traditional marriage is a rotten, oppressive institution. Those of us who have been in heterosexual marriages too often have blamed our gayness on the breakup of the marriage. No. They broke up because marriage is a contract which smothers both people, denies needs, and places impossible demands on both people. And we had the strength, again, to refuse to capitulate to the roles which were demanded of us.

Gay people must stop gauging their self-respect by how well they mimic straight marriages. Gay marriages will have the same problems as straight ones except in burlesque. For the usual legitimacy and pressures which keep straight marriages together are absent, e.g., kids, what parents think, what neighbors say.

To accept that happiness comes through finding a groovy spouse and settling down, showing the world that “we’re just the same as you” is avoiding the real issues, and is an expression of self-hatred.

3. Alternatives to Marriage: People want to get married for lots of good reasons, although marriage won’t often meet those needs or desires. We’re all looking for security, a flow of love, and a feeling of belonging and being needed.

These needs can be met through a number of social relationships and living situations. Things we want to get away from are: 1. exclusiveness, propertied attitudes toward each other, a mutual pact against the rest of the world; 2. promises about the future, which we have no right to make and which prevent us from , or make us feel guilty about, growing; 3. inflexible roles, roles which do not reflect us at the moment but are inherited through mimicry and inability to define equalitarian relationships.

We have to define for ourselves a new pluralistic, rolefree social structure for ourselves. It must contain both the freedom and physical space for people to live alone, live together for a while, live together for a long time, either as couples or in larger numbers; and the ability to flow easily from one of these states to another as our needs change.

Liberation for gay people is defining for ourselves how and with whom we live, instead of measuring our relationship in comparison to straight ones, with straight values.

A lesson from history for the death of our democracy.

2010-01-22T12:58:00.000-08:00

t is ironic that the foundations of the American Revolution were a resistance against the enforcement of corporate hegemony in the form of the Tea Act which sought to insure the British East India Company's monopoly over the colonies. The revolution was not fought initially by the colonial populace at large, but rather by the merchant class who were upset with British enforced corporate monopoly being forced on them. They in turn roused the 'rabble' to revolt.

The first large, privately owned corporation to arise post-revolution was the Second Bank of the United States, and by 1830 was sponsoring its directors and agents as candidates for political office. In President Andrew Jackson's annual message to Congress on December, 3, 1833 he said, "In this point of the case the question is distinctly presented whether the people of the United States are to govern through representatives chosen by their unbiased suffrages or whether the money and power of a great corporation are to be secretly exerted to influence their judgment and control their decisions."

Forty years earlier Thomas Jefferson, when advocating for a Bill of Rights to be attached to the new Constitution, was warning that the people needed to be secure in their "freedom in religion, freedom of the press, freedom from monopolies, freedom from unlawful imprisonment, freedom from a permanent military, and a trial by jury, in all cases determinable by the laws of the land."

Yesterday the United States Supreme Court forever altered the outcome of U. S. elections by ruling that corporations, those very entities the founding merchant fathers enticed us to revolt against, had the same freedom of speech protections as individual humans and therefore were not restricted in how much they could contribute to election campaigns.

This ruling has the potential to forever change our democracy, silencing the voice of the people in favor of the voice of corporate America who will now be able to use their financial muscle to not only influence elections but threaten elected officials to do their bidding to an extent which will largely go unnoticed by the general public. It is especially disturbing when one considers the military-industrial-complex and the boost it received under Bush Cheney and the continuing 'war on terror.' When corporate profits are guided by the production of war profits, then war will be inevitable. When corporate profits decide elections then corporations will rule our country. We must resist now.

A Christmas thought.

2009-12-24T10:09:00.000-08:00

In honor of Adam Lambert's kiss.

2009-11-27T14:52:00.000-08:00

CBS's Early Show this morning blurred the rebroadcast of Adam Lambert's controversial gay kiss on the American Music Awards and then showed the Britney Spears-Madonna kiss moments later. Double standard.

the apperance of those tacky ribbons yet again

2009-11-23T10:17:00.001-08:00

the apperance of those tacky ribbons yet again
Originally uploaded by nudewoody

Kevin & I

2009-11-19T17:49:00.001-08:00

furtographer-4825
Originally uploaded by furtographer

I am overwhelmed . . .

2009-11-05T09:35:00.000-08:00

. . . with sadness and despair.

~that is all

Once again . . . Larry Kramer is right . . .

2009-11-04T07:25:00.000-08:00

Thoughts from a Queer Nudist: Larry Kramer is right . . .

SF State at lunchtime today.

2009-11-02T17:05:00.001-08:00