Last Blog Entry for 2007

Well, I wish I was bringing in the New Year on a more positive note. I had to leave work early today because I am so sick. The cold I've been battling for the last week finally opened a can of whoop-ass today by giving me a migraine. I started crying while talking to a coworker, which was embarrassing for me, but I went directly to the doctor afterward. Antibiotics and steroids... the doctor believes the migraine was caused by inflammation around my sinus cavities.

This is my first experience with having a migraine, and I am OK if this is my last. Growing up I saw firsthand how migraines affected my mother. My mother would stay in bed for a solid week if not more. I remember covering the windows in my mom's bedroom in an effect to ease her discomfort and having to make her eat. When I was a kid it was scary for me; I worried about her when I'd go to school. There were days when I would cry and beg for her to let me stay home so I could take care of her. Some days she'd let me. There were a couple of times when I was a teenager that I flat out refused to go to school because she seemed worse than usual.

OK. Enough of memory lane.

I received DOLLY AND FRIENDS the other day; it's simply 150 minutes of Dolly-Heaven. If you're a Dolly fan, purchase a copy today. Even if you're not a Dolly fan, purchase a copy today... 70s Dolly might win you over.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun NYE as well as a splendid New Year. May you obtain everything you want and deserve in 2008.

2/28/08 ~ Save the Date

2/28/08
~
Launch Party
~

hosted by Outwrite

Outwrite has generously agreed to host the fagulous launch party for Limp Wrist on Thursday, February 28, 2008, starting at 8pm. Those operating on gay time need to disregard the 8pm statement; program 7:30pm in your PDA as the start time!

The special guest of the evening will be the fierce Laure-Anne Bosselaar. You don't want to miss your chance to hear Laure-Anne; she's only in town for a limited time.

Come out and support Limp Wrist with an evening of poetry and conversation.

Bette Davis Stars in 2008 Postage Stamps

Bette Davis Stars in 2008 Postage Stamps

Dec. 27, 2007, 9:29 AM EST

The Associated Press

A face that will tease you, and please you and perhaps unease you is coming to the post office next year, it's those Bette Davis eyes.

On the 100th anniversary of her birth the great actress will be honored on a commemorative stamp, the 14th in the Legends of Hollywood Series.

A 10-time Academy Award nominee, Davis won twice, for her roles in "Dangerous" (1935) and "Jezebel" (1938).

And speaking of centennials, the same year Davis was born, actor Jack Norworth wrote "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," the song still famed in the seventh inning stretch. Postal officials hope buyers will root, root, root for a stamp based on a 19th-century baseball card recalling that special melody next year.

Also in 2008 the post office will launch a new multiyear Flags of Our Nation series, a 60-stamp set scheduled to include the Stars and Stripes as well as the flags of each state, the District of Columbia and territories.

Home from Houston

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

If you celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a very Merry Christmas.

Each year I select a quotation to write in my Christmas cards and notes that I send out. Hope you enjoy my 2007 quote:

We cannot control the evil tongues of others;
but a good life enables us to disregard them.
~Cato the Elder

I landed in Atlanta around 10pm last night. After tracking down my luggage and waiting on MARTA, I arrived at the Doraville station around 11:40pm for my aunt and uncle to collect me. They took me home because I had to get my car to go back to their place to get Daisy-- she's a puker when it comes to riding in cars, so that understandably didn't want to bring her along. I think it was close to 2am before I got to bed, and even though I had issues falling asleep. Baja, still a kitten, was excited to have a living body in the apartment; therefore, she decided to headbutt me for most of the night. Isis was acting weird, and I was almost at a worrying point..... then.. I hear her meow... I look up.... she is ass up in the window--- damn it, she's in heat. She kept her fuck-me-meow up until about 3am.

I have to say, my Daisy was a perfect angel. She sat beside and chewed her bone until finally deciding to sleep.

I'll post some pictures from the Houston trip at some point over the next week.

Out of Here

Leaving work to go to the airport; I have an 8:55pm flight to Houston. Spending the Christmas holiday with Paul's family. I'll return home Christmas night.

Happy Holidays!

Beth Gylys ~ Limpwrist

Charles Jensen, poet/blogger/full-time cutie, is writing a review of Beth Gylys's MATCHBOOK for the first issue of LIMP WRIST. I am ecstatic that he has agreed to review Beth's work, and she is excited as well. She told she hopes he likes it-- I predict he will. I wouldn't ask him to review MATCHBOOK if I thought he wouldn't like! (No pressure Charlie!)

Since I'm writing about Beth, I guess I'll share one of my favs from her book BODIES THAT HUM. I've probably shared this poem before-- if so, get over it- thanks for your cooperation.


AFTERWARDS

Your desktop PC is well-equipped to handle
every disaster from spilled coffee to a power surge,
which is only one reason I don't understand
how you can just stand there,
puzzling at the toes of your Reebocks,
as if you might think of an apology for yourself
or your lack of courteous love-making practices,
such as kissing me on the neck,
for instance, or taking off your tube socks,
which, after all, usually have holes, and anyway,
you told me you didn't believe in all that shit
about mutuality or marriage, so at least you could stop
curling up your lip like a frazzled Doberman
and fuck like you want to fuck
or leave like you're never coming back.

Christmas Bonus = Goodies

Prepare yourself for an attack of the dangerous green bug.

With part of my Christmas bonus, which was a surprise to me, to purchase the lovely items below.






What I wanted but did not get:

Feel free to get Uncle Dustin the Dolly poster. ;-P

Get to know Atlanta Pride-- Part 1

Over the next couple of months I will post parts of an interview I am conducting with Atlanta Pride's executive director, Donna Narducci.

I hope people will take time to read the interview in full; it is my goalto provide an inside glimpse to the workings of the Atlanta Pride Festival... show peeps how it happens... who makes it happen... and prove that it is indeed more than a three day
par-tay of twinks, leather daddies, drag queens, dykes on bikes, and hot muscled studs prancing around shirtless. Of course all of those things make it fagulous, but there are some of us who give up time 10 months out of the year and 40 to 80 hours the week of the event as well as people whose careers are to ensure the festival happens.


Q:

First off, thank you Donna for agreeing to this interview. I'm excited to give Atlanta Pride a voice in my blog. You've seen a lot of changes regarding Atlanta Pride; what would you consider the largest or most important change with the organization?

A:

Thanks Dustin for the opportunity to reach a larger audience and engage in
conversation about Atlanta Pride -- the event and the people behind the scenes
who put on the event for the community.

I began volunteering with the Atlanta Pride Committee in the spring of 1993 when I joined the Board of Directors. At that time, the Board was comprised of about 12 individuals who planned the festival and parade, which was a 2-day event held the last weekend. in June. I remember that year's festival being very chaotic...the person who was in charge of the market didn't show up, so people who had paid for a
booth space had no idea where they were supposed to set up and it became a free
for all. Back then we didn't erect many tents, we bought those blue canopies from K-mart and that was the tent we gave to people to set up their booth under.

Also, we were anticipating 100,000+ people coming to the event, so we ordered 15,000 t-shirts for our merchandise sales. Big mistake...we had never sold more than 1,000 shirts before and that year wasn't any different. It put us nearly $64,000 in debt after the event was over.

But, it also made the Board take a good hard look at how we were doing business, and put together better systems...budgets, forecasting, etc. It also made us realize that the event was growing faster than we --- as an all-volunteer organization -- could keep up with. The next year we held much tighter purse strings and managed to retire the debt from the year before, which paved the way to hire a part-time administrator, Hubert Alexander.

In my opinion, this was the first of 2 very important changes for the organization -- hiring staff. That may sound self-serving, but I promise you it is not. It is very scary for an organization to bring on an employee, and to make the financial commitment to paying their salary. But as was the case for APC, once you have someone to handle the day to day operations of running the organization, you actually stand a better chance of making more money because you are not relying solely on volunteers to handle everything.

I resigned from the Board after the '95 event to apply for the Executive Director position, and started as a part-time E.D. in October of '95. In '97 my position went to full-time, and over the years I have added 2 additional full-time staff. A festival committee was created to deal entirely with the planning and execution of the annual festival and parade, and the Board now focuses on policy, long-term planning, and governance.

So -- big change #1 was establishing a business/corporate environment for the organization which has facilitated the growth we have seen in the event over the last 12 years.

Big change #2 I believe we experienced while we began planning for the event this past June, and that is, the infusion of a global perspective on LGBT Human Rights, which started with the selection of the '07 theme: "Our Rights, Your Rights, Human Rights".

The annual PRIDE events have their roots in the commemoration of the Stonewall uprising in 1969. The Stonewall was a little gay bar in the gay area of NYC known as "the Village". During the '60's it was pretty commonplace for the police to raid gay bars at will and arrest patrons for a variety of offenses. It was blatant harassment but in those days, no one really cared. Well that night of June 27, 1969 the patrons of the bar didn't go willingly into the back of the paddy wagon, instead, they kicked and punched and screamed and started a small riot that lasted for several days. It was the shot heard 'round the world and is considered by many to be the turning point in the LGBT rights movement -- here in the US. That is why PRIDE events are usually held in June -- to make that connection to commemorating the brave queens, dykes, and trannies who stood up and faced off with their tormentors.

Over the years the PRIDE events have been used to protest, rally, motivate, mobilize, educate, and celebrate. Here in the US, our PRIDE events have a more celebratory tone, our parades are festive, the weekend events resemble many other traditional festivals held annually. Some might say we have lost our way, we are not
as political as we should be, we've gotten too soft -- too complacent.

Well, at this year's event a few members of the Festival Committee established the Human Rights Display which was placed on the bridge over the lake that connects the 2 sides of Piedmont Park. Twenty four panels were placed on both sides of the bridge to educate folks about the ongoing struggle for LGBT rights globally. Congressman John Lewis came and viewed the display then addressed the audience from the stage that Saturday afternoon.

Also, the Pride Committee had a float built for the parade that addressed the theme of "Our Rights, Your Rights, Human Rights and the float was prominently placed at the beginning of the parade to remind viewers of the emphasis on this year's event.

This was a HUGE shift in the focus of the event -- we weren't just planning another festival, we were getting back to the reason why we come together as a community each June, to remind ourselves that there is still work to be done, each and every day until full-equality is achieved for every single lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender person here in the US and throughout the world.

The Atlanta Pride Committee has selected our theme for this next year's event, and we continue with our focus on LGBT Human Rights -- but we bring it a little closer to home. After all, this is an election year and we are making history by making the presidential candidates accountable to us -- as witnessed in the ongoing debates, the raising of the marriage equality issue, ENDA, and the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. These are no longer issues that candidates can brush aside, but must face head on.

The theme for '08 is: Your Vote, Your Rights, Your Future. It is a call to make a stand, to get involved in ensuring your voice is heard through your vote, which affects your future!

THE GIRL WHO WALKED HOME ALONE

Bette was a great favorite among impersonators who did impressions of the starts because she has such strong individual characteristics. She considered their attention "a compliment, highly flattering." She particularly enjoyed Charles Pierce's Bette Davis, and called him "supremely talented."

"For a long time, the impersonators didn't do me. I was worried about it. It meant I didn't have a distinct style.

People think I don't like those impersonators who do me. Well, they're wrong. I like it very much, as long as they are very good. The only time I don't like it is if they aren't good, or worse if they're better than I am. I watch them to learn about myself. Until I saw Arthur Blake, I never knew I moved my elbows so much."

~THE GIRL WHO WALKED HOME ALONE: Bette Davis A Personal Biography

Dolly .... Oprah..... Audience Member? .... Oh My

OMG!

Oprah wants the biggest Dolly fans in her audience when she has my fabulous Dolly on her show promoting BACKWOODS BARBIE. I would give up an arm and legs to be on the Oprah show and meet Dolly..... wait.. actually, just the legs, I need to have both arms to give Dolly a huge ass hug.

If Oprah and her peeps know what is best, they'll have me on that show.

Dinner and Margaritas with the Girls

My girls from the "former" job took me out to dinner last Friday. The picture below is pre-margaritas. Thankfully, there are no post-margarita pictures.

Cecilia Woloch Shares Advice

A week or so ago, there was a meme circulating around the blogosphere; bloggers who were tagged had to post advice for new writers. This meme caught my interest, so I thought I would ask a couple of established poets to share advice for new writers and let me share it via my blog. The wonderful and sexy Cecilia Woloch was kind enough to share.

After reading Cecilia's advice you will find her biographical information (which was taken from Cecilia's website). Please, please, take a few minutes to view Cecilia's website. Make a point to read the poems on her website. Her brilliant poem "Burning the Doll," which happens to be one of my top ten favorite poems, is on her webpage!

1). Read voraciously -- the best contemporary poetry, but also reach back
into poetry's traditions (all the way to Sappho, at least!) and read poetry in
translation from other cultures and traditions.

2). Don't be in a rush to publish. You may only end up publishing things
you'll later regret having published, or the (almost inevitable) rejections may
interfere with your relationship to your work. Give the work time to
develop, and learn to think of the work as its own reward, and not to worry too
much about "validation" from the world.

3). Do find a supportive community of poets, a workshop or just a few
friends whose opinions and goodwill you trust, people who will challenge and
stimulate you as a poet. But don't let the judgements of others quash what may
be most original in your work -- a danger of workshops.

4). Lead an interesting life, care deeply, don't be afraid.

BIO:

CECILIA WOLOCH was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and grew up there and in rural Kentucky, one of seven children of a homemaker and an airplane mechanic. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University L.A. in 1999.

Her books of poems are Sacrifice (Cahuenga Press, 1997), a BookSense 76 selection in 2001; Tsigan: The Gypsy Poem (Cahuenga Press, 2002); and Late (BOA Editions, 2003) for which she was named Georgia Author of the Year in Poetry in 2004. A chapbook manuscript, "Narcissus," was chosen winner of the Tupelo Press Snowbound Competition and will be published in 2007.

She is the founding director of Summer Poetry in Idyllwild and of The Paris Poetry Workshop, and is currently a lecturer in the creative writing program at the University of Southern California as well as a member of the core faculty of the low-residency MFA Program in Professional Writing at Western Connecticut State University.

THE GIRL WHO WALKED HOME ALONE

"People wished to see the character they saw on the screen, or there were looks of disappointment on their faces. They actually expect you to be certain characters they saw in the films. They think I'm a difficult person because of the parts I've played. They're disappointed in you if you don't say those lines. They don't want you to be out of character."

~ THE GIRL WHO WALKED HOME ALONE: Bette Davis, A Personal Biography

"Better Get To Livin" Video

ENJOY DOLLY'S NEW MUSIC VIDEO!

Few Pics from 3rd Annual Lighting of the GLBT Tree

Ruby Red and Phillip handed out prizes.

Carey Sherrell called me a tall drink of water

and wanted my number, but I am off the market.

Deje Johnson has a splendid voice!

Not for the Eyes of Children or Conservative Right Wingers

Margaret Cho you rock. I posted a link to this video before; however, I thought I'd post it today since it is one of my favorite youtube videos. Oh, it's so wrong that it's right.

Enjoy "My Puss".....

World AIDS Day 2007

Today is World AIDS Day.

Take a moment to think about all of the people who are battling HIV/AIDS. Take a moment to think about all the people who lost the battle. (Click here and/or here for pictures of the AIDS Quilt.)

What are you doing for the cause? Don't you want to help in the battle? Find a way to be assistance in your community.

Prove to yourself that you love yourself by using protection. Respect your sexual partner: use protection. Growing up I remember hearing the slogan "Friends don't let friends drink and drive" over and over. Yes, it is a true statement and so is friends don't let friends unprotected sex. When I was in high school there were a few times when I gave out condoms to friends who were sexually active, and I sold condoms for a quarter each to the people I didn't like.