Falling

National Equality March 2009

Scenes from the National Equality March held in Washington DC on Coming Out Day, October 11, 2009. End Don't Ask Don't Tell. Repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. Pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Now is the time. President Obama and the Congress have this opportunity to be on the right side of history. Let's help make sure that they take it.

I was proud to be representing my home state of Vermont at the March. Vermont shows that equality is possible. If my little state can achieve it, so can the federal government.

Marriage equality is now threatened in Maine. The Maine legislature passed a marriage equality bill this past spring. But that equality could be stripped away via the discriminatory Question 1. As with Proposition 8 in California, opponents to equality are using lies, hate, and fear-mongering to convince voters to take away the civil rights of others. Visit Protect Maine Equality to see how you can help.

Patterning Portugal

Now that summer is coming to a close, I'm reviewing the summer that was, recalling it--though so much of this summer in the northeast didn't feel much like summer at all--before letting go. One of the pleasures of my summer was traveling to Portugal for the first time, and one of the many things that will stay with me from that trip is the tile patterns, particularly in Lisbon. They're rough around the edges, imperfect, exquisite, happy, unique, falling apart but holding their beauty, tinged with lost time and nostalgia, taken for granted until they're gone . . . much like the patterning of summer days. Or maybe I'm simply reading summer into them because another one is passing, bittersweetly, like travels you long to return to after they've ended.

Nazaré

Nazaré is a seaside town on the coast of Portugal. The town used to be known more as a fishing village than a beach resort, so now it's a combination of the two, with perhaps the beaches winning out. Fresh seafood is displayed in all the restaurant windows, and packs of fisherman's wives can still be seen roaming the town in traditional dress and selling their wares while their husbands are out to sea. There's a touch of tacky honky tonk along the main drag, but the narrow residential streets haven't been much touched by tourism aside from the abundance of restaurants--many quite empty when we visited in late spring. Like many of my favorite photographic destinations, it wasn't the notable architecture that attracted me, but rather the colorful everyday details of people's lives. I tend to take dark photographs, so Nazaré was a welcome change of pace since it forced me towards a lighter, brighter palette. I loved these lived-in yet secretive (most residents were out of view) streets and would have been happy to spend days (alas, I had just one) photographing them.

'Roid Week 2009

Another 'Roid Week has come and gone too quickly on Flickr. But a record of the week remains in the amazing gallery of images from 'Roid artists from around the world. Check out the daily favorites in the Discussion for some of the best of the best. My favorite from among my own humble offerings (I only had a single pack of film to work with, so editing for quality fell by the wayside) was Kevin in the yellow dress aka Our Lady of the Forsythia. My past contributions are in this Flickr ’Roid Week set 2006-09. Time to secure some overpriced film for the Fall 'Roid Week. It seems far away now, but those months pass in a flash.

Details from Québec

Details from a late March visit to Québec City, where the light promised spring and the air remembered winter.

Winter is a Drag Ball 2009

Paparazzi, please just leave me alone!
Dainty Ivona rests her weary feet towards evening's end.
Zsuzsi, freed at last from the horror of free falling pantyhose, struts her animalistic stuff.
Zsuzsi practices her signature pout, which seems to be the only expression she's mastered.
Ivona is ready for her close-up, even if we aren't.
Lenin, caught up in his manifestoishness, remains immune to Zsuzsi's seductive charms.

Vladimir Lenin woos Ivona with his Communist Tranifesto.
The nearly enchanting Gábor sisters, Zsuzsi (left) and Ivona (right). It goes without saying that Ivona is the elder sister.
The blindingly vivacious Miss Ivona Gábor, one of the (very) lost Gábor sisters. She's also known by her (former) married names, Ivona Kiss and Ivona Koch. Perhaps her next husband's surname will be Makeover?

This year's Winter is a Drag Ball may be over, but the memories live on . . .