Taint

On Saturday May 11 the Patisserie was cooking up a lot more than croissants and buns.  As a matter of fact there were a lot of hot buns filling those seats as we came to see Timorell and his talented cast in the musical workshop called "Taint". The name alone was intriguing enough for us to come and support the charming and handsome Timorell instead of staying home and watching our Tivoed episodes of Smash.  (You all know who you are)  Now the word "Taint" as defined by Wikipedia, my own personal bible, means "debased "dirty" or "soiled".  And more than a few audience members fell into that category.  (Just kidding.) This multimedia presentation opened up with a film as Timorell asked various people what the word "Taint" meant.  Yes there were a lot of dirty answers to that question as you can imagine.  And then he defined "Taint" as the area between your who who and your ha ha. This nasty area did not seem to be gender specific.  How come Wikipedia didn't tell me that?

But the lovely duo of Johnny Hager and Leo Campos made everything seem nice and clean again, especially in the Sondheim piece" Marry Me A Little."  And we loved learning about just how southern Timorell's roots were, from playing piano in church at 14, to a family who settled a place in Tennessee called Morell Town.   I love that there is a town named after his family.  I'm jealous.  I grew up in the Bronx...  There were even snake handlers where he grew up, with Dolly Parton as a neighbor. (I had Ralph Lipschitz).  And a fabulous video he shared with us from a cousin's wedding that I was just achin to see more of.  And here is "Taint" again as in "Taint Never Hear-d a 'Such Country Talkin". (Being from the Bronx I did not recognize this as English).  Donovan Jones even went to fiddle camp, and Mark Wadley sang a song in Chickanese as the Chicken Lady.  This part of the show was so down home and funky, it made you forget about that little southern peach Reese Witherspoon, who was arrested on a DUI.  We forgive you Reese you poor tainted thang you!  Personal experiences about being gay were shared as Chris talked about being in the closet  through high school and coming out in college when his gal pals said "we knew you were gay, you know all the show tunes". The tune
"Mean" really said it all about bullying with "Someday I'll be livin' in the big old city and all you're ever gonna be is "Mean".  The lyrics about a relationship where the couple  has been together many years and are now "in a hospital in separate beds on different floors" was a  hard reality slap, in a show that was for the most part, a humorous commentary on being gay.  

A hugh "untainted" thank you to Timorell, Johnny Hager, Leo Campos, Mark Silverstone, Ryan Scoble, Donovan Jones, Mark Wadley, Chris Lucas, Jeff Lettiere, and Stephen Kurowski, for an incredibly "enterTAINTING" evening!

Wendy's Recaps - Alternative Prom

  Saturday, April 27 was the night of our Alternative Prom and "Somewhere over the Rainbow" was somewhere in Matamoras, Pennsylvania.  And we knew we weren't in Kansas anymore as we followed the yellowbrick road through the Best Western Hotel and arches of rainbow colored balloons created by Dominic Peluso. Those balloon arches were fierce, they must have taken an awful lot of blowin'!  Okay, so we didn't have Dorothy with her ruby red slippers to lead the way, but we had Kris Jarmann instead, in a pair of $7.99 shoes he bought at Walmart that he glitter-glued into the real thing and then some.  Judy Garland would have been proud!  The Grand Ballroom was transformed into our own personal OZ with stunning table decorations, and a DJ who played all the latest dance music, free style, electric slide, old school and anything else you could think of. He even took song requests and actually played them!  Now when does that ever  happen? We were most definitely in Oz! Patty was our Auntie Em and Cary was the Great Oz himself!  And although Toto was nowhere to be found, we had the beautifully coiffed "Steady Mess" working the room, a true vision of loveliness wearing her best baubles this evening while the delicious diva, "Sugar" made a very grand entrance, as we lined the streets of Munchkinland to welcome her.  Sugar, who with her flaming red hair and figure forming frock, reminds us of that relative all the other family members make scandalous remarks about. And if that wasn't enough, there to capture all this magic on film was Alan Kaplan, uber-photographer. If you were feeling more delirious than serious, Flash Shack Photo Booth provided lots of props to take your own pictures with. A big shout-out to all the members of our community who made this fantasy of a prom night come true, once again showing we are "making it better now."

Wendy's Recaps - Performance Poetry

Do you believe in magic?  Do you believe in love?

Do you believe that bullying is wrong and in the words of Travis Love Benson that hash tags are first world people's problems?  Well then, you were in the right place for Performance Poetry at the Upper Delaware GLBT Center.  Hosted by two of the most generous, creative minds in our community, Ruby Lynn Willis and Lisa Reitman-Dobi. "Passing the Hat Productions" was born one dark and stormy night, as anyone who was able to get up Lisa's icy driveway can attest, and was rewarded with her homemade bread or "artist's triage" as she calls it, and a chance to brainstorm their ideas.  Last night's Performance Poetry shows you what can happen when you bring all the talent from Port Jervis to Milford and Sussex County together. Ruby Lynn Willis who knows that "healing is dramatic" and "I surrender to words," is a theatrically gifted performer in every sense of the word, and Greg Zukowski, who many people know as an artist, tonight painted pictures with song -and- poetry as he asked "is time a watch or a cuckoo clock?"  The always eloquent Miranda Southwell who, through her verse, sees her image as a tiger, "tigers are dark and tigers are light" and believes in the "magic of transmutation" and that "I burn bold and I burn gold." The sensitivity of DJ Rodriguez as he pleads, "please don't take your life," inciting questions with verses like, "the bully's not so tough when no one's around, pray for them and their families too." Travis Love Benson, an adorable beam of light and a left handed, guitar playing, self-styled hopeless romantic (yes all of the above), as well as a poet, songwriter, and diverse entertainer who performed a self-written song on keyboard with a chorus of "Hash Tag...LOL." Travis also offered us thoughtful lines like, "the garden may grow weeds but it's better than growing nothing at all." A special thank you to Marlene Campbell for her heartfelt piece, Katy Vega for her insight, Kyle Kaplan, whose poems were read in absentia and to Roland Edwards Jr., who totally moved me to tears. To everyone who supported this event, who has loved, lost, survived, mourned, been bullied, hurt, or healed, the following words of Miranda Southwell say it all.  "Maybe I could be a queen.  A lion turned to lamb.  Then maybe I remember.  I already am..."

iCARE Workshop LGBT Equality - Tuesday, April 30th

Don't forget! Tuesday, April 30th at 7:30PM is our next iCARE workshop on LGBT Equality. Come down to the Center and inform yourselves about rights, laws and other important factors affecting the LGBT community today.

Prom tonight!

Please come out to support the youth of our community while at the same time having a spectacular time yourselves! Our Alternative Prom will be held tonight at 7PM at the Best Western Inn at Hunt's Landing located at 120 Rte. 6 & 209, Matamoras, PA, (570-491-2400). Buffet dinner included. Please keep in mind, tickets will not be for sale at the door. So pin your corsages and prance on over to the prom you always wished you had!

How to get our calendar on your phone!

Ever wonder how to get our calendar of events, right there on your phone for easy access? Here's a very user-friendly how-to, by our favorite graphic designer Mike Vasilev...Thanks Mike!

The Windy Season

When helping hands hinder and harm
And chaos slays every grace and charm
That during days of gold saw us through
The parade of strangers marching to
A steady beat, the same for all
Why then, speed us towards that fall?
Why burn the leaves and rue the day?
What can a violent wind hope to change
Far too much
And far too rushed

When children's voices are swept away
And fresh new lives are laid to waste
When the runner's race just can't be run
And olive branches all turn to guns
You know the windy season comes
To whirl and whip
And razor-rip
Time from our limp grip

Why is it we only bundle one another
And call the stranger, brother
When it's far too late
And the winds separate
All we've loved
From all we've lived?
Can we not instead
Change the bomb to bread
Spare the gun
And spin the cloth
What would it cost?
To shield each other from these winds
Feed and clothe and heal and mend
How much more life must we expend
As the windy season comes again?

~Miranda Southwell

**Our thoughts are with all those affected by the recent tragedy in Boston. May Peace find you wherever you are.

This Saturday!!

In honor of National Poetry Month, the UDGLBT Center will be presenting a night of performance poetry with featured performers and an open mic later in the evening. Please be sure to come, it's sure to be a great time!

Pics From Share Your Heart!

The Share Your Heart Dance and Fundraiser at the Dingman Township Volunteer Fire Department, dubbed the "Hall of Romance" for the evening, was a glittering good time as all who attended are well aware! Sponsored by J-Angelo Event Planning, the dance's funds went towards the Ecumenical Food Pantry at the Church of the Good Shepherd and St. John the Evangelist in Milford. Let's take a photographic trip down memory lane together, shall we?

Thanks to the efforts of our ebullient hostesses, Steady Mess and Ermine Muff and the jumpin' jams of DJ Flow, the crowd was all smiles.

Of course, that also might have been due to the presence of  our makeshift bar, manned by a hardworking staff of volunteers.

The dazzling decorations provided by Dominic Peluso, assured love was in the air as waves of red washed over the dancing masses.

 Catering provided by LoriAnn Rosencrance Hines, proprietress of the Forklift Cafe and beautiful baked goods by that Mad Hausfrau herself, Lora Wiley kept everyone's energy levels high well into the night!

So there you have it folks, straight from the mouth of your audacious authoress herself. Thanks to our community, we were able to give back to those less fortunate and have a fabulous time while doing it! And, ultimately, isn't that what "sharing your heart" is all about? Ms. Muff and I certainly think so!

When Queers Attack...Fighting Back

It really hurts my heart as a transgender woman and as a human being whenever I hear stories like this one from The Advocate. If you don’t feel like clicking through to the link, first of all shame on you for being lazy! Secondly, let me tell you about it in a nutshell. It’s another dreadful case of injustice against the gays! Oh yes, because we never hear enough about that, do we? Luke O’Donovan was arrested after being involved in a New Year’s Eve scrap a couple months ago. A bunch of gay-bashers allegedly chased him down a hill and stabbed him after provoking him with gay slurs. He defended himself and now he’s the one in jail?! Someone please tell me where the sense in that lies? And while we’re on the subject, tell me why this sort of story rings true in so many other cases involving LGBT youths who’ve had enough and decide to fight back? Young, transgender woman Cece McDonald, for instance. In case you’re not familiar with Ms. McDonald’s story...she and her friends were verbally and physically attacked in June of 2011 by a group of racist bigots and in defending herself against the ringleader, Cece ended up killing him with a pair of scissors. She was sent to a men’s prison...essentially for defending herself against a hate crime. 

Why is it that the LGBT community can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to hate crimes? If we depend on law enforcement to help us out, we’re ignored due to the intrinsic homophobia that often exists within such a straight male-dominated structure. If we defend ourselves, we end up in prison. And if we don’t do anything at all...we die. That would all be fine and good for people who aren’t connected to the young kids who end up getting screwed over no matter what they do, but it isn’t fair. Equally unjust is the lack of attention paid to cases like this by the mainstream media. So, if they won’t make noise for us, we have to make noise for ourselves. I never encourage violence, but sometimes things happen that are out of our control and we act in the way we feel is most necessary at the time, we shouldn’t be punished for this and we most definitely should not be silenced or forgotten. Support your fellow LGBT brothers and sisters, don’t turn your backs because if we don’t support one another, no one will. 

For letters of support or donations to Luke O’Donovan, please go here.

For letters of support or donations to Cece McDonald, please go here.

I also urge you all to visit the Gay American Heroes Foundation's "Rainbow Memorial," a traveling exhibit that pays tribute to the countless GLBT souls that have been taken far too soon by the forces of hatred and ignorance.

Where Is The Love?

This morning like most other mornings, I went into my usual routine of checking my Pinterest and Tumblr and Facebook while getting ready for a day of action. Everywhere I looked, I saw beautiful expressions of love between all kinds of people. Virtual Valentine’s Day cards and assorted heart imagery peppered the internet. My single friends cringed. It was a beautiful thing (well, not the cringing of course). Unfortunately however, amidst all that beauty, there was a hideous display of cyberbullying in the form of a video interview with a transwoman I’m proud to call my friend. She appeared on a local news station, after being interviewed about some bit of traffic-related news. The video somehow found its way (possibly illegally) into the hands of one Daniel Tosh, appearing on his comedy show Tosh.0. Taken completely out of context, the video shows the original interview, but Bridgette’s (the woman in question) dialogue is accompanied by a laugh track. Here is the video for those of you who may not have seen it.

So often in the trans community, the more “passable” or “stealth” among us are left alone, while those who are visibly trans become targets...all based on appearance. This hypocrisy is disgusting and needs to give way to a universal acceptance in order for any progress to be made as a species. Because we are a collective of human beings and as such we need to have empathy for one another. An empathetic person would have reflected upon the fact that societal factors have “caged” in many trans people; not only in the wrong body, but also in the wrong financial bracket to afford the exorbitant costs of transition, making “stealth” a more difficult prospect to achieve. An empathetic person would stop and say, “To hell with ‘passing,’ you don’t need to fit some preconceived notion of ‘good enough’ for me to leave you alone, you just need to be you because you’re a human being with a soul and a mind. You’re like me and I love you.” Did Tosh and his cohorts stop and try to empathize with their victim’s circumstances? Not at all. Instead they glossed over her, judging her as not worthy of the decency they’d probably extend to a “less trans” person and they mocked her openly. And because hate begets hate and revels in itself, this set forth a spiral of scathing and moronic comments from his viewers. 

My initial reaction was one of sadness. Watching this unfold felt more like witnessing schoolyard bullying than a comedy show and being helpless to intercede. My second was one of anger. As a transwoman, I could not stand for one of our sisters to be humiliated for the sake of a few giggles. I also began to realize that I wasn’t helpless. In this day and age, you only have as much power as you’re willing to utilize via social media. It’s there, you just need to apply it correctly. So please get the word out about this deplorable act. Write to Daniel Tosh at Tosh.0@comedycentral.com. Spread the word to whatever LGBT and anti-defamation organizations you’re a part of or work with. This was a cut-and-dry case of cyberbullying. This was done without her consent. This was transphobia at its worst. This was not comedy, it was hate. Daniel Tosh needs to issue an apology to the trans community and to Bridgette. And we, as her family need to work towards ensuring that this never happens again.

The Real Meaning Of LGBT - A Short History

Graphic designer Mike Vasilev recently designed this delightful and informative infographic for us. Aside from its charmingly retro flair, it hits upon several integral factoids that many within our community may not be aware of. Sometimes in life we think it's not important to know something unless it directly affects us. Maybe we don't care to learn about "G" issues if we're "L," or "T" issues if we're "B." But we all exist underneath the LGBT umbrella and, as such, it's important we maintain the type of empathy that can only be derived from the comprehensive knowledge of what each facet of that "umbrella" has struggled through. Likewise, many LGBT youth may be so preoccupied with their very real struggles of the moment and fail to see the relevance of our shared history to their lives. It's important to see faces like ours, and to hear voices like ours from every place and time, deriving strength and inspiration from them, all the while, keeping in mind that much of the information provided in this infographic is not taught in schools. We must preserve our own history, embrace it and share the positive changes brought about by the trailblazing pioneers of yesterday because as the old adage states, "those who fail to learn from the past, are doomed to repeat it."

Say hello to your new resident blogger!

Well hello and welcome to the UDGLBT Center’s community blog! 

My name is Miranda and I’ll be using this space to share stories, articles and other findings of interest to the LGBT community. In addition, I'll be helping to manage our Facebook and Twitter pages as well. This is your blog too, so be sure to get involved and share your comments on any entries you find particularly exciting and if you’re interested in providing an article yourself or guest blogging, please use our contact info to e-mail us! 

For our very first entry, I thought it might be nice to let you know a little about myself. After all, we will be seeing a lot of each other, so you may as well know whose rants you’re reading. This is my story...but because I am by nature a “creative eccentric,” it is in narrative poem form. So, brew yourself some tea or shake yourself a cocktail and let’s get reading!

Magic

I’ve always believed in magic. The kind of magic that allowed a little Spanish woman from Honduras, my grandmother, to divorce her ogre of a husband and single-handedly raise two daughters on a seamstress’ income in the United States of the 1970’s, despite only knowing limited conversational English.

I believe in the magic of making something from nothing, just as my grandmother did when she stretched each dollar to ensure that her two princesses were always well-educated, impeccably groomed and treated to those mainstays of American culture…ice cream, movie outings and hamburgers, every once in awhile.

I believe in the magic of supplication. Of asking for help and summoning assistance…be it from God…or one’s family…or one’s own inner reservoirs of untapped fortitude in order to endure the otherwise unendurable. I believe in the magic of family that supports one another in those times of great need, like my grand-uncle helped his sister those many years ago.

I believe in the magic of time travel, for when my grandmother tells me of those days, the past comes alive and through the windows of her eyes I can see every tear, every fear…every unyielding hope that brought her from there to here. I make that journey with her and know that magic exists.

I believe in the magic of filling a grandchild’s Paterson-poor holidays with a treasure trove of toys bought through scrimping, saving and layaway plans. In the magic of multicolored lights, popcorn tins, a glazed ham in the oven and the symphonic strains of friends and family swirling throughout the living room of a tiny third story apartment, stretching it beyond its limits and, for that day, transforming it into the grandest of palaces.

I believe in the magic of inheritance. For that same woman’s magical strength of will has been passed down from mother to daughter to me. I believe in the magic of the undying dream, which resulted in a much sought-after home for my mother and a much sought-after son for my aunt. I believe in the magic of the seemingly impossible and the magic of transmutation, for I became what I ought to have been through the same magic that’s swelled through the veins of three generations of my family’s women.

I believe in the magic of recording this for posterity’s sake, so that this magic never disappears from the world. I believe in the magic of sharing and the way that sharing can make ideas flourish and spread like ivy…so I share this fable, born of magic but grounded in truth with any and all who will listen. I share this magic with you.

We Won!!

WE WON!!!! The Upper Delaware GLBT Center's First Friday event won the 2012 BEST EVENT FOR ADULTS in the Times Herald Record, Recordonline, "Best of 2012".   How cool is that?!

 Check it out!
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20130111%2FENTERTAIN%2F301110319&cid=sitesearch

                                                                 Best Event for Adults
                                                         2012: First Fridays, Milford, Pa.
                                                            2011: Newburgh Jazz Series
                                                       2010: New York Renaissance Faire

Peace!

The Upper Delaware GLBT Center wishes you and those you love 

a happy, healthy, and peaceful holiday season and a joyous new year.