Saturday, December 14, 2019

Impeachment

I sent this letter first to the New York Times, and then, a week later, to the Los Angeles Times. Neither published it:
Republican Senators will only abandon Trump when they feel that supporting him will threaten their own re-election.
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Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Green Card Aggravation


Yes, I was happy when Victor got his visa. And I'm very happy that he is with me now. And I always knew that after we were married, he would need to apply for a green card ("permanent residency"). And because he is here and we are happy and busy, I have moved slowly on that.

 As I've said before, all we have ever wanted (for more than 25 years now!) is to be able to exchange visits — for Victor to be able to enter and leave the U.S. as easily as I enter and leave Mexico. Why does it have to be so difficult? A relatively simple tourist visa would do, but the U.S. State Department has repeatedly refused to give Victor one, first in the mid-1990s and again in the mid-20-teens.

 First, there's the green card application itself. It's 13 parts on 18 pages (!) and includes several dozen questions such as 

  • Have you ever been arrested, cited, charged, or detained for any reason by any law enforcement official?
  • Have you ever engaged in prostitution or are you coming to the United States to engage in prostitution?
  • Do you intend to engage in any activity that could endanger the welfare, safety, or security of the United States?

Dozens of these! Worse, because Victor can't read all this in English, nor can I translate all this into Spanish, I had to engage a bilingual friend so that we could truthfully check the box that says, "The interpreter named in Part 11 read to me every question and instruction on this application and my answer to every question in Spanish, a language in which I am fluent, and I understood everything."

 But now, having completed that form, additional forms must be included in the application package. I have to fill out an Affidavit of Support (despite having already done so to get the visa), with all the required financial documentation. And we have to pay a USCIS-certified doctor to fill out the Medical Examination form. (And Victor will need additional vaccinations.) And we have to include a copy of Victor's birth certificate (which we do have). And we have to fill out the Application for Travel Document so that Victor might be able to visit his mother next Spring. And we have to include photos (despite having already done so for the visa). And I have to pay $1,225.

 Yes, I'm damn aggravated.
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Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Cousins trip to New York City — October 2019

From left, clockwise: 
Victor, Rodney, John, Marsha, Les, Joel, Joan, and Cherie 
(Judy and Steve were not at this lunch)

Two photo albums this time! Here's the usual one, with a selection of 15 of my photos: Link to more photos. View the photos individually to see the captions. 

 For those who love looking at travel and family photos, here is a link to a shared album of 85 photos, some by me and many by my cousins.

 Last year, I learned that some of my cousins have traveled together several times, and in May I heard that they were going to New York City sometime this year. Since I wanted Victor to see New York, I asked to be included. The group included my brother Les and his wife Cherie, my cousin John and his wife Marsha, my cousin Joel and his wife Joan, and my cousin Judy and her husband Steve.

 The plans evolved to a three-night stay with two plays and two group meals. We paid in advance for the (expensive!) hotel and plays. I was planning to not participate in one of the plays, but the tickets were purchased anyway, so we did both. We also had reservations for group meals before each play.

 Despite a rainy forecast, the weather turned out fine. It never did rain, and the temperatures were mild. 

 We arrived Thursday evening. After checking in, we had dinner in nearby Times Square. Friday morning, after a casual group breakfast, Les, Cherie, Victor and I went to the American Museum of Natural History. Afterwards, we walked through some of Central Park to join most of the others for lunch at Tavern on the Green.

 That evening was our group dinner and To Kill a Mockingbird. Victor had read the book in Spanish (from the L.A. library) ahead of time, so he was able to follow some of the action. I enjoyed the performance a lot. Now I need to re-read the book.

 Saturday we had our group brunch followed by a Hadestown matinee. Before we left L.A., Victor watched videos of more than half of the songs with Spanish subtitles. He loved the musical.

 Joel, Joan, Victor and I then walked to and on the High Line. It was OK, but much of it was narrower than I expected. It was also pretty crowded.

 Cousins started leaving early Sunday, but Victor and I were not flying out until 8pm. In the morning, we took the subway to go on a Staten Island Ferry round-trip for the boat ride and views of the city and the Statue of Liberty:

Afterwards, we took the subway again to Central Park, planning to see the zoo. But we stumbled upon the Hispanic Day Parade on Fifth Avenue, and watched that instead.
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Wednesday, October 9, 2019

The real traitor

I sent this letter to the Los Angeles Times (not published):

     Mitch McConnell says impeachment will fail 
     "with me as Majority Leader."

     Now there's the true traitor.

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Sunday, October 6, 2019

Autographs — David Leavitt


Unexpected autograph. During today's CicLAvia, I stopped by Libros Schmibros, and found this autographed book. So it's a new addition to the few autographed books I have where I never met the author.

 I read several books by Leavitt years ago; I think I haven't read this one.

(Index of autographs)

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Monday, September 30, 2019

More TB tests


On May 30, I received a voice message for Victor from the county Health Department. When we returned the call, they said Victor had to come in for TB tests! First Victor, then I, told them repeatedly that Victor had already had TWO sets of TB tests, all negative, but the woman said that because immigration had informed them about Victor's x-rays, he had to come in for more tests on June 17th. I was angry, but we wrote down the appointment.

 A few days later, we received a follow-up letter with our appointment and a cover note that included this:
Although you were cleared for entry into the US, this pre-immigration [TB] exam was not intended to diagnose or treat extra-pulmonary TB, non-infectious pulmonary TB,or Latent TB infection.... We recommend [actually, require !] that you have a medical exam to determine if you have active TB disease.
Had they explained that on the phone, I would have not have been so upset.

 On June 17th, they took another lung X-ray, took Victor's medical history, and took a sputum sample. Then we learned that he has to (again!) give a sputum sample twice more, come another time for blood tests, and come a fifth time for final results. Gee, despite what the letter said, they're re-doing exactly what we've done twice in the past in Juarez! All they can say in explanation is that they don't fully trust the clinics in Juarez. You know, the ones they insisted we visit! I'm pissed! 👿

 And, of course, after all that, when we went again on August 26th, they said the tests were negative and we were done. What a waste of time!
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Monday, September 2, 2019

San Francisco — August 2019


Link to more photos.

 Lured by airfares briefly as cheap as $39, I scheduled a quick trip to the San Francisco Bay area. We were there for several days this past week. The weather was warm and dry.

 We landed in Oakland mid-day Tuesday, and I rented a car. There are only a few locations to buy a senior BART Clipper card, so we stopped in downtown Oakland to do that, and then visited Lake Merritt and some of its gardens. We stayed in Pinole.

 On Wednesday, we hiked in Sobrante Ridge Regional Preserve and Wildcat Canyon Regional Park. The hikes were fine, with good views of San Pablo Bay, but San Francisco was too fogged over to see. Later, we went into the city. We tried to see sunset from the Marriott Marquis Hotel lounge, but it was still too foggy and there were no seats. At the Disney Store in Union Square, Victor was delighted to buy this on sale:

On Thursday, we used a hop-on, hop-off bus tour to see much of SF: the civic center to visit the central library and its LGBTQIA Center; Golden Gate Park for views from the de Young Museum tower and some gardens; North Vista Point to see and walk some on the Golden Gate Bridge; Lombard Street for the crookedest block; and Chinatown to eat. 

 We were with Greg Castillo for most of Friday. At the Museum of Modern Art, while I was checking my jacket, Greg arrived and spotted Victor. We visited a few exhibits, then went to Castro Street. One new thing since I was last there: a bunch of men routinely stand around almost naked. They were happy to let us take photos with Victor standing among them:

As we were walking to one of Greg's favorite restaurants for dinner, I realized I had left my jacket at MOMA! It was now closed. After dinner, we went to several shops in the Haight to find outerwear for me. We also visited Love on Haight and tried on some of the headgear:

Greg had arranged for the owner of the Westerfeld House to give us a private, very detailed tour:

On Saturday, we went back to MOMA to retrieve my jacket, and then flew home.

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Sunday, August 11, 2019

Grand Canyon and more — August 2019

(click to enlarge each photo)

Link to more photos.

 We went on this tour. After a night in Phoenix, we traveled to


It was very good. The weather was mostly hot, as expected, but not overly so. We had a bit of rain at Bryce and Zion.

 We had time after lunch in Sedona to walk around. It's a pleasant town, but it's impossible to avoid all the nonsense there:

We experienced a brief intense hailstorm after leaving Sedona. The hailstones were grape-size or maybe a bit larger. They made quite a racket on the roof of the bus:
 

I had been to the Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion as a kid, but not since. We had time to hike a bit at most places. At Grand Canyon, we went a short ways down into the canyon. (Victor went twice as far down as I did.) Here I'm looking up at the canyon wall, and you can see the trail:


At Lake Powell, I would have traded the boat ride for a chance to visit slot canyons and Rainbow Bridge.

At Zion, Victor tried the bison meatloaf:


It was a large double serving. Victor enjoyed it. I ate a bison burger on Catalina Island years ago, and I had a bite of Victor's meatloaf.

On this trip, we saw loads of amazing geology, but very little wildlife — deer several times and elk twice. These deer are  in front of Zion Lodge:


The tour ended at the Las Vegas airport. I scheduled our departure later in the day, hoping to show Victor a bit of Vegas. We did see the Strip and we went to the Bellagio, but the timing wasn't right for the water show there, and the buffet was much more expensive than I remembered, so we didn't do that, either.

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Sunday, July 7, 2019

Katmai National Park (Summer 2019)


Link to more photos.

 As previously explained, Victor was responsible for my 2000 trip to Katmai National Park, but could not accompany me. Now that he is in the U.S., I scheduled a repeat trip with him, again with Katmai Coastal Bear Tours.

 We had a great time. We watched bears for six days. The weather was great, too.

 One unusual incident: A mother bear walked away from her three sleeping cubs to a nearby stream. The cubs woke up, didn't see their mother, and suddenly ran right at and through us, right over one member of our group who was lying down! When the mother returned and saw her cubs running away, she ran right at us! She stopped less than ten feet in front of us, then went around us to her cubs. It was all very fast. I wish another group had been nearby to video the whole thing. Victor got the best photo, showing the cubs approaching us:

Victor insisted on clearing everyone's dishes after meals, and he always carried others' gear when we went ashore. Here he has a tripod, camera and backpack, none his own:


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Friday, June 28, 2019

Stonewall 1969



Today, June 28, 2019, is the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. In San Antonio in 1969, I certainly heard nothing about this as it happened. It was the summer after my first year at Rice.

 But in those years, I did make an effort to follow counterculture news. In particular, I occasionally visited one small bookstore / head shop (I can't remember the name, but according to notes by others, it might have been "Joint Effort") and browse and buy alternative newspapers. Sometime that summer, I bought an issue of the Los Angeles Free Press, and it had a small note about Stonewall.

 I was not even fully out to myself yet, wondering whether I might be bisexual, but I definitely paid attention to this news.

 After Stonewall

 In my first summer in Los Angeles, in 1973, I made a point of going to Hollywood to watch the Christopher Street West parade.

 It would still be years before I started coming out.

 Years later, during a visit to New York, I attended a special gay pride program where several of the Stonewall Riot participants spoke. I don't remember their names. Based on this button I still have, this may have been in 1985:


In 2016, President Obama designated the area as the Stonewall National Monument.
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Sunday, June 23, 2019

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks — June 2019

A "trick" photo using panoramic mode

Link to more photos.

 I drove there and back, about four hours each way, which is about my limit for driving these days. We enjoyed a full-day tour of each park. The weather was great.

 I had not been to these parks since I was a boy, so I did not remember much. There was quite a bit to see and do at Kings Canyon — rivers and waterfalls all full this season, the General Grant tree.

 We even saw a mother bear with two cubs up close. She was walking very close — too close — to lots of people, near the start of the Zumwalt Meadow trail.

In Sequoia National Park, in addition to the trees, there was more fast water, petroglyphs, and Moro Rock. Although Moro Rock was clear in the distance early in the day, when Victor made it to the top later, it was too cloudy to see anything.
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Friday, June 14, 2019

Index to Travels





Description

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Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Argentina — December 2009

Victor and friend in Trelew

(Note that there are four separate web pages of photos. Each photo link is different.)

 Victor had been intrigued by Patagonia, and had long wanted to touch snow. I had been to Buenos Aires, Iguazu, and Bariloche in 1987 (more here), but never to Patagonia. The trip was arranged through Wildland Adventures. It was their 2009 version (Argentina-based) Best of Patagonia plus a two-day extension to Iguazu Falls.

 It took a long set of flights to get there: first to Mexico City, then to Panama City, then to Buenos Aires. After a brief overnight stay there, we were off to Trelew. Link to photos (1st set). We stayed at a lovely B&B with lots of land and a friendly dog.

 The next day, we were off to Punta Tombo and Península Valdés. It was a long day of driving, but we did see penguins, sea lions, and elephant seals. Penguin holes were new to me. We were careful to stay on the paths and not try to approach the penguins, but, as you can see in the photo, one penguin walked right up to Victor.

 We next flew to Ushuaia, at the southern tip of the continent. We visited Tierra del Fuego National Park (including the end of the Pan American Highway), and had a boat ride in the Beagle Channel. Because Victor had never seen snow in person, I specifically asked ahead of time if we would see some snow while we were in Ushuaia. Despite their assurances, we did not. So we cancelled one afternoon's scheduled city tour and took a cab to a nearby park which still had a patch of snow. See the photos (2nd set). 
Next was El Calafate and Perito Moreno glacier in the Andes. We walked on the glacier and were served Scotch on the rocks with glacial ice. Link to photos (3rd set).

 The tour concluded with a return to Buenos Aires. A friend had suggested a "molecular cuisine" restaurant, La Viñeria de Gualterio Bolivar (since closed, apparently), with a chef who trained at El Bulli in Barcelona. It was a bit pricey, but certainly unusual.

 I had added must-see Iguazu Falls to our trip. I loved it when I first saw it, and we both enjoyed it this time. See the photos. (4th set).

 Our return flights had an unnecessary complication. I didn't realize there were two airports serving Iguazu, and the itinerary I chose started from the Brazilian airport. I later realized that required Brazilian visas. I went to the Brazilian consulate in L.A. to pay for and receive my visa; Victor had to send away to the Brazilian embassy in Mexico City for his.


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Palm Springs — June 2019


At dinner with Hugh

 Link to more photos. (View them individually to see the captions.)

 We were in Palm Springs for two days. When we arrived, we went to visit Hugh. His brother Rudy was there, too. Later, we had dinner with Hugh in town. I insisted on a date shake afterwards.

 The next morning, we rode the aerial tramway up Mt. San Jacinto. We hiked several trails for most of the day. Happily for Victor, on the least-traveled trail, there were still patches of snow:

Even just touching snow is still a rarity for Victor. I hope he might see some snow falling sometime. I'll have to work on that.

 That evening, we ate at a Thai restaurant and wandered around downtown a bit. 

 The next morning, we met Hugh at the Palm Springs Art Museum. They have a very enjoyable collection. I took quite a few photos. The weather forecast predicted it would be well over 100° later in the day, but we left in the early afternoon.

 On our way home, we stopped at Hadley's for one more date shake.
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Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Visa for Victor!



Visa for Victor, finally!

 We sent the last required documents, and then waited. Starting a few days ago, I've been checking the status daily:
  • April 27:   Administrative Processing
  • April 28:   Administrative Processing
  • April 29:   Administrative Processing
  • April 30:   Application Received
  • May 1:       Issued

I thought it would be in hand a day or two later, but that didn't happen. When it hadn't arrived on Saturday, May 4th, I was sure it would come Monday. But on Monday, I received an email saying they were only then giving it to DHL to deliver. Sigh. 

 Victor received it May 7th. I didn't want to say anything to anyone until he had it in hand. Not telling anyone for a week was difficult!


For unknown reasons, it has an expiration date of May 15!! Victor may come to Los Angeles next week!  No one can tell me why it isn't valid for six months, as we expected.

It's been two years since we decided to apply for a fiancé  visa, and it's been more than 25 years (!) since we first tried for a tourist visa. What an unnecessary ordeal!

 P.S. We flew into Houston on May 14th. I could not accompany Victor to his interview, which took about twenty minutes. But it was successful, and he entered the U.S. !! We arrived in Los Angeles on May 15th.

 And here is Victor in his first hour in the U.S.

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Friday, May 3, 2019

On personal data privacy


When I saw Mike Godwin's op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, I recognized his name from CPSR and RISKS. And reading the piece reminded me of a handout I used to give my students. I sent this letter (not published):

Mike Godwin urges a tech code of ethics concerning censorship and privacy policies. The Code of Fair Information Practices would be an excellent start on the privacy part. Proposed in 1973 (!), it has five principles:
  • There must be no personal data record-keeping systems whose very existence is secret.
  • There must be a way for a person to find out what information about the person is in a record and how it is used.
  • There must be a way for a person to prevent information about the person that was obtained for one purpose from being used or made available for other purposes without the person's consent.
  • There must be a way for a person to correct or amend a record of identifiable information about the person.
  • Any organization creating, maintaining, using, or disseminating records of identifiable personal data must assure the reliability of the data for their intended use and must take precautions to prevent misuses of the data.
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Thursday, May 2, 2019

Porn Star Autographs


And then there's my collection of gay porn star autographs!

 These were gathered at two events, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and the Bad Boys Pool Parties (BBPP) in the L.A. area.

 I went to CES in January 1990 with a bunch of fellow Xeroids. Winter CES is "for the trade only," not open to the public. We got in as Xerox employees. We paid for the trip and accommodations ourselves. Then and now, CES is enormous. That year, it filled the Convention Center and parts of six hotels.  There were vast halls full of computer games, fancy home and car audio, video stuff of all sorts, calculators, security systems, and on and on.  

Best of all for me, one ballroom of one hotel was set aside for "Adult Video."   Yes, that means porn.  Of all varieties.  All these porn purveyors were there trying to convince retailers and video stores to stock their lines.  Most of them brought some of their "stars" (scantily clad, of course) to autograph photos, calendars, magazines, and posters.  I consider porn the highest and best use of video technology.

It was a great time to be an openly gay man.  There were these l-o-n-g lines of men (no women to speak of) waiting for an autograph and a few words with the female stars, and there was no waiting at all for the male models who were there.  Most of them were delighted to talk and sign stuff.  I met and brought back many autographed publicity photos and posters. It was lots of fun.

It was also the only time I ever kissed a porn star. Joey Stefano was supposed to be at one booth, but every time I went by, he wasn't there. Finally, when he showed up, I got his autograph and then reached to shake his hand and say thanks. But he pulled my head down and deep kissed me!

The Bad Boys Pool Party was an annual AIDS fund-raiser event for several years. It was first in L.A. and then moved to the Palm Springs area. The porn stars were the draw. Here's Chase Hunter signing:

and here's a lineup of screen studs signing:

 Click here to see all of my porn star autographs.

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Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Counter-culture buttons

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, I bought (and sold) lots of counterculture buttons and posters. I still have quite a few.

 Naturally, one batch are gay-related. That theme continued in later years, too:

Another theme is the war on the war on drugs:

Sex is a popular topic:

A handful are about Middle Earth. (The last two translate to "Frodo Lives" and "Go, Go, Gandalf") :

And plenty are miscellaneous:

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Sunday, April 28, 2019

Comic books


While I'm on the subject of magazine collections, I must write about comic books. From childhood into my teens, I read lots of comic books. 

 At some point, I started saving some of them, too. When I went away to college, I had two bags of comics saved at home. One was a mixed group of comics, the other was my favorite, a nearly complete collection of early X-Men comics, including #1. I think I had about 20 of the first 25 issues. This one was years later:

I also was a charter member of the Merry Marvel Marching Society:

Years later, I couldn't find the X-Men collection. My mother said that, during her several years as a substitute elementary school teacher, she let her students cut them up to help learn reading. She didn't realize their value to me, but I never forgave her.

 The remaining bag contains over 40 comics, including 


Click here to see a photo album of twenty of them, plus those buttons.

P.S. (April 2024) I recently bought this to partially make up for the lost bag of comic books. (Sadly, it's all black-and-white.)
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