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 highlight: About 50 yards in front of us, 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 at and through us, one going right over one member of our group who was lying down! We were now in the classic never-do-this position, between a mother bear and her cubs. When the mother returned and saw her cubs running away, she charged right at us! She stopped less than ten feet in front of us, then went around us to her cubs. We were left gasping at what had happened in the last few seconds. 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:

Stonewall 1969

Today, June 28, 2019, is the 50^th 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.

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.

Index to Travels

• Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta (Oct. '21)
• Appalachian Trail (June '14)
• Argentina (Sept. '87) 
• Argentina (Dec. '09)
• Atlanta (March '22)
• Baja California Sur (March '16)
• Belize (Dec. '16)
• Big Bend, Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands (May '22)
• British Columbia (summer '06)
• Canadian Rockies (July '16)
• Canadian Rockies (July '22)
• Canyonlands, Arches, Mesa Verde (Sept. '21)
• Catalina (Oct. '11)
• Channel Islands (Sept. '83)
• Chiapas (Jan. '13)
• Chicago (June '17)
• Cincinnati (Spring '12)
• Copper Canyon (Oct. '25)
• Costa Rica (Dec. '99)
• DC Area (May '25)
• Fairbanks and Denali (1990s)
• Flowers in San Diego County (April '24)
• Grand Canyon and more (Aug. '19)
• Guatemala (May '15)
• Hawaii (Sept. '16) 
• Hawaii (January '20)
• Houston (Oct. '22)
• Iceland (July '25)
• Isla Mujeres (May '08)
• Istanbul to Athens (April '23)
• Italy (April '25)
• Japan (Aug. '03) 
• Juárez (May '18)
• Julian, Anza-Borrego, Pechanga (April '25)
• Katmai National Park (Summer '00)
• Katmai National Park (Summer '19)
• Las Vegas & Death Valley (March '15)
• Lassen/Shasta (June '15)
• Loltun (Dec. '94)
• London & Paris (June '24)
• Maine (June '15)
• Manitoba (August '22)
• Maryland (May '13)
• Mérida (Dec. '18)
• Mérida (Sept. '22)
• Mexico City (Dec. '85)
• Mexico City (Spring '17)
• Montreal & Quebec City (Aug. '18)
• Napa Valley (Oct. '16)
• New England (Sept. '24)
• New Mexico (Nov. '13)
• New York City (Sept. '13)
• New York City (Oct. '19)
• New Zealand (Sept-Oct '22)
• North Carolina (April '13)
• Oahu (March '81)
• Olympic Peninsula & Seattle (July '14)
• Oregon (Aug. '13)
• Oregon (eclipse) (Aug. '17)
• Oregon (Sept/Oct '24)
• Orlando (March '23)
• Palm Springs (June '19)
• Peru (March '18)
• Pismo Beach (April/May '24)
• Puerta Vallarta (Dec. '11)
• Sacramento, Reno, Tahoe (Oct. '24)
• San Antonio (June '13)
• San Antonio (April '24)
• San Antonio (April '26)
• San Francisco (Aug. '19)
• San Luis Obispo & Hearst Castle (Dec. '23)
• Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (June '19)
• South Africa (Fall '14)
• SouthEast Asia Cities (Nov. '18)
• Soviet Union (Spring '84) 
• Spain (Fall '23)
• Tijuana (Dec. '97)
• Tucson (Nov. '25)
• UK & Ireland (June/July '26)
• Washington, DC (June '18)
• Western Europe (Summer '75)
• Western Pennsylvania (May '16)
• Yellowstone (July '12)
• Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, Dignity (July '22)
• Yosemite and Eastern Sierras (Aug-Sept '21)
• Yucatán ('93 and later)
• Yucatán (Winter '13)

Description

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 (1^st 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 (2^nd 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 (3^rd 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. (4^th 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.

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.

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 4^th, 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 7^th. 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 14^th. 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 15^th.

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

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.

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 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.

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:

Update: In 2022, I donated most of my buttons to the University of Connecticut collection .