Author Archives: ronqueens

And So It Goes

Today is Sunday, June 29, 2025. I originally wrote that I might not post my blog because I was going to attend the Pride Parade on 5th Avenue and 10th Street. Which I did. I decided this morning to help my Astoria friend “Seth” distribute cups of water at the Church of the Ascension on 5th Avenue. I wasn’t sure if Elliot was going with me. I learned this morning that he didn’t want to accompany me because of the impending heat and that he was exhausted after driving upstate and downstate on Friday and Saturday. I notified my friend then that I would meet him at 12:30. So I had a little breakfast out here in Forest Hills and left the area around 11:30.

I met my friend exactly on time : 12:30 at his church on 28th Street and 9th Avenue, the Church of the Holy Apostles. I ambled inside and saw him immediately, so I greeted him, and was permitted to partake myself of some refreshments. I helped myself to an egg salad sandwich and poured myself a cup of cranberry juice. I saw Seth’s husband, “Jerry,” in the crowd, and I went to hug him. I asked how his anniversary was celebrated yesterday and he mentioned that he and Seth went to a local restaurant and had dinner out. Then he left us as we walked to 8th Avenue to take the C train one stop to 14th Street, where we walked down to 10th Street.

We walked into the building to leave our bags on a bench to go out and find our water station. We had to get around a barricade to get to a table where parishioners were filling trays with lemon water. Thus began my two-and-a-half hour stint handing out cups of water to dehydrated parade marchers. Many of those taking water from me were extremely thankful; they literally gushed with appreciation. It really felt good to do something for people on such a sultry day. I believe the temperature got as hot as 91 degrees today. Seth and I put in our volunteer efforts for close to 2 and a half hours; we left around 3:30. I took one break to go inside the church to charge my cell phone and to get out of the sun.

For today’s Pride parade, there was one downside, sadly, which I read about in both the Daily News and, even, the Rupert Murdoch rag, the New York Post, where both newspapers featured articles on the parade organizers, Heritage of Pride, banning the NYPD’s Gay Officers Action League (GOAL) from participating in the event today.

In the Daily News article entitled “March ‘hypocrites’ blasted: Tisch doubles down against Pride ban on gay cops in uniform,” written by Nicholas Williams, the issue is given a balanced examination. In it, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch criticized the Pride March organizer’s decision to prohibit gay police officers from participating in the event today.

In a strongly worded letter to the event’s organizer, Tisch called the group “hypocrites” and demanded the organization change its stance on the officers’ exclusion from the celebratory procession. The commissioner slammed the reason for the group banning gay cops, which was that it violated the event’s “no-weapons policy.” However, as I and Seth both clearly noticed, there were many other police officers at the parade who were wearing their uniforms and carrying weapons as clear as day. So why would the parade organizers request the security and protection of thousands of armed, uniformed police officers for the march today and then not allow gay police officers to walk in strong solidarity with fellow cops? To me, I hate to say this does smack of hypocrisy and I don’t understand it.

By the way, this is the fourth straight year that Heritage of Pride has banned gay officers from marching. According to Heritage of Pride spokesperson Chris Piedmont, the officers are welcome to march without weapons, but this would never be adopted by members of GOAL because NYPD officers are required to have their service weapons on them while they are in uniform “as a matter of public and personal safety,” according to Tisch.

The ban was first announced in 2021, when protests over the killing of Minnesota man George Floyd by police officers generated a wave of anticop sentiment across the country, including in New York. The ban is also rooted in the LGBTQ+ community’s experience with dealing with law enforcement over a span of many years – going back to the 1969 Stonewall riot, which was sparked by a police raid at the now-famous Greenwich Village gay bar. As you know, the ensuing Stonewall protests are considered the birth of the modern gay rights movement.

Detective Brian Downey, GOAL’s president, announced that in response to the ongoing ban, the organization will be protesting today at 11 a.m. at West 20th Street and Fifth Avenue, five blocks away from the starting point of the Pride March. He said, “This isn’t a time for apathy or complacency. It’s a time for visibility! It’s a time for protest!”

As I indicated earlier, I’m on the side of GOAL this time. There’s no reason to ban gay police officers with the specious reason that they can’t carry firearms, while the parade allows regular officers to guard the public carrying their firearms with them. If gay officers are continued to be banned, then the organizers shouldn’t be using New York’s police force at all then. I hope this knotty problem can be resolved by next year’s march then.

Anyway, I came home by 5; Seth didn’t want to stay in Manhattan to have dinner, so we both separated by 4 or so.

So all is not well in Gay World, as evidenced by this controversy. Let’s hope it does get resolved by next year’s procession.

A great, related story comes out of Hungary, that autocratic country dominated by one of Chump’s pals, Viktor Orban, where thousands of people came out to protest the ban on having a Pride March. Massive crowds protested the Hungarian government’s antigay ban. This is marvelous and it correlates with the massive crowd that came out in New York today. As reported in the Post article by Steven Vago and Alex Oliveira, “More than a million people filled Manhattan on Sunday for the largest annual Pride parade in North America.” There is the definitive quote on the number of people who either marched or showed their support for the queer community on the second-to-last day in June. Truly amazing on such a hot day!

Have a great week, everyone.

And so it went!

Excuse my pics here today! They weren’t that hot (no pun intended). This was because I was holding a water tray for a long time and couldn’t use my camera so freely and there were so many people all over the place, that they got into my pics very easily.

I can’t fathom what this float is. I see the letters “Mac” on the side of the vehicle, so maybe it was Mac Factor; oops, that’s “Max Factor.”

Oh, here they are again! I still don’t know what this float represents. Do you?

I liked this marcher’s glittery, silver outfit. And now you see a police officer wearing his firearm there, don’t you?

What’s a Pride Parade without half-naked guys? Oh, they’re not all sporting abs of steel here?

Here is one of those half-naked guys buoyantly receiving a cup of water from one of our volunteers. She’s the one in the green floppy hat.

Nice costumes, eh?

These are representatives of the Imperial Court. “The primary mission of the Imperial Court of New York is to raise funds for LGBT and HIV/AIDS, Equality, and LGBTQ youth-related charities,” according to their Facebook page.

And So It Goes

Today is Saturday, June 28, 2025. Elliot and I are back visiting our very good friends in Highland, New York. We came back around 5:30 after stopping in New Paltz and Ellenville for lunch, as we left our friends after breakfast in their complex’s restaurant, From the Ground Up Cafe. Our visit just about consumed 12 hours, as we arrived at “Peter” and “Ted’s” house about 12:30 and left close to 11:30 on Saturday. We had breakfast on the road on Friday at Jackson Hole, then wound our way on the New England Throughway, going through New Jersey first. This time the traffic was minimal, which was fine with me.

We spent the rest of the day Friday catching up with our friends’ experiences since we last saw them months ago. We would have seen the pair sooner if it weren’t for Peter’s ongoing health issues. So we were overjoyed that they didn’t cancel with us for another time. We were even contemplating bringing Atticus up to their apartment, but Elliot nixed the idea at the last moment. As a poor substitute for the real thing, I showed the guys recent videos I took of Atticus over the last several days.

From the beginning, we were treated to a lunch consisting of bagels and cream cheese. We were then informed that at four, two new friends from the development were coming down to have dinner with us, “Lucy” and “Jerrold.” We said wonderful!

We did have dinner with their new friends at 5 or so. We were treated to Peter’s great lasagna, salad, and home-baked apple crisp from Lucy. The meal was topped off with my seven-layer cake from Martha’s Country Bakery.

We all had a lively conversation with this couple, who just befriended Peter and Ted over the last year. We were amazed over Jerrold’s relationship with his many siblings and his early moving around because of his father being in the military. To me, Jerrold reminded me of an anemic Ernest Hemingway. His face was wasn’t as florid as his, but something in the beard and twinkle in his eyes reminded me of the late American author. Lucy had some health issues of her own, as she was in a wheelchair. Of course, Elliot and I wouldn’t ask her why she was in one. I thought she was suffering from Parkinson’s disease since her hands continually fluttered. However, her mood was buoyant and ebullient.

After the couple left, we all settled down to watching some D-minus horror films, movies such as 2019’s Clown and 1980’s Prom Night starring that ever-reliable “scream queen,” Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielsen (in a serious role) as her father. The first film was laughingly unbelievable, as a group of young teens (instantly interchangeable) wander into a ghost town that hides a funhouse where a murderous clown lives and systematically kidnaps and tortures the unsuspecting young people. Not very credible or suspenseful.

The second film starring Curtis right after her breaking role in Halloween, Prom Night revolves around an early incident in which several youths chase a young girl in an abandoned school, causing her untimely death as she falls out of a window. Years later when all of these youths are in high school, a savage murderer appears at prom night to quickly dispatch all of those he holds responsible for the young girl’s death six years before. In a very old review at the time, the critic reinforced what all of us were thinking as we watched Curtis and other female stars go through the halls of Manchester High School: They all look “as if their school days are a long way behind them.”

The one thing that distinguishes this subpar horror film is that it was one of the first entries into the slasher subgenre. The film, regrettably, has a low-budget feel, poor lighting, and cinematography that detract from its total enjoyment. Anyway, we just enjoyed the camaraderie that came from watching these two potboilers.

After watching these two films, we decided to call it a night, even though I stayed up to read a book I took from the development’s extensive library, which Peter took me to before Lucy and Jerrold arrived: The Killer’s Shadow: The FBI’s Hunt for a White Supremacist Serial Killer, by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. The book looked interesting when I spied it in the vast room containing many hardcover books and paperbacks. Peter said that I could take it and would not need to return it.

I started to get sleepy by 1, so I called it a night and walked into the single bedroom where all of us slept. Elliot and I slept on the floor on an air mattress.

Today after getting up initially at 7:30 to use the bathroom, I got up finally close to 9:30. Eventually we all made our way to the complex’s restaurant: From the Ground Up Cafe.

The food served here was very tasty; I had the French toast and it was excellent, even the coffee was quite good. We were not able to spend more time with the boys since they were invited to a resident’s 90th-birthday party down the hall.

So we left after 11 and drove to New Paltz to browse the two bookstores in town: Inquiring Minds and Barner Books. These great stores are on opposite sides of the street, Church Street. Oh yes, I did purchase another book, this time at Barner Books, with the title of The Friday Afternoon Club, by Griffin Dunne. It’s a juicy memoir written by the actor, producer, and director of numerous films. Dunne’s aunt was Joan Didion, one of the great nonfiction writers ever to wield a typewriter. As you might know, Dunne suffered a personal tragedy many years ago when his sister, Dominque Dunne, was strangled by a boyfriend, John Sweeney, in a fit of rage after she tried to break up with him. Griffin’s father was Dominick Dunne who wrote about the trial of his daughter’s murderer in a stunning series of articles for Vanity Fair which launched his career as a crime reporter. He also penned several works of fiction, notably The Two Mrs. Grenvilles which became a 1987 television miniseries. Dunne’s book was a fictionalization of the real-life 1955 murder of William Woodward Jr. by his wife, Ann Woodward. This story was also taken up in the more recent series Feud: Capote vs. The Swans that aired on FX a year ago. In that series, Demi Moore played Ann Woodward.

We then drove to Elliot’s old stomping grounds, in Ellenville, where we had lunch at Cohen’s Bakery, a popular eatery and pastry shop. There we had sandwiches and coffee.

Now it was time to drive back to New York. We made only one stop at an antique shop on the road. We certainly didn’t need any new shiny objects to stuff into our one-bedroom apartment. I almost broke down to buy a $22 music box – why I needed something like that is beyond me. So I didn’t buy it!

The ride home was long but smooth. I think we got home close to 5:30.

Tomorrow is the 55th Pride March in New York. Because of the perilous times we’re living in right now, I’ve decided to attend it, possibly with Elliot or not. According to a piece online, “about a million people are expected to gather in Manhattan for the annual Pride March.” Generally, I wouldn’t even go to such a crowd-busting event, but as I said, this cruel regime and its policies are spurring me to go.

I might also hand out water with my friend “Seth,” who does it as a member of his church on 28th Street. I don’t know if we’re going to have dinner afterward either.

Maybe then I’ll see you tomorrow or – if not – on Monday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Thursday, June 26, 2025. Today Elliot and I had a surprisingly disappointing day trying to get Elliot a real ID at the White Plains Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in which his appointed time was 1:45 p.m. We woke up early, say, around 8:15 to prepare to receive our cleaning lady, “Lareto,” who unfortunately called us at 10:15 to say that she was canceling because her son couldn’t drive her. We were going to leave around 10:30 to get to Larchmont to have breakfast, and so we did, Lareto or no Lareto.

It was smooth sailing driving to Larchmont, as we sauntered over the Throgs Neck Bridge and past my old stomping grounds in the Northeast Bronx, Co-op City, which used to be where Freedomland U.S.A., a theme park dedicated to American history, was situated in the Baychester section of the North Bronx. It opened on June 19, 1960, and permanently closed four years later, on September 13, 1964. I have very vague memories of going to Freedomland as a child with my parents before moving there to live in the housing development known as Co-op City which broke ground in 1966.

When we got to Palmer Avenue where the Harbour House Coffee Shop is located, we had to find parking. The only parking we found was linked to some app that I had to download since no meters were functioning. Naturally, I was left to navigate this system, as Elliot just left me to go to the coffee shop. I moved the car first from the street into a lot, thinking I wouldn’t have to use this system, but I was unable to find a snug-enough spot for the car, so I had to find another spot somewhere else. I lucked out with moving into a spot at the end of the block where the coffee shop was across the street. However, I was beginning to have trouble registering the car with this parking app. Fortunately for me, a young man was passing me on the corner, so I accosted him and asked if he could help me download the app properly. He was very courteous and showed me how to do it. And if this young man hadn’t shown up, we might have still been there in Larchmont. Now I was able to join Elliot in the coffee shop.

To make a long story short, we got to White Plains within 24 minutes or so. We were early for Elliot’s appointment at 1:45, so we were told to return five minutes before 1:45. The guard who informed us of this mentioned we could go to Whole Foods around the block and hang out there. Which we did. I got a coffee and a chocolate croissant while Elliot did a little shopping. By 1:30, we returned to the DMV office.

After waiting at least an hour, Elliot was given the red light by one of the clerks who examined all of the documents he brought to verify who he was. She stated he did not have an original Social Security card and that was why she was not proceeding with his application. Huh! Elliot showed the woman other forms of proof of his identity and this was still not enough. In fact, he had a copy of his Social Security card, but that was not accepted. Elliot took this setback rather well; me, I wanted to scream. I should have said something to the clerk behind the window, but I didn’t. Like, “Can’t you let this one pass?” Didn’t he bring you enough forms of identification?” I wanted to proclaim, but I stayed quiet.

Even though you can say we had a pleasant enough drive to White Plains, I considered the whole venture a major disappointment. Now we have to start from Square 1, schedule another appointment somewhere else, and go through with the same waiting. At least Elliot didn’t have to wait as long as I did on Friday, April 4, when I applied in Manhattan for the same thing. Elliot will also have to carry his passport the next time we travel domestically, which will be next month. I expected his new ID to have been mailed to him before this trip. But that was not meant to be!

I wanted to indicate that today, June 26, marks the 10-year anniversary of nationwide marriage equality in the United States. An online article about this milestone appears in Gay City News by Matt Tracy entitled “Report sheds light on 10 years of marriage equality in the United States.”

“Nearly 600,000 same-sex couples have been married in the United States since the landmark 2015 Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, according to a report published by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.” Here’s another intriguing statistic: “In total, there are now 823,000 married same-sex couples in the United States – twice as many as there were in 2014, just one year before the Obergefell ruling, according to the report.”

Not surprising is the fact that the ruling has had the greatest impact on southern states, “none of which had achieved marriage equality by the time the Obergefell ruling was handed down: From 2014 to 2023, there was a 21% increase in same-sex married couples in the south, compared to 16% in the west, 15% in the midwest, and 11% in the northeast.”

Even though many states have moved to codify marriage equality in recent years, the fate of this precedent is uncertain, especially in these troubling and regressive times under a new fascistic president. The year that the legislation was passed, it was Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas who wrote in a concurring opinion that the Supreme Court “should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell,” referring to rulings establishing rights to contraception, sodomy, and marriage equality, respectively. Oh, why hasn’t this very corrupt justice been impeached already? I ask.

Voters last year in California, Colorado, and Hawaii became the latest to repeal bans on same-sex marriage, and earlier this month, the Delaware Senate approved legislation to codify same-sex marriage.

“As of June 2025, more than two dozen states still maintained statutes and/or constitutional amendments barring marriage equality – though those policies have been with 433,000 married same-sex couples residing in those states.”

Though today does mark a commemoration of the ruling that brought marriage equality to the United States, there is still a sense that things can change very fast, just like Roe v. Wade was overturned by this “Extreme” Court in June 2022 after observing it for 50 years. We still have to remain very vigilant then.

In the meantime, let’s hope that horrible “murder” bill that the lying sack of shit called Donald Chump laughingly calls his “Big, Beautiful” bill dies before it can ever be passed. But this president wants the bill jammed through very soon so that he could sign it before the Fourth of July. This is only for optics., folks, nothing else.

But the bill is now receiving opposition from the Senate’s rules referee, Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who struck down key provisions, saying they don’t meet the chamber’s strict budget rules that must be followed so the bill can be approved by a simple majority of 51 votes – or just GOP support. This fact is reported in a CNN online article by Lauren Fox, Manu Raju, and Morgan Rimmer entitled “Trump’s massive agenda bill faces headwinds in the Senate after key ruling from chamber’s rules referee.”

Devastating changes to the Medicaid program have badly divided the Senate GOP, with a number of members – including Josh Hawley (He with the Raised Fist) of Missouri and Susan Collins of Maine, among others – worried that the new limits would devastate rural hospitals in their states, just the kind of Dump supporter that would be affected by these changes.

Again, let’s hope this bill goes through various iterations and that certain changes are added to it that will not devastate Americans’ food assistance and Medicaid as it’s originally been conceived. If it does pass with these horrible cuts untouched, repugnicans should then run for the hills in 2026!

Tomorrow Elliot and I are driving to Highland, New York, to visit our friends “Ted” and “Peter.” We are staying until Saturday. So I’ll be absent from this venue until Saturday or Sunday, depending on what time we get home on Saturday.

Have a good Friday then.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, June 25, 2025. It was another sultry day in the Baked Apple and I spent more time outside than I should have, considering how intense the heat was. Since I wasn’t seeing my friend in Central Islip, I then ventured driving to my comic book store on Metropolitan Avenue, but I was not prepared to sit in the car on such a hot day for almost 40 minutes when the ride generally only takes 15 minutes. It appeared that there were blockades everywhere tying traffic up for extended lengths of time. I couldn’t drive up 71st Road where I would make a turn onto Continental Avenue because there were cars stuck in a snarl for some reason. I had to circumvent this traffic to use another approach to get to Metropolitan Avenue and that consumed more time than I would have liked. Therefore, I got to Royal Collectibles closer to 11:30, which is about a half hour later than usual. I know I shouldn’t complain, but this is truly indicative of how enervating driving is in this city at this time. I thought of leaving the car before getting to my destination, but I certainly wasn’t going to walk to the store. I was trapped in my Subaru Forrester Sport vehicle until I arrived at the store. When I walked into the nicely air-conditioned store, I told the women behind the counter how terrible my drive was in getting there. They were sympathetic and agreed that driving in the city has become a major headache. One of the staff persons behind the counter informed me she stopped driving to take the railroad. I listened to her raptly before asking how many books came in since I didn’t receive an email yesterday listing my new comics. I had three to pick up.

I then had breakfast at Buen Sabor Latino Restaurant, where I read my new books. I usually have poached eggs and home fries, plus coffee and rye toast and butter. I usually never eat the toast. Afterward, I walked out into the sweltering air to buy some items in CVS and then walked to the North Forest Library to return a book that I knew I wouldn’t have time to read.

At least my return trip home went more smoothly than my drive to Metropolitan Avenue. This did not take another 40 minutes; in fact, it only took me about 15 minutes to get home.

In terms of Dump World, a confirmation hearing of a Dump appointee to serve on the federal bench is receiving a lot of publicity – thank God – in the way that this appointee, Emil Bove, is supremely unqualified for the job. He had to fend off many accusations of corruption made by only Democrats in the room and it would seem that this candidate would have been soundly rejected anytime in the past, but not anymore since these repugnicans only kneel before their Supreme Leader and have forgotten their oath to the country.

This developing story was covered in an online CNN article by Paula Reid, Casey Gannon, and Holmes Lybrand entitled “Trump judicial nominee Emil Bove denies allegations in whistleblower report and say’s he’s not a ‘henchman.'” Again, this appointee by this compromised president just shows how corrupt the system of government has become under him.

Thus, this candidate, who is a personal lawyer of the president, has been nominated to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and fended off angry accusations by members before the Senate Judiciary Committee today. One of those accusations was actually made by a whistleblower at the Justice Department who alleged that in a previous meeting with this ghoul (you really have to look at him, and I promise you’ll make the same physical conclusion that Bove looks like a ghoul), Bove “stated that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts ‘fuck you’ and ignore any orders to stop the hasty deportation of migrants to a prison to El Salvador. This complaint was reported on Tuesday, and when reminded of it, he denied any wrongdoing. Bove said, “I don’t think there’s any validity to the suggestion that that whistleblower complaint filed yesterday calls into question my qualifications to serve as a circuit judge.”

For the past six months, Bove has served as a high-ranking official in the Justice Department. In that very short time, he has proven himself to be a reliable lackey for the president – which should instantly disqualify him for the job – and also has been embroiled in a series of major controversies – the major one being dropping federal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams which seems as tainted as curdled milk. He has also investigated officials who worked on cases related to January 6, 2021 and pursued Dump’s deportation goals in ways that prompted a whistleblower to allege Bove intended to ignore court orders and mislead federal judges.

Here is this unworthy candidate for a position on the circuit court saying that the decision to drop charges against Adams was based on a “substantiated” concern “on the weaponization of the criminal justice system” in the case, though he did not elaborate. Anyone with a brain knows that this administration yells weaponization of the justice system only when it pertains to real cases against them, so no one is fooled by the dropping of charges against this corrupt mayor who will not serve a second term because of this development. People know that he received a pro quid pro from the Dump administration in these charges being so magically dropped. That is why he will not receive a second term; he’s irrevocably tainted from that moment on.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) lambasted Bove for not further explaining those decisions when pressed during the hearing, including over questions of whether there was an element of quid pro quo in dropping the charges against Adams. Blumenthal fumed, “I am absolutely flabbergasted that you would come before this committee and refuse to tell us basic facts about a case that is at the core of the challenges to the appearance of impropriety that should disqualify you.”

If confirmed, Bove would be one of roughly a dozen of judges with the power to review federal cases being appealed in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the Virgin Islands.

Bove denied ever telling this whistleblower that he shouldn’t obey court orders. This came out during a heated exchange with Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA).

Considering how all of Dump’s appointees have been confirmed, despite serious reservations about their worthiness in all of these nominations, I would be shocked if Bove is not confirmed, despite serious reservations about his qualifications for the job. Another sad day for America if he is confirmed!

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Tuesday, June 24, 2025. I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog that today is New York’s mayoral primary where polls have closed at 9. Where the city was still gripped in 98-degree heat, but that didn’t stop Elliot and me from voting earlier than usual since I woke up at 7:40 which is not the usual time when I wake up. So by 9, we trundled off to the elementary school where Elliot volunteers for a remarkable kindergarten teacher at P.S. 196. Before we voted downstairs, Elliot paid a visit to this teacher on the first floor and I could hear her kids say to Elliot, “Hi, Mr. B.” Then he walked in and hugged his colleague, “Irma.” I followed Elliot into the room and hugged and kissed Irma and was immediately greeted by a young girl who asked how I was related to Elliot. Boy, was she curious. She first inquired if I were a cousin, I believe, then asked if I were a friend. I thought it was easier to say the latter and leave it at that.

Actually, temperatures reached a high of 100 today and I went out at least four times. The first time was to vote; the other times had to do with going to the bank, getting a pedicure, and then going out and having dinner at a local Chinese restaurant since no one was cooking today. I even had to drive to Staples to buy a whole new set of cartridges since my printer warned me yesterday that two cartridges were depleted. I even stupidly sat outside for a very brief spell to read my new book on the Astor family, written by Anderson Cooper, but bounced up as the temperature got sultrier and sultrier. I had just called my friend “Harvey,” whom I was supposed to have met in the city, but this get-together I canceled because of the heat. I was not going to stand on a subway platform where the temps might have been over 100 degrees. And I’m sure they were!

I have not been personally engaged in the mayoralty race because of obvious concern of what’s happening on the national level with this current fascistic regime, so excuse me for not writing about it. An online article in the Mirror provides some early results of the race for mayor and they are quite interesting. The article is written by Falyn Stempler and it’s entitled “Zohran Mamdani leading in early NYC mayoral race exit polls followed by Andrew Cuomo.” As I said, these early results are quite intriguing.

The article states in the first paragraph that Mamdani is currently leading in early exit polling for New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary race. This candidate is a democratic socialist and he has been endorsed by such progressive figures as Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and former DNC Vice Chair David Hogg (formerly a survivor of the Parkland high school shooting in Florida on February 14, 2018), who currently leads with 43.8 percent of the votes, followed by former NYC Governor Andrew Cuomo (35.8 percent), NYC Comptroller Brad Lander (11.7 percent), and NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (4.1 percent), according to the Associated Press.

These results reflect approximately 84 percent of votes cast, totaling over 866,000 voters. I’m not sure if that’s an impressive number, considering how many registered Democrats there are in the city.

These results will only reflect the voter’s first choice, including mail-in ballots processed by June 20. The full ranked-choice tabulations will not be available until the beginning of next week.

In the ranked voting system, if no candidate is the first choice on a majority of ballots, then the election will advance to ranked voting.

If Mamdani wins, his would be a historic feat for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party as it challenges establishment figure Cuomo who led the city through the horrific COVID-19 pandemic. Cuomo, 67, also faces nearly a dozen accusations of sexual harassment.

Mamdani, 33, is currently a New York State Assembly member who is a registered democratic socialist. He was born in Uganda to a Muslim-Indian family and raised in New York City.

He champions working-class causes and has focused his campaign on the cost-of-living crisis. Among his other progressive proposals are creating affordable housing and free childcare, raising the minimum wage, offering free public bus transit, and creating city-run supermarket stores, according to his website.

If elected, he will be this city’s first Muslim mayor and it highlights the split within the Democratic Party’s older entrenched faction and a new, younger one, as embodied by Mamdani and other young progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Oops, an update: Cuomo has indeed lost the primary and he has conceded to Mamdani. Very interesting. Maybe this young man’s victory has all the earmarks of a fucking backlash to Chump’s supposed victory in November.

Today we heard an actual sitting president use the F-bomb in comments he made to reporters in which he condemned both Israel and Iran for the unraveling of the ceasefire that he supposedly brokered between the two warring nations. But now both Israel and Iran said they will not break the ceasefire unless the other does first, after the two countries traded accusations of truce violations. So Dump lashed out at both parties, saying, in fury, “They don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.” This was heard around the world, as parents will now have to explain to their children how their president can stoop to such vulgar language like everyone else. Maybe this toddler was responding to the reports that those military strikes he deployed on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities did not destroy the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months, not years. The assessment was done by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm. But we all know that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said earlier that Iran’s nuclear ambitions “have been obliterated.” Maybe they were obliterated – but only in his head.

Tomorrow I was going to see my Long Island friend “Jake” and not write my blog since I usually spend at least 12 hours with him, always ending up coming home past midnight generally. But my friend called me to cancel because of the expected heat and other reasons I won’t mention here. “But I already bought my train ticket,” I told him. Jake responded that it is still good for several months; he’s right – I checked. So we rescheduled to get together in two weeks: on Wednesday, July 9. That’s fine with me; I didn’t really want to ride the subway to the Jamaica LIRR train station. So I can now go to my comic book store as planned.

I should see you tomorrow then if nothing else arises out of the blue.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Monday, June 23, 2025. This is my first blog since Thursday, June 19, 2025, not because Elliot and I went away or – God forbid – I was suffering from malaise or anything like that. (Since Dump was reelected, I have truly been suffering from unrepressed anger and gargantuan disillusionment over my fellow Americans who would stoop to bring this convicted felon back into the White House.) As I said when we journeyed to Norway and Europe in early May, no one I spoke to had any words of approbation for this criminal governing this country until 2028.

The reason for this mysterious lapse in the blog had everything to do with a nonfunctioning keyboard that began Thursday night when I decided to restart the computer after I saw my screen flickering for some strange reason. After I did that, I restarted the computer, went into my half of the computer, and then promptly learned my keyboard stopped typing. I couldn’t understand why. This keyboard works with batteries; it’s not powered by plugging it into a power source. I changed the batteries first as a solution to the problem, and again, the keyboard wouldn’t type one letter. So I wasted away for two long days before I called a tech guy from two years earlier, who helped us install our new Mac device. He didn’t come until Saturday around 2 and stayed for about an hour or so and he was unable to do anything. So he told me he had to take the keyboard away with him to test it with another computer and wouldn’t return until today, Monday. I was without my little device for four days, and Elliot said I was experiencing computer withdrawal symptoms. I agreed with him. I couldn’t write my blog, read my email, or write anything else for those four days. I’m not content with finding these things on my cell phone.

So “Eddie” returned today, but much later than I had hoped. Even though he’s very good at what he does, he really didn’t respond to my texts right away; I had to resort to calling him this morning to find out when he was coming. So I did call him close to 11 to inquire when he was coming, and he said, around 1 to 2. I ran out in the sweltering heat for a quick bite and came home to wait for him. Actually, Eddie didn’t come until around 3:20 instead of the time he earlier indicated in his text to me. I waited until 3 and was just about to call him when he did text me to indicate his phone died and that he was going to come in about 20 minutes, which made it about 3:20.

When Eddie appeared, he had a new keyboard in his hand and mouse, and he sat at the computer desk and got me to sign into my screen name, and – voila’ – the keys were working as beautifully as they should. But my old keyboard was now fodder for the garbage bin. It was not working; Eddie declared it corrupted. He provided me with a brand new black keyboard whose keys actually feel a little less taut than the old one. However, I’m still not totally inured to the new Logitech mouse. That might take more time to get used to.

So look what I missed in just four days: The big news is this “peace” president’s stunning pronouncement that this country dropped several bunker buster bombs on Fordo, Iran’s heavily fortified nuclear facility on Saturday, June 21. I’m sure this “wonderful” news was greeted by cheers by most decent-loving Americans! Not at all!

So now calls for impeachment have actually grown since this decision made by this lying sack of shit who just stated he was giving the Iranian regime two weeks to return to the negotiating table. I think he said this lie a day before dropping those bombs. Could you imagine the uproar if this brazen lie were made by a Democratic president, say, Joe Biden? Those hypocritical, cowardly repugnicans would be calling for his head!

An online article in Common Dreams by Eloise Goldsmith covers this development in “Calls for Impeachment Grow as Trump Floats ‘Regime Change’ in Iran.” As the president took to social media on Sunday to suggest that regime change was on the table for Iran, calls from Democratic lawmakers and outside progressive voices have continued to grow calling for his impeachment following the weekend bombing of Iranian nuclear sites.

As for those claims that these Iranian facilities were completely destroyed, independent experts who viewed satellite imagery of the areas told NPR that the strike left Iran’s nuclear program damaged, but not destroyed. Unlike what the drunken Pete Hegseth who is our Secretary of Defense, who countered the facilities were “obliterated.” Not so, Pete; look at your own intelligence reports.

And there isn’t any proof that Iran was even attempting to build a nuclear weapon, according to U.S. intelligence agencies. Doesn’t this rash attack smack of our falsehood of “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq that were never there during the Bush era? Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a frequent vocal critic of this president, wrote on X, “It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) wrote on Sunday: “This is not about the merits of Iran’s nuclear program. No president has the authority to bomb another country that does not pose an imminent threat to the U.S. without the approval of Congress. This is an unambiguous impeachment offense.”

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) have introduced a war powers resolution in the U.S. House last week, asserting the constitutional requirement of congressional approval for any declaration of war. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced one in the Senate.

Countering the notion that this illiberal regime wants regime change in Iran, Defense Secretary Hegseth said in a press conference on Sunday, “This mission was not, and has not been, about regime change.” Vice President JD Vance said on NBC News on Sunday morning, “Our view has been very clear that we don’t want a regime change.” If you believe these liars about their true aim in a foreign country, then I have a bridge I can sell you cheap!

Well, I’m very glad to be back! I hope you missed me!

Stay cool tomorrow if you can. Temps are going to be in the vicinity of 99 degrees! I’ve already canceled plans on getting together with my friend “Harvey” tomorrow since I don’t want to be on a subway platform during the day.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, June 18, 2025. Yesterday, as I expressed here the day earlier, I was probably going to be absent from this venue since Elliot and I were out having drinks with our newest friend “Barry” at the oldest gay bar, Julius’s. We were expected to meet Barry around 5:45, so we left Queens around 4 in order to spend a little time in the West Village before going to our appointed destination. We first had coffee at a place on 6th Avenue near the IFC Center and then we walked to Three Lives & Company, a West 10th Street bookstore. No, I did not purchase another book this time. But I did take a photo of a new hardcover nonfiction book called Eminent Jews by David Denby that I found quite interesting. The book examines the lives and works of such eminent Jews like Leonard Bernstein, Mel Brooks, Betty Friedan, and Norman Mailer. There’s no telling, even, if I would ever buy this book since I’m knee-deep in this month’s gay men’s reading club selection, Evenings & Weekends, by Oisin McKenna. I’m already halfway through the book and I just began it on Father’s Day, June 15. I’m almost at 200 pages in.

We got to the bar close to 5:30 and we sat outside a short while before I decided to enter the establishment. When I did, I saw Barry sitting at a small round table by the window nursing a drink. I then called Elliot to come into the bar and he did. We all hugged and greeted each other with kisses and wide smiles and then sat down, immediately ordering a side of French fries for the table and nonalcoholic drinks for Elliot and myself. Then we filled each other in on what was happening in all of our lives. We hadn’t seen Barry for a very long time, I think since last year, but most of it had to do with Barry going back home to Pittsburgh (where he was born and raised) to help with the care of his father who suffered a fall in his house, breaking a hip. He had also done some traveling, as well as we did. I asked Barry how old his father is, and I gulped when he said, “68,” where I blurted that this is about my age. Barry just smiled at me when I confessed this.

We must have chatted for close to 90 minutes since we ordered another round of drinks and French fries. Unfortunately, Barry had to leave early since he still had to work tomorrow, though he said he was off on Thursday, which is Juneteenth. So we couldn’t have dinner at the bar (their food is not generally great, anyway), so Elliot and I decided to have supper at the Bus Stop Cafe, on Hudson Street. We knew of this place from many years ago, even before the pandemic, so we bid adieu to Barry and walked further West.

The walk took about 10 minutes or so. I had to put on my phone GPS, which still didn’t prevent us from asking a passerby for directions anyway. The Bus Stop Cafe is a glorified diner and the prices are, for the most part, reasonable. So I ordered the eggplant parmigiana and a cup of chicken soup. I couldn’t finish my entree’, so I brought half of it home. I did order coffee which wasn’t that good, unfortunately.

The time wasn’t too late, sometime close to 8:30, so I decided to do something different: go to a gay bar – the Monster – which I haven’t done in quite a long time. Elliot was content to go home, and I said goodbye to him by the bar. I peered into the window to see if the bar was crowded or not, and I did see people enjoying each other’s company, so I decided to enter the Monster without missing a step. The security person at the door had to look at my ID, and I had to laugh over this.

Since I really don’t drink, I went to the rear of the bar to listen to the pianist. I thus stood around looking awkward and just listened to the volunteers who took the mic to sing their hearts out. I talked to no one and no one talked to me. I gave myself a half CBS News

I’m not sure what time I got home. I lucked out with getting an E train to Forest Hills at the West 4th Street station. But I was too pooped to write my blog last night. Excuse me!

Boy, in just one day, the mental deficient president is now almost approving attack plans on Iran, which must horrify everyone here in this country. He told reporters today that he had not made a final decision on whether to strike the country. This is what the dementia-addled president said about declaring war on another country that has nuclear weapons. “I like to make the final decision one second before it’s due, because things change, especially with war. I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.” Is he contemplating whether to have spaghetti or not in this telling moment? You wouldn’t think he was actually weighing a crucial decision to put American troops at risk in a very dangerous endeavor. It sounds like he has no idea what he intends to do. Iran has said that it would “respond to any threat with a counter-threat.” This is madness that can hurdle us into World War III. Where are the rational lawmakers out there who can stop this crazed man? These quotes are selected from an online article in CBS News by James LaPorta entitled “Trump approved attack plans for Iran – but hasn’t made final decision to strike.”

So, hey, folks, all I can say is try to enjoy yourselves before we declare ourselves fighting in a Middle Eastern conflict that we shouldn’t ever be contemplating in the first place. You can thank this wishy-washy president who is accurately nicknamed “TACO”(Trump Always Chickens Out) Dump. Now he can’t even decide about thrusting the U.S. into a Middle Eastern war which is undoubtably not the right thing to do. The right thing to do in this situation is impeach the dumb bastard, in my humble opinion, before World War III does break out.

And just this from Lawrence O’Donnell, who on tonight’s show, The Last Word, just said about the so-called president: today he thought that the Declaration of Independence was written during the Civil War! Can you believe the stupidity here? Any third grader knows when both events occurred, or I should hope. But this president originally thought that the Continental Army had airports? Huh? Is he mentally all there? There is a YouTube clip of him actually saying this at one of his Nuremberg rallies. Go check it out.

And so it went!

Here is the book I was interested in at Three Lives & Company, on West 10th Street. Oops, you can see a glimpse of my red sneakers here too.

And So It Goes

Today is Monday, June 16, 2025. Yes, I was missing here yesterday because of it being Father’s Day and I wanted to spend some time with Elliot last night, even though it was just watching an old film together on Amazon Prime, 1997’s Wilde, a British biographical drama about the inimitable Oscar Wilde, the toast of the town in late 19th-century London until his shattering downfall after falling in love with Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas (a stunningly handsome Jude Law) and battling it out with Douglas’s homophobic father, the Marquess of Queensberry (Tom Wilkinson), in court and losing a libel suit against him when the truth comes out about Wilde’s penchant for young male lovers, even though he was married and had children. The actor tapped to portray the icon of Victorian glamor was Stephen Fry.

The day began nicely enough with Elliot preparing me French toast out of croissants. I also received an obligatory call from my son “Joshua” in the morning to wish me happy Father’s Day. We had an earnest man-to-man conversation about his present situation, of which I will not divulge here because of privacy concerns. He definitely would not approve of my disclosing what we talked about here, so I won’t.

In the afternoon, I decided to drive to Huntington, New York, to go to a favored bookstore, The Next Chapter, located on New York Avenue. Elliot was content staying home, so I walked to the garage to pick up the car. I had directions to the store printed out. And tried to follow them as best as I could without getting into an accident. I had the foolish tendency to look down at the paper, and I realized it could have been fatal to do so. However, there was so much traffic on the Grand Central Parkway and the Cross Island Parkway that I even considered returning without spending so much time on the highway stuck in traffic. I felt I didn’t have to do this; this was a Sunday and I didn’t have to be stuck in traffic.

However, I stayed the course and persevered and drove all the way to Huntington anyway. It must have taken me close to 85 minutes, instead of a little over 60 minutes. I finally parked on New York Avenue and stepped into a cafe to get a cup of coffee and a slice of nut cake. From there, I drove to The Next Chapter, but it was close to 4. I called Elliot and said I would probably come home around 7. I expected the return drive would be another hour or so. And I wouldn’t have had much time in the bookstore.

Actually, it was a good thing that I had less time to browse the shelves in The Next Chapter, so I couldn’t purchase more books. Pleasantly, I found out that a sale was going on that day and it consisted of putting as many books from the back room and records in your own shopping bag for a mere $20. Yesterday marked the last day, unfortunately, of the sale. I was able to resist the temptation to pack my new Strand bag with a countless number of books. From the back room, I just picked one, Quentin Crisp’s The Naked Civil Servant and Anderson Cooper’s Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune, written with Katherine Howe. This I found on the regular shelves. This was $7.98, while Crisp’s autobiography was only $2. Now it was time to leave the premises and drive home. Again, I encountered traffic on both the Long Island Expressway and the Northern State Parkway, and this time, I turned on my car GPS instead of using paper directions. It was a much wiser decision, I felt, than referring to printed directions.

To top off Father’s Day, Elliot prepared a dinner of home cooked roast beef and mashed potatoes for the both of us. The meal was very, very delicious, and that’s when we decided to watch the film. But first, I watched a little more of George Clooney in CNN’s live telecast of Good Night, and Good Luck from last week. This newest adaptation of the 2005 film couldn’t be more topical, with its themes of truth, journalistic integrity, and the fight against fear and discrimination during the incendiary McCarthy era. It tells the story of iconic journalist, Edward R. Murrow, clashing with the Wisconsin senator over baseless claims of communism. I watched the part where Clooney slams the senator on the CBS network for conducting a campaign of terror and intimidation in his incessant agenda of rooting out so-called communists in the federal government. The audience whooped and cheered after Clooney’s fearless speech, as the specter of what’s happening here in the United States was invoked in his address.

Now back to reality: in the wake of the despicable shootings in Minnesota, a U.S. senator, Utah Republican Mike Lee, is receiving a torrent of criticism after he sent a disturbing tweet about the Minnesota gunman who killed Democratic state former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and shot Democratic state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. An online article about this abominable senator appears in Daily Koss by Emily Singer entitled “GOP senator slammed for disgusting tweets about Minnesota shooting.”

This disgusting individual could not wait until the suspect’s motives were disclosed, so he tweeted out an image of the alleged murderer in the rubber mask he wore when he opened fire on the lawmakers. In text alongside the disturbing image, Lee wrote in the style of his fucking Dear Leader who can’t bother to check the correct spelling of someone’s name, “Nightmare on Waltz [sic] Street.” This fucking “senator” couldn’t even spell correctly Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz in his appalling tweet, especially when Walz’s name was also on the killer’s intended target list.

Another disgusting message this so-called lawmaker posted was another image of the killer in the rubber mask with the text, “This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way.” This message was posted to further the false GOP message that this 57-year-old lunatic was a Democrat; instead, the truth is that the murderer was a Dump-supporting, antiabortion zealot, a true detritus of MAGA. As more politicians are calling for lawmakers to ratchet down their rhetoric in the wake of this latest explosion of political violence, we have this stupid Mike Lee ratcheting up the rhetoric instead.

The article says it all, “Ultimately, it’s sick the lengths Republicans are going – including a U.S. senator – to gin up a false narrative absolving the Republican Party of responsibility in radicalizing Americans who commit violence in the name of their furthering their right-wing agenda.” It goes on to say that these cowardly republicans “are too irresponsible to accept that they are at fault for causing the climate that leads to political violence.” It concludes, “At the end of the day, however, this is what happens when someone like Trump is the leader of a political party.”

Of course, as true to form, sadly, the sitting insulter in chief has yet to call Walz to send his condolences over what just happened in his state. But this putrid, little man had the audacity, even, to attack Walz for “being a terrible governor.” How can anyone think this man is rational after this is beyond me.

Tomorrow Elliot and I plan a day out. We intend to meet our newest acquaintance, “Barry,” for either dinner and drinks. Also, we might go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for some special exhibits that Elliot is interested in seeing. Something on “Black Dandyism” and the other on chinoiserie. So I might not be here also tomorrow night, depending on how long we stay out with Barry.

So have a great Tuesday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is June 14, 2025, Flag Day, and the day when millions of fed-up Americans took to the streets to rise up against an unproclaimed king, Donald J. Chump. I won’t even mention his fucking “perade” (this is how the clown in chief spelled the word on his social platform) that he threw for himself in Washington, D.C., that cost millions in taxpayer dollars. Did anyone even watch it?

So I’m back from protesting with possibly 250,000 angry New Yorkers in the intermittent rain. Unlike Los Angeles, we had no pushback from the scores of police officers assigned to the march. Everyone was courteous, friendly, and feeling a little soggy from the rain that fell from 2 through about 4:20, the time when I finally reached Madison Square Park. When the march was over, I experienced a fallen flag (it fell off its pole), a sign that slipped from my grasp (the one that said, “No kings are welcomed here!” with a picture of Dump in full military regalia goose-stepping on a missile that I cut from an article in The Week), and what I thought to be a broken umbrella. Thank God it functioned after the demonstration was over. It was very difficult to keep one sign aloft as I marched with thousands of New Yorkers down Fifth Avenue. I tried to make the best of it. I was supposed to have met up with a member from my phantom group and, as expected, I never met him. I got to Cha Cha Matcha before 1:45 and waited until about 2 before I waded into the line of protesters.

After the march, I had to grab a little lunch, so I walked into a McDonald’s on 23rd Street. I walked down to Barnes & Noble on 16th Street to use the restroom and then walked to 13th Street to buy a ticket for 1980’s Cruising at the Quad Theater. The film was scheduled to go on at 7, so I walked to the Donut Pub for a cup of coffee and an old-fashioned donut.

This is the film that drew waves of protest when it opened 45 years ago, in which Al Pacino portrays straight patrolman Steve Burns who is offered an assignment by the chief of police (Paul Sorvino) to go undercover to apprehend a sicko who is stabbing homosexuals in the S&M leather underworld. Seeing this many years later, I thought Pacino was very underwhelming and restrained as the officer who is involved with Karen Allen on the side, but undergoes some sort of metamorphosis as he is expected to perform in his novel guise as a promiscuous gay man. He cannot tell his girlfriend, Nancy (Allen) about his new, dangerous assignment. You never really see Pacino doing anything with his hookups. He was too big a star to have him shed his clothes for an on-screen sexual encounter. I’m not sure if the original film was rated X; this copy received an R rating. Overall, the film is not very satisfying, even, as a procedural or as a thriller. The cinematography is very grainy too. But it’s still a surprise that the movie was directed by William Friedkin who directed The Exorcist in 1973. He did have, however, an early iconic gay film success in The Boys in the Band from 1969. I’m glad, however, I saw this artifact from 45 years ago during Pride Month.

Now I’m tired from this exhausting day. One good thing about the weather, if you can say it, is that it wasn’t warm as it was on April 19. I could have done without the rain, though.

As you know, this day began terribly with the killings of two lawmakers in Minnesota. “This is an act of targeted political violence,” as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has indicated. A masked gunman disguised as a police officer killed the state representative and her husband and wounded a state senator and his wife. The suspect has now been identified as a 57-year-old man. Blame for this repulsive act should be directed toward the occupant in the White House whose own rhetoric is so inflammatory that he has allowed extremism in his far-right supporters to flourish and fester throughout the land! It’s time that ALL elected lawmakers take a stand against this awful trend.

Anyway, that’s enough from me on this very long day! For those who celebrate, have a great Father’s Day tomorrow.

And so it went!

Don’t you just love this sign? I talked to this woman at the end of the demonstration.

This shot was taken at the end of the march, in Madison Square Park.

Here’s some view of the size of the crowd at today’s “No Kings” protest.

This is one of the best signs I saw today at the protest.

These young women didn’t mind my taking a picture of their faces and their creative sign.

I do like the “Flush Trump” sign, don’t you?

And So It Goes

Today is Friday, June 13, 2025, in which a monumental polysyllabic word applies: paraskevidekatriaphobia, which translates to fear of Friday the 13th. Today then Elliot and I braved the wrath of the gods by driving to Roosevelt Field, in Garden City, Long Island, to purchase a Father’s Day gift for me and to buy some new bathroom towels. We also dined at the Cheesecake Factory around 3. Thank god, there were no incidents as we drove back and forth from Queens to Long Island; however, there were traffic snarls in both directions.

Yesterday I was indeed absent from this venue since I spent the day with my new friend from the gay men’s reading club whom I’ve dubbed “Daniel.” However, I left Elliot much earlier, thinking I would see a film at the Quad, on 13th Street, but eschewed doing that because I believed I wouldn’t have enough time to get to 43rd Street where I was supposed to have met Daniel at 6:15.

Instead of seeing Bad Shabbos, a new comedy, I went to the Strand which is very close to the Quad Cinema. I browsed the shelves outside and saw a number of people waiting on line in order to sell their used books. I almost picked up a book from outside: Calvin Trillin’s The Lede: Dispatches from a Life in the Press which seemed interesting to me. However, I put it back when I located the book I need to read for the group this month, Evenings & Weekends, by Oisin McKenna on the fiction shelf inside the store. I debated with myself whether I should buy the book or not and I decided, why not? I still didn’t hear from the local library about my claim to the book, in which I was placed at Number 4 in line to get the book from another branch location. It’s already the 13th of the month, and I usually begin reading the book on the 15th, which would be Father’s Day this Sunday. So I took the first of two copies I could find and took it to the front desk. I did get a nice, red Strand shopping bag, all for a $1 or so.

After leaving the Strand, I decided I had enough time to walk to the Mermaid Oyster Bar, which was on 43rd Street and Times Square. So I walked up 6th Avenue from 14th Street to 43rd, where I darted into a pizza parlor to get a slice. The parlor had no functioning air conditioning, and it was slightly uncomfortable sitting there, but I had only one slice which is all that I needed.

I got to the restaurant slightly early: around 6:05, so I waited outside for Daniel. I texted him around the appointed time to inform him that I was waiting outside, and he responded by saying he would be a few minutes late. “Could you go inside and ask to be seated?” he asked. I did so and was escorted to a table in the back.

My wait for Daniel was brief; he came in a little after 6:20. He apologized, saying he came back after seeing a play at the Paper Mill Playhouse, in Millburn, New Jersey, and returned home to take a nap, making him slightly late for our rendezvous. I said there was no problem.

Daniel immediately noted – like I did – how noisy the restaurant was. It was also very crowded for a Thursday evening. My new acquaintance also mulled changing restaurants because of how noisy it was and because of its high prices. To cut costs then, we shared a hefty salad between us and ordered the same dish: linguine and clams. Daniel noted how spicy the linguine was and I agreed with him. We did not order drinks or dessert since Daniel made another error: he believed the play we were seeing was at “Town Hall,” not City Center, which was on 55th Street. Town Hall is actually right up the block from the restaurant, but City Center was 12 blocks away. Again, I did not complain!

So we finished our dinner close to 7:30 and rushed out of the Mermaid Oyster Bar and walked to the playhouse on 55th Street. We took 6th Avenue like I did earlier in the day and had to dodge huge crowds just shambling along.

When we finally arrived at our destination, we had to join a long line of theatergoers waiting to pick up tickets for that evening’s performance. We first arrive in the theater close to curtain raising, which is at 8. We have good seats since we’re in Aisle L in the Orchestra section, where we’ve only paid $52. From the entrance of the principal player of this very personal narrative, Rob Madge (whose theatrical run began in London, by the way), the audience reaction was one of sheer approbation. It was as if Madge had only family members in the audience. Since from the very first moment he bares his cockney-accented voice, the audience roars with great approval. At first, I couldn’t understand why since the 80-minute, one-act play consists of Madge introducing home videos that he took as a happy-go-lucky, theatrical child of five. Every flamboyant performance is recorded with a video camera in the early aughts. What is truly amazing about this play is how Madge’s own parents took part in his theatrical productions. For me, it was very, very poignant as his big bear of a dad dons wig after wig to portray a character in his son’s production.

Madge does have a serviceable voice as he sings several ballads proclaiming his joy of identifying himself as queer at a very early age (even though in the playbill’s credits, he’s listed as being “nonbinary”). In one song, he sings about “Why does it have to be a choice of just two?” when this Disney buff wants to wear a yellow dress from the Beauty and the Beast, but his dad buys him a Beast costume instead. Eventually, his own grandma comes around and sews him a yellow dress which he lovingly presents to the audience from his chest of memories. He even shares teacher’s notes written in report cards to his parents from kindergarten and up in which mention is made about his sense of theatricality and how it might turn off his peers. This is when his school discourages Madge’s theatricality in which it “won’t help him make friends.” So there is a brief moment when Madge informs the audience that he put away his costumes, wigs, and so on, and tried to blend in with everyone else in school. However, it is his grandparents who come to the rescue when they bring an elaborate puppet theater to his home in Coventry for a Christmas present. Madge then returns to putting on shows but this time with puppets. I think everyone in the audience could not help but shed a tear when this present is given to young Madge.

This coming-of-age narrative is just the right balm everyone needs for Pride Month and I urge you all to see it. When our rights are being threatened by this current administration, it’s totally refreshing to see this ode to loving parenting in which Rob Madge received every iota of support from a loving mother and father, plus his extended family. It’s almost like a fairy tale!

As the play ended a little before 9:30, we decided to have a repast at the Carnegie Diner, on West 57th Street. We shared tiramisu cake and I had coffee.

The subway station was right outside, so we went in together, and then separated when he took a downtown train and I took an R to Queens Plaza. I didn’t get home until around 11:35.

Tomorrow, as you might already know, marks the massive number – about 2,000 – of protests planned in conjunction with the Orange Cheeto’s parade to himself. I will be marching here in New York, even though rain is forecasted, but as I just heard on MSNBC, there is a 90 percent chance of rain forecasted in Washington, D.C., on the occasion of this wasteful display of dictatorial military might. I hope then that the damn thing will be rained out, but Trumpilini has already said his parade will go on, rain or shine. Just remember this fact: the coward in chief refused to attend a ceremony honoring fallen American World War I soldiers at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery because of rain. Can you see him outside in the rain at this useless ceremony?

I wish everyone who is marching somewhere tomorrow godspeed and good luck.

And so it went!

Here is the playbill from the play I just saw.

Here is Rob Madge in all of his glory in his Ariel costume. This was at the end of the show. Naturally, he received a standing ovation.