Tuesday, November 2, 2010
11-2-10 Sitting next to Danny on the couch. Scribbled on sticky-notes
there is a calm
these feelings will ebb
and there will be a sunrise
a cool breeze that smells of sweetly saturated rain
a damn world receives only that which it can hold
After the glitter fades
after the magic wears off
You'll see with wanton eyes
you'll see with a former view
though what you see is new
the world has dealt with it before
this hand has been played
this game has been won
before you ever stepped on the stage
Consider for a moment
the possibility that your key
does not open this door
and perhaps this door is closed
so that you could open others
It takes conviction and balls
to follow your own path
to be true to thine self
to step off what you've known
and into a bottomless infinity
these things we do we don't timidly
because without belief
our eyes close tiredly
so into a new world I step
on to a new path, yet again
"Everybody, they love a winner
so nobody loved me.
Lady Peaceful, Lady Happy that's what I long to be.
All the odds are, they're in my favor.
Something's bound to begin
It's gonna happen, happen some time.
Maybe this time I'll win!"
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
God is in the People
I spent a big portion of my life not believing in god. I refuted the existence of existential power mostly because I was angry. I spent my youth in the Roman Catholic faith, and watched TV as preacher after preacher would condemn my very being. I was an abomination, a disgrace, a child molester, a “Gay Agenda pusher,” a scorn on the face of the earth. Hearing this made me hate those preachers more than they hated me. Because I hated them, I hated the people who listened and believed in them. Because I hated so many people, I was full of rage, and because I was scared I had no outlet to release my rage upon.
Then, when I was 16, I started taking care of people. My patients couldn’t take care of themselves, and despite their personal beliefs, they needed me. I could write a novel about all my job as taught me, and how it’s not just a job, but the biggest thing I have learned is this: If you can see passed people’s outsides, passed their prejudices and misguided notions, you will see that we are all people who need one another from time to time.
That change in understanding is what I believe god is. The human ability to change and understand.
I have friends that have held me as I wept, for no other reason than they love me. That’s God.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
This mornings Pathos
Recently the news has covered several tragedies of Queer youth; Children deciding that the future is not worth seeing because the present presents too heavy a burden to bear. I’ve heard a lot of people talk about the selfishness of suicide, and it’s repricutions to those tied to an individual who takes their life. I’ve also heard people talk about bullying being the main cause of such grief, and how we must end the torment and taunting that happens on our “play grounds.”
Now, I am terribly sorry that are souls in this world who feel tormented most by something as natural, beautiful, and powerful as their sexuality. I don’t think that bullying for bulling’s sake has a place in our interpersonal relations, and I hope that one day we’ll all hold hands and sing the praises of peace. That day isn’t today, however, and I live in a reality that reinforces my belief that it will take a lot of time, hard work, and perseverance to achieve even a smidgen of that utopian dream.
When I was in elementary and middle school I was made fun of not only because I was an effeminate male who didn’t conform to the standard society had put forth for me, but also because I was socially awkward and took a lot of tumbles in finding my way around the world. There’s no way in hell I’m going to recount these for your reading pleasure, but I will say that what I endured and learned at that time, though I didn’t know it then, helped shape the person I am today, and is responsible for some of the character attributes I am most proud of. I learned how to charm-and-disarm with humor and witty repartee and saved myself. Not everybody can do this, I know.
I don’t think you can stop teasing and social struggles youth’s culture. I do think we can recognize when teasing turns into bullying, and when someone is being harassed. It’s not difficult to train educators in our children’s schools to notice when a problem occurs. It’s not hard to have a good-old-fashioned gymnasium assembly where someone trying way too hard to be ‘cool’ talks to kids about harassment, and what to do if you feel threatened, and that there are people to talk to. These are easy things that would do so much to help prevent some of this tragedy.
What’s more difficult is changing the mind of the educator who sees no problem when a student is called a “Fag” on a daily basis. The educator who turns a blind eye to a student who is a little too reserved because they have 83 tests to grade and are out of red ink. What’s more difficult is making sure those 10 kids out of 500 that feel hated for something they didn’t choose, know that there is someone who understands and cares.
I have a simple message: “It gets better” is a load of bullshit thicker than Dena Cass’s eye shadow. It’s a message I want to believe, but I can’t. It doesn’t get better if you do nothing about it. The situation for Queer kids can’t/wont improve as long as every single message thrown at us on a daily basis revolves around a heterosexual norm. There’s this, the global problem, and a smaller more tangible local problem. You can get involved locally and impact global change. You can come out of the closet and be brave and strong. You can stand up for someone. You can stand up for yourself.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
I'm the only one who'd walk across a fire for you!
The hardest times come when I lose innocence; believing, perhaps innocently, that there was none left to lose.
Fragility is something you must grow out of. Like everything fragile, sometimes you break. There are gaps of putty holding you together. Not until you are fired in the kiln do you grow hard and learn how to hold water.
Love is not a patient, kind thing. Love is vigorous and ferocious. Love is visceral and cannot be forced. Love is the captivating emotion.
Anger is only useful if you are powerful enough to channel it. Anger can define your intentions. Anger will ache and masquerade as many things.
An infatuation can electrify you. Thousands of volts are screaming through you. Once grounded, letting go can be impossible.
To grow is to understand that nothing is perfect. Good, bad, ugly and unfathomable exist in all things.
Perspective requires growth. Perspective changes as we do, backing up from the image until we see new shapes. As those shapes change, so does our interpretation.
“No matter what bothers you now, in a year you will laugh at it” –Joan Rivers
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
There's a collective conscientiousness among young gay men. Be thin, beautiful, tan and tight. Dance well, hold your liquor, never hesitate with a witty come-back, and above all else, make "it' about you. This has existed since time began; when the first neanderthal looked out over the rocky plain and saw a young man sunning himself on a boulder, He felt a quiver beneath his beaver pelt, and next thing you know the rocks are covered in cum.
Sex is everywhere in our culture. It drives our purchases, our likes and dislikes, and is the reason every gay man thinks he's fat. With us, sex is so in your face because for so long we are told what we desire is abnormal. Sleeping Beauty didn't wake up because some big burly butch Dyke kissed her and built her a deck. Though you knew they were fucking, Batman and Robin never kissed each other after they saved a life.
So our PRIDE parades have 95% naked men dancing in bubbles, and if you ever watched the L Word, you know that getting fingered at the Opera can create white the climax during the Aria.
On top of all this sexual aggression and pressure to fit into it, drugs are everywhere you look. Pot, cocaine, and crystal being the en vogue drugs of today. One can abstain from any or all of these and be fine, but there is something magical about a Rihanna Remix at 1:30 AM mixed with too much booze that tends to make one lose their inhibitions in a quick hurry. I've seen young kids be carried off of a dance floor covered in their own vomit, and no one misses a beat.
Danger is the third lady at this table. Danger and thrill are what make everything worth it. It's why you go home with the guy you just met at the bar 15 minutes ago. It's why you drink too much around sweaty people you don't know and dance so hard your legs hurt the next morning. It's walking down the street holding hands with your significant other. It's hanging a rainbow flag from your office balcony. It's getting a rainbow tattoo. Danger is the lube that makes everything slip into the place where it feels just right. Danger is the fear that you won't be able to pick up anybody at the bar, and that's why you work out ten times harder, and eat one less meal.
Sex, drugs, and danger, everything we hold dear. This is a slice of what it's like to be queer, young, and beautiful.
Friday, June 18, 2010
A Dream


my main goal is this whole non profit dorm deal: When you are cast out it's easy to feel like no one loves you. It's easy to let that pain turn into anger, let that anger boil over, consume you and lead you to make choices that aren't in your best interest. People need to know they are loved, and sometimes your parents aren't the best to raise you. sometimes it takes a village. I wanna see that village thrive, and beautiful people come out of it
I'm sick and tired of seeing HIV rates rise, Drug abuse rise, Physical abuse and suicide rise. I'm god damned tired of it.and i want to do something about it
For years it has been my dream to open a place where people who are cast out from their homes can find a new place to live. Find a place to grow up, a place to thrive and discover themselves.
Too many people in our community get pushed out of their families. When you lose the people who you thought loved you, it's easy to feel alone. When you feel alone it's easy to find comfort it all the wrong places. Often that lonely feeling breeds anger, which manifests into making decisions that aren't in your best interest. we've all been there, we've all done it.
I want there to be a place where kids can get through school, learn who they are, and become prepared young adults in the process.
It's just a dream
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Hey, Hey! I saved the world today.
For twenty two years
For you to come and confront these fears
Is this fate or am I dreaming
I shouldn’t be but it’s you I’m believing
My past lives don’t count tonight
Tomorrow we’ll regret what we did in the moonlight
Alright
I’m ready
Bring this on
I’m not stopping
Till the beat turns on
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Death :)
I can tell you that it’s not at all beautiful. The human body is an amazing thing. Whatever force is perpetualising that heart beat is surely not of this world. But when that force is removed, the body shows its many flaws. It’s probably because evolution is not concerned with death; the body is not capable of holding itself together. Due to evolutions disregard for it, I think it’s very important we respect the dead. Though it’s a vacant house, once those rooms were filled with laughter and pain, love and loss, and history matters.
I can tell you the living are much more difficult to handle than the dead. People will go through Anger, Denial, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. This we know. What is unknown is how long it takes you to get from stage to stage. Or if you’ll be able to handle them at all. It’s been my experience that people have the most trouble with Anger and Depression/Bargaining. You can tell yourself that you’re fine as much as you want, but we are creatures of many lies. I think folk have problems accepting death in our culture because of how we view it, and how we process it. Death is removed from us entirely. Sometimes you see a body once or twice before a burial or cremation, but you don’t have to prepare it. When a family or loved ones prepared a body after death, there is a certain knowing that occurs, a certain closure.
I am a friend of death. I am familiar with her and I understand how she works. I have seen her take the breath of life. I have seen her end relationships, cause people, sometimes very good people, valuable people, to make impossible decisions. I have seen her cause unending pain. She’s given release, and given satisfaction. She’s given closure, and she’s given money.
Death has made me think a great deal about the concept of value and importance. Value means worth, or the ability to create a return on the investment of life. Importance is having the ability to gain value even if not valuable at the time. Not to separate people out, because on the whole I don’t like ranking systems. I’m being told by a boy that I need to give more examples and less philosophy, so I shall:
**kinda stole this from grey’s but that season finale was bad ass.
If there are two people with equal injuries, say Aortic tear with an unknown amount of internal bleeding in the thoracic cavity. One cardio-thoracic surgeon, both patients will not remain stable long enough for her to operate.
Patient A: female 32 orthopedic surgeons who has saved and changed many lives.
Patient B: Male 28, jealous ex who couldn’t let anyone have her if he couldn’t have her. He’s an angry Panda who usually spends his evenings playing video games and jacking off. Works at Jefferson’s, as a bus boy.
Who do you save? Well I guess I showed my bias.
Anyway. Value is a tumbler half full of gin. Importance is a tumbler sitting next to a bottle.
As I currently feel, all life is important. Some lives have more value than others.
Xoxo Natey
Friday, May 21, 2010
5-20
not in an awkward manner
but just so i can remember the curves of your face
Wasted, we talked about boys and the bars
kept asking, "you okay?" "you good"
"Yea, baby i'm good"
I let things slide with you that i don't with others
and that creates friction within my mind
but you are so god damned beautiful
though it's impossible that you'd be mine.
I mean really,
the odds of me winning this game are very slim to none.
I"ll try anything once is what i felt
and in to you i leapt
Le'ts hope to god i don't love you i thought
as on your chest i slept.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
My Best Dress
Boys break unevenly and Gurls revel in their charms
Smoke swirls ‘round this crowded bar while I’m dancing in your arms
We decided not long ago to make a go of it
I let down my battered walls and showed you all my bullshit
Now I fear I’ve not far to fall till I hit solid ground
When I do I’ll break so big the pieces wont be found
I’m the wearer of many masks I rarely show my face
You have dealt so many cards this hole has found it’s ace
Sometimes you’re scared to talk to me afraid I might lash out
But my truth is in my emotions, they’re what I’m all about
As we’re dancing cheek to cheek there’s something I must confess
I knew that I’d find you, when I put on my best dress
This town has taken it’s toll on us so many souls you can’t trust
I got tangled up too tight and choked off with lust
Many women have tried to take me many men have had their chance
You got all of me tonight with just one dance
Your body fits right into mine you kiss me ‘till I melt
Your heart pounds in time with mine your hand undoes my belt
In the morning I might regret you who knows what the sun will bring
But the moon’s up now so who gives a damn I’m taking off my things
All across this big blue rock people claim they are the best
I knew that I’d find you when I put on my best dress
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Debut Haus
We looked at two places yesterday. A powder blue ranch that was atrosh and way too tiny, and then the Haus. It's huge. You walk up a classic porch off an angled exterior into the living room. Through the living room you enter a foyer. To your left is a family room, to your right the stairs leading to the second floor. The kitchen isn't enormous, but doesn't feel tight. The natural lighting in the house makes each room light up from the floor up. This reminds me of my parent's house. The bath is off of the kitchen, followed by a washroom and a the steps leading to the basement. The bath is average size and can accommodate two people comfortably. Washroom will fit a washer and dryer easily with room to spare. Basement isn't finished, but a typical Iowa basement. It'll do in a Twister.
Up the stairs to the 2nd floor, you see a small child-sized room painted blue. It will need to be repainted, but has plenty of light and will fit the munchkin well. Across the landing is the master bedroom. Large angular ceilings and windows on each wall. To the left and down a short hall is the secondary bedroom. A walk-closet, and not small. Do-able.
I'm not sure who's moving into the Master yet. It's affordable. I can have pets. I can smoke in the house, though I won't with the yungin 'round. 'Cuz I just cant.
My roomate is great. We share the same sense of humor, and over all view of the world. We have similar goals and similar interests. IE, We're good friends, and I'm uber excited.
I'm concerned about a friend of mine. He's been cruising the ManHunt lately trolling for 3-somes. He's using it as a sociological experiment, so far, but I fear he'll end up getting into "Mommy and Daughter" role play soon.
I really want a dog. I've lived without one for 5 years, and I miss it lots and lots. Logic isn't really applicable here.
I've got to clean and pack today. Let's see if that happens.
xoxo
Natey