STONEWALL 2015 - THE TRAVESTY

Thoughtful interview with actor praised by all for performance in film failing at box office that "Vanity Fair called the movie "terribly offensive, and offensively terrible," while The Times said it "shortchanges [the] pivotal gay rights moment." Many on social media added their thoughts using the trash can emoji to express their disdain. I agree with the critics; it's a travesty and abomination and more detailed comments I posted elsewhere. But the actor makes a point here that reflects my thinking after reading the immense number of comments on the film's FB page and the queerty web site: discussion of the events portrayed and the status of gay and transgender's in today's society is sorely needed.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-stonewall-jonny-beauchamp-20151001-story.html

More from the article reflecting my point of view and the poor box office: By featuring the fictional character as the main instigator of the riots — though most accepted accounts attribute that role to drag queens, street kids and transgender women of color — online backlash accused the film of erasing an already marginalized minority within the LGBT community.

An online petition calling for a boycott of the picture seems to have had an effect, with "Stonewall" pulling in only $112,414 in its first weekend. That's an average of $871 per screen of the 129 screens in its limited release, according to box-office figures."

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153476351576622&set=a.10151494463681622.450599.582911621&type=3&theater 


so many comments - really it's overwhelming - on the FB page of of the new stonewall movie it was hard to find mine. they are overwhelmingly negative. seems to me the director could have been creative and not so lazy and created an original story based on the era based on original characters and who could whine. plenty but that's beside the point. you can't blame an original story for distorting history it's not meant to recreate. he found it easier to take an actual historical event - and not just any event but the most significant event in modern LGBT history and created a fictional white character because focus groups found that straight people were more comfortable seeing white guys throw bricks than black or puerto rican trans. that's not saying there weren't white people there, there were plenty. nor i am saying that the movie excludes portrayals of black and PR trans - there are plenty. the fact that the director is gay makes it worse to me and i question his integrity and self esteem. why should we care what straights think - our rights are enshrined in the Constitution not dependent on the evolution of thinking among straights. sure acceptance helps but how does it help to make gay characters so white washed and straight acting to gain acceptance among straights who will then expect real gay people to be like those portrayed in the movie and then when they meet real gay people who are not like that how does that help? it doesn't it's counterproductive and oppressive and i am disgusted. i am not telling anyone what to do this is my view. you can like, or positively comment, or wittily or creatively comment supportively or articulately present another point of view that is not negative, or you can move on.
I finally found the movie i was thinking of and remember it as being fictional yet authentic, inclusive, historic and trail blazing. Recommend Stonewall 1995 or the PBS documentary Stonewall Uprising and the documented articles accurately describe history that occurred in the life time of so many still living today, including the actual rioters and brick throwers and demonstrators so distorted by this film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114550/

Just ran across this on the film maker's own FB page where he's getting trashed worse than on the movie or queerty page; very amusing and fulfilling, and best of all, for those like me a little slow at recognizing parody when i see it - it says Parody right on the title.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3PcbgNpJIk&feature=share

THOUGHTS ON LA COUNTY HEALTHCARE CONSOLIDATION/MEMORIES OF OCR ENFORCEMENT HISTORY OR LACK THEREOF

MItch is a good man who did a great job in SF as director of the AIDS office and then SFDPH. I was shocked but plesaed that LA hired him but for awhile he seemed to be swallowed up. I think the reorganization makes sense, could be more efficient and allow for better coordination. Mental health is always fighting for and deserving of more resources; his opposition to forcibly medicate persons with mental illness is not relevant to the re-org. 

http://www.latimes.com/local/countygovernment/la-me-mitch-katz-20150929-story.html

 My biggest pet peeve with LA County Health and Hospitals - lack of qualified and proficient interpreters for patients and family members with limited-English proficiency required by Federal and often but too frequently not effectively enforced by OCR, the agency I worked for. In recent years there were too many anecdotes about the lack of qualified Spanish-speaking interpreters in LA County-USC (General Hospital) a facility surrounded by perhaps the largest Latino community in the nation and a large number of Spanish speaking staff.

Just as pathetically, many doctors reported the failure of their attempt at interpretation by computer or over the internet as being woefully inadequate, and worse, inaccurate. Admittedly I was forcefully passionate on this issue from the beginning, before HIV arose, envisioning an elderly non-English speaker in a hospital unable to communicate or learn English. OCR did a lot of good on this issue in a lot of places over the years. My blog may have the description of our significant effective intervention in Phoenix with many hospitals in 2002 shortly after the LA office opened, one of OCR's most notable accomplishment.

But what has taken me 3 paragraphs to provide background for was the standoff I could never resolve near the end. Overwhelmed by HIPAA complaints without the provision of adequate additional resources to handle them, OCR rejected my pleas - and it may not surprise you to know they were sorely agitated by my never ending efforts - to open a discretionary compliance review over the issue at LA County. OCR is allowed but not required to conduct reviews, it's a tool used quite effectively over the years. But OCR is required to investigate complaints and those must be the priority when resources are limited. Meanwhile the advocates who were the source of many of the anecdotes I was hearing refused to file a complaint fearing our LEP Guidance Memorandum not strong enough, despite the fact that bringing LA County UP to meeting those standards as we had done in Phoenix would have been a massive improvement and helped so many of those limited English speakers they claim to represent. Unable to overcome this standoff or conundrum my biggest frustration.

HILLARY AGAIN, NOT FOR THE LAST TIME

ok and i'll put the serious one down here; i don't think this is that bad for Hill through my usual rose colored glasses, i don't think Biden will run but if he does it will all work out, cnn making much of her recent comments about her experience and willingness to compromise, to work with others, being unpopular in today's political environment; refreshing she is not trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator, what is needed is someone with the yes experience and ability and the willingness to work with others to get things done; electing ideologues on both sides or even just one side accomplishes nothing, as in the Rs getting the biggest House majority in decades by warped redistricting they got ideologues not interested in accomplishing anything more than shrill appeals for extremism; i am not a centrist or moderate but more moderates would get more stuff done for the good of all, and that's not reinforcement for an establishment that blocks progress and equity it's a challenge to it that too many fail to see.. http://www.nbcnews.com/.../first-read-bad-news-gop...

 and to be straightforward and possibly avoid snark but not guaranteed, enough of the contention that an obstacle to Bernie winning is the refusal to support him because he can't win; i am opposed to Bernie because i don't want him to win, I would never under any conditions vote for him I think he is incompetent and incapable of accomplishing anything, I don't agree with his approach or some of his views - gun control only one example - that is not a negative attack that is what i think, Hillary is smarter, tougher has accomplished much and will do more, and she has always worked often pro bono for social justice , reform and improvement in the lives and economic conditions of underserved people; she got childrens health insurance passed decades ago and did more before and since, bernie never did or accomplished anything before or after being elected to the senate.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-facts-and-carly-fiorinas-ultraconservative-anger/2015/09/28/c29b4cec-6611-11e5-8325-a42b5a459b1e_story.html


The higher she rises the harder she will fall. Reminds me of that saying about no matter how much you repeat it, a lie is still a lie. Great column by a great columnist.

REMINISCES OF FAMILY

Reversing the pattern, some posts from FB, to be expanded or not later.

CHICAGO = My reminiscence of a wonderful week there will have to wait; better to search my blog because I think I wrote about it before. My first speaking engagement outside the Region here little did I know would lead to so much controversy and be just the start of my own nationwide tour swelling my head like a mini-diva for a good cause speaking on behalf of the office on HIV-related and other forms of discrimination prohibited by Federal law, just being allowed to appear and speak publicly a victory after a long fought internal struggle in the office. Hometown of my Italian mother, 2 generations from Naples. Friendliest people and gay bars anywhere (outside a small town).. Gorgeous tulips in bloom everywhere, recently found my photos I need to organize and collate digitally at last. And to prove you can't tell this B no, an uneventful sojourn on the L to the far south side to Mom's old neighborhood, something and Wood? I'll look it up, Mother told me not to go, the sweet Polish couple at the tourist store who used to live nearby told me not to go, everyone of every color at OCR told me not to go, of course i went, 2 stops from downtown no other white people on the train, had to bite my grin off my face from the discreet looks saying when that crazy white boy getting off the train. So finally past more housing projects I have ever seen, an old neighborhood of big houses and wide streets appears and I get to my stop. Her house was blocks away, the blocks were long, like LA no one was walking. So i stood on the platform took some photos, Mom recognized the billboard and corner store (or so she said) I declared victory and waited for the next train back downtown without leaving the platform. Mission accomplished. It was a wonderful week.

Mom graduated Harper High School, 6520 S. Wood St. Chicago, that's what i wanted to document in family blog post, lived south of there Marquette sounds familiar, got it somewhere want to document below, Grandma pushing vegetable cart through Italian neighborhood in the 1920s; we all immigrants except the native indigenous, although not all of us arrived willingly, we all here now. 

Sometimes a partial victory just as good, same feeling when in kindergarten catechism after months of pestering, i wore them down and they said sure nonCatholics might be able to go to heaven if they really good, but they would have to go to purgatory first. My first civil rights victory. Much older, hearing Mom whisper to Dad you gotta say something did you hear what he said the way he talks to me - how many times i told him the same thing in reverse - and Dad's reply -same as it was to me = you 2 work it out I'm not getting involved you 2 exactly alike. A little validation goes a long way and I'll back off satisfied. Longer versions of those anecdotes elsewhere. Hadn't planned on writing about family again, but pleased I am finding a less negative perspective again.

50, well i was going to post an anecdote but first it wasn't 50 years ago, or 40 just to make that clear but sometime ago, on one of my first visits home during a break from attending UC Berkeley, I had been picketing Safeway during the grape boycott. I opened the fridge, the first thing one does when visiting, and I found a shelf full of grapes. I immediately disposed of them of course. The next day, while sensing mom in the next room, I opened the fridge - and found twice as many grapes as the day before. Closing the door I heard the well timed clicking of her heels entering the kitchen. As she opened the back door to go to her car she turned and said, and if those are gone when I return I'll get even more. Fearful of being blamed for ruining the boycott when the union discovered Mom's store the source of skyrocketing sales, I acknowledged defeat and never disposed of or ate another grape again. Never mess with an Italian mama - her kitchen is her kingdom!

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-0927-delano-strike-20150927-story.html 


And now for my father's side of the family, and a remembrance of Aunt Nelly and so much more, to be expanded perhaps, or more likely not reading back i see that was way more than enough or intended. Likes permitted, questions likely not to be answered. You'll see what i mean when you get there but this indicates I reviewed and edited this. My Dad's favorite sister and the only one he didn't stop talking to after the others shunned my Catholic mother in a post wedding visit to his hometown Saginaw. His father was Welsh but his mother French Canadian Indian and Catholic who ran a "boarding house". I think there was an earlier wife who died and was mother to some siblings. Whatever my Dad the only one who converted from Methodist to Catholic apparently before meeting my Italian mother. Nelly loved antiques, owned a shop, and gardening. I noted below her and Uncle Bunny's notorious RV trips. Didn't see them much have lots of cousins I don't know from the other siblings. Nelly and Bunny had 2 sons, one is a Buddhist i think or is he Hindu explored every religion who knows where he is last i heard Sedona, Johnny an avid businessman in Idaho owns laundry, flooring who knows what else, you get the picture total opposites. But what I am trying to get to is Nelly's visit to CA and her and my Dad's visit to me in SF. After WWII he (Bunny) was stationed at Presidio in SF and they had a duplex apt in what is now the Haight. I lived in the Haight and loved it, shared an apt overlooking GG Park with he who brought me to see Diana in Tahoe; one April we marveled at snow falling over the park. Then my own solo apt. Well after visiting the Dahlia garden in GG Park which she went gaga over, for good reason, we had to drive by to see the place. Ok. Well then we had to stop in front. OK. Then I noticed her hand on the door handle and me and Dad exchanged furious glances. Yep before we could move she was out the door "I'll just knock and see if anyone's home." Nelly was a little firecracker and you didn't mess with Nelly. OMG this was the Haight and it wasn't all peace and flowers at the time. The door opens slightly, but not enough to see who answered, In goes Nelly and the door shuts behind her. OMG We jumped out of the car and tried to wait before knocking. But soon the door opened and we were invited in. Turned out to be a retired social worker from Alameda County (Oakland) who had just returned from a long dreamed of vacation in Africa. Lots of mementos and we saw the yard where my cousins played as infants. My Dad visited and stayed there after high school. He would take walks to smoke cigs to GG Park and downtown and the rest I may never blog about. Suffice it to say when I came out to my mother, at her urging, and she kept urging me to tell my father, who I wasn't comfortable with at the time, she said, "haven't you ever heard of latent" i didn't think she even knew what the word meant and was forever speechless on the subject. But over the years circumstances reminded me of that from time to time. Eventually he met and married my Mom whose family had relocated from Chicago. His friend at the office was dating Mom's cousin so she went along to a company picnic - hell it was the whole weekend - to Catalina Island. All the guys went gaga over my beautiful mother. She never drank, hated it, family reasons. The others present recounted at a reunion a few years ago by the end of one evening my mother had a dozen drinks all untouched lined up in front of her and my Dad eventually passed out on the lawn. Well i recovered nicely i think from the tawdry fork in the road not taken. The END

FACEBOOK PAGE POLICY AND WHY I WRITE, PERHAPS NOT FOR THE FIRST TIME, EXPANDED VERSION

The dichotomy of FB, so frustrating at times, yet through FB one can find so many talented artists creative and fun people from all over the world if you look for the good; lately I seem finally better at finding the good.

Not sure how long it will last but i now have a record 72 persons on my page; and it's been at least a week since someone quit me or had to leave. smile emoticon Getting better at articulating my purpose here. I have a lot of time and there's are more self-destructive ways i could and have spent my time. I like to write I like to take photos I post way way way too much. I love Diana Ross, most music other than opera or country, cabaret and jazz especially, in drag or not, i especially like to plug those creative artists without celebrity status or film or recording contracts, community based artists. I am perhaps way too passionate about social justice issues and politics. I used to like to debate or argue but i no longer find pleasure in that. Everyone has enough stress unless you like being challenged your FB should not cause stress. I have learned the hard way by suffering the effects of my occasionally volcanic temperament rudely displayed on others' pages.
After way too many years of being edited by my former government employer, I especially value that this page is mine all mine my rules; talk about a control freak this space is what I have control over. If you ignore a post, I can deduce you felt anywhere from indifferent to disgust or anywhere in between. I like to see likes so if you like something like it. I really don't want to read on MY page what YOU don't like. In return, I will not express negativity on your page.
As well, I will not object to negative posts on your page. So please don't object to my occasional or frequent rants on my page. Feel free to bash Diana Ross or Hillary Clinton on your page without a peep from me. And don't be surprised to find ranting on my page from the serious to the trivial. I am not trying to tell you how to manage your page; but only I decide how to manage mine.
A few things that are sure to make me go volcanic will be criticisms of Diana or Hillary on MY page alone. I am also beyond these petty celebrity fan feuds; someone likes this one not that. And it's way past time folks stopped dishing Florence, Mary, or Diana - they were young, life happens they didn't hate each other neither should we. Nothing wrong with preferring one over another, they are all different and so are we. Not to say there wasn't tension from time to time or still to this day but that's for them to work out. And yes I'll confess to my share of dishing, but then it is MY page.
Finally, I have been musing about the opposite - someone's on your page, or you are on theirs - and you're just not into it anymore, you can't stand to see one more post on Diana or Hillary or I think your page is boring. I still like to have people because what they do is fascinating or worthwhile or important and i like to maintain awareness even if I don't post or like something.
But I am thinking of creating something that says, I like you but I don't like your FB page and i have way too many news feeds. Here's my email if you want to stay in touch. No hard feelings, no leaving in a huff, etc. I am not trying to have the most people; I would like to have people who wish to be here and find something of value, interest, or humor.
So remember when i said i like to write? See how long this is? Well for the newbies i will post a link to my blog and you'll really see what too much is.
But as i like long form more than short form, I am really trying to transition to the blog and post links on my FB page to new blog posts. First i need to fix or replace my computer but i can do that soon. My C drive shrunk, no one knows why. I cannot view any videos you post or listen to music you post. But I have all my stuff on an external drive so I can access that just fine. Little trouble accessing the internet. I will make one more attempt now that I am about to have completed resolving some financial issues for which I needed internet access but once that is done I am getting professional assistance to erase and restore my drives to factory settings then reinstall programs.
Eventually I hope to have a state of the art fully loaded laptop so I can create post and write from anywhere inside or outside my house or gardens instead of cooped up in this hot stuffy home office. So from the most important to the most trivial i can conclude this and get some air before I return refreshed and less sticky.

 And thank you all for being here. Each of you is here because I find you interesting. I hope i don't disappoint you.

REFLECTIONS AND MUSINGS ON MUSICAL FAVORITES AND MY CURRENT PLAYLIST

A lifelong passionate lover of music - you can credit Mom's affinity for every Italian male vocalist growing up - rare is an album, or CD, that I would play i order. An exception is Thelma Houston's "Sunshower" (1976) written by Jimmy Webb prior to her taking the disco world to storm.  Marvin Gaye, including but not limited to "What's Going On" comes to mind as well and I am sure there are others that fail to come to mind at this very moment. 

Needless to say, in the LP area I would make cassette tapes from albums in my preferred order and with varying artists suiting my whims of the moment.  The CD era allowed the same but soon I wasn't bothering with cassettes, disappointed at the technical quality and a 5 CD changer allowing me to set a program of songs from 5 CDs at a time and I can't remember the maximum number of songs allowed. 

And now after years of copying more, but still not all, of my collection onto my computer, there seems to be no limit for the length of a playlist.  I have playlists, mostly Diana Ross, approaching 40 hours.  Lately I have been creating playlists of recordings I feel like hearing for a period of time, then changing based upon mood or boredom.  For example, I recently made playlists of my favorite Billie Holiday recordings, my collection of live Billie Holiday recordings.  Due to their prolific output and my obsessed collection, the most challenging have been Dinah Washington and Nancy Wilson.  I recently got a Dinah playlist down to manageable length.  It's not that I listen to either often, but I find both mesmerizing and addictive.

My favorite playlists are those of female recording artists many of them jazz oriented.  I even recently tackled Judy Garland and Peggy Lee now that I think of it.  And a recent re-release of a Frank Sinatra recording had me studying his output and learning his career chronologically.

My recent addiction to writing more than reading has led me from a thought to post my current, 24 hour playlist, to this lengthy background introduction.  You should have realized by now you can skip it and go to the list.  I like many but not all genres and this one in particular resulted from an effort to include many genres and then to select the section I felt like listening to at any particular time.  In reality I just let it run and restart my computer every 24 hours. 

Some of the above is to explain the absence of certain artists, namely Dinah, as well as the absence of so many favorite jazz vocalists too numerous to mention, absent from my list but not my collection, Anita O'Day, Carmen McRae, Cassandra Wilson - my favorite current live and recording vocalist - Diana Krall, Ella, Esther, 2 Ettas, Karrin Allyson - another current fav, Ledisi outstanding live yet to reach her recording potential, SARAH VAUGHN perhaps THE greatest vocalist ever, a few peeking at my file has brought to mind.

Special mention to JACKIE RYAN, AND SWEET BABY J'AI, the best unknown recording artists working today, google each of them and buy their CDs; you won't regret it.

Most recently, due to release of expanded editions I was making lots of Diana playlists and then spent time making some fabulous girl group era songlists.  Which reminds me I have a You Tube page with many playlists, I'll link it here.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8MRbvv3f_9VK1wnqwKk4Kg

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8MRbvv3f_9VK1wnqwKk4Kg/playlists

But all that is my overwrought way of saying that absence from this list doesn't mean I don't have it or haven't listened to it lately.

Another reason for posting is this could be my most diverse playlist ever, formerly limited each to a particular genre, artist, or theme, this one has some of almost everything.  And there is a core at the beginning that was based on my memorial playlist for Beau, my canine companion of close to 17 years, departed April 1, whose removal of the catheter holding his final injection caused the Vet to remark "He just wrote the book" reminding me of the iconic Dinah song and starting my playlist the final version of which I have yet to publish. 

My to do list, includes that, research on 2 songwriters I was conducting at the time, an organized photo album of Beau and my recent gardening accomplishments.  Rather than list almost 400 songs I am listing the recording artists. Well if i keep commenting on each one this will take forever.

Art Pepper (only recently got out my fav straight ahead jazz collection from the '50s

Teri Thornton - masterful vocalist, rediscovered after Beau, she returned late in life to recording,

                       winning a prestigious Thelonius Monk award - am i mixed up - she won
                     a presitigious award at a vocal competition, then succumbed to a fatal illness

Thelma Jones (more when i publish my songwriting research Beau inspired

Nancy Wilson - favs from throughout her stellar career (so that means a lot)

Frank Sinatra - from wonderful recent compilation Ultimate Sinatra covers early and mid career and a live concert recorded in December 1961 in Sydney Australia.  I just googled to verify the date and found many editions including a 4 CD edition spanning his career and the Australian edition a 2 CD package which is the one I have which includes the concert.'

Billie Holiday! the exclamation mark because I noticed several songs recorded (separately of course) by Frank and Billie, in fact i think i have a playlist with just these 2, this list includes the songs each recorded back to back and my favorite live Holiday recordings.

Betwixt and between my frequent dilemmas over the order, initially i had electronic remixes of Billie Holiday (understandably considered blasphemous by purists) but i moved them somewhere.

Blackbird by Sylvester remained either cuz it fit or i failed to move it later, then

The Supremes - the list i postedon FB  yesterday of my favs mostly in chron order

Diana Ross - well I asked but NO ONE requested my current list

GeeJayDeluxe and GJ2K1 remixes of Diana, some Supremes, some mashups, since i discovered him every one of my many Diana lists includes his work from his remixes of Promise, Symphony, For Once, Mr. Sandman I proudly segue to

Billie Holiday blasphemous electronic remixes by varied mixers followed by some old favs from the dancing days

I Can't Get No Sleep - India

I Like MW Shanice

Beautiful People - Barbara Tucker

Only Love Can Break Your Heart - Saint Etienne

Blackalicious - Make You Feel That Way and Day One

Sounds of Blackness - Optimistic

SYLVESTER - he lives on you tube, in my collection, in the recent musical "Mighty Real"

Dolores Peterson electronic On My Mind

Leelah James

Chelo

Prince - some of his recent recordings ingenious and topical

Madonna - love her latest

Jennifer Hudson

Jennifer Lopez

Mary J. Blige - love some of her recent release

Angie Martinez

Ricky Martin, some old favs, mostly latest release just nominated for several Latin Grammys

Enrique Iglesias - old and new, i can't help it

Romeo Santos - love his voice and his new gay friendly release promoting acceptance

Prince Royce - my favorite of the newbies

I AM ME

Go deep in circles
To find it in me
Rain falls around to my beginnings
So many riddles of my identity
I know all the answers of who I'm supposed to be

I am me
Good or bad
I am myself
I'm no carbon copy of no one else
Right or wrong
I will stand up like a tree
Happy or sad
Good or bad
I am me
I am me

Following a move
Set up by some others
I would lose myself
And become another
Should I fail
And come to my ruin
Or if I succeed
It would be, be my doing

I'm me
Good or bad
I am myself
I'm no carbon copy of no one else
Right or wrong
I will stand up like a tree
Happy or sad
Good or bad
I am me
I am me

Different images
So many people see
Not knowing themselves
They are unique
To copy may be flattery
I understand
I can be a better me
Than anyone else

I am me
Good or bad
I am myself
I'm no carbon copy of no one else
Right or wrong
I will stand up like a tree
Happy or sad
Good or bad
I am me
I am me

I am me

written by  Diana Ross/Freddie Gorman/Janie Bradford for
Silk Electric, 1982, and appearing on Voice of Love, 1996