I suppose I’m at my dorkiest about my stuffed animals. I have my first teddy bear, Buzz. I have the two cats Carol from Connecticut sent: Elga Wasserman (after my first attorney) and the appealingly homely Samo. Of course, I’ve kept the last one my mother gave me, a high femme rabbit in an extraordinary…
We’ve spent the past few days galivanting up and down the Oregon Coast with friends visiting from the U.K. Two months ago, we were doing the same with a couple up from Palm Springs. Last year it was my family from Massachusetts, the year before, my sweetheart’s sister from New Jersey, and in two weeks,…
One day, out of the blue, I received an email from well-respected writer Renee Bess. In her thoughtful, elegant style, she asked if I would be interested in working together to produce an anthology about the role gay bars have played in our lives. I was on board before I finished reading. A gay bar…
You know you’re not a femme when all you do before you leave the house is change your shoes, grab your vest and give the dog a treat. Okay, maybe you put on your baseball cap, but you already know whether it’s an Ace Hardware or Yankees or Xena hat day. What with the Butch…
We had every intention of being homebodies this year. No travel at all, just a year to save our pennies and get grounded. It’s been delicious. After several months of staying in our little coastal home, my mind is sharper, my sleep schedule is approaching normal, and I’ve got a good start on my next…
A friend of many decades, who currently depends on federal assistance for affordable housing, sent me her concerns about the current direction of our government. As a lesbian, a feminist, a woman, a senior with disabilities, and a progressive activist, she feels especially vulnerable right now. She needed anonymity, but gave me permission to share…
Thanks to author Nell Stark—which seems to be something I say at least once a year—I was privileged recently to answer some questions for a lesbian high school student who was writing a paper about 1960’s gay activists. Below are the young woman’s questions and my attempts to answer. I am very fortunate to be…
OK, I give in, it’s depression. I might as well face it. And I know I’m not alone. You can guess when it started: November 8, 2016. I tried to overcome it by resisting, ignoring, laughing at the fools on the hill. Like the amazing Elizabeth Warren, I persisted, but so did this depression. I’ve…
The only one likely to get any treats this Valentine’s Day is the cat. As my sweetheart said, now that we’re getting old and fat, we need to think of new ways to celebrate loving occasions. So, we treated ourselves to an iRobot Roomba 650. More expensive than a red heart full of chocolates, but…
After the doom and gloom of our fall—and boy did moods around here fall—I’ve noticed, with the approach of the holidays, an unusually earnest air of festivity around town. People crave more light in winter; this year our neighborhood seems to be going all out on bright decorations. Homes that have never boasted more than…
