I have, as of the date I am writing this piece, 30 days left of this year before summer break. If you ignore the two weeks in May that are reserved for state testing, there are four actual weeks left, and the last week where everyone does their best to not bolt for the doors as the minutes towards freedom creep by slower and slower. As I am not a contracted teacher, and instead work as a Title I liaison at my school, I don’t collect a paycheck over the summer. Usually, I work every bit of summer school I […]
Markets Active as Cold Recedes
Official Baltimore stats for this winter show that we have had less than a quarter of an inch of snowfall so far this year. Of course, the stats are compiled at BWI Airport (where no one lives)… so your results may have differed! Maybe the question should have been, “did we ever really have winter?!” The real estate market has remained active and inventory tight during these traditionally cold, slower months. In most neighborhoods, properties that are priced well and in good condition have gotten a lot of buyer activity. In most cases I’ve been involved with, they have had […]
Guess Who’s Back
The perils of trusting TikTok I would love to say that the extended hiatus from the echo chamber that is my own voice being published semi-monthly has left me tamer. Or, that since exiting the whale of an industry that is hospitality back in the fall, I have found myself speaking with more optimism. A little over a month ago, I was promoted into a more behind-the-scenes role at the elementary school I work at. Fancy new title in hand, I spent my winter break decorating my new office and silently panicking that this was all a horrible joke at […]
SAVE THE DATE – 5th Annual Keystone State Gay Rodeo – October 2, 2021
The 5th Annual Keystone State Gay Rodeo rides into action October 2, 2021 starting at 11:30 am at Red Man Ranch & Arena, 359 Strawberry Road, New Freedom, PA 17349. The event is a family-friendly, inclusive rodeo and country event that merges traditional rodeo favorites with some non-traditional fun and hilarious events all in a safe and inviting atmosphere where everyone feels welcome. Both men and women compete equally in all rodeo events and anyone ages 10 and over are welcome to compete. If you are attending you can expect to see some traditional rodeo events such as barrel racing, […]
The Appropriation of Pride
A few days ago I was talking with a good friend I haven’t seen since before the pandemic began. We were catching up and the topic landed on Pride. Neither of us have any solid plans for Pride, given that the pandemic has disrupted Pride season yet again. My friend told me he was celebrating Pride month by revisiting some queer cinema classics. We compared favorites and discussed the movies that were important to us in the past. For us, these movies were more than entertainment – they were an introduction to the queer community. They showed us that we […]
In Memory and Reflection
A friend died this past week. She was a handful of years younger than me, and I’ve been struggling this past week with a lot of thoughts, emotions, and periods of emptiness related to her passing. The husband, daughter, family, and friends that she still has here have before them a long summer mourning her loss, and beginning to piece together their lives around the holes left behind. Her husband is the person I’ve known longer, and the cliché of a “kitchen family” is very apparent in the wake. Many of the people with whom I sweated and grinded in […]
Credible Quacks and Minimizing Mayhem
It started about a year ago. I was outside with my dog one night when I noticed something strange –flashing lights peaking through the thick foliage of the forest behind my house. The forest is part of a wildlife preservation area and I wondered who or what could be in a rural, off-limits area at that time of night. A few moments later a drone emerged from the forest and my question was answered, or so I thought. The drones continued appearing, every night under the cover of darkness. At first I didn’t give them much thought. Yes, it […]
Back to School
I took a month off from writing because honestly, my head has been in such a state of chaotic energy, that every time I would sit with my thoughts and try to compose anything resembling a coherent article, I would make it about five minutes before erasing my rambling with a fury. I am currently trying to resist said urge as I type this sentence. It has been an interesting month, both in terms of living in our continuing slow-motion collapse of our society, and in that I recently obtained a new position, in a specialty that is the opposite […]
Remembering Sunday
The worst part about adulthood is losing people you love, people of your own generation that are supposed to make it senility with you. While these deaths leave massive holes in our lives and our families, they are in the bluntest phrasing possible, part of the natural human lifecycle. I am talking about the sudden deaths of friends from childhood. Friends lost in the blink of an eye from events that we could not rationalize the how and the why they occurred. I am thirty-three years old and I have three tattoos on my body for friends that have left […]
The Case of Close
Glenn Close is a legend. Her career is now in its fifth decade and, along the way, she’s racked up an impressive list of accolades: 3 Emmys, 3 Tonys, and 3 Golden Globe Awards. She’s also been nominated for an Oscar eight times, but has yet to win the entertainment industry’s most prestigious award. Vanity Fair has described Close as “one of the great actresses of our time” and, in 2019, Time magazine included her as one of its 100 most influential people. With a resume like this, it’s safe to say that Glenn Close is an A-lister and living […]