Author Archives: Joe

About Joe

Unknown's avatar
I began my life in the South and for five years lived as a closeted teacher, but am now making a new life for myself as an oral historian in New England. I think my life will work out the way it was always meant to be. That doesn't mean there won't be ups and downs; that's all part of life. It means I just have to be patient. I feel like October 7, 2015 is my new birthday. It's a beginning filled with great hope. It's a second chance to live my life…not anyone else's. My profile picture is "David and Me," 2001 painting by artist Steve Walker. It happens to be one of my favorite modern gay art pieces.
May 8, 2020

Leslie Jordan

By Joe

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_5VdLPBsJq/?igshid=pu9pd2jgmsig

“Well shit…what are y’all doin’?”

Leslie Jordan has risen to Instagram fame with that phrase. He has gone viral on Instagram during the quarantine doing little videos of stories from his life. I have always been a fan of Leslie, and nearly every night before bed, I check out what videos he posted that day. He’s just a really talented and funny man.

Last night I watched My Trip Down the Pink Carpet. It was just what I expected. It was funny, sweet, and emotional. Some of the stories from his one man show he has repeated during his Instagram posts, but they are still funny. I realize that he might not be everyone’s taste in humor, but he just makes me laugh.

While I am no Hollywood star and I’m nowhere near as funny, there’s a lot that I identify with in Leslie. He grew up in East Tennessee, and I grew up in South Alabama. He was raised Southern Baptist; I was raised in the Church of Christ. We’ve both had our share of struggles accepting ourselves for who we are. This could describe thousands of gay men and women across the South, especially of my generation and the generation before. Even today, kids are scared to death to come out because our parents barber always accepting. Leslie has said that while his mother accepts him, she’s never understood him.

Leslie hasn’t lived a perfect life. He struggled for over thirty years with drugs and alcohol, but he’s been sober since 1997. However, I admire him so much. During the height of the AIDS crisis he volunteered for Project Angel Food. These days he works with The Trevor Project to help prevent LGBTQ suicides.

I hope you’ll check him out. He really does make me laugh.

Leave a comment | posted in Funny, Miscellaneous

May 7, 2020

Pic of the Day

By Joe

Leave a comment | posted in Pic of the Day

May 7, 2020

Quarantine Update

By Joe

I know this quarantine has been particularly bad for the extroverts out there, but I’m more of an introvert, so it hasn’t been as bad as it could have been for me. I can at least get out and go to the grocery store. I do miss the LGBT events that happen regularly in Burlington, but honestly, when I had to go alone, I was never fully comfortable at those things. So being a homebody isn’t the worst thing right now. However, with that being said, working from home is getting more and more difficult, especially having to document my day hourly. I never worked this hard at the museum. Yes, I do my job, and I mostly do it well, but my work is either feast or famine. I either have work that needs doing or I don’t, and when I don’t, I find other things to pass the time in my office (usually reading Facebook or news sites) or I go talk to my coworkers. If I documented everything I did when at the museum, there would be a lot of empty time on my work log. 
On the news last night, one of the local news reporters said that while our “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order was set to expire on the 15th, it would undoubtedly get extended, thus even longer working at home. We had staff meetings Tuesday and Wednesday, and basically all they could tell us was that they don’t know anything. There are tentative plans on what we will do to phase in going back to work, but they don’t have the slightest idea what that timeframe will be. Even when we go back to work at the museum, we may not be able to open to the public for a couple of months. The largest museums in Vermont announced that they would not open at all this summer. They aren’t for sure when they will open back up. We are possibly in the same boat.
In the five phases of opening back up, Phase 1 is what we are doing now, which is a few essential people go into the office, but most are working completely from home. Phase 5, the final stage, is for when things return to normal, if that’s even possible. It surely isn’t possible until they have a vaccine, and who knows when that will happen. No matter what people in the government keep saying, vaccines take a long time to develop.
Honestly though, with no visitors allowed in the museum, how long will they justify continuing to employ us. We were told that the university’s provost has commented on what great work the museum is doing to keep a virtual presence during this time, so hopefully, that’s good news for us. The last time the university faced an economic downturn (the 2008 recession), the university did a 10 percent reduction, and we’ve been told to get ready for that. If they do a 10 percent cut across the board in employees and budgets, then I’m not sure where we will stand.
There’s just a lot of unanswered questions and a whole lot of speculation. Who knows what the future holds. To be continued…

Leave a comment | posted in Miscellaneous

May 6, 2020

Pic of the Day

By Joe

Leave a comment | posted in Pic of the Day

May 6, 2020

Forgot

By Joe

I may add more to this post later, but to be honest, I forgot to write a post last night. It was already really late when I realized I hadn’t written anything, so I just didn’t have time to come up with anything to write.

Leave a comment | posted in Miscellaneous

May 5, 2020

Pic of the Day

By Joe

Leave a comment | posted in Pic of the Day

May 5, 2020

Elías Nandino

By Joe

Love Without Death
Dust will be, but dust in love.
~Quevedo
__________

I love and the love I feel
I exist, I have life
and I’m burning my escape
ever born.
I love and every moment
love, my death is urged,
a love without measure
in continual burning.
But when love and do not try
because my body off
absorbent earth again:
everything will be devoured,
but not the burning love
dust of my love.

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I wanted to feature a Mexican poet. Elías Nandino (1900-1993) was a surgeon from Mexico who was also a poet. Nandino worked as a surgeon at different hospitals during most of his life, during which he also wrote poetry. He was also open about his homosexuality in a time when it was dangerous to do so, but amazingly this did not affect his career as a surgeon.

His early poetry was rather sombre, focusing on topics like death, nighttime and dreams. From the 1950s his poetry became more personal, whereas his later poems combined eroticism and metaphysics.

Leave a comment | posted in Poetry

May 4, 2020

Pic of the Day

By Joe

Leave a comment | posted in Pic of the Day

May 4, 2020

Strange Times

By Joe

I have today off work. In fact, I have every Monday and Friday off work for the rest of the month of May. I had vacation time I had to take by June 1 or lose it. I’d have loved to have been off several days in a row and head up to Montreal for a few days, but of course, the borders aren’t open, so that’s no dice. You know, vacation days during a quarantine doesn’t mean a whole lot. I’m still at home, just me and Isabella, who might just be tired of me being home all the time. She was in a bad mood all afternoon yesterday. She bit and scratched me several times just out of the blue.
I did have something I’d needed to do today. I signed up for Pre-TSA, so I can go through security at the airport quicker. However, for the third time, they’ve canceled my appointment. I started this process back in January, and TSA gives you six months to go in for you background check and interview. Hopefully, I’ll get it taken care of before I have to reapply.
I’m really not complaining about the quarantine. I think it is absolutely necessary to keep, not just me safe, but all the people who are at high risk safe. I don’t mind doing my part to make that happen. Luckily, I’m in the fifth safest state right now. As our university president told us the other day, “Vermont is good at social distancing. We are spread out enough that we can’t make a crowd.” He was trying to make a joke, but honestly, with the exception of some LGBT events I’ve been to, people in Vermont never want to be too close to anyone anyway. So, I’ll stay at home and when I do have to go out, I’ll dutifully wear my mask, unlike the assholes in charge of this country.

Also, I’ve been watching two new streaming shows: Hollywood on Netflix and Upload on Amazon Prime. I’ve enjoyed both of them. I watched the whole season of Hollywood, and I’m halfway through Upload. I’d recommend either to anyone. Hollywood has a lot of gay storylines, and Upload is futuristic sci-fi. If either of those sounds interesting, watch them.

Ok, enough rambling for one day.

Leave a comment | posted in Miscellaneous

May 3, 2020

Pic of the Day

By Joe

Leave a comment | posted in Pic of the Day