Baltimore OUTloud • March 18, 2016

OUT

AN INDEPENDENT VOICE FOR THE LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER COMMUNITIES March 18, 2016 | Volume XIII, Issue 25

GLCCB Hosts Mayoral Forum on LGBT Issues

By Rodney Burger On Tuesday, March 8th the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland (GLCCB) in partnership with ReVision, the poetry club at the University of Baltimore, hosted the first LGBTQ-specific mayoral forum. The auditorium of the H. Mebane Turner Learning Commons at the University of Baltimore was packed to hear the large group of candidates competing to become Baltimore’s next mayor answer questions provided by the GLCCB as well as questions from the audience.

Outside, campaign signs lined the block and campaign workers for many of the candidates handed out flyers and pamphlets.

The program began with a performance by ReVision member Nakia Brown who rapped about “wanting to shoot my people” and “white privilege.” After Ms. Brown’s emotional performance GLCCB executive director

Jabari Lyles welcomed all and promised the audience of LGBTQ community members and their supporters that: “No longer will we go unheard. No longer will we go unnoticed.”

With the announcement that current Balt imore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will not be running for reelection, over 30 candidates have thrown their hat in the ring to be Baltimore’s next leader. Eleven of the candidates were seated in alphabetical order at long tables in the front of the auditorium and a 12th candidate, Andre Powell, who was in the audience and is still attempting to collect enough signatures to get on the ballot, was also allowed to speak. He introduced himself as openly gay and added that he would work for a $15 minimum wage.

Also in attendance were Nicholas Jonathan Caminiti (U), chief of the Maryland Attorney General’s office Elizabeth Embry (D), operations manager Patrick Gutierrez (D), Joshua Harris (G), Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson (D), City Councilman Nick Mosby (D), State of Maryland employee and

By Bill Redmond-Palmer Liberation is an important theme to many communities and to each person in many different ways. Whether you are LGBTQ, black, female, Latino, HIV-positive, and American Indian or Jewish, your personal “story” contains a narrative of a journey from bondage to liberation, either literal or figurative. As individuals we may seek liberation from habits, history, trauma, or other baggage that weighs us down in life. There is no more ideal construct for communally sharing this journey, than the Jewish Traditional seder.

In Passover Passover seder plate fact, many communities

Mayoral candidates vie to impress LGBT voters at Community Center forum credit: Richard Wertman

pastor LaVern A.W. Murray (U), State Sen. Catherine E. Pugh (D), City Councilman Carl Stokes (D), 2014 candidate for governor of Maryland and operations manager at United Parcel Service, Cindy Walsh (D), and engineer Calvin Allen Young III (D). Although a spot was reserved for David Marriott (G) at the table, he did not appear. Also noticeably absent were former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon (D) and local businessman David L. Warnock (D), who has already spent over $650,000 on television advertisements. Although there are five Republican candidates, they were also not in attendance.

After opening statements, which includ-

ed activist DeRay Mckesson introducing himself as a “gay black man who will make the city work for everybody,” the candidates were asked what they have already done to advance LGBTQ rights and issues in Baltimore. Several mayoral hopefuls offered detailed answers. State Sen Catherine Pugh spoke of legislation that she had written and supported. Cindy Walsh added that she, “Supported gay rights when gay rights wasn’t cool and worked with hospitals for the proper treatment of LGBTQ persons and their loved ones.” She added that she also promoted the arts community. Councilman —continued on page 3

Celebrating Liberation: The Queer Seder

have created “seders” around that same model that speaks to their individual journeys.

At JQ Baltimore’s third annual LGBTQ Seder, people of all faiths, races, genders, ages, and life experiences, will celebrate the liberation of the ancient Israelites from slavery in Egypt; the liberation of people in every era from oppressive bonds of intolerance and fear; and our individual and collective empowerment to release those chains, and to strive for justice.

Conducted by Rabbi Gila Ruskin, the

A universal parable for freedom

LGBTQ Seder will take place on Wednesday, April 13th, 2016 at 6:30 pm. This year the event host is Beth Am Synagogue, located just across from Druid Park Lake, at 2501 Eutaw Place, Baltimore.

“We are excited to be working with Beth Am Synagogue this year, as the hosts of this event,” said Bennett Weiss, co-director for JQ Baltimore. “They have been most gracious partners, and we appreciate this opportunity to deepen the bonds of friendship and understanding with them, —continued on page 20

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news // LOCAL GLCCB Hosts Mayoral Forum on LGBT Issues – continued from page 1 Mosby replied that his 15-point plan includes LGBTQ homeless shelters and that he too co-sponsored legislation promoting LGBTQ rights. Patrick Gutierrez promoted the fact that his company was at the forefront when it came to offering same-sex benefits. Councilman Stokes spoke of his experience working with ACT-UP. Calvin Young stated, “I was the first candidate to contact the GLCCB and to personally meet with them.” While the other candidates also spoke of the importance of treating all people fairly, Mr. Caminiti and Ms. Murray both confessed that they had little or no knowledge of the LGBTQ community, but were looking to learn.

Candidates were also asked about police profiling and violence against LGBTQ people particularly transgender people of color. Calvin Young spoke of the need for “safe spaces” and suggested that officers “should have an additional badge to show that they have had sensitivity training.”

Councilman Stokes said that he had “met with transgender sex-workers and had heard their heartbreaking stories.” When some of the comments from the candidates started

to sound generic, Monica Yorkman, a member of the transgender community who was in the audience stood up and passionately explained how she is afraid to call the police because of the way her community is treated in Baltimore. State Sen. Pugh quickly replied that, “No person should live in fear.”

Ms. Yorkman was one of several of those in attendance who could not sit silently during the forum. Activist Akil Patterson interjected the importance of addressing the HIV/ AIDS crisis in Baltimore. Candidate Joshua Harris raised the issue of six million dollars that the city was given for HIV treatment that appears to be gone.

The candidates also addressed the issues of the treatment of LGBTQ person in schools, homelessness in the LGBTQ community, and took questions from the audience.

After the three-hour forum the candidates stayed around to meet with those in attendance. Although some in the audience were not happy with the softball-type questions and the failure of some of the candidates to provide answers, by all appearances the first LGBTQ-specific mayoral forum was a big success. t

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news // LOCAL

The Literary Mount Vernon Walking Tour

By Joe Garvey Since 2007, the Maryland Humanities Council (MHC), located at 108 West Centre Street in Baltimore, has sponsored “The Literary Mount Vernon Walking Tour” under the auspices of the Maryland Center for the Book (MCFB). Lisa Keir developed the tour about the famous authors, poets, and editors, who once lived, worked, or attended school in historic Mount Vernon. Spanning 170 years of literary history, the tour focuses on the lives of 13 icons, often comparing and contrasting them.

The tour begins at 11 a.m. on select Saturdays in front of the Enoch Pratt Free Library Central Branch. It includes two special stops: the George Peabody Library, where curator Paul Espinosa gives a presentation of the Peabody’s rare books; and the Belvedere Hotel’s Owl Bar. Jessica

Baldwin, program assistant for MCFB, told Baltimore OUTloud that the tour is “interactive and more like a discussion rather than a lecture.”

Did you know these authors lived or spent time in Mount Vernon? Karl Shapiro once worked at the Pratt and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for his wartime poetry, V-Letter and Other Poems, eventually becoming the nation’s poet laureate. Regarding Edgar Allan Poe, Jessica told Baltimore OUTloud that the tour features the author “getting his first taste of success.” In 1833, Poe won a $50 prize for his short story “Ms. Found in a Bottle.” Upton Sinclair grew up on Charles Street and wrote The Jungle (1906) leading to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. “He is the ultimate muckraker,” Jessica declared, “whose journalism directly affected America’s culture and policies” John Murphy rose from slavery to become the owner of the Afro American, promoting great writers such as Langston Hughes.

At the Peabody Library, John Dos Passos conducted research for 20 years after completing his most famous work U.S.A. Trilogy. During the tour, Peabody curator Paul Espinosa’s presentation includes a history of the library, its stunning architec-

Jessica Baldwin, program assistant, Maryland Center for the Book

ture, and such rare book items as a Spanish antiphonary containing liturgical music from the early 1400s and “fore-edge” books, which reveal a painting when you fan the pages. Paul told Baltimore OUTloud, “Because the tour is a literary group, I also look to show first editions of American authors such as Melville, Whitman, and Poe.” F. Scott Fitzgerald coined the term the “Jazz Age” long before he and Zelda moved into the Stafford Hotel. “On our tour we see the dark side of his life,” Jessica said, “where he was struggling with alcoholism and Zelda was under psychiatric care.”

At the Baltimore School for the Arts, tour-goers discover Tupac Shakur “at his most relatable … as a teenager before he became a rising star, before he became a legend.” H.L. Mencken who popularized the Scopes “Monkey Trial” lived next door with his wife Sara Haardt, “a place where he lived because he was in love.” Nearby, Emmanuel Episcopal Church has a “long history of support of the arts … we focus on Edna St. Vincent Millay, but other poets met there as well,” Jessica related.

Carl Sandburg read his poetry here, and the Maryland Poetry Society founded by Sally

Paul Espinosa, curator of the George Peabody Library

Bruce Kinsolving and Lizette Woodworth Reese met here for many years.

Expatriate Henry James lived at the Belvedere Hotel in 1905 while compiling his impressions of America, The American Scene.

“I like his story – the artist as a visitor,” Jessica commented. “He is so famous for his characterization of place.”

As the tour concludes, two diverse personalities intersect: Emily Post, author of Etiquette and Gertrude Stein author and editor for Ernest Hemingway among others: “…the prototype for Miss Manners living near an iconoclast who did not care what society thought of her,” as Jessica observed.

As this is a walking tour, remember to wear comfortable shoes. Public tours are scheduled for April 2nd, April 16th, May 21st, June 18th, July 16th, August 20th, September 17th, and October 15th. The tour lasts about an hour and a half, and the cost is $10 per person.

Tour-goers receive complimentary coupons to the Belvedere Hotel’s Owl Bar. Private group tours are an option. t For more information, email jbaldwin@ mdhc.org.

“As the tour concludes, two diverse personalities intersect: Emily Post, author of Etiquette and Gertrude Stein author and editor for Ernest Hemingway among others.”

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beyond the beltway compiled by Jim Becker

Texas high schools adopt rule against transgender athletes Dallas, Tex. – Neither letters from national advocacy and local groups nor the threat of lawsuits has prevented an overwhelming majority of Texas school districts from passing a rule barring transgender student athletes in sports. The 586-32 vote to ratify the policy came after the 32-member legislative council of the University Interscholastic League, the statewide body

overseeing high school sports and other extracurricular activities, voted in October to send the rule to member schools. The rule states, “gender shall be determined based on a student’s birth certificate. In cases where a student’s birth certificate is unavailable, other similar government documents used for the purpose of identification may be submitted.”

Rafael McDonnell, communications and advocacy manager for Resource Center, lobbied aggressively against the rule.

He advised Charles Breithaupt, University Interscholastic League executive director, that the rule violates a 2014 determination by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights that under Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in any federally funded program, discrimination on the basis of gender identity is a form of sex discrimination, extending the protections to transgender students. But in

a November 5th response, Breithaupt defended the proposed policy.

Internationally, medical officials with the International Olympic Committee recommended transgender athletes be allowed to compete without gender reassignment surgery. According to the new recommendations, female-to-male athletes will be able to participate in men’s competitions “without restriction.” Male-to-female athletes, however, will need to prove their testosterone levels have been below a certain level for the past year to be allowed to compete. Societal changes and scientific research contributed to the changes, according to an IOC document. (Dallas Voice – James Russell at Dallasvoice.com)

‘No-gay Thursdays’ hazing leads to juvenile charges Berwyn, Penna. – No hate-crime charges are expected against three high school students charged in relation to weekly hazing among football players at Conestoga High School as part of so-called “No-Gay Thursdays,” Chester County district attorney Tom Hogan told Philadelphia Gay News. “We looked directly at that and we looked hard at it,” he said. “We have not uncovered any evidence that any of this was motivated explicitly by anti-LGBT bias. None of the kids who were targeted were gay…. But I can’t imagine if you are a gay student at Conestoga that ‘No Gay Thursdays’ made you feel particularly welcome or comfortable.”

Hogan told reporters at a March 4th press conference that upperclassmen football players started the weekly hazing to allow explicit sexual behavior like placing their genitals on younger players’ heads and forcing those students to clean the locker room in their underwear. Hogan said the three students who were charged were all 17 at the time of an alleged incident in October in which two senior football players held down a freshman, who refused to clean the locker room in his underwear, while a third senior penetrated the victim’s rectum with a broom stick. The three face charges of unlawful restraint, terroristic threats, conspiracy to commit assault, and related offenses in the juvenile system. The victim, who no longer attends the school, requested that sexual

Boys forced to clean locker room in their underwear

offense charges not be filed. Hogan said the victim’s father reported the incident to the school last month.

After the investigation, he said his office communicated with the Tredyffrin-Easttown School District about the need to work with students to curb instances of homophobia. “We told the district, ‘You need to address this head-on.’” Mark Cataldi, the district’s director of assessment and accountability, said Conestoga has had a Gay-Straight Alliance and Anti-Defamation League for several years. “We have a lot of pride that we have these strong groups,” Cataldi said. Cataldi said the district has policies in place to prohibit hazing and prevent harassment, including any motivated by someone’s sexual orientation. t (Philadelphia Gay News – Paige Cooperstein at Epgn.com)

Lesbian widow to get Social Security survivor’s benefits Dallas, Texas – A lesbian widow has finally won Social Security survivor benefits after the Social Security Administration (SSA) settled a lawsuit brought by Lambda Legal. Texas residents Kathy Murphy and Sara Barker were a committed couple for more than 30 years, eventually marrying in Massachusetts in 2010. In March 2012, however, Barker died of cancer, leaving Murphy a widow. Because the couple lived in Texas, which did not recognize their marriage at the time of Barker’s death, the SSA also refused to recognize their marriage. The SSA ruling meant that Murphy was denied Social Security spousal survivor benefits earned by Barker over a lifetime of work, benefits that would have

been hers had the couple lived in a state that recognized same-sex marriage.

Lambda Legal sued the SSA on Murphy’s behalf and also on behalf of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, a national advocacy organization. In a March 8th press release, Lambda Legal announced that they had settled with the SSA, winning Murphy the benefits she sought. “The Social Security Administration has finally adjusted Kathy’s monthly SSA benefit to recognize the reality that she was married to her wife Sara and is a widow entitled to the same treatment as other survivors,” Lambda Legal’s Susan Sommer said in a statement.

“We are also pleased to announce that the SSA has finally updated its instructions Kathy Murphy

to its staff in accordance with the historic Obergefell v. Hodges ruling last June.

The SSA has also issued other guidance to staff to manage claims from the LGBT community. With this good news, including the SSA’s long-awaited changes to its policies to conform to Obergefell, we are hopeful that LGBT widows, widowers, and retirees, wherever they live, will be able to receive the Social Security spousal benefits to which they are entitled... We call on the SSA to prioritize awarding benefits to the many LGBT people who were unfairly denied them in the past.” t (Seattle Gay News – Mike Andrew at Sgn.org)

These news notes have been compiled, with permission, from the online version of various newspapers and other web sites. We thank these publications for allowing us to bring you their news stories. Usually the reports have been significantly edited and you can read the full story by going to the web site mentioned following the item. Comments are strictly the opinions of Jim Becker and not of Baltimore OUTloud or Pride Media.

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Voice of the Center

2016 Pride Committee Busy at Work The 2016 Baltimore Pride Planning Committee had its first meeting in November 2015, and has since grown to a dedicated team of over 30 community members. As expressed at a previous town hall event, many community members were unhappy with how GLCCB procured and managed Pride volunteers, and felt that Pride committee meetings were poorly organized and provided little opportunity for true involvement. In response, we completely restructured our Pride committee and it has proven to be extremely successful. We can all look forward to one of the best Pride celebrations ever.

Our Pride committee is broken up into eight subcommittees: Entertainment, Pride Events, Vendors, Parade, Art & Communication, Grounds & Logistics, Volunteer Coordination, and Youth Pride. Each committee has one or two community co-chairs, who assemble and organize their committees independently. The entire Pride committee is managed by two GLCCB board members: Selina Scipio and Thomas Idoux. The entire operation is supported and maintained by GLCCB president, Jabari Lyles.

The leaders of each committee meet monthly, while subcommittees meet as needed. This structure has allowed for increased community involvement, increased accountability, clear division of tasks and responsibilities, and has made it possible for Pride to be 100% volunteer led and organized.

Pride Committee Leadership meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. The committee has met several times since November, and have already nailed down key details about Pride. The committee hopes to announce our 2016 Pride headlining acts and other pride-related events in the coming weeks. Are you interested in becoming involved with Pride 2016? E-mail glccbpride@gmail.com. t

Mayoral Forum on LGBTQ Issues a Huge Success Thank you to all who came out for Baltimore’s first forum for mayoral candidates on LGBTQ issues. We were honored to be able to provide our community with an opportunity to inform their vote on April 26. Twelve candidates showed up for the forum, which was held at the University of Baltimore on Tuesday, March 8th. Candidates in attendance included Catherine Pugh, Nick Mosby, Elizabeth Embry, Carl Stokes, Nicholas Caminiti, DeRay Mckesson, Joshua Harris, Calvin Young III, Cindy Walsh, Lavern Murray, Patrick Gutierrez, and Andre Powell. Each candidate had an opportunity to respond to questions prepared previous to the forum, as well as to questions from the audience. Several disruptions during the event illustrated our community’s frustration with city government and accountability on LGBTQ issues.

Candidates were able to respond to the following questions: 1) What have you already done to advance LGBTQ rights and issues in Baltimore?

2) What will you do to stop police profiling and violence against LGBTQ people, particularly transgender people of color?

3) What will you do to support homeless and unstably housed LGBTQ youth?

4) What will you do to ensure equal education and employment opportunities for LGBTQ people, particularly LGBTQ youth, LGBTQ seniors, and transgender people of color?

5) What strategies will you employ to address the disproportionate effect of HIV/AIDS on men who have sex with men (MSMs) and transgender women in our city.

Due to time, candidates were only able to answer two questions publicly. All candidates have been instructed to submit written responses to all questions. We will distribute answers as we receive them. We look forward to working with whomever becomes Mayor of Baltimore, and have made the necessary vehicle to hold that person accountable to issues that concern our community. t

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thinking outloud

Pointing it Out

By Sage Piper

Let Gays Be Gays Donald Trump started out last summer as a joke phenomenon on the national political scene, a source of sheer bizarre entertainment. His transformation into firebrand spokesman for the economically and culturally insecure and leading Republican candidate for president has been a dizzying and unimaginable one, indeed. I’m surely not the only one who has watched the rise of Trump, and the mindset of many of his supporters, with foreboding. So as the rise persists I have to ask: what does the Trump phenomena mean for the gay community?

We all need to be concerned about Trump’s go-to strategy: pitting groups of Americans against each other, playing to

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their basest fears, raising virulent bullying to an art form. Trump is responsible for what happens at his events, inciting and applauding violence, promising to pay the legal bills of violent rally supporters, and harking back to times when opposition protesters were carried out on stretchers.

Trump employs language that is bigoted toward so many groups – immigrants, Muslims, women, physically and mentally disabled – can the gays be far behind? What accounts for the Trump phenomenon?

Consider his campaign slogan: Make America Great Again. The problem with this statement is its implicit message that “someone” has made America nongreat – someone is at fault, there is someone we can point to and blame for a world which seems, more and more, beyond our control.

Trump’s pointing that finger of blame at President Obama and the Democrats stirs up the worst kind of racism imaginable – against African-Americans, Jews, gays, environmentalists, feminists, unionists, all foreigners – everyone under the liberal umbrella. The message is that “they” are

march 18, 2016 • baltimoreoutloud.com

at fault, they are to blame.

Whenever any politician uses this kind of harking back to halcyon days of America’s past I have to shake my head in wonder. To which glory days, in particular, are they referring? When, precisely, was America “great”? Was it back in the days of slavery, when African-Americans were captured from their homelands and shipped to our shores to live brutal lives as the property of white men?

Was it in the days when women had no rights and were the property of their husbands?

Was it when the South was so segregated that blacks and whites could not drink out of the same water fountain? Was it in the days when gay men and women had to hide their true selves and live out their entire lives in the closet in order to be granted the respect and rights of their fellow citizens? Was it when women had to battle to get the basic right to vote in this country? Was it during times of segregation, lynching, and institutional oppression of a whole race of Americans? Was it when Jews, Irish, Italians, and other ethnic and religious groups were discriminated against in housing and hiring? Was it when leaders of government, industry, and every form of institution were white men, and white men only? Or was it even further back – when the colonists hit American shores and started systematically stealing the land of the Native Americans they found living and thriving here? Obviously we could go on, ad nausea…

But whatever haze of nostalgic glory lurking in the minds of Trump supporters, their insecurity amid life in 2016 is the fearful heart into which is he tapping. It is the sense that the world is more and more beyond their control, complex, and messier now that whole groups of people are demanding the same seat at the table that they have been afforded since day one.

And instead of taking that transformative walk into someone else’s shoes – instead of realizing that if, say, you and your spouse went through the life-changing event of getting engaged, planning a wedding, inviting all the people you treasure and who have touched your lives adjust their busy lives so that they can travel and be witness and part of something so fundamental to you – then maybe, just maybe, someone who happens to be gay might be entitled to the same kind of joyful rite of passage.

The sky won’t fall down

I have long grown exhausted beating my head against the wall wondering what could those who oppose such equal rights possibly be in fear of losing from their own lives, what could possibly be at stake for them, what shakes them so – so that they expend their own precious energy fighting against it. Wouldn’t they be better served concentrating on their own lives, channeling all of that fervent energy into being the best person, friend, lover, spouse, parent, son, daughter, worker, boss, artist, citizen they can be for all of those around them?

The latter does not seem like a bad way to spend one’s life. So why resist it … what are the Trumpsters and Tea Partyers and Bible Belters and Conservativers fighting?

Perhaps it is a last gasp attempt to stave off one hell of a tidal wave of guilt.

Perhaps if it makes sense that someone who happens to be gay should also have the right to stand up and look into the eyes of their loved one in front of friends and family – perhaps if something so simple is so true, and at the same time the sky actually does not fall down … then perhaps they have been wrong about everything, all along. And who knows – perhaps from such a cracking open, real growth might begin.

But wait, here’s the answer, just in the nick of time: Trump’s here, to build a wall against that. t

quality of life

Lesbian Love

Barb Elgin

Lesbians & Pickleball A few years ago, the health effects of 15 years of self-employment started to take their toll on me. I’d recently experienced a health crisis, including several ER visits (for a new symptom I’ve never had: tension headaches) a hospitalization, testing and even, heaven forbid, a heart catheterization. Not fun for a woman in her early 50s.

The good news is that my cardiologist reported “you have the heart of a teenager,” but that’s not the whole story either. I still have some health issues I must attend to, before they become bigger and harder to address. So I’ve taken these events as wake-up calls to shift and take better care of my physical self, which too often has taken a back seat to higher concerns. This is one of the things they never tell you when they say put your nose to the grindstone or build a business you love.

And a big part of this shift is finding fitness activities I will engage in regularly.

And, luckily for me, I’ve found an activity I absolutely love. That activity is pickleball.

What the heck is that, you say? I remember years ago staying at a hotel in The Villages, Florida with my dad. We were shopping for a home in the Central Florida area.

While coming and going, I used to hear this strange noise in the area, a pinging noise.

One day I asked someone “What is that noise?” He laughed and answered: “That’s pickleball.”

Well at the time I didn’t think to give pickleball a look. I was too busy and still young, energetic and, well, busy, focused on building that business “I loved.” It took almost another ten years for the “sweet game with a sour name” to find me!

This time the idea of pickleball took hold in my life and, I’m so glad it did. I needed to find something in the exercise and sports space that fit me. I’d played racquetball in college and loved it. But racquetball wasn’t popular in my area and I

didn’t even know where to go to play. Yes, there was always softball. But the last time I played – with seniors – I got pretty beat up, for such a low cardio activity!

Then there is golf, but that just wasn’t active, fun, or social enough for my liking.

There was the gym – yeah right. I am just not too fond of going to gyms. That sort of activity is well, to me, boring. I just don’t stick to it. I’ve discovered exercise videos galore on YouTube yes, but even that, in the comfort of my living room, is not that attractive to me. I must force myself.

And tennis, nah, that never clicked for me either. Table tennis, fun – but where’s the physical fitness? Over the last several years, I was so busy working it was all I could do to find time in the evenings to take a brisk mile long walk up to my community pool (and back) for a dip. Then, about three years ago, knowing I needed to get more active, out of desperation I joined the women’s pickleball league in my community after observing others playing and seeming to be enjoying themselves. What a great decision!

After playing about 18 months in Florida I returned to Baltimore to be closer to family and better employment opportunities. Thankfully I’ve found that pickleball has become popular here too. For the past year I’ve been playing in this really great pickleball league, started and run by a lovely young couple named Autumn and John Moheyer, who reside near Patterson Park.

Why do I like pickleball so much? There are several reasons. Most importantly, it’s great exercise. I burn at least 250-300 calories an hour playing doubles. And here’s the ticket: it doesn’t feel like exercise! And the time flies.

If you like competition, you will love pickleball! The other night, for example, I played almost two hours with guys half or more my age! And because I am naturally athletic, I give all of the guys in my league, even the best ones, a run for their money.

Yes, I guess I am a sporty lesbian, at least to a degree.

This brings up another reason I love pickleball. It’s hard to get hurt playing this sport. I am long past the days when I want to run into others or be hit with a hard ball or whatever. In fact, I was never one to enjoy playing against those uber-competitive women that seem to relish playing dangerously. Now, there is still a risk of injury when playing pickleball, but I haven’t expe-

A great combination for better health & friendship

rienced it myself nor have I seen much of it in others playing this game.

A fourth reason I love this sport is that pickleball is easy to learn and it’s almost as easy improving, with practice.

Lastly, a fifth fantastic reason to play this game is the social aspect. In our league, we have a wide range of ages and body types, all playing together. We have guys and gals in their 60s and 70s playing right alongside young dudes in their 20s.

And, plenty of women love pickleball. In fact, I would say most of the women in my current league are LGBT! Yes! By the time you read this, our winter league and final tournament will be over, but we’ll be looking forward to getting outside for our spring league, which begins in early May. Want to learn more about pickleball?

Here’s three great resources to check out: • USAPA – United States of America Pickleball Association – Usapa.org • Pickleball magazine – free sample online issue here Joomag.com/magazine/ pickleball-magazine-1-1/07101900014527 11201?short • Play Pickleball – Baltimore pickleball league – Playpickleball.org. t

The name Barb Elgin is synonymous with lesbian health, happiness, and love.

For over 15 years. Barb traveled all over the U.S. and Mexico – and all over the world virtually – meeting and connecting lesbians. Want to join Barb in planning healthy recreational and social activities for LGBT’s 50 and up in the Baltimore area? Be sure to learn more about Barb and what she’s up to, including how to connect with her here: Barbelgin.com.

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quality of life

My Fabulous

Disease

By Mark S. King

I Discovered My Brother Was Gay from The Advocate Magazine It was 1975 and I was 14 years old, all gangly limbs and stubborn acne, and I was sitting in the passenger seat of a parked car. Splayed across my lap was the magazine, open to the page my companion had selected. I was staring at the photo with something like revelation.

“I wasn’t sure if I should show this to you,” he said. He was a little nervous. “But I think it’s wonderful.”

He had the exquisite name of Pericles Alexander, and was once the arts critic for the Shreveport Times, my hometown paper. Now, in his retirement, he had found a willing pupil in me, a teenager that loved working on summer musicals while secretly grappling with my own emerging sexuality.

Pericles was a kind mentor, nothing more. He drove me to local plays and regaled me with stories of Broadway actors and theatrical gossip. We would huddle together in the dusty seats of our community theater, me hanging on to his every whispered word as the house lights dimmed for the latest production.

When he parked his car in front of my family’s house that night after a show, he quietly pulled the magazine out of a plain brown envelope. He thumbed through it while I watched, suddenly nervous about what the pages might reveal, and then he handed it to me. I set the magazine in my lap and my eyes quickly grew the size of serving platters. Never in my young years had I seen anything as startling as the image before me.

There were men in the midst of a musical production number of some kind, and they were all nearly naked. Among them, the unmistakable and familiar face of a man, grinning buoyantly, with nothing but a bedazzled butterfly the size of the palm of

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my hand covering his crotch.

That man, the one with the rhinestone butterfly as a makeshift jock, was my older brother, Richard. And he looked triumphant in his grand pose.

I forced my eyes away from Richard and scanned the page for an explanation. The article was about Boy Meets Boy, an off-Broadway sensation set in the 1930s that adopted the spirit of an old Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical. Except that, in this story, there were two Fred Astaire’s and no Ginger Rogers.

My brother is in a gay musical in New York City, I marveled to myself. My brother is nearly naked. My brother is in a glossy magazine. My brother is nearly naked.

“Are you alright?” Pericles asked.

“Sure,” I said tentatively, and I flipped the magazine over to its cover.

The Advocate, it said “The national gay

newsmagazine.”

I had never heard of such a thing. My own struggle to accept myself was purely internal, and often in conflict with nearly everything I witnessed or read growing up in Louisiana. My southern instincts suggested the magazine must be perverse, but something inside me knew better.

And my mind was still trying to process that photo of my brother, captured in an outlandish moment, yes, but performing on stage and doing what he loved. Even if he had never mentioned the show to me during one of his phone calls from New York, much less come out to me.

Richard and I weren’t close, not yet. He was fifteen years older and had left home

Sentimental Times

By Mark Segal In less than a month, Philadelphia Gay News will celebrate its 40th anniversary.

That’s really something when you consider there are only two other LGBT publications in the nation that can make a similar statement.

But even more amazing is that we have never missed an issue or a deadline, and we’ve had the same leadership since day one. So, since that leader was me, I’ve been thinking about those 40 years a lot lately.

The beginning was not easy. We had death threats. People came into our office and destroyed it one evening by ripping out all the electrical wiring and what pipes there were. Our vending boxes were bombed, set on fire and had cars driven into them, yet we had that paper on the streets each and every issue, year in and year out.

The PGN you look at today is the nation’s most awarded of all LGBT media. You might wonder how we got to this point from our meager beginnings.

We knew from our very start that our mission was to inform our community and to give people who had different views a place

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to have dialogue with each other. We also knew that we were going to be a hard-news publication, not a “happy” newspaper, or newspaper lite.

Our very first issue featured an interview with the highest-appointed out official in the nation, and the second with Pennsylvania Gov. Milton Shapp. That interview was the first time any governor anywhere in the U.S. was interviewed by LGBT media. Our political reporting is only one of many ways that PGN differed from other LGBT media.

Our coverage of trans issues goes back to our earliest days. Youth issues were always on our agenda. And then there was AIDS. For many older LGBT people, the 1980s will always be associated with HIV/AIDS. For us on the front lines, it was sheer hell. For those at PGN who were warring about loved ones and friends, we had the double duty of reporting on the epidemic and trying to bring sense and calmness to a calamity. That was difficult when PGN discovered a police station in West Philadelphia that was keeping a list of people it knew had AIDS and then giving them “special treatment.” Despite threats, we ran that story, and the community got an apology from the city, and the list was destroyed.

The community sometimes wondered why we continued to report on a story. That

to pursue his acting dreams by the time I was a toddler. Many years later we would both find ourselves living in Los Angeles and that gave us the chance, finally, to carve out a loving friendship as adults. But in that moment, as I sat in that car in the dark, Richard was simply a happy gay man frozen in an outrageous pose of defiance and joy.

“I think appearing off-Broadway is really impressive,” Pericles offered. “So I thought you would enjoy this. But, maybe you better not take this inside.” He gently slid the magazine from my grasp. He returned it to the brown envelope and tucked it beside his seat.

“Sure, okay,” I answered, and I reached for the door. My head was swimming.

“Thanks, Pericles. Yeah. I’m excited for him.” And that much was true.

I trotted inside and gave my parents a report about the play I had just seen, parroting the review Pericles had given me on the ride home. And then I went upstairs to bed.

I slept soundly that night, my dreams filled with theater and music, butterflies, and rhinestones, and an unfamiliar but comforting emotion. It felt like the inauguration of a special kind of pride. t

was never more true than with the case of Nizah Morris, the trans woman who ended up dead after a courtesy ride from police. To us at PGN, she has become a family member and represents what many trans people endure each and every day. Our more than 13 years of reporting and investigating that case has led us to court on many occasions, as we attempt to get records that have appeared and disappeared. No other LGBT media outlet has put the resources into a story for as long as PGN has – and we will continue to do so.

That investigation led PGN to win a national award for investigative reporting, which put us in the same category as the Wall Street Journal. And just this week, once again we were informed that we had won seven journalistic awards from the Local Media Association.

Thank you to a staff that has continued to live up to our motto, and thank you to our faithful readers who might not always agree with us, but who have continued supporting us. We promise you that we’ll continue to make you proud of this publication, week after week. t Mark Segal is publisher of Philadelphia Gay News. His new memoir And Then I Danced is out now.

quality of life

Open Wide ask Dr Eva

Dr Eva Hersh

Puzzles of PrEP & HIV Dr. Eva, Years ago, everyone who got HIV medication also got antibiotics to prevent infections, especially to prevent PCP (pneumocystis pneumoniae). I used to take Bactrim and Azithromycin. A young friend who was recently found to be positive was placed on a regimen of just one pill daily. Could that possibly be enough?

Concerned Dear Concerned, If your friend’s CD4 count was over 200 when he was diagnosed, one multi-drug antiretroviral pill may be all he needs! With greater acceptance of HIV testing, more people are being diagnosed earlier in the illness. Early diagnosis has many benefits, including less need for preventive antibiotics. People with CD4 counts above 200 are unlikely to develop opportunistic infections.

Bactrim is still given to patients with CD4 counts below 200 to prevent Pneumocystis pneumonia. Azithromycin is still given to those with CD4 counts below 100 to prevent MAC, also called bird tuberculosis.

Dear Dr. Eva, I was wondering how doctors choose medications for HIV, now that there are multiple one pill a day options.

Been on the Same Meds for Years Dear Been, This is a great question! Let’s consider the question of...

How doctors choose HIV meds Let’s say I am the doctor and the patient is named James.

1) The first thing I do is review James’s history with him, focusing on any medical problems, what medicines he is now taking, what HIV medicines he has taken in the past, and what prior genotypes (resistance tests) he has had. I ask about alcohol and drug use, because even moderate use could interfere with James’s ability to take medicine every day. If he has certain medical

problems – such as kidney disease, heart disease, seizures, and depression – he should avoid some HIV medicines which can make these problems worse.

2) In James’s case, he has had HIV for 11 years, and has been on many HIV medications. We look together at a chart of HIV medicines with names and pictures of medications. He remembers some of the medicines, but not all. He reports past use of cocaine, but none currently.

3) Then I do a physical exam, focused on complications of HIV. I ask James to get blood tests done and come back in two weeks to discuss the results and choose HIV medications. I explain that the blood tests will include a genotype test. The genotype is done to find out if James’s HIV strain is resistant to any HIV medications. If his HIV is resistant to some medications, we cannot use those as they will not be effective.

I tell James that, like all tests, the genotype is not 100%. Some resistance patterns only appear after a person starts taking HIV medications.

4) When the genotype results are available, I review them and compare them with any previous genotypes James has had. A person who has taken many different HIV medicines often has resistance to some medicines.

5) I also review the history James gave me of HIV medicines he took in the past and how he tolerated them. By putting all this information together, I can tell which of the many possible combinations could work well for him.

6) At James’s next visit, I discuss the available options and common side effects of each medication, and any special requirements for taking them, like take only with food, or take only with a fatty meal. Like most people, James wants a one pill once a day treatment. I point out which of the possible medication combinations is available as one pill once a day.

7) James, not the doctor, makes the choice of which medication he will take.

Dear Dr. Eva, I recently read about a man on PrEP who got infected with HIV even though he was taking the PrEP medicine every day. Is this true? If so, how did it happen? A lot of us thought PrEP was 100% effective for preventing HIV. Disappointed Dear Disappointed, It’s important to recognize that nothing in medicine is ever 100% effective. However, PrEP, or Pre Exposure Prophylaxis, which is the use of the antiretroviral medicine Truvada (which is a combination medication including

tenofovir and Ftc) to prevent HIV infection, is very effective. It prevents HIV infection in over 90% of people who take it daily. It was a known risk that PrEP would not be able to protect against a strain of HIV virus that was resistant to both tenofovir and Ftc. Fortunately, strains with that pattern of resistance are rare. The case you are referring to was the first reported PrEP failure found to be caused by tenofovir resistant virus.

This risk can be avoided in people who are taking PrEP to prevent infection by an HIV infected monogamous sex partner.

In that situation, the partner’s virus can be tested for resistance patterns before

Ask

Dr. J

Janan Broadbent, Ph.D.

Does Social Media Affect Relationships?

Just take a wild guess about how much time you devote to Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat, text messages, and emails on a daily basis. I bet it is more than you realize. Social media have become a huge part of our lives, for good and bad. Gone are the days, for most people, when hours passed and we didn’t know what was going on with our friends, colleagues, and the world. No wonder there is now “text neck,” adding to orthopedists’ and physical therapists’ caseload. But what about the effects of this phenomenon on our relationships?

There is much research on this topic.

Spending a lot of time on Facebook is found to be linked to diminished well-being. Is that a cause or effect? Do lonely people spend more time on Facebook or does is create a sense of isolation? New studies conclude that whether the effects are positive or negative depends on how one interacts with one’s contacts. When Facebook hurts, it seems to be out of envy and that leads to depression.

However, if one seeks support from contacts and feels he/she has received it, then that connection decreases depression. Further, passive use; meaning browsing newsfeeds,

PrEP is started. If there is tenofovir resistance, a different medicine can be prescribed. There is no way to prevent this risk in patients starting PrEP who expect to have multiple partners.

This case illustrates why it is very important for people taking PrEP to get tested for HIV every three months. That way, any infections that do occur can be treated promptly.

Starting medication as soon as possible after HIV infection occurs is the best way to preserve the immune system. t Eva Hersh is a Baltimore family physician. Send your comments and questions to her by email at dreva@baltimoreoutloud. com.

reduces well-being whereas active use; posting and commenting, has no such effect.

So what happens in relationships with all this? You may have seen that cartoon of two people sitting across from each other, presumably on a date, and each looking at their smartphones. Then there is that big, touchy issue of privacy. How many relationships have broken up or at least have had conflicts over sharing passwords and having access to each other’s phones? I say and know, many.

Then there is that issue of email response patterns. A study by University of Southern California and Yahoo Mail revealed that the most likely reply length was just five words.

More than 90% of replies were sent within a day. The younger you are, the faster and more terse the reply. And most interestingly, messages sent on weekday mornings got the fastest replies. Many an emailer misinterprets a late reply with rejection or another negative reason. In actuality, there may be many reasons, positive or negative. I have, however, heard many a fight over why a partner took too long to respond or would not check in three times a day. This is an area where our need to be in touch and in control, fueled by insecurity and possibly lack of trust, overrides rational thinking. Have you seen that GEICO commercial where a guy is rushing to a helicopter, dodging bullets or whatever, and his mother calls for a casual conversation? It is funny, but close to reality of what happens between some couples.

On the positive side, an American Psychological Association study of under 30 Twitter users found that 46% users say they tweet as a way to express anger, and 37% of them hope the person or group they are angry at will read the tweet. The positive side of this is that expression in any medium does help reduce that feeling. t Back to yin and yang – Life is full of positives and negatives.

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faith

A

Spiritual View

Rev. Victoria Burson

Give Up Running Away I am reading a book for the Lenten season Giving Up Something Bad for Lent, by James Moore. It basically talks about giving up those things that we desire not to return to, even after Lent. I am reading a chapter entitled ”Give up running away.” I really enjoyed this chapter as it spoke volumes to my inner-being, causing me to do some self-actualizing. It reminds me of the narrative found in the Gospel according to Luke 9:10-17 (read it), where we embark on the story of a younger son entreating his father for his inheritance early, leaving home only to have squandered it all on the strip (night life), women of the hour and alcohol. Meanwhile, after losing it all, he became homeless, full of guilt and shame for all he had done. Having to dine with the pigs, he chose to go back home and seek forgiveness. His father welcomed him back with open arms, put the best clothes on him, with the best meal and a nice piece of jewelry. The older son gets angry and indignant to the point of being belligerent, remind-

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ing his father all he has done for him and his family.

Here we have two sons, one stays away out of feelings of unworthiness, shame and guilt, while the older son refuses to go to the celebration and welcome his younger brother home because he believes he was entitled to receive the blessing and the best. In essence, he stayed away because he felt worthy due to all he has done for the family and his father.

Either way, both brothers were running away rather than dealing with their issues head-on.

Often times, as believers, we run away from our problems rather than to it. Granted, problems are here to stay. Moore reminds us that we do not live in a problem-free world, nor a problem-free marriage or church. We spend too much time recklessly wasting precious time because of blame, guilt, shame, anger, and most of all, unforgiveness. No matter the problem, life happens! We must deal with it head-on.

Another great story in the Bible is Luke 15:1-3; 11b-32. Our greatest teacher is Jesus in dealing with issues face to face. In this epic story, Jesus and the disciples head towards a remote and quiet place to discuss the Apostles’ previous mission trip. The Bible says the crowds get a whiff of it and follow them to Bethesda (a desolate place). The Disciples notice the crowds and get worried that it was getting dark. Jesus instructs them to assemble the multitude into small groups. The Disciples wonder how they are going to feed the crowds of people; they thought it best to send them to their villages for shelter and food. Jesus has a plan: “You feed them.”

Too often, we want to send folks away or run away when life gets too hard. Jesus never

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ran away, he coped with hardships, injustices and met challenges head-on, always trusting and believing in God as his source. As believers, we cannot pass the buck we must go through it, not around it. We must believe that God has our back at all times. Moore, reminds us that “Jesus used available resources.” We too must learn to survey our circumstances, most of the time everything we need is typically on our person or nearby. Everything the disciples needed was right before them.

Sometimes tunnel vision prevents us from seeing what is around us because of distrac-

tions. Jesus turned a problem into an opportunity. Jesus found a way to turn a burden into a blessing. Likewise, we are made in the image of Christ. We too can turn our situation around.

We must always look for opportunities even in the most pernicious circumstances. What are you running from? Are you running from going back to school because you feel you are too old or not educated enough? Are you trying to run from opening that business or starting that ministry? Are you running from a broken family relationship out of pain? I challenge you to stop running and embrace destiny. t

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Lively Arts // out on stage

Pumpkin Theatre – A Baltimore Institution

By Ryan M. Clark As I turn a corner in the basement of Har Sinai facility that Pumpkin Theatre now resides I was blasted 30 years into my past.

Stacks of multicolored carpeted mats were neatly tucked in a corner, which Pumpkin Theatre’s little patrons use to be transported to exotic locations, enchanted forests, and elegant ballrooms. This is how I first experienced theatre many years ago and subsequently led me to lead a life in the theatre as an educator, performer, director, and critic.

Pumpkin Theatre began its mission to entertain, empower, and educate young people back in 1967. Sister Kathleen Marie Engers started the theatre organization as a project of the College of Notre Dame.

For years, Pumpkin Theatre created performance and educational programming out of the North Charles Street campus. In 1982, the organization left Notre Dame seeking a larger venue. After several years in Roland Park, the theatre moved to St. Timothy’s School in Stevenson, Maryland, and stayed there for 20 years. With their business office in Ruxton Towers and classes at various locations in the Baltimore area, the theatre decided to consolidate all of its operations three years ago by moving to its current location at Har Sinai in Owings Mills.

Raine Bode serves as the custodian of Pumpkin Theatre’s legacy as its artistic director. Bode had directed for Pumpkin Theatre in the past and also attended performances as a kid, “Pumpkin is a Baltimore institution,” said Bode. With her husband Dana Whipkey as managing director, the couple balance the rich tradition of Pumpkin Theatre along with their own vision of empowering children through theatre. While the move to Har Sinai has been very successful, Bode has a yearning to explore more educational and performance opportunities in Baltimore City.

“Without an urban center, we’re not a suburb,” she said referring to their cur-

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rent location in Owings Mills. Bode is concerned about the absence of arts organizations for children in Baltimore City. “We are Pumpkin Theatre of Baltimore, we are Baltimore,” she said. To that end, Pumpkin Theatre has stared a partnership with Port Discovery offering workshops and performances for Baltimore City kids that would not normally experience live performance.

When I think of my own experiences with Pumpkin Theatre, it was long before cellphones or other portable devises. I asked Bode about that challenge. “Having devices as babysitters means live interaction is happening less and less. I find that kids are desperate to be engaged. They want to be interactive. They want the live exchange. Through the live exchange we offer them at Pumpkin, we hope that they will learn about empathy and community.”

This noble effort has paid off as the theatre’s audience has grown and both parents and grandparents thoroughly enjoy the Pumpkin Theatre experience.

Currently, Pumpkin Theatre’s season includes five productions as well as other special programming. This season has been driven partly by Rain Bode’s “princess fatigue.”

She has developed a season where the protagonist characters are not “rescued” but rather solve problems themselves through the aforementioned empathy and community building concepts so important to the theatre’s core mission. Plays this season have included, School House Rock, Jr., The Rainbow Crow, Go, Dog. Go!, and the upcoming Winnie the Poo (opening April 6th.) Additionally, the theatre’s final production will be an original commissioned play called Girl with the Diamonds in Her Eyes: A Cowgirl Musical.

The impact Pumpkin Theatre has had on countless generations of Baltimore youth is remarkable. For 40 years, the theatre has offered children a glimpse at the power of live performance. Please save the green mat for me! t Ryan Clark is the program coordinator of Theatre and Media Performance at Stevenson University.

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// qmusic

Eighties All Over Again

By Gregg Shapiro In 1981, British New Wave bands New Order and Duran Duran both released fulllength album debuts. Modern music hasn’t been the same since and the impact and influence of both bands is still felt to this very day.

Thirty-four years later, New Order and Duran Duran have released new discs just two weeks apart.

Music Complete Duran Duran (Mute), New Order’s first new studio album in ten (!) years, is kind of a bittersweet affair. Longtime bass player and New Order (and Joy Division) co-founder Peter Hook is absent, pursuing other musical options.

The good news is that keyboard goddess Gillian Gilbert has returned to the New Order fold. Who could blame the band for wanting to start things off with “Restless,” a song that sounds like vintage NO and also shows off new bass player Tom Chapman? But the best is yet to come with a quartet of some of the most thrilling dance music of the band’s career.

From the insistent beat and U2-like guitar on “Singularity” and the Giorgio Moroderesque synths on “Plastic” to the reference to “American Pie” (the song, not the movie, silly) in “Tutti Frutti” (featuring La Roux) and the finely funky “People on the High Line,” New Order knows what draws folks to the dance-floor. Songs such as “Unlearn this Hatred” and “Superheated” (featuring Brandon Flowers) are also club essentials. With the exception of the rabid “Stray Dog” (featuring Iggy Pop), Music Complete is a rewarding return.

On Paper Gods (WB), Duran Duran’s first new studio disc in four years, the band invites some friends along for the ride.

That’s 21st century dance diva Kiesza joining Simon Le Bon on lead vocals for “Last Night in the City,” a song that should put smiles on the faces of the people on the dance-floor. “Pressure Off” features Janelle Monáe and Nile Rodgers and delivers on the funk promised by the presence of both. On “Danceophobia,” Lindsay Lohan appears as doctor. She’s not that good of an actress to pull it off, but that doesn’t detract from the song’s charms.

Jonas Bjerre of Mew pipes in on “Change the Skyline,” diva Anna Ross helps “But-

terfly Girl” take wing and Mark Ronson and Nile Rodgers make “Only In Dreams” dreamy.

Thanks to New Order and Duran Duran, the early-to-mid-80s introduced us to many bands with a similar dance-oriented mindset. One of the all-time best of the era, Bronski Beat, also had a queer component. Openly gay falsetto-voiced lead singer Jimmy Somerville gave songs such as “Small Town Boy” and “Why” the emotional edge that allowed them to connect with listeners from all walks of life. Somerville did the same in his next band, Communards, as well as when he was a solo artist. His new solo disc, the respectful and fittingly titled Homage (SFE / Cherry Red) celebrates vintage disco in all its glory. The limited edition “black vinyl effect CD” is a full-throttle dance party from start to finish, featuring masterpieces such as “Strong Enough,” “Taken Away,” “Some Wonder,” and “Travesty.”

Heartbreak Pass (New West), the new disc by Howe Gelb’s alt-country music collective Giant Sand, is in Gelb’s words “too long.” As Mae West put it, “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful,” and in the case of Heartbreak Pass the saying holds true. Separated into three “volumes,” the 15 songs were recorded in a variety of locations with an array of musicians. There’s plenty of insurgent country surge to the songs, especially “Heaventually,” “Every Now and Then,” and “Man on a String.” But there is also some exciting experimentation “Texting Feist,” “Hurtin’ Habit,” “Transponder,” “Pen To Paper,” “Gypsy Candle,” and “Done.”

Hugh Cornwell’s band The Stranglers may have gotten its start in the punk scene of the late 1970s, but it had some of its biggest stateside hits during the 1980s.

Those include “Golden Brown” and “Skin Deep.” Cornwell, who had been releasing solo albums since 1979, officially departed The Stranglers in 1990 to concentrate on his own musical career. The Fall and Rise of Hugh Cornwell (Invisible Hands) is a 13-track compilation representing six of Cornwell’s solo discs and also includes the new song “Live It and Breathe It.” t

Lively Arts // out on screen

Are the Monsters Inside or Out?

By Chuck Duncan This review is spoiler-free for the enjoyment of your cinematic viewing experience.

Don’t spoil the ending!

THERE, that’s out of the way. So what exactly is 10 Cloverfield Lane? What it isn’t is a sequel to the monster movie Cloverfield, rather a film that is part of a bigger idea under the “Cloverfield” banner. In actuality, the film wasn’t even a part of that universe when scripted or shot,

bly nuclear or chemical, maybe the Russians, the Chinese, or even aliens. Everyone outside is dead. He saved her life, so she should be grateful. They might be able to leave the bunker in a year or two.

This is quite a bit for Michelle to take in, and when she meets Emmett (John Gallagher, Jr.) another occupant of the very well-appointed bunker (Howard has been preparing for something like this for quite some time),

with the original title being “The Cellar” and filmed for Paramount’s smaller Insurge studio, which was shut down, putting the movie into limbo. Paramount bought it back, some re-writes and re-shooting took place, with the piece retitled to introduce, possibly, a whole anthology of Cloverfield movies.

Sounds like the makings of a cinematic disaster, but this is far from it. 10 Cloverfield Lane begins with its focus on a young woman named Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), about to run away from a bad marriage. As she hits the road, her husband keeps calling her cellphone to try to talk, but all she does is listen. In one distracted moment, a loud bang sends Michelle’s car careening off the road.

When Michelle awakens, she is in a small cinderblock bunker of a room, brace on her leg, hooked to an IV ... and chained to the wall. How did she get here and why is she shackled to the wall? Eventually a man enters the room, explains that he saved her life, but doesn’t give her much more information.

As she attempts an escape, the man, Howard (John Goodman), finally reveals some details to her: there was some kind of attack, possi-

she isn’t sure if they’ve both been kidnapped or if Howard is telling the truth. When Emmett admits he hurt his arm trying to get in, it confuses matters even more. But as time passes – and we’re never really sure how much time, but watching a wound on Howard’s forehead heal gives us a sense of some lengthy passage – some of Howard’s stories don’t seem to mesh, making him seem increasingly more like a nutso conspiracy theorist who has gone a bit mad and taken Michelle and Emmett with him.

The last act of the film reveals the truth, but I won’t spoil any of that here. Suffice it to say, the film manages to keep things extremely taut, putting your nerves on edge from the moment Michelle wakes up in the bunker. The majority of the movie only features the three main characters, but Howard’s increasingly unhinged behavior ratchets up the tension, not only for Michelle and Emmett but for the audience as well, because we know about as much as Michelle does. It may sound like a deadly dull concept to focus on three characters for 90 minutes, but director Dan Trachtenberg keeps things interesting visual-

ly, punctuating the seeming calm with several frightening outbursts that are guaranteed to have you jumping out of your seat.

The cast is uniformly terrific, with Winstead giving Michelle a real determination to survive, very quick to think on her feet, but also smart enough to plan a means of escape ... to what, she has no idea. With starring roles in the remake/prequel of The Thing, the TV series The Returned, Final Destination 3, Black Christmas and Death Proof, Winstead has taken on the mantle of an intelligent contemporary scream queen. Gallagher is also good as the country-bumpkin Emmett, but he’s also smart enough to begin to question Howard and follow Michelle’s lead when it comes time to plan the escape.

Goodman is outstanding as Howard. Most audiences are used to seeing Goodman as the jovial sort, Roseanne Barr’s TV husband, or in some character role in a Coen Brothers movie. Here, he plays Howard as a man of

mystery, part benevolent savior, part malevolent madman, but you never know if he is truly one or the other, or both. The story reveals a truth to a lie he told Michelle which once again puts doubt into everyone’s mind about his motives and if everyone outside really is dead. Goodman balances the kindness, sadness and madness quite well, elevating the movie up from what could have been a B-grade, straightto-video schlockfest.

10 Cloverfield Lane is an edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting, heart-pounding thriller that proves you don’t need hundreds of millions of dollars (the budget was about $5 million) to put a great story with a great cast and great production in front of and behind the camera up on the screen to really deliver what an audience wants. I do implore you to avoid any spoilers before seeing the film as knowing the end will only lessen the impact. If you’re looking for a scary good time at the movies, then this is the film to see. t

10 Cloverfield Lane leaves viewers in suspense

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out in the valley

Parenting OUTloud

Rev. Kelly Crenshaw

When Bad Things...

The past few weeks have been rather challenging around here. We’ve all been sick. In our house, when one of us gets a virus, we all get the virus. Or, I should say that we all get the virus eventually. This time it was a cold. Some of us got a mild version. I think the baby was sick for half a day. Then there are the rest of us, whose illnesses varied from a few days to a few weeks.

I am one of the unlucky ones.

Thanks to my compromised immune system, I am still dealing with the after-effects and facing what appears to be bronchitis. This is not fun at all.

But, one of the worst problems when we all get sick is that our kids with behavioral problems end up acting up as a result. One of the things I’ve learned over the years of parenting children is that some kids cannot handle any disruption to their systems. Many of my adopted kids came to us as the result of abuse and neglect. And, although some were not diagnosed at birth, we know that many of them were born exposed and addicted to narcotics and/or alcohol when they were in the womb. As a result, their nervous systems were forever changed. Their bodies respond differently than kids who weren’t exposed to these substances. They can’t handle stress.

And, let’s face it, being sick is stressful.

I have teenagers who are throwing fits that would make any toddler proud. They don’t feel well. That’s the first strike. They aren’t getting enough sleep, because they don’t feel well.

That’s strike two. And, their sick brothers and sisters have no sympathy. Strike three. Add in a couple of parents who haven’t slept through the night since babies first arrived on the scene and this is not a good situation.

In the past couple of days, you wouldn’t believe the results. We have a broken picture window, a broken ceramic trash can, a ripped up cookbook and a broken basement door. Can you believe it? I’m still hoping to wake up and find it’s all been a dream. The good news is that no one was hurt. I know that sounds impossible, but it’s true. They’re all fine. We haven’t had a week like this in a very long time. We’ve always had one or two kids who are destructive. Many kids who are abused never fully understand that when we have nice things, we take care of them. They

...Happen to good parents

never had nice things.

So, when one child was locked out of another’s bedroom, she broke his bedroom door. It’s fixed now. Another is an autistic adult who was mad because breakfast wasn’t on the table on time. He broke the picture window. That same young man ripped up a cookbook, one of his favorite things, because he was mad that another sibling accused him of not being truthful. And, I still haven’t figured out the story behind the broken trashcan. I’m not sure who did what or why.

Because I’m sick, my first reaction was frustration. I didn’t care why these things happened.

I cared that I had to be bothered with unnecessary repairs for things that were perfectly fine a week ago. I cared that I had to drag myself from my recliner, where I was a perfectly settled in my sick reality, to find out if everyone was safe and unharmed. And, I cared that I had to do this several times over the course of several days. I felt like that kid in the book. I was definitely having a horrible, no good, very bad (series of) day(s).

Then, as the kids started to feel a little better, their behaviors changed for the better. I wasn’t living in a war zone anymore. People weren’t bickering constantly and having anxiety attacks over small issues. The voices calmed and normalcy reigned supreme once again.

Things can get pretty scary when parenting.

Kids do crazy things. Things get damaged. Cherished items get broken. Feelings get hurt. Kids get injured or sick. Sometimes, it’s serious. But, even in the most serious of situations, remember to take it one day at a time. Remember to take deep breaths and relax. It may not seem like it, but you will make it through the day and then, the week.

If nothing else, these adventures result in the best stories of craziness, forgiveness and laughter. Enjoy the chaotic moments with your children. They won’t be young forever. t Rev. Kelly Crenshaw is the mom of 16 ad-

opted kids, two biological kids, guardian of one baby girl and foster mom of dozens. Some are lesbian, some gay, some straight, and some bisexual. Kelly founded a K-12 day school where kids could have a safe, bully-free environment for learning.

She is co-owner of a counselling agency that works with children and their families. She has worked with kids in the foster care system for

two decades, actively advocating for all kids, but especially those in the LGBT community. And, in her spare time, she is co-pastor of New Light MCC, the first openly LGBT friendly church in Washington County. She will be answering your questions about parenting, as well as sharing stories of her parenting adventures. Feel free to send your parenting questions to her at pastor. kelly@comcast.net

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out in the valley

Just a

Thought Brian George Hose

The Fabulous Elephant Years ago I entered into an agreement. It was a kind of truce, implicit and without defined terms. There were no lawyers, no documents, and no signatures – an entirely informal affair. The agreement has never been discussed, yet for years I have honored it, learning the rules as I go through trial and error in an effort to keep the peace.

It hasn’t been difficult. I often forget about the agreement. I live my life and do things that make me happy. It helps that the agreement is only in effect a few times each year and, when it is, there’s always a buffer to ease any tensions.

Except this time, it’s different. The agreement is between me and my father. It amounts to a kind of “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” reflecting the values of that time. My brother, the buffer, is usually there to mediate, but not this time.

A few years ago my brother moved to Wisconsin for a job. We’ve always been close and after our adolescent rages subsided we became friends and he became one of my greatest allies. I was sad to see him go. Since moving he has acquired a lovely wife, he describes them as “the sexiest couple in the Midwest” and they recently had a beautiful baby girl, a balance to the two boys they already have. Soon I will be flying to Wisconsin to meet my niece, who is so adorable I want to eat her like a cupcake. Accompanying me on this trip is my father.

Without a buffer, I’m going to have to face my father and our agreement headon. It’s easy to make smalltalk at Christmas, but finding enough topics of conversation to fill a trip to Wisconsin and back is

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challenging for an introvert like me.

As I tried to think of neutral topics for smalltalk it began to occur to me that the only way to honor the agreement is to keep things at a superficial level, not sharing too much about myself. It’s going to be tricky.

Discussing my social life without hinting at dating, mentioning that I’ve been writing a column but not saying what it’s about. I realized that there’s no way to talk about my life without also talking about myself.

Perhaps the agreement, meant to preserve our relationship, is now slowly chipping away at the relationship we have.

I want to make a few things clear. My father is not a bad guy. If you met him, you would most probably like him. The agreement took place not because my father is a hate-spewing bigot, but because, like most men of his generation, homosexuality was viewed as icky. He wasn’t comfortable talking about it, so we didn’t talk about it.

At the time, it was the best way to preserve our relationship, agreeing to disagree.

I have never officially come out to my father, but he knows I’m gay.

I also know he knows I’m gay. And he knows I know he knows I’m gay. So, why not just acknowledge the fabulous rainbow-glitter elephant in the room? He has been slowly modifying the terms of the agreement, opening a door to deeper discussion, so maybe it’s time to amend the current agreement to “Do ask, do tell”.

What began as a way for us to maintain connection slowly became the very thing threatening that connection. By not taking the lead and initiating a sure-to-be uncomfortable conversation, I’m also depriving him of the chance to love and support me.

My father isn’t an ally because I haven’t given him the chance to be, just as I haven’t given him a chance to reject me by coming out.

The world is changing for us. Maybe he’s ready to change the agreement, too.

I’m not sure what will happen in Wisconsin, but my gut tells me our hearts will overflow with love for the baby and each other.

Perhaps a new agreement will be made, an agreement based in love, honesty, and the bond between a father and his son. I’ll agree to that. t

out in the valley

Health Chat

Debbie Anne

Vitamin D and the Sun In the past two weeks the sun is shining a little more often, temperatures are rising mildly, and the birds have begun to chirp and sing like they know spring is here even though the calendar says it’s still a couple of weeks out. I can’t wait to have a Saturday or Sunday to spend all day out in my gardens soaking up s o m e of that sun. Instinctively I have always liked being outside on a sunny day. I think I’ve always felt better after soaking up some rays, like the sun recharged both body and soul. I don’t think I’m alone hence those who self-identify as sun-worshippers.

As it turns out, there is a very good reason for our fondness of the sun. It actually can make you feel better, and that’s because the s u n helps your body to make its own vitamin D when your skin is exposed to its rays.

Interestingly, vitamin D is not really a vitamin in the strictest sense; it’s really a steroid hormone. The primary way we get vitamin D is by being exposed to the sun, not through food sources, even though we now have many foods that are fortified with vitamin D (think milk).

Getting enough vitamin D should be easy, right? Surprisingly, up to 32% of us don’t get enough of it for optimal health according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control. This is especially true for those with dark skin, those over 50 years of age, those who are obese, and those whose work or life circumstances keep them inside all of the time. Another group at risk for vitamin D deficiency that has emerged in recent years are those who get outside but always use strong sun-block lotions and sprays to protect against skin cancers. What’s a person to do?

In a 2008 article for the American Society of Nutrition, Dr. Michael Hollick and Tai Chen say that “sun exposure in moderation is the major source of vitamin D for most humans.” In fact, deprivation of sunlight was first recognized as the cause of rickets, a bone deforming disease caused by chronic vitamin D deficiency, in children in 1832. One hundred years later, the use of artificial sunlight from lamps that provide ultraviolet B waves began to be used to cure rickets. In 1930 the government instituted two campaigns to eradicate rickets disease; one was an educational program for parents about children’s sensible exposure to sunlight and the second was the fortification of milk and infant formulas with supplemental vitamin D. These campaigns were successful, and rickets is now rare.

Signs and symptoms of vitamin D deficiency can include bone and muscle pain, depression, and head sweating. Havi n g optimal levels of vitamin D is thought to have some protection against a host of diseases such as Cardiovascular Disease, autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease, and cancer. If you or your doctor suspect you could be low in vitamin D, your level can be checked using a simple blood test called a 25-hydroxyvitamin D blood level. If your doctor determines you are vitamin D deficient, she will most likely recommend a vitamin D supplement to you. After using a supplement for a while, you should be retested to determine if your deficiency has been corrected.

You can also be proactive and supplement with vitamin D yourself. The current recommended daily allowance (RDA) for vitamin D is 600 IU (international units) for those one to 70 years of age and pregnant or breastfeeding women, and 800 IU for those over 71 years of age. And soak up some rays in moderation; it’s good for both body and soul.

For more information about vitamin D visit: Ajcn.nutrition.org/content/87/4/1080S.full or Hsph.harvard.edu/ nutritionsource/vitamin-d. t Debbie Anne is a public health nurse with the Frederick County Health Department in Frederick, Maryland. In 2014 she was awarded a Governor’s Citation for her work with Marylanders living with HIV/AIDS.

Confronting Spiritual Intolerance Sometimes, one of the greatest ministries of the church isn’t found on any list. These are the types of things that happen as the direct result of the teachings of the church and the response of the members and friends.

Recently, one of the members of New Light MCC, Hagerstown, encountered bigotry and rejection, simply for belonging to the church.

Her name is Ty. She is one of the newer members of our congregation and, as a straight woman, has not felt the pain and divisive comments many within the LGBTQ community have lived with over the years.

The first episode was on a Sunday morning. Ty had been attending New Light on a part-time basis, alternating her Sundays with another church where her grandson and his other grandmother attended.

That Sunday morning, Ty sat in the pew and listened while the pastor condemned a local “gay church” that did not condemn gay people, but welcomed them instead.

He proclaimed that all the people of that church were going to Hell.

Ty knew that our church teaches that God’s love is for everyone and that many of the scriptures that have been traditionally used to bash gays have been misinterpreted or misunderstood. Ty knew that this pastor was being judgmental and was failing to recognize the greatest commandment that tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves.

So, she stopped going there and decided to commit her time and talent to New Light.

Then, it happened again. Ty’s home is immediately next door to a one of our neighboring churches and is only half a block from our own church. Ty walked out her front door and crossed paths with the neighboring church’s pastor. The woman was all smiles as she approached Ty, inviting her to join them for worship. Ty thanked her, explaining that she had a church. New Light. The smile faded from the pastor’s face and she hurried on her way. She didn’t even bother to say goodbye.

And then, this week, she sent an email

detailing her latest experience. These are her words: Knock! Knock! Knock!

I open the door. A little old lady is standing there. She invites me to church and hands me a flyer to the Harvest Baptist Church on Woodland Way. I told her I attend a church, but my daughter and her hubby don’t, so I will give them the invite.

“Did you know I heard there’s a ‘gay’ church up here?” I stood there looking at her for a few seconds, smiling and praying, not wanting to “jump the gun.” I looked her in the eyes and softly said, “Yes, I am aware.

That’s where I go!”

She proceeded to tell me that gay people are sinners. That a gay preacher surely isn’t preaching the truth about God. I told her the church is open to everyone. “Did you know that one of the pastors is not gay?” I asked. “No,” she replied. “But is she teaching the truth?” “Ma’am, I tell you this. Most churches ignore a very important, basic piece of Jesus’ teaching. We are to love everyone. Do they teach that in your church?”

She wrinkled up her face and started to squirm. The little dear said, “Many churches don’t teach the truth. The King James Bible is the purist one. It was inspired by God and I believe everything in it.”

I responded calmly with a question.

“Did you know the King James Version is a translation of the original writings? May I suggest you not just read and accept what others tell you. Find out for yourself. Get a parallel Bible that tells you the original words and what they mean. Only then will you know if what you are reading or are told is truly accurate. Find out for yourself.” She thanked me and said she had to go. I bid her a nice day and smiled as I gently closed the door.

This, my friends, is what ministry looks like when it happens outside of the church walls. Sometimes, it’s feeding a hungry body and sometimes, it’s feeding a starving soul. May these words of wisdom fill the soul of that dear lady and help her feel God’s love and compassion throughout her entire being. t For more info about New Light contact one of the co-pastors at 301-797-5698 or newlightmcc@hotmail.com.

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out in the valley // Real estate

Is it Time to Sell?

Celebrating Liberation: The Queer Seder – continued from page 1 their leadership, and their members.”

LGBTQ people, their families, friends, and allies are all welcome to attend. Tickets for the event are $15 plus a small service fee for the ticket processor. There is limited seating, and advance purchase only, so those interested are encouraged to purchase their tickets as soon as possible. The deadline to purchase tickets is April 7th. Stipends are available on an as needed basis, to ensure the event remains accessible to all.

As part of the event, a kosher catered dairy/pareve dinner with traditional Passover foods will be served.

The lead sponsor for the event is JQ Baltimore, an organization that provides support, education, advocacy and programming to ensure that Baltimore area LGBTQ Jews will have rich and meaningful opportunities to fully participate in Jewish living and learning. They are a growing organization, and are currently recruiting new members for their Board of Directors and committees. For more information, contact jqbaltimore@gmail.com.

The event is co-sponsored by their host, Beth Am Synagogue; the Interfaith

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Fairness Coalition of Maryland (Ifcmd.org); Faith Communities of Baltimore with Pride (FCBWP); and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland (GLCCB).

“We appreciate the support of IFCMD, FCBWP, and the GLCCB this year in actively helping to plan, produce and support the LGBTQ Seder,” said Marty Katz, co-director of JQ Baltimore. “Their partnership has been invaluable in helping to grow this important event into the highlight of JQ Baltimore’s calendar of events. We look forward to continuing this tradition for many years into the future.”

For more information and for tickets contact lgbtq.seder.info@gmail.com or 443-300-8996. See the link to purchase tickets on the Facebook pages for JQ Baltimore, IFCMD, FCBWP, or the GLCCB. For more information about JQ Baltimore, visit Jqbaltimore.org. For information about Beth Am Synagogue, visit Bethambaltimore.org. t Bill Redmond-Palmer is a long time community advocate for HIV/AIDS, Interfaith, and Sexual and Gender Minority related issues.

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By Charlotte Ashton So you have been in your house awhile and you are getting the itch for a new home.

You may need to upsize, downsize, whatever the reason… where do you start? My suggestion is to start with your realtor before spinning a whole lot of wheels. First we need to be sure there is equity in your home. And second, we have to be sure you can buy the next type of house you really want.

Step one, have a realtor do what we call a CMA or “comparative market analysis.” In our area, a realtor will provide that to you at no cost. That involves our providing a detailed analysis of your property based on active, sold, and more importantly expired listings in our local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system. Adjustments for differences are made, and you should be given a good idea of what kind of sales prices you should get in addition to what you should net after commission and closing cost expenses. We choose properties that most closely resemble yours in as many aspects as possible (style, age, quality, size, lot size, condition, features, etc.). The Actives show what we are competing with, solds (in the last six months) more likely reflect what you will actually get for your property and the expired show where likely you may not want to price it. Expired listings often do not sell because they are overpriced. Most realtors will provide a price range as it is really not possible to give an exact figure. Once that is established and it looks like you have a profit (or break even or come up with extra cash) it is time to contact your local lender. Just a note here, we are not licensed appraisers.

If you have a very unique property and comparable properties (“comps” ) are difficult to find, you may want to consider paying for an appraisal as licensed appraisers are better qualified to provide a more accurate value.

Step two, call your local lender and get them to do a loan pre-qualification and let them know what you are expecting to net from your current home. Once you know what you can qualify for then you can start your search to see if there is something out there in your price range that will better suit your needs. If it looks like you have some possibilities then we can move to step three!

Step three. Here is where it can get tricky. In this area unless you have a property in a highly desired area in excellent condition and priced very well, it is tough to get a seller to accept a “house to sell” contingency. When negotiating for your

next purchase it is much better to have a “house to settle” contingency, which means you already have a contract on your home.

Ideally, the best situation is that you have a temporary place you can go just in case you cannot work out a “back-to-back closing” (sell and purchase the same day), but most folks don’t have that luxury. My suggestion in that case is to get your house listed once you have located a few potential properties to purchase. The realtor could make your sale contingent upon your “locating a home of choice”. That could mean that your buyers agree to allow you a set time-frame in writing to get something under contract to purchase, or… if your buyer is agreeable, just set the closing out as far as possible to be sure you can locate something (lots of buyers do not want to wait). It can be done, sometimes more smoothly than others, but we do it all the time. It does take a lot of coordination and patience! t Charlotte Ashton has been offering full time professional services in the tri-state area since 1997, with an emphasis on quality customer care. She is licensed in Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Contact her at 240-707-3200 or cashton61@yahoo.com

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dining out

Fuhr

the Love of Food Amiccis

231 South High Street, Baltimore 410-528-1096

By Nick Fuhr The problem for me with reviewing an Italian restaurant is I grew up with good Italian food. I mean really good. My grandmother made everything from scratch. We had pastas rolled out fresh the same day they were cooked. The sauce was made with tomatoes picked from the backyard.

She made her soups with homemade beef, chicken, and seafood stocks. The list goes on to bread and rolls, sausage, meatballs, lasagna, ziti, chicken. I loved every freaking bite! She was a great person to boot. I miss her every day.

I am lucky to have an amazing mother that learned everything she knows about

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cooking from her mother. And she does not disappoint. But we just don’t cook the way our grandparents’ generation did, and we definitely eat out more. So what do I do when mom is too busy to cook for me?

I head to Little Italy to help fill that need.

I specifically like Amiccis. The tables are a bit tight and you’re never too far from the kitchen wherever you sit, but that’s the way I like. It reminded me of the family dinner of my youth. Besides, a close kitchen means the food is just that much hotter when it gets to your table, and that is good, Now that’s Italian! because good food should be served hot.

And this is good food.

I started off my meal with calamari. It was really kind of a test. It is difficult to get good calamari, but I was pleased. It was not greasy. It was cooked crisp but tender.

I was especially pleased with the accompanying sauce. The marinara was fresh,

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had chucks of tender tomato, and was pungent with wonderful herbs. Often, restaurant tomato sauce can be uncomfortably acidic. This was not.

I ordered the Pepino’s Lasagna as my entrée. My mother ordered her entrée from the Starters menu, Garlic Bread with Cheese and Homemade Meatballs & Fresh Ricotta. The lasagna was not served with bread, but I benefited from mom’s order. The lasagna noodles were layered

with Italian sausage, fresh spinach, and ricotta cheese. It was baked with a spicy vodka sauce and provolone cheese and arrived bubbling to my table. My experience with vodka sauce is limited. But now I am pissed I haven’t been eating this all my life. It was delicious! The sauce had a fresh and bright flavor with a smooth, creamy finish. The bread was cut thick and had ample cheese. I wish it had a bit more garlic. The meatballs were fantastic. If I’m not mistaken, they are made with a beef, veal, and pork mix. They were well spiced but not spicy. They clearly pan-seared the meatballs. They had a nice firm browned exterior and tender moist interior. We both enjoyed our meal with a glass of the house cabernet.

We did not get desert, but when in Little Italy, you go to Vaccaro’s for desert after your meal. It just so happens, we started there. But that is another story.

The check came to just about $58 and was worth every penny. The young man who waited on us was attentive and polite.

Amiccis does not have a coveted corner location and it is not very large, but it is every bit a contender against the long-running big-hitters in the neighborhood. Mangia! t

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leather line

Leather

Line

Rodney Burger

Spring into Some Leather Is it just me or does it seem like winter has been going on forever? Maybe it was that big snowstorm that kept everyone home for such a long time. I am so happy that the weather is starting to warm up and it is now time to come out of hibernation and once again enjoy some spring leather events.

On Friday, March 18th the ShipMates will be keeping the St. Patrick’s Day party going for one more day as they host a bar night during happy hour at Leon’s. The fun starts at 7 p.m. and goes until 10 p.m. Not only will you enjoy Leon’s two-for-one happy hour, but the ShipMates will be selling Jell-O shots and 50/50 raffle tickets. It will be a great way to start your weekend.

On Saturday, March 19th starting at 8 p.m. Ms. Philadelphia Leather 2015 Lascivious Jane will be hosting a bar night at The Bike Stop in Philadelphia as she prepares to represent the area at the International Ms. Leather Contest in San Jose, California. She will be selling Jell-O shots and 50/50 raffle tickets – but more importantly you will have a chance to wish her well at IMsL. She is really an amazing lady and you will have a great time at her event. I am sure Philadelphia will turn out in force for this send-off party. Speaking of Philadelphia’s leather titleholders, congratulations to Alaina Hummel and Rudy Flesher who were selected as Mr. and Ms. Philadelphia Leather 2016 last month at The Bike Stop.

There is a lot going on in April. I have been looking forward to April all winter long.

Sir Steve will return from spending all winter in Florida on April 5th, my birthday is on the 20th, and my month will start with the 6th annual Bears, Bikers, & Mayhem Weekend at the Eisenhower Inn in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on March 31st through April 3rd.

I’m glad that I made my hotel reservations months ago because the host hotel is completely filled. An overflow hotel was recently added. You may be able to still get a room at The Quality Inn Gettysburg Battlefield by calling 717-334-1103. Be sure to mention BB&M. and get the group rate of $107 which also includes a breakfast buffet. It is not too late to enjoy Bears, Bikers & May-

hem. It is going to be huge this year. Tickets for some of the parties and dances can be purchased at the door. Plus the leather vendor mart is going to be twice as big as last year. Drive on up to Gettysburg and join me on the first weekend of April.

By the second weekend of April you will be thinking about escaping to the shore. Have you tried Asbury Park, New Jersey? On April 8th through 10th Paradise at the Empress Hotel will be the place to be for the Drummer North America Mid-Atlantic Leather Contest.

The event kicks off on Friday evening at 8:30 p.m. with the Seven Deadly Sins Meet & Greet and Silent Auction. There is a puppy mosh at 10 a.m. on Saturday, skill workshops, and the contest doors open at 3 p.m. You can make plans to attend the full weekend of events, which includes a bar crawl and a Sunday brunch or just pay $25 at the door for the contest. The DNA Mid-Atlantic Drummer and Drummerboy titleholders will advance to the International DNA Contest in Las Vegas in February. The Mid-Atlantic Drummer Bootblack titleholder will not be required to compete in any additional contest.

On Sunday, April 10th starting at 2 p.m.

Mr. Maryland Leather 2016 Eli Onyx with co-host M’ara M. Diamond will be hosting a benefit at Grand Central in Baltimore.

Attendees are asked to bring slightly worn leather shoes, men’s suits, and ties to help homeless men transition back into the workforce. There will also be Jell-O shots and raffles with proceeds going to help the GLCCB’s Shawnna Alexander Helping Hands Clothing Closet.

If you really want to get away in April, the International Ms. Leather 2016 and International Ms. Bootblack 2016 Contest will be held over the weekend of April 14th through 17th at the Double Tree Hilton in San Jose, California. The weekend not only includes the contest but there will also be workshops on playing with needles, rope, mummification, M/s D/s relationships, erotic humiliation, and more. Plus a steamy show, a vendor mart, and lots of parties. Details can be found at Imsl.org.

April ends with another big leather event, CLAW. There are two host hotels for this year’s Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend scheduled for April 28 through May 1st at the Holiday Inn Cleveland South and the Embassy Suites Independence.

Over 800 training sessions are planned as well as dance parties, a cookout, pool party, a BDSM play space, vendor mart, the popular International Leather Family Dinner, and even a performance by comic Judy Tenuta.

For a full schedule and to make reservations go to clawinfo.org.

You will want to return to the Paradise in Asbury Park on Sunday, May 15th as Ms.

New Jersey Leather 2016 Christy Lee presents the Carnevale D’Kink a benefit for Project REAL and the Carter Johnson Leather Library. Starting at 2 p.m. you can enjoy kinky games, vendors, and play stations.

It will be another fun day of leather at the Jersey Shore.

I’m always surprised by how many people in this area have never been to Fire Island, New York. This iconic LGBT vacation spot is amazing and there is no better time to visit than during the annual Empire City MC / Twilight Guard leather weekend. These two leather clubs really know how to host a party. This year’s theme is “Lust for Life: The Island of Misfit Boys.” You will have a fantastic time and with all the food and drink involved that $140 run fee is a real value.

The historic Belvedere Guest House will once again be the host hotel. Details and reservations can be made at Excelsiormc. com. If you want just a quick getaway with a group of fun leather guys, COMMAND MC is planning a trip to Hershey Park on Saturday, May 21st. Anyone is welcome to join them. Just go to Commandmc.com or find them on Facebook. I can’t write about leather events in May and not end with the biggest leather event of them all. International Mr. Leather (IML) is scheduled for May 27th through May 30th at the Congress

Caption Belvedere Guest House on Fire Island

Plaza Hotel in Chicago. (Hotel rates start at $185, with a three-night minimum.) The Hilton Chicago is the overflow hotel. (Rates are $199, with a three night minimum.) This is the Superbowl of leather contest. It is big, crowded, expensive, but something you will always remember. My favorite part is the IML Victory Celebration party at Chicago’s spectacular House of the Blues. It is really fantastic. It is not too late to make plans to be in Chicago for IML 2016. All the details can be found at imrl.com.

These are just a few of the leather events that are coming soon. So spring into some leather and go out and enjoy the season. t

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