PAGE 4 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday December 9, 2020
HRH REPORT
OFFICE 713-942-0084 EMAIL TheMontroseStart@gmail.com
LAURA M VILLAGRAN RANDALL JOBE
Copy Editor
NANCY FORD Scene Writers
Production
RAFA ESPINOSA News Features
JOHNNY TRLICA
just me and her and a bottle of MD 20/20. The greatest Christmas OMMENTARY: BEFORE THIS YEAR, 2020 WAS There have been many other memorable Christmases synonymous with cheap liquor and bad in my life, but the most memorable one came in 2005. hangovers. Pandemics were only read about in That was Mama’s last Christmas with us. She had been medical journals and fascism was what we watched on incredibly ill for most of the year and was living in a the History Channel. nursing home. She had to relinquish her apartment While over 70 million Americans looked at the last that she loved so profoundly and was forced to liquidate four years and said, “Yes, give me four more years of her possessions. Everything from furniture to kitchen that,” an overwhelming six million more said, “Enough!” utensils, blenders, dishes and pots and pans were sold. There are two lights at the end of the tunnel: a vaccine Miraculously Mama began to get better around and a competent administration. Realizing family Thanksgiving. She spent that day at my oldest sister’s gatherings will be different this holiday season, one home and seemed like her old self. She had a spring thing remains unchanged — Christmas is a time in her step and was too healthy to be living in an to reflect. It’s a time to recall cherished memories “old folk’s home.” I asked Mama if she would like to and precious loved ones. Here are two of mine. move in with me if I got us an apartment in or near Drowning our sorrows in 2020 Rosenberg. She was ecstatic at the possibility of With over 250,000 deaths from Covid-19 this leaving “the home” as I jokingly referred to the facility year, many families will have empty chairs at the with her. We could move in the day after Christmas. table or around the Christmas tree. 1992 was like On Christmas Eve the family gathered as we always that for my family. It was barely a month after my did. This time it was at my second oldest sister’s home in Sugar Land. We ate, laughed and caught up with sister Robin had passed away, at 34. She had spent each other’s activities. After a few hours we began the year fighting breast cancer while pregnant. the gift exchange game, via a “Dirty Santa” game. On Christmas Eve the family gathered at our parent’s Rosenberg home, just as we always did. But this year, Numbers were drawn, gifts were opened, and some there was a noticeable absence. We went through were “stolen.” When all the gifts were exposed there the usual routine of exchanging gifts, visiting with were mostly kitchen items resting in everyone’s each other and eating, but it just wasn’t the same. laps. There was a blender, dishes, pots and pans My three siblings departed early with their families and an assortment of other related items. and Daddy had gone to bed. That left me and Mama. Then as if on cue, everyone got up and handed over She was in no hurry all the Christmas to go to bed and I had gifts to Mama and no one to go home me. We were both in to. Funny how some total shock, but not things never change. I really surprised. They asked her if she had knew I was not an Ina something to drink. She Garten when it came replied, “I think Daddy to finding my way has some MD 20/20 in around a kitchen and here.” I suggested we my new roommate have a drink together. and I would need We sat at the kitchen those items. table, opened the cheap On the day after bottle of hooch, poured Christmas, the whole ourselves a glass and family showed up proceeded to have one at my Montrose of the most memorable apartment to help nights of my life. We pack up the U-Haul got smashed! and move me to We started with Rosenberg to be small talk, but after with our mother. our second glass of Mama checked out 20/20, Mama confided of “the home” and about how much she never returned. missed Robin and She put all those worried about what Christmas gifts to would happen with the use over the next four children she left few months as behind. The eldest was she cooked, sewed five and the youngest and did all the arts only two and a half and crafts things months old. She was she loved doing so concerned how their much. Although father would care for our time together them and that Robin’s kids would never know as roommates was brief, it’s an experience how wonderful and caring their mother was. I would not trade for anything. By 2 a.m. we had polished off the entire contents I will always cherish that Christmas, when our of Daddy’s bottle, nibbled a few snacks and family pulled together to make my mother’s shed a few tears. The next day, Mama and I last Christmas, the greatest Christmas. e shared the hangover from hell, but it was worth The views expressed in this article are entirely those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of MONTROSE STAR. Johnny Trlica is the administrator of the Houston it. We never forgot about that night when it was e By Johnny Trlica
Publisher / Executive
Business Development Manager
Yuletide Memories: Empty chairs, 20/20 and the greatest Christmas
JIM AYRES JANICE ANDERSON Distribution
MIRIAM ORIHUELA ELIZABETH MEMBRILLO
TH E S TA R CO NTR I B UTI N G W R ITE R S JIM AYRES by day is an employee benefits and human resources writer. By night he turns his creativity toward the local food and restaurant scene. Do you know of a restaurant that needs a review? Info@montrosestar.com NANCY FORD has enjoyed a front row seat to the most remarkable and sparkly Cultural Revolution in the history of mankind. “What a world!” She reflects appropriately. After moving to Houston from Ohio in 1981, Ford became a highly visible player in Texas’ LGBT publishing circles as an editor and contributor to myriad other local and statewide LGBT magazines and newspapers. RANDALL JOBE has been a fixture in the Houston LGBT Community for several decades in marketing and promotions for top nightclubs, as an actor/director/writer for dozens of theatrical productions, and is also known for his whimsical art pieces. He is the author of the 12-part series “This Old Queen”, which summarized his many experiences living in the gay Mecca, Montrose. VIC GERAMI is journalist, media contributor and Editor & Publisher of The Blunt Post. Vic grew up in LA and has a BA in Theater Arts. He spent six years at Frontiers Magazine, followed by LA Weekly and Voice Media Group. His syndicated celebrity Q&A column, 10 Questions with Vic, is a LA Press Club’s National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award finalist. Vic is a contributor for Montrose Star, DC Life Magazine, Out & About Nashville, Q Virginia, GNI MAG, QNotes, Windy City Times, WeHo Times, GoWeHo, Los Angeles Blade, Asbarez, California Courier, Desert Daily Guide, Armenian Weekly, GED, The Pride LA, IN Magazine and The Advocate Magazine. FOREST RIGGS is no stranger to the adventures of life, he bills himself as a “raconteur with a gypsy spirit.” A former educator, public speaker, hospital administrator, counselor and gay owner, he was instrumental in the formation of OutSmart Magazine in the early 1990s. He has written for several newspapers, magazines and other publications. Recently he completed a collection of short stories about his beloved Galveston and is working on a novel. He currently resides on the island where he can be found wasting bait and searching for the meaning of life. JOHNNY TRLICA has called the Houston area home all of his life. Four years ago he founded and still edits the Houston Rainbow Herald and has worked in the apartment leasing industry for the past two years. His passion is keeping the battle for LGBT rights at the forefront of today’s headlines and fighting complacency in the LGBT community.
©2020 GLYP Media. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without written permision from the Publisher. The Montrose Star is published every two weeks and distribuited free of charge at choice establishments throughout Houston, the Bay Area & Galveston. Annual mail subscriptions are $54. All rights to material by outside contributors revert to the author. Views expressed in articles, advertisements, graphics an/o photos appearing in Montrose Star do no necessarily refelcts the views of the views of the editors or advertisers. The Montrose Star is not responsible for unsolicted submissions of articles or artwork. Advertisements accepted for publication in the Montrose Star are presumed to contain information that is true and advertisers are authorized to sell the product(s) shown in his/her ad. The Montrose Star assume no responsablity nor liability for possible errors contained herein or for advertisers' claim or performance.
C
Rainbow Herald Facebook page. Reach him at: HRHeditor@gmail.com.
v Facebook.com & t Twitter Find us on P
