Category Archives: Danville

October 30, 2010 · 12:40 pm

Chapter 36: Why the South Votes Republican | My Southern Gothic Life

New Post up on my other blog.  Link to full post at the bottom:

I’ve thought a lot about this over the last few days as we head to another election.  For Progressive’s like me, it’s forecast to be a rough one who’s results may lead us backward as opposed to foreward.

And, once again, the South will lead us there.  We’ve always been good at looking fondly backward in the South–whether the facts support it or not.

That got me thinking.  Why is it the South is such a stronghold for the Republicans?  Here are my thoughts:

MORE:   Chapter 36: Why the South Votes Republican | My Southern Gothic Life.

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Filed under Danville, Health Care, History, My Journey, Politics, Religion, The Economy, The South, Virginia

October 24, 2010 · 10:18 pm

Chapter 35: Life with the FFV’s | My Southern Gothic Life

There’s a new post up on my other blog:

I haven’t spoken much about my Father’s family.  Mainly, because I didn’t know them nearly as well as my Mother’s family.  Most of them lived in Richmond and were Rushes, not Michaels.

My Father was the product of what was generally regarded, within the family,  as a misalliance.  His parents were married for a few years in the late 1920′s and divorced by the early 1930′s.  This was apparently quite the scandal as this simply was not done by good Families of the era.  So we had no contact with his Father, my Grandfather,  until shortly before my Father died.  Full story to come…

My Father’s Mother, Susan Catherine Rush Michaels, aka Susie,  inadvertently caused two of the major Rush Family scandals.  One was the Divorce.  The second was going crazy and being locked up in the State Mental Hospital some 20 years later.

MORE:   Chapter 35: Life with the FFV’s | My Southern Gothic Life.

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October 19, 2010 · 9:18 pm

Chapter 31: Life with Granny | My Southern Gothic Life

New post up on the other Blog:

I know I have single-handedly destroyed the stereotype that all Gay Men adore their Mothers.  But I did adore my Grandmother and my Aunt Goldie.  I am far from a misogynist.

I’ll write about Goldie later, but let me talk about Granny first.

My Grandmother- Granny- was my Mother’s Mother.  Bertha Quintral Sigmon.  Two women could not have been more different.  For all the flighty, Southern Belle manipulations that personified my Mother, Granny offset them by being a totally down to earth realist.

She had to be…

Click her to go to the entire post:   Chapter 31: Life with Granny | My Southern Gothic Life.

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October 15, 2010 · 11:45 pm

“The Boys in the Band”

I have a love/hate relationship with “The Boys in the Band.”

I love it because it was one of the first Gay plays to be a hit in New York.  It brought homosexuality out of the closet and onto the stage.  It was a true cultural touchstone, coming out just a year or so after the Stonewall riots.

And it scared the hell out of me when I was a young, Gay man in the 1980’s.

It was hard to see past these stereotypes in Danville VA and figure out how they related to me and my life.  But, it was one of the few visual examples of Gay life, of any kind,  available to us.

Thank God, for “Will and Grace”….I can’t believe I’m saying that, but it was so much more positive than this…

I hate “The Boys in the Band” for all the self hatred it shows and all the negative sterotypes.  It was of it’s time…

But it does truly show the way some of us were….

It’s honest.  Scary, but honest.

And it’s a fair reminder of how the times were and how Gay men saw themselves then…It’s a snap shot in History.

And it should make us grateful for how far we’ve come since then…

And make us appreciate how much harder it was for those who came before us…

It’s gotten so much better…

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Filed under Broadway, Danville, Entertainment, History, Movies, New York

October 13, 2010 · 11:11 pm

It’s my Birthday and I’ll Post If I Want to…

Since, thanks to Facebook and these blogs, I no longer have any secrets….

Thanks to all of you for the Birthday wishes.  I truly appreciate it.

I thought I would share a few videos that reflect my thoughts on various stages of  growing just a little bit older…

And the journey to get there…

I can’t believe I’m almost 42, ugh, I mean 52…

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Filed under Broadway, Danville, Entertainment, Gay, Social Commentary, Style, The South, Theatre

October 12, 2010 · 9:04 pm

Chapter 28: Kotex and Funeral Pies | My Southern Gothic Life

New post up on my other blog:

As I said before, my Mother really could not- or would not- cook.

She always blamed my Grandmother.  She said she never bothered to teach her.  Or she blamed my Aunt Goldie, who she said stopped my Grandmother from teaching her because she was too little and fragile.

Both my Grandmother and my Aunt Goldie were wonderful cooks.  My Grandmother’s kitchen was about the size of a walk in closet, but she could turn out delicious Holiday meals, made from scratch, for a dozen people without seeming to make much effort.  She cooked 3 meals a day until the day she died.

Goldie lived for “Southern Living Magazine” and sometimes seemed to try every recipe in every issue.

My Mother would call from work and ask if we wanted anything from the Drive Thru on her way home…

More:   Chapter 28: Kotex and Funeral Pies | My Southern Gothic Life.

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Filed under Danville, Entertainment, Food, My Journey, Social Commentary, Style, The South, Virginia

October 10, 2010 · 10:20 pm

Chapter 27: Babies on Board | My Southern Gothic Life

New post up on my other blog:

Back in the 1980′s, I was aware a cultural tsunami was occurring.  There were signs every where, but mainly hanging in the back of  these new fangled things called “mini-vans” that really frightened me.

These signs said:  ”Baby on Board”.  They were innocuous triangular-shaped signs, but I just knew they meant big trouble in the future.

via Chapter 27: Babies on Board | My Southern Gothic Life.

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October 8, 2010 · 10:46 pm

Chapter 26: Queer in the South: My Story, Part 3 | My Southern Gothic Life

I have a new post up on my other blog:

Since I’ve told the beginning and the most recent part of this journey, I guess I need to go back and pick up the middle part that I skipped over.

There is a reason I skipped this part.  I think of the years I’m going to speak of now as the “Lost Years.”  These are the years when I was getting my act together so I could take it on the road and end up happily where I am now.

So, if I’m going to tell the whole story, I need to go back and pick these up…

via Chapter 26: Queer in the South: My Story, Part 3 | My Southern Gothic Life.

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October 2, 2010 · 10:39 pm

Chapter 25: Queer in the South: My Story, Part 2 | My Southern Gothic Life

New post up on my other blog.

Here is an excerpt and a link to the full post:

Let me start the second part of sharing this journey by pointing out that the story has a happy ending. I like to think I ended up a fairly well-adjusted, happily partnered Gay man. But it’s not something that just happened on its own.

Let me also say, I think my journey would have been easier if I had not been stuck in Danville, Virginia during the early years of my coming out and coming to terms with who I really was.

There is a monologue by  Little Edie, in “Grey Gardens” that always makes me think of Danville.  She might have been talking about Long Island and other circumstances, but it always reminds me of Danville:

Honestly, they can get you…for wearing red shoes on a Thursday – and all that sort of thing…They can get you for almost anything – it’s a mean, nasty, Republican town.”

I was also working in banking there and believe me, bankers are the most self-important creatures ever to walk the earth. They had very firm ideas of how one was supposed to conduct themselves both at and out of the office. That was another role I couldn’t play…

But getting back to the Gay thing. I don’t think people realize how tough it apparently still is for gay kids and adults in places like Danville and Mississippi. People think all gay people live in San Francisco or New York or Greensboro or Richmond or Charlottesville. Not in small towns and cities that aren’t as progressive as some of the areas mentioned above.

via Chapter 25: Queer in the South: My Story, Part 2 | My Southern Gothic Life.

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October 1, 2010 · 1:40 am

My Southern Gothic Life | Trying to Stay Sane in a Crazy Southern World…

New post up on my other blog:

I struggled with how to title this post, but I decided to go with the pejorative terminology.  Now is not a time to be delicate or sensitive.

I’m just going to lay out the facts.  I’ve been very honest on this blog about my family and I’m going to try to be equally as honest about myself.  Fair is fair.

Some of you know part of this story.  A very few know it all.  Most of you don’t know any of this….but with us facing at least 6 suicides by young gay men this week, I decided to move up the time clock and tell it all.

I’m going to tell my personal story, but I don’t think it’s a singular story.  One of the things we learn as we grow older is that we aren’t as special as we once thought we were.

via My Southern Gothic Life | Trying to Stay Sane in a Crazy Southern World….

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