Santa Fe Pride 2024

I think I needed a little dose of Pride after all the negativity coming at us for the past seven or eight years and even more so this year. The bible-bangers/republicans/christian nationalists/bigots have doubled down on their hatred and bigotry. As Joe of Joe.My.God news blog put it:

They wish we were invisible.

We’re not.

Let’s dance.

 

It's not New York, but it is after all, Santa Fe Subdued. Or Santa Fe Sleepy.

But seeing the crowd, the Rainbow Flags up and down the street and Plaza, hearing the music...it was healing and reassuring and a reminder that 

Yes We Are Queer and We're STILL Here!

 

Not a lot of photos because, well the photos just don't convey the festive vibe. And I wasn't really into taking pictures. 

Pride isn't quite what it used to be: no longer a march of visibility and defiance and demanding out rights, but more a march of our allies and supporters and social service organizations and commercial enterprises and even churches. Hard to tell who's L,G,B,T,Q or plus or straight.

Even the Government agencies are represented (don't tell the republicans, they will start writing ridiculous bills and trying to pass them in Congress).

Hubs works for Bureau of Land Management Recreation division. His field office had a booth at Santa Fe Pride again this year and Leon was proud to be there in his new uniform. (We are not thrilled with the colors, but I guess it's not up for debate).  

Here are a few photos of BLM and Park Service in the parade.

Hubs in his BLM uniform and me in mine.

Anyhow, Happy Pride to all!

Rainbow over Cochiti this evening. Who says Gay Power isn’t real?

Stonewall - A Musical Tribute

 Just a brief musical tribute to the Stonewall protest and Gay Lib. Music from an era subsequent to the Gay Lib movement.

(For a more complete and informative post about Stonewall see "I Should Be Laughing")

 

This defined many of our relationships for many years before marriage equality (and may do so again one day soon):

 

Surf’s Up at the Lake

I told Leon to get in the car after dinner. Drove down the street to the convenience store and bought a couple of Klondike Bars. Then we went down to the lake, sat on top of a picnic table, ate our 300 calorie ice cream and watched the waves. 

The "surf" was "crashing" on the shore and if I tried hard I could imagine the waves at Race Point. It was actually a nice sound because the lake is usually very calm. The rhythm of the waves was nice to hear. 

 

And it was 10 degrees cooler there than at the house. 

Driftwood left in dead trees drowned by high water levels

Our town in upper left corner; I don't know how to interpret the depth lines on the map. I assume the deepest part is in the center (white) area. The Rio Grande continues below the dam.

Stop the Merry-Go-Round! I Want to Get Off

 Yesterday morning, as we were heading to Santa Fe, I was driving, and Leon was listening to some YouTube video in which the interviewer was asking people whether “Pride has gone too far.”

I wasn’t listening too closely for whatever reason, and I assumed that it was a gay interviewer, talking to gay people about pride. When I did start listening, it sounded to me like everyone who responded was totally missing the point.

It was like they had never heard of Stonewall and or the gay liberation front and or the centuries of oppression and violence directed toward sexual minorities.

I said I wish I could respond, but not really. I’m getting to really hate these man and/or woman and/or whoever on the street interviews. 

But then Leon started reading the comment section. The comments were even more bizarre, confused, misinformed, and hateful.

I was very confused about whether the YouTube video itself was posted by an ally or an enemy. (Checking on this later today I find he - the YouTuber is a 19 year old black kid who seems to get all his misinformation from Newsmax. So that explains it.)

Obviously, most of the commenters were ignorant, hateful people. I’ve seen enough stupid and disrespectful comments on LGBTQ positive websites. So all this was just too much.

I really just wanted to scream “Shut up!” Exasperated, I said to Leon, “There’s just no escape. Isn’t there somewhere we can go to get away from this madness? I fucking can’t stand people anymore.”

I’m convinced that the percentage of ignorant, uneducable imbeciles has increased exponentially since you know who was elected in 2016 and became president in January of 2017. It is definitely approaching a critical mass.

P.S. I was going to post the video of Merry-go-round by Wildman Fisher but it’s just too irritatingly stupid. If you want to listen to it, you can go to this link.

https://youtu.be/CHqR1Rql5r8?si=eeAc2hSep2GGwVWj

The Heartache of Dining Out or Why I Cook at Home

 I left this review after we had pizza at a place in Taos, New Mexico:

We felt bad for the young woman who was waiting every table in the outside area (and maybe inside as well) which was quite busy for a Monday. She was doing a great job with no help. 

The Greek salad was excellent and a nice combo of greens, olives, feta and other veggies with a very tasty dressing. 

As for the pizza. As an Italian-American who has been making pizza for over 40 years I would say this has little resemblance to authentic pizza. Pizza is the base, the crust, the yeast dough that rises and makes big open air bubbles that when baked makes it not only crispy but gives the flavor of a yeast bread. Our pizza was undercooked and had not risen properly. Fermentation was totally lacking. The crust was actually partially raw and unedible. The sauce and the toppings gave it all the flavor. If this was the best pizza in Taos, they don’t know what pizza is. 

Over priced, long, long wait. And again horrible crust.

Large Greek salad, 12 inch pizza with sausage and mushrooms, one iced tea, over $40. 

The wait for service and finally getting our meal was longer than I would ordinarily tolerate but we were patient because the waitperson seemed to be doing it all by herself. Meanwhile, some patron had left their very expensive truck running, headlights on, with the air conditioner going for their dog, but right next to the outdoor dining area which was extremely annoying for all who were eating (waiting to eat) outside. There were plenty of parking spaces well away from the dining area.

I mention all this because dining out is not the pleasant experience it once was. Unless one goes to a pretentious "fine dining" restaurant the food is so often mediocre at best. The claim to fame for almost every New Mexican restaurant is either the "green chili cheeseburger" or the "huevos rancheros" and all the other menu items are the same in about 90% of New Mexican restaurants: some kind of tortilla or taco with meat, cheese and beans. Usually way over priced for what you get, often factory produced (e.g. anything breaded and fried, fried potatoes, burgers from the one or two "distributors" in the area, factory deserts, and non-alcoholic beverages from $2.50 to $6.00.

So I came across this in YouTube and well,....I'm making homemade bread and pizza tonight.

P.S. It's going to be a challenge to get logs burning in my new oven.

The Many Facets of New Mexico

Preface: The forest fires are burning in the southern part of the state. Very devastating for the people of Ruidoso. There are also fires in the west and northwest. If only we could get some of the rain that is making a mess in the east. 

We made a trip to Taos so I could see the orthopedic doctor for a reevaluation of my knee issue. Long story short I got a cortisone injection and an opportunity to get a replacement should things get worse over the summer. Continue with physical therapy and lose weight. 

Leon took a couple of days off work so we decided that a change of scenery was needed from the monotony of the desert. The area around Taos is greener and has real trees and grass - at least in some places. I think it also has a bit of privilege in some places too, but we avoided that as much as possible. 

After the doctor we went for a drive. I would just mention that I was a bit ferclempt considering surgery one minute and appreciating being with my hubby exploring the outback the next. 

We drove to Rio Grande del Norte National Monument-Wild Rivers. Did not do a lot of hiking but went to the overlook. At my age and with my knee arthritis I was content with that. 

We then drove a very rough off-road several miles to Cabresto Lake - a mountain lake surrounded by trees and greenery. Did a nice short hike along the lake trail. Here’s a few photos. 

View of the Rio Grande from the overlook

Not Georgia O’Keeffe’s tree

We are normally at about 5500 feet, So being at over 9000 feet took the wind out of me even on a short hike

The cows had the right of way

Celebrating “Frociaggine” Roman Style

Not only did Pride return to Rome this year, (first one post COVID), with a super parade and huge crowds but there was a fabulous appropriation of Pope Francis’ recent insult regarding “frociaggine” (pronounced “fro-chia-geen-eh”) or faggotry in the seminaries. 

Perhaps “gayness” would be a kinder translation. 

See: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=64451

(Duh. Without faggotry in the seminary there would only be about 1/4 of the priests world-wide and I dare say only about 10% of those in the Vatican would be left.)

Italian LGBTQs reclaimed the word, “Frociaggine” as we often do with insults, as a badge of honor and pride. They are fighting for their rights in Italy under a repressive Prime Minister Meloni (translated in the English subtitles as "melons"!!! Not to be confused with the still hunky actor, Christopher Meloni.)

The Far Right is becoming a danger in many countries besides the USA. 

We need do the same here under our repressive Congress and Supreme Court and the unthinkable DJT as president.

 

I Salute Edward

https://www.joemygod.com/2024/06/veteran-85-comes-out-in-his-heartbreaking-obituary/