Hush (a rewrite)

NaBloPoMo

Its anxiety, my old friendYou’ve come to sit with me againBecause a feeling softly does creepGrabbing hold while I cannot sleepAnd the belief that was programmed in my brainStill remainsWithin the hush of silence In childhood years I walked aloneSlipping into a silent homeWatching other families from afarMy door to comfort was ajarWhen my heart […]

Thanksgiving Week Is My Favorite Time of The Year

Crap. It is Sunday at 8:30 and I haven’t posted yet. I cannot break my #NaBloPoMo streak on day ten. And you don’t want to read yet another post about cats so soon, I’m sure. My favorite week of the year is Thanksgiving week. Don’t get me wrong, I am aware of the horrors of […]

How to celebrate 54 lesbian birthdays

My big day is here – birthday 54. I am firmly in my mid-fifties. And I’m good. No big plans. Having lunch with a friend. Then I’m going to enjoy some birthday cake from Prantels while watching ‘When Harry Met Sally.’  On a DVD, no less. By myself or rather with the cats. My birthday […]

Karen Block Johnese and Emily Johnese Escalante are Destroying Union Families in Pittsburgh

Emily Escalante is breaking federal law

I first met Karen Block Johnese in the late 1990’s when she ran the now seemingly dormant Pittsburgh Post-Gazette philanthropic programs. She went on to work with the Pittsburgh Glass Center. Fast forward to 2024 where she is chairwoman of Block Communications. Notably, the company that refuse to negotiate in good faith with the union […]

The Lingering Impact of Slouchy Boots Trends of the 80’s

 A little bit of swashbuckling bravado boots might be just what we need to keep up the fight Laird Borelli, Vogue In my middle school days, fashion trends were aplenty. Most of us kids of steelworkers did not have plenty to spend on them. We settled for knockoffs in a time long before TJ Marshalls and […]

How to Request Toys For Tots in Western Pennsylvania 2024

Toys for Tots Pennsylvania

This is our annual (13 years) round-up of Toys for Tots programs in Western Pennsylvania for 2023. I’ve done my best to sort through the available information and provide you what you may need to know. PLEASE click through to the applicable link to double check the details. I will update as information becomes available. […]

I Love Big Birthdays and I Will Not Lie

Happy Birthday cards

October is my birthday month -Yay! Last year, my birthday  (53) was the first ‘occasion’ while I was homeless and couch surfing with friends. They were lovely. Cooked me a meal I chose, made me a cake from scratch. But I fled the table, overwhelmed by sadness and a tidal wave of all that I […]

I Don’t Know How My Mother Did It

I don’t know how my mother did it. Her entire life, she relied on other people for rides. When she was younger. she was an avid public transit user, zipping from Bethel Park around the region on trolley and bus. Once she had kids and moved to West Mifflin, things got trickier. The bus was […]

Disability Pride Month: The Stories I Can’t Explain

Here’s how disability pride works. I’ve been home now for over four months. That’s a significant accomplishment, one many people doubted I could manage. I think a lot of people expected me to just roll over and give up, to build something new instead of returning to claim my life of 20 years. But this […]

But I want you to know, after all these years … honoring my 21st anniversary

The world of queer relationships and queer anniversaries is complicated by the states decades of oppression of our rights to simply create a family with the person we love. For those who came of age after 2015, it may not make much sense. The queer anniversary is a complicated dynamic. We have a lot of […]