THE PRIDE READING & OTHER NOTES: Last night I peformed at the Pride reading organized by Franklin Abbott at the Ponce de Leon Library. The place was packed and the poets were top notch. Duncan Teague from poetry/performance group Adodi Muse was a delight, as was Rebecca Ranson and her series of "really bad girl" poems. Theresa Davis was on fire, getting lots of hoots and hollers for her personal and political work. It was also nice to see good friends like Cleo Creech, Rupert Fike, Karen Wurl, Stacie B. and Karen G. in the audience to support the evening and all the performers. I actually felt a bit nervous last night, because I was trying out new work, including some very personal and emotional new poems (more on that in a moment). Franklin has a knack for bringing the right mix of poets together and he certainly outdid himself last night. The Ponce de Leon Library is the home to an extensive GLBTQ collection of literature and they are looking for donations to continue building this collection. If you're in Atlanta, stop by and see this amazing selection of books.

With the stress of moving and all the performances going on over the last couple of months, my writing output has slowed to a trickle. However, I had a little inspiration over the last week. This week marks the 10-year anniversary of my first trip to London and Paris, much of which is chronicled in Better To Travel and in a fictionalized way in my novel, Conquering Venus. I've been feeling nostalgic about this for some time as the anniversary approached. That trip was a life-altering experience in many ways. Finally getting out of America and seeing the world is something I highly recommend. I've been to Europe a dozen times now and I treasure every visit (even when the trip sucked). I feel at home in London and Paris, and look forward to going back this fall. I haven't been out of the country since before Sept. 11, mainly because I've been criss-crossing the country promoting Better To Travel, but now it's time to get back to my beloved England and take that journey from London to Paris by Eurostar again. It will be a fitting homage for a time that changed my life.

On a distressing note, my best friend Tina's mother is dying of cancer. I went down to the hospital to see her on Tuesday night and it was very emotional. I had to leave the room. She's so weak that they can't give her chemotherapy, but there is hope that a steroid treatment may boost her so they can do chemo. Tina's mom was a fiesty, opinionated lady and like a second mom when Tina and I were growing up. We're all hoping for a miracle.

In political news, Dubya called the Democrats "obstructionists" on Tuesday for blocking his plans to reform Social Security. He's such a dumbass. He can't even get his own party behind reform, yet it's the Democrats fault. Also, Senate hearings are schedule today to start digging into the Downing Street memo that shows Dubya and his warmongers were cooking up evidence to invade Iraq. Click on the Big Brass Alliance link at the left for more info. The right-wingers are also blaming the Dems and the media for demoralizing the war effort in Iraq. Of coure, no criticism from the Repubs of their idiot president and his minions for complete failure on all fronts in Iraq -- namely starting a war there in the first place. Osama bin Laden is alive and well, but he's become an afterthought as taxpayer money and more young soldiers are sent to die in Dubya's personal war. Enjoying your second term, Dubya?

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