Give it Up

I should give more thought to this post, but I'm not. Just stating this outright. 

Last week (?) the NYT Magazine had an interview with Bill Gates. I'll be honest, I read probably the first third. It seemed to be all about his Bill Gates Foundation (now minus Melinda) and how it has plans on shutting down............in 20 years with most, if not all, of Gate's $200 billion spent on charitable endeavours. 

Many of those are overseas projects in underdeveloped regions where opportunities for improvement are scarce. 

It's all very nice and there are some softball questions, but ones of deep meaning too. 

I don't know if it is telling or not, but Warren Buffett stopped putting funds into the Bill Gates Foundation. Buffett started the Giving Pledge where billionaires agree to give x% of their wealth to charity. Gates and his then wife were doing it. Jeff Bezos and his first wife were too. I believe McKenzie Scott has pulled that pledge, as her plan is to give it all away now, not at her death. 

Nor do I know Gate's true feelings on his fellow billionaire boy's club or his political views per se. I get - though don't necessarily agree with - that CEOs and the like have to somewhat kiss up to certain level politicians to play "the game".  Tim Cook comes to mind in his spinelessness. Bezos for sure. Gates?  Dunno. 

He doesn't have kind words to say about the BLOTUS administration, though I didn't see anything pointedly said about the man himself. 

Elon on the other hand?  I just took two screenshots that I think says a lot. The second one is just scathing. 

Elon, if he had a humanitarian bone in his body, should be seething over this, but I suspect he is more like C. Montgomery Burns, clasping his hands and saying "excellent". 

And when you have $200 BILLION, you should be able to say those things on a higher platform and call them out. 

The Apple+ show Loot has Maya Rudolph has basically a clueless McKenzie Bezos. But at the end of season 1 her character is on a televised panel with other billionaires and she calls them all out on not spending their money now (and all of it) to make the world a better place. 

It hit home with me that these discussions truly don't seem to be happening with the ultra-rich. 

Still, I hope Gates made Musk sting - even for a moment. 

Song by: Talk Talk

Give

'Tis the season. 

.....and I'm good with it. Well, some of it. 

Honestly, I haven't bought a thing.......well, for anyone in the house, or for anyone in my Secret Satan group, but only because we haven't picked names yet. 

But we do give back a few times per year - and always on Giving Tuesday, as for most organizations, they match the amount you give them, so it makes it a bit better. 

An unknown, to me, when it came to signing up for races, is that each race has a registration cost to it - which makes sense. T-shirts and bananas aren't free ya know.  They all have a donation option too - and each one supports a different organization, sometimes multiple. I always select one and donate something. 

That has indeed filled up my email in the last week. All of them worthy causes. Some are ones to which we already give regularly, some not. It's difficult opting to give to some at this time of year and not all. It's fairly impossible, or at least, improbable. 

Maybe $5 and $10 is enough and spread it around more. We try to make semi-substantial donations at this time, and while I'd love to give a good amount to all, it's just not realistic. I'm not sure if more in a few places is better than a little in a lot of places. 

We went with the former. 

Cash. As with places like food banks, $$$ is better than donating food. It's amazing what people give that the underprivileged can't prepare. Mac and Cheese being one, as they might not be able to afford milk. Food banks have the knowledge, so giving them cash can actually feed people they way that fits their means. 

Ditto with dogs and cats. And gay at risk youths. 

Where I do buy actual gifts is for the Jewish childrens's bureau. They house a lot of at risk youths - not all Jewish. And kids with special needs. And as it turns out, homeless. The last few years, most people have asked for gift cards, and that's easy and it was a pandemic. But I'd always choose 2-3 kids who wanted something physical. Yeah, they got a gifr card too, but hopefully they got things they wanted. 

This year, I picked a few who identified as homeless. They didn't want gift cards. They wanted sweaters or blankets, hats and / or gloves.  We got them everything. We added scarves and the likes, plus gift cards to food places. 

Listen, I'm a pussy. It was freezing yesterday, I couldn't last four hours on the street, let alone overnight. Or for a period of time. I hate that anyone has to. Does giving assuage any guilt I have?  No. Do I hope it makes an impact, even a little bit, to someone?  I do. 

I'm not smart or rich enough to take care of all these groups, but I wish I were. 

Indeed being kind costs nothing. Doing kind might cost a little something - so we try to. 

This wasn't intended to guilt others into giving. Honest. Just thoughts as I sift through my FB feed and email with dozens of Giving Tuesday requests. I hope everyone meets their goals........and then some. 

Song by: the Dandy Warhols

Sex (I'm a......)

It's not really a transgender theme or anything, but over last weekend there was a drop off for gifts for the two youths I selected at Bellefaire. 

In years past, you could select lists from girls or boys. This is no longer the case. 

Gender and pronouns are far more fluid than when I were these kids' age. For being a group of at-risk youths, parts of their life they have together far more than I did at that age - and possibly at my current age. 

I will fully cop to not 100% understanding some pronouns being used, but that's on me, not them / they / their.  I have a gay acquaintance who is the only 'mo in the HR department in which he leads. Everyone on his team has their pronouns in their email signature...................except him.  I have none on mine either. 

I'm a 'pushing retirement-aged, white gay male'.......that's all you need to know. 

Still, the non-gender thing for gifts kind of threw me. I had traditionally selected males / boys as the ones for whom I'd select. I did the same - kind of - this year, it was just twice as many pages with which to scroll.  I sorted by age. 

At-risk youth here can go up to 23. And it is not to say they're not deserving of things, I'm just a little out of that zone on how to buy.  As it turns out, regardless of the age and maybe because of Covid, most just want gift cards. 

Those are fine but a little meaningless. So I did look for kids who wanted certain items and hoped to fulfill their wishes. I did that too - kind of. 

I opted to buy for two - as I usually do.  One being a 12 year old who identified as non-binary, and the other, a 15 year old who was transgendered. I'm assuming by the name identifies as male now.  

The 15 year old wanted a gift card. Teenagers in general are picky and moody. Add to that the complexities of your identity, I say, give them what they want, should that make them happy. 

The 12 year old, going by the request for a gift card or Fidgets, spoked to me of a kid not just non-binary, but on the autism spectrum.  The fidgets I selected was a box of 70 sensory things that help calm people. Having an autistic nephew, I get it.  For good measure, he also got the gift card as well. 

Bellefaire does a lot of these kids, but when it comes down to it, I don't know how many successfully adjust to the outside world. Still, they set them up with the tools as much as possible. If my holiday gifts and yearly donations to the organization help, so be it. Some of it is on a grander scheme and some of it is a bit more personal. 

I do hope the kids like what they got and know that someone out there does care for their well being. Being in a place like that is tough - struggling (should they be)  with who they are makes it a little rougher, I hope even for a second, someone's thought of them makes an impact. 

Song by: Berlin

Giving Up

If Pee Wee Herman has taught us anything it is not to masturbate in adult theaters in Sarasota, FL.*   And that Christmas is the time we should be thinking about others. 

Those two statements might exclusive of each other.........or perhaps not. 

I am happy to contribute to certain charities or good causes / organizations throughout the year, but for the holidays, I almost always wait for today. 

You got your Black Friday. Small Business Saturday (vitally important!), Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday. 

While I should do more for the Saturday portion, I always participate in Giving Tuesday. We do. But I spearhead. 

Our shelter from where we got Sophie and Shep is on the list. Our LGBT Center makes the cut. The Cleveland Food Bank, yes. And Bellefaire JCB.  That stands for Jewish Children's Bureau. 

The latter is among the nation’s largest child service agencies providing a variety of behavioral health, substance abuse, education and prevention services (not just Jewish children - all children!). They are also home to the Jewish Big Brothers and Big Sister program. I am proud to say we have had family involvement at Bellfaire since its inception - or near about. 

Most - though maybe not all - organizations who participate in Giving Tuesday usually comes with a match.  If you give, say, $100, your gift becomes $200. Or someone else donates an equal amount in kind. 

Bellfaire is a little different. They have lists of children, infants to late teens who are in need of any kind of gift for the holidays. Things they don't have the means to acquire, but would like. They have wishlists not unlike your kids or nieces and nephews. I am always happy to pick 2-3 children and get them what they want, and maybe a little more. 

Though we are happy to donate throughout the year, I do try to make it during match times. 

Tomorrow, well......today......I will contribute to these fine organizations who help the underprivileged  - be it human or animal, or who are helping the marginalized communities. 

The places I am giving are not even scraping the surface of the need out there. My resources are limited, as are everyone's (well.........unless your Bezos or Musk, it seems).  I hope others out there pick up the cause and do what they can. 

I know except for my animal posts, most of you think I have no heart - and this is where I get to prove you all wrong. At least once a year. 

.....and I learned it all from Mr. Herman's Christmas Special. 

*at the ripe age of 16, I was in that very theatre watching my possible first porn. It plot revolved around King Midas and everything - and I do mean everything - turned to gold !

Song by: Donny Hathaway

Indian Giver

Once upon a time, BLOTUS must have said somewhere, sometime that he called Elizabeth Warren, "Pocahontas" after (or during?) a number of Native Americans visited the White House.

Warren took offense. But she always seems to. Still I get it - if you're not white....and a male, BLOTUS has no respect for you. He doesn't even try to hide it and yet here he is, fat ass still being the Resolute desk.

According to 23 & Me, it appears that Warren has some Native American blood in her - 10 generations back. I'd say, "hell, who doesn't?", but I don't.

Allegedly, BLOTUS said he'd donate $1,000,000 to Warren's favourite charity if she could prove any Injun blood ran in her veins.  And she did.

BLOTUS' response?  "Who cares".


To be fair to BLOTUS - did Warren or anyone think he was going to pay a dime?  The folks who built his "luxury" hotels are suing him for non-payment. People who've worked for him everywhere are still waiting payment.

And to be really fair:  chances are he can't get his hands on a million buck. It'd doubtful he is liquid in any way other than water-weight.


Song by: the Ramones

Houston

While sometimes it is hard to see the good in disasters like Hurricane Harvey Fierstein or the impeding Irma LaDouche.

People.

Well many people. Not all of them.

Friends, Andrew, Becky and Sam are three such folks.

Taking almost no time off from work, they coordinated getting supplies - personal hygiene, clothes, medical supplies, etc - rented and loaded a truck and drove it from Ohio to Texas.

After unloading, they immediately turned around and drove back.

They kind of make you feel like you're a worthless turd in a situation like this - don't they?  Cause I kind of do.  Most people talk. They actually did.

The three had trouble with the truck rental.  I'll let Becca relay the story....via a Facebook entry.

It's nice and all. Truly. Of course, being the cynical me, I'm all like - who the fuck carries $500 in cash on them?  No one who isn't a Soprano. Or a meth dealer.

But if the latter, even meth dealers have a heart.



On the Irma front - a friend of mine, Tim, thought he and his husband would ride out the storm in Miami.  Ruckiry (not Jon's boss), he finally came to his senses and took an excruciatingly slow commute / evacuation up to Orlando....of all places.

I suppose it's dead center where you won't get water from either side of America's wang. But Tim was one of thousands who had this idea. There are nothing but fleabag motels (not even hotels!) left....and that was yesterday. Probably nothing available today at all.

I do love seeing how Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz want handouts. The fucking freeloading Socialists.

THEY could learn a thing or two from Bo.  ....and Sam, Becky and Andrew.



Song by: Mary Chapin Carpenter

Bicycle Race

This last Sunday, David and I decided to forgo morning yoga to volunteer at the annual Bellefaire JCB biathlon.

At first we considered maybe riding the 12.9 miles, but one our our cousins, Betsy, chairs the event and all of the sudden we were slated to be on the bike route directing race traffic.

Originally, David and I were also scheduled to be together, but at the last minute some scheduler split us up.

To be honest, it was probably for the best. In my mind, I see bikers piled up and blood and body parts all askew, all because we were having fun and making jokes about something else.

Instead, I got paired with a man named Harvey Wiseman. Harvey was the Jewish Abe Simpson.

I arrived at my post - the half-way mark on the route - at 07:45 and Harv was already there, orange neon flag, already to wave to direct bikers to 'stay to the right'. The problem was that the race didn't start until 08:00 and we were still 6.5 miles away from the starting gate.

So we had time to talk. Or Harvey did.

Why do we complain about education when we don't buy the schools paper and pencils? Why do we fund foreign countries? Herbal remedies are nonsense!

He was actually harmless enough. I felt bad admitting I wasn't a Big Brother for the JCB when he told me he had been for years, but can no longer relate to kids these days.   ....and he doesn't want to relate to them the way they are now. I get that.

But Harvey had been a Big for years, and I admire that.

The race itself was ok. Being at the halfway mark, there are no 'groups' by that point, just individuals, as everyone has had time to space out.

You had your over-achievers who took a little race like this wayyyyyy too seriously. $5000 bikes for their 12.9 miles with all the tricked out wheel shells to lessen wind-resistance.....in Beachwood, Ohio.

But I suppose if I paid that kind of dough for a bike like that, I'd be entering every fucking race in the region.

There were the weekend warriors who were only doing personal bests...or attempting them. There were the folks just doing their part for their community - and chatting and exchanging recipes along the way.

I will give it up for a woman to told me she hadn't been on a bike since she was a kid, just bought a bike the previous day and was now on a 13 mile ride. Great!  .....but her 'taint  is gonna be sore for a few.

I was surprised at how many participants thanked me just for waving a flag. I wasn't going into this for any kind of thanks. I tried to give them words of encouragement - like "you're half-way through". Some people's eyes lit up like "YES!".....some were like "oh fuck.....I'm only half-way through".

I'm pretty sure the back of the pack thought I was an asshole when I would say, "keep going - you can totally win this!"  Or the guy who seriously wanted to know where the bike repair crew station was, and I told him that he was the bike repair guy.

My absolute favourite was a guy in the first third of the riders - and handsome as all get out - and as he rides by me, amusingly says "ewwww.....I'm getting beat by girls!".  I just started laughing.

Well maybe he was my second favourite. This guy might have been my first.

He never uttered a word to me.....but he didn't have to.

My friend Jeremy said I only volunteered because of the DILF.  Totally not true. It was for Betsy and then the JCB.......but I'd be lying if I said a benefit wasn't watching the DILF.

On an end note, since the race started at 08:00, I was done by 09:30 (the last straggler hit the half-way point then) and David and I still made yoga.



Song by: Queen

In These Shoes

I have to say, ever since we moved back into the renovated bathroom and dressing room, we haven't really moved everything back.

It seems when we moved out we pitched a lot of shit.  Then we moved a lot of shit we kept to other bedrooms and closets, but when we moved back in, many things stayed in those other rooms and closets.

I'm at the point, if it is in another room and we haven't used it, we need to lose it.

One thing that went yesterday were shoes. Not tons - seven pair between 710 and myself.  They were old, out of style or never quite fit.  They've been gathering dust.

It would have been easy to give them too Goodwill, but a local organization was collecting shoes for folks affected by the Haiti earthquake three and one-half years ago.

Haiti is pretty impoverished on its best day, and since that earthquake, they haven't bounced back much at all.  I was good going slightly out of my way to drop of shoes for this charity.

Of course, I think everything's a scam, so hopefully the shoes will make its way to the folks who need them.

I kind of internally chuckled when I opened my trunk with these shoes.  It seemed like I had the Holocaust Museum Shoe Exhibit Starter Kit.

Oh relax - it is a joke.  (Though if you're ever in DC you need to take a day to go to the museum - and then another day to recover.)

But I pulled up to drop off the shoes - one of like five locations - and what do I see?

 The group has collected over 8600 pairs of shoes!!!  This was only a partial pick-up from one site.  The rest from this site were already loaded into......

a frickin' semi.

The place I dropped off at was a church, one that has an almost exclusive African-American base. I stood for a few minutes talking to the very handsome pastor who was telling me how he was taking flak from any number of people because he was doing this for Haiti but for not doing something for Trayvon Martin.

I never got to question as to what he was supposed to actually do for someone who had been dead for 18 months (not that I was ever actually going to ask that question).

He immediately went on to say, "people get murdered every single day. These are millions of people who have been without everything for years".

I was a little taken aback by that - not that any of it wasn't untrue - just him being forthright telling someone he's never met before that he was going against some in his congregation with no apologies.

8600 pairs of shoes are nothing to sneeze at. I really have no idea how they'll get tied garbage bags down to the Caribbean.

Here's hoping it's not a scam.



Song by:  Kirsty MacColl

Leather Britches

As a favour to a friend, I volunteered to work at CLAW, or Cleveland Leather Awareness Week.  Or, Cleveland's version of IML.

I've never been to such an event, so I was not 100% sure what to expect. Sure one has ideas, but.......

To be fair, I didn't participate in any of the events, other than walk around for a few minutes.  My time there was truly to work - taking in auction items, cataloging them, and getting paperwork completed for tax deduction purposes.  Pretty racy, huh?

Mind you, the items I was taking in were leather pants, boots, jock straps, hoods, arm bands, old porn and gas masks and the like. But the auction is a money maker and the proceeds go to local charities.

Guys were funny about dropping the stuff off.  Some stuff didn't fit them.....anymore.  Some stuff was brand new that they purchased just to donate. A few guys said some tricks left the items behind and it was just taking up room at their house.  Let it be known, I never asked for a reason they were providing an item. There info was all voluntary My job was all clerical.

But I had the main intake desk and it sat in a high traffic area and in view a lot of goings on. Nothing sexual.  Nope, nothing like that. I'll assume that happened at the parties or in the privacy of their hotel rooms.

Since I was at that desk, people assumed I was the main info desk. I was so not - though by the end of my shift, I could tell you where the Sir / Boy seminar was being held or the Single Mingle room was.  I could tell you where to go if you needed to register, or if you needed the hospitality suite to get pizza for the volunteers (oh yes, they fed us.....though I have to say, I felt sorry for the unsuspecting pizza delivery guy who walked into the hotel area to see men dressed in, and partially out of, leather).

However, what I got to observe was a subculture of gay life:  the leather community.  Even more so, there were clearly sub-subcultures to that. Some you hear about and assume things about - some that were a little newer to me.

Take the title image. Please.

There is a whole sub-genre on Pup training.  Yes - subservient boys who wear dog masks and introduce each other with barks and growls.  I found it fairly disconcerting.  I think I dealt with them crawling on all fours, on a leash and with a bowl in their mouth better than the yelping.  The dog mask thing did not help matters.

While I was very open to it all, I didn't quite fit into the mode of addressing people by "Boy Jeffrey" or "Master Ron".  Or worse, when people asked me where "Boy X" was, I had no idea.  I'm sure I broke rules by calling someone by first name and not their 'status'.

Don (or was it Dan?), who worked with me, was very perceptive to when someone walked up to donate and would say "thank you, Sir" or "thank you, Boy".  I wasn't that tuned in to their place in the leather world hierarchy.

I am never sure about the leather world.  It just seems like another form of drag - not to say it can't look good on some. I would only say about 15% of the men could pull it off.  The rest just seemed to either try too hard or needed a leather fashion police to help them dress correctly.

I got along well with the head of the auction, also Don (or was it Dan?), who everyone from Atlanta seemed to know, and going by the public conversations, I could tell you specifically what Don (or was it Dan?) likes to have done to him.

And then there was Brian (or was it Bryan?), who ran the hospitality suite.  A nice man, an attractive man, who seemed to come over and chat during down time - though I think he was being nice and not flirting.  Shame.

Actually, unless I was oblivious, no one flirted with me. I think they saw folks who worked behind the desk differently than when you were out participating in the event.  I was the only person I know who just volunteered and left.  I attended no workshops or events, though my badge got me into all of them - save one.

I will say this - it is a community. For all the distance people came to go to Cleveland for this, and it was at least from Washington and California, folks seemed to know each other or of each other. Everyone, myself included, was greeted warmly. Everyone knew I was "new".

So if nothing else,  I got a blog entry out of the experience....and a t-shirt.  One I can never wear anywhere.  Ever.  Unless I attend a Tom of Finland convention.


Song by:  Sam Bush

This Shirt

I've become part of Dr. Spo's Spo Shirt Charity.

Spo makes his own shirts, or the tropical kind anyway, and one is making the blog rounds for other bloggers to wear, record on via said blogs and then pass along. All in the name of charity.

Spo, or Michael, has the charities of choice being organizations for HIV/AIDS or Prostate Cancer, Doctors without Borders and the Humane Society. I'm a fan of all of those (I mean, I'm not a complete monster!), but of course, I really like the idea of the Humane Society or APL. I'm a big animal lover. And anyways, those doctors can go to Barnes & Noble if they don't have a Borders.

The shirt came to me mid-last week, but I was away on work travel as you may (or may not) have read. So it sat unattended for a few days. ....and I'm not sure I'm Spo Sized. He might have a smaller frame than myself. While it wasn't Jersey Shore tight (I'm guessing, I've never seen!), it was snug in some places and maybe not as long in the trunk as Blobby needs or likes.

While Denton certainly lives and sometimes reads my blog, I can't think of a time he's actually participated in it. I thought it important to show where the shirt has been - and not just at our house. Some kind of landmark in the city I am in seemed appropriate, so I dragged the man around for an afternoon to take a few snaps showing me in the shirt around Cleveland. You just can't do that with a self-timer....not well, anyways.

I don't know if anyone else is planning on doing it at some kind of familiar spot, but I think it a good idea.This is not my project or anything, so I certainly cannot dictate, just suggest.

Without further ado.......I present to you the Spo Shirt of Shirts in Cleveland, OH. (you can always click to enlarge if you choose. I take no responsibility for burned or damaged retinas. I've checked with my lawyers on this.)

Me & Shirt @ the Rock and Roll Hall o'Fame. Or the JFK Library. Or the Louvre. I.M. Pei is a one-note architect....if you axe me. Since Springsteen probably doesn't have an exhibit at either of the last two places, we'll go with that I'm at the Rock Hall.

Blobby and the Shirt in Voinovich Park - behind the Rock Hall on the left and the Great Lakes Science Center on your right. The skyline (or part of) is behind me and the buildings. The structure seemingly coming out of my head is the former BP Building. The middle one is the Key Tower (as in Key Bank) and the one right next to it is Terminal Tower.

Still in Voinovich Park with the Shirt with the steamship, the William G. Mather. Browns Stadium is behind it. Years ago, the Mather was on the other side of the Rock Hall, and it was there I lay naked (well, me and 2500 people) at sunrise on the cold cement for a Spencer Tunick installation. Since we were naked, there were no shirts - Spo ones, or otherwise.

The Shirt & Blobby at the Free Stamp by Claes Oldenburg. I love this sculpture. Not everyone did back in the day when it was installed. Blobby is not everyone!

And because the other pictures did not have me "smiling" - and I'd take shit from it at least from one certain blogger (and she knows who she is!) if I didn't at least attempt one, here is a jowly Blobby against the city skyline again. Still the Key and Terminal Towers in the background. Now you can see the f'ugly Justice Center too.

The shirt gets sent out today to John over at I Got Something to Say. It would have been sent out yesterday, but there was no mail delivery. Like me, he'll be out of town when the shirt arrives, but he'll get to it. Maybe he can take picture in front of the Old North Church or with his cutie of a dog, Scooter!


Song by: Mary Chapin Carpenter

Give A Little

Tis the season - no?

For the last few months, or even a year, we have been hearing about One Laptop Per Child. Or at least I have. Have you?

The idea is to provide each and every child who needs a laptop - regardless of the socio-economic status, but clearly focusing on the underprivileged.

The idea is the brainchild of an MIT professor. Knowing that many of the places these folks live do not have internets access or even electricity, the laptop is built with a generator that kids can wind up to well.....generate power. It also has an built-in antenna for folks to get on-line. The casing isn't indestructible, but they make it as much so as possible.

The other idea was for each laptop to cost no more than $100. They are not quite there yet - but it still is at the somewhat reasonable price of $400. BUT....get this......purchase one for donation, and they send one to you also. So, that makes them like $200 a piece. Wicked!! .....but in a good way.

Denton ordered/donated one. Mostly because he wants to play with it. We need another computer/laptop around here like a hole in the head. I am hoping we only play with it for a bit, but then send it on its way to a family in need. We're not that family.

But I think it's a great idea. Give the gift of education - if you can.



Song by: Nicolette Larson