Saturday, May 25, 2013

For a Group Considering Gay Suicides



      Wednesday, 27 August 1980:  9:40 A.M.

       Having just lost his lover, about to lose his job,
       Tom McGuire, 29, V.A. clerk
       (“where about 2200 employees work”)
       climbed from the 13th floor to the 14th floor,

         broke a window and waited 4 hours.

         Tom McGuire, undone by desire:  “…so that
         …others…may not resort to the same
         violent ordeal I am about to endure….
         Using hard core drugs and practically
         living in bath houses hoping to find
         a lover through sex and drugs…
         hoping that I might meet my dreamboy
         through drugs…still…playing this routine
         until this very day….”  in the note he leaves.

         McGuire’s desire, gone through lust into dust;
         his golden trust turned to rust with what
         the poet Rossetti felt:  “Beauty without
         the beloved is a sword through the heart.”

         Stephanie, another clerk, waiting below:
         “I guess some people…expect him to jump
         …office workers bored with…
         that Monday to Friday routine.”

         He was heard to shout,

        “Fuck it.  Fuck everything!”

      :Jumped.

         The San Francisco Chronicle
                            August 28, 1980:
         “Police held…surging crowd…tried…
         closer look…crumpled body…before…
         rescue crew draped…cover over…”


         He passed 14 floors
         with a neglected friend
         reflected in the glass.


James McColley Eilers


Barbara Stanwyck and a Fig Leaf



Sunday, May 19, 2013

May Day 2013, Mission District, San Francisco

1May2013 01 butterfly 721a1May2013 02 butterfly 725b1May2013 03 butterfly 726b1May2013 05 butterfly 725a1May2013 06 butterfly 726c1May2013 07
1May2013 08 alien 7221May2013 09 alien 722b1May2013 10 Alien 7231May2013 11 Alien 723a1May2013 12 children 7311May2013 13 children 731g
1May2013 14 Martha 7131May2013 15 Martha 713c1May2013 16 Martha 716b1May2013 17  Trafficking 7181May2013 18 work 7201May2013 19 migration 724
1May2013 20  Janitors 7321May2013 21  Nancy Keiler 7381May2013 22 Nancy K Martha H 7411May2013 23 NancyK MarthaH 741b1May2013 24 Martha Nancy 7421May2013 26 United 737c
May Day 2013, Mission District, San Francisco, a set on Flickr.

Click on upper left photo.  At upper right of that screen, you can proceed through photos by clicking NEXT.  

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Advice to Urban Youth - New Letter to the Oakland Tribune

I might wish they had chosen a different header line instead of "Must run away from the violent lifestyle" when the main message is "Run away from the police and you are apt to get shot."


This will do little to alter the tragedy of Bay Area cities [American cities], but

 I wish the young men of our territory [country] would memorize this primitive rhyme:
No matter what you have done,
Don’t run from the man with the gun.
They will shoot you whether you feel guilty or innocent.  They will shoot you whether they feel guilty or innocent.  While they think they stand for Law and Order when the man with a gun sees someone run, instinct and training (and his own fear of guns) turns him into a hunter or a leopard.  To run from the man with the gun excites his killer instincts.
 Secondly, no matter how many songs, videos, and movies show you otherwise, it is not romantic and beautiful to die in a hail of gunfire.  Don’t be tricked into thinking such a gunfight makes you a warrior hero.  You are just providing entertainment for middle class couch potatoes who are addicted to cop shows and their own violent urges.  It’s not even “real life,” as advertised.  A better defense is to carry a book – preferably one you are actually reading.