xtcian

6/14/03 Columbia County, NY Hey,

6/14/03 Columbia County, NY

Hey, it's Flag Day, right???

I guess I should have known better than to drive into Hudson on Flag Day, because they take that shit real serious. They closed down the major thoroughfares and had Shriner parades, jugglers and magic - not that I would know, 'cuz I took the detour to Wal-Mart and Staples.

A part of me really did want to join in the "fun" and see what was going on, but it's the whole "flag" part of Flag Day that gives me the creeps. Even when I was a kid, it seemed utterly lame to carry around the American flag while we were still in America (I thought it was redundant) and now that the flag makes me think of John Ashcroft, I'd rather be fishing.

Unless, of course, I got to march into the Hudson with the Gay Pride flag pictured above. I'm not even gay, which makes me the perfect person for it, actually. I'd like to declare today my personal Gay Pride Flag Day, where I thank all the gay people in my life. That would include:

- pretty much everyone I grew up with whilst my dad was conducting opera
- all of my friends at Norfolk Academy (except for Marcie, but she liked Adam Ant, so she gets a tangential qualification)
- a couple of members of my fraternity
- the About Face theater in Chicago
- Morrissey
- the fabulous Pink House production designer
- Tessa's best friend
- a certain member of the downtown planning commission and a certain comic who shall both go unnamed
- Tchaikovsky, Gershwin, Poulenc, Bernstein, Saint-Saens, and Chopin (the composer) and Chopin (the dog)

June 14th is also the birthday of one of my bestest friends in the entire world: the beloved Kendall. Our history is oft-told; she was the first girl I ever met at Carolina, she was the first girl I ever kissed, she got married on my birthday, and then went into labor while we were at lunch in Paris. Tessa actually balked at getting married today (June, a full moon, etc.) because it would have been a little too obvious.

Anyway, Kendall is one of the bravest, most wonderful people I know, having raised four(!) amazing kids, forced to live in exile for her 20s in a land far, far, away - and is now going through a very difficult phase, but manages to do it with an equanimity and grace that few could carry. In 1985, I was well on my way to becoming a Forever Nebbish, wearing black corduroys and idiotic glasses, locked in my own self-loathing and addicted to my solipsistic isolation. But she, a beautiful Southern girl, walked right up to me, started talking and demanded friendship, one that has lasted eighteen years so far - and for that, I consider myself blessed.

Kendall, me and my hair in 1989