well i am barely back from roundup and my dance card is starting to look really full. but nobody's really asking me to dance (wahhh). no matter. the rmru labor day picnic is coming up sep 3 at cheesman park.
then the cma picnic is 22 september at sloan's lake. this could be interesting as "kicking tina", the gay men's group, is hosting the picnic and the rest of the district is invited. we hope there is no unmanageable homophobia and the event is well attended. i think this is a case of "assume the best".
i am also working on an event for hiv poz citizens of denver, hosted by the mohr. this should take place around nat'l coming out day. the slant is "pozitively out" or out plus.... and it is under discussion as to whether to link it to a 9 month social marketing campaign for the city (perhaps the state) around making it hip to know one's hiv status and to talk about it. this would ideally come to a close on nat'l hiv testing day in june '08.
and then i have the new responsibility of pulling together a gay men's substance abuse program as the mile high meth project. this means scheduling the groups, marketing for clients (if we build it, they will come) and overseeing the website, talking to probation officers, doctors, clinics, other hiv tx providers, community leaders.
we have also written for some money to do some social marketing around more general gay men's health issues. to start some conversations about the way we look at our own health and how we see each other. a wellness initiative, so to speak.
this is quite a bit to have on my plate. and it is somewhat overwhelming to think about in a big chunk like this. and i am not in regret, because i believe in all these organizations and activities. i am truly blessed to have somewhere to put my energy and my heart. when i think of all this, i get emotional. emo. truly emo.
which brings me to my next question-
emo.....is it the new gay? or anti-punk? today's goth? all of these? does it matter?
gay culture is evolving without my input. it could make me crazy. better to get used to it. there is still no room for internalized homophobia. we boomers paved the way for this gen...and so i salute them....
1 comment:
There's a wonderfully written/argued book, End of Gay: And the Death of Heterosexuality, by Peter Archer. (The emo link brings this to mind.) Urban gay kids are becoming assimilated, because wider trends are attracting greater personal attention than the Gay Liberation stand forward imaging by us Boomers. Though there are still issues confronting queer kids, sex orientation is losing its drive as a cultural definition. This is what I've worked for since the early '70s. Also, str8 kids are not adopting rigid hetero posturing. Sure, there are gay neighborhoods and hang-outs, but kids today want a wider venue. Also, I adopt from today what I can get away with in order to avoid the middle-aged rut, but I avoid what really ought to belong to the young alone.
Your interests and involvement are inspiring to us all. If each of us engaged in but one thing, wow, the world would be so much better off.
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