At The World AIDS Day candlelight vigil in Wilton Manors earlier tonight, Broward County's recently selected first openly gay mayor, Ken Keechl, who lost his first companion to AIDS, addresses the crowd.
"Perge modo et qua te ducit via dirige gressum," said Venus to Aeneas.
Showing posts with label florida. Show all posts
Showing posts with label florida. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Monday, May 05, 2008
On the Dixie Highway
I had to pull over.
There is a desolate stretch of The Dixie Highway north of Oakland Park Boulevard and just south of Floranada Road. It will make you breathless. Surely I have driven onto another planet. One of those lifeless ones with a surface pock marked with the cryptic maybes of an expired civilization.
Sun-bleached oil slicks on old concrete parking lots for buildings that have been demolished or literally defaced. A row of ragged palms marks a worthless property line between two such toothless lots gumming sand pits where there had been buildings. There is no shade. Weeds don't cross here alive. Older trees set here by the dead cool their roots under the pavement. The traffic lights change for nobody.
One or two desperate men per mile. They lean against stucco, squinting at me with mild curiosity and not enough energy to menace.
Can a landscape be both glaring and beautiful? Isn't this what Giorgio de Chirico was after in his paintings? And how about Dixie Carburetor as a porn name?
There is a desolate stretch of The Dixie Highway north of Oakland Park Boulevard and just south of Floranada Road. It will make you breathless. Surely I have driven onto another planet. One of those lifeless ones with a surface pock marked with the cryptic maybes of an expired civilization.
Sun-bleached oil slicks on old concrete parking lots for buildings that have been demolished or literally defaced. A row of ragged palms marks a worthless property line between two such toothless lots gumming sand pits where there had been buildings. There is no shade. Weeds don't cross here alive. Older trees set here by the dead cool their roots under the pavement. The traffic lights change for nobody.
One or two desperate men per mile. They lean against stucco, squinting at me with mild curiosity and not enough energy to menace.
Can a landscape be both glaring and beautiful? Isn't this what Giorgio de Chirico was after in his paintings? And how about Dixie Carburetor as a porn name?
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Chute Doggin', Pole Bendin' and Bareback Bronc Ridin'
Today I went to the town of Davie, just a few minutes south of Fort Lauderdale, for the 2008 "Sunshine Stampede" Gay Rodeo. The men were sizzlean and the women were awesome. The favorite event of the day (and a very dangerous one) was the "Wild Drag Race", an event particular to gay rodeos. It involves a team composed of one male, one female, one of either in drag and one very angry steer. The cowgirl holds the rope attached to the steer when it is released from the chute. The team has to get the steer over a line 70 feet from the chute, and the drag has to mount it and ride it back across that line. Not easy.
After so many years rubbing shoulders with urban cowboys, it was a pleasure to be among the real ones.
"Someday Soon" is by Judy Collins.
After so many years rubbing shoulders with urban cowboys, it was a pleasure to be among the real ones.
"Someday Soon" is by Judy Collins.
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