I could watch this all day!
B u r n i n g B u s h
J.T. Roane 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Randomness in Baltimore
Black queer folks in New York tend to think they have a monopoly on "the scene" North of Atlanta on the East Coast. And there is lots of fun to be had in NYC for a Black gay man. Secrets, Splash, G, etc. etc. But NYC isn't the only place on the East Coast that has fun shit to offer in the way of drinking, revelry, and perhaps debauchery. On a recent trip to the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia), a group of friends and I were running late. We were trying to make it to a spot in DC but it definitely wasn't going to happen by 2 am. We decided, instead, to stop off in Baltimore. After misleading instructions directed us to a 18+ Straight club with NO ALCOHOL, the night started to look like a bust. We decided to look up some other places and, at the stroke of midnight, happened upon Baltimore's gay section.
The two clubs we went to that night were a vastly different experience from NYC. People weren't as scandalous, but perhaps they were a bit queer-er. What do I mean when I say that? Well, gay men in NYC have convinced themselves that scandal equals freedom. In Baltimore, below the Mason-Dixon line, I felt much more comfortable in a mixed male/female, Black/white/Latino environment than I could ever possibly feel in NYC. See, NYC is plagued by what I like to term gay apartheid. Chelsea and the Village might appear safe spaces for all queer bodies, but I guarantee you after being followed in sex shops, given funny looks on the sidewalks, mistreated by bartenders, etc. it is no environment that readily welcomes non-white, non-male gay bodies. Baltimore's scene is, I'm sure, no paradise. But from my short time there, the people, the bartenders, and the bouncers recognized that they were all marginal simply by having their bodies in the "gay" part of the city.
Baltimore may not be the best GAY city, but it beats NYC in QUEERNESS.
Monday, March 14, 2011
my man came out to his father
my man came out to his father.
i'm so proud of him.
i'm scared for him.
MY HEART IS RACING!
MY MAN came out to his FATHER.
i'm so proud of him.
i'm scared for him.
i'm happy for him.
my man came out to his father.
i'm so proud of him.
i'm scared for him.
MY HEART IS RACING!
MY MAN came out to his FATHER.
i'm so proud of him.
i'm scared for him.
i'm happy for him.
my man came out to his father.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Who doesn't love shopping!?...Online boutiques
I'm going to put y'all on to some online boutiques with dope clothes, bags, watches, jewelry, accessories for much less than you would normally have to pay. What they offer varies from week to week and sometimes day to day:
http://www.plndr.com/plndr/MembersOnly/Login.aspx?r=1559669
http://www.jackthreads.com/invite/brittneybrittney1
Tips:
-Jack Threads only sells "men's" clothes/accessories.
-PLNDR caters to both men and women clothing/accessorizing tastes.
-Sign up for the email alerts so you know when new brands and events (like the "bargin bin") are going on.
-If you're in the market for buying something new, make sure you check in on what new stuff the sites are offering since there is a limited quantity of items. I'm sure you could imagine how disappointing it would be to see something really cool and really cheap only to realize that they don't have it in anything remotely close to your size.
http://www.plndr.com/plndr/MembersOnly/Login.aspx?r=1559669
http://www.jackthreads.com/invite/brittneybrittney1
Tips:
-Jack Threads only sells "men's" clothes/accessories.
-PLNDR caters to both men and women clothing/accessorizing tastes.
-Sign up for the email alerts so you know when new brands and events (like the "bargin bin") are going on.
-If you're in the market for buying something new, make sure you check in on what new stuff the sites are offering since there is a limited quantity of items. I'm sure you could imagine how disappointing it would be to see something really cool and really cheap only to realize that they don't have it in anything remotely close to your size.
A Mexican Food Junkie's Lament
I assumed that when I moved to New York City I was going to experience a host of new edible delights. In fact, one of my personal justifications for moving from a town with three thousand inhabitants to a city of over eight million with exorbitant rents was the dietary possibilities that awaited me in one of the culinary capitals of the world. I must say that I have been wholly disappointed. Most significantly, I want to know where the fuck is the Mexican food?
Mexican food is my absolute favorite. The combinations of piquant sauces, velvety cheeses, and crunchy vegetables are absolutely irresistible. And for those of us on limited budgets, the relatively cheap prices for sizable portions usually sweeten the deal.
But not in Manhattan! In my year of searching from the Heights to SOHO, I have yet to find a decent Mexican meal that I can actually afford. Of course there are Rosa Mexicana (by Union Square) and Dos Caminos (in the Meat Packing District) which both serve decent food. They don’t however meet the full qualifications for Mexican food. Minus the guacamole at Rosa Mexicana, neither of them actually accomplishes the right combination of spices and textures to which my tongue grew accustomed during some time I spent in Cali at Mexican restaurants where Mexicans actually eat. In attempting to turn Mexican food into something acceptable for the palates of upper middle class white New Yorkers, both fail to recreate la comida Mexicana autentica, almost as badly as Rosa Mexicana botches the décor of plazas in la Ciudad. And most importantly, fish tacos should never be more than $15! And la Fonda Taqueria in Morningside Heights is a complete bust!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Questioning Queer
Queer is a great term.
I don't think it means shit to half the people who use it.
It's become another letter in the litany of strung together appellations.
It is blunted.
Queer's utility definitely stops short of my black ass.
I can be Queer all day,
but I'm still goina be a nigger in SOHO, Chelsea, and the Village
, as easily as I'm a faggot in Harlem.
Queer, as it stands, just won't do.
We need something new. It needs a new set of teeth.
What if we retooled it and meant questioning when we said queer?
If Blackness stresses the lines and Queerness questions the lines, what are the politics of our Black Queer nation?
It sure as hell ain't to get married (that shit has been fucked!) and fight in the military (equal opportunity to murder and pillage other poor people of color?)!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Queer @ the movies
Some movies that at least have a queer tilt to them. I tried to not include ones that people have seen or are extra talked about like DEBS or But I'm a Cheerleader, or Bound, Boy Don't Cry
Oralndo- Gender bending time traveling ass movie.. CRAZY and CRAZY GOOD!
Watermelon Woman- BLACK QUEER MOVIE about a white-black lesbian couple. The Black star of the film is also the director and writer.
Howl- Movie about the poet Allen Ginsberg
Hairspray (1988) by gay filmmaker John Waters- This one has the drag queen, Divine, playing Edna Pingleton as well as a male character.
Pink Flamingos - Another John Waters film starring Divine. Its called a transgressive film because it goes against conventions and mores that films tend to have. Lots of Taboos, lots of queer stuff going on. So, if you're in the mood for something a little different, go find this one.
M Butterfly - This is about a white French man who goes to China in the 60s and sees a traditional Chinese opera and falls in love with its star. He goes on to marry this star, ignorant of or neglecting (you decide) the fact that in traditional Chinese Operas all of the actors/singers are male. Yikes! Let the drama begin!
Brother to Brother- Young black gay art student befriends an old black homeless man who, turns out, used to be an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance. They find similarities in their having to deal with homophobia.
Frida- Yeah Frida Kahlo got downe too yall!
Shank- (H.W.'s suggestion)... I've never see it but its about a guy who hides his gayness from members of the gang he's a part of.
Angels in America- This is actually an HBO miniseries based on a play by Tony Kushner about Regan era politics and the AIDS epidemic, and also brings in McCarthyism as a sort of parallel. Lots of great actors in this one!
Black.Womyn.Conversations- Great documentary about black queer womyn and basically how they navigate life especially in queer spaces. You'll laugh, you'll think some things are ridiculous, you may even cry. Best to watch with at least one other person.
Better Than Chocolate- corny but cute RomCom movie set in Canada about a lesbian who has to balance having an love affair with a woman while her family, who she is not yet out to, is forced to move into her loft.
Oralndo- Gender bending time traveling ass movie.. CRAZY and CRAZY GOOD!
Watermelon Woman- BLACK QUEER MOVIE about a white-black lesbian couple. The Black star of the film is also the director and writer.
Howl- Movie about the poet Allen Ginsberg
Hairspray (1988) by gay filmmaker John Waters- This one has the drag queen, Divine, playing Edna Pingleton as well as a male character.
Pink Flamingos - Another John Waters film starring Divine. Its called a transgressive film because it goes against conventions and mores that films tend to have. Lots of Taboos, lots of queer stuff going on. So, if you're in the mood for something a little different, go find this one.
M Butterfly - This is about a white French man who goes to China in the 60s and sees a traditional Chinese opera and falls in love with its star. He goes on to marry this star, ignorant of or neglecting (you decide) the fact that in traditional Chinese Operas all of the actors/singers are male. Yikes! Let the drama begin!
Brother to Brother- Young black gay art student befriends an old black homeless man who, turns out, used to be an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance. They find similarities in their having to deal with homophobia.
Frida- Yeah Frida Kahlo got downe too yall!
Shank- (H.W.'s suggestion)... I've never see it but its about a guy who hides his gayness from members of the gang he's a part of.
Angels in America- This is actually an HBO miniseries based on a play by Tony Kushner about Regan era politics and the AIDS epidemic, and also brings in McCarthyism as a sort of parallel. Lots of great actors in this one!
Black.Womyn.Conversations- Great documentary about black queer womyn and basically how they navigate life especially in queer spaces. You'll laugh, you'll think some things are ridiculous, you may even cry. Best to watch with at least one other person.
Better Than Chocolate- corny but cute RomCom movie set in Canada about a lesbian who has to balance having an love affair with a woman while her family, who she is not yet out to, is forced to move into her loft.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Rev. Peter J. Gomes, minister, theologian & out gay man dies
Rev. Peter J. Gomes Is Dead at 68; A Leading Voice Against Intolerance
Mr. Gomes, a Harvard minister and theologian, embarked on a campaign to rebut literal and fundamentalist interpretations of the Bible.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Camera Happy
Love 'em when they're ser'us
Love 'em when they're silly
The founding fathers of this Black Queer Nation outpost.
War! HUH! Good God, y'all! What is it good for? Absolutely nothin'!
Sooo this is what I was wearing today. A fitted, an old military shirt I found in the basement years ago, a necklace my brother brought back from Kenya years ago, baggy "female" jeans (ironically called "boyfriend fit"), and combat boots (that you cannot see). This post is feeding off of the videos I posted about stud on stud, and all such other talk about stud this that and the third, because I have an issue with labels being so hard and fast. I like to dress up... in whatever I think is clever. Whether it is men's clothes, women's clothes, a mash up of the two.. and sometimes women's clothes that fit me like men's clothes, and men's clothes that fit me like women's clothes.
There is no dividing line in the store that says only men may enter or try on or buy what's in the men's section. The word man is in words that I see describe me: human, woman. It seems so simple to me that clothes that are available for me to buy, I should be able to buy. No one gets in a tizzy when females buy little boy underwear, or boy shirts, or boy sneakers. I want to be able to wear any kind of clothes without being labeled. You might have seen me the other day in something that showed a little cleavage, or me in tight jeans, or a shirt that exposed my stomach. And then, seen me the next day in baggy jeans and a non-fitted shirt and a fitted cap. While it may make some of y'all confused, I am not confused at all. I am not an aggressive (i'm not aggressive at all), a stud (which is literally the term for male animals used for breeding), a stem (yall just made that one up and i'm not really sure what it means. my guess is it's for people who dress androgynous but carry themselves as a stud??), a fem-agress (I'm not aggressive once again), nor androgynous (I mean this word could explain me because it means a combination of masculine and feminine characteristics, but then again that could explain any female who is wearing guy clothes, but we can make out that she's a female, or a femme with a caesar, or a butch who wears makeup, or an ag with a perm and any number of other examples and even if you wanted to say its about how the clothes fit, slighty baggy but still shows a female figure, am I still androgynous when I dress to show off my female figure?)... those labels just put me in a box that I can jump out of any second, when I open my mouth, or cross my legs, change my shoes or even just take off my jacket. So just cut it out and think before you label. Clothes do not make the man, and i am surely not going to pretend like I have to be msaculine or aggressive because I wear the clothes of a man.
On a related but side note:
The most ridiculous thing happened the other day. In a les club, shaking my ass, a self proclaimed ag apparently lost herself and was looking, then she noticed that she was looking at what she assumed to be another ag's ass and swiftly looked away and pretended like it never happened. I mean damn if the ass looked good, it looked good.... Sooo, what i'm getting from this scenario is.... its cool to be homo instead of hetero if the homo mimics the hetero (including hetero erotic desire of fem on fem)...but if the homoness looks like homoness, then that's gay... someone, pleaseeee let me know if that makes sense!
Prove it On Me, Ma Rainey
Went out last night had a great big fight, everything seemed to go all wrong
I looked up, to my surprise, the gal I was with was gone
Where she went I don't know, I mean to follow everywhere she goes
Folks said I'm crooked, I didn't know where she took it, I want the whole world to know
They say I do it, ain't nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me
Went out last night with a crowd of my friends
They must have been women 'cause I don't like no men
It's true I wear a collar and a tie
Make the wind blow all the while
But they say I do it, ain't nobody caught me
They sure got to prove it on me
They say I do it, ain't nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me
I went out last night with a crowd of my friends
It must have been women 'cause I don't like no men.
Wear my clothes just like a fan
Talk to the gals just like any old man
'Cause they say I do it, ain't nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me
I looked up, to my surprise, the gal I was with was gone
Where she went I don't know, I mean to follow everywhere she goes
Folks said I'm crooked, I didn't know where she took it, I want the whole world to know
They say I do it, ain't nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me
Went out last night with a crowd of my friends
They must have been women 'cause I don't like no men
It's true I wear a collar and a tie
Make the wind blow all the while
But they say I do it, ain't nobody caught me
They sure got to prove it on me
They say I do it, ain't nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me
I went out last night with a crowd of my friends
It must have been women 'cause I don't like no men.
Wear my clothes just like a fan
Talk to the gals just like any old man
'Cause they say I do it, ain't nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me
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