Community Quilt

I'm really gaining appreciation for how San Francisco is like a patchwork quilt, each swatch its own different design (district, 'hood), sewn together into such a magnificent whole. I've been educated about the "microclimates" here - how it may be cold and overcast in the Richmond where I live, but all you gotta do is hop over into Eureka Valley (Castro) and it's sunny delight. It IS sort of like Portland on a large scale, only far more diverse racially and culturally - and meteorologically.

How to stay busy while hibernating

This morning I was really happy when I called the bookstore and Kim told me not to bother coming in today, there won’t be any customers. So my first shift is next Monday, and the snow vacation continues. Of course, I’m never the kind who sits around doing nothing for very long. Today I made lots of phone calls – to Richard, to Smitty of CoG, to Ben Pink, to Pat, to Christa, to Kirk to ask him where he put the rest of that peanut butter cookie dough, to Godaddy to figure out how to link my blogger.com blog to the tonyletigre.com domain name I’ve been sitting on for over a year now. It was surprisingly easy and now I finally have my very own website and the name is MINE! I’ve written a script for a very short film called “The Art Police” and my little cast – me, Richard, and Smitty and Jack of CoG – are meeting next Tuesday to discuss the film shoot, which we plan to do the first or second week of January. I’m sure it won’t take more than one day to do it: only two locations, an art gallery and an artist’s studio, and the final product will only be 5 or 10 mins. long. Ben Pink, who was in New York when I called this afternoon, seemed entirely cool with us shooting the gallery scenes at the Launch Pad, as long as we obtain the permission of Caleb, next month’s artist, for his art to appear in the film, of course. Hopefully he won’t take it personally that one of his pieces will be singled out as an example of “bad art” by the art police in the film! I met Pat at Taco Bell a little bit ago and he gave me some more addresses to enter into the database; he’s considering pushing the Hat Party back a little bit since the weather has thrown such a wrench into everything. He invited me to his employee Xmas dinner Thursday night but I’m already committed to Christa’s party instead. It’ll just be me, Christa and Joel. I’m bringing red wine and jellied cranberries, the kind that come out in the exact shape of the can, ridges and all. Some things you never grow out of. Besides turkey and cranberries, Thursday night’s menu may also include maryjane, absinthe, and Kids in the Hall, among other things. How much better does life need to be? I really can’t believe my good luck right now. I’ve barely worked (as in, a real hourly-wage job) since I got back from Glacier, yet I’m in better financial shape than I’ve been in years, also getting in better shape physically since I’ve been drinking less and exercising more, also experiencing a re-surgence of artistic inspiration which I think will only increase when I get to Maui and San Fran, and the future holds only more adventure and even greater things to look forward to. I am in the middle of re-doing the entire layout of "The Fish Who Drowned" (the book formerly known as "Como me llamo," and before that "English Snowflakes") for a different format, and Smitty's friend from the print shop got back to me with a quote today: $104 for 50 copies, folded and bound, with a thicker cover stock for the front and back covers. About what I expected. So now all I have to do is finalize the layout and content and bring in the file! I really have a feeling about The Nightshade Family – the creativity incubation collective I intend to start after I establish myself in S.F. It is not going to be a queer-only membership. I don’t segregate people by their sexual orientation, or gender expression, or any of those other Portland buzz-words that frankly are pretty played-out in my opinion. I am far more interested in the fact that people create interesting, provocative art than who they sleep with or the ways they deconstruct patriarchal oppression. Another thing I’ve learned from my current living situation is that living with people who are very different from you can sometimes be a really ideal thing. My current roommates on the one hand are so different from me that we could come from other planets, or so I thought for a long time, but I’m discovering they are more canny than I gave them credit for, and certainly not conservative except in terms of dress and behavior. They could not possibly be called hipsters, and that is a GOOD thing. All I need to do is think back to that nightmarish nest of hipster scum at 6125 NE Mallory (aka The Meth Baby Mansion) to be grateful for the tranquil, low-drama existence I currently enjoy. MORE SNOW is supposed to be on the way – Christa said it’s the longest stretch of this kind of weather in recorded history for Portland – but I can’t honestly complain. It’s been good to me!

Hair as white as snow

Monday 12/22/08

It is STILL SNOWING! In fact I heard 5-6 more inches expected today. I’ve never seen anything like it in all the time I’ve lived in the PDX metro area. It really is almost Minnesotan now. We should invite the drowning polar bears down to hang out and hunt seals. Kirk is downstairs right now opening his bottle of champagne and squeezing juice out of his little oranges to make fresh mimosas. We’ve patched things up although he continues to annoy me, and I him, all the time with almost every conversation we have. He’s been here three days now, using the blizzard as an excuse to escape his house and Cori, who I gather he’s a bit burnt out on. It’s been fun, like an extended slumber party. It’s a little hard to stay motivated, but all I have to do today is type up the Poison/Austin piece for Just Out and interview Kelli Dunham (lesbicomedienne) over the phone for another piece – stuff that doesn’t require leaving the house. Last night Kirk, Scott & I went for a walk around 11 p.m. after being locked in the house all day and going a bit stir crazy. Kirk turned back when we got to Glisan, but Scott & I walked all the way to Biddy McGraws – only to find it just closed! – and back, probably about 2.5 miles. It was nice to get some exercise, and it’s not that bad out when the wind doesn’t blow. Back at the house I finally persuaded them to watch 30 Rock and I think Kirk & Scott saw that it really is a great show. Kirk also made peanut butter cookies last night using a recipe from the Seventh-Day Adventist cookbook I got ages ago from Dave & Ann Reed! I found a copy of an old photo in it I’d forgotten about: me and young DeeDee playing on the tire swing back on the Reed farm, myself about 4 years old, and with a snow-white mullet! That hair would be so ironically cool in Portland right now.

My book is finished!

I have finished my collection of writing, "¿Como me llamo?" (means "What is my name?" in Spanish). The cover, prologue and a few other sample pages are up on my Flickr page, http://www.flickr.com/photos/glamrocktiger/. I'm looking into a way to print a small batch (just 25-50 copies) to distribute to select friends at my going-away dinner party in March. It's just 50 pages long and double-sided it'd be only 25. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. I could print, collate, bind them myself through the IPRC here in Portland, and that'll probably be what I end up doing, but someone suggested finding a cheap printer online who would do 50 copies for like $100 or something, and they'd look more professional.
Is that still possible?

~TLT~

I'll be taking this with me to San Francisco and seeking a more substantial form of publication in the future.