By Mark McNease Here’s a video slideshow of the entire cruise (minus Grand Turk, which I’m sure is a fine place to visit if you get outside the Cruise Center).]]>

By Mark McNease Note: Apologies to the fine people of Grand Turk. Frank and I only spent 90 minutes off ship there, in the Cruise Center where they have shops, the beach front and a pool. I can’t do the place justice considering how little we did there so I’ll just say thanks for the memories (and the photos I accidentally “delete all”-ed).

I was most excited about visiting Puerto Rico on this cruise and I wasn’t disappointed. Maybe it’s because there’s such a large Puerto Rican population in New York City. Maybe it’s because it’s a U.S. protectorate – Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, even though they’re not a state. And maybe it’s because I’ve just been aware of Puerto Rico for so long, at least since I moved to New York eighteen years ago. It’s one of those places I wanted to visit if I ever got the chance, and this was my chance. We took a walking tour of Old San Juan. The entire time was spent on San Juan, which, like Manhattan, is an island. San Juan is the oldest city in the United States, and the second oldest (after Santo Domingo) in all of the Americas. Trade winds blew ships here from Europe, coupled with ocean currents. It was also the first island with water, shelter and supplies that sailing ships came to from Europe via Afica’s west coast, which is why Spain fortified Puerto Rico in the first place. Built over 10 generations (250 years), the complex system of fortifications was necessary to protect what the Europeans knew was great wealth. Gold, silver, gems, spices, furs. The New World represented riches beyond the imagination. It was also already inhabited, which is a long sad story for another day. Needless to say the Europeans won. Over half our walking tour was spent at El Morro fort, one of the two massive forts on the island. Construction on the fort began in 1539. Our tour guide, a lovely woman who was patient with this cruise crowd, gave us a detailed history lesson as we walked around and through this massive, hurricane-proof structure. The views were breathtaking, and for someone who loves history, from the ancient to the Civil War, this was a real treat. We next walked through the streets of Old San Juan. We saw where Ponce de Leon was buried one of three times. We saw the beautiful cobbled streets made from bricks that had been used as ballast on the sailing ships that came here. We also saw a lot of cats. They’re protected here. Not exactly sacred, but considered guardians of the island, and their population has exploded the last few years. The tour ended and Frank and I did some shopping, and finally headed back to a tapas restaurant we’d seen earlier on the tour. It was fabulous, and the waitress, who’s lived here for eight years, was from upper Manhattan! A really nice woman who gave us a quick history of the restaurant, which used to be the mayor’s office and a prison. I wondered at the tunnel structure we were eating in. She told us that in the basement was a tunnel that ran all the way to El Morro. The food was great, the people fabulous, the tour a delight (minus the serious sunburn I have on my face today). I know we could only see a small slice of Puerto Rico, but it left me wanting more.]]>

By Mark McNease Update: I was told by one of the crew members who came to Sunday’s GLBT meet-up, a friend of Dorothy himself, that they changed the name because it caused too much confusion with clueless passengers. Perhaps they had a friend named Dorothy, or they had small children and thought people would be dressed like characters from the Wizard of Oz. They would show up and be horrified to see a flock of homosexuals instead. Fair enough. But what will we sacrifice next for them? The rainbow? This photo is of today’s ship schedule. It’s our second full day at sea – we arrive at Grand Turk tomorrow, which I’m told was devastated by a hurricane a few years ago and doesn’t have a lot going on. I found this out from one of the men who showed up for the “GLBT” social hour listed in the calendar. Now, I’ve been on board with the acronyms for a long time. This site’s name is an acronym. But damnit, when I saw they’d stopped listing these cruise get-togethers as “Friends of Dorothy” I knew something truly priceless had passed from the earth. I don’t think this travesty came about because younger people don’t remember Judy Garland or where the phrase “Friends of Dorothy” came from. Hell, the average age on a cruise that isn’t designed for families with kids has got to be 60. As affordable as cruising is, by the time you actually do things to enjoy yourself, this ain’t a staycation. And a lot of people fly to get here, just like we’ll fly to Florida if the next one we take leaves from there, so it’s not chump change. Cruises like this are suited to people who can afford them, and we tend to be older. So no, the name wasn’t changed because nobody’s old enough to remember the reference. It was probably so no one would feel excluded. Never mind that only gay men show up at these things. The other possibility is that younger gay men have no sense of humor. Speaking of which, the first day, yesterday, they had us meeting in a wine bar populated by straight people. No, no, no. You do these things in one of the large bars where we can easily lay claim to a section with chairs and we’re obvious. As much as being gay is natural, it’s not a birthmark, like the star-bellied Sneetches, and when you’re looking around wanting to be sure you’re in the right place, the best gaydar in the world doesn’t make it easy to walk to up two men and say, “Are you here for the GBLT meet-up?” One of the guys told me he complained the last cruise about this and they moved it to a more appropriate bar, which, I notice, it’s at in today’s schedule. On to the calendar: You can do lots and lots of things on a cruise. Just some of today’s activities: fabulous abs in the gym; knitters and knatters get-together; Bill W meeting (of course); doubles ping-pong; scholarship at sea lectures; photography at sea class; a movie (Toy Story); classical music; a poker tournament; an introduction to acupuncture; fruit and vegetable carving, and $1000 bingo. And that’s just before lunch! A schedule is put out each evening for the next day’s activities. Frank and I are gamblers so we’re doing the bingo, and probably meeting with the Friends of Dor . . . I mean GLBT group this afternoon to see if it’s better in the upstairs bar. Tomorrow we’ll go to Grand Turk and at least get some sun and sand. Next up with the blogging . . . Puerto Rico! I hope it’s all I’ve imagined it to be, since I keep saying it’s what I’m looking most forward to in the island hopping. I’ll let you know. For now, signing off – the Tin Man.]]>

By Mark McNease

Sunday morning and we’re sailing through the Atlantic on our way to Grand Turk. Cruising out of Brooklyn is the best, we just loaded the luggage into a town car and rode to the ship. We came a little bit after the rush so getting on board was a breeze, and in less than an hour from when we left the apartment we were taking a look around the ship. The Caribbean Princess reminds me a lot of the Holland America ship we took two and a half years ago with Frank’s dad and his friend Moni. The layout is almost identical, unless I’m mis-remembering it, and the decor looks like very much the same. The dining room was different, though. It seems smaller, and the tables are round. When we last cruised it was at a table for eight, with our four table mates turning out to be lovely people from California. Two straight couples, one with a lesbian daughter who’d gotten married during the brief window when it was legal in California. Barack Obama was elected while we were on the cruise, and Prop 8 passed. Imagine all that while you’re taking a cruise! We did a quick tour of the gym and the spa, where Frank signed us up for some spa treats. The guy who led the muster drill was a delightfully and obviously gay man from Britain. The cruise, as usual, has a wide variety of people on it, and, come to think of it, almost no children. Not that I mind children . . . I promised myself I’d take advantage of all the activities the ship offers this time, instead of spending my nights in the casino. I want to take a gaming class today so I can learn to do something in Atlantic City besides play penny slot machines. The LGBT group (listed in the day’s program as “GLBT” – go figure) meets at 4 pm. Plus the gym after breakfast, working on my short story re-write, and reading, reading, reading. It’s a cruise! We don’t pull into Grand Turk until Tuesday, so I have nothing to do until then except hurry up and relax, which is really the point.]]>

I’m a big fan of Steve Hayes. He’ll be performing along with Bradford Scobie (you can see Bradford in the latest ‘Tired Old Queen at the Movies’ clip) at the Connecticut Repertory Theater, June 16 – 26. For tickets: 860-486-4226.]]>

It’s hard to keep up with Steve Hayes. He’s posted another of his terrific ‘Tired Old Queen at the Movies’ reviews, this time of ‘Dinner at Eight.’]]>

I’ve been writing for many, many years. See my bio on the sidebar if you’re interested. Short stories from the time I was, oh, ten or so. Plays, plays, and more plays. Articles, book reviews, TV scripts, and full circle back to short stories (with a couple unpublished novels along the way, though eBook publishing may yet see one of them in the marketplace of so-so ideas). My keyboard and writing space have always been my instruments, much like a musician has her instrument. It’s one thing to sit at a table somewhere with a laptop, and quite another to sit at that one magic place where it all happens. Comforting, familiar, settled into and melded to the contours of my body and my mind. It needs to be just right. Since I moved in with Frank four years ago I’ve been using a small desk with shelves on each side that forced me to keep my knees almost together in order to sit there. The big spacious desk I had in Astoria got left behind – there was no room for it. I have one at the house that works very well, but this desk in our Manhattan apartment, while having sentimental value for me (it’s going in our attic room at the house now), sucked as a work space. I noticed it especially when I decided to really (really, honestly) get back to my short stories. That whole Kindle eBook thing has me intrigued. I noticed that when I’m writing fiction I need to be expansive, and my body wanted to open up along with my mind. But I couldn’t! The desk was too confining. I finally had to do something about it and, there as if by magic at Housing Works a block from the apartment, was a “small farm table” that is terrific as a desk. No drawers, but just enough bigger and with endless leg room. It’s all set up and I’m ready to go. Desks matter. Keyboards matter. Routine matters. Blank pages matter. All in the name of making something from nothing and marveling at what comes out.]]>

Our last cruise ship, for my 50th birthday Frank and I are leaving tomorrow afternoon for a whirlwind 9-night Caribbean cruise, with stops in Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Grand Turk and Bermuda. (Fortunately it’s not a Rosie cruise so we won’t be prevented from landing by the infamously homophobic Bermudans, nor will I tour the island in my rainbow cutoffs). The last time we sailed there was no wifi on the ship, but the cruise lines are catching up. Depending on its reliability I’ll be blogging as we sail along. Keep an eye out for regular posts on the cruise. I’m doing my location-travel blogging here these days, in tandem with my most fabulous buddy Rick Rose, a contributing writer. I’m an aging gay cruise and travel guy now so this feels more like home for travel posting. Snarky political commentary, celebrity shit-chat and restaurant takedowns as well as fawn-overs will stay on MadeMark.net. See you on the high seas!]]>

Seniors in Chicago who have enjoyed free transit rides will begin paying half fare in September. The change is expected to raise $30 million annually. From the Chicago Tribune: The vast majority of the 440,000 senior citizens who registered to receive free transit rides over the last three years will lose the privilege on Sept. 1, officials said Wednesday. That’s when current senior free-rides permits on the CTA, Metra and Pace will be deactivated. As a result, the revenue from fareboxes is expected to increase by a total of $30 million annually at the three transit agencies, officials estimated. Only about 25,000 seniors enrolled in the current free-rides program are expected to still qualify for free transportation on mass transit when the changes implementing a financial means test take effect, according to the Regional Transportation Authority, which administers the program.]]>