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On the Map: The Marvelous Morris House Hotel (Philadelphia)
By Mark McNease
On the Map is a travelogue of places, restaurants and landscapes for your travel considerations. Sometimes near, sometimes far, always interesting.
As the most restrictive aspects of this pandemic-burdened year begin to lessen, my husband Frank and I are hitting the road again. For now we’ll be taking local-ish trips we can enjoy with just a few hours’ drive in the car. We have a cruise booked for December that was postponed twice because of Covid and the inability of cruise ships to dock in U.S. ports (combined with our own significant concerns), and I’m looking forward to an extensive trip report when we finally board two weeks before Christmas. Cruising is my favorite form of extended vacation, so stay tuned for a late December travelogue.
This time we took a two night trip to Philadelphia. For a number of years now we’ve treated each other to surprise getaways. One of us takes the other on a trip, and the person being surprised does not know where we’re going. A few months ago I’d seen a recommendation for an outdoor classical concert “under the stars” in Philly, and thought it would be a perfect way to start getting out there again.
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On Dreamshaping: Straws and Camels
Mark McNease
I can’t name a specific date and time, but at some point the past few months I stopped paying attention to the news beyond what I need to stay informed. Is there a significant natural disaster nearby I need to know about? Has a foreign invader breached our northern shores? Have scientists discovered that drinking eight cups of coffee a day leads to a long life or that it causes permanent memory loss? There’s the local political stuff I want to know about, like who the next governor of New Jersey might be, and which dismal choice I’ll have to make next year for health insurance. But the overall big picture, the cloud of dread and anxiety that is our current 24/7 news cycle? I just can’t indulge in it anymore. Very little of it uplifts me and much of it depresses me. It’s as if, given the possibility we are not living in the end times, we’ve collectively decided to make it appear as if we are, like that Buck Owens and Roy Clark song I remember from Hee Haw, “Gloom, despair, and agony on me …”
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Gay Travelers Magazine: We Must Never Forget that Being Gay was a Crime
This article is reprinted with permission from Gay Travelers Magazine.
Steven Skelley By Steven Skelley
Gay Travelers MagazineWe must never forget that, until very recently, just being gay was a serious crime that was punishable in horrific ways. It has only been eighteen years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that being homosexual was not a crime. It has only been six years since the U.S. Supreme Court barely decided by one vote that homosexuals must be allowed the same marriage laws as heterosexuals. How easily people forget.
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Gay Travelers Magazine: We Must Never Forget that Being Gay was a Crime
This article is reprinted with permission from Gay Travelers Magazine.
Steven Skelley By Steven Skelley
Gay Travelers MagazineWe must never forget that, until very recently, just being gay was a serious crime that was punishable in horrific ways. It has only been eighteen years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that being homosexual was not a crime. It has only been six years since the U.S. Supreme Court barely decided by one vote that homosexuals must be allowed the same marriage laws as heterosexuals. How easily people forget.
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Lee Lynch’s Amazon Trail: Notes from a Homebody
Photo by Sue Hardesty By Lee Lynch
The Amazon Trail: Notes from a HomebodyIt’s finally here. The end of total lockdown. Am I ready? Absolutely not. I like my burrow. I don’t wanna play with others.
We’ve fashioned a comfortable little routine. Week days, work. Evenings, spend time alone together. Weekends, yard and house work and, sometimes, an adventure.
The adventures are mostly food and view related. They require us to travel along Highway 101 thirty to forty-five minutes south. Which is a mini-vacation in itself. People come here from all over the developed world to drive this highway. My sweetheart and I, we just buckle up and go, the little dog in her back seat safety perch and the cat at home, guarding the house from whatever intrusions he fears. Probably a bug. Talk about privileged lives. We ain’t got much but we’ve got it all.
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Lee Lynch’s Amazon Trail: Notes from a Homebody
Photo by Sue Hardesty By Lee Lynch
The Amazon Trail: Notes from a HomebodyIt’s finally here. The end of total lockdown. Am I ready? Absolutely not. I like my burrow. I don’t wanna play with others.
We’ve fashioned a comfortable little routine. Week days, work. Evenings, spend time alone together. Weekends, yard and house work and, sometimes, an adventure.
The adventures are mostly food and view related. They require us to travel along Highway 101 thirty to forty-five minutes south. Which is a mini-vacation in itself. People come here from all over the developed world to drive this highway. My sweetheart and I, we just buckle up and go, the little dog in her back seat safety perch and the cat at home, guarding the house from whatever intrusions he fears. Probably a bug. Talk about privileged lives. We ain’t got much but we’ve got it all.
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Savvy Senior: How Much Will You Need to Save for Retirement?
Listen to my podcast interview with Savvy Senior columnist Jim Miller HERE.
By Jim Miller
Savvy SeniorDear Savvy Senior,
Is there an easy way to figure out how much I will need to save for retirement? My wife and I are both in our late fifties and want to figure out about how much we’ll need in order to retire comfortably.
Ready to Retire
Dear Ready,
How much money you need to retire comfortably is a great question that all working adults should ask themselves. Unfortunately, far too few ever bother thinking about it.
But calculating an approximate number of how much you’ll need to have saved for retirement is actually pretty easy and doesn’t take long to do. It’s a simple, three-step process that includes estimating your future living expenses, tallying up your retirement income and calculating the difference.
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Savvy Senior: How Much Will You Need to Save for Retirement?
Listen to my podcast interview with Savvy Senior columnist Jim Miller HERE.
By Jim Miller
Savvy SeniorDear Savvy Senior,
Is there an easy way to figure out how much I will need to save for retirement? My wife and I are both in our late fifties and want to figure out about how much we’ll need in order to retire comfortably.
Ready to Retire
Dear Ready,
How much money you need to retire comfortably is a great question that all working adults should ask themselves. Unfortunately, far too few ever bother thinking about it.
But calculating an approximate number of how much you’ll need to have saved for retirement is actually pretty easy and doesn’t take long to do. It’s a simple, three-step process that includes estimating your future living expenses, tallying up your retirement income and calculating the difference.
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Some LGBT Centers Offer Spring Awakening to Seniors
Photo from LGBTNewsNow Live music filled the courtyard of the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Anita May Rosenstein Campus on Thursday as pleasantly surprised senior clients lined up to pick up a free hot lunch.
The musical duo Chris & Drew performed for a full hour, including such classic songs as Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Happy Days Are Here Again, and Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.
“I think it’s great,” said Stewart Prosise, 73. “All kinds of musical numbers that bring back a lot of memories from many shows over the years. I’ve really been missing live theater.”
The special Lunch Box Serenade was part of an early celebration of National Honor Our LGBT Elders Day (May 16) and Older Americans Month. The outdoor lunchtime concert was an especially welcome surprise since the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Center’s Senior Services department to host all of its classes and programs online for more than a year.
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On Dreamshaping: Name Your Poison
Mark McNease
Observing the current cultural and political climate, I’m reminded of a scene from the westerns once so popular with American moviegoers. A bartender in a grimy, dusty saloon, says to a weary customer, “Name your poison.” The customer asks for whisky—they all drank whisky in the movies, with names like Rot Gut and Dead Eye—and the bartender serves him from a bottle on the shelf. The customer throws back a mouthful from a greasy shot glass, grimaces as it burns its way down his throat, then smiles, slaps the glass on the counter and orders another one. That sure felt good.
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The Twist Podcast #160: Liz Cheney Unchained, Some Kind of Normal, Twisted Listicles, and the Week in Headlines
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we take a look at the ongoing GOP fireworks, a slow return to some kind of post-pandemic normal, and this week’s listicles and headlines.
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, SoundCloud, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2021 MadeMark Publishing
Join Mark’s email list for updates, podcasts, giveaways, and his monthly newsletter!
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The Twist Podcast #160: Liz Cheney Unchained, Some Kind of Normal, Twisted Listicles, and the Week in Headlines
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we take a look at the ongoing GOP fireworks, a slow return to some kind of post-pandemic normal, and this week’s listicles and headlines.
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, SoundCloud, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2021 MadeMark Publishing
Join Mark’s email list for updates, podcasts, giveaways, and his monthly newsletter!
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Featured Book: Accidental Desperados, by Lee Lynch (Bold Strokes Books)
Regular readers of LGBTSr will be familiar with Lee Lynch’s monthly Amazon Trail column. Lee is an icon in lesbian literature, an inspiration and a friend. I’m delighted to share her newest book, Accidental Desperados, as our current Featured Book. If you’re new to Lee’s writing, you’re in for a treat. Sit back, get your bookmark ready, and dive in.
Accidental Desperados
By Lee Lynch
Release date: April 1, 2021
Publisher: Bold Strokes BooksMJ Beaudry, an angry, brilliant, abused runaway, is dumped in Rainbow Gap, Florida, and almost immediately discovers an aptitude for crime. The lesbian cop who catches her expects good-hearted lovers Jaudon Vicker and Berry Garland to save the kid. Although Jaudon’s business has suffered a killing blow and she’s frantic to make it right, she was once a besieged gay kid herself and reaches out, only to find herself in cahoots with MJ.