Divas Never Die

And bloggers never shut up.

barrylikethefruit.wordpress.com

Maybe I’ll do it for a while, who knows?

Dear ICU Guy,

In a moment of self-esteem, I deleted your number today. Kate calls me a WOFA — a woman of fucking action. I agree with her assessment.

Give me a call, if you want to explain yourself. It’s just, I don’t really answer phone calls from phone numbers I don’t recognize… and I don’t really check my voicemail. So, yea…

…explain away. 🙂

With love,

Barry

just checking in :-)

Today, I woke up late. I didn’t have my homework for clinical done and then couldn’t get ahold of anyone to pick me up, so I walked to school and arrived before clinical started but much later than I like to. Then, my patient pooped all over the place even though he was on a commode. Then, my other patient needed an enema and that process — convincing, doing, cleaning — took about 2 hours, and I then had to change my scrubs after that mess. Then, they didn’t have fries in the lunch line and only had crappy food to eat so I settled. Then, I never heard from the boy. Then, I thought I lost my keys and couldn’t get anyone to take me back to the hospital to look for them. Then, I ordered a lot of food, got called fat by the delivery guy, and procrastinated in front of Hulu for four hours and did no homework, again. Then, I never heard from the boy (still). Then, I cleaned the kitty litter. Then, I did laundry and cleaned my kitchen. Then, my school BFF called and was sad…

…and I couldn’t commiserate.

See, I’ve been in a good mood. I’ve been a good mood for weeks.

And, then, I realized that the pendulum swung and I’m … happy. I’m surrounded by people I love, and who may actually love me; by people I trust, and who may actually trust me. And I just had to tell you. Everything is fabulous. Everything is glorious. Everything is beautiful.

Oh, and never trust a drag queen when she tells you she’s retiring. 🙂 We all know better.

the end.

Today marks the official end of QueerCincinnati.com.

I’ve pondered the decision quite a bit — even got myself a fancy-schmancy new layout to make it better — but I decided that I knew the project was over when I began the new site. When I originally proposed the idea, I had a lot of people say no and make great suggestions for improvements, and I thank you all for your time and your suggestions. My heart just is not into it like it was six months ago, and I would rather provide a succinct end rather than slowly die out.

I read First Wives Club today — that is, in less than 24 hours … all 500 pages of it. It’s given me some new ideas. I’m tossing some ideas around, separate from queercincinnati.com.

I’ll keep you updated on my new twitter name (well, twitter rename) — http://www.twitter.com/BFlooreandAfter — but I’m not setting deadlines. It will come when it does. For those of us who live their lives in the public eye … well … you know it won’t be long before something new strikes my fancy :-).

I love you all, I thank you all for your involvement and for your readership, you do not know what joy this blog has brought me, or what it has brought me through. I just know that I’m glad you were all here; I’m thankful for the friends I’ve met; I’m looking forward to seeing you all in the real world.

And, trust me, if you need a snarky opinion, I’m always here. I’m sure you’ll hear from me.

I’ll end with a quote from The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Please believe that things are good with me, and even when they’re not, they will be soon enough.

finis

(God, I’ve always been a sucker for the dramatic — what a queen!)

how to cure yourself from homosexuality

Get it beaten out of you. Apparently, a hate crime/vicious attack was all it took for Dwan Prince to become straight. Don’t forget step 2 — that is, write a letter to your beater who is waiting on a decrease in sentence trial with these (perhaps) inadvertently humorous lines at the end:

Steve you changed me! So hopefully when you get out we can hang out. You know me. I know you. I help you calm that angry machine down. And allow you to know I am not gay but a lover, and you can find me a female I can love and can love me.

See, if I said that to a straight guy, I’d just be trying to either: a) get revenge, or b) get laid. But, you know, I’m a spiteful whore.

Maybe that’s not the point here.

For the conversion therapist of the world: please note that this is not an acceptable form of “therapy.”

no facebook for you!

At some point, we may have to say that the ongoing, lifelong brigade of punishments for sex offenders border on cruel and unusual. Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois signed into a law a bill, taking effect January 1st, denying registered sex offenders access to social networking sites. “The idea was, if the predator is supposed to be a registered sex offender, they should keep their Internet distance as well as their physical distance,” said Sen. Bill Brady, a Republican from Bloomington planning a run for Governor. “The object is to protect innocent individuals on the Internet from sex offenders.”

I know that sex offenses are particularly vile, and I am aware that the rate of recidivism is exceptionally high for this time of criticism, but consider the lifelong branding that includes restrictions on where you can live and alerting neighbors to your place of residence.

Why even let them out of prison at this point?

yet another foregone conclusion in research

Men are more likely than women to lower their standards for sex. From FOX News, of all places:

The research suggests men are far less choosy about the attractiveness of a potential one-night stand. For women to be tempted into considering casual sex, the guy better be a hottie.

These results, based not on real-life encounters but rather on interviews, match with past research showing that men lower their standards when it comes to one-night stands. And it turns out, from the new study, women raise their standards…

Participants were asked to imagine being approached by a member of the opposite sex, described as either “slightly unattractive,” “moderately attractive,” or “exceptionally attractive,” who asked the student to go out, go to their apartment, or go to bed. Students rated on a scale from 0 (definitely not) to 100 (definitely yes) how likely they would be to accept each request.

Regardless of the opposite sex’s attractiveness, men were more likely than women to accept all three offers. For instance, in response to the sex request, men indicated an average likelihood of 46, a whopping figure compared with women’s average rating of just 4.

Raise your hand if you’re surprised.

First question: are men socialized towards an easier sexuality, or is part of our evolutionary biology?

ehea update

The Equal Housing and Employment Act (EHEA, HB 176) would prohibit discrimination in employment and housing in the state of Ohio based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. The summer recess is in full swing for the Ohio legislature, and, though we have some rumors that the House will bring it to a vote (and likely pass in that body) when it reconvenes in the fall, it has yet to really move to the Ohio Senate. Equality Ohio and Do What’s Right, Ohio! are encouraging supportive individuals to continue to contact their state Representatives through the summer, but the bill has made a little bit of news in the last week:

• The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, which also supported the removal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, fully supports the implementation of LGBTQ employment and housing protections in the state.
• On Top Magazine ran a piece on August 7th about EHEA. Kim Welter of Equality Ohio, the lead group lobbying for the bill, is quoted in the piece as saying: “We [Equality Ohio] would not support a bill that did not include gender identity.” Well done.

Make sure you continue to contact your State Representative and State Senator in support of the Equal Housing and Employment Act throughout the summer.

making safer cincinnati schools

Jason Haap, candidate for Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education and editor of the Cincinnati Beacon, wants the following section to be added to the district’s policies banning harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity:

Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity Harassment

Prohibited sexual orientation harassment occurs when unwelcome physical, verbal, or nonverbal conduct is based upon an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, real or perceived, and when the conduct has the purpose or effect of interfering with the individual’s work or educational performance; of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working and/or learning environment; or of interfering with one’s ability to participate in or benefit from a class or an educational program or activity. Such harassment may occur where conduct is directed at the characteristics of a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity such as slurs, nicknames implying stereotypes, epithets, and/or negative references relative to said orientations or identities.

Last night, he and local activist Kathy Laufmann attended a CPS Board meeting to publicly state their support for the addition. Though the meeting was dominated by workers who came to discuss contracts and wages, Haap reports some positive response amidst mostly surprise for the issue. No one expected it.

I believe the Bush administration termed it “shock and awe.”

Currently, CPS does include gender and sexual orientation in its Nondiscrimation and Access to Equal Educational Opportunity policy, and the district does have policies on Anti-Harassment and Bully and Other Forms of Aggressive Behavior. The former policy — 5517 — currently elucidates harassment based on race/color, religion/creed, national origin, and disability. A slew of recent school bullying related deaths has sparked a national debate on anti-bullying legislation. Passing local rules against sexual orientation/gender identity harassment is the first step in expanding such protections to other school boards and the statewide educational system.

Write your local Board of Education members (link for CPS constituents) and encourage them to include the Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity Harassment policy.

Wearing What Wednesday update!

(C) Chad States

I just realized that I am a day early on this one, but it’s totally worth your time. Check out the Wearing What Wednesday page for four great opportunities to objectify enjoy the male figure.