SF vs LA wtf?

“None of the bars in San Francisco are as bad as the bars here,” says the new guy I just met at an intimate pool party in North Hollywood. The typical refrain from one of our brothers up north rolled easily off the early thirty-something man’s tongue. His lack of self-consciousness was so striking I withheld my usual defense.

Is it the cleaner sidewalks, the safer streets, the urban forest, the sunny weather, the real beaches, or the prettier go-go boys? Why is it that the SF gays can so easily hate on the LA gays so much?

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Purchased loyalty

The huge cake sits forlorn on a conference room table. 

The few faithful gather near as the room’s negative space grows heavy with expectation. The clock ticks. Phones are pulled from pockets and digital numbers document reality. The farewell party started ten minutes ago. No one speaks.

Until, “At least the weather is good for your last day!” 

Nods all around from the fistful of suits.

A cascade of invitations has preceded this gathering. Another shoots now from the latest in hand held tech! The departing sycophant’s protector in action. Purchased loyalty repaid.

The cheap decorations call out to no one, clinging to the walls, embarrassed by their own vulgarity.

www.mikelgerle.com  

Echoes of our previous lives

Transplants take root, but the echoes of our previous lives live deep inside us.

I try to cover the tainted reverberations of small town youth with a gym body, fierceness, designer tennis shoes, and a biting wit – but the seed of discontent will always be with me. It lays dormant, unfed, and contained. I had convinced myself that it was dead forever, that I am now freed from past. Free from the pain of being different, shamed, hunted, and persecuted.

Then I agreed to go back to the town of my birth to shelter my mom as they lower her mother’s body into the ground. It is my honor to be there for my mom, no matter what her shortcomings. It is a reminder of how far this gay man has come. It is a reminder that those memories were not a nightmare.