Richard Norway

Colin, I'm very proud to know you and others who think like you do, but as you grow, you will see that America is not a perfect place. Actually, no place on this planet is perfect and our fight for equality will probably never end. But...that is not to say that we give up. I (New Mexico GLBTQ Centers) was just given a grant of $ 22,500 from the city of Las Cruces for our youth program, but it wasn't a unanimous decision either. One of the people on the committee graded our application with a very low score, not because of what we wanted to do with the funds for gay youth, but BECAUSE we wanted to do something for GAY youth. Bigotry still exists in America and will be dealt with for generations to come. Don't give up your idealism when you see bigotry out there. It's people like you that will cause change to happen. Richard

I look around me and I see my herb seeds growing into flowers. I look around me and I see young people growing into responsible people ready to take our places, but I also look around me and see the hate that exists, for one another. I am both inspired by what is to come but saddened by what we have.

Tomorrow starts auditions for the play Dear Harvey continuing on Monday as the actors are high school kids and they have their oun schedules and we need to give them a couple of days. I'm excited and looking forward to this. But the schedule that the director has come up with is nothing but grueling, I'm enjoying a scotch and water right now, but it will be my last until May 22nd, the day of the performance. Des, you can still do this, and I think you should. You'd be perfect as the one to produce this, but I understand the other things in your life taking your attention. I was able to get the script and music royalty free if I produced it with students and on Hervey's birthday, but the cost is only $ 100 US otherwise. Ticket sales should easily cover this. [url="http://info@playscripts.com"/url] These kids don't know who Harvey Milk was and it's going to be a learning and epiphany experience for them. This is one of my goals...to get his message out. It can be produced with little money. The biggest expense will be the theater venue, but we're hoping (as it's a fundraiser for the Centers and PFLAG) that the posters will be sponsored by a friendly printer. I have someone talking to the publicity person at the Rio Grand Theater (my venue of choice) to aid us in this effort. Haven't heard back yet, but am hopeful. I've never produced anything like this before, and it keeps me engaged. Richard

Des, I truly feel the agony of what you're going through. I lost 40% of my income last June and have had to make a lot of painful adjustments. But you seem to know what is important in life..you always have. Bruin is right; you'll get through this. It's only a matter of sticking it out, doing what you have to do (and I know you will) and keeping that positive frame of mind that endears you to us.

Well guys and gals, I've been busy, and that's why you haven't seen me post much lately. I still read all the posts, but don't take the time I should to be a part of this community that I love and admire. Last year, the Harvey Milk Foundation commissioned a play to be produced and it was completed last year. I was able to acquire the script, music and photos, ROYALTY FREE, to produce the play about Harvey Milk in schools to be royalty free. It needs to be produced on Sunday, May 22, 2011, Harvey's birthday. I contacted a local charter 'arts' high school, and today about noon, they agreed that it was a good fit for them and agreed the run the show with their theater arts department. But, they also suggested that we include the other high schools in the effort. I contacted a coordinator of the GSA network in the other high schools in Las Cruces and we're good to go to get them involved. I am so excited about this project to help get the word out that WE are a part of our society and that we are a part of you and have something to say. I've never produced a play or anything like this before, and don't know what I'm facing, but I know one thing...this will be done. We're (New Mexico GLBTQ Centers) is partnering with PFLAG Las Cruces to do this, but this is a Centers project, I'm taking the lead. I go to bed at night and dream about the difference that one individual can make. It doesn't take much, just a commitment to what you believe in.

I haven't posted much lately because of other commitments, but this thread has struck a chord with me. It has to do with this huge split between our two major political parties. You've talked about irresponsible budget cuts and care of our fellow humans on this planet, and believe me, they are tied together. DKSTORIES...we haven't turned our backs on our friends in Japan...yet. It was only one idiot's comments so far. Unfortunately, that idiot can sway sentiment. But I still believe our government, as well as the American people, will still step in to help. We won't turn our backs. Cole, you've made a very good assessment of the damage that irresponsible budget cuts would cause this nation. And this goes directly to the widening gap between our two major parties. The addenda of the "cutter Republicans" is to cut wherever possible without too much public outcry (votes, you know). But it is ideological without the full study of what is going to be the impact on not just our financial bottom line, but also on the jobs lost (not just in the federal government) in the private sector...which seems to go against our struggle to overcome our recession. Budget cutting for only the bottom line "Balance Sheet result" is nothing but disastrous. We have a responsibility as a nation to support our allies. No, for that matter, we have a responsibility to support every other human being on this planet. We may be the only ones in the cosmos (But I hope that there are more that we just haven't found yet.) and therefore we are "family." Budget cutting without regard to the potential loss of life or way of living is not only irresponsible, it's insane. And that's what I am gathering from the proposals set forward to cut our Federal Budget. Yes, we need to do it, to curb spending, but responsibly. I'd like to see justification for each budget cut. Not just in the bottom line, but the impact on all of us as a society. I want to see a study of not just the monetary status, but what will be the real impact on our economy, jobs, the loss of help to a forgotten (by the GOP) population (the poor and needy through no fault of their own). We as human beings have a responsibility to care for our human "family." Unfortunately, I don't know of anyway that we can force those kinds of studies and disclosures, to make our legislatures do "do diligence."

James, I must say that that was probably the most powerful piece of Flash Fiction that I have ever read. In 351 word you were able to develop such a conflict that you have us (at least me) wanting to know how it will turn out. That was just...just...one of the most intriguing pieces from you that I have read. You did your job, as a writer...just...amazingly. My hat's off to you. Richard

This was shown to me and I find it VERY interesting as I want to improve my writing. http://www.lambdaliterary.org/

I just can't believe this. Five South Dakota lawmakers have introduced legislation that would require any adult 21 or older to buy a firearm ?sufficient to provide for their ordinary self-defense.? http://www.argusleader.com/article/2011013...itizens-buy-gun

For the past few years, David and I have been going to the Lincoln National Forest to cut our own tree. We buy a permit for $ 5.00 and we can cut any species up to 10 feet tall. I can still shudder at the $ 100 to $ 200 trees that we bought in southern California. Now, we have a sunken living room with a cathedral ceiling, so a 10 foot tree is needed in that tall space. We generally get a spruce variety as it's not so full and allows ease of hanging ornaments. The hard part is the leather gloves that I have wear to get the ornaments into and onto the tree. Then again there's the 100 pounds of needles that fall off of our 15 pound tree. We had snow this year about a week before Christmas. Nathaniel could actually be seen skipping through the back yard with his arms flaying in the snow flurries. It flurried and didn't stray around, but heck, this is southern New Mexico. We usually get some snow every year and last year we had 6 inches on the ground one morning in January. The town couldn't cope and shut itself down for the day. See, Canada even corrupts us this far south. Richard

Well, this will be probably my last thoughts on Nathaniel. He's moved on and is emerging into his 'self.' It's hard to let go of someone that you love, but I guess all parents have to go through it. Yes, he has became my son, if not legally, at least emotionally. Nathaniel and his bf moved out a week before Christmas into their first apartment. It's funny, but as much as I hated his adolescent illogical behavior and total irresponsibility, I miss having to remind him of things that he had to do. Yes, he has become my 'son,' and I still worry about whether he's getting to school on time, watching his budget enough, etc., but I know that I have to keep away and not interfere. They still have no transportation and David (his bf) takes the bus to work. Nathaniel doesn't work as David thinks he needs to put his energies into his school and keeping their home up. How do I say this...I want him to be who he is, but I'm scared of the possibility that he will make some wrong decisions. Yesterday, they got a notice taped to their apartment door that their rent was becoming past due. Nathaniel immediately called us to borrow the car to go to the bank, get the money and pay the rent. Of course we let him, but I also hope that the lesson of life sinks in...that being that life can be hard and they have to be careful. I'm not sure if I'll even stop worrying about him and David. They will always be in my heart.

Me too. Although I'm in southern New Mexico now, I was born in northern Minnesota (with family in Alberta, Calgary and throughout Saskatchewan) and still remember watching the northern lights in the evening...usually past 11:00 pm when it was starting to get dark enough. But, I'm so happy to be out of the cold that that country possesses. I still love to go home at Christmas to play in the 10' snow, but so happy to return to civilization. Richard

Des, I was at a seminar about 10 years ago attended by approximately 100 people, and the speaker was talking about what is knowable. He drew a large circle on the white board behind him and said it represented all that was knowable in the universe. Then he asked us to visualize how much of that 100% that we actually knew. My estimate was about 1/10th of 1%...and that's probably high. He then drew a small pie shape in the circle to represent an average of what each one of us estimated to be what we knew out of what was knowable. He drew his at 1/2 of 1% (liers). Then he asked if anyone knew anything about brain surgery. Of course no one raised their hand. He asked a couple more questions about other esoteric topics that everyone had heard of but knew nothing about. These represented things we knew that we didn't know anything about. We knew they existed though. He then asked us to estimate how much we didn't know compared to how much we did know. Most of the audience responded with a figure of 10. There was was probably 10 times more that they didn't know than they knew. He then put another pie mark on the circle next to the first one representing the 5% that they knew that they didn't know. (1/2% x 10 = 5%) He then labeled the first pie shape "K" for "know." He labeled the second pie shape "NDK" for "know that you don't know." He looked at us and asked...."What about the rest of this circle?" I had an epiphany at that moment. He labeled the large pie shape left "DKDK." He then said, "The rest of that circle represents all that you don't know that you don't know. 94.5% of what is knowable in the universe is stuff that you don't even realize, you don't know that you don't know. It put me in my place.

I just checked with Netflix and they didn't have it yet. You can save your order.

Great writing Camy! Early on in reading this short, I had a feeling of deja vu. I had read this before, but not this particular story rather the way it was presented. Then it hit me. Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolf. Sharon all of a sudden became Elizabeth Taylor and I saw Richard Burton, the nemesis across from Elizabeth. They loved each other but still couldn't not let the barbs show. Great stuff Camy, just great stuff. A line from Katherine Hepburn comes to mind from The Lion In Winter. As she's again thrown onto the floor of her imprisoning tower, she looks up from the floor and says, (something to the effect) "All great families have their ups and downs."

I so loved this story Bruin, very well thought out and well developed.

Wonderful Cole!!

I liked the interview video. Jonathan talked more about writing, writers and how he writes more than he did about his new book. Thanks Des.

You got to me Bruin because I was in the military and SO related the the attitudes of the officers, although I was in the US military, but it was the same. My dream is that no one goes through the denial of who our friends are.

OMG. What unwarranted praise you give. It's not that I don't appreciate it, but it's that you've got me all wrong. I'm really a self centered egotist. I'm harsh to kids that do things that I think are not in their best interests. But the point is that it's what I think is in their best interests, not what they think. I'm a witch when I make him take the glasses (6) and bowls (3) out from being in his room for 2 weeks to put in the dishwasher because I made him and b/f drink out of small juice glasses tonight because there weren't enough clean regular large milk glasses for dinner. I'm a judgmental troll when he tells me that the teachers aren't giving him the grades that he deserves when I think that the boyfriend is taking his time away from his schoolwork.Mean me. i love it too. More than that I believe that when you have kids, you take on the responsibility of making them as well prepared as is possible for them to be be productive, happy and responsible adults as you can. That''s your responsibility for bearing that child.Yeah, I want him to be a writer, but he can do whatever he wants to do.opps, I slipped from slamming you all onto my soapbox.

Hey, I found a few extra minutes and decided to bring you all up to date. Sorry I don't seem to find enough time to stay in contact with all of my friends here. You all need to kick me in the ass occasionally. It seems it's the only thing that works these days. This may be long, as I have a lot to tell you. Anyway...Nathaniel has been with us for quite a few months now and during that time I've found out a lot about him and more about his past. I knew that he has been running wild for the past five years without any parental guidance He's had no structure in his life so he grew up running with bad people, drinking, drugs, lieing, partying and waking up with hangovers almost every day. I knew that he was running wild, but the more he has gotten to trust me, he has opened up a lot. One of the best things is that he has found a boyfriend who Nathaniel has fallen in love with. He's had a few boyfriends in the past (and even a girlfriend), but I think that this is his first true love. OMG, it is so fun and fulfilling to watch. I really like the boyfriend. His name's David. They can't seem to be apart for a minute and when David has to go to his job, Nate is beside himself. Do you all remember your first love? David is with Nathaniel when I'm not and he takes on the role of watching over Nathaniel. So far he's gotten him to almost quit smoking, hounds him to try harder in school and worries when Nathaniel wants to go out and party. Tonight David and Nathaniel had a fight. I didn't think too much of it as they have disagreed before, but usually went for a walk and worked things out. That's what I like about them. When they have an argument (and we all do with our mates sometime), they go and talk it out. Most teens don't do that. Oh, I should mention that David is 20 y/o and will turn 21 in a couple of months. Nathaniel turned 18 on Sept 20, so his dad's power of attorney to me is now mute. Oh, I digress. More on that later. Back to the fight. I had been writing all day on my second book (surprise!!) and had finally quit to take my 'morning' shower at 5:00 pm. As I was dressing, I saw them return home as they ran, and I mean 'ran' past my sliding glass door to my bedroom. I wondered what was up. I finished dressing and went into my office and found the two of them there, David screaming at Nathaniel. I turned around and left to give them privacy. David stopped me and started telling me about his feelings and what Nathaniel had been doing to him...lieing. He started crying and I grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. He stayed that way until he started to calm down. You have to understand David. He's an artist and very emotional. His family life sucks, very abusive and Nathaniel is his first love, although he too had a past boyfriend. Anyway, David looked over at Nathaniel and then ran out the front door. Nathaniel went out the back door and I didn't see where he went to, but I assumed around the side of the house to be alone. A few minutes later they both came inside and went to Nathaniel's room and closed the door. As it was close to dinner time and my David was soon to be home from manning the phones at the Center, I started to prepare dinner. It wasn't 5 minutes later when they both came out and walked into the kitchen. David said that they have never asked a mature adult (they've GOT to be kidding...me?) for advice before. First off I was floored that they were asking. At their age, I don't think I would have the courage (or the lowering of pride) to do that. David talked, and Nathaniel, being Nathaniel, mostly listened. Okay, here I go, trying to be of some help. I explained the difference in their ages and maturity levels and that each of them has to recognize and be aware of the others background. Nate has done a lot of bad things in his past, but he IS trying to change. It won't happen over night as it's a process. I tried to explain to David that each of them is an individual and has their own background to live with. Nathaniel wants to party but is trying to find ways to keep away from the drugs and alcohol. He can't try to make him in his own image. I told Nate that David is from a background where he drank a lot but now is adversely against any form of substance abuse. They need to reach a compromise, I said that they can't reach a compromise unless they discuss their differences of opinion and try to look at where the other is coming from I don't know if I did any good, but I tried. Teens are just so hard to understand unless you look back at yourself. Oh God, I hope they weren't like me! I felt so proud that they felt a trust in me to come to me when they reached an impasse. But then I felt a fear that my advice might be wrong. Oh well, it's done and said. On to another thing. You all know that Nathaniel is gay and I got him enrolled in a charter arts high school. I thought that this would help him assimilate with people like him (and he wanted to make the change). It worked. He started to make friends for the first time in Las Cruces. Some of them were gay and some were straight. It was a good mix and having met them (I made sure of that), I liked all of them. But there were 3 girls at the school that kept harassing him for being gay. I didn't find out about it until he told me what they had said to him one day. The 'faggot' word was used repeatedly along with other derisive remarks about Nathaniel's dress and demeanor. I went nuts and told my David. The next day I called the principal and set an appointment to see him the following day. He knew what was coming. My David is the Executive Director of the only gay and lesbian community center in New Mexico and I'm it's Board president. He knew we had the ACLU behind us and I wasn't afraid to invoke their influence. But he had already taken action. All three girls were suspended for three days. In that time, one girl had transferred to another school. The two remaining girls were quiet for a couple of weeks, but they started in again in on Nathaniel. This time I hadn't had time to do anything. The principal talked to their parents again and another girl left the school. I'm finally starting to think that things are a lot different then when I went to school. I have to say that I haven't been a parent with kids under my roof for a long time. But it is so inspiring to watch young minds reaching out to be independent and adult, and also to try to be responsible adults. They are struggling with what it takes to be that way, but not knowing yet how to be that way and trying to learn, but not willing yet to admit that they don't know what the hell they're doing. I was so much like that and having Nathaniel in my home has made me think a lot about how people react and why they do the way they do, I love this kid...dearly...and want nothing for the best in his future. He's truly worth it. The next chapter is his wanting to move out to be on his own. We've discussed it and I'm (loving him as my own) scared to death that he'll not be ready. Am I a typical parent or what?

Cole had the same questions that I did. First off James, that was a wonderfully written flash. To me it was an excellent parody of the US' almost megalomaniac fear of illegal immigrants. Our borders with Mexico are the most secure that they have ever been throughout history, but look at what Arizona has done during this season of fear. James, your portrayal of the ignorant American was superb. And to make the parody go off the deep end, the war with Canada just made it almost hilarious if it were not for the fear that I have in the US sometimes over-reacting (as we seem to do sometimes). Even the narrator was so wrapped up in his own gayness that he missed the significance of what the train driver was saying. James, this was absolutely superb. Richard

Yes there are parallels to Hitler, but times have changed. We're now in a fight to legitimize who we are, and compared to the Third Reich, it's really going the other way, but it's not over yet, a long way from it. I have hope for the first time in years.

Graeme, that is wonderful news. Here in the USA, it's also a state responsibility, and I'm thankful that the state of New Mexico allows me as a gay man to foster and/or adopt children. It's good to hear that your country is looking at the welfare of the kids versus what they do in our country, and that is stick to political lines (we don't have a formalized "conscience vote."). Richard

Hi Cleveland, This a group of writers of all degrees of competence, Cole being one of our best, that want to be better, that are working at their craft. We all know that our first drafts are miserable but realize that editing, re-editing and taking a final look at it is necessary. I'm glad that you've accomplished the first step in writing a story and are now on the second, third, fourth, etc steps in making it ready for the readers. Well done! Many writers use many different approaches in getting out their story. Many use narrative to describe what is happening, but I for one, use a lot of dialog to get the story across. You say that you've used a lot of dialog. That's great. Now, you've got everybody's interest in exactly what it is that you've written. If you'd permit me, I'd be interested in seeing what you've written. I'm not an expert at editing because I don't do it for a living, but I'll be honored to take a look. And (I've been slammed be experts for starting a sentence with a conjunction) we are so glad that you're joining us. Everyone here is ready to assist a writer, given their own time constraints. This really is a community.