Charles Alexander
Parting Glances: The Gas-trophy of 911 Dating
I've been out of the LGBT lovebird loop-the-loop for so long that it rarely occurs to me that dating can be hazardous to ones mental and physical well being, and can occasionally require subterfuge, quick costume change, 911 calls, and bedroom [...]
Parting Glances: GOP - Guardianship of Pornography
I've no firsthand knowledge of the profession, but I imagine being a porn star isn't everything it's cracked up to be. Not by a long shot. But! somebody's got to do it. (I've got a bad back, a trick knee, carpal tunnel issues, and no gift for [...]
Parting Glances: Bambi, JFK, and Lover Larry
I recall a New Yorker cartoon that appeared years ago. Picture if you will: two or three animals are gathered in a sunlit forest. A cute rabbit looks up to a chirpy bird and asks, "Where were you when Bambi's mother died?" It's a lighthearted way [...]
Parting Glances: Murderabilia: Straight and Gay
On the eve of his 58th birthday, just hours after telephone chatting farewell with his wife Primrose, Dr. Harold Shipman, Britain's most prolific serial killer, cheated the hangman's noose by committing suicide with bed sheets in his prison [...]
Parting Glances: O Those "Revocable Waivers"!
On several sporty occasions I've dined at Angelina's Italian Bistro in Downtown Detroit with BTL co-publishers Jan Stevenson and Susan Horowitz, loyal Tiger baseball fans. From our windowside table, the Comerica Park fireworks are spectacular; as [...]
PARTING GLANCES: Panic! Panic! As Metaphor
Be prepared. What follows will likely upset you. What occurred to me that prompts this metaphoric recounting PG sent me into a total panic when it happened this past Monday. One way or another, I guarantee it will upset you. For several reasons [...]
Parting Glances: My limbo. Sister's whoooosh!
EYE-PHONE TRANSCRIPT (7/4/08): "Hi, Chaz. How's it hangin'? – spiritually speaking. It's me. Your old beatific buddy and perennial fashion guide, Sr. Serena Scatterpin, Renegade Sisters of Mary. "You'll never in a month of celibate Sundays guess [...]
Parting Glances: Remembering My
I was in the Sunday habit, a few years back, of taking a suburban bus to Birmingham. Riding with me were regulars, most of whom were off to church, or gave that halo'd impression by dress or demeanor. Motivated by whimsy by a half-hour drive of [...]
Parting Glances: Past Embraces Present-Tense
It's been 60 some years since I last saw the young man who sits across from me. He has, at 19, what a friend calls "the poetry of youth." An eager freshness that's a joy at my age to see. He hasn't changed much. Still thin as a rail. Tall as ever. [...]
Parting Glances: Once Upon a Time of Terror (Part 2)
Though perhaps unspoken among gay men and doctors nearly 40 years ago when the AIDS crisis started, the presumption of a death sentence was understood. When the HIV-3 retrovirus was identified and infection modes publicized — unprotected oral and [...]
Parting Glances: Once upon a time of terror (Pt. 1)
It's been nearly 40 years since media stories began to appear about what seemed the onset of a pandemic among gay men (and drug users). The acronym for these puzzling outbreaks on the East and West coasts was GRID. Gay Related Immune Deficiency. [...]
Parting Glances: Woo! Woo! You, too, Wonder Woman?
Sixty-three years ago, when I was a gay, impressionable teenage DC Comics Book fan, a shrink named Fredric Wertham claimed that the bitter seeds of crime were sown by comic books. Wertham's best selling psychobabble book, "Seduction of the [...]