Charles Alexander
Parting Glances: Who woulda thunk it?
My 1-hour return flight from Gatorade, Ariz., where I attended the first annual crossdress-in of Drag Queens for Jesus, was, well, heavenly. I held hands between helpings of salted nuts and sticky Goobers with dream-boat attendant Chance [...]
Parting Glances: DQ4J in Gatorade (Pt.2 of 3)
GATORADE, Ariz. – Heaven works in mysterious ways its wonders to perform. Perhaps that's why I'm here on BTL assignment covering the first annual meeting of Drag Queens for Jesus. Staff drew straws for the coveted weekend assignment, and I must [...]
Parting Glances: My name's Spud, buster!
"… and I'm a gay basher …" PG Friends: I'm sitting in on a meeting of Gay Basher's Anonymous with – unknown to the bashers gathered – my pocket-size recording device surreptitiously "taking notes." I'm disguised as a Gay Basher: sporting a pair of [...]
Viewpoint: The Gentle Art of Vitamin Supplements
I haven't had a cold in over 15 years. For my age (I could be somebody's grandfather or gay great, great uncle), my muscles, joints, heart, lungs are ship-shape. I walk everywhere. In warm weather I bike a dozen miles a day. I lift weights. My [...]
Parting Glances: Glory in Gatorade
I've been flown by BTL to Gatorade, Ariz., to attend the first-ever gathering of Drag Queens for Jesus. (No affiliation with Dykes 4 Jesus, 9-Hole Golfing Alliance.) BTL staff drew straws for the all-expenses-paid trip, courtesy of Rainbow [...]
Parting Glances: Kraft nicht bei who?
Within months of Adolf Hitler's appointment as Germany's Chancellor in 1933, Nazi S.S. thugs in Berlin stood menacingly in front of Jewish owned businesses. They held up signs in their grubby, beat-opponents-to-a-pulp hands that read, "Kraft night [...]
Parting Glances: DQ4J Gatorade (Pt. 3)
GATORADE, Ariz.: I'm a skeptic concerning things supernatural; but the wonder-working weekend I spend reporting on the Drag Queens for Jesus confab is, well, miraculous – awe inspiring. It's also ecumenical, as the three-day drama-queen pageant [...]
Parting Glances: Round peg, square whole
A major evangelical outreach – Send Our Denominations Out Ministering (S.O.D.O.M.) – is "thrilled with the unprecedented success" of its buddy-buddy approach to changing "Satanically bent" gays into God's straight shooters. The Summer 2010 Issue of [...]
Parting Glances: Better pills to swallow?
It's been over 25 years since I've had panic attacks, the result of cold turkeying Xanax after almost a year of legitimate prescription use. I was clueless that Xanax is highly addictive. I thought that because a doctor prescribed it, Xanax was [...]
Parting Glances: Who says it's alien abduction? (Pt. 2)
I've learned from a gay friend of a gayer friend that a Windy City drag queen, Cheeks La Beverage, was abducted by aliens two years ago. Miss La Beverage was broad-beamed aboard a UFO, surgically examined and dumped on the Oak Street Beach, New [...]
Parting Glances: Who says it's psychic? (Pt. 1)
The former owner of the house that my art studio is located in – Ed Black died over 10 years ago – has twice in recent weeks "returned" to jog my fond memories of him. The first incident involved a 2010 Census taker, who during our front-porch [...]
Parting Glances: Rubbing Peter to lay Paul(a)
It's crossed my mind – what with the purported success of ex-gay outreach ministries – there has been no attempt at X-ing out bisexuals, T persons, or asexuals. Someone is being, in my humble opinion, somewhat reparative therapy remiss. ("Re-miss" [...]