Charles Alexander
Trippin' the light fantastic
Parting Glances It's been years since I've had anything alcoholic to drink. But when I was drinking I drank everything. Beer, gin, vodka, rum, tequila, scotch, brandy, ouzo. (No after shave.) I never sipped from a straw or sported a glass that was [...]
What's it all about, Alfie?
Parting Glances RECEIVED: Gotham City (Registered Mail) — Dear Parting Glances sob-sister columnist. I came across a copy of BTL through a butler friend who, for whatever reason of overly exuberant curiosity, happened to be dream cruising the [...]
Parting Glances: Dick by any other name
Far be it from me to scoop BTL's gossip mavin Billy Masters – a rare happening – but it's come to my attention that the comic book hero now going by the name of Richard Grayson has, as the saying goes, 'blown his cool.' For those of you for whom [...]
Parting Glances: HTJA (as in Julie)!
I've just returned from Sedona, Arizona, the New Age mecca, where – either by karmic misstep on a loose rock or a senior-moment's carelessness on a hard place – I got caught up in one of its famed vortexes and whisked into a twilight zone. I realize [...]
Parting Glances: I got plenty a nuthin'
Whether you're gay or lesbian, you are "buy-sexual," according to recent Gay Press Reports. You're also part of a "discretionary" spending-clout minority worth about $641 billion. (NOTE: "Indiscretionary" clout items – reasonably intelligent escort [...]
Parting Glances: Blame your amygdala, Mary
According to specialists in brain neuroanatomy, each of us is anatomically blessed with an amygdala. (You show me yours; I'll show you mine.) If you're gay, your amygdala is similar to that of straight women; if lesbian, to that of straight men. [...]
Parting Glances: Blind leading the bland
Creature of literary habit that I am (at least on Thursdays) I pick up BTL at the same bookstore where I'm also given a generous 20% book discount. Often I find at the top of the BTL stack a bit of anonymous homophobia – sneaky and stealth – done by [...]
Parting Glances: Riding on the reading
Two of my lesbian friends, Valrita and Margerita, make their living as psychics. They do tarot readings at house parties and pastor a New Age church where spirit messages are delivered from heavenly zip codes. A reading for the host at a party I [...]
Parting Glances: Odds on coming out!
My favorite coming out story concerns a computer hacker — actually a brilliant graphic designer — named Dennis who works in California for a publisher of science texts. We chanced to meet at Motor City Pride 2008 after many, many years. When in his [...]
Parting Glances: Self meets self at 6
It's been over 50 years since I last saw the young man who now 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 [...]
Parting Glances: 36 D with what?
Even with my trifocals on I just couldn't believe my eyes when I read the headline in this week's National Inquisitor, the well-known market-counter tabloid for "unusually fair-minded Catholics and surprisingly accommodating Anglicans." Its [...]
Parting Glances: Butter on both sides
Ever since I was a teen – a curiously long time ago – I've tried to bring balance to my reading when it comes to subjects of a religious, occult, or scientific nature. (Porn mags require little balance. I suspect the recumbent positioning of one's [...]