Charles Alexander
Parting Glances: Any Gay Name but Mine
To diddle an old saying: You can't judge a gay author or his book by its — or by his — cover. Case in point: the groundbreaking 1951 sociological expose, "The Homosexual in America." Gay nom de plume: Donald Webster Cory — a pen name name gleaned [...]
Parting Glances: In Cass Park with Bobby Burns
Detroit's imposing, massive, block-wide Masonic Temple was built in 1922 — cornerstone-dated 5022 — following the Hebraic custom of noting esoteric history. At one time in the 1960s every major dance company in the world, classical musician, [...]
Parting Glances: Diary of Theocratic Days Ahead
June 28, 2025 [Editor's Note: Translated Cursive English] Dear Diary: Another same-sex couple has been "relocated" – my neighbors two doors down, the boys who did a wonderful job of gentrifying that old house on Wells Street. Didn't really get to [...]
PARTING GLANCES: Wet nosing with Suzuki
"Animals can also zero in on clues that we provide without knowing it." One supposes it's called, Straydar. The Grim Reaper in the guise of a mild-mannered tabby named Oscar is making news lately. A visit by him to the bedside of hospice patients is [...]
Parting Glances: Tomorrow's world belongs to whom?
There's a scene in the popular musical "Cabaret" where several German, blond, Aryan youths seated at an outdoor cafe, prompted by Nazi zeal and bombastic music, leap up one by one, and contagiously sing, "Tomorrow the world belongs to us!" As [...]
Parting Glances. A Slogan Come True Big Time!
"Gay is good. You are not alone." This was the slogan when the Affirmations LGBT Center opened its doors in Ferndale more than 20 years ago. It was a bold statement to make at the time: reassurance for many cautious, confused, isolated young people [...]
Pride Rainbow
some with caution some with confidence some seeking rainbow courage (now!) all join hands and promenade: black, white yellow, red stripes and stars unfolding our marching drums our music, yes play it proud (so out it's neatly in) [...]
Dip' and Drag in Days Gone By
Mainstream newspapers, including the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News, the Lansing State Journal, the Traverse City Record-Eagle, the Flint Journal, and the Grand Rapids Press, have documented queer lives for decades, in both negative and [...]
Parting Glances: Ys Beyond my Wildest Dreams
Long, long before The Village People made "Y.M.C.A." the unofficial, persistent national anthem of Winter Olympian skater Brian Boitano, the Young Mens Christian Associations played an important role, second only to bars, as places to meet available [...]
PARTING GLANCES: Gaymes with Sr. Scatterpin (3 of 3)
FRIDAY (a.m.) I ride backpack on Sister Scatterpin's Heavenly Harley, the two of us heading to Chicago for Gay Games VII. Sister keeps to an ecumenical 85 mph on I-94, with a meditational rosary pullover at Belleville's Cracker Barrel. Tidbit [...]
Parting Glances Best of Sr. Scatterpin (2 of 3)
I had a tarot reading last Sunday by a psychic friend of Sr. Serena Scatterpin. "She's a marvel and a looker," was Sister's intro. "If just a tad off her ever-lovin' spiritual rocker." Glad that the holidays are over – and finding myself 40 pounds [...]
Parting Glances: The Best of Sister Scatterpin (1 of 3)
No matter the time or the weather, there's something emotionally tingling about the cellphone vibrations whenever Sr. Serena Scatterpin, Renegade Sisters of Mary, rings me up. I'm spiritually goosed, as it were, from head to toe — which is a [...]