Charles Alexander
Parting Glances: Been there! Done that!
"It's a pity that youth is wasted on the young," said George Bernard Shaw, whose play "Pygmalion" was given a fresh start, with an ongoing heart pacer as Broadway's "My Fair Lady." Shaw — who married late in life but didn't care tuppence for [...]
Parting Glances: A visitor from my Past
It's been 65 years since I last saw the young man who now sits across from me. He has at age 19 what a friend calls "the lyric poetry of youth:" a freshness of look that's a joy to see. Over the years he hasn't changed much (still the shy boyish [...]
Parting Glances: Dreams Wet and Otherwise
The mind-boggling possibility of recording dreams may soon be a reality predicts "How It's Made," a British monthly science magazine. The nanotechnology/brain scanning techniques are now such that translating neural impulses from brain neurons and [...]
Parting Glances: Gay Life, Circa 1955
At 19, I went to my first gay bar, The Silver Slipper, a dyke bar on Grand River, near downtown Detroit. I used borrowed ID, was escorted authoritatively by two lesbian regulars, Speedy and Draino. Lesbians sat in an upstairs balcony space. Gays and [...]
Parting Glances: 9,135 days later!
This week's issue of Between The Lines marks the kickoff of our celebration of 25 years of our dedicated, meaningful, challenging, rainbow-community outreach publication. Whew! Who would have thought it possible? (Did you?) I proudly — and, of [...]
Parting Glances: Memories of a Detroit Gay Past
For five dynamic years — 1940 to 1945 — Detroit was America's Arsenal of Democracy, a vital source of war materials and weapons. First, for England's defense, later, for our own. Automotive factories focused on round-the-clock, nonstop production of [...]
Parting Glances: Tidbits from Tan-Tam Tammy
In 1987 some 165,000 people pledged $1,000 to Muskegon-born Jim Bakker's Heritage USA, a Bible-themed vacation and so-called recreation village. For their ready cash, each attendee was promised a four-day stay and a down-home gospel good time. They [...]
Parting Glances: Keys! Wallet! iPhone! (Amen.)
After five years of faithful, heavy-duty service the battery in my expensive gift Shinola wrist watch expired. I should have known it was going to happen, because, for the past several weeks, its second hand hesitated, stopping completely for [...]
Parting Glances: My 10 Minutes in Heaven (Pt. 3)
My out-of-body guide, Archangel Diva Deluxe tapped me three times with her magical wand of LGBTQ truth and saving grace circumstance on my D&G-designed choir robe. It was coupled with my leased-for-10-minutes, no-charge angel wings. For the next [...]
Parting Glances Ten in Seventh Heaven (Pt.2 of 3)
It's 12:01 a.m. according to my now celestial iPhone. I have been just 60 seconds in Heaven — the result of a Michigan Republican-sponsored pothole tripping mishap, courtesy of Gov. Snyder — but it seems like an eternity to me. So, here begins my [...]
Parting Glances: Ten in Seventh Heaven (Pt. 1)
MODEST DISCLAIMER: There are several books about afterlife experiences on the New York Times Best Seller list, including one by a 5-year-old kid (with a little grammar and spelling help from his word-savvy dad). Another anesthesia-induced afterlife [...]
Parting Glances: A Fairy Tale for T and P
Once upon an evil time, when darkness began to gather, hate by political hate, at rainbow's near end of tunnel, those anointed LGBT and Q by special life's enchantment and DNA calling, began once more to tremble. Some to hide, in fear and [...]