Robert StGenis Voice empowered

We moved to New Jersey for the beginning of my junior year of high school. I was transitioning from Cranbook , a private school with a exquisite 600 acre campus designed by  Eliel Saarinen that is largely the birthplace of mid-century modernism among other things, to Morristown High School , a large public high school with 3 mish-mosh institutional buildings put together. Morristown had a very diverse student body, as opposed to Cranbrook where at the time diversity was like a few spare sprinkles on a white frosted cupcake. There were no bells at Cranbrook. Now, I had buzzers, guards, and an Attendance Czar who sent computer generated letters to your parents about your "illegal absence" if you missed a class. We had cubby holes at Cranbrook (which really needed to be changed as I had things stolen from me) but now I had a locker with random locker inspections, sometimes with the Morristown PD. ESL was something I had never heard of before, and teen pregnancy was something ...

There were no rainbow flags when I attended.  I attended Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont my first year of college. I recently learned the school is ceasing to operate as a college after a 185-year history. I will share my time in Vermont, not so much to "memorialize" my year of education there; in fact some of my experience is part of my permanent scarring which I will reveal, but that year was formidable in positive, negative and just realistic ways. I did a lot of growing at GMC and not really because of the school at all. My Mother and I did a tour of New England colleges in the fall of my junior year of high school. This was a rite of passage, certainly a tradition in our family and as important, if not more, to my Mom as to me. I still remember leaving Morristown, New Jersey on I-287 North, connecting to the New York State Thruway and working our way into New England. I remember the Trip-Tik that I had gotten from AAA and all the maps, which wer...

The last high school graduation I attended in 2018 was in one of the best rated school districts in the state in a community in suburban Chicago where you think "it couldn't happen here." I was actually a bit nervous during the ceremony. It was in an auditorium with the exit doors mostly to one side and everyone seemed to be a "soft target." There was a police presence outside the school, but I don't recall any inside the auditorium. The fact that a police presence has become more essential than precautionary or, in some cases honorary (showing up as to participate, receive or give an award), is a clear sign of the times. The shooting at Parkland was only a few months before. Photo I took at Mom's Demand Action rally, Orlando, FL 8/17/19 My step-sister recently moved to a great community in suburban Atlanta. I wonder if those kids will go through drills in case of a shooting. I hope they do because it is necessary; but I am sickened by the though...

My Father used to say this when I was growing up. Mind you, he hated his parents and hated his childhood. My Mother, brother and I would go visit my Grandparents outside Philadelphia and all and all have a fine time until my Father would show up separately most often from somewhere else on business. It would take an hour before he and my Grandmother were yelling and screaming at one another about something. I wouldn't be so certain if the local neighborhood watch didn't issue alerts when they saw my Father arriving. My Grandparents didn't have central air conditioning and we were a damn good loud screaming group of Italians (later to find out we are acutally 59% Greek who went to Italy, whether that is my Grandmother or Grandfather I still do not know. Both families came to America from the same village in Italy). But my Father is a 1st generation American. My Grandfather's 1st memory of America is peeing in his pants at Ellis Island at 5 years old because he did not k...

I used to serve on Victory Campaign Board of Victory Fund. The  Victory Fund  is much like Emily's List with it's objective being in increasing the presence of openly LGBTQ elected officials at all levels of government throughout the US. Now, they, or at least their nonprofit institute, is reaching beyond the US, at least at training people to run for office. It was taking their Campaign & Candidate training, which was some of the more memorable, intense 3 days of training I may have ever taken, that not only brought me into the Victory Fund, but also led me to leave my career in Real Estate and become a political consultant, starting as a Campaign Manager for a state assembly candidate who was a Mayor of a Southern California town and on my team in the training. I still maintain friendships from my time with the organization and may well get involved again at some juncture. It is a commitment, but it always proved to be rewarding. I think it was the first year I was ser...

I have spent almost a year growing the top of my hair longer. Perhaps part of a mid life crisis. Perhaps, just something I wanted to do. It was something I literally did half a lifetime ago, admittedly it is taking a lot longer now. Somewhere during my visit, my friend Lizzie brings up that she notices a bunch of guys my age doing the same and the one thing in common they have is really thinning hair. In my case, ultimately, my hair actually isn't really thinning. It isn't nearly as crazy thick as it was at 25, but I am far from balding or combing over. I show Lizzie and another friend the sport coat I bought for my 50th birthday which they had come to LA to attend. Lizzie is like "I don't know about you and the outlandish colors and patterns you pick." I am a bit astonished and reply "This is a Ralph Lauren linen sport coat from Lord & Taylor I had sent from New York because I couldn't find anything that conservative here." (By the way, reall...

Their husbands have some things very much in common. Neither are helpful with caring for the children or helping at home. They find ways to take months, even years to finish a household project that I know my Dad (probably involuntarily bringing in my brother and myself) have done in a weekend.  Neither have a particularly good relationship with their children. Both Father's have been verbally abusive to the children; one psychically abusive. While the one the one Father still seems to hold a fairly strong bond with his kids, the other has children far less interested in his relationship at this juncture. These men have hardly been lovers to their wives. I am not sure at least one, if not both, perhaps may have wanted to want to be but incapable. They may have made some efforts in some ways, at some times, but aren't best friends. They have used sexual demands with leverage. They have humiliated and belittled these women for years. Yet children and rings kept these smart, ed...