Robert StGenis Voice empowered

We had given him a $50 gift card and sent him out to buy some things. He then went out for a few hours to a clinic appointment, if I recall, initially, with some $32 or so dollars left on the card. I had told him to put $10 on his TAP card for Metro (transit). Once before, I had given him a gift card and said this was a "lottery gift"; find out what's left and it's yours. He ended up with some $24 or so dollars. In this case, it was not a gift, rather something he could use to get us things or we could tell him or agree to allow him to use for himself. For me, it was a trust building exercise with a gift card that we were given for going to our vacation ownership presentation. He had an appointment at a clinic and is over on the edges of West Hollywood.  I am not sure he didn't even suggest that he might say he might head over to "Boystown" before coming back but we knew he wasn't returning right after his appointment, which actually made sense to m...

You should read  When you sleep with someone homeless in your house  ,  Tony Disappears  and  Tony Returns...  prior to this entry to be completely "in the loop." Just after the 1st of the month, Tony got his food stamp benefits, called " CalFresh " in California, and he sent me a text. This means he has received his $192 per month to assist with food and other "basic needs."  He texts me and says he is on his way back and wants to stop at the store and make us dinner. I find out after he got back that he received some from his mother as well, which made sense when he offered to buy wine and I knew that his CalFresh benefits did not cover it. He wanted to make us a pizza. I thought it was a nice gesture but being on a Keto diet that was not in my picture and I let him know we had no expectations of his buying or paying for food for us. He explained that the pizza was over chicken breasts with tomato sauce and pepperoni; that fit my diet. I still th...

As I start to write this, I again realize how quickly time flies and all the more so, it seems, as you get older. The It Gets Better Project was started in 2010 by activist, author and journalist Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller following what seemed at the time to be an endless number of suicides of young gay kids throughout the US from varying backgrounds. As a gay man and one who never really was suicidal but definitely knows from being distraught, alone and in a state of despair, it definitively struck a cord. It motivated people like Dan and Terry to take on initiatives that I believe have helped many directly and equally shed a light and opened the minds and perspectives of many others. For my small part, at least in this direct "movement" I created this video. As you will learn about efforts I have made in the LGBTQ community, which are vast, they all should have some impact on a feeling of acceptance. Hopefully one that makes one feel less suicidal f...

Tony arrived with a bag from Target and the backpack we had given him. He had been staying somewhere on the Westside of Los Angeles (a favorable area) for roughly 10 days with some guy who had taken some romantic interest in him and then offered him some work, manual labor of sorts, like painting. But that story alters later, as he commuted from Silverlake (closer to Downtown Los Angeles or DTLA) to this guy's place in stories he tells me in days to follow. Perhaps it changed along the way. I am not doing a police investigation, so every detail isn't my primary objective. Once again, he had been robbed of his things, but not all of them. Among things that he seemed most disappointed about was that he has food there and couldn't get back in to retrieve it. Evidently the guy threatened to call the police if he didn't leave the property. My impulse would likely have been to let him call the police if he had my things. But, I am not him. I must remember drugs are involv...

The weekend after Tony had left our place he sent me a text message saying he needed to come by in the next "day or two" to pick up some "important document" he needed for something. I wasn't really sure what he did or did not have at our place. I know that he had very limited possessions in general. He seems to have had things stolen constantly, and people whom he stays with ultimately lock him out and keep his property. I have read and heard of many stories of problems with theft for those on the streets. While I could see some 'one' being vindictive enough to hold or discard his property I can't imagine why people would want his things. Canned tuna? Ragged jeans and tee shirts? Is there some gratification in throwing away another's belongings that I don't appreciate? He was at the library in Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) and he would only have access to the internet until 1 pm. He would then have "spotty" access and let me know ...

He was soundly asleep on our couch. My husband, Mac, initially had all the lights possible off, but I eventually had to cook. We live in a loft. There isn't much segmenting. My cooking made noises and smells certainly. Mac and I ultimately had a rather intense, not argumentative, but important to us both, conversation while I finished cooking. Mac showered shortly after and went out to meet some friends. Mac closed the door slowly, creating noise still the same. Our one cat, Garnet, who has taken a liking to Tony since his arrival, jumped on and off him at least a half dozen times while he slept ever so desperately. He didn't awaken from the sofa for some 14 hours. I only met Tony at a club a couple Saturdays ago because we honestly had chatted on an online site and both were in Hollywood at the same time so I told him to come by. It is one of these sites I seem to spend a deal of time on, accomplishing nothing, but do entertain myself perusing when I am sick of looking at I...

In the beginning of 2019, we had a series of "blackface" incidents that came under the spotlight in the United States. One recent, but the other two, of US politicians no less, are history coming to surface. Most bothersome to me, though, was that these were people of my generation. Governor Ralph Northam increased the insult with fumbling through his apology, initially saying the photo does not represent who he is now. That, along with a track record he can point to, one might take as genuine. A day later, he denied the initial photo but said he wore blackface as a part of a costume as Michael Jackson and was about to demonstrate his moon-walking skills before his wife stopped him, suggesting it was inappropriate. Some defenders suggested that it was the sentiment of the time. It was the 1980s. That is my time as well. That is the time of Michael Jackson and the Cosby Show (we will just focus on all the positives of the show). I grew up watching The Jeffersons, Good Times, a...