Hope will never be silent.
Harvey Milk
Hot muggy day,
here,
in Montreal,
I fear, as, you have heard; cold, windy and rainy, over the last few months, so too will you become familiar and yes…perhaps even bored… with, hot and muggy, but, BB is a bonafide Canadian, read: weather obsessed 🙂
It was a quiet day,
uneventful,
a day,
of acquisition,
you know,
shopping,
new belts,
a few,
unmentionables,
that will,
remain,
unmentioned.
Had a nice dinner,
with mom,
watched a little TV,
you know,
Sunday.
About an hour ago,
I fired up,
the old laptop,
and,
on facebook,
a friend mentioned,
that,
today,
would have been,
Harvey Milk’s,
birthday,
I checked,
on,
let’s face it!
the lazy blogger’s,
essential,
reference,
Wikipedia.
Indeed,
May 22,
would have been,
Harvey’s birthday,
if he hadn’t been,
gunned down,
by a homophobe,
who claimed,
diminished capacity,
depression.
One of the elements,
used to illustrate,
said,
depression,
was his change,
of diet,
from health food,
to refined sugar consumption,
namely,
Twinkies!!!
This lead,
to the media,
using,
the phrase,
Twinkie Defense.
Ridiculous,
ludicrous,
and,
ultimately,
successful,
since,
he was convicted,
of,
manslaughter.
But, I digress,
this happened,
in 1978,
I was all of thirteen,
can’t say,
I remember.
I was just a kid,
not very politicised.
But,
in the mid-eighties,
when I started,
to be very,
interested in,
Gay history,
I read
Randy Shilts’,
The Mayor Of Castro Street: The Life and Times Of Harvey Milk.
I loved Harvey,
he was brash,
he was bold,
he was brilliant,
and,
he was gone,
much too soon.
He became,
a sort of hero,
of mine,
and I went on,
to read,
as much,
as I could,
about him,
and the brave,
men and women,
who surrounded,
him,
and,
followed,
in his footsteps.
A few years ago,
when I heard,
Sean Penn,
was going,
to play,
him,
in,
a movie,
about his life,
my first thought,
was,
Who??
Sean Penn??
Don’t get me wrong,
I like Sean Penn,
and I think,
he’s done,
some,
really good work,
but,
Harvey!!
I saw the movie,
and,
within,
a few minutes,
I stopped,
thinking,
about,
Penn.
I liked the movie,
a lot,
it’s not perfect,
but,
what is?
What I liked most,
is that it brought,
to light,
an important,
figure,
in Gay history,
to the general public.
Popular education,
is very important.
But,
today,
I remembered,
Harvey’s goofy smile,
and,
optimism,
and the fact,
that,
he ate,
a lot,
of eggs,
because,
they were,
a cheap source,
of protein.
I like eggs,
and,
I liked,
Harvey.
RIP Harvey,
we hardly,
knew you.
Later girls,
BB