January 2012
122 posts
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I had a chat with the friend I was with the day we...
Me: the article itself has stirred up a lot for me.
Him: stirred up bad memories/emotions?
Me: namely, i keep seeing all of these things that i can so identify with in this kid. tyler, i mean
i mean, my feeling like i wish i could've helped is nothing new
but i read these details of the circumstances leading up to his suicide
and all i can think is, "god, i could've helped this kid"
and instantly i'm standing there looking at his dead body floating in the water
in my mind, i mean
at no other time since it happened have i so...viscerally?...felt transported back to that moment in time
Him: well, now you've got a much better handle of what he was like and what made him tick. he's not just a body in the water or even some kind of mythical figurehead for a tragic problem that is plaguing our society. reading about him finishing high school and going to school i was struck by how ordinary, if a little shy and retiring, he was and how much he reminded me of people i knew/know. reading the beginning i even thought how i like to talk to people who have difficulty talking to people and enjoy doing so. and wondering if i had gone to school at the same time, would we have been friends. seeing him, well, imagining (and its not so much imagining as remembering with someone elses memories) him in such flesh and blood...it totally changes the object we saw floating by in the water that day. so it makes sense that the mind would race back to that moment.
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From The New Yorker: The Story of a Suicide →
On September 29th, Jim Swimm, who lives in northern Manhattan, was taking a lunchtime walk in Inwood Hill Park when he saw a body floating in the Hudson. A park ranger called the police, who dispatched a boat that picked up the body near a Columbia University athletic complex. Swimm, who is gay, said, “Not to sound all metaphysical about it, but I feel as if he was speaking to me that day—saying,...
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8 Things
This meme has been around for years but I’d never done it here and thought it would be fun, so…
8 Things I Have Done/Experienced That Most People Have Probably Not:
1) Spent 30 hours in “The Tombs”, aka Manhattan Central Booking back in 2000. 2) Won $25,000 as the randomly-selected grand prize winner in a promotional contest from ING direct. I used the money to move...
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We All Just Stopped Talking About It →
This is my latest post on The Bilerico Project, regarding HIV/AIDS activism both today and in the past.
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"He shouldn't have had to kill himself to be... →
A Gordonsville, Tennessee boy’s parents say bullying caused their son to take his own life. Phillip Parker, 14, died this week. His parents said he was constantly bullied for being gay.
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What happens if you fall in love with a writer? →
newyorkish:
Lots of things might happen. That’s the thing about writers. They’re unpredictable. They might bring you eggs in bed for breakfast, or they might all but ignore you for days. They might bring you eggs in bed at three in the morning. Or they might wake you up for sex at three in the morning. Or…
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"Take it from a fellow Texan Ricky, you're no Sam... →
“To top it off, in Perry’s speech announcing he’s suspending his campaign, he compares himself to Sam Houston and says he knows when to make a strategic retreat. The difference is Sam Houston used that time to build his army then crushed the opposition to win Texas her independence. Houston also resigned as governor of Texas in 1861 as a result of his aversion to Texas seceding...
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WatchSeriously, dancing Ron Swanson?
Mind. Blown.
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