The Wild Reed: Out and About

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Out and About – Winter 2015-2016

Regular readers of The Wild Reed will be familiar with my "Out and About" series, one that I began in April 2007 as a way of documenting my life as an “out” gay Catholic man, seeking to be all “about” the Spirit-inspired work of embodying God’s justice and compassion in the Church and the world. I've continued the series in one form or another every year since – in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 . . . and now into 2016.

So let's get started with this latest installment . . .

Above: With my friend Marie Braun -- March 19, 2016. We're at the rally and march in south Minneapolis (left) that commemorated and mourned the thirteenth anniversary of the "shock and awe" start of the U.S. war in Iraq – a war both illegal and illegitimate, and which has claimed the lives of at least 165,000 civilians.

It's a war that actually continues to this day. The Obama administration, for instance, has sent over 4,000 troops to Iraq and is carrying out daily bombing missions both there and in Syria. The U.S. war in Afghanistan also continues, and the U.S. military has launched ongoing strikes in Libya, Yemen and Somalia. With all this in mind, the key message of Saturday's rally, one initiated by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, was "Say No to Endless War."

For more images and commentary on this event, click here.

Right: With my friend Kathleen in Palmer's Bar, an establishment on Minneapolis' West Bank which in 2014 was named by Esquire magazine "one of the best bars in the U.S."

I had long wanted to check out this revered dive, and that's exactly what Kathleen and I did . . . after I convinced her to cut short our participation in the March 19 peace march!

I know, I can be a bad protester!

But enough of that. Here's a little of what Keane Amdahl of City Pages says about Palmer's Bar:

Palmer's is probably best known as the premier dive bar of the Seven Corners area of Minneapolis, offering heavy-handed pours, a dark atmosphere, and an outdoor patio where on a good night, you can gather round the fire to swap stories with a rag-tag group of diehard regulars. Palmer's was originally founded in 1906 and has been a Twin Cities West Bank institution ever since. Owners have come and gone, but the bar's colorful presence has held strong, surviving Prohibition and later transforming into a hippie stronghold in the 1960s.

Above: Dinner with friends (from left) Geoege, John, Joan, Kathleen, and Brent – January, 23, 2016. We're at Joan's lovely home in Robbinsdale, a city in the Twin Cities metro area.

Above: With Brent (and Sadie, my friend Joan's beautiful golden retriever) – January 23, 2016.

Left: Brent in March of 2016. Isn't he one handsome guy?!

Right: With Joan – January 23, 2016. We're drinking a toast to my sister-in-law Cathie as it was her birthday in Australia. We sent her the picture via Facebook. Joan met Cathie and other members of my family when she accompanied me on a visit to Australia in March of 2015.

Above: With my good friend and housemate Tim and his girlfriend Colleen – December 16, 2015.

Left: Friends (from left) Katie, Alfredo, Beth, and Cathleen – December 16, 2015.

For more images of both the December 16 holiday gathering and the December 18 Winter Solstice/Christmas party that Tim and I hosted, click here.

Above and right: On the evening of Friday, February 13, 2016, I enjoyed a lovely evening with my friend Mai and her family. I hadn't seen Mai in years, so it was great to reconnect with her and meet her family.

I first met Mai way back in the mid 1990s, during my early days in the U.S. In the summer of 1996, we traveled with her brother Moa to New York City. It was a very memorable trip.

Above: Breakfast with the boys! From left: Bob, Brian, me, and Rick – January 2, 2016. We're at The Egg and I restaurant in Minneapolis.

Left: With my friend Eduard – March 2016.

Above: Hello, kitty!

Above: On Monday, January 18, 2016 I hosted an Australian tea party at my home in south Minneapolis!

For more images and commentary, click here.

Above: My friend Raul – March 2016.

Right: Raul with Sadie, my friend Joan' golden retriever – January 30, 2016.

Above: My friend Pete took this photo of me on Minneapolis' Stone Arch Bridge – Saturday, February 6, 2015.

When Pete sent this image to my phone, the caption he added said: "Michael, standing all Poldarkian," a reference to the wind blown hair of Ross Poldark as played by Aidan Turner in the TV series Poldark. Both Pete and I are BIG Poldark fans! In fact, I introduced Pete to the Poldark novels by Winston Graham. He's read all twelve!

For a good introduction to all things Poldark, click here.

Above: Pete on the Stone Arch Bridge – Saturday, February 6, 2016. That's Mill City in the immediate background and downtown Minneapolis in the far background.

Since the beginning of 2015 Pete and I have been meeting every Thursday morning for breakfast. We thought it would be fun to get a photograph of us at every new restaurant we visited (along with some of our regular ones).

In the photo above we're at Eggy's on March 24, 2016, while at left we're pictured at The Bad Waitress on February 11, 2016.

Above: Breakfast with Pete at the Highland Cafe and Bakery – Thursday, December 10, 2015.

Above: My friend Brigid's annual St. Patrick's Day party – March 17, 2016.

Pictured from left: Darlene, Kathleen, Brigid, Tom, and Kate.

Above: Kathleen, Marguerite, and Bill.

Left: Sitting at right with (from left) Bill, Rita, Brigid, and Gaius.

For images and commentary on Brigid's 2010 St. Patrick's Day celebration, click here.

Above: With my dear friend Joan – January 2016.

Above: My friend Karam beside Minnehaha Creek – March 2016.

Above: My friends Curtis and Liana – March 12, 2016.

Above: Amelia!

Birthday celebrations for Curtis – March 12 (above) and March 6, 2016 (left).

Above: With Brent – March 12, 2016.

Above: Phil and Brittany – March 12, 2016.

Above: Noelle and John – March 12, 2016.

Above: Celebrating Easter – Sunday, March 27, 2016.

From left: John, Brent, Fred, Carmen, Mark, Phil, Madeline, Noelle, and Benjamin.

Winter 2015-2016 Wild Reed posts of note:
• An Update on #Justice4Jamar and the 4th Precinct Occupation
• Happy Birthday, Mum!
• Actually, There's No Question About It
• Thoughts on Christian Meditation
• Hans the Man
• Celebrating the Coming of the Sun and the Son
• Christmas 2015: Reflections and Celebrations
• Winter Light
• What a Man! – Andrew Ference
• Gull Lake
• Glenda Jackson on the Oscars, Acting, and Politics
• David Bowie: Queer Messiah
• In Wintry Minnesota, An Australian Afternoon Tea
• Integrating Cernunnos, "Archetype of Sensuality and the Instinctual World"
• Israeli Policy, Not Anti-Semitism, at the Root of Disruption at Creating Change 2016 Conference
• Winter Storm
• Nijinsky's "Crown of Thorns"
• Lent: A Season Set Apart
• Rock of Ages
• Happy Birthday, Buffy!
• Maxwell in the House
• A Record High
• Super Tuesday Thoughts on Bernie Sanders
• Progressive Perspectives on the Rise of Donald Trump
• Remembering a Daring Cinematic Exploration
• Saying "No" to Endless U.S. Wars
• Jesus and Social Revolution (Part 1)
• Jesus and Social Revolution (Part 2)
• Jesus and Social Revolution (Part 3)
• The Risen Jesus: Our Integral Ground

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Out and About – Autumn 2015
• Out and About – Summer 2015 (Part I)
• Out and About – Summer 2015 (Part II)
• Out and About – Spring 2015 (Part I)
• Out and About – Spring 2015 (Part II)
• Australian Sojourn – March 2015
• Out and About – Winter 2014-2015

Thursday, December 03, 2015

Out and About – Autumn 2015

Regular readers of The Wild Reed will be familiar with my "Out and About" series, one that I began in April 2007 as a way of documenting my life as an “out” gay Catholic man, seeking to be all “about” the Spirit-inspired work of embodying God’s justice and compassion in the Church and the world. I've continued the series in one form or another every year since – in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and now into 2015.

So let's get started with this latest installment . . .

Above and left: On Wednesday, November 18, I participated in the weekly peace vigil on the Lake St./Marshall Ave. bridge, which links Minneapolis and St. Paul.

It was the first vigil to take place after the horrific November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris which claimed 128 lives. Accordingly, the November 18 vigil was entitled "Say No to War, Racism and Islamophobia: Don't Let Paris Be An Excuse for More War."

For more images and commentary on this vigil and for links to articles on alternatives to violence (i.e., "military strikes") in responding to the Paris attacks, click here.

Above and right: The "Justice for Jamar" candlelight vigil outside the 4th precinct police station in north Minneapolis – Friday, November 20, 2015.

I attended this powerful show of community solidarity with my friends Tim and Kathleen. It was an event that drew around 1000 people and featured a number of inspiring speeches by local and national civil rights leaders, including Cornell Brooks, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Nekima Levy-Pounds, the Minneapolis NAACP chapter president, and Mahmoud El-Kati, a former Macalester College professor and an African-American historian. The vigil also involved singing, chanting, and a march to the site a few blocks away where Jamar Clark, a 24-year-old black man, was fatally shot by police while in custody on November 15. A number of witnesses say Clark was laying on the ground and handcuffed at the moment he was shot by a police officer.

"We understand that all lives matter," Brooks told the crowd at one point, "[but] unless black lives matter, all lives can’t matter . . . We are in it for the long haul." (above) was a powerful embodiment of community and solidarity.

For more images and commentary on this vigil, along with updates on the ongoing 4th Precinct occupation and the #Justice4Jamar movement, click here.

Autumn was a pretty eventful time for me this year: I celebrated my 50th birthday (right) and, soon after, started dating a wonderful guy named Brent (above).

Brent and I had our second date at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. For images of this beautiful public garden, click here.

For previous posts related to my reaching the big Five-0, see:
• A Guidepost on the Journey
• For 2015, Three "Generous Promises"
• The Choice (and Risk) That is Love
• The Body: As Sacred and Knowing as a Temple Oracle
• Turning 50

Above: The place in Minneapolis I call home, and which I share with my good friend Tim.

The house is of Dutch Colonial Revival design, built in the early years of the twentieth-century. It's located very close to Minnehaha Creek (right) and its surrounding areas of parkland and urban wilderness.

Above: The parlour of my south Minneapolis home.

Left: Candlelight reflected in a framed picture of Vaslav Nijinsky. I came across this image years ago, and it was one of a number that piqued my interest in Nijinsky.

This past summer and fall I've read a number of books about the famed dancer, including Nijinsky: God of the Dance by Derek Parker, Nijinsky: A Life of Genius and Madness by Richard Buckle, and Nijinsky by Lucy Moore.

For my 50th birthday my friend and housemate Tim gave me a second copy of Lincoln Kirstein's Nijinsky Dancing, the most complete collection of photographs of Nijinsky. First published in 1975, it's now only available used, and the first copy I ordered turned out to be rather badly water-damaged. So Tim offered to buy me a second copy for my birthday.

The first one has come in handy, though, as I was able to salvage the above images which I hope to have one day professionally framed. They depict Nijinsky in some of his most famous roles. From left: as Harlequin in Le Carnaval (1911); as the Rose in Le Spectre de la Rose (1911); as the Blue God in Le Dieu Bleu (1912); as the Captain of the Lezgins in Le Festin (1909); as Albrecht in Giselle (1910); as the Slave in Le Pavillon d'Armide (1911); and as the Faun in L'Apres-Midi d'un Faune (1912).

Above: Tim and his girlfriend Colleen – September 2015.

I've mentioned previously that since the beginning of the year my friend Pete and I have been meeting every Thursday morning for breakfast. We thought it would be fun to get a photograph of us at every new restaurant we visited (along with some of our regular ones).

In the photo above we're on the patio of Victor's 1959 Cafe (October 1, 2015). One week later we decided to try The Lowry (left). We weren't disappointed.

Right: At the 50th Street Cafe in Edina – Thursday, September 25, 2015.

Above: Pete and I breakfasting earlier today at Yum! Kitchen and Bakery in St. Louis Park.

Above: With my friend Matt at one of my favorite restaurants in south Minneapolis, Vo's – September 26, 2015.

After enjoying lunch at Vo's, Matt and I spent the afternoon at Minnehaha Park where we followed Minnehaha Creek from Minnehaha Falls to the Mississippi River. For images of our time at this beautiful place, click here.

Above: On the evening of November 7, my friend Karam hosted a wonderful soirée at his home in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis. From left: Karam, Brent, Luis, Paari, Archana, and Lorraine.

Right: With my friend Raul – October 24, 2015.

Above: On the evening of November 14, 2015, friends and I saw Collide Theatrical Dance Company's production of CLU. Pictured from left: Me, Aaron, John, Kathy, and Liz.

C.L.U. featured one of my favorite Twin Cities-based dancers, Riley Thomas Weber, as "the Butler." Previously, Weber had danced with Cities’ Classical Dance Ensemble. I spotlighted this group's Ballet Amore performance in 2011. As he did back then, Weber demonstrated in CLU both his impressive dancing abilities and his skills as a musician . . . by beautifully playing the cello.

Above: With friends Nate, Noelle and John – September 2015.

Above (from left): Noelle, John, Brittany, Phil, Jacob, Liana and Curtis – October 2015.

Right: With my friend Noelle – October 2015.

Above: With Amelia, daughter of my friends Liana and Cutis – November 2015.

Above and left: I've had the pleasure of baby-sitting Amelia a few times this past autumn. It's always a fun time . . . for both of us!

Above and below: Eddie.

Above and below: Quinn.

Above: Natasha.

Above: Tim and Colleen, dressed up and ready for trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

Above: I spent the early part of Halloween night at the home of my friends Pete and Kyle. It was here that I was pleased to see that at least one person decided to dress-up as a faun this year! Truth be told, it's something I've always wanted to do. This young man's beanie kinda ruins the effect, but maybe it's to hide the fact that he couldn't find a pair of horns. His girlfriend, as you can probably tell, was dressed as a bee.

Above: Minneapolis' Loring Park – October 2015.

For previous Wild Reed posts that celebrate the autumn of 2015, see:
• Autumn Hues
• Photo of the Day – 10/29/15
• Autumn Leaves
• A Magical Time and Place
• From the Falls to the River
• An Afternoon at the Arboretum
• Autumn Beauty

Above: My friend Pete, pictured by a spring located on the bluffs of the Mississippi River, just below the University of St. Thomas. The whole area is basically a deep wooded ravine, formed by the stream created by this spring, a stream that flows into the nearby Mississippi River. It's a very beautiful place, and my time there with Pete will always remain in my mind as a magical one.