Whew! What a Whirlwind Year It Has Been

Where has the year gone? What a whirlwind year it has been!

 

And what do I have to show for it?

 

Two new books…

Womb Man: How I Survived Growing Up in a Booby-Trapped World 

Become Shamelessly, Fearlessly YOU:How to Stop Hiding in Plain Sight

Find out more about them under the BOOKS button from the home page or at Amazon.

What else?

 

Got to announce publicly that I’m writing, editing and copy-enhancing for Scholastic Book Fairs.

(Have been for three years.)

 

 

Had my gallbladder taken out

 

What else?

 

Wrote a bunch of blogs here and at HireMeWordWhisperer.net and at KrisandKritters.com. 

Have you read them? If not, you’re woefully behind on my life and times!

 

Communed with friends, pets and family

 

Lisa Twining Taylor, Me, Heidi Smith at

Victorian Country Christmas in Heidi and Mary’s

Christmas Revisited Booth

 

In April, Nina Alicia Martinez and Alan Cox

visited me from Texas and Georgia

 

 

New tarp (re-purposed vinyl sign) for my rain-averse goats

 

Watched the solar eclipse from a bike saddle on the Orting Trail

 

 

Attended four LGBTQI events: Pride Festival Tacoma, PFLAG Tacoma,

and two “Pop Your Social Bubbles: Get to Know your Transgender Neighbors” gatherings

 

 

Mac and Karla

 

 

Did three pilot “LIVE” Facebook readings. (Sneaked those in at midnight several nights ago so not too many people would see them in case I messed up royally, but I didn’t, so I left them for people to catch as “reruns”. But Facebook’s video interface has glaring glitches in it that makes watching them frustrating unless you close your eyes and just listen. Don’t know what’s going on there…

“Use my taxes for community need, not corporate greed.”

Resisted. Persisted. Insisted.

(Yes. Even shared scathing sarcasm with gay abandon!)

 

Lisa transformed a grade school image of me into the boy I’ve always been…

 

I’ve been writing and advocating for LGBTQI rights (and other issues) on Quora

 

I chose the featured image (“Treat others as if they may save your life one day”) because it’s something to keep in mind if you’re LGBTQI-averse.

 

Why?

 

Because I have already saved several people’s lives–one of them was my nephew (he’s homophobic–against marriage equality and other issues that adversely impact LGBTQI people)–and served several terminal people (including DeForest Kelley, who was not homophobic) at the ends of their lives.

 

You just never know who’s going to save, serve, or bless you. The homophobic representatives who were kept from bleeding to death this year after being shot was saved by a lesbian.

 

Although you may deny our humanity and the fact that we’re owed equal civil rights, we will never deny yours…because we know, all too well, how that feels.

 

All American citizens should have the same basic rights and freedoms. Period.

 

The right to love and marry the one they love.

 

The right to gainful employment.

 

The right to universal healthcare.

 

The right to free education  from preschool through college.

 

The right to vote without undue obstacles placed in the way.

 

The right to equal justice under the law.

 

The right to federal help: “common defense and welfare”

 

The list goes on. You know what America is supposed to stand for.

 

It’s basically “Do to/for others what you’d have them do/for you.”

 

It isn’t rocket science.