The Pink Moon – in full, flagrant, fuck-it-all form – wreaked its typical havoc as it rose and fell this week. Sometimes its power and pull can’t be completely understood or divined until after the fact, when hindsight and somber analytical contemplation put things into focus at last. Life is like that – when it feels unbearably confusing, and all you can do is stumble rather confusedly forward, I shall keep going, sure of its eventual revelation, certain that whatever path I’m on will resolve itself into the right one.
And so I channel and harvest the power of this Pink Moon, its mighty magnificence, its troublesome toil, and I pull that energy into my own journey. We are such different people than we were but one year ago, and in my own case I’m rather proud of where I’ve ended up. Even when the moon momentarily seems to muck things up, I remain unswerved.
‘Tis the season of the grape hyacinth, that enchanting spring bulb that bridges the blooms of daffodils and tulips, accompanying both in charming fashion. Its bluish-violet coloration complements the fiery reds and pinks of the tulips as well as it does the yellows and creams of the daffodils. It also works well as a patch of sky at ground level when the real thing refuses to turn blue, lost in a slate of grays and cloudy whites.
These are easy-to-keep bulbs, provided you allow the foliage to die back naturally and nourish the bulb for next year’s flowering show. They will happily multiply and expand their clumps, and they make whimsical little bouquets if you can find a smaller vase to show off their architectural features.
Senior Producer of ‘The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell’ – the intelligent and erudite follow-up to Rachel Maddow’s brilliance on MSNBC – Kyle Griffin earns his first Dazzler of the Day thanks to his vital Twitter feed and rightful indignation at inequality and hypocrisy. With a keen political eye, and an equally-entertaining Instagram feed, Griffin dazzles behind and in front of the lens.
Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed that I’ve been beating myself up a bit for not achieving everything I wanted to achieve – just basic things like cleaning up the attic and the gardens – and for not dealing with other issues in as kind and generous a way as I’d like to have done, and so I’m playing this song as a reminder that we should all take it a little easier on ourselves. We’ve been through a lot this past year, and it’s ok to feel a little worn and weary at this point.
Now I, I may be, I may be sentimental
But I wanna say that I’ve had my griefs
Oh, and I’ve had my cares
And just a good word soft and gentle
Makes it, makes it easier
Easier to bear
When we are gentler with ourselves, it’s easier to be gentler with others. The world very much much feels like it’s in a fragile state still. Much has happened, and the only way we might get through it is to stay close, to stay kind, to stay vigilant and safe. To take care of ourselves, and to take care of each other. If that means trying a little tenderness instead of something else, I’m willing to switch things up and try such a happy notion. And if I need a little reminder and nudge now and then, kindly send one my way.
Now, I might forget it
Oh, but don’t let me forget it
Love’s all my whole, whole happiness
And it’s so, so easy
Try a little
Oh, try a little tenderness
Tender, tender, tenderness
This spring has been a roller-coaster of a weather ride, continuing the utter insanity that we all wanted so badly to leave behind in 2020. The world apparently doesn’t go by our calendar or schedule, as there is still cray-cray everywhere you look. After last year’s pool debacle, I’m not counting on it being open anytime soon – it’s easier to deal with disappointment when plans aren’t made. And so we peer into the reflections afforded by the pool cover’s dark magic, when spring appears in the sky and reflects its muted glory in the dim waters.
A change in perspective is good for shaking shit up.
As the first woman of color to win the Oscar for Best Director, Chloé Zhao earns her first Dazzler of the Day honor, an admittedly paltry gift given all the other awards she has earned this past year for her film ‘Nomadland’. She gave a wonderful acceptance speech in which she said she has always followed a Chinese saying she learned as a child: “People at birth are inherently good.” I like that message. I wish I believed it as much as Ms. Zhao, and I’m grateful she gives me that bit of hope.
NEW FRIENDS SILVER
OLD FRIENDS GOLD
WE’RE LIKE DIAMONDS
TRUTH BE TOLD
PEOPLE COME AND PEOPLE GO
WE KEEP SHINING SOUL TO SOUL
For our first few BroSox Adventures, the theme song was ‘Something New’ – it felt like a good embodiment of my friendship with Skip, but after our epic 2019 excursion we were planning on shaking things up a bit, since it was no longer so new. The world took care of that for us in 2020, shutting down all travel entirely, and forcing a change-up upon us even if it wasn’t entirely welcome. As we plan our return to Boston this year, it seems like the right moment for a new song to pair with the moment. As Skip is the newly-obsessed fan who brought me back to RuPaul’s Drag Race earlier this year, it’s fitting to make this one of the theme songs for our next journey.
SUN WENT DOWN IN OUR HOMETOWN
THEY ALL GOT MARRIED, I DIDN’T STICK AROUND
I SET MY SIGHTS ON HOLLYWOOD, OH, OH
I NEVER WENT HOME AGAIN, WENT HOME AGAIN
MOST THINGS CHANGE, BUT SOME THINGS DON’T
CAUGHT IN A CYCLE LIKE THE TWILIGHT ZONE
THEY WOUND UP IN THE LOST AND FOUND, OH, OH
NEVER HEARD FROM AGAIN, HEARD FROM AGAIN
The break of 2020 was a good delineation between those first chapters and what is to come. In many ways, we are starting a new story, a new journey, as we are both in very different places than we were when we last took Boston by gleeful storm. A couple of years into those early adventures, I remember sitting in Fenway Park remarking that I hoped we would still be doing this when we were 80 years old. To sustain it, we change and evolve as the years pass, and the world crumbles and rebuilds itself around us. Throughout it all, we maintained and sustained a modern-day friendship – by texting and social media interaction and the occasional socially-distant meet-up for shopping at Trader Joes or a shared coffee in the Starbucks parking lot, shouting from our cars as a late-winter snow shower began spitting from the sky.
NEW FRIENDS SILVER
OLD FRIENDS GOLD
WE’RE LIKE DIAMONDS
TRUTH BE TOLD
PEOPLE COME AND PEOPLE GO
WE KEEP SHINING SOUL TO SOUL
It takes quite a bit to break through into my true friendship circle, but once that happens, when my armor is breached, I tend to be quite loyal. Skip’s loyal in the same way, and I always feel a badly-needed sense of safety when I’m with him (and his amazing wife Sherri for that matter). During this past year, most of us have come to realize the importance of friends and family, and the way the simplest interaction and contact is vital to our well-being.
As we begin planning for our return to Boston, we know how much the world has changed. Will it go back to what it was before? I don’t know. Certainly not yet, and certainly not by June. But what has remained blessedly stable is the friendship we share, and the excitement we feel whenever the thought of a Red Sox game rears its head at this time of the year.
KINDA LOST TOUCH, BUT WE NEVER FELL OUT
FROM HAPPY TO HEARTBREAK, TURNING UPSIDE-DOWN
AND EVEN WHEN THE CHIPS WERE DOWN, OH, OH
I ALWAYS KNEW I HAD A FRIEND, I HAVE A FRIEND
NEW FRIENDS SILVER
OLD FRIENDS GOLD
WE’RE LIKE DIAMONDS
TRUTH BE TOLD
PEOPLE COME AND
PEOPLE GO
WE KEEP SHINING
SOUL TO SOUL
Her Louis Vuitton dress was my favorite at this year’s Academy Awards, but Regina King has earned this Dazzler of the Day for her decades-long entertainment career, over which she is currently reigning as actor and director. I remember watching her on ‘227’ on NBC when I was a kid, and she was one of my favorite characters thanks to her studious and sharp delivery. The spark she delivered even at that early stage has carried through the long trajectory of her artistic journey, and whenever she’s on stage or screen (or shining behind it) she mesmerizes.
The full moon rises tomorrow and I’m completely over it. Hopefully that is the reason for all my irritation and agitation of late, because I am sick of the cold and the wind and the things that have gone wrong even at this early stage of spring. We earned something better than this, which is why I went into the cologne cabinet the other morning and spritzed some of Diana Vreeland’s ‘Vivaciously Bold’ on then put the photo up on Instagram (among other things). My senses reinvigorated immediately, so don’t let anyone ever tell you cologne isn’t worth it. On with the recap (and perhaps the only post of the day because I was locked out of my website during the time I normally would have populated some crap better than this). Happy Monday!!
Apparently you have to be 18 years old to purchase spray paint now. I found this out the insulting way as I was self-checking out of Walmart with a can of bright yellow spray paint for some outdoor accent furniture, and a pack of sandpaper. As I tried to complete the transaction, the screen refused to let me finish, saying an associate was needed to help. After calling a young woman over, she punched in some code and the question came across the screen: Is the customer over 18? The woman very quickly, too quickly if you ask me, clicked ‘Yes’.
“Are you sure?” I asked from behind my mask, laughing a little.
Leave it to Skip to get me back into RuPaul’s Drag Race – a show which I haven’t seen since the epic third season of Manila versus Raja. This year I was addicted, and the final four proved a competitive feast for the eyes, ears, and soul. While Symone was a well-deserving winner this past season, Rosé was consistently a powerhouse performer – a more-than-triple threat on all entertainment fields, and by the end it felt like she was so continuously excellent, even her great performances ran the danger of feeling underwhelming. I always hate when that happens – when a person of talent is regularly good at what they do that it reaches the point where it’s expected, and maintaining excellence is never appreciated as a more dramatic trajectory of those who starts from somewhere else. There’s a certain tragedy to that, but I’m certain Rosé will continue leaving a legacy in the drag world, and as such she gets this crown as Dazzler of the Day.
We’ve only been dining with my parents outside and in their garage for the past year, but this Thursday will mark two weeks since my second COVID-19 vaccine, so soon that will change. At least, we’ll be able to exercise the option of joining them safely indoors as they’ve been vaccinated for a couple of months, and Andy finished his course a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday marked the last time we dined in the garage, as soon their backyard terrace canopy will go up, and we’ll be able to join them for dinner there, or inside if the weather decides to continue its erratic behavior.
For this dinner, Mom made a delicious lasagna, and on the table was a simple but lovely bouquet of tulips and daffodils. It was a seasonal mark of celebration – quiet in its spicy scent, up close, and glorious in its colorful vibrancy. The tulips have lasted for several years – longer than the usual short-lived and sport-breaking trajectory of the average tulip bulb.
After dinner we briefly toured the backyard and made plans for the upcoming season. Visions of Korean lilacs unfurled, and the hope of spring carried on the light wind.
These flowering pear trees – all flowers, no edible fruit – are in their brief glory this week. They’re so ubiquitous that we’re all sort of sick of them, and aside from this show they’re rather plain. Worse, their growth is such that their branches constantly break beneath the slightest winter snowfall. I’m not sure what constitutes their immense use in landscaping, other than some quick growth. Slow and steady always feels more rewarding to me, but that’s my own insufferable pathology.
All of that sour critiquing aside, I’m taking this moment to celebrate their turn in the sun – and any turn in the sun for the matter, as it’s proving elusive and mysterious at a time when we need it the most. I’m ready for the full-fledged arrival of spring, longing for outside time that doesn’t bite with the wind or cut with the chill.
It can’t be easy being Madonna’s daughter. As much as I love Madonna, one does get the feeling that living with her is no easy gig. Yet from most indications her first-born daughter, Lourdes Leon, is making her way from beneath the enormous shadow of the most famous mother in history. Ms. Leon earns her first Dazzler of the Day honor, thanks to her latest turn as the muse and model of Marc Jacobs, and a charming ‘Vanity Fair’ story that reveals a level of sophistication that one might expect from the offspring of Madonna. Watching her grow into her own may not be as rocky as some anticipated.
Gearing up for a couple of Boston weekends in the not-too-distant future, our first trips in far too long, I’m doing my best to contain my excitement, as too many exciting plans have been dashed int he past year. Instead, I’m taking a contemplative look back at some previous visits, such as this one from April 2019, in which a relatively large contingent of some of my favorite family and friends descended upon the city for one spectacular weekend. My Mom and my niece Emi arrived first, and I had an early dinner with them, then Kira joined me at the Copley Fairmont, and we made our way to the condo where the Montross family was cozily ensconced on a rainy and windy night. It remains one of my favorite Boston weekends that somehow worked out perfectly. Bonus: Madonna had just released ‘Medellín‘ adding to the magic and majesty of the moment. And soon, we shall begin a few new Boston chapters…
