Saturday, March 31, 2007

Scott and Jasa


Scott and Jasa, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

In front of cobalt, the bar where they first met years ago

--Reese

Scott and Jasa


Scott and Jasa, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

In front of cobalt, the bar where they first met years ago

--Reese

Scott and Jasa


Scott and Jasa, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Scott, me, and Jasa


Scott, me, and Jasa, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Jasa and Scott


Jasa and Scott, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Wedding party


Wedding party, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Wedding party


Wedding party, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Jasa and Scott


Jasa and Scott, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Jasa and Mom, Scott


Jasa and Mom, Scott, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Jasa and Mom, Scott


Jasa and Mom, Scott, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Scott and Jasa forever


Scott and Jasa forever, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Ah, the good ol' metro


Ah, the good ol' metro, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Coy pond in nathan and julia's backyard

--Reese

Friday, March 30, 2007

Frank


Frank, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

My old neighborhood, dupont circle

--Reese

Amaya


Amaya, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

Having to leave my baby for 9 days is sad...

--Reese

Thursday, March 29, 2007

new newsletter's up

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

new column

"My Name Is Chris Wilson"

Chris Wilson was a year or two ahead of me in high school. He was gorgeous. Blonde, dark brown eyes, sculpted chest, cocky attitude, impish grin, and more. I wasn’t in love with him; I was in lust with him.

Everyday in gym class, yeah, mostly in gym class, I would see him and see how his shirt would be unbuttoned... to just the furthest it could be so unbuttoned without it being all the way unbuttoned... and it was all too much for my mind. I remember particularly well one time when a female classmate enjoyed playing with his buttons for several minutes while they both smiled and lingered suggestively.

I never really met Chris Wilson. I'm sure he didn’t know who I was. But his impact on my lustful mind during my high school years was treacherously close to madness. I still go blind reminiscing sometimes.

A few years later, I went through the early stages of the 'coming out' process. For the uninitiated, this can include short or long periods of time during which one toys with the idea of possibly coming out. It's like seeing what might happen if you put your toe in the pool and if it will be warm. For me, this initially involved late night phone calls to the Gay Hotline number I found in the phonebook.

I was so scared to call. Each time I called I panicked that somehow someone would find out. But I so desperately needed to talk to someone about what was happening. I was all of 18 years old and lost in a heterosexual suburban world.

My first phone call with them was all about how I hated myself and I hated these homosexual thoughts and I was a terrible person and sinful and I would cry and cry. And these gentle souls on the other side of our local LGBT hotline would try their best to listen and console and advise. They and I finally, during one later call, agreed that it might be good for me to meet other Gay people and they found a men's group that met clear across the other side of the city for me to go to. And I wanted to meet other Gay men by this time because I wanted to see who else was out there. And I was lonely.

I went to my very first meeting in the basement of a church where about 6 or 7 men sat around in folded chairs. Each one introduced themselves. "My name is Chris Wilson," I said.

Well, I couldn’t use my real name of course. And 'Chris' was close enough to my name that I thought I could recognize it. And well, I didn't figure Mr. Wilson would ever know I usurped his name while in my closetary adventures.

For a long while after that I continued to be "Chris Wilson."

On November 12th, 1989, 4 months before I would officially Come Out publicly to my family and friends, with my toe still dipping into the water occasionally, I said my real name for the first time to someone Gay.

His name was David Weeda and he was marching with ACT-UP Kansas City during the "March for Women’s Lives" rally in Jefferson City, Missouri at the state capitol. He and a few other Gay men from the newly formed ACT-UP chapter had joined the many women’s groups from around the state to show a pro-choice, progressive voice to then Governor John Ashcroft (R-Missouri). As I saw David and his friends being out and proud and vocal, something rattled inside me, that maybe, in this crowd of people I didn’t know, I could be myself. I went up to David, asked him what ACT-UP was, and walked with them briefly. And then I told him my name. My real name.

In that moment, I suddenly felt scared and devastated and nervous and joyous and clean and lighter all at the same time. I went to my first ACT-UP Kansas City meeting shortly after that March where I sat among numerous Gay men in a downtown complex talking about AIDS and activism. I told them my real name that night too. And David was sweet and talked to me before and afterwards.

I didn't really understand what ACT-UP was at the time or where all history of activism had come from or what happened in NYC with Larry Kramer and his speech and all the deaths and devastation around the country. I didn't really know much about any of it. All I knew was that it was the first Gay place where I didn't feel I needed to be "Chris Wilson" anymore. I was me.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

i'm a huge fan of jill scott. sometimes i just listen to her for hours and hours.

can't stop listening to her "cross my mind" (excerpts below):

I was just thinking about you
Wondering if you wear the same cologne
Smelled good
On you
Had the next boyfriend of mine try the same kind
But it stunk on him though.
You know what they say everything ain't for everybody.
But I tried anyway.
You sure did smell good.

You just running cross my mind
You just running cross my mind
You just running cross my mind

I know if I pick up this phone,
write this letter send this two way.
I know I'm gonna say some things,
I know you gonna say some things
That we both don't mean to say
Like...how amazing...how amazing...

You just running cross my mind
You just running cross my mind
You just running cross my mind

I was just thinking about you,
wondering what you doing
I mean what you've been up to
I know its wrong feeling this strong
let me take a second minute
I will think this thing through
I was just thinking about you,
wondering what you doing
I mean what you've been up to
I know its wrong feeling this strong
let me take a second minute
I will think this thing through
Remember all the moments for two, how we used to
Oooh yeah
But the reality honestly...you where never good for me
and I was never good for you.
I just remember what we used to do....

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

while i was away out of town, i didn't have a signal on my cell phone; i didn't have a computer; and i didn't have my usual newspapers. it was terrific.

so then on saturday evening while my friends and i were at the grocery store in murphys, i walked by the newspaper section and they did have the san francisco chronicle, and lo and behold, on the front page is this headline with photos:

Leno-Migden election fight roils Democrats

so of course i had to purchase it and my friends and i read it while in murphys. and then we went back to not talking about work or politics for the whole weekend. but it's still out there...

Monday, March 19, 2007

as you can see from the pics below, i spent the weekend away. went to a little town out in mid-california somewhere called murphys which is in calaveras county. gold-rush type area, small quaint towns around there, sierra area, ski resorts, state and national parks-- sorta near yosemite. there were a group of 8 of us guys invited by our friend Owen to his hometown of murphys for the weekend. it also happened to be st. patricks day weekend and the irish town of murphys celebrates that annual holiday with much gusto for a small town-- parade, parties, everything green, etc. all in all, we had a terrific time. just being away from city life for a while, having no signal on my cell phone, no access to a computer, and simple care-free days of leisure activity in a small town. nice. we'll probably head up there again sometime

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Dog playing in murphys creek


Dog playing in murphys creek, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Dog playing in murphys creek


Dog playing in murphys creek, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Painted shamrock on the street in murphys for st patricks day

--Reese

Murphys library


Murphys library, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Owen, Luke, and Greg at big trees state park

--Reese

Greg, Luke, Owen at big trees state park

--Reese

Greg in awe of the tree's size at big tree state park

Greg, Luke, and Owen

--Reese

Big trees state park


Big trees state park, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Big trees state park


Big trees state park, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

St patricks day parade in murphys

--Reese

St patricks day parade in murphys

--Reese

St patricks day parade in murphys

--Reese

St patricks day parade in murphys

--Reese

Owen


Owen, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Church pancake breakfast


Church pancake breakfast, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Pancake breakfast at murphys church on st patricks day

--Reese

Pancake breakfast at murphys church on st patricks day

--Reese

Luke, Greg, and Owen at the pancake breakfast in murphys

--Reese

Small but quite round puppies of murphys

--Reese

Friday, March 16, 2007

Waiting to be picked up


Waiting to be picked up, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

Still have my migraine...

--Reese

Stuck


Stuck, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

a few new thoughts and amazing photographs from Ariana, that great Woman of the World, during her adventures in Ecuadar with the Peace Corps:

"I'm having trouble accessing my blog, so I am going back to my old method of sharing pictures. These are pictures from my recent trip to Panacocha, in the northern part of the Amazon in Ecuador. I was hoping to see pink dolphins, but we couldn´t find any. However, we did see lots of cool frogs and birds, and monkeys. It was quite an adventure, as 4 people out of our group of 10 got stung by something. I was attacked by a giant Amazon bumblebee, which stung me 4 times in the shoulder and once on my forehead. My shoulder is still a little tender. Juan got stung by a stingray and had to go to the hospital. Everyone is fine now, and Gaby tells me bee stings are good for your health! Well, I´m set for life, I don´t need any more beestings! I have some more pictures of wildlife from coastal Ecuador on my blog: http://rhiannabanana.blogspot.com and in another Shutterfly album: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9BZuGjRo2Y7c"

Saturday, March 10, 2007

A series of j and j


A series of j and j, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

A series of j and j


A series of j and j, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

A series of j and j


A series of j and j, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

A series of j and j


A series of j and j, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Dog in chair


Dog in chair, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

new alice newsletter is up

Monday, March 05, 2007

one of the absolute worst things in the paper today:

Biker Romp 'Wild Hogs' Debuts at No. 1: "Wild Hogs" performed well beyond expectations

sequels are being greenlit as we speak... and more similar types of crap are being greenlit too. ugh

Saturday, March 03, 2007

new column:

Technical Difficulties

but

Why Dropping Your Cell Phone in a Jacuzzi Isn’t the End of the World

I am not one who is at all adept at technology. For that matter, actually, I’m not adept at anything even mechanical.

I’ve always had this difficulty. When I was a kid, my father used to try to get me to learn about fixing the family car. Uh, yeah… that didn’t exactly work. I would stand there, staring off into space and wondering how long it would be before we would both realize that I wasn’t attuned to the situation. I would try and pay attention. I really would. And I would think to myself, “Reese, you can do this. This obviously makes logical sense. It can’t be that complicated.” And then eventually, my father would ask for some kind of strange wrench or something and I would be lost. No matter how ‘obvious’ it all was, I was lost.

And it’s not like I was an idiot. I knew things. In fact, I was what you called ‘book smart.’ I knew a lot of things. I just didn’t know how to do anything with my education. I got straight A’s in school, but I couldn’t figure out how to nail two pieces of wood together. My family would tease me all the time about being smart at school, but having no ‘common sense.’ I suppose that was true. But the reality is, it had more to do with my inability to get a handle on anything mechanical.

I was reminded of all of this over the last few weeks as I had several incidents that were par for the course in my continued comedic-tragedy in all matters technical.

It’s the little things, you know… My television remote control of about 15 years died. Well, it didn’t technically die; it just kinda slowly lost function in some of the buttons. Sometimes the buttons would work; sometimes they wouldn’t. I began banging the remote against the wall intermittently in order to regain control. Sometimes that would work; sometimes it wouldn’t. It wasn’t the batteries; it was the buttons that lost power.

Now, this meant something terrible: I would have to figure out how to buy a new remote control for my life. Other regular people do this kind of normal thing all of the time. So it shouldn’t be hard. But then, um, yeah. After months of banging the remote control until there really wasn’t much ability left in the thing, I finally made my way to the drugstore and bought a new remote control. I opened it up at home, looked at the book of directions, and stared blankly into space. I had no idea what to do. Yes, the directions are sitting in front of me, but Lord help me; I had no idea what to do. It was a lost cause. I put all of that away, banged on my remote control again, and watched me some tellie before going to bed.

Weeks went by and I would once in a while pick up the book and the new remote and stare at them both. I kept dreaming that it would work somehow magically. Finally I started to put the obviously-sensible directions together in my mind over and over again and I kept pressing buttons for some kind of Direct Remote hookup thingamajigger. But it wouldn’t work. I kept trying and trying and nothing would work. So I put it away, banged on my old remote a few times, and kept on regretting my inabilities.

And where o where was my father through all of this? There are many times I wish he were around to simply deal with these issues for me. Because I have no clue.

Years ago, my sister bought me a storage cabinet and it came ‘required assembly.’ I spent months on that thing and the only thing I accomplished was putting the pieces back in the box. My father came to visit one weekend months later and had the whole thing put together in an hour.

Again, I don’t get mechanics and I don’t get technology. My brain doesn’t work that way. But other people do. And thank God for them! Because if it wasn’t for them and their abilities, I would be lost.

The point of these stories is that we all have our own abilities. In this diverse world of ours, we grow further and farther as a community when we value and welcome each other’s diverse abilities and backgrounds. My inabilities at anything mechanical are softened by my father’s and other’s abilities to be mechanical. And sometimes I in turn enhance and bring some type of assistance to other people’s lives through my abilities—whatever they may be specifically.

We all inherently strengthen each other. It really does ‘take a community to raise a child,’ not necessarily because none of us can’t on our own, but because in working together and bringing forth each of our own individual assets communally we offer something greater.

Diversity isn’t about being politically correct or just some buzzword. It’s a value that realizes we all enhance each other more than we may know. Our community is stronger when we value our differences and utilize their combined power for the good of our own future. (It’s kinda like the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers combining their power into Megazord; it really is.) Our coordinate efforts and combined abilities make us unstoppable and strengthen our movement. That’s what recognizing and valuing diversity is all about.

Oh, and yeah, I did drop my cell phone in a jacuzzi this month, resulting in its departure from this world and its return to the sea. And yeah, that’s pretty much the usual for me with anything technical in my life. I’m where all things mechanical come to die. But thankfully there are people who know technology and can hook me back up right away!

Muzzled in a flowery SF way for the bus

--Reese


Try again, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese



yay! i got my photo blog thing to work!

yesterday's announcement by my boss was wonderful. here's a link to his announcement and conversation online about it and here are some great photos of the event

p.s. i took some and they're on my flickr account too, but i'm currently having troubles uploading them onto my website via blogger. i'm working on fixing that soon

Thursday, March 01, 2007

tomorrow's the big day
hope to see you there with me!


Mark Leno for State Senate - 2008
Friday, March 2nd 2007
12:00 Noon - 12:30 PM
The Yerba Buena Gardens
Esplanade
(Mission Street next to the Metreon)
RSVP to info@markleno.com