All Gayed Up and Nowhere to Go
On my own for a day
All Gayed Up and Nowhere to
Go
Sunday and I have no plans. L and
F are celebrating her birthday, and A is back up in New Hampshire. So it was a
"day at leisure". I have been pretty exhausted, what with all these vacations,
work, and problem parents. I have somewhat reluctantly entered the Age of the
Mobile Phone, and I called home a few times to see if my father's impending
transfer to a nursing home happened (it didn't for another three
weeks).
I didn't leave the hotel until
noon. It was sort of hot today. I headed for We Think the World of You, the gay
bookstore. It was right near the offices of one of the gay newspapers for New
England. When you're in Boston, you are not just in a greater metro area like
when you're in New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, or DC. You feel like you're at
the center of New England, a six-state area. There's a more regional sense. Of
course, that was my own four-day
impression.
A girl disappeared in a
nearby town and this dominated news all weekend. I don't know how it turned out,
but everyone was praying, and searching, and I had that horrible feeling that
perhaps I was the only one in New England who knows for certain she's probably
dead. I guess I have seen one too many horror movies and Chris Carter TV
episodes.
Anyway, We Think the World of
You is now the only remaining gay bookstore in Boston. The older one, Glad Day
Bookstore, vanished earlier in the week. Not because business was bad, but
because they had trouble getting a lease. Not just homophobia, but
nonchainaphobia. Landlords want guaranteed business that only a big chain store
can satisfy. Never mind that Glad Day had two decades of good business behind
it. One of the reasons they were in a cushy spot like Back Bay was because the
landlord was Chinese and didn't have the same anti-gay baggage other landlords
had 20 years ago. Now, it's the "need" to make even more money. Of course, a
landlord can write off months or even years of not renting a storefront, because
inevitably the fortune they will charge the Gap or Banana Republic will help
them recoup. Meanwhile, small businesses go under as a result. This also often
means that gays and lesbians have to move out of the places they've lived for
years because they can no longer afford it. A good economy means urban areas
become even hotter. Sigh.
I went out to
Wonderland and Revere Beach. I liked the trainride, and I liked getting some
salt air. Then I went to the aquarium, which is very well done, but as an
aquarium and as architecture. True to my nature, I went to the movies. The
Brattle Street Theatre was showing Akira Kurosawa's
Ran. I have
not seen it on the big screen for years. The theatre is much more like an old
school auditorium, and my buttocks actually fell asleep. I've gone to probably
1000 or more movies at this point, and that has never happened,
ever.
Boston is yet another town where
the mass transit goes to sleep for the night, so I had to make sure to get back
to my hotel by midnight.
Since it was a
long weekend, a lot of guys were out for the night. I found myself facing
trepidation about going out. I certainly didn't want to go home with anyone, nor
did I want anyone in my hotel room. I don't need Robert Urich of
Spencer for
Hire identifying me by my flawed big toe on my
left foot, after all. So, I wandered the streets and simply went back to my
hotel room.
I guess as queer as I can
be, I am just too tired of or too old for or too uninspired to be part of the
"scene." The dinner-and-a-movie crowd is more of my scene, and you don't find
that among strangers when you go on vacation.
Posted: Sun - July 2, 2000 at 01:36 AM