The Kiss - Gustav Klimt

Age teaches me patience - I sky dived, swam with sharks and did a marathon the year I turned 30.  I am now approaching 40, with my 38th birthday coming up May 29, and the most daring thing I can think of doing is falling in love.

Huh, who knew?

Peace and Much Love,
Melissa

Gregg LeFevre & Andrea Grant

I shot the pilot for Art Seen this past Saturday, with host Andrea Grant and guest Gregg LeFevre.  Gregg is a public works bronze artist and urban textures photographer, focusing on the decaying billboards around the city.

I’ll have more updates soon about the new Online.tv venture I’m a part of, with exciting invitations to participate!

Peace,
Melissa

Two more pieces about the 2008 election are now online on the Huffington Post.  Check them out here!

Peace,
Melissa

Check out the flyer above for DJ Seth Gold’s Birthday Bash.  The image was from our photo shoot last August.  Right click and “view image” to see the flyer full size.

Peace,
Melissa

The TOTP performance circa 1977

A discussion of the song, decades later

I remember my sister and I begging my brother to play “The Killing of Georgie” over and over.  Little girls with big hearts, we would sing this at the top of our lungs and cry over the last lines - “Oh Georgie’s dead - don’t go away - Georgie is dead - you take our breath away!”.

I was 8, she was 6, and combined we made our 14 yr old brother play the song over and over.  It captivated us, told us a story, made us wail for Georgie and Rod and all the sad people all over the world, missing a friend.  We would keep after our brother to play it as much as possible, until he got too annoyed with our crying and singing.  As brothers go, he was not the most patient or tolerant.  But he did recognize great songs, and “The Killing of Georgie” is a classic.

In the discussion of the piece, one interviewee said the song is dated.  I disagree.  I spend a lot time with young gay dancers, as part of my photography gigs in clubs.  These young men are my friends, dance partners, models and co-conspirators in art.  I hear stories all the time of fathers who can’t accept their sons, mothers who stand in the middle holding on hard to both husband and child, sons who are still coming out and facing who they are in a world where gay bashing still happens regularly.  PFLAG, people!

I’m bisexual, out and very happy with my life.  Granted, I mostly date men these days, but my sexual identity is more than a hobby - its a political statement, that in some places could put me in great danger.  And while I can straddle both gay and straight worlds, it does not armor me from the hateful words I hear daily about homosexuality.  I do speak out, but not all minds and ears are open to hearing a different perspective.   I know the wrong word to the wrong person could get me in trouble, but that can’t keep me silent.

I hold this space for my friends, bash back when needed, cheer loudly when its needed, and feel compassion for those who still find alternative sexual identities dangerous.   We are such lovely, brave people, full of a desire to love and be loved, and yet we cause fear - a deep, primal fear in some cases.

From Georgie to Brandon Teena,  to lawmaker Sally Kern in Oklahoma, who describes gays as “a bigger threat to American than terrorism”, (read her op ed letter to explain this and TRY not to get mad) , equality and safety STILL do not exist for the GLBT community.

Are we that scary that we fit in the same category as a terrorist?  You mean loving and being loved is terrorism?  Think on it…

Peace,
Melissa