An absolutely beautiful day, 76 degrees a 4:04pm.
On this Mayday, WFCR played the Brahms Violin Concerto. Left a message on Melinda McIntosh's phone inviting her to visit the Quadrangle with me sometime. Called Aunt Maria, who said she is going out today to have lunch with Ruth. I had hotdogs and lima beans for supper. I love lima beans.
Left here about 9am, stopping first at Pride in the Acres, which was open with a chubby woman at the cash register. They are going to start selling Subway sandwiches like that place across from St. Michael's. I then drove down to the corner of Allen and got gas for $1.07, then down to the Quadrangle for Bookfest 99. They had tents set up on the Quad and hotdogs for sale for a dollar. Mrs. Boyer was at one of the Information booths and I told her I was on my way up to the Northampton Gay Pride Parade. She smiled and told me to have a good time.
So I headed up to Hamp, and then drove around looking for parking, but when I saw that parking was only a dime per hour in the municipal parking lot I said what the hell and pulled in behind the Roundhouse. I then walked across to take a leak at the Peter Pan station before heading to the nearby gay merchandise shop where I bought some buttons. At Thornes market I got some posters and asked people if there was a Pride information booth. I was told it was up by the Unitarian Church.
So I went to the church by City Hall and down in the basement they were serving a pancake breakfast for $4. It was disappointing, the pancakes were about the size of a cookie, although they did come with strawberries and whipped cream. I ate and then departed, grabbing their Pride poster from their doorway. I was wearing jeans with black and blue hankies hanging out of my back pockets, an orange bandana, purple t-shirt and my leather collar plus padlock.
I decided to walk up to the Forbes Library. It's lovely and so tasteful how the Forbes has been done over, but lots of shelving has been removed and a lot of the old books are gone. The Circulation and Reference desks are larger. The Sylvester Judd Manuscripts are gone from what was the main Reading Room, so I asked Joanne McGee at the Reference Desk and she said the manuscripts are still on the premises. I asked her for one of their rainbow Pride posters, but she wouldn't let me have it so I had to settle for the one I swiped from the Unitarians.
Next stop was the Neilson Library at Smith, where Mansell is still on the shelves in the catalog room. I got some posters off the bulletin boards in the stairwells, including a Mount Holyoke theater poster from last summer. From there I headed back downtown where the parade was assembling alongside City Hall. The Union-News had someone passing out little flyers encouraging subscriptions that were titled Celebrating Together. I took some pictures, including one of a big, black guy in a green wig and another of a nearly nude man wearing butterfly wings.
I decided I would march with the Greater Springfield LGBT Youth Group, led by Erica Tucker and Holly Richardson. We shouted, "We're here! We're queer! Get used to it!" and also chanted, "Two, four, six eight! How do you know your kids are straight?"
Directly behind us were a group of male and female Congregational clergy persons, all in Roman collars. There was a delegation from Springfield College of good looking guys with pink triangles on their grey sweatshirts. Mt. Holyoke also sent a delegation. I saw some people from Friends, including one guy in his thirties who roller-bladed all the way. It was a long parade. I didn't see a lot of people in leather, except for a few lesbians. I chatted with one, who told me there is a new lesbian bar opening in Indian Orchard at 186 Main called The Rainbow Connection.
When we approached the fairgrounds I bid my young hosts farewell. Inside the fairgrounds were over 40 booths selling merchandise and services. They had tasty looking shiskabobs, but I never eat fair food. I saw people selling a new woman's magazine that looks better than the old Women Unlimited. I started to feel old and tired from all my marching and walking around, so I headed back downtown. When I passed the antique shop by the post office I saw a marbletop table with fancy woodwork for $290. Left Northampton at 2:10pm.
It was a really nice day and a lot of people came out for fun. The Northampton Pride Parade is special in that it is participatory, the people on the sidelines watching the parade are as lively as the people marching in it. Queers have found a way to maximize their fun free of Puritanical inhibitions.
Another lovely day.
Hawthorne Services is located at 93 Main Street in Chicopee. Senior Selections is on Plainfield Road in Hawley, Massachusetts. Thunderstorm Air Purification is run by Mike Lewenczuk in Belchertown. Jack Hess had a least 6,000 Springfield postcards.
First thing this morning I took a bag of stuff over to Eamon and let him see the uniform I wore to the Pride Parade yesterday, which included my buttons such as a Yippie marijuana leaf in a red star, Jesse Jackson's face (I see he has secured the release of three American prisoners in Yugoslavia, good for him), my enormous Goldwater button, a peace button and Silber for Governor. Eamon liked it, or so he claimed. Next door his neighbor was doing some gardening, he has a lot of tattoos.
From Eamon's I drove over to Fred Whitney's and left off material with his grandson and Mrs. Whitney, both were very friendly. Then to Paul Caron's 13th Annual fundraising breakfast at St. Anthony's Social Hall on Island Pond Road. Bill Dill was running the affair, which cost $10. I counted 178 in attendance, virtually all white and mostly elderly. I saw Righty Keough and Chris Asselin chatting so I walked up and asked them what they thought about gay rights and legalizing marijuana. They sidestepped my question on gay rights, but both said they opposed legal weed. Keough broke into a big smile of approval when at one point I mentioned Eamon.
Jose Tosado was there, along with Angelo Puppolo, Nick Fyntrilakis and Dan Kelly. Caron's wife Pamela and son Matthew were also present. Bill Foley and Dom Sarno arrived late. Armand Caputo sat with me, he said his favorite mayor was Ted Dimauro and that his nickname for Richard Neal is "Tricky Dick." Armand also said he wants ward representation and term limits. I told him we have nothing to disagree about.
Caron's speech focused on family values bullshit and his Catholicism, but nothing about what he intends to do legislatively if he is re-elected. At one point he observed that "once you have kids, it changes your whole perspective." And so it went. I found his dwelling on family values to be sentimental Catholic drivel.
I have now attended two of Caron's annual breakfasts. Both times the food was good, the company gracious and congenial and overall a pleasant Sunday morning. St. Anthony's is a wonderful place, several people who go there are among my friends.
Last year Caron had as a guest speaker Sen. Stan Rosenberg, and as a liberal Republican I especially enjoyed the opportunity to hear him. While I am personally proud to be represented by Brian Lees, I have respect for Senator Rosenberg, as indeed I do for any intelligent person who can offer reasoned discussion of how I should refine my opinions.
From there I paused briefly at the Senior Fair at the Jewish Community Center. I had a nice chat with Michelle J. Feinstein of Cohen-Rosenthal, who remembered me from WNEC '84. After that I drove downtown and sat in the back at the Choir Festival at First Church. It was very good. When one all black chorus performed, only about half the congregation rose in ovation with the other half remaining stubbornly seated. As I left, I noticed and then fell in love with a marsh painting by Michael Graves of Millbury, which reminded me of the view out the window of the little cottage we once rented in Brookfield.
I got home at 6pm, where I cooked up a Weight Watcher's Spicy Szeuhuan Style Veggies and Chicken Dinner. Fred Whitney called and thanked me for the stuff I left for him, I told him I may be in this week's Valley Advocate. He told me he is having trouble settling his mother's estate and has had to hire a lawyer. I told him I am looking for a job but not very hard.
Breezy and lightly raining.
I am reading Better Times Than These (1978) a Vietnam war novel written by Winston Groom, the author of Forrest Gump. It is well written and I am carefully noting the imagery and details of Army life. My parents shielded me from a great deal that was good. The reality is that I am ashamed that I did not serve in Vietnam along with the youth of my generation. I am ashamed that they served, some coming back in body bags, while I did nothing.
Dow closed today at 11,014.69. A lot of investors must be drunk. TV22 did a segment on the Quadrangle Director Heather Haskell. Short, chubby, she said her first interest was sociology. She claimed that 385,000 people visited the Quadrangle last year. Art historian Charles Hayward then talked about oriental rugs and noted how our cloisonne collection is the largest in the country. The engineer's boots I have been wearing has the label Walker Shoes in them.
April was dry, not really any April showers. Violets and buttercups are in bloom. Wanted to take a picture of Sweet Pea and Honey Pot with the tulips, but the sun never came out all day. Dined late afternoon at the Allen Street McDonald's on a two for one Big Mac special with a small side of fries. I think those were the first fries I've had since Mother passed on. I noticed the Reminder being delivered as I drove out today, but it was not here when I checked later.
I went to the Temple Beth El on Dickinson Street to hear Rabbi Harold Kushner, the author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People. I've been to the Temple before, but not in the sanctuary, which seems both Unitarian and Methodist. It is also an Akron-style worship space. As I entered I took off by orange bandana and put on a black yarmulke. The lecture was wonderful, the core of it being that nobody's perfect and we have to forgive even Hitler because "failure to forgive makes a monster out of us and we must never permit others to make us monsters."
At the end we went into the Fellowship Hall, which had round tables covered with absolutely delicious chocolate pastries. There were brownies and chocolate cakes that were moist, textured and flavorful. I had two and a half cups of coffee. I spoke to a TV40 cameraman who was wearing a leather jacket and told him they have too much sports programming. I suggested they should broadcast game shows based on subjects like Math and Latin. The guy politely responded that getting mass viewership is what TV is all about and sports shows draw much bigger audiences than educational programming. When I left, I thanked the physician who ran the thing and told him it was indeed a wonderful lecture. Home at 9:30pm
A woman called, saying she wants to subscribe to Media One. I said this is PBS and told her to get lost. Called Aunt Maria and she was friendly. Eamon called and at one point characterized Frankie Keough as "a legitimate bastard" because he was born out of wedlock and adopted by the Keough family out of an orphanage. Unknown called while I was napping.
Overcast but not quite rainy out.
Enormous tornadoes hit Oklahoma and Kansas overnight with 50 dead. Who needs war? Who needs more people? More people, more sinning, more suffering. Mother was so thrifty she used paper towels, folded and stapled on one end, for years as sanitary pads and continued to use them well into her final illness.
The story is that Kraft has turned his back on Connecticut and will stay in Massachusetts. On TV this morning we had Steve Root wearing a grey suit saying he is "looking for ways to package local attractions to Patriots games." Brattleboro,, Vermont is offering a $1,000 reward for identifying who gave their school a bomb threat on Monday. Security Engineering Inc. is located at 1686 Riverdale Street in West Springfield. Patty's Antiques and Treasures is located at 522 Main Street in Indian Orchard. People's Bank was founded in 1842 as Bridgeport Savings Bank in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Marilyn D. Feldman lives on Turner Road in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
The Hartford Courant, which just this month did a spoof of the Hartford Courant titled, "Hartford not so Current" will now be sold to the Courant, along with four other weekly papers including the Valley Advocate.
Dined on Mary's Kitchen hash and two eggs. Mail was here at 12:30pm. I called South Church and their tag sale is Thursday and Friday. Talked to Nader the Hatter and invited him to supper at the Buffet in West Springfield. He agreed and told me he wants to relocate to Florida. At one point Nader proclaimed, "Life is theater!"
Eamon called and complained about a flattering story on Dr. Negroni that appeared on TV22. Eamon said he called Mark Wiernacz at the station and questioned Negroni's claim that the drop-out rate for Commerce was only 19%. Eamon told Mark how he called the State Department of Education and spoke with Paula Girard, who said the number of entering freshmen in 1994 was 1983. Only 985 graduated in 1997, meaning that 49.7% had dropped out. When Eamon told Wiernacz about this, he said he would try to work the numbers into a future story, but seemed so vague about it that Eamon thinks they will ignore it.
Eamon said he also spoke with former Superintendent Tom Donahue today, who told him an interesting anecdote. Donahue was a friend of the late City Councilor Vincent Dimonaco. One day soon after Dr. Negroni was hired, he gave a presentation to the City Council, School Committee and others. Donahue and Dimonaco sat and listened while Negroni went on and on about how he was going to make Springfield the best school district in the state. At a reception afterwards, Negroni came up to them and asked what they thought of his speech. Vinnie replied, "I think you're full of shit." Negroni's jaw dropped as he silently turned and walked away.
Another damp day.
Last night I had severe pain in my right ear. Very first thing this morning I gave my hair a third dyeing in purple. The color is now very bright. Dined on two hot dogs and a grapefruit in the evening, had a McDonald's quarter-pounder with cheese and fries at noon. Finished up my box of Wheaties this morning. I went out and dug up dandelions all over my lawn. Put in four hours going through Mother's pocketbooks.
I drove out at 11am or so and made copies at CopyCat. I looked at Louis & Clark but no Advocates. While there I bought four Mother's Day cards. I drove over to the Goodwill, where I noticed that their new sidewalk has many imperfections. Inside, I found an immense pile of Valley Advocates and saw Turner's lovely article about me inside. The blonde lady who runs the place was much friendlier than usual and congratulated me on the article.
The photo accompanying the article about me shows me in my collar and leathers beneath an engraving of John Wesley, a photo of Caesar Thompson (the violinist who taught Maurice Freedman, who was my violin teacher and whose estate I helped to settle) and a service sign the Johnson's Bookstore people gave me when they closed up.
There were no Advocates at the liquor store in the Acres, but a big pile at the pizza shop next to Walgreens. The liquor store gave me a quote of 20% off on a case of Harvey's Bristol Creme. There were none at the laundromat, but a big pile at Newsstand. There were none at Angelo's, where I bought a grapefruit off the discount table.
Driving by the intersection of White and Sumner, I saw in the window of the Antiques Boutique just my sort of marble top table. I went in and the price was $295. Too much. I tried to talk Dorothea Radziki into lowering her price, but she would not budge. On the way home I paused at the liquor store across from Duggan and they only offered me a 10% discount for a case, or about $175. Home at 1pm, the mail was already here.
Modern Postcard Company called and said my new postcard shipped Monday. Martello of Hein called and said they're ready to send my new book Coke and Verse to the printer. I told him I wanted 20 copies for myself. I called Father Joyce at Our Lady of Hope rectory and told him about seeing at Forest Park Antiques some sketches of their original chapel selling for $60. He said I should talk to the pastor, so I asked him to pass the information on to the pastor for me, and he said he would. Margaret McDonald of 583-6335 called saying, "I'd like to make a reservation for May 19th at 1pm." I asked her what legal issues she wanted to discuss, copyright, trademarks or patents? "Oh sorry," she replied, "I thought I was talking to someone at Storrowtown."
Called Aunt Maria and told her about the article about me, but she showed no interest and instead demanded, "When are you going to do something for me?" Tom Devine called to congratulate me on my piece in the Valley Advocate. I thanked him and gave Tom all the latest gossip. We spoke from 9:03 to 9:57pm.
Eamon called and said he wants to donate his papers to Amherst College. He said he has letters from Peter J. Grace, Cardinal Cushing, Fulton J. Sheehan and many others. Eamon had not read the Advocate piece on me, so I read it to him. He liked it.
Then Eamon told me that today he got a photocopy of a booklet from the Department of Education on statewide truancy rates, but when he turned to the pages that were supposed to have the Springfield statistics, every page was missing! So Eamon called the Department, and it turns out the Springfield stats are missing from the original booklet as well. Someone had torn them out!
Eamon was shocked by how unconcerned they seemed to be about the missing pages. He told them how he had worked for the Department of Education for 30 years in Adult Education, Curriculum Development and Research and Auditing, and how in his day the discovery of the destruction of important data would be a matter of grave concern. She replied that they would look into it and promised to contact him if they came up with anything, but Eamon says he expects never to hear from them.
There is no way to capture J. Wesley Miller in one paragraph. He is an attorney who specializes in Art Law. He is a legal antiquarian, a classicist. a bibliographer, an art collector. He's a devout diarist and a mad collector and cataloger of, among other things, "street literature" - the flyers and posters most of us walk past or trample upon but that he believes record a vital part of our social history.
He's a self-described "extremely liberal Republican" (socially progressive, fiscally conservative) who often sports an orange schmatte on his head and an orange workman's jumpsuit in keeping with his plea to sympathizers to "wear orange (preferably a jumpsuit) in solidarity with all the folks in prison for doing drugs." He is a social critic, he explains, who takes his cue not from the Roman satirist Juvenal, who "sees the corruption of the empire and cuts out with bitter indignation" - Miller assigns that role to his friend and fellow commentator on city affairs Eamon O'Sullivan - but from the poet Horace. "Horace is genial, he leans back, he smiles, he tickles people with his feather. That's what I am. I'm Horace."
What are the best and worst things you've seen happen to Springfield?
When I was growing up, Springfield was pretty confident about itself as a place that was the best in every way. We really did have a wonderful situation at the Quadrangle. Miss Rose, who was the Rice Hall librarian, had an immense number of bookcases constructed to make room for lots more books. Those bookcases were ripped out within the last decade, and the books were thrown out. The worst thing to happen to Springfield in my lifetime has been the prettying up of the Quad. I think there's no doubt that the Quad is a prettier place today than it has ever been. But it has been thinned and it has been dumbed down.
Your own paper some years back quoted the New York Times architecture critic as saying Springfield was "banal in the extreme" with its modern cement structures and urban canyons. The courthouse is the most hideous county courthouse in the state by everyone's agreement. Another nail in the coffin was the elevation of the expressway rather than the depression of it, cutting the riverfront off from the city. Sit in the dining room at Peter Picknelly's Sheraton and look out the window and all you see is expressway.
The other worst thing that happened to Springfield, really the big domino of our present situation, was the collapse of Monarch Capital Corporation, which may be blamed on the greed of its stockholders, officers and directors, who never really realized that their product couldn't be patented and who were just not cautious enough. Concomitantly, probably the best thing Springfield has is Mass Mutual, because it's all we have left.
Who are the people doing the best, and the worst, for Springfield?
Miss Michaelann Bewsee is one of the finest people in Springfield, and her work with Arise for Social Justice is very important. Belle-Rita Novak, over at the X, is one of the finest people in this city. Eamon O'Sullivan, even though he comes across as being tactless and perhaps a racist, is an impeccably fine Irish gentleman.
My attitude toward Mayor Mike Albano has mellowed. I think that Albano has always been in a difficult spot. He has to make the best out of a mess, and he has to look enthusiastic. He has, in the situation he's been in, done a good job. Mr. Albano came in saying he was going to bring in a lot of new blood, but basically Albano has been working with the same old team. There is a group of people that, whenever one organization dissolves, they play musical chairs, and all the people that had $55,000 a year jobs in the old place wind up with $65,000 jobs in the new place. They have been good at keeping jobs for their people, but they've not been good at producing results.
I think that cleaning out the riverfront for the Basketball Hall of Fame was a good idea, to get rid of that older, and very motley, shabby building stock. But do I believe for one second that the Hall of Fame will bring all the tourists they're predicting or that it will bring in all the revenue? No, I don't. I do believe that the neighborhood will be tidied up, and that's good.
Superintendent Peter Negroni took over a school system which had been rotting under the previous administration. Mr. Negroni on the one hand has done a splendid job of bringing in new ideas which are necessary to shock the place into modernity. At the same time, I don't think he deserves the highest superintendent pay in the state. Eamon O'Sullivan is absolutely correct that there's too high a dropout rate, too low an attendance rate and the bottom line on student performance is lousy.
Springfield Newspapers head David Starr is going to say that he's produced thousands of dollars for WFCR and Channel 57 and the libraries and all these other things. But in addition to doing this, he has been politically repressive and we have a repressive media regime. I remember seeing Mr. Starr going to dinner with the mayor and other politicians. Sociology 101: With whom do these people interact? The question is to what extent the new publisher Larry McDermott is going to be an improvement.
I would like to see Francis Gagnon (chairwoman of the city's Historical Commission and of the Libraries and Museums Association) depart from the scene. She's got her Pynchon Medal, now I would like to see her just leave. Mrs. Gagnon has had her impact for good or ill, and it is time for her to depart.
The City Council, these people have been in office for years and years. We've seen what they can do. They should go. Mr. Albano started out looking for new people. He should find them. The people that have been in power here have been around too long.
Overcast, gas at Breckwood Sunoco is up from $1.07 to $1.08.
How did I get in the Advocate? Years ago, when the Valley Advocate was young (1977) they did a lengthy feature on me and my street literature collection. Over the years they have published half a dozen letters from me and used me as a consultant on several articles.
For over a decade I kept submitting the names of Bill Putnam, Walter English, Irving Cohn and the Valley Advocate for Pynchon Awards, which are our valley's highest honor. Of course being recommended by me was the kiss of death for any chance they had of receiving it, since the award has fallen under the control of a clique at the Springfield Newspapers.
I have an extensive collection of Springfield related medals and tokens, three of which are Pynchon medallions that were abandoned by the families of their late recipients and sold to me. I decided to send one of them to the Advocate, telling them that despite their courageous, singular and steadfast defense of the free press in our valley, my second hand Pynchon Award was the only one they were ever likely to receive. I suspect that in gratitude for that gesture, they decided to do that very nice article about me.
Up at 6am, departed at 7:30am to go to the South Church tag sale. Before I set out I found that my new postcards of the church in Bethel had come. I am delighted with the results, later I wrote them a note telling them that they had exceeded my expectations. The back reads:
Bethel, Vermont - Miller Memorial United Methodist Church (1905) named after its longtime pastor J. Wesley Miller, is a a miniature Akron-style structure erected during Bethel's white granite boom days. It contains the earliest Hilbourne L. Roosevelt organ still in use.
First I went to Louis & Clark, where there were still no Advocates. I arrived at the tag sale at 8:10 and got in line behind three black ladies and Melissa McIntosh. Behind me was a woman around 40 who is taking a course on plays, featuring no Shakespeare, no Chaucer, just modern stuff. The Koziols were there and the old man congratulated me on the piece in the Valley Advocate. He said he can get along with Republicans as long as they are liberal. The sale overall was disappointing, but of course there is always something. The Treasure Room had no real treasures in it and the collection of books was thin, but I got some biblical books in Greek and a couple of postcards.
Nader the Hatter met me there as planned for our lunch at the Buffett. We left the sale at 10:14am. Nader and I dined in a leisurely way at the Buffett, he gave me the Boston Globe Guide to Cambridge - a very nice paperback - for taking him to lunch. Nader also gave me an AT&T thermometer paperweight. He said he is driving his father's grey Oldsmobile because his own car broke down. Nader told me he is 53 and feels he has 'a spiritual side" to his nature. At one point he remarked that "almost all antique dealers are gay."
On the way back, I saw that Stained Glass Resources is working on the window in front of Alden Baptist Church. Paused at Mrs. Staniski's and found her gardening out front looking wilted in the heat. I told her she should quit working for the day and get some rest. I then bought some bananas at Angelo's. From there I took a swing through the Acres to get fish and chips at Big Y and some more Advocates. This afternoon I finally photographed Sweet Pea and Honey Pot with the pansies and tulips.
Overcast, rained in the morning.
I have three identical typewriters, one for correspondence, one for my diary and one for composing memos.
I almost didn't go to Riverside, but I figured with the rain nobody would be there, so I went. But first I went to the Faith Church sale and got a few items. Things were thinner than previously. I bought a Revere-like brass bowl, a tiny Indian vase, several puzzles and assorted other little things. I always tell them to keep the change because it's a charity. Edward A. Koziel of Chicopee was there, he again praised my article and said I was "fair with everybody." I told him I was especially flattered he felt that way.
With raspberry glasses on, I set out for Riverside Park and got there about 11:30. I hadn't been there since Mother and Father took George, Martie, Steve and Dianne from Monarch in the 1950's. We walked around and rode the merry-go-round and that was about it. Today Riverside is fabulous, given a choice between a year's pass to the Basketball Hall of Fame and a weekend pass to Riverside, I'd take Riverside. This is the year to buy a season pass because when they finish the renovations they will probably charge a lot more.
There were a lot of school buses lined up as today was Physics Day at the park. I was in uniform, laced boots with worn jeans, chain belt, black t-shirt, biker jacket and pink triangle earrings. I was told the season ticket office didn't open until noon, so I walked down the main street, with certain themes for each section. An enormous water ride is almost completed. Some things were open, some not, I was told more things open as the day goes on. They also said that once school lets out they will open up earlier. Eamon says one of his in--laws is an electrician who told him they have spent millions on electrical work.
So I got the lay of the place, then got in line to get a season pass at ten of noon. The super-straight guy in a topcoat in front of me kept eyeing me suspiciously, but I had a pleasant conversation with the young fellow behind me. I was offered a season parking ticket for $20 so I took that. My season pass had only a small black and white photo of me, which made it hard to appreciate my purple Apache haircut. I used my queer pseudonym Queerboy Fag Sissypansy on the pass.
I then resumed walking around. I spent a few minutes in the video game arcade watching people play. Walked down the path to the picnic grove and sat for awhile. Very restful. At one point a tall young fellow asked where I got my boots. Just before it was time to depart (I was getting tuckered out by all the walking) three high school girls asked if I would pose for a picture with them. I cheerfully consented and they snapped a single picture. On the way out I bought copies of each of Riverside's postcards at 50 cents each. As I drove out I was behind a bus from Danbury, Connecticut.
On the way back, I picked up some more Advocates in the Acres and got a canned ham and potato chips at Big Y. When I got home I called Aunt Maria, who said she got my postcard and thought it was "nice." I asked if there was anything I could help her with but she said she doesn't want me coming over unless I change my "eccentric attire." I was surprised to then get a call from Edith Michaud. She said she thinks Aunt Maria has "mellowed down a bit" but told me how the other day she fount Aunt Maria asleep in a chair with a pile of money on her lap. She shook my Aunt awake and was immediately accused of trying to steal the money, to which Edith replied that if the wanted to steal "there wouldn't be a dollar left."
Michele Rogers Beck is Mrs. United States for 1998-99. Gordon Alexander is Tortus-Tek's Director of Operations in Holyoke. Lisa A. Cignoli is the Marketing Manager for the City of Springfield.
The lilacs are coming out and the buttercups are in bloom. This evening I should have gone out to Indian Orchard for the artist's Open House but I chose to go downtown instead. There was a story on the news about a demonstration today at Court Square for women in prison for drug use. I wanted to get any literature lying around from that, so I drove downtown. On the way, I paused at a tag sale at 50 Jeffrey but there was slim pickings. The family said they are moving to San Diego.
I swung by the Eastfield Mall, where the Shriner's were having a Clownarama. The back of Eastfield is all dug up to expand parking by the Cinemas. There was a good crowd and at one point one of the onlookers came up to me, thinking that with my purple mohawk I was one of the clowns! The clowns juggled and pulled pranks on the kids. They marched in a parade, but there should have been a band. I got a laugh from the crowd by loudly declaring that it was nice to see the Democratic City Committee all in one place. A great event for kids and everybody is a kid.
From the Clownarama I went directly downtown, where there must have been something going on at Symphony Hall, as it was hard to find a place to park. I ended up parked on Worthington Street by the Kaos Club. Kaos appeared to be empty, it was dark inside and the doors were locked. I walked around Court Square, but saw little evidence of the demonstration. I did see a bumpersticker reading RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. I decided I would walk back to Worthington and do a little tour of the downtown bars starting at 8pm.
The Civic Pub on Court Square had only five patrons.
Kokomos was closed although the lights were on.
MardiGras has a $3 cover and a good, lively crowd.
David's was dead, the bartender said they "come to life" around 11:30pm.
The Pub had 13 patrons, an older crowd, basement not yet open.
Silvio's on Worthington had three at the bar and two at a table.
Viper's Nest, the piercing place, was supposed to open May 5th, but inside I could see only a few pieces of furniture and a sign saying "Coming Soon" but not saying how soon.
A facade is being erected for Westbank, but so far only the metalwork is up.
The TicToc had fourteen guests around the bar, two cops walked in as I was leaving.
Caffeine's Cigar Room was open, with the proprietor sitting in an easy chair waiting for customers.
Caffeine's Restaurant is a nice place with a porch on Duryea Park, which no longer has any park benches. At 8:45pm there were 15 in the main room and about 20 on the porch.
The Hot Club on Stearns Square was not hot, only a few people at the bar.
Fat Cat on Worthington had about 20 middle-aged men around the bar.
Naismith's had eleven seated around the bar.
Theodore's had a $3 cover with over 30 people present but still not too crowded. It has ambiance, more my kind of place than any of the other joints.
Pizzeria Uno had a guitar player playing for a mostly young crowd of about 40 people.
Houlihan's had only five customers being served by three bartenders. A $3 cover after 10pm.
The Fort was jammed with good looking, respectable people.
Just Friends had 22 patrons, including two women and one black. They have a bulletin board with news for the gay community. I think they are the best gay bar in the city, but David's won the Valley Advocate award last year. I ordered a beer and drank half of it. As I was going to my car two black men asked for a ride to West Springfield because they missed the bus. I said I was sorry but I couldn't help them. Home at 9:36pm.
Overcast, started to rain at 11:52am.
I have set many things to do that each day I want to make real progress towards achieving. I am willing to wait and see with a lot of things, undecided is often the correct answer.
The Pope is in Romania for the first time since 1054. People are complaining about a two-week old Blunt Park user fee which is funding better security and park improvements. A patron on camera remarked, "There's nothing to do here worth paying for." How true. Richard M. Gaberman practices law at 32 Hampden Street in Springfield. The radio played Mozart's Paris Symphony today.
Pulled five large stems of rhubarb. One year we had lovely daisies but Mother stomped them all out. My lawn is getting shaggy, but I always let it get a good start in the spring. It needs attention, but the Lord will provide. I have spent the day writing Mother's final condolence communications. Everyone got a postcard and a copy of my Valley Advocate article. I have sent a great many people my Advocate article and it will be interesting to see how many people like it and how many are turned off and scared away. I also typed a thank you letter to Maureen Turner to mail at Louis & Clark.
I drove out at 10am. While I was making copies at Louis & Clark I saw Jackie Bradway and asked about her plants. At Kappy's they had a petition opposing the baseball stadium at Northgate Plaza and I signed it. They are going to present the petitions from all over Springfield to the City Council in May. I stopped by the Evangelical Covenant Church for their tag sale and bought ten black milk crates for $7.
Swung by Trinity Church, where I avoided the church office and knocked on Mrs. Goad's door. She answered and I handed her a bag of reading material that included my new postcard. Then to the Goodwill where there was nothing special and I bought nothing.
Next I went downtown and parked in front of the telephone building on the corner of Chestnut and Edwards and left a red envelope for Hernala. Then up to 13 Monarch Place and left an envelope at Cohen/Rosenthal. Tony Cignoli has an office on the same floor. Then I dropped off something at Just Friends, got a deli-baloney sandwich at Subway for lunch and headed home.
Cooked myself a Swanson Roast Beef Dinner for supper. I also had some vanilla tapioca pudding. Spoke with Lynn at Punderson and the burner cleaner will come tomorrow. Called Aunt Maria. She was civil, says she may finally be getting over the shock of Mother's death.
Eamon called and he likes my new postcard. I told him he should make a postcard of his house and use them to send people short messages. Eamon objected to me using the term "racist" in regards to him in my Advocate interview. He pointed out that he is a donor to the Southern Poverty Law Center. He also said he discussed his displeasure with Tom Vannah. I told him that although he sometimes comes across as racist, I also consider him to be an impeccably fine gentleman. By the end of our talk he told me he is not mad.
Gas at Pride is $1.07 per gallon.
Anita Bryant was formerly high priestess of Florida orange juice. She came out against homosexuality and in due course suffered a deserved decline. On the back of the May Reader's Digest, a woman in a biker jacket is shown drinking a glass of Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice. Not all bike jacket wearers are queer, certainly not, but the ambiguity is a good slap in Anita's face. A proverb Mother used to utter from Gram Wilson: "If the dog hadn't stopped to take a shit, he'd have caught the fox."
Men working on the light poles in front of neighbors Stevens and Nichols. My heat has been turned off for several days now. WFCR had the Beethoven Violin Concerto on. A bee, a big one, came into the dining room and I had to dispatch him with bug spray. Lately I saw a chipmunk scurrying out from the large barrel in the garage, so maybe I have a family on the premises. I hope so.
Left here something after 9am. At Louis & Clark I mailed a thank you to Joe and Shirley Lucas and payment to Joe Luttrell. Pride in the Acres has a new nickle copying machine. The black male manager with an ornately braided hair-do showed me how to use it. Then to the Goodwill, where I got a nice, little cloisonne dish for a dollar. Patty said she had just put it in the case. I got 2 for 1 breakfast bagels at McDonald's on Allen with a coupon I got in the Sunday paper.
Arrived at the Eastfield Mall at 10am after stopping at Kappy's to get some more Valley Advocates. I am snitching Advocates everywhere to have a supply of copies I can use to make tearsheets. I was barely inside the Mall door for the Senior Health Fair when red-headed Jean Ferrars of WMAS most cordially greeted me, but I did not see Monique Bovat. Jean told me she used to work for the Valley Advocate and was glad they did a story on me. The fair itself was dull, however, aside from some material I got from the Tobacco Control Program and Providence Place at Ingleside. Left Eastfield at 10:48am.
The mail was here when I got home. Valley Motorsports on King Street in Northampton sent Blanche Miller a flyer. Jack Egan, a friendly, young fellow from Punderson, arrived at 2:45pm. He said he has been in the oil burner business for 12 years. He cleaned up after himself as well or better than anyone else has ever done. Declined refreshment, good guy, left at 3:34pm.
For supper I devoured another Weight Watchers entree. Spoke to Sampson's about their ad in the Reminder saying, "It's no secret who owns our funeral home." I told them that people know who owns them but not their prices! Hung up on me. Next I spoke to John Leno and then Kerri Anderson at Bank of Boston, asking why they offer free admission to the Quad to credit card holders, but not to CD owners. She will get back to me. Called Aunt Maria and she has been more chipper lately. Said Ruth got her mailing.
On TV22 this evening Lynn Barry was in Orlando, Florida, where Universal Studios is opening Seussland near Disneyland. They showed colorful statues and rides related to Dr. Seuss characters, including a carousel. How can Springfield compete with that? Audrey Geisel was shown in attendance. As I have said before, Springfield's statues will be dead upon unveiling.
Sunny day.
In the Valley Advocate there is a letter from a R. Leppington that is critical of the Northampton gay pride parade: "There's no sense that gays march on the town in a gesture of pride or defiance anymore." I thought the same thing, they marched all the gays out of town to the fairgrounds. I got an offer from the Springfield Newspapers offering The Republican and Union-News for 28 weeks at $2.50 per week instead of paying the regular $4.50 per week price.
On the news they said the Armory School is to be demolished and with land deeded by Our Lady of Hope, a new school called the Edward P. Boland Learning Center will go up. The band Schwa is playing at the Tic-Toc Lounge on Worthington Street on the 28th, promising "blues, funk, reggae and jazz with stylish grooves." The Springfield Symphony is having its anniversary concert this Saturday. Heritage Woods Respite Care is located on Main Street in Agawam. Brick work on the east wing of the Evangelical Covenant Sanctuary started a couple of days ago.
I drove out with a big bag of magazines and took them over to Mr. Cohn. He said he just had a cataract operation and can only see out of one eye, but otherwise is in excellent health. From the Cohn's I went to the Goodwill, where I left Father's coats that were hanging in the garage. Next I had a chicken sandwich plus a small order of fries for $2.04 at the Allen Street McDonald's, where they are fixing the sidewalk leading to the side entryway. I found the first of this week's new Advocate in a tiny pile in the entrance to Leone's. It has a big article on the Northgate stadium proposal by Mo Turner, who didn't mention the topic when she interviewed me.
This day I read the Hein proofs. They reset the type and I corrected many errors, but now new errors have been introduced so I corrected it again. Today I dined on Maypo and a Budget Gourmet Lasagna Alfredo with Broccoli. I didn't see much broccoli. I also cooked up the lovely green beans I bought at Angelo's a few days ago. The electrical lineman were out front again. Jozephczyk gave me his old papers and congratulated me on my Advocate article.
Mail here today at 11:30am. Whitcomb High School never learns. They were repeatedly told that Father is dead, but he continues to get mail. Now Mother does too. I will notify them once again. Called Aunt Maria, she is still chipper but had no interest in talking. I called Councilor Ryan and left a message thanking him for defending Northgate. At Kappy's the other day I noticed there was a phone number (796-4924) at the bottom of their save Northgate petition. I decided to give the number a call, and got Mrs. Karen Powell, whom I recognized as an opponent of needle exchange. I introduced myself and we had a nice chat. She said she has heard of me before from her friend Maureen Turner.
I called Tom Devine and told him how the U.S. Postal Service is releasing a stamp in honor of Ayn Rand. He said he was already aware of it. Eamon called, and he has a new upstairs phone from Bloomingdale's, but its ring isn't as loud as his AT&T phone. He said he liked a letter to the paper by Richard Crossen on the insanity of our foreign policy. I was surprised when Eamon told me that Dennis Murphy is Albano's real campaign chairman, he claims the Boland's are only figureheads.
Eamon said he called Wayne Phaneuf at the paper and asked him why they haven't done anything on the high rates of truancy. He said Phaneuf hemmed and hawed and agreed that attendance at the Springfield schools is "lousy" and finally suggested they would bring it up in some future story. Eamon told me he also told Phaneuf about how off-duty cops are going door to door campaigning for Nick Fyntrilakis. Phaneuf said it was the first he'd heard of it.
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