Peterson Toscano's A Musing

WV=West Virginia. I spent the past few days in Huntington in order to present Doin' Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House at Marshall College. The weather there remained wet but warm in the upper 60's. Now back in Hartford the temperature hovers slightly above freezing with a wicked wind and the threat of snow. I will spend much of the day indoors doing chores, listening to fabulous music and prepping for my show tomorrow in Hartford-- The Re-Education of George W. Bush . I met such lovely people in Huntington, WV. Rebbeca from the LGBT Outreach Center has a fine taste in music (Spoon was playing in her car when she picked me up!) and a deep curiosity about the gnostic Gospels. On Wednesday night at a club club called Luna (with some fine music of their own, kick-butt hummus, and some of the best gins on the planet) a small group of us sat on the couches and talked about faith, queer issues and the ex-gay movement. Justin, a volunteer at the LGBTO Center joined me for dinner th...

Greetings from Northern Sweden, Umeå to be exact, where the snow has fallen steadily and no one minds at all. Really they delight in it as they laugh at folks from the US with our winter storm warnings and canceled events. The new year started well with a house party outside of the city replete with fireworks at midnight. Each day I have taken a walk in the woods and in the nearby park. Today Alex and Alice (the dog) and I walked around the lake, which takes about 90 minutes. Amazing how many people are out and about in the winter weather--skiing, skating, jogging and even riding bike. In celebration of a new year, I Simpsonized myself. I went for a genderqueer look. You should try it yourself! I spent the first day of the new year updating my schedule for winter/spring of 2008. I didn't put everything up yet, but it is a pretty full list up through May with trips to Europe, West Virginia, Philadelphia, Memphis and more. No Texas yet and it looks like I am neglecting the West Coa...

Very last minute a Friend asked me to come help staff a Peace Camp reunion weekend at The Meeting School in New Hampshire. So glad I said yes. The weather is fresh and cool and summery and lovely here. AND they have wi-fi. I'm sitting outside (because in the words of my father, "It would be a SIN to be inside on a day like today") and have a nice strong signal. Some sheep sit lazily under an apple tree nearby. Ah, in the words of Kurt Vonnegut 's uncle (as quoted in Vonnegut's last book) If this isn't nice, I don't know what is . Going off-line soon to take a nap. Yummy. But I wanted to share an image that popped up in my e-mail today. Not too long ago I ordered some anti-gay literature from Focus on the Family. You know, just to see what they had to say (as if I didn't already know). Well, since that time I have gotten onto some sort of monster Conservative Evangelical Christian mailing list and get all sorts of things through e-mail and regular...

Ah, in sunny LA where I presented a show with Momma this morning at WeHo Church . It is our Dragged Out of the Spiritual Closet piece we did at True Colors this year. This time our audience was mostly gay Christian men (with a smattering of women and a German TV crew that has been stalking me since Friday). After service we all headed off to The Abbey for some drinks, snacks and chatting. Momma, being the big Hollywood big shot, was immediately shown to the best table in the house and given a bunch of free munchies. Glamor has its perks. Since I was first visited the Abbey last year with my long lost buddy Joe and filmed my first vlog entry there, I thought I would take out the camera and shoot some more video and photos. Photos: 1. Daniel Gonzales, Timothy Kincaid and Me 2. Daniel and Momma 3. Momma and Me before our show (I'm playing Dr. Rev. Meadows) 4. Momma momentarily pissed (she got over it right away; she's classy that way) Oh, and Nathan, the cute guy who appear...

What a wonderful time in chilly Richmond. Apparently the weather was sunny and in the 70's up until about 20 minutes before I landed on Tuesday. Yo, I have nothing to do with the weather! It is FREEZING with like snow, but the sky is turning blue and folks here at Earlham College are so wonderful. I did my show last night and was soooooo touched by some special people in the audience who I talked to before and afterwards. (You know who you are and I'll let you speak for yourselves if you want). Let me just say that I had a very special hug from a very special person. And I had an incredible conversation and prayer with someone before the show. And I got to see a bunch of my New England Yearly Meeting young Quaker friends too. Sweet. Tonight will be the Take Back the Night event. According to the flyer it is, an internationally-held march and vigil with the purpose of unifying women, men, and children in awareness of sexual violence and other forms of violence against women, ch...

The response to the new web site and The Survivors Conference has been great! Lots of folks are signing up for the conference and logging in their interest to get involved in the site. Now that BeyondExGay is off the ground, so am I. I fly out of Hartford this morning for a three week trip that will take me to Indiana, New Jersey, Tennessee, North Carolina and Oregon. And I get to see some of YOU! First off to Earlham College in Richmond, IN where I will perform and connect with students. Then I fly to Newark, NJ to meet up with my dad. We will spend the night at my cousin Louie's house (yes, I have a cousin Louie), then my dad and I will go on a road trip to visit my Uncle Frankie and Aunt Rolla (yes, I have an Uncle Frankie) in Eastern Tennessee. After that we see an old family friend, Gloria, in Winston Salem, North Carolina, then my dad drops me off in Greensboro, NC where I will perform at Guilford College and New Garden Friends School April 11 and 12. I then fly off to Po...

I am in NYC today and tomorrow to do some TV interviews (more details about that in a future post), but as I traveled: From my Dad's in the Catskills via bus to the Port Authority Bus Terminal Then uptown to 135th Street via the #2 train for interview number one Then downtown on the #3 to transfer for the V train to 2nd and Second (that is the intersection of 2nd Street and 2nd Ave near Houston--pronounced House-ton) to where I am staying Then on the F train to West 4th (because it was too cold to walk and I am too cheap to take a cab) for meeting number one then back to 2nd and Second again... I thought to myself, I am so glad I lived in NYC for 10 years of my life ! Really. Getting around NYC requires superpowers. That or a useful skill like knitting. You may not use it for years, but when you need it, how sweet. Anyway, I have interview number three tomorrow but will get picked up by car service then driven up to Hartford afterwards, so it will be a much easier day. On Thursday...