…but your column this week perplexes me somewhat. We all have doubts about the directions of our lives, for many reasons. So too, do we all define who we are in so many different ways. Sure, some do so by their lifes work or art (a musician is a musician 24/7 even when he/she isn’t playing) but so too do many define who they are by their lifestyles and communities, extremely devout religious individuals, for example. However, even did you not think the latter is a valid form of self-actualization, you, Byron, have indeed made queerness part of your career. And its not a bad gig either. Perhaps at times you think it unworthy, and you cant buy a sports car to fuel the mid-life longing, but hey, you can spew your struggling inner-child ramblings into a column read by a city. That seems a pretty fair trade-off. And ah, you condemn your internalized homophobia while reinforcing it all at once. So, I know you’re not supposed to give your mentors advice, especially not in public forum, but I feel I must in this in light intensely personal, yet also extremely public, outpouring. Love your queerness. Love your work. Love the measure of yourself as a human being and whatever coda or mantra you live by. Queers have come a long way since both our births and I embrace this forward motion. And queerness is certainly one of the ways I define myself, make and remake both my personal and outward image. And I think thats fabulous.
Oh, and Happy Birthday.
