Screen capture of the speech from the Associated Press broadcast. Queen Camilla, in white, is seated to the King's left.
King Charles III addressed a joint session of Congress yesterday, as his mother had done in 1991. Surveying the whole field of our common heritage from Magna Carta to the present, and displaying a deep understanding of American history and politics, his eloquence and humor seemed to go over very well with the assembled representatives, who interrupted him with applause a number of times. A lovely speech by a kindly old friend, full of warmth, wisdom, friendship, and gentle caution - well worth heeding by those now in power.
If only they would!
The Associated Press transcipt of the speech can be found here.
This gold single by the Righteous Brothers was #1 this week in 1966 on the Billboard charts. It holds up very well, I think. They had a unique sound, a masculine sound that must have appealed to every gay boy and man in America. It certainly appealed to me, just beginning the mysterious ascent to manhood. Enjoy.
From the collection of Harold T. O'Neal, a gay home movie buff who made many films of gay life in California from 1939 to 1989. This one begins with a well-dressed but rather dull garden party, followed by scenes of several beautiful young men splashing about in various states of undress somewhere along the American River. A lovely glimpse of what seems a much more innocent time.
Double-click the screen to go full size; hit escape to exit.
Once again, I state what M.P. says, and he ought to know: if they're only swimming, it's not porn.
This popped up in my YouTube feed the other day: South, a surprisingly early gay drama shown on British television in 1959 - long before there was any such thing in America. Newspaper critics were hostile to the display of "perversion" on the small screen, but the fact that it was shown at all proves that the British were ahead of us in that regard.
The first gay-themed TV movie over here that I recall was That Certain Summer in 1972; Hal Holbrook and Martin Sheen played the lovers. Young people today would not understand the trepidation of watching something so taboo and forbidden. I watched it with fascination - and no little repugnance. I was attending college, but still deep in the closet, and terrified of actually encountering any of those wicked ho-mo-sexshuls. (Oh but I fantasized often . . . then begged God to forgive me . . . over and over again. An absurd agony that blighted all my teenage years.)
The play was written by Julian Green (1900-1998), born to expatriate American Southerners in Paris. (The family home in Savannah is now a museum.) He was a prolific writer, mostly in French, among whose many honors and awards was election to the Olympic heights of the Académie Française in 1971, the first non-French person to be chosen. Besides which, to judge by the contents of his meticulous lifelong diaries - published in 19 volumes after his death - he was, shall we say, rather energetically gay. Perhaps, as a Catholic, he had his own struggles with l'absurdité.
P. S. - I must say, I'm disappointed and a bit shocked that the UK Government has not yet erected some kind of memorial to their late beloved monarch, who served them so long and so well. Shame on them!
For several years now at dinnertime, M.P. and I have enjoyed watching episodes of To Tell the Truth from the early 1960s. I remember it well from my childhood, and I think it is the most entertaining of all the old game shows - perhaps because, unlike with other game shows, neither the panelists nor the audience knows who the real featured character is, so it's fun to try guessing who it is.
This particular episode is perhaps the most entertaining of all, for reasons you will discover if you watch it. Big laughs.
Some pics of our latest festive dinners. I post these mainly for our own future reference.
No pictures of the food, but our Palm Sunday dinner was a simple one of breaded cod, fondant potatoes, and steamed broccoli. The table setting was simple too, as we like to do for Holy Week:
M.P. laid folded green napkins in a cross pattern under the center candles.
Easter Sunday:
They're hard to make out in these pics, but in the centerpiece are three Easter eggs on sticks, yellow, pink, and blue.
Braised lamb shanks, herbed carrots, baked potatoes. The first course was creamed chicken soup. Dessert, not shown, was lemon mousse in parfait glasses. Everything was quite delicious.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, harmony; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that I may seek not so much to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
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We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.
and welcome to the Blue Truck, a blog for mature gay men with news and views on gay rights, history, art, humor, and whatever comes to mind. Plus a few hot men. The truck's all washed and gassed up, so hop in buddy, let's go.
CAUTION: For mature gay men only beyond this point. Some posts and links may not be suitable for children or the unco guid. You have been warned.
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My Story
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Churches say that the expression of love in a heterosexual monogamous relationship includes the physical, the touching, embracing, kissing, the genital act - the totality of our love makes each of us grow to become increasingly godlike and compassionate. If this is so for the heterosexual, what earthly reason have we to say that it is not the case with the homosexual?
It is a perversion if you say to me that a person chooses to be homosexual. You must be crazy to choose a way of life that exposes you to a kind of hatred. It's like saying you choose to be black in a race-infected society.
If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God.
