It was quite a remarkable year in many ways, good and bad. Here are some milestones:
And a few more milestones to make you feel old jog your memory, fellas. This was the number-one song in America 50 years ago this week:
And this was number one 40 years ago:
And one more thing: do you realize that kids graduating from college this year were in first grade when the Twin Towers fell - and have no memory of a world without the Internet?
Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent make holiday sparks fly when they begin a controversial romance in Curtis Bernhardt’s MY REPUTATION (1946). Stanwyck plays a newly widowed woman with two teenage boys who meets a handsome major on a skiing trip, and much to the dismay of her friends and family, falls in love and must choose between her happiness and her reputation. Eve Arden is on hand as her best friend to offer humor and consolation, and Lucile Watson plays her formidable battle-axe mother. Warm and romantic, Stanwyck and Brent make a wonderful team. Beautifully photographed, the film is also lovingly scored by Warner’s favorite Max Steiner. It’s a holiday romance that you won’t want to miss. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
As performed in Westminster Abbey, Christmas Eve, 2013:
I post these choral pieces every December in memory of my late husband Cody, 1950-2005, organist and choir director, who always put his heart and soul into his Christmas concerts and Sunday services for forty years, and thereby gave delight to many.
The Queen, who will turn 90 next April 21st, today delivered her 63rd televised Christmas message to the nation and the Commonwealth:
Excerpt:
For Joseph and Mary, the circumstances of Jesus's birth - in a stable - were far from ideal, but worse was to come as the family was forced to flee the country. It's no surprise that such a human story still captures our imagination and continues to inspire all of us who are Christians, the world over.
Despite being displaced and persecuted throughout his short life, Christ's unchanging message was not one of revenge or violence but simply that we should love one another. Although it is not an easy message to follow, we shouldn't be discouraged; rather, it inspires us to try harder: to be thankful for the people who bring love and happiness into our own lives, and to look for ways of spreading that love to others, whenever and wherever we can.
Well, fellas, it's been a momentous year in many ways, not the least of which is the legalization of marriage for all across this U. S. of A. - so I picked this song to express what's in my heart and send it out to all of my truckbuddies with good wishes for a very merry Christmas.
Here where I live, we are especially grateful for all our blessings, as last night M.P. in his little Hyundai was hit by a truck full of giggling girls doing 60 across an intersection. But thanks be to God, they only clipped his front fender instead of ramming him broadside, so he was completely unhurt. We'll be carless until next week, but it could have been so much worse, you know? So give those you love an extra hug today, fellas, and be careful out there.
Results from the 2014 Pew Research Center survey of religious life in America continue to be assessed. This week, the Pew folks released these charts showing the change in acceptance of homosexuality among various Christian denominations between 2007 and 2014 (click to enlarge):
And here's a chart Pew created last July showing where American religious groups stand on same-sex marriage:
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.
