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Columnists

Where Everybody Knows Your Name Is Walt Whitman—–Jeff Baker: Boogieman In Lavender

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Cave - pixabay

Where Everybody Knows Your Name is Walt Whitman by Jeff Baker Laugh on laughers! Drink on drinkers! Bandy the jest! Toss the theme from one to another! Beam up—Brighten up, bright eyes of beautiful young men! ——-Walt Whitman, from “The Two Vaults.” There were no Pride flags flying in New York City in 1859. But if you were gay there were places to discreetly hang out. One was literally underground. Pfaff’s, a bar and restaurant located beneath the sidewalk at 647 Broadway, featured a dining area and a bar, literally in a cellar. Named for it’s owner Charles Pfaff, it … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: Petals on the Wind

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There was nothing quite like the drift of sakura which followed Sakurazuka Seishirou around in Tokyo Babylon and X, giving him that unique ambience of beauty and menace, clinging to Sumeragi Subaru as well once he caught Seishirou’s eye. Drifting rose petals in Revolutionary Girl Utena gave Ohtori Academy, the Duelists, and the Rose Bride herself a menacing, yet seductive ambience, suggesting that the roses were not what they seemed.  Falling petals aren’t necessarily menacing. They can create a unique moment, suggesting a special memory which will stay with those caught within their drift, long after it’s gone. I catch … Read more

Halloween Reading Reccs 2021 – Boogieman in Lavender

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Extreme Haunted Housing

The Bat and the Raven; Halloween Reading for 2021 By Jeff Baker And now for Halloween reading recommendations with an LGBT flair. For the last few years I have recommended the two Lethe Press takes on Edgar Allan Poe and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. This time, I’m going to go a bit more in-depth. “Suffered From the Night: Queering Stoker’s Dracula,” edited by Steve Berman with a title from Stoker’s novel, features variations on the themes, characters and story of the famous 1897 novel, only some of which has entered into the popular consciousness. The original novel is epistolary, that is, … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: Statues

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Statues fascinate me. I’m often drawn to them in churches, in museums, finding myself studying their inscrutable (or weathered) expressions, their posture, how much has been captured in stone. I didn’t even notice this one’s lack of certain attributes. I was too engrossed by his posture, his face, the way he loomed over his surroundings. The whiteness, the hardness, the details carved or chipped away to reveal a beauty very different, yet similar to other kinds. No wonder Anne Rice’s vampires became more statue-like as they got older; paler, harder, more removed from humanity with age and blood. No wonder … Read more

Tim and Bernard’s Big date: Jeff Baker, Boogieman in Lavender

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Robin Bisexual - DC Comics

Bernard and Tim’s Big Date By Jeff Baker Word is out: Tim Drake has made a date to go out with his buddy Bernard Dowd. Just a nice story, right? Except that Drake is the secret identity of Batman’s partner Robin and the comics world is abuzz. To be more specific; Drake is one of several young men (not sure how old he is, I suspect about sixteen) to have donned the costume as Batman’s athletic young sidekick since the original debuted in 1940. The close relationship between Millionaire Bruce Wayne and his youthful ward has been the subject of … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: Patterns

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I’m drawn to patterns, even when I don’t understand them. Seeing how something links, intertwines, weaves in and out of other lines and shapes, forming an intricate design fascinates me.  Of particular interest to me are patterns in stories, how plot and character hang together, every little detail drawing attention to a greater whole. My favorite stories involve a tight web where it’s easy to remember every detail, because they’re linked to other details. All of them are part of a greater whole, a greater story, and an overall theme. A shield glitters with a menacing light, drawing the main … Read more

Jeff Baker, Boogieman in Lavender. Discipline, Control, Rejection and Other Things it Took Me a While to Figure Out

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Typewriter - Pixabay

Discipline. Control. Rejection, and Other Stuff It Took Me a While to Figure Out by Jeff Baker I’ve been writing in some form since I was in grade school. I actually sent something off to a contest in a kid’s magazine when I was about eight years old. Didn’t win. (Dick York was still on “Bewitched,” that’s how long ago this was.) In Junior High and High School I wrote comic book parodies in my notebook (in class. Yes, I know!) In High School I worked on the Yearbook and wrote for the school paper. Seeing my work in print … Read more

Seizing the Moment – Sources Of Inspiration

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One of the biggest complaints about getting a project done is time. There’s never enough of it. There’s always something happening, something distracting. I never know when a crisis is going to strike, diverting my attention from my writing With this in mind I’ve learned to seize the moment. When a chance comes to write, I grab it. I carry a notebook and a mechanical pencil with me wherever I go. I try to keep my current projects in mind. It’s only too easy for them to get buried beneath a pile of thoughts and anxieties about everything I need … Read more

“On Beyond Cisgender IV: Or, Shirley You Can’t Be Serious” – Boogieman in Lavender

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books - deposit photos

On Beyond Cisgender IV, or: Shirley You Can’t Be Serious by Jeff Baker AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is an occasional feature of this column where I spotlight (or at least mention) writers who aren’t in the White, Male, Cisgender paradigm as possible reading material for High School age readers. She was a housewife, a mother, a writer and (she claimed) a witch. Her work remains familiar today and may not be as obscure as some of the writers mentioned for “On Beyond Cisgender.” In fact when I was in Grade School in the 60s, her novels were still sought-out in school … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Ground

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Lot of stuff happening here on Earth. We’ve got all eyes on every corner of out little mud ball and it’s a pretty mixed bag of news. New variants and new launches to the ISS. Tardigrades and Bezos in space. Hell, we’ve even got Disney cycling back to their evil empire ways. So I’m gonna change pace a little and direct your eyes, or thoughts anyway, over to the ground game of two other planets. Yep. Our neighbors, Mars and Venus. Sure, their parties are a little more subdued than ours currently, but they’re still partying. Well, I say subdued, … Read more