Montreal

I feel like I'm heading dangerously north as the year turns.....something ominous is heading south...I'm not used to that feeling, but it's an interesting one....fortunately it wasn't bad election news, which is what I'd received when I last came to Canada a day after the most tragic election of my lifetime in 2016. But here in Canada, in 2019, civilization prevailed and Trudeau squeaked through...and it set the tone for the numerous experiences that followed....a country that seems to be working, where the social contract isn't so threadbare

Was reading some poetry by Susan Howe on the flight from New York and thought this line described the state of the U.S. perfectly:

"a central contradiction, once discovered/leads to collapse or evolution"

She's been reading Hegel perhaps (wish more people would!)....and it applies widely: to racism, unregulated capitalism, income inequality, ad infinitum

Canada gives me hope..

Jagmeet Singh, a Sikh and leader of the NDP, was pulling in the progressive vote, but his party didn't do too well, so while Trudeau won (he's kind of a parallel to a fairly progressive - but not a lot - U.S. Democrat), the parliament lurched right, which will create challenges for civilization, as we all know that's what conservatism has become worldwide - a dangerous rigidity that precludes progress, while coddling the rich and fearful

Montreal is a lovely city to walk around in...compact and full of interesting architecture, numerous boulangeries and bikes!

One of the most impressive bike networks I've seen, with two-lane bike highways, can be found throughout the plateau (the French eastside of the city)...a lot of bikers here

My basement airbnb room under this building...good mattress, good sleep, nice hosts - a Quebecois couple. And it was a share, so I didn't have to feel guilty about impacting the rental market...this will be the only city where I don't have friends to stay with, but that may change.....sweet David who I read with at Stock Bar (see below) offered me his guest room in his loft just a handful of blocks from this place, also on the plateau, which is definitely the best place to stay...he's a polyglot, speaks like 10 languages and taught many of them as a profession 

...the plateau's the French side of town, so no English to be bothered with, though they're all mercifully bilingual and friendly after I stumble 

out my "bonjour...comment allez-vous...ce vous plaît...

je voudrais... merci beaucoup" ....I'm now intent on learning French and thinking a year in Montreal might be just the way to do it...really, really enjoyed it here....

Mural by Miles MacGregor & Gene Pendon

Leonard is everywhere, which caused me to hum "Suzanne" a fair amount on my long, endless walks...when I wasn't humming "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," courtesy of the subway, which plays the first few bars to indicate arrival and departure of trains/doors closing - I don't think it's intentional as it's just an electronic signal, and no one else seems to mention it...but...there you have it....

"Suzanne" is really one of the most beautiful songs to me...and the writing/lyrics are perfect...I actually think Leonard offers the ultimate and most succinct expression of the Jesus myth in this song...he's a poet and actually started out as one....

Took a hike up Mont Royal which rises above the city behind McGill University and downtown.....

Yes, there was a leafblower.....in a deciduous forest/natural reserve...think you missed a spot (absurd and an attack on biodiversity)...people criticize Quebec for its bloated civil service and arts budget, and this kind of thing may in fact be the downside of that excess, but if the alternative is the rabid and brutalist capitalism of no arts budgets and/or no housing like down south, je préfère le Québec

Argo, the English language bookstore where I read with Felice Picano, Nicola Sibthorpe& Madelaine Caritas Longman

 ... and a little creative English on the street

Ran across some Argentines.....

I'd been considering renting a car in Montreal for the trip to Ottawa before settling on Greyhound, and in the AVIS office a woman in front of me was saying she spoke neither French nor English...but I know that accent anywhere...meet Maria Luisa y Victor from La Pampa Province in Argentina, smack dab in the middle of the country where tourists never go, so I haven't been, but now I have an invitation, so if I get back to Argentina, hope to see them...they are cereal farmers...

Speaking of Argentina....they had an election as well and the Peronists are back, with Cristina Fernández de Kirchner as VP...one of the stories in Falling is about an Argentine election and the Peronists 

Sadly, I have no vegan meals to report as this city is awash in butter and meat (there are of course vegan places, I just didn't get to them)...but I did do some reading on the subject, which I'll share....the meatless burger boom

...which dubs me a flexitarian, though I prefer "jack vegetarian" as I default veggie always (jack meaning 'lapsed' or 'half-assed')

Patrick Brown, the creator of the Impossible Burger, is super interesting and controversial...he's a scientist with the goal of eradicating animal meat production/consumption 100% by 2035...I'm game to do it tomorrow...even if I have to give up...

this non-vegan treat and guilty pleasure of mine...French can even make junk food sound slightly more gourmet....give me a bag of souffles

The churches here are a tad dark and foreboding, all grey stone under a grey sky - and I think of the weird Jesus&Mary-morphing that happens as the myth moves north from its origins...as many of you know I'm something of a student of Catholicism...raised a Marian heretic, I've always been fascinated by how Catholicism not only adapts but morphs due to culture, weather, etc. Catholicism makes the most sense to me in Italy, Spain, Mexico where it's really a goddess earth religion...I noticed right away here that the French flavor is way more Jesus-focused and I think that plays into the widely-accepted theory about northern people (the Quebecois I'm told are predominantly northern and Breton) tending to focus on a cold male sky god while southern people worship mother earth (see Leonard Cohen's take on the J-Man above). To draw an analogy... in Mexico, Jesus is Mary's tween son with some problems at school, getting bullied and crucified and moping about....but she's the goddess, and dad left a long time ago. Here in Quebec it's all about the son, heir to the godhead, and in his mid-twenties saying "Mom, I can't call you everyday, I have to get crucified and shit...I'm the son of man, for chrissakes. Talk to Dad."

I think the Jesus/God stuff is way more dangerous than the Mary stuff....just as masculinity is more dangerous than the feminine...it made me less interested in entering churches here

Speaking of the sacred and profane, I read with Felice Picano at STOCK, a stripper bar - note pole next to Felice...we read with a few locals, including Johanne Pelletier, Su J. Sokol & David Tacium, who I mentioned above

Simone, who despite his good looks, wants to get into real estate...what about poetry? I offered...

Beer and shots at McKibbin's Irish Pub with Felice Picano and Richard Burnett, who is a journalist and queer activist with an encyclopedic knowledge of the city...

He shared so much about Montreal's gay history, which is fascinating and includes the 1648 commutation of a death sentence for a gay man in the army - thanks to the Jesuits - with the condition he'd agree to become an executioner. Good old Catholic justice. There's a novel in that worth writing.

He also helped me to understand the Montreal police department's shameful history of violence, harassment and homophobia, which ultimately made Montreal a leader in the gay rights movement in Canada

Another amazing story is that of his mother, Diamond Lil, who is from Mauritius, a small island nation off Madagascar. As part of political family there, she took on religious extremists who were trying to shut down the pride march and has begun an international dialog as part of her activism.

Diamond Lil and her son - feel the love... hope to meet her next time I'm here...and all this on my mom's birthday...happy birthday mom from your little kid who was always wearing hats....haven't changed :)

On the way to the bus station, I stopped for a pastry and coffee and was soon joined at the one little table by two people speaking Spanish (they're both trilingual, as I'd like to be)

Victoria from Ecuador and Emile! Bouchard! as he likes to emphasize it...3 1/2

They gave me a nice sendoff....next stop.....

Ottawa

Oct  26, Sat., 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm - Reading/Q&A 
Heart & Crown Pub

67 Clarence Street (Middle Room)
w/Felice Picano

(613) 562-0674

Toronto

Oct 30, Wed., 6-8 pm - Reading/Q&A
Glad Day Bookshop
499 Church St.
w/Felice Picano
(416) 901-6600

Minneapolis

Nov. 4, Mon., 7 pm - Reading/Q&A
Magers & Quinn Booksellers
3038 Hennepin Ave.
w/Raymond Luczak
(612) 822-4611

Nov. 6, Wed., 7 pm - Reading/Q&A
Quatrefoil Library
1220 E. Lake St.
(612) 729-2543

Seattle

Nov. 9, Sat., 7 pm - Reading/Q&A
Elliott Bay Book Company
1521 10th Ave.
w/Alvin Orloff
(206) 624-6600

Portland

Nov. 16, Sat., 11 am, Radical Faerie Coffee
Triumph Coffeeshop
201 SE 12th Ave.
(971) 229-1631

Nov. 17, Sun., 6 pm, - Stage Reading
Crush Bar
1400 SE Morrison St.
w/Daniel Elder
(503) 235-8150

Los Angeles

Nov. 22, Fri., 7:30 pm - Reading/Q&A
Skylight Books
1814 N. Vermont Ave.
w/ Alvin Orloff & Tara Jepsen
(323) 660-1175

Palm Springs

Nov. 27, Wed., 6–8 pm – End of Tour Book Party
Palm Springs Cultural Center
2300 E Baristo Rd.
(760) 325-2582

Oakland

Dec. 5, Thurs., 7 pm - Reading/Q&A
E.M. Wolfman Bookstore
410 13th St, Oakland
w/Alvin Orloff & Brontez Purnell
(510) 679-4650

New York

The people you'll meet.....at SFO before I flew out on the redeye, where they mistakenly put me in first class - no questions asked and yes, I'd love another IPA - I had stopped for a beer that I had to pay for and met Lance (on left)...he was on his way to a family reunion in Portland...along came his son...one of many it turned out..."20 actually" Lance remarked casually. Seriously? He told me he was a sperm donor and is now in contact with all his kids, so this was a particular kind of family reunion!...On right is Ryan, who is one of them...they were all going to Portland to meet each other....

Thousands of miles later and still childless, I navigated the construction, ticketing and buses of La Guardia and finally stumbled into Queens dead-tired to stay at Mark & Bill's, old SF friends - the first gay couple I ever met in fact. They had gone to Italy to celebrate their 35th anniversary :) I'll see them when they return later in blog....

I love this neighborhood of Astoria-Queens...very multiethnic, friendly, what America could be - is actually, a true multiethnic stew with room for all...gives me hope

A case in point, my Mexican buddy at the bagel shop...Marco from Puebla..

Upon arrival anywhere, I always look for a good cup of coffee, a Spanish-speaking friend...and a decent beer.....

Always a pleasure to visit this city...people are friendly and helpful...and I love grunge and faded grandeur, so the subway is wonderful to me...yes, there were delays, construction, work-arounds, but being here a week, I can be patient with all that....heard an amazing cover of Fast Car by a busker on the platform at Union Square....

At the Rainbow Book Fair in the West Village, with one of its organizers, Perry Brass (center) and Brendan Fay, who lives downstairs from Bill & Mark, an Irishman, filmmaker, historian and a real hub/connector...eventuallly we got talking about the St. Patrick's Battalion, the  Irish brigade made up of recent immigrants that switched sides in the Mexican-American War...he then connected me with Anthony Donovan who wrote a screenplay about the San Patricios and almost had a movie produced...we texted, planning a meeting....

Felice Picano, one of my mentors who has been hugely kind and helpful to me for years...we will read together in Canada in 4 different places starting in Montreal following my New York visit...

Jerry Douglas, who I met and really know nothing about...he was just a sweet guy who I kept running into...Being 80, he's pretty much witnessed step by step the flowering of the gay civil rights movement and had a million fascinating, heart-rending and just plain edifying stories...

This panel was a highlight...queer women of color (Nicole Shawan Junior, R Erica Doyle, Maria Fernanda) speaking about creating literary communities and spaces for people who feel unheard, silenced, ignored, etc. Not only did it evoke memories, but it gave me all sorts of ideas for my classes, for my immigration work...and again, hope...NY gives me hope...people are doing things here and not whining or wringing their hands or giving that 'what can be done?' sigh....very energizing. NY goes forward, despite everything...it's a muscle. La Capital....why I like Capital cities (Mexico City, Buenos Aires, LA sort of), and not sure I can live anywhere else anymore actually....I'd like to come live here a few months and gotta find a way to do it.....

That signing pen Jack Davis gave me in SF? Gone.....exploded...farewell!

Next day I caught up with Loretta who I've seen every book tour :) She lives in Connecticut now in a really sweet little elf's house in the woods I've visited previously, but she loves NYC, where she lived for many years, so she took the train down. Loretta, like myself, is a flaneur, so she's wonderful to spend time with...we just wandered and came upon things....like a vegan dish! I told you I was gonna do this :) Join me in exploring the vegan universe - you can even get a vegan mentor 

grafitti

Gertrude Stein

A duct-taped baby elephant......

Japanese cuteness

architecture

sculpture - stupa?

clowns

donut shops

That night I was reading at an immigrant fundraiser at the Bloom Reading up in Washington Heights and I had translated a summary of the story I was planning to read for the Hondurans and Guatemalans I'd been told would be there, but I forgot it back in Queens...what to do? Go all the way back to Queens?....Loretta and I discussed...there must be a better solution...she came up with an idea....we found a Kinkos, where they have work stations, and I just sat down and re-did it...problem solved. Thx Loretta!

This was a great event, reading with Charlie Vasquez and Starr Davies and discussing immigration issues....A Guatemalan young man named Alex sang songs and 3 Honduran chavos joked and razzed each other, as they do  :) The event's host, Sarah Van Arsdale, works with a group that is having success stopping deportations and helping orient new arrivals

I love immigrants..because Mexican children on parade in the rain....makes me weep for joy...YES! Immigration isn't just not a problem - as this article points out - it's, in fact, the answer to many of our woes....

Then it was dinner with the legendary Edmund White...he's a lot of fun to hang with...and he regaled me with stories and witticisms and insights...was kind of him to make time for me and to blurb this current book...good, generous man and an inspiration...he actually wrote a book called The Flaneur!

I'd really wanted to meet Colombian-born Jaime Manrique, and we had a lovely afternoon. We were immediately fond of one another and I feel I really made a new friend...very sweet afternoon together, and all in Spanish...and it's true that Colombian Spanish is the best!

And then Brendan's contact Anthony Donovan emerged in a flurry of texts and it was off to learn about the San Patricio Battalion - and so much more! We started at Old St. Patrick's, the first Irish Cathedral in New York City which is surrounded by a wall as anti-immigrant nativists called the Know Nothings (sound familiar?) repeatedly attacked the church, intent on burning it down. Are you listening 35 million Americans of Irish ancestry? Same as it ever was. I was apparently born to this work, as are we all.

Old St. Patrick's was also incidentally JFK Jr.'s parish, and his funeral was held here

Anthony then took me over to Dorothy Day's the Catholic Worker, which is still very much the authentic place she founded...I was amazed by the good energy there and the integrity of the place and people...really inspiring

Could this be America's last remaining pay phone?

I love this....results, success...none of that is the measure...we are here to sow...

walls, walls, walls, ....what's wrong with poeple

Anthony ended up giving me his whole afternoon. He's a fine man, an anti-nuke activist and long, long-time resident of the East Village and he knows its history and its denizens intimately...like the raconteur AliJerari, who has a deli and a great deal of wisdom to share about pretty much everything...hoping to have an afternoon writing in his shop!

Where the Hare Krishnas first sang and danced - in Tompkins Square Park...

St. Brigid's, or the famine church, was ground zero when over 800,000 Central Americans (I mean Irish! funny how those exact numbers keep scrambling my mind) arrived hungry, frightened and in need of sanctuary...

And dad always comes up - I dreamed of him last night. He has a convertible now and all his faculties back. But in the East Village the other day, it was George and Ira Gershwin, whom my dad loved and who reminded me of him...Anthony told me they hoisted their piano by ropes up to the fourth floor here way back before they were anybody...so many people started out in the East Village..waves of immigrants...Germans, Irish, Jews, Italians, Puerto Ricans..Charlie Parker

And then we turned on to Mott Street, and it means only one thing to me... the song my Dad and I both love and used to quote at each other....."I'll take Manhattan"...make it a double!

Mo, from Calcutta, in her copy shop...she gave us naru, which is like a macaroon

CJ was raising money for Unicef...hungry kids, sick kids, there are millions...he's been out here doing this for 7 months! Fuerza CJ!

After that amazing ride through the East Village, I caught up with Charlie from last night's reading...he's another walking history book, so I just kept learning as we headed down to one of the Village's last gay bars, the Boiler Room

Of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent, Charlie grew up in the Bronx and wanted to take me on a tour there, so we planned it for a couple days later....a day on which it poured rain....didn't stop us as we wandered through the botanical gardens, which are really a nature preserve....

We ended up drenched, stumbling into a wonderful Bronx restaurant featuring Caribbean food of all kinds....

mofongo! Which is originally an African dish...casava, garlic, plantains...comes with chicken, shrimp, beef, pork, etc....and yes there was a veggie! And a charming Dominican waitress who showed me how to speak Dominican...las padre...keep the first s, drop the second :)

Thank god Bill & Mark had a fan, as I have one pair of shoes on this trip!

They were coming back from Italy, so I cleaned up/packed up and headed to David Ochoa's....and my zipper split on the sidewalk as the bus arrived, spilling my suitcase contents!...oh no...but of course a Mexican chavo came to the rescue (they always do) and we gathered me onto the bus where I was able to re-attach the zipper....anyway, David....another long story: I met David through my first boyfriend Bruce who now lives in Japan. He met David online via an online LGBTQ news commentary blog, JoeMyGod...they became friends and then Bruce referred David to my UCLA writing class, which David then enrolled in. He's an amazing writer, so we were soon friends, and when he heard I was going to be in NYC, he insisted I stay in his little back room...

And yes, Henry has joined me on this trip...my little familiar :)

And my hats of course....

And the blessed strangers...oh the people you'll meet....he walks up to me with his strong Yiddish accent: "Are you a musician?" The hat. No I'm not. "Are you in the arts?" Yes, I'm a writer. "'I'm a composer and a poet, I once met Tom Wolfe..." And after a flurry of dropped names, he begins to recite poetry, which is very good. His name is Tomer, which means date palm. I hand him my card. "I don't do electronics. People are staring into their phones. They are missing everything around them. You only see if you are open to whatever comes along. Poems find me." He's a flanuer!! I agree vehemently. "People are here to understand and enrich one another," he smiles, "It was a pleasure to meet you." I watched him walk away...enriched, understanding a tad more about the universe....a little angel...

Reading with Craig Gidney at the General Services Bureau - Queer Division at the LGBT Center

With David's partner, Bob...two irishman... oy vey those mick faces....

Bob is Bronx-born and bred

We went to the Day of the Dead procession at the Museo del Barrio...Mexico finds me even when I'm far away :)

David lived 5 years in Merida in the Yucatan...a city I hope to go live in for a couple months this coming year....

And so I think of Dad again.....he's everywhere in all this Irishness, all this happy celebration of the dead, courtesy of Mexicans, the Gershwins...and the stories he used to tell us about his trips to New York when we were kids....so it's not just Henry, it's the three of us traveling around: Dad, Henry and I :)

Back to Queens I went to take Bill & Mark out to dinner to thank them for the stay in their place...we passed by an amazing Greek Orthodox Church

offerings, Mexican style

then headed down to Steinway Ave., called Little Egypt...amazing....another colorful locale...Mediterranean people are the best...shouting, laughing, eating, singing...a cacophony of Arabic...meeting the two brothers from Alexandria, each of whom have a restaurant...they just cook whatever they want, no menu...we had this amazing fish, which is split open and cooked with peppers, veggies, spices...delicious, and accompanied, of course, by salad, baba ganoush, hummus, pita, etc....

One more reading Sunday night.......I'll post whatever shenanigans next blog....

Thanks New York!!

Next stops on the tour:

Montreal

Oct 23, Wed., 7 pm - Violet Hour Reading Series
Stock Bar
1171 St. Catherine St. East,
w/Felice Picano & Montreal writers Johanne Pelletier, Su J Sokol and David Tacium
(514) 842-1336

Oct 24, Thurs, 7 pm - Reading/Q&A
Librairie Argo Bookshop
1915 St. Catherine St. East
w/Felice Picano, & Montreal writers Nicola Sibthorpe & Madelaine Caritas Longman
(514) 931-3442

Ottawa

Oct  26, Sat., 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm - Reading/Q&A 
Heart & Crown Pub

67 Clarence Street (Middle Room)
w/Felice Picano

(613) 562-0674

Toronto

Oct 30, Wed., 6-8 pm - Reading/Q&A
Glad Day Bookshop
499 Church St.
w/Felice Picano
(416) 901-6600

Minneapolis

Nov. 4, Mon., 7 pm - Reading/Q&A
Magers & Quinn Booksellers
3038 Hennepin Ave.
w/Raymond Luczak
(612) 822-4611

Nov. 6, Wed., 7 pm - Reading/Q&A
Quatrefoil Library
1220 E. Lake St.
(612) 729-2543

Seattle

Nov. 9, Sat., 7 pm - Reading/Q&A
Elliott Bay Book Company
1521 10th Ave.
w/Alvin Orloff
(206) 624-6600

Portland

Nov. 16, Sat., 11 am, Radical Faerie Coffee
Triumph Coffeeshop
201 SE 12th Ave.
(971) 229-1631

Nov. 17, Sun., 6 pm, - Stage Reading
Crush Bar
1400 SE Morrison St.
w/Daniel Elder
(503) 235-8150

Los Angeles

Nov. 22, Fri., 7:30 pm - Reading/Q&A
Skylight Books
1814 N. Vermont Ave.
w/ Alvin Orloff & Tara Jepsen
(323) 660-1175

Palm Springs

Nov. 27, Wed., 6–8 pm – End of Tour Book Party
Palm Springs Cultural Center
2300 E Baristo Rd.
(760) 325-2582

Oakland

Dec. 5, Thurs., 7 pm - Reading/Q&A
E.M. Wolfman Bookstore
410 13th St, Oakland
w/Alvin Orloff & Brontez Purnell
(510) 679-4650