Where do I go...

Hmmm... a bunch of my friends will be headed to DC to share my city for college this coming year.  So I have to figure out where to take them for a good time.  Let's brainstorm:

• Mr. Yogato for Frozen yogurt in Dupont- make sure they answer a trivia question!
• Town for the Drag Show on Friday's 18+ night
• Embassy Hopping during Cultural Week and trick-or-treating on Halloween
• The Shakespeare Theater downtown for at least one performance of something epic
• E Street Cinema to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show or one of a million other amazing midnight viewings
• Georgetown Cupcake, because yeah, you should do it, even if they do cost $3 a piece  
• Top of the Washington Memorial- it's beautiful and it's free
• Walking tour of the monuments, at night, plus Mayur Kabob House and its sketchy Indo-pakistani food
• See the Big Chair in Anacostia and walk Mr. Luther King Blvd. to understand the other half of the city
• Thrift shopping on Georgia Ave.
• Eating the most amazing sandwiches ever at Potbellys
• Shopping for fresh groceries and pastries at Eastern Market, then sifting through thousands of books at Easter Market Books, a block down the road
• Downing a bowl of lemongrass soup the size of your head at Satay Club
• Volunteering at an Earth Day cleanup in Georgetown
• Trolling U Street and sneaking into Utopia for the live jazz night
• Taking the MERC up to Baltimore to explore

Forever the Queerest Kids

Hey everyone,

Please check out my new wordpress blog: http://foreverthequeerestkids.wordpress.com  

I know, I know, shameless self-promotion, but I'm really hoping that this will turn into a good resource for LGBT kids.  I think a lot of us know how it feels to not know where to turn for information and to feel slightly alone.  So this is my small effort not to forget that struggle now that I'm past it.  Anything anyone would like to contribute is extremely welcome, whether that's a written and formatted advice blog or just a random URL that you want me to fit into a post.  

Everything is appreciated.  And if nothing else, if you could pass this along to other people who might find it useful, that'd be incredibly awesome.

Thanks! 

Like A Waving (RAINBOW) Flag

So now that Beth is up at Middlebury and primarily incommunicado for the next 8 1/2 weeks, I need something besides my 2 jobs to keep me busy. So I'm thinking of starting a blog- not like my Xanga, which is really just a rambly, self-indulgent, and occasionally cathartic mess, but a real, serious blog.

I want to create a resource for LGBT teens that tells them something besides the stupid stuff they get from PFLAG and Lambda Legal about how "you're just as important and worthy of a person as any straight kid and blah blah blah."  I feel like there are a lot of kids who have passed the stage of self-loathing, embarrassment, and/or questioning stages but aren't at (or may never come to) a point where they feel like they are ready for activism or mentorship of their own.  And that's really kind of the end goal, isn't it?  To reach out and help others through the same process you've been going through?  Well, that's my view at least.

My problem now is that I've gone so far past that gap section of adolescence and so far into the college academic/political activism spheres that I'm not 100% what is relevant or needed anymore.  

So my question to anyone who thinks they have an answer: What information does an LGBT teen in 2010 need that she/he/ze might not have access to?  

I'm thinking that I should information about websites like campusclimate.com, which gives an overview of LGBT acceptance at various universities, as well as resources for different religious groups, and maybe some stuff on sex-positive lifestyles.  But what else?  Please give me feedback- and if you don't want to post here, send me an email at bonkiep@gmail.com.

Thanks guys!

**Also, advice on blog platforms are always appreciated.  I'm leaning towards wordpress at the moment just for the sake of simplicity.

Also, what do you guys think about this for my new hairstyle?  I need to get it cut before Prom on the 29th....

Pittsburgh, our town, our home

Things I've figured out/remembered since coming home:

• Waitressing hurts your feet, your back, your head, and just about every other part of your body.  It is relentless and not terribly rewarding.  People often don't tip well.  But you do meet interesting co-workers who lead very different lives than you and it does make you tough.
• I am a terrible waitress.
• Sometimes it's really good to stay up all night and be stupid and watch Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen movies and eat WAY too much food and laugh and play with better blocks and be very silly and fall asleep on the couch.  It reminds you that everything in life isn't that serious.
• Linbrook Park is an amazing place for bonfires, stargazing, and playing the weirdest of the Beatles songs.  See: Maxwell's Silver Hammer and For the Benefit of Mr. Kite.
• Kofi Annan was implicated in the political buildup and bureaucratic breakdown which led up to the Rwandan Genocide.  So was the French Government.  BIG TIME.
•  Politicans are, per usual, disappointing in their showing for the Pennsylvania Primary.  Boooooo.
• Video chat is amazing.
• Skype and Google Video Chat are both a little buggy.
• Sam may be able to understand the physics of black holes and the mathematics of linear algebra, but he will never get Macroeconomics.  

I'm really happy to be back home, listening to Dana rant about dance team and quip with Dad at dinner about fiber tablets and Michael Jackson.  I'm happy to be listening to the Chamber Choir sing a cappella and to be playing with blocks and getting ice cream with my friends. I'm even happy to be back at Stonebrook, serving dinner to grouchy old people, not getting tipped, and being hit on by Vince, the old Italian man who sits at the back table with his wife.  

I'm not happy to have tendonitis in my achilles heel, tension in my back, and a Chinese headache (as Bryer would put it- it feels like a thousand acupuncture pins being pushed into the sides of my skull).  

But overall, good.  I'm working on getting my camera repaired.  I'm making a little bit of money.  I'm seeing friends.  I'm reading about Rwanda.  Eventually I will start writing and finish up my story.  I will see Beth soon and we'll go to KennyWood and the Point and all sorts of wonderful things.  I will cheer for my friends at graduation and go to their grad parties.  I will (hopefully) see Sam in North Carolina at some point. And things will be ok.