#NaBloPoMo: Five Ridiculous Things Genealogists Do

Irish American Pittsburgh

I rarely refer to myself as a genealogist (a word I often struggle to spell), preferring ‘family tree explorer’ or ‘family history documenter’ mainly because genealogists seem to be nuts. Not all of them, not all genealogists. But enough of them are loud enough to suck the fun out of it. Rigidity about who I […]

NaBloPoMo: The Poor Souls In Purgatory

November is National Blog Post Month – the goal is to write a blog post each day of the month. This used to be a big thing with prompts, logos, incentives, etc. Now it is just a solitary pursuit. Today is November 1, 2022. Known to many of us as All Saints Day (a Holy […]

The Time Where I Am Named One of 12 People of the Year By The Advocate Magazine

Blogging and activism have led me in many directions these past decades, but I never imagined they would lead me to a list of 12 ‘People of the Year’ alongside Beyoncé and Ukrainian President Zelensky. And that is exactly what just happened with the November issues of The Advocate. The Advocate, a prestigious national publication […]

That Year My Parents Forgot About Halloween

Distorted Halloween

I’m pretty sure it was fourth grade so that would mark it as 1979. My younger brother and I came home from school to a locked up house and no sign of our parents. That was not unusual. We didn’t have a key, so we used our array of tricks to gain access to the […]

(Another) Update on Pgh Radio Stations Airing Anti-Trans Advertisement

So there’s some confusion about what’s happening with the radio ads containing the anti-trans content. As of the end of last week, Kiss 96.1, Q92.9, and WAMO 107.3 had pulled the ad. That left five stations. On Saturday we received some imprecise information about the other ads – it appears what happened is that I […]

Update on Pgh Radio Stations Airing Anti-Trans Ad Targeting Children

It is exhausting to have to fight this battle station by station. I am incredibly disappointed that allies with power and influence are not responding to advocate for trans kids. These stations represent the Pirates, Penguins, and Steelers. They have contracts with Pittsburgh Public Schools to air football games. I’m sure there are other stations […]

That Time My Foster Kitten Got Sick and I Had to Miss the Governor’s LGBTQ History Month Reception

Governor Wolf LGBTQ History Month Reception

I’m tempted to write “It has been a week” but as it is only Monday night, that’s not adequate to explain where my head is right now. Here’s the quick and dirty version – I broke my toe Saturday night. Ouch. This morning, one of our foster kittens had a temperature of 105.4 (very high) […]

Sue’s Birthday Fundraiser for Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities and #ProtectTransKids

October 22, 2022 will be my 52nd birthday. It is also the 1st ‘birthday’ of Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities, a 501c3 I founded to serve the community. It was pretty cool that the Department of State recognized us on that date. For my birthday this year, I’m asking for donations to Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities. PLC is […]

Warning: Pittsburgh Radio Stations Airing Vicious Anti-Trans Ad

CN: transphobia, poor science, lies, radio stations Last week, word spread on Facebook that some of our beloved local radio stations were airing a vicious transphobic spot. Some attach disclaimers, others do not. The stations that others have identified to me include WDVE 102.5, WAMO 107.3, WISH 99.7, WKST 96.1, WLTJ 92.9, and WDSY 108 […]

My World Mental Health Day in 2022

World Mental Health Day

CN: childhood sexual violence, trauma This World Mental Health Day, I’m thinking ahead 12 days to my birthday (Oct 22.) I have a complicated relationship with my birthday because of the trauma I experienced during my childhood along with the neglect and abuse. There’s a lot of reasons – the inconsistent celebrations, the shame and […]