Happy Birthday to my Cousin Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson Family Tree

Rachel Carson is my cousin and I’m pleased as punch. Today, May 27, is her birthday so I am finally publishing my little tribute to our family connection. I’ve spent most of my life having little to no information on the family of my great-grandmother, Jane Rice Remley. Her story was a mystery of half-hidden […]

I Need Something Human

Foster Kittens

This week has been intense and I’m struggling to figure out what comes next for me. Not in some big grand mysterious plan sort of way, but in an introspective “Am I the person I want to be?” sort of way. On the ‘yes’ side of that question – I trapped five homeless kittens at […]

Q&A with Bethany Hallam, Candidate for Allegheny County Council District at Large

Bethany Hallam Allegheny County Council

We are revisiting our Political Q&A series for the upcoming elections of 2019. We’ve reached out to candidates who are pro-choice and pro-LGBTQ, asking them a series of questions about their campaigns. We’ve sent out about a dozen Q&A’s to folks who agreed to participate. Candidates can be anywhere in Pennsylvania running for any level […]

Stop Blaming Gary Van Horn for All of the LGBTQ Community Problems in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Pridefest Delta Foundation Gary Van Horn

I’ve seen variants of this rhetoric all over Facebook in the past several weeks, a very intentional effort to hold Gary Van Horn, President of the Delta Foundation, (known as GVH) accountable for the ways in which the Delta Foundation has failed our community and for his own personal alleged crimes. I think it is […]

Q&A with Pam Harbin, Candidate for Pittsburgh Public School Board District 4

We are revisiting our Political Q&A series for the upcoming elections of 2019. We’ve reached out to candidates who are pro-choice and pro-LGBTQ, asking them a series of questions about their campaigns. We’ve sent out about a dozen Q&A’s to folks who agreed to participate. Candidates can be anywhere in Pennsylvania running for any level […]

Why I’m Blogging About Mental Health Awareness Month

Mental Health Awareness Month

From NAMI website: During the month of May NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, will launch the WhyCare? awareness campaign for Mental Health Month. The campaign emphasizes how the “power of caring” can make a life-changing impact on the more than 40 million people in the U.S. who face the day-to-day reality of having a mental health […]

Five Years as a Persad Client

Five years ago today, I began working with the team at Persad Center as a clinical client in addition to my existing community collaborations. Anticipating that things could get complicated by mixing clinical with community, I had resisted this relationship as long as possible. But finding a LGBTQ competent treatment team including a psychistrist had […]

56 Lesbian Stories from Western Pennsylvania to #AMPLIFY Lesbian Visibility Day

lesbian salute

Caution – this seems to be one of those made-up celebrations that are used to generate click-bait articles on websites targeting lesbians, but not necessarily driven by lesbians. So this lesbian is going to seize the moment to write a non-click-bait article promoting lesbian visibility. First, read every single blog post I’ve written since 2005. […]

Ten Alternative Gifts to Celebrate Easter & Spring & More

alternative easters gifts

We are honoring Passover and Easter this week along with the first real lasting bout of spring weather. This means lots of sniffles, but also buying stuff for gifts – candy, toys, etc. I don’t want to take away your joy at gnawing on that giant chocolate ear, but there are some other ways you […]

Safe in my flower box garden?

I’ve been sticking close to home lately. It helps to manage anxiety and sadness to be in a safe, comfortable space. It’s a tradeoff because I feel lonely, but my projects are doing okay – cat food drive is helping a lot of folks, Q&As are booming, and occasionally people offer to come see me […]