Janice and I with John Fetterman. 14 April 22 Photo Credit alamy
Janice isn’t angry, just bad 1/1000 of a second
I have memories of working with a man named Carl. He was not a nice man, but played the part of “everyman,” the guy who has something in common with you when he needed your help. I exposed his incompetence to Wing Command and he said to me, “May I read your name in the newspaper.” Habitually late, Carl himself now referred to as “late,” he missed his chance last week.
Janice has followed the career of John Fetterman for seventeen years, from when he first caught headlines as “The Tattooed Mayor” in Braddock, PA. He is an amazing man, and being such is an amazing politician. Atypical in every way, now Lieutenant Governor, he’s in the primaries for United States Senator, replacing the retiring Pat Toomy. Janice has been a contributor, when she can, of small amounts; often $4.20. Yes John is a pro legalization politician.
He spoke at a gathering last week, wearing a sweat shirt and shorts. An air not of the confidence of a big man (he’s 6’9″) but a man secure in sharing his space, in many ways his life, with you. Inviting. His story is inspiring, more so to marginalized communities. Starting as a nobody, “America’s coolest mayor“( as described by The Guardian on 14 July, 2009), went worldwide. Unconventional, big, bald, and tattooed, he made change where others had failed. His list of successes is amazing. What is more amazing is the little stories, out side of the mainstream, when John wasn’t being a politician; sometimes risking his position, when no one was watching. When they didn’t like watching, the legislature attached a rider to the budget forbidding flying flags other than American or Pennsylvanian in order to force him to take down the rainbow flag which he flew from his office.
We had arrived early (1st) and sat in the empty room for almost an hour, in the few existing chairs near the podium. At about eleven forty five people started showing up, slowly filling the room. He entered the room from the side door right about twelve, slowly working his way through several stops to shake every hand, hear every name. After he spoke he returned to the crowd, and did not leave until he had spoken with everyone who wanted to speak to him. As the crowd thinned, a few other people came over to us and introduced themselves, two queer women with disabilities, and we became the “Old Disabled Queers” contingent.
The old disabled queer continent; Maggie, Amy, John Fetterman, Janice, and me
They approached us because we are somewhat flamboyant, Janice beautiful with freshly dyed hair and a Fetterman shirt with a rainbow heart, me in a kilt with Bi pride pleats, and a Warren Zevon t-shirt. Their first question? “Do you have the car with all the queer stickers out front?” John’s wife Gisele, a great human being by her own rights approached Janice and spoke with our little group for a bit. Here is the sad part. I used Janice’s camera through the day to take pictures, and when Giselle and Janice posed for everyone, I failed to operate the camera, we had no good pictures but our new friends shared theirs.
selfie Janice managed to take with Gisele
As much as we would like to support our local candidate, Malcolm Kenyatta, we intend to cast our votes for John Fetterman. This is not Malcolm’s year, he does not have state wide recognition. Malcolm presently polls at 4%, John is at 41%, and Conor Lamb has 17%. The only real competition is undecided, with 37%. Fetterman has visited each of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania and is known globally for the way he turned Braddock around. Lamb has openly (and falsely) attacked a fellow Democrat as being a Socialist. Malcolm’s most self beneficial move would be to withdraw and support Fetterman, giving him a reason to be on the news so he can be remembered next time as a good guy.
On the Republican side, the candidates seem to be trying to “out Trump” each other. None reside in the state. In the lead is Dr. Oz, whose commercials emphasize his anti-science, transphobic, and anti-choice positions. Really. He promotes these stands, and ties himself to Trump. One of his campaign promises is to “Fire Fauci.” Some folks believe each and every one of these positions is a reason to elect a Senator. The number of such people should be determined based on the outcome of the primary elections this May.
When we attended the Bucksmont Pride fair last year we met Malcolm, and a film crew making a documentary about the election. Janice promised Malcolm (on film) to vote for him in the primary. They will be coming over to film another segment when we vote. Suddenly, we are noticed as “members of the LGBTQ community.” Maybe because Janice tells everyone about our Big Gay Christmas tree. I’m sure the crew will maintain the secrecy of our votes, and we have discussed whether we should mention that we’re not voting for Malcolm and why. They are already aware of our change of position.
Our 7′ rainbow spiral tree, somewhere around 2000 LED lights and meaningful ornaments
AKA Big Gay Christmas tree
One thing that happened at the rally I hadn’t expected, was all the assumptions made. My chameleon nature, which allows people to be confident enough to make “between us” statements and has been exceptionally useful in previous careers as I recall, needs to be addressed. First and foremost, “But if you want money for people with minds that hate, All I can tell you is brother you have to wait.” I fit in because I’m not judging you, I’m not offended when you make derogatory statements against my beliefs. I get bored by it, but unless it’s aggressive I can’t be bothered. I am conservative, but no longer Republican. I am Christian, as in “a follower of Christ” and not “enforcer of the words I want to believe but don’t understand.” I am Bisexual, and have been for 43 years. I have been married four times, widowed once. I have experienced prejudice against a variety of my imagined traits. Before you ever assume anything about me just ask, I have no secrets. Screw you Carl.
It’s good to writing again.
KBlakeCash 