The Erie Blogger picnic was fun on Tuesday! We had a nice turnout. I had packed the totes with the Pride Picnic stuff, so I looked unusually organized and prepared. Well, almost. I had brought the charcoal and lighter fluid, but I couldn't find the matches. We kept asking folks if they had a lighter, but apparently we were all non-smokers. (Hey, that's a good thing.) Ron, who was very kindly volunteering to do the grilling with Jon, suggested trying to ignite some paper toweling near the grill with the cigarette lighter from my car. There were several attempts, but this was not exactly crowned with success. ;) Finally, David got the bright idea to simply walk to the next occupied shelter and borrow their Aim 'N Flame. I mused that if most of us were left to survive in the wild, we would be gone in 3 hours, maximum. (I was trying to figure out if the grill had a USB interface. ;) )
There was quite a wonderful selection of food, and everyone seemed to have a great time visiting. Dan from the Community Blood Bank was there to push the Battle of the Bloggers, which happens July 23-27. You can read more about it here. It is a very worthy cause, as Erie is in desperate need of donated blood. They also have a cool prize for both the top blogger and randomly selected reader/donor.
I talked for a fair bit in the beginning with David. He was actually a friend of my parents in the early 70's or so when my Dad was hanging out with some hippies. As it so happens, David's sister, Chris, is married to Steve, who is my baby brother's namesake. David said that Steve and Chris are doing really well.
Later on, Jenson (who is going to be away for 6 months) asked me if I had a date at the picnic. I was puzzled. I then said that David was straight (and a grandparent - he had to leave early to spend time with the grandkids), but explained the familial connection. I was very young when Dad knew Steve and Chris and the rest, but I have fond memories. I remember hanging out at Steve and Chris' apartment, and there was some kind of light with a rotating plastic translucent cover. Again, it was the 70's, and a lot of the folks probably would be labelled as hippies. I seem to recall that Steve (who is/was vegetarian) came up with my dad and another friend, Frank (who is/was diabetic) to a Thanksgiving dinner that we had when Mom and us kids were living in my grandparents' house.
My dad was an odd duck, to put it mildly. My friend Deb knew my dad in that period (she was very young then) and recalled a story about when a bunch of folks were hanging out, listening to the newest album from the Rolling Stones. They might also have been tripping on LSD or something like that. Dad was really into Big Band jazz (hence my middle name, Kenton.) So, he ended up yanking the Rolling Stones record and put on something by Stan Kenton. I guess it was rather a jarring change for the people who had been listening.
The night before the picnic, I had a call via the Erie Hotline from a guy who was looking for counseling and resources because he had seen the GLBT contingent in the 4th of July parade. I gave him the info for some resources, and hoped that I was being helpful. It does tend to reinforce that in order to be effective, we need to not just remain cloistered in the ghetto of whatever community we are part of, but rather, to be fully part of the greater community.
