Peter's Place

When I first started coming out, I learned the value of why one should lead an open life. While I value, and respect, privacy, I've found that leading one's life out in the open has numerous benefits over keeping one's life out of public purview, benefits that are immeasurable. For this reason, I've lived my life openly, often putting things into the public eye that most others would shy away from doing. I've discussed my mental illness openly  and, in doing so, have reaped the rewards of helping others deal with their struggles. I've discussed so many aspects about my personal life, receiving accolades and support all along the way. I've befriended countless individuals and had such positive forces and energy come into my life as a result of living a life where I hide very little, if anything. It doesn't come as a surprise to me that individuals would try to use my openness against me; what does surprise me is that a judge fell for such obviously t...

Tom's of Maine: Philosophy of Goodness is a video message that both serves as a commercial for their products but also as a vehicle to promote their corporate philosophy. It had me in tears. Here are some quotes from the video, created and produced by Tom's of Maine : "Success can be measured not only in terms of money made but in the good created that making uncommonly good products can actually serve the common good." "Let's work together to accelerate the change for good." "We can do more to help improve society so tell us not only how to improve our products but how to improve our world." "Together we can be an unstoppable force for good." According to the video statement, Tom's of Maine donates 10% of their profits to charities and "encourage[s their] employees to donate 5% of work time to community service." They're asking the global community to bring worthy charitable causes to their attention that ar...

I was just as this question on a web site I participate in, and thought I'd share my response here for all of you to see.  What is your solution to keeping gays in the military?  Robert, when Truman integrated the military, he didn't wait for Congress. He didn't poll the foot soldiers to find out how they'd "FEEL" about having to live and/or serve with other races in the same unit. He didn't pussyfoot around. He issued a fucking executive order as Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, and the troops fucking followed his order. Period, end of discussion! The only  reason that can be inferred from POTUS Barack Obama's refusal to end DADT and order an end to discrimination against gay men and lesbians serving in the Armed Forces of United States of America is because he doesn't want to. US  President Harry S. Truman Truman's top military aides and advisers all thought he was bonkers for integrating the military. But guess what? He issue...

I know I don't usually start off a blog post with a video (those who have been following my blog for a while know it's something I might end a post with, but not start one...) however, this is too important, and too moving, to not put up front. I'm not a vlogger . I just don't think I do well in video. But I do think I have a fairly decent command of the written word, and I've used that as my medium for quite some time. As someone who's been online in one form or another since the 1980s (that's before  the Internet was open to the public), I've used my powers of persuasive writing to advocate for a number of things—such as politics, the environment, and yes, for gay rights. “In my own unassuming way, I know I can make a difference. You can as well.” ~ Kinsey Millhone . Often, one of the questions posed to me, as a blogger, is, “Why do you blog?” I just finished reading T is for Trespass , the latest (as of this writing) released book in Sue Graft...

To: The United Nations General Assembly, All Governments and Political Authorities, Holders of Content Copyright Living in the Age of the Internet, I am deeply puzzled over the ineptitude, unnecessary overcomplication, and (at times) outright hindrance of certain organisations to broadcast content over the Internet internationally simply because they're unable to successfully navigate the myriad complications in securing such permissions at a global level and must do so jurisdiction by jurisdiction. The very idea and notion of building a global community has never been closer to reality than in today's Internet Age; villages in poverty-stricken, rural outlays are able to communicate with the entire world thanks to solar-powered laptop computers and wireless broadband. The major obstacle to completing the global community is the deprecated notion of copyright legalities. While I recognize that the originators and creators of content should have mechanisms in place to pro...

I just read this opinion piece, Cal Thomas: Polygamy precedent applies to gay marriage | The Salt Lake Tribune , and I write this in response thereof. Cal Thomas is the author of the aforementioned piece, which was published by the Salt Lake Tribune. I don't know about you, gentle reader, but this blogger really wonders how an opinion piece advocating that same-sex marriage be denied on the same grounds as, and because, anti-polygamy laws were held constitutional and not an intrusion on the fundamental right to marry, ends up published in the primary newspaper for the Mormon Capital of the World , Salt Lake City, Utah. Mr. Thomas proclaims himself to be "America's #1 nationally syndicated columnist" and syndicated commentator. He has been an outspoken opponent of equality and opposes even tolerance of "homosexuality": What we tolerate, we get more of, and we have been tolerating a lot since the Age of Aquarius generation began the systematic destruction...

Some thoughts were just running through my mind and I thought I'd share them, to see what others think. I'd recently been accused of being "one of those arrogant, rude New Yorkers" and so I've been focused on why this misconception of New Yorkers being rude and obnoxious has come about and it has lead me to the exact opposite conclusion: New Yorkers are, by and far, more friendly and more intimate with each other than citizens of other big cities and small towns alike, because they've taken the time to get to know one another through assimilation. Being The Center of the World has its advantages (there are so many things to do!) and its disadvantages (there are so many things to do!). Because of this, New Yorkers are perennially wandering about from place to place and from event to event, to get to that "next thing to do" that's on their "list" (virtual or stone tablet). With all this running, walking, jogging, skating, biking...

Someone recently asked a question of me on the Fabulis site and my answer wouldn't fit in the space provided, so I'm providing it here. The question was: Q: Describe a perfect day. A: Here's my answer: Hrm, I'd have to say waking up to watch the sun set in the arms of a man I've fallen 1001% for. Walking to the balcony in his arms while the servants start lighting candles about the palace, bringing in juicy bits of fruits & other organic, delicious, sweet foods along with some granola and whole grain cereals. Feeding each other as we begin our day, laptops on the table, checking in around the world and seeing what's going on. Interacting with others on-line, blogging, printing out coupons for sales, checking prices, seeing what's going on. Watching the snow fall on twinkling lights around the city from the balcony, then running out to catch a musical concert featuring the best of Béla Bartók, Smetana, and the rest of the best of the Romantic comp...

I've become quite annoyed that we, as a nation, are complacent with calling today's holiday "the Fourth of July" instead of its traditional, more meaningful name, " Independence Day ." Today's holiday celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence , which marks the birth of our great nation. Like Christmas, it is one of the few holidays we celebrate here in the USA that occurs on a specific date, as opposed to a specific day (such as the last Monday in May, when we celebrate Memorial Day, or the fourth Thursday in November, when we celebrate Thanksgiving). We don't wish people a "Merry 25th of December" or a "Happy 11th of November"; why then, have we resorted to this downgrading of Independence Day by wishing folks a "Happy Fourth of July"?

I wrote this on 30 March 2010 but just haven’t had a chance to post it until now. But then, something happened today (a few conversations with a few different TweePALs) that made my memory job back a few months and remember what I had written, and realize that now would be a great time to finally get this up on my blog: I had to go into the City today and forgot to bring a book along with me to read on the train ride. While the ride isn’t that long (50-minutes tops, from my sister's home) it’s long enough to get through a few chapters of a good book. I did, however, have my trusty laptop computer with me so I’ve brought it out as the train is departing and am just going to write down some of my thoughts until a few minutes before my stop, when I’ll have to start the process of hibernating the computer (it takes a few minutes to go into hibernation mode because writing 3,221,225,472 bytes (3GB) of data to a hard disk drive – no matter the speed and/or interface – still takes a...

Found this awesome video clip from one of my favourite famous women who do not work in the field of entertainment, Suze Orman: Here is a partial transcript of quotes that I thought should be transcribed for all to see: Back [in the 1980s], there were ethics. There were ethics with money, believe it or not. You couldn't buy a house unless you had 20% down. They didn't give you credit cards unless you had the money to get out of credit card debt. They didn't give you a financial rope so that you could hang yourself. Today's economy is based on the ignorance of the people everywhere in the hopes that you're going to make some serious financial mistake that makes these people over here be able to meet their earnings reports for the stock markets and the this and the that. Way back when, money made sense. You could go to the university and pay $100 a semester to attend. Now we have kids graduating college with more student loan debt than they have any idea ...

I just wrote this to my supposed best friend: We met almost two years ago and have been through a lot together. However, our friendship cannot continue. You have destroyed any and all trust that I had in you by your actions. If I speak to you about this, instead of writing, I will be using words that you do not want to hear – language that you, or any person of your race, would want to hear. That is how upset I am. So instead, I leave you with this letter. It does not matter how much you took, or what you took. It matters, simply, that you took, without asking and without informing me (after the fact), period . And you didn’t take just once, or twice, or thrice—you took multiple times. After I confronted you about it and left for my mother’s, you continued to take. That’s all that matters. I wish you well; I do not wish you any ill will. I will try to help you when I can, but we are and can only be acquaintances now. I don’t know if you’ll ever repay me the money that yo...