Peter's Place

Just sit back and watch this awesome video from National Geographic !

It should come as no surprise to those who know or follow me online that I suffer from dysthymia compounded with episodes of major depressive disorder as well as some anxiety disorders (general, social, performance). I can cope and carry myself in certain circumstances. For instance, I spent the last few months putting together a LGBTQ pride event in The Bronx. I thought this year would be different insofar as I wouldn't be doing the majority of the word, as certain people had volunteered to take on some pretty hefty tasks that are a large part of putting together any event, especially one outdoors in a NYC-owned park. But many of those people dragged their feet and misled me about what they had been doing (i.e., nothing) and wound up reneging on their promises, leaving me to pick up their tasks and start from scratch (as they'd literally not done a damned thing), forcing me to quintuple my expected workload. Thankfully, I was able to pull it off and we had a very successfu...

Hon. Mark Amodei United States Congress 5310 Kietzke Lane, Suite 103 Reno, NV 89511 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 810 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington DC 20420 Dear Congressman Amodei and the US Dept. of Veterans Affairs: My father is a veteran of the United States Air Force from the Vietnam War. I last contacted you at the beginning of this year to file a complaint on his behalf regarding the lack of health care he was receiving from the Veterans Administration. My father is one of your constituents. The response from your office to me was that you cannot accept a complaint from me on behalf of my father because I, myself, am not a constituent. I write to you once again because my father is no longer in a position to advocate for himself, due to his deteriorating health. The situation is so grave that the VA had him to fill out a living will and send it to me, via express mail. My father's health has continued to deteriorate because he is not ...

April 1, 2014 Santiago, Chile In an absolutely astounding announcement today, Janet Yellen made a stern and heartfelt apology for 100 years of asset bubbles, depressions, recessions, panics, banking crises, and all-around inflation caused by the Federal Reserve. Flanked on both sides by former Fed Chairmen Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan, and Paul Volker, Ms. Yellen stated emotionally, "As grand wizards of the financial system, we must accept full responsibility for the consequences that our decisions have had on the lives of ordinary people around the world..." "Frankly," Ms. Yellen continued, "I can't believe in this day and age that total control of the money supply is awarded to a tiny handful of unelected central bankers. It is a most undemocratic system and should be abolished immediately." Well... a man can certainly dream. Happy April Fool's Day. (credit: Simon Black )

**le melt** **le sniffle**

Taken from Facebook, found on Google+, allegedly written by a female cop. "In daylight hours, refresh yourself of these things to do in an emergency situation... This is for you, and for you to share with your wife, your children, & everyone you know. After reading these 9 crucial tips, forward them to someone you care about. It never hurts to be careful in this crazy world we live in. 1.  Tip from Tae Kwon Do :The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do! 2.  Learned this from a tourist guide. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you... Chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION! 3.  If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy.. The driver won't see you, but everybody ...

Post by Peter C. Equality Frank .

Yesterday, October 21st, I celebrated my 29th birthday, again. It's a birthday I've celebrated before, and one that I will continue to celebrate, because I'm not done. I've been thinking a lot this year about why I celebrate my 29th birthday, instead of my actual age. Most people -- most of my friends, included -- probably think it's because I'm vain. As a gay man, I can't age into my 30s. But that's only a part -- a very small part -- of it. The year of my actual 29th birthday was the year of my automobile accident -- the one and only. The one that changed my life. The one that put me into a living coma, out of which I'm continuing to emerge. That year, I survived a fatal automobile accident in Montauk. I shouldn't have survived and were it not for a good samaritan who pulled over when he saw my car go off the road, I wouldn't have survived. I spent most of that year in hospital (including my birthday), both for my physical and men...

Apparently, YouTube has decided to allow infomercials to be played on its network -- as advertisements!  Consider this advert, which appeared (and I had to suffer through) on a 3:48 video I wanted to watch. I mean, seriously, forcing me to watch a 15:30 advert in order to watch a 3:48 video? Can we say, #EpicFail, boys and girls? :P

Over the past few months, I have carefully been considering the 2013 New York City mayoral race and examining the candidates who are seeking office. I reserved making a decision about whom I would support until I had invested enough time to examine and try to work with all of the candidates. Most importantly to me as an LGBTQ-rights activist, NYC Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn has stood out among the candidates as standing by the LGBTQ community, and I believe that she will continue to do so. Not many know about this but Quinn has laid out a plan for LGBTQ residents of NYC : Establish a Mayor’s Office of HIV/AIDS Policy Ensure That No Young Person in New York Has to Spend the Night on the Streets Build New York City’s First LGBT Senior Housing Community Make Sure City Agencies Effectively Serve all LGBT New Yorkers Redouble Efforts to Combat Hate Crimes and Promote Tolerance Quinn's plan and support for the LGBTQ community, laid out in more detail on her web site...

During my many inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations for Depression and suicide (both ideation and attempts) after my car accident, I was suffering from not only a loss of social status (adjusting to living on SSD income) but a loss of physical and mental capacities (Depression really  does a number on one's cognitive abilities). I've since overcome many of these feelings, and even some of the physical and mental debilitations (although not all of them, unfortunately). I've had to learn how to live with a "new me" if you will, and learn that I have new limitations, in addition to discovering what previous limitations I've always had. It wasn't the doctors who helped me with the profound sense of loss and feelings of inadequacy. They're just there for pharmacological stabilization--"let's get him stabilized on pharmaceuticals and shove him out the door" is the mantra of most psychiatrists these days. It certainly wasn't ...

I was having a discussion with an older gentleman in my friend's hair salon yesterday, while I getting my hair done ( the salon is owned by my friend, and as we barter for services I don't pay anything out of pocket). The essence of the conversation revolved around the political crisis that we're facing. We discussed some of the possible reasons that we've managed to sink into such a time of extreme crisis: the vast majority of people in this country (the USA) do not want to know what's going on in the world or in this nation, unless it's something they don't have to think about. In other words, they just want to kick back, pop open a brewskie, and be entertained. They do not  want to think about and/or deal with real-world issues—something they leave to the realm of their employment (should they be one of the 37% in this nation who are gainfully employed). I posti that a very large part of this mentality is due to the fact that we have no real news c...