Honolulu's Historic GLBT Culture

A L O H A !
 
The Glades Project (Re-Enactment filming Behind the Scenes) from Connie M. Florez on Vimeo.

Many years ago. . . 

On Honolulu's famous Hotel Street

their was a place where

the boys were prettier than the girls.

That place was The Glades.

Drag performers all wore a button

by Honolulu law

that read: "I am a boy."

Black Men in America

were carrying signs that said:

"I Am A Man."

Those were some times!

Today, my friend Connie

is making a film. . . 

about a time. . . 

about special people. . . 

Survivors-

[///]

Thank YOU

for being Yourself!

                   fondly, cloudia

Pixie Charades

A   L   O   H   A !

Pixie as ET The Extra Terrestrial!

 Remember when E.T. 

was hiding in pain sight 

among the stuffed toys?

[:]

Thanks for goofing off

with us!

                  Warmly, cloudia

Tortured Body - Soaring Humanity

The Sessions is a remarkable film,
 deeply in touch with the mess
 and splendor 
of wearing these 
meat suits 
that we go around in.

Can a paralyzed man 

be a better "catch'

than a so called

"Able  Bodied" lout?

The worst restrictions

on our Spirit,

Body,

on Life Itself

are always 

permeable

to this remarkable

Human Spirit. 

Warmly, cloudia

See "The Butler"

A  L  O  H  A !

A film may be entertaining,

involving,

exhausting;

But it is only the next day,

and the next,

that you know:

"This is a great film."

The Butler

is such a film.

I saw it yesterday.

In a manner of speaking

I am an extra in the film.

Every American

who lived

 through those times,

is.

If you want to remember,

gain perspective,

or understand

who we are

and how we got here:

Go See

 "The Butler."

The "Negro domestics"

that my husband and I both

knew in our homes

educated us,

raised us,

made us 

who we are.

Mine were ladies

who rode that long bus

out to the suburbs

to clean our house

one day a week.

They taught me

that life was not fair

 to all,

that there is great 

dignity

in work

and in how you 

carry yourself.

I knew that their

 children

did not enjoy

what I had,

what I could do;

their future

was circumscribed

as mine was not.

Kids know:

Unfair!

My husband

had practically

a second mother

who loved him,

scolded him,

and helped to give him

the heart that I love.

We speak of her often.

When I was little,

I couldn't fathom

the courage

of the Freedom Riders.

Heroes;

Children;

Defenseless.

When I was a little older,

Dr. King was shot

and my city burned.

Dad, uncle, others,

who worked in the neighborhoods

stayed home

for days

worrying.

Some of them

lost businesses.

So much of this film

was a trip through my own times

and life.

It was a powerful experience.

Watching the film trailer below

got me emotional again.

At a time

when voting rights

are under attack

in this country

AGAIN

we need to remember

the aged warriors

who already laid their lives

on the line.

We're not there yet.

But someday,

We're gonna get there.

Together.

Take a young person to see

The Butler

and discuss it with them.

Share your life,

your wisdom.

Fondly, cloudia

Bye Johnny

OMG!

It's Captain Jack Sparrow AKA Johnny Depp!

He was gracious. He took time for fans.

He was approachable at nightspots

around Honolulu.

Folks gathered every evening at He'eia Pier,

waiting for him to arrive for filming.

But the ship has sailed on. . .

Bye Johnny!

Ship photos courtesy of the Windward Hogs Harley Owners Group, Mahalo!

So Clooney - So Close

Aloha Movie Fans!



Click on the Clooney

"Ideals are like stars,

you will not succeed in touching them with your hands.

But like the seafarer on the desert of waters,

you choose them as your guides,

and following them

you will reach your destiny."


Carl Shurz

"Tact is,

after all,

a kind of

mind-reading."


Sarah Orne-Jewitt

"Man (or woman :)

will do many things to be loved;

he will do all things

to get himself envied."


Mark Twain


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I rarely go to the yacht club anymore,

even though it is just 156 steps from my boat.

But Saturday night,

a little angel whispered in my ear:

"Why not put on some bling and go over to the club?"

The idea was tantalizing for a moment

before being overtaken by

Polynesian paralysis.

The next day the harbor was abuzz;

George Clooney,

and a few of his colleagues

who are filming here on Oahu

were at OUR club

for a quiet evening of drinking!

George was tending bar

and VERY approachable

to club members who came by.

You can't avoid me forever,

George!

A Film That Changed You?

Aloha!

click on photos to enlarge

Photo: Clark Little (c) From the sublime. . .

"Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent."

Ludwig Wittgenstein

. . . to the ridiculous.

"Novelty keeps us spry, and it cleans up after itself by being gone in a minute."

Peter Schjdahl

There are many different kinds of wars, and of veterans

"It was, I think, the fact that I really had participated in death, that I knew what death was, and had almost experienced it. I had what the Christians call a 'beatific vision,' and the Greeks called 'the happy day,' the happy vision just before death. Now if you have had that, and survived it, come back from it, you are no longer like other people, and there's no use deceiving yourself that you are."

Katherine Anne Porter

Every artist tries to share their unique vision of that which we all experience (if we are paying attention). In successful art and literature, these universals meet a particular vision and setting - "particulars" very different from our own. If the work is successful, we willingly suspend our disbelief and BECOME the person in the story we are watching or reading. We lose ourselves and find "knowing" all at the same time.

I did not grow up in an Italian coastal village in the 1930s - but Fellini did. Today his "coming of age" film Amarcord ("I remember") was shown uninterrupted on IFC. With a father in his final hours or days, and a life that has consisted largely of "saying goodbye" for months now, I was primed to be someone very different for a while.

Amarcord provides me with an added dimension, in that I first saw it as a callow youth when it "came out" in the 1970's. Thus, today I could become Italian and also renew acquaintance with the kid who first saw the film. In what ways is there more richness to it than I appreciated back then? What images have stayed in my head all these years? I certainly remembered the grandfather at the family picnic who climbs a tall tree and shouts: "I want a woman" for hours. The image of the angry father taking a bite out of a hat could have been Homer Simpson - or my dad. The dreamy scenes of falling snow, and coastal fogs, made me a dazzled child again.

Lots of folks like "BIG" movies, and BLOCKBUSTER novels with over-the-top goings on. But there is something truly golden about an artist who doesn't trumpet a "MESSAGE" or "ANSWER" but rather provokes our own interior conversations with a work that unfolds like Proust's Madelaine, giving off new flavors & appreciations as our mind's palate matures.

Another version of the universal story that I like is the film Avalon by Barry Levinson. The Trouble With Angel's, starring Hailey Mills also reminds me of the "me" I was growing up, and the world where I came of age.

Now it's YOUR turn. Tell us a film or book that touched your imagination, provoking YOUR yearning and excellence.

As a character in Amarcord says: "Silence is golden; but words are silver."

A L O H A! Cloudia