Lifestyle
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Some legends refuse to stay buried. There are places in this world where history and legend become so intertwined that separating fact from fiction is nearly impossible. Cartagena, Spain, is one of those places. Hidden among its centuries of history is a disturbing tale involving a mysterious coffin, unexplained deaths, a Serbian aristocrat, and a…
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From the Case Files of Steven LaChance Something happened to me recently that upset me. I am talking about really upsetting me. It brought back those memories from the Screaming House so clearly; I felt like I was back there living it all over again. I thought I was over it. I thought I had…
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From the Case Files of Steven LaChance I sat back in the comfortable leather seat of the black sedan, taking in the sights outside the window and feeling the cool air from the AC on my torso. “It is going to be a very hot day here. They say it could be as much as…
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Ten years of this has been enough. Ten years of the hate is enough. Ten years of the division is enough. Ten years of seeing the worst of humanity brought to the surface is enough. I’ve told this story before, but I’m going to tell it again. Within the first half hour of Donald Trump’s…
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I read something recently that said LGBTQ+ people are going to start going back into the closet. I’m not sure how that is even possible once that door has been opened. It is true that in some ways we come out every time we meet someone new or find ourselves in a new situation. I…
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What do you suppose Christopher Isherwood meant when he wrote these words? “I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking.” The beginning is easy enough to understand, and it is the part most often remembered. I am a camera. Isherwood was a writer observing the world around him, recording the…
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I have debated writing this, but I believe it is our responsibility as writers to record what we observe. This is not meant as a political statement. It is simply an observation from someone who now lives outside the United States and returns several times a year. I read an article today written by someone…
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I’ve been thinking a lot about the word queer lately. I’m a gay man, and I’m also part of the queer community. To me, those two statements are not contradictory. One describes me specifically. The other describes the larger community I belong to. I understand why the word queer makes some people uncomfortable. It was…
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Can you imagine being a kid, going to church, doing your best to be good, and then hearing something that changes your world? The very thing you were born to be, they are saying, is unholy. That you are unholy. You go to school, so happy to make friends, and that’s when you’re called “fag”…
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Today is the first day of Pride Month, and I have complicated feelings about it. The truth is, I wish we did not need it. I wish we had reached the point where nobody cared who someone loved. I wish we had reached the point where a month dedicated to Pride was no longer necessary…
