From the department of "Things that make you go hmmmm" comes this doozie :

Gay Aussie hotel wins right to ban heterosexuals, lesbians
The Peel Hotel in Melbourne won an exemption from the Equal Opportunity Act to prevent insults and abuse directed toward gays in its bars and nightclubs, owner Tom McFeely told AFP.

"The hotel predominantly markets itself towards homosexual males, towards gay men and we want to protect the integrity of the venue as well as continue to make the men feel comfortable," McFeely said.

"When large numbers of heterosexuals or even lesbians are in the hotel that changes the atmosphere and many gay men can feel uncomfortable."

I would love it if this where a joke given the owner's last name is one McFeely and all I think of him being the insensitive evil twin of Grey Anatomy's McDreamy, but no ... 'tis true.

Goes to show women end up being second class citizens even within marginalized communities.

I fly back to NYC tomorrow to begin interviews for my book; wondering what I can do to pass the time on the plane without being charged with treason.

Thanks for your help!

This is still my state of mind.
De-mojito-ing is turning out to be rather difficult.

  

Child entertainer and doll Barney stands accused of terrorism after emitting suspicious stuffing on a flight from Chattanooga, TN to Boone, NC. Both Barney and the unidentified blind child who boarded with him are being held in an undisclosed location.

Witnesses claim that a fight erupted when several stewardesses tried to take the purple dinosaur from the child. The child claimed that she didn't care about the dangers of "picious stuffin'" and was immediately placed in a choke hold. The pilot returned to Chattanooga where armed officers and terrorism specialists whisked the suspects into custody.

Officials speculate that Barney may have brainwashed the child into some kind of revenge plot due to his loss in popularity. An unconfirmed source stated that the other child on the flight had a Tickle Me Elmo doll, but it is not known if Barney had access to this information before boarding.

Meanwhile, the search for that guy that blew up those towers
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This morning I was checking email and attempting to blog with the choppy wifi access I have here at the hotel. Instead of banging my head on the wall, I decided to get up up for a minute for a drink of water. When I come back to the computer I see a gorgeous familiar face I've not seen in 16 years. Debra Matos, my former roommate (and one of the few who lived to tell the tale), was standing right before me. Let's say I was way beyond ferklempt.

Of all the places I could bump into her, the Rincon Beach Resort was the last one I thought I'd find her. Debra has been living in France for all this time now and, my blog, I mean, it's just freaky that she was there hugging me after all these years. She has two lovely girls and just like with my two boys, this is also their first time in the island as 'sapient beings'.

Synchronicity. Coincidences. Karma works in mysterious ways.

What's even weirder is that a couple of days ago another former NYU friend of mine, Frances, had asked me about Debra. We were all together working on our MAs and PhDs in the 90's. Her life partner Jorge Morales is an avid blog reader and coincidentally had stumbled upon culturekitchen and thus me via The Agonist. Shout out to Sean Kelley --the network works!

So here I am in Puerto Rico and reconnecting with my peeps without really trying. I have not seen him but I did read Pedro Reina, who was a former BA classmate at NYU. The first day I got here I opened El Nuevo Día and out of it's editorial section came out his face.

I've been able to reconnect to two of the women whom I share with some intense memories pre-Mark, pre-kids, pre-blogging. I've been thinking about them constantly now for about a year; wondering how they were doing. Believe me people, if you're on my mind there is no running away. You will end up in my path and in my life.

My karma works in mysterious ways.
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