good wishes for 5776

Happy 5776! It is always a pleasure to follow the activities of Diane von Furstenberg, and the series on DvF is fascinating. I am thrilled to have been sent a copy of her memoir in 2008.

I was so thrilled to get a copy of the memoir by Diane von Furstenberg, after writing to say I was sorry for being so rude to Barry Diller whom I oft saw riding his bike in Central Park in the 1990s. I was usually involved in debriefing myself prior to my work then with homeless women havinguntreated psychiatric issues in a shelter we created. From 2008 through 2013, I shared the book and my critique of her memoir as a research method with my graduating seniors in my Methods of Research cours in midtown Manhattan. I also shared her memoir with my Columbia University School of Social Work students. The students generally loved the real life challenges and opportunities and themes! Many of my students work(ed) in fashion. I am always amazed how much love there is for DvF! Thank you!

Having once lived for almost 30 years between Horatio Street and West 39th street (including 488 7th Ave), I have known many garmentos, seen Ms Von Furstenberg and Mr. Diller. My first social work job was organizing small businesses for a coalition including the old Hatter's Union in the early 1980s! My comrade Gale Brewer is now the Borough President of Manhattan. We all admire DvF's involvement in the life and zeitgeist of New York City, and the world. I admire the hard work, so many demands, determination , and most of all the spirit of good will and caring, and bringing beauty in our world! These are rare qualities, thank you.I

I am now on social setcurity disability, homebound, and have to use a rollator to get around. I have been unable to really get around Manhattan since 2013 and have yet to even see the HighLine whilst spending years with a life on Horatio and Washington. I hope to soon enough. Thoughts for the future this first of 5776

Caregiving revisited

In my bibliography:

Memoir is in the content analysis family and is an unobtrusive generally qualitative method of research. Qualitative meaning that the data is essentially non numerical in data collection and analysis. The variables are predominately nominal.

"The  Caregiver's Tale" is in my bibliography as Dr. Burack-Weiss was one of my Columbia University professors. She volunteered in a program that I helped to initiate, a shelter for homeless women who were non-compliant with psychiatric treatment.  She created a weekly group for women to talk about whatever. I am totally biased in terms of the researcher.  Dr Burack-Weiss has had a long history of helping through her work at the Jewish Home for the Aged, and being among the first volunteers at the Gay Men's Health Crisis. 

In her project, Dr. Burack-Weiss created the independent variables of caregiving situation and relationship out of an inductive process of reading through memoirs. I knew several of the memoirs and a favorite author Paul Monette was included in her sample. She has that heuristic sense of what works from the breadth and depth of her experience.  The hypothesis is that these variables inform the caregiving situation. The variables are nominal: how can one rank alzheimer's or AIDS, or a child with a neurological disability. They could be ranked perhaps in terms of cost, years to caregive, other variables, but as a distinct variable, the situations and relationships have no order. The memoirs have a detailed highly individual quality to them that gives meaning to caregiving and to the paradigm.

Homelessness, power of ethnography

Working on my online Methods of Research course. Teaching about ethnography and using homelessness as a paradigm to explore. A source in my bibliography:

I attached four pages about the Baxter and Hopper (1981) ethnography report. The first two pages are from the text. One can look in Google Books for more on the report. The third page is copy of a meeting to which Ms. Baxter and I attended to talk with NYC government about this phenomena. Lastly, copy of a journal request for an article about why homelessness was then a problem.

These are some of the issues on the importance of research. The ethnography study changed ideas on homelessness creating a whole new paradigm on homelessness. The Coalition for the Homeless was started. Government began systematically looking at homelessness. It continues to be a major issue. This report shows how dynamic and forceful research can be in changing the world!

You can post your thoughts in discussion if you would like.

dating age, "not fat enough",,,

love happens between men of varying ages everyday. love happens at any age! thoughts of a couple of guys in their 50s now celebrating a year together! another couple, met in their 40s, now having their 15th year! Mazel tov!!!!

As a college professor (research, psychiatric content), Columbia U alum/teaching, 54 years old, and as a NYC/NJ denizen, I run into younger men everyday. it is interesting to realize the crushes younger men have on me as I am easy to confide in. My issue with younger men is that it is all too easy to manipulate the seductiveness. There is a power differential that I don't exploit, so I do not get involved with men much younger than 30 years (of course there could be one in 10 million...). Anyhow, 20 somethings always zone out... poor things having to deal with creating an adult identity! There is also the generational zeitgeist... I was definitely part of mine!

Photo of one of my grandfather buddies! Salut to grandfathers!!!

My whole issue now is how to respond to men in their 70s who routinely send me shouts online! Younger men are a breeze to deal with but as we live longer ... dating men in their 70s? I look to see life views (no republicans of course), some geographic nogos.. I have no interest in Florida, Georgia, Texas...too republican and HUMID! I look for a joy of life! Some of the sexiest men I have chatted with online are studs in their late 60s!

all of these age issues are in constant flux of course. All of a sudden, I am over 50 which is in itself a whole other lens changer. Being over 50 years, I feel I have achieved longevity and not too concerned with so many of the usual stuff younger men are caught up in. I wear what I want, express my thoughts with a historical and intellectual certainty just from the experiential awareness of how society has changed. I may use a cane at times, but i was a go-go boy, never had to wait in line to get into a club, had radio shows, had my black chaps/white 501 attire that made me fierce! I have had an adult identity for 30 years! There is a whole gap that I feel ultimately with guys 20 or 30 years younger than me. I dont have that for men older than me. I generally find most of the men I like older than me are in long term relationships and I am ultimately not interested in just a casual sex thing.

I have been in love but i am also a survivor of the AIDS plague. Everyone of my buddies from the 1970s and most of my contemporaries from the 1980s died before the advent of the new meds in the 1990s. So I am just amazed that I am HIV negative and living with the memories of over 3000 buddies. My favorite men all died. I have never been entirely single, having a partner or then a regular date(s) my entire adult life.

I am a NYC flaneur so I dont stay home with a pet, my tv is broken, and I like being out of the house to socialize. I have always been involved in what's up at the time. In the 1970s, I was in NY, SF, Provincetown, a gogo boy (background dancer in jeans on a cable show) and part of the whole gay revolution. Into the 1980s, I was a Saint/Garage/Palladium club goer; then spent most of my free time in Berlin, Amsterdam, Zurich and Paris as I had the friends to visit and money to travel often. in the 1990s, I was so involved in NYC life... working with the homeless, people with AIDS; and in my personal life, somedays up to 15 men would phone me in a day to hang. There are so many men but I have been content (sometimes to my detriment) to be fairly serial monogamous. It is in the last few years time to mostly teach/read/think. the realization that there is always another man (in the elevator, around the corner...) when I hear "too old" "or too young" or "not Black" or "not enough money for me", or "not fat enough". And that is what I generally tell men of every age, color, size who complain about rejection.

I am alive, engaged, and enjoying life's adventures! My favorite friends who changed our universe are all dead, young. Young men have a seductiveness but I have seen thousands burn out, go Republican, get wierd. These days I am beyond thrilled that we have a President Obama who has already given gays a lot! If I was 10 years younger I would be applying for a White House job (I did apply to the Clinton White House). So, if someone doesnt want to know about me.. who cares! I have a life is my mantra! Loving the challenges as I do get older and my perspectives change about dating, age, life!

hugs, peace, compassion