LGBTQ | Mixed Metaphors

Feb 08 2026

Old People Problems

Musings on aging, retirement, and a life well-lived.

“Somedays, I wonder if I need a new operating system, a brain reboot, and memory upgrade. A common sign of aging for me is the time that it takes to recall names, movie, and book titles, and the list goes on. My primary care doctor reassures me it’s not the first sign of dementia, simply aging.” — Excerpt from Things Change

“It is utterly false and cruelly arbitrary to put all the play and learning into childhood, all the work into middle age, and all the regrets into old age.” — Margaret Mead

The Road Never Traveled

There are branching points in life when a journey takes a different direction and where the destination is often unknown. I’m on that pathway this last chapter of my life. It began when I made the decision at the age of 75, on the eve of my 76^th birthday when I decided to retire after working 65 years beginning at the age of 11. Continue reading →

Tagged Activism, Aging, Family, Friends, Gratitude, Grief, Health, LGBTQ, Longevity, Madison, Procrastination, Recovery, Relationships, Retirement, To-Do Lists, Work, Writing

Oct 26 2025

4 Comments

Posts

The Last Closet Door: Act III

Secret Life: Clean Out the Closet

“All human beings have three lives, a public life, a private life, and a secret life.” Hamill added, “A private life is by invitation only. A secret life is nobody’s business.” — Pete Hamill

“You can’t be what you can’t see.” — Martha Popp

Today, October 26, 2025 is Intersex Awareness Day.

Background on the Series

For readers who missed the first installment of this series — I opened the last closet door to the public on October 26, 2023, Intersex Awareness Day, when I revealed — I’m intersex. I was born with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS). Today, again, I invite you to learn about my private and secret life.

A simple definition: Intersex is an umbrella term that describes bodies that fall outside the strict male/female binary. There are two types of Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, complete and partial. My condition is the former (CAIS) and can be described as follows: Infants with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome appear to be female at birth, but do not have a uterus, fallopian tubes, or ovaries. Their testicles (gonads) are hidden inside the pelvis or abdomen. Breasts develop during puberty, but there is little or no pubic and armpit hair. Continue reading →

Tagged Alcoholism, Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, Bodily Autonomy, Family, Friends, Gratitude, Grief, Intersex Awareness Day, Letting Go, LGBTQ, Private Life, Public Life, Recovery, Relationships, Secret Life, Shame, Stigma, Stories, The Last Closet Door, Trauma

Sep 28 2025

Posts

Holy Wisdom Writing Retreat: Meditations & Musings

On Saturday, August 9, I attended a day-long, silent writing retreat with 15 other writers. It was an extremely hot and humid summer day, spent indoors, except for breaks outdoors in the restored prairie, writing silently inside the meditative environs of the Holy Wisdom Monastery.

On Friday, the day before the retreat, it seemed that my registration from two weeks earlier may not have been confirmed. A work colleague, Becca, shared the writing retreat information with me. When I posted my weekly Facebook TGIF Update, I acknowledged that my original plan to attend the retreat wouldn’t happen. I let it go.

Instead, I decided to work at home in the writing alcove of my hideout, a 645 square foot apartment, where I live alone. Gratefully, later in the day, I learned that there were a couple of cancellations, and the retreat facilitator confirmed my attendance. Grateful. Things change! Continue reading →

Tagged COVID-19, Death, Dispatch from the Hideout, Family, Father, Gratitude, Grief, Holy Wisdom Monastery, Home, Hospice, Journals & Journaling, LGBTQ, Loss, Love, Meditation, Musings, Personal Narratives, Recovery, Retreat, Stand-Up Comedy, Stories, The Writing Process, Therapy, Writing

Jan 20 2025

Posts

The Toilet Zone: Second Flush

The Inauguration

“You will find it necessary to let things go; simply because they are heavy.” — Anonymous

Preface

As I draft this preface, on the eve of the inauguration of Trump’s second term, today TikTok went dark and returned in the same day. The recent news that Facebook will no longer use independent fact-checkers, instead ‘community notes’ like the X social media platform to determine the veracity of information, caused some friends to leave and join Bluesky instead. They posted their contact info, and said their goodbyes. Lastly, there’s the Facebook Blackout on inauguration day, plus a protest of Trump’s inauguration and news coverage by not watching. What does this really accomplish? This is how I weigh in… Continue reading →

Tagged 47th President, Activism, Blackout 1-20-25, Bluesky, Executive Orders, Facebook, First Flush, LGBTQ, Oath of Office, Pardons, People's March, Prayer for My Voice, Presidential Inauguration, Second Flush, Stay Out of the Closet, Tech Oligarchs, The Toilet Zone, Trump

Jan 05 2025

Films

Hannah, Abby, & Sam: Virtual BFFs

BFF definition: Informal. plural bffs, BFFs

a person’s best friend, typically a girl’s (sometimes used facetiously)
one’s close associate, ally, or supporter

“All the literati keep an imaginary friend.” — W. H. Auden

“I still think most writers are just kids who refuse to grow up. We’re still playing imaginary games, with our imaginary friends.” — Ian Rankin

Continue reading →

Tagged Abby McEnany, BFFs, Binge-watching, Chosen Family, Cinephile, COVID-19, Family, Friends, Friends IRL, Girls, Holiday Staycation, Imaginary Friends, Lena Dunham, Lesbian, LGBTQ, Somebody Somewhere, Streaming Content, TV, Virtual BFFs, Work In Progress

Jul 25 2023

Posts

Barbenheimer: When Worlds Collide

“Some things have been happening that might be related.” — Quote from the Barbie film.

“Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. For this he was chained to a rock and tortured for eternity.” — Quote from the opening of Oppenheimer

The quote from the Barbie movie says it all. Not only do worlds collide in both films of the Barbenheimer movie mashup, some things have been happening that might be related in the real world. This essay is part movie review, history lesson, reminiscence, and commentary on the culture and politics of the past — and more concerning — of current events. Oh, My! “It’s a Barbie World.” Continue reading →

Tagged Atomic Bomb, Barbie, Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy, Cinephile, Cold War, COVID-19, Culture Wars, Feminism, Films, Greta Gerwig, LGBTQ, Margot Robbie, Mattel, Movies, Noah Baumbach, Oppenheimer, Pandemic, Robert Downey Jr, Ryan Gosling, The Bechdel Test, War

Jun 27 2023

1 Comment

Posts

Fractured, Not Broken!

Fractured Definition: having a crack or break: having suffered a fracture

Broken Definition: (of a person) having given up all hope; despairing

Resilient Definition: (of a person) able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions

On Wednesday, May 17^th, I accidentally fell forward while attending the Opioid, Stimulants, and Trauma Summit sponsored by the State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services at the Kalahari Resort and Conference Center in Wisconsin Dells and fractured the humerus of my right, dominant arm. Ouch! Continue reading →

Tagged Accidental Fall, Chosen Family, Family, Finding Our Way, Fractured-Not Broken!, Friends, Funny...Not Funny!, Gratitude, Harm Reduction, Hip Replacement, It Takes a Village, LGBTQ, OutReach Community Center, Pod Squad, Recovery, Resilience

Feb 05 2023

Posts

Celebrating a Decade of Mixed Metaphors, Oh My!

“Sometimes we become what we do. I became a writer by writing.”— Linda Lenzke, Blogger & More

“I write to discover what I know.” — Flannery O’Connor

Ten years ago in January, I took a WordPress class at Madison College. I decided that I wanted to take the next step as a writer: design, create, and launch a blog. I had been taking a series of reminiscence writing classes from a mentor and writing coach who would later become a friend and writing partner, Sarah White of First Person Productions. Prior to the classes, I had been writing for decades, poetry, spoken word monologues, stand-up comedy, and journaling for over 30 years. The reminiscence classes were a launchpad for my memoir, Perfectly Flawed, which I’m still writing, editing, and adding content as I live and write. Continue reading →

Tagged Blog, COVID-19, Death, Dispatch from the Hideout, Family, Films, Friends, Gratitude, Grief, Holidays, Home, LGBTQ, Love, Memoir, Memories, Mixed Metaphors Oh My!, Personal Narratives, Recovery, Relationships, Seasons, Stories, Writing

Dec 31 2022

Posts

Intentions & The Lessons of Progress, Not Perfection

The Never-Ending To-Do List: Being & Becoming It’s the eve of the New Year, 2023. It’s 2:00 a.m. and my day is starting early as it has been recently while I recover from my hip-replacement surgery. My sleep schedule is turned upside down, so I’m up earlier than normal. It’s okay. I’m a morning person, the most productive time of day for me. I enjoy my three or four cups of joe as I logon to my laptop to see what’s happening in the world, and in my social media circle. Each year in September, I begin a new journal, and name it. This year’s journal is titled, To-Do List Confessions. The timing of each year’s new journal is the start of my late summer, early fall annual staycation. I take seven to ten days off of work. I usually make a ‘to-do if I want to list,’ a compilation of intentions, some creative, mostly writing projects, activities that feed my spirit like attending art galleries, films, coffee and brunch dates with friends and family, and completing long-overdue tasks for which I’ve procrastinated.

Continue reading →

Tagged Activism, Becoming, Being, COVID-19 Journal Project, Dispatch from the Hideout, Family, Friends, Gratitude, Harm Reduction, Holidays, Hotel Bar, Journaling, LGBTQ, Looking Backward, Pandemic, Personal Narratives, Progress Not Perfection, Recovery, Relationships, Staycation, To-Do Lists, Year-End-Musings

Sep 24 2022

Posts

Finding Recovery Strategies

September is National Recovery Month

Recovery Month is “a national observance held every September to promote and support new evidence-based treatment and recovery practices, the emergence of a strong and proud recovery community, and the dedication of service providers and community members across the nation who make recovery in all its forms possible.”

Note: This article was originally written for and published in the September/October issue of Our Lives magazine on behalf of the OutReach LGBTQ+ Community Center in Madison, Wisconsin, where I serve as the LGBTQ+ AODA Advocate supporting community members and allies struggling with substance and alcohol use, and mental illness. I’m in recovery from alcohol, substances, and behaviors that no longer serve me for over 35 years. I’m also a Wisconsin Certified Peer Specialist.

Continue reading →

Tagged Alcohol Use, COVID-19, Drug Overdose, Harm Reduction, LGBTQ, Madison, Mental Illness, Narcan, OutReach Community Center, Overdose Deaths, Recovery, Safer Use, September Recovery Month, Stigma, Substance Use

Mixed Metaphors

Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! – A place where words, this writer, and readers play together.

Tag Archives: LGBTQ

Old People Problems

The Last Closet Door: Act III

Holy Wisdom Writing Retreat: Meditations & Musings

The Toilet Zone: Second Flush

Hannah, Abby, & Sam: Virtual BFFs

Barbenheimer: When Worlds Collide

Fractured, Not Broken!

Celebrating a Decade of Mixed Metaphors, Oh My!

Intentions & The Lessons of Progress, Not Perfection

Finding Recovery Strategies