{"id":968,"date":"2014-04-25T15:51:30","date_gmt":"2014-04-25T17:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peelbooks.com\/susanjoycejourneys\/?p=968"},"modified":"2014-04-25T15:56:53","modified_gmt":"2014-04-25T17:56:53","slug":"michael","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peelbooks.com\/susanjoycejourneys\/2014\/04\/michael\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SJ&M77\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael is one of the main characters in my memoir because he greatly influenced my life. I adored Michael. My first close gay friend, he was just stepping out of the closet within the confines of friends when we met in Frankfurt, Germany in 1976. He became my solace at a low tide in my life and introduced me to the vibrant world of opera and theatre. He had an obsession with theater and anything presented live on stage. He had performed in a few shows in small theaters and his dream was to finish a play he had started writing years before and see it published one day. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLove Wagner\u2019s. Great action and food.\u201d Michael smiled, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>eyeing a young man<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong> across the room. \u201cEveryone thinks I\u2019m a movie star.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re the spitting image of a young Tony Randall,\u201d I told him.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd as fastidious and fussy, I trust.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201dYou\u2019re not fussy. Just choosy,\u201d I assured him.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Michael of course then educated me on the origin of the phrase ‘spitting image’ and we both had a good chuckle. <\/span><\/span>I fondly called him ‘Mister Walking Encyclopedia’ because he knew obscure facts and figures on any subject conceivable. Michael always knew the real scoop. He loved fancy words and loved to use them.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGaydar,\u201d he <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>explained<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em> eyeing an attractive waiter, \u201cis how I <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>know <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>if someone’s straight or bent.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I chuckled. \u201cDid you just invent that word?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cProbably,\u201d he replied.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

He<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong> invited me to a play I hadn’t seen before at the English Theatre. \u201cIt’s a trivial comedy for serious people by Oscar Wilde. The second most known and quoted play in English after <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>Hamlet<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/strong>.\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve seen Hamlet performed,\u201d I said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis one’s a farce,\u201d Michael said smiling, \u201c<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>The Importance of Being Earnest, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>first performed on Valentine’s Day in<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>1895. It’s nonsense that makes sense, if you get beyond the words.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSounds like a must see,\u201d I said, wondering what the hell I was getting myself into.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I found t<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>he play a bit silly, but great fun. When the final curtain closed, we stood and wildly applauded again and again.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI just love Wilde’s British dandyisms.\u201d Michael chortled.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSome wild expressions,\u201d I <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>agreed.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cClassic Wilde,\u201d Michael continued, \u201cThey speak volumes about the hypocrisies of society. Then and now. Reprobates always have more fun.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I laughed.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

As we discussed the play’s \u201creal\u201d meaning<\/span><\/span><\/span> over wine later that evening, Michael educated me on the dark history of the play and the eventual exile of Oscar Wilde.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cErnest was Wilde’s alter-ego,\u201d Michael informed me. \u201cDishonesty and pretense about morals damage our souls.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWilde was criticizing Victorian society,\u201d I said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael smiled and took another sip of wine. \u201cHis speaking out <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>landed him in<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong> prison.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIndecency. Romping with a royal. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>Of the same sex.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWow!\u201d I said, letting it sink in. \u201cHis writing is harsh satire.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd still rings true today,\u201d Michael said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael taught me many different things\u2014some shocking, some fun, some frivolous, some serious, but all inspirational. All encouraging. He taught me about striving and thriving, and being different, and accepting differences in others. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Years later when I searched<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong> for<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong> the word \u201cgaydar\u201d in <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>a<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong> dictionary<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>, <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>I <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>realized that <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>Michael <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>may well have<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong> invent<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>ed<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong> the word <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>since the first known use<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>, <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>,<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong> was in 1982.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When the final curtain closed on Michael’s life in 1986, he left a trail of love, light, and divine information. Too bad he didn’t live long enough to witness the gay civil rights happening today. But knowing Michael, he’s aware and smiling.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael is one of the main characters in my memoir because he greatly influenced my life. I adored Michael. My first close gay friend, he was just stepping out of the closet within the confines of friends when we met in Frankfurt, Germany in 1976. He became my solace at a low tide in my … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Michael”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,11,14,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-authors","category-europe","category-inspirational","category-writing"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peelbooks.com\/susanjoycejourneys\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peelbooks.com\/susanjoycejourneys\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peelbooks.com\/susanjoycejourneys\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peelbooks.com\/susanjoycejourneys\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peelbooks.com\/susanjoycejourneys\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/peelbooks.com\/susanjoycejourneys\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peelbooks.com\/susanjoycejourneys\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peelbooks.com\/susanjoycejourneys\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peelbooks.com\/susanjoycejourneys\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}