The Coming of Winter

The first snow of the new winter season is predicted to arrive here in the Cumberland Gap region within 24 hours. We'll see...

Tomorrow, on Sunday, Dec. 16, Robert and I will be hosting our annual Christmas Tree Decorating Open House. If all the people who have indicated they are planning to come follow through on their plans, we should have a good crowd.

The event is the beginning of our winter social season, which looks to be a rich one this year. In January, Robert and I, and possibly one young gay friend, are planning to attend the winter meeting. in Lexington, of the Kentucky Equality Federation's General Advisory Council, on which I serve as the Southeast Kentucky representative. I have hopes that this year will be the beginning of some organization activity among Cumberland Gap's gay and lesbian community --- sometime in January, I hope to host the organizational meeting of what I dream will be the Middlesboro/Cumberland Gap chapter of Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), a branch of the national advocacy and support group for GLBT people.

On Jan. 12, Robert and I will host an informal reading of my play, "Four Dead, Four Hurt in Two-Vehicle Crash," as a kickoff to what I hope will be a regular monthly play reading circle --- theater-loving folks getting together for the sheer joy of reading and discussing plays, whether they be original or classics.

Middlesboro Little Theater meets on Jan. 7 and hopefully, a final decision will be made about whether to do "The Diary of Anne Frank" as our spring production. Although I doubt if Robert and I will actively participate beyond helping with publicity or boxoffice, I think the play would be a good choice and could be of interest to many different groups in the community, especially high schools.

Depending upon my work schedule, I am tentatively planning to direct two one-act plays for the Labor Day weekend "Evening of One-Acts" in 2008. One will be Robert's adaptation of a short story he's written, and the other would be Edward Albee's "The Zoo Story," if I can find two actors who can play Jerry and Peter to my satisfaction.

St. Mary's Episcopal Church continues to be the anchor of our social activities. I will be officially becoming a member of the church in late January when Bishop Stacy Sauls comes to visit. My decision to join will be a gesture of gratitude and appreciation to the people of St. Mary's not only for their friendship and support of Robert and I as a same-sex couple, but also for helping me meet personal spiritual needs.

Winter for me in recent years has been a time to deal with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a form of depression caused by being cooped up indoors and lack of exposure to sunlight. I imagine people in Alaska suffer from this a lot --- certainly, among the calls I take at CSC/Datatrac, the federal firearms licensees calling from Alaska are among the grumpiest and most melancholy. By contrast, people calling from Louisiana and Texas are among the most polite and friendly. I think sunlight has a good deal to do with this.

In any case, I find myself suffering from SAD much less than I used to. Right now, I spend 90 minutes every day on my round-trip commute to Barbourville, which allows me to absorb some outdoor energy (even if I'm inside a PT Cruiser), and relax by listening to good music or a book on audiotape. Coming home to a loving husband also helps, as does living in a place where the winter temperatures are warmer than other places I've lived, such as northern Ohio, southern Ontario and southern Iowa (brr!).

The Cumberland Gap region, which includes southeast Kentucky, northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia, seems to be sheltered from temperature extremes for the most part. I still get a kick when I hear people start complaining about how cold it can get here --- when the temperature is still above the freezing point that the rest of the country is at.

Finally, as a tribute to winter, which officially begins Dec. 21, I want to include a link to Bearforce1, an "all-bear" boy band based in The Netherlands. Warning, people easily shocked by the sight of shirtless hairy bearded men dancing in the snow should not look: http://www.bearforce1.nl/