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Polaroids of Divine by Antonio Lopez, 1977.

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Anthony Perkins was so gay he could have played both cowboys Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist in “Brokeback Mountain”.

Anthony Perkins and Henry Fonda as Sheriff Ben Owens and Morgan Hickman The Tin Star (1957) dir. Anthony Mann

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Yesterday, my sister Debbie kept sending annoying text messages… five in a row. I wanted to reply, but I didn’t. This is what I would have said:

I have not replied to your text messages because I can’t help but think that if I did, I’d get sucked into some new drama.

I’m guessing one of you is having “heart palpitations,” and your friendly “advice” is to indirectly let Dan and me know. This has happened before when you wanted Doris to follow your advice to hire someone to clean her apartment or get Doris a wheelchair without including her in the text conversation. You start a conversation in the guise of doing something friendly, but you have a hidden different agenda.

I decided I don’t want to play these games anymore. That’s why I don’t reply.

The week after Dad died in 2002, Doris called me crying, “Debbie is trying to control me.” And over the next few years, she called with the same story, “Debbie is trying to control me!”

I thought this would be resolved when Doris moved to Sacramento. BUT Debbie soon followed, moving into the same apartment complex.

I’ve had my own issues with Debbie. She began criticizing my appearance every chance she had - it went on for at least ten years! My solution was to avoid her as much as possible.

If Doris felt Debbie was trying to control her, only Doris can change that. But I think Doris has always been passive. Every time Doris asks Debbie for help, she invites Debbie to get involved and interfere. I thought Doris had access to social services for rides to the doctor. But she relies on Debbie.

Where are all those other “brothers and sisters” you talk about all the time? With a congregation full of them, you should be able to get to the doctor every week and still not ask the same person twice in a year.

And why don’t I want to get involved? That’s a long story— 35 years long. When I came to the house to tell you David was dying from AIDS.

Doris said, “We don’t approve.”

Dad said, “The rest of the family didn’t need to know.”

I didn’t see Debbie until after David died, and the first words she said when she saw me were, “Don, you’re getting fat.”

I was experiencing the worst time in my life, and except for Mom, none of you offered any sympathy or condolence. None of you showed compassion.

Mom was the only person who said she missed David too.

I wanted to walk away from the family and never see any of you again. But I couldn’t do that to Mom. So I hid my feelings and pretended every time I visited.

I told myself that when Mom died, that’s when I would walk away. But when the time came, I just continued to pretend. But by then, I pretty much had turned off the feeling of affection for the two of you.

And here we are… so many years later, and we still all play games. Debbie still tries to manipulate people. And Doris still cries that Debbie is trying to control her. Then earlier thid year, it finally dawned on me. Doris isn’t just passive; she’s passive-aggressive. She has been part of this game all along. She can’t say she’s are concerned about Debbie’s stress levels, yet lay on the ground for hours when she falls, waiting for Debbie to call her back!

And that’s why I finally decided I don’t want to play these games anymore. I don’t want to be part of the drama you two of you create.

You both are part of the same religion. You both call yourselves Christians. As the saying goes… what would Jesus do? What would he say about how the two of you have treated each other all these years?

So delete me from your contact lists… I won’t reply to calls, texts or emails again. I’m doing what I should have done 35 years ago.

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Leni Riefenstahl was a female photographer who worked with the Nazi party in their propaganda machine.

Leni wrote in her memoir that she had an affair with American athlete Glenn Morris during the 1936 Olympics. He competed in the decathlon. There are photos of him with a javelin taken by Leni, but I can’t tell if it is Morris in the gif above.

(BTW - Morris starred in one Tarzan film after the Olympics - “Tarzan’s revenge” released in 1938.

Leni Riefenstahl (1936)

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scarlet ibis

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Dude, from 1870s, originally meant a man from the city who visited rural location but stuck out like a sore thumb… “city slicker". That pretty much describes these two.

1955 Dude Ranch

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Before and After

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A baby flamingo… for the video, check the link.

https://www.instagram.com/share/_us5nXfNa

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This made me think of Humpty Dumpty… they tried to put him together after his fall, but some of the pieces didn’t quite fit.

The Olmec civilization, one of the earliest in Mexico, is famous for the creation of massive stone heads, some weighing up to 40 tons.

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Paris (by Sinisa)

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