BPT Yard Sale [Note: New Date]
Once again this year, we will be having a yard sale to benefit the club on May 26th, (NOTE: NEW DATE due to projected weather) from 10 AM to 2 PM at Volsar Automotive (16 Mystic Avenue, Medford, MA 02155). You are welcome to donate things to sell or just join us to check out the items offered for sale. If you wish to donate items to sell, please contact Harry at (857) 544-3630.
To get there by the T, the 96 bus (from Davis—Red Line) stops around the corner at 160 Main (you can either walk north to the corner of Main & Mystic and back down the Volsar, or just cut through the Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot).
May Mt. Vernon Dinner
On Wednesday, May 9th at 6 PM, we will be dining at the Mount Vernon Restaurant & Pub. From now on, rather than sending in a Tear Sheet, just come and order off the menu.
The restaurant is at 14 Broadway, Somerville, MA 02145 and you can view their website here. It’s located just a short walk from Sullivan Station (Orange line, buses) or the following buses stop in front of the restaurant: 89, 89/93, 90, 92 and 101. For more information, you can call them at (617) 666-3830.
Inman Sq. LGBT Luncheon [May]
The second luncheon will be Monday, May 21st, 2018, at S & S Deli from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM. The cost of the luncheon will be $11. Future dates will be the third Monday of each month, March through December. S & S Deli is at 1334 Cambridge Street.
Please RSVP with Bob Kingston-Parrott by calling (336) 324-9256 or e-mailing sslunch2018@gmail.com. You can also sign up with Bob at one of the other community meals.
Should you need to get there by T, take the Red Line to Central Square, then catch either the 83 or the 91 at the bus station on Magazine St. just south of Mass. Ave. Both buses stop on Hampshire St. between S & S and Ryles (just before the intersection with Cambridge St.). Alternately, you can take the Green Line to Lechmere and take the 69 bus down Cambridge St. to the intersection with Hampshire St. S & S Deli also has off-street parking.
Join us and bring a friend!
SpeakEasy Production, “Allegiance”
I am trying to organize a group to see Allegiance, a Speak Easy Production, on Thursday, May 31st, at 2 PM. I am able to obtain a discount of 10 tickets at $20 each. This will be performed at the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St. in the South End.
The first ten people to RSVP via the Tear Sheet will receive the discount. I will notify you when I receive the tickets. The deadline is May 15th. In March, six members attended Every Brilliant Thing. I hope that more members would like to join us for an afternoon of fun at the theater.
To quote their website: Inspired by the true childhood experience of TV/film actor and social media icon George Takei (Mr. Sulu on Star Trek), Allegiance tells the story of the Kimura family, whose lives are upended when they and 120,000 other Japanese-Americans are forced to leave their homes following the events at Pearl Harbor. Sam Kimura seeks to prove his patriotism by fighting for his country in the war, but sister Kei fiercely protests the government’s treatment of her people. An uplifting testament to the power of the human spirit, Allegiance follows the Kimuras as they fight between duty and defiance, custom and change, family bonds and forbidden loves. SpeakEasy Stage is proud to breathe new life into Allegiance by presenting the East Coast regional premiere of an intimate version of this important musical.
RUN TIME: Approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes with one intermission.
For more info, view their website.
Member Stories
If you have a story that you would like to tell, either about being a member or about what the Prime Timers have done for you, feel free to submit it Harry by e-mailing it to everharry@aol.com or mailing it to 3 Vale View Road, Wakefield, MA 01880. If it would be difficult for you to type this up, Harry can help you by recording your story; just give him a call at (781) 587-1429.
Below is one sent in by longtime member, Bernie Michels.
Founding the San Diego LGBT Center
My name is Bernie Michels, and I have been a Boston Prime Timer since November 1991. I usually don’t brag about this, but I was the chair of a small committee that founded the LGBT Center in San Diego in 1973. Boston could use an LGBT Center as the center of Gay and Lesbian life in Boston, just as the centers are in many U.S. cities, such as New York City, Philadelphia and San Francisco. The reason that we don’t have a center is that each of the Gay organizations in Boston is jealous of its independence. That includes the Boston Prime Timers.
The LGBT Center is still going strong in San Diego, occupying several buildings, and has a budget of over six million dollars per year. San Diego celebrates the founding of the center every five years through sponsoring a gala at one of the local hotels. I recently went to San Diego last October to celebrate the 45th Anniversary. Not only did they pay for our entrance to the gala, for me and my partner, but they celebrated the birth of the center and my role in it.
We founded the center because we experienced a gap in Gay life in San Diego. Presently, the center is not only the center of Gay life, it now sponsors discussion groups for people who have recently come out, a free library of Gay and Lesbian books, a program for transgender people, a residence for younger people who have been thrown out by their parents when their parents learned of their sexual orientation and an apartment house for older people. Our committee was not initially accepted in San Diego at the time of the founding. In fact, many people questioned why we needed a center, but now the LGBT Center is firmly established as the center of Gay life in San Diego.
I moved to San Diego to attend the School of Social Work at San Diego State University. I requested that my second year placement would be in working with the Gay and Lesbian community. I was the first openly Gay person to apply to the school for admission, but they accepted me. I ended up teaching the first Gay studies course in San Diego, by being interviewed by a local TV station, and by being on the front page of a local newspaper. I was also invited to speak before several groups within San Diego. Being the first openly Gay person at the school was traumatic, but I had a full-time partner at the time, and he eased the trauma for me.
I had come out with the Gay Liberation Front in Los Angeles in 1979 and 1980. In fact, I participated in the first Gay Pride Parade in Los Angeles, down Hollywood Blvd. I was a little on the older side, being in my early thirties at the time, but my participation was accepted.
I moved to Boston in 1976 to attend a Ph.D. program at Brandeis University. I finally completed the program in 1987, and I taught sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston for twenty-six years. My present partner, Herb, lives in Montrose, California, in the Los Angeles area. I am going to visit him shortly, which I am looking forward to. He comes to Boston for one week of each summer.
(For more information about the San Diego LGBT Center, please visit their website.)
Board Election Results
At our last meeting, we held Board elections. Winners were as follows: Harry Fullerton, who was re-elected to the Board, John Kinsherf (also re-elected), Dave Bachofer, Mike Ferrara and Mark Roy. Write-ins Coley Kelley and Helder Lemos tied for the final (currently vacant) seat on the board, but both declined the position, as did runners-up Steve Vorenberg and Kerry Marshall.
Inman Sq. LGBT Luncheon [April]
The second luncheon will be Monday, April 16th, 2018, at S & S Deli from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM. The cost of the luncheon will be $11 (or you may order from the menu). Future dates will be the third Monday of each month, March through December. S & S Deli is at 1334 Cambridge Street.
Please RSVP with Bob Kingston-Parrott by calling (336) 324-9256 or e-mailing sslunch2018@gmail.com. You can also sign up with Bob at one of the other community meals.
Should you need to get there by T, take the Red Line to Central Square, then catch either the 83 or the 91 at the bus station on Magazine St. just south of Mass. Ave. Both buses stop on Hampshire St. between S & S and Ryles (just before the intersection with Cambridge St.). Alternately, you can take the Green Line to Lechmere and take the 69 bus down Cambridge St. to the intersection with Hampshire St. S & S Deli also has off-street parking.
Join us and bring a friend!
April Mt. Vernon Dinner
On Wednesday, April 11th at 6 PM, we will be dining at the Mount Vernon Restaurant & Pub. From now on, rather than sending in a Tear Sheet, just come and order off the menu.
The restaurant is at 14 Broadway, Somerville, MA 02145 and you can view their website here. It’s located just a short walk from Sullivan Station (Orange line, buses) or the following buses stop in front of the restaurant: 89, 89/93, 90, 92 and 101. For more information, you can call them at (617) 666-3830.