Archive for the ‘GWB Project’ Category

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with birds. Some mornings the pigeons arrive en masse and circle the rooftops over Washington Heights. One minute the sky will be blank, and the next it will be filled with birds — somehow they move as a single entity — careening like a speed boat on […]


In which a painter is also obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. So on Saturday when we were walking around in the rain, we were kinda shocked to stumble upon this rather swank gallery on Riverside Drive and 181st Street in Washington Heights. We knocked on the door and they let us in, even though […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the city. More than any other candidate in recent history, Barack Obama can be considered a product of the city. And not just because he’s black, obvs, but because he lives in a city and seems to genuinely appreciate its fundamental character, not only in a […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the Empire State Building. Sometimes we spend our entire day at work looking at the computer screen. And then something will remind us to turn around and look out the window. And we’ll spend a few minutes staring at the Empire State Building. And we’ll think […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes sad and nervous, yet tries to remain hopeful. Today we were talking to our mother, who was telling us how disappointed she is in some of her old (in every sense) friends who are voting for McCain. When she pressed them as to why, all they could offer was […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. Today we had to get up early — we’re flying to Washington, DC. We’re attending a joint session of U.S. Congress on the issue of reducing gay stereotypes in Hollywood films and teevee shows. (Ha ha — we wish — we’re actually […]


In which The Gay Recluse loves orchids, yet feels ambivalent about teevee. This week we’ve been catching up on Season Two of Mad Men. We’re not here to criticize the show, which is srsly one of the best on teevee these days. It’s basically everything you want in a drama: three-dimensional characters, interesting stories, good […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with birds. Recently one of our oldest friends from high school got in touch. He moved to the city and found our address in the alumni directory. We haven’t seen him since our ten-year reunion, which was — ouch — twelve years ago. It’s strange how someone […]


In which The Gay Recluse is always late. This morning we reluctantly got out of bed at 7:15 am — instead of our usual 7:30 — so that we would have enough time to do everything we needed to do and catch the 8:20 train instead of the 8:30, because we had an important 9:00 […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with seagulls. Today we heard a story about a woman who used to work at one of our former employers. At the time, we barely knew “Nan.” She was older and had a severe haircut and wore monochromatic outfits that kind of screamed Midwest/suburban*: she was based […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. Sometimes we think about what Manhattan looked like 500 years ago. When it was covered with trees and rivers and lakes. In some ways it was probably a lot more beautiful, or at least unspoiled. It was hard to get a taxi […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with naps. Lately we’ve had trouble sleeping, so have begun to rely on naps. Sometimes the best place to sleep is on a crowded subway train. (If you can get a seat!) Especially on the A or D between 59th and 125th Streets, a trip that during […]


In which The Gay Recluse wonders when the fog will burn off. Lately it seems that every morning we wake up in a fog. And we feel sort of hopeless, because even though logic dictates otherwise, we wonder if this will be the day that the fog is permanent. And we’ll never see the sky […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with birds. One thing about birds. No matter how disgusting and dirty they look walking around on the ground — especially pigeons — they are always beautiful in the air. Sometimes at the gym — which is on the third floor — we blow off our workout […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the firethorn. Orange is one of the best colors in the autumn garden. It will have to sustain us through the winter. Fortunately, we never get tired of looking at it. Today as we contemplated the clusters of tiny fruit, illuminated by the eastern sun, we […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. An amber light descended on the rooftops of Washington Heights. Dark clouds loomed ominously overhead. Inside we read the news reports and — like everyone else we know — wondered what it means. Are we fucked? Or are we not fucked? Odd […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with birds. For a while after college, we worked watering plants in corporate office buildings in downtown Manhattan. We worked in law firms, investment banks and other companies who generally could be said to rule the world. It was poisonous work to the extent that we were […]


In which The Gay Recluse bemoans the state of the union. For as long as we can remember, our mother has (like us) been a bleeding-heart liberal, while our father has been a Republican asshole. They’ve been married almost 55 years. But then a few months ago, she told us that he was supporting Obama. […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. Wake us up when it’s over.


In which The Gay Recluse feels a little less depressed. So hmmm… we can’t help but wonder if the Republican geniuses considered the idea that they might mobilize a movement of women against Sarah Palin. Consider all the women in our family — who btw live in Pennsylvania and Ohio — who are srsly irate. […]