My Top Stories on Medium

Capsule reviews of all 40 songs. — Previously the niche obsession of those of us who were gay and/or tacky enough to tune into its distinctive wavelength, the Eurovision Song Contest has made a push onto American soil with NBC/Universal’s streaming rights purchase and their sister program, the American Song Contest, which premiered in March. I like…

And it’s not for the reasons we thought — The last couple of years have been very disorienting for American fans of the Eurovision Song Contest. Previously the niche obsession of those of us who were gay and/or tacky enough to tune into its distinctive wavelength, the Eurovision Song Contest has gained some ground in the U.S. — but…

A writer’s foray into the world of the “Real Housewives” — Sometimes as a writer, you have to ask yourself how closely you want to hew to the way real people talk. How far do you want to go? How much value is there in momentarily (hopefully) confusing a reader for the sake of verisimilitude? The way we speak in real…

The paradox and performance of Meat Loaf’s brand of rock star masculinity — Meat Loaf (Michael Lee Aday) was actually a vegan, which is a perfect summation of his art and public persona. What you saw wasn’t necessarily what you got. His artistry and his persona were at odds with so many things about him, least of all his looks and his style…

What would Titanic have looked like if it had been made in the Golden Age of Hollywood? — What would Titanic have looked like if it had been made in the Golden Age of Hollywood? Or in the heyday of the 1970s disaster movie? What if James Cagney had starred in The Godfather instead of Al Pacino? How would Jane Fonda fare in an early 70s take on…

Another Gay Trips Over Themselves to Eulogize Stephen Sondheim — There are cultural giants who, if they live long enough, seem immortal. We’re so used to seeing brilliance cut down in its prime that when someone as monumental as Stephen Sondheim dies at the ripe old age of 91, it’s almost as if they haven’t left at all. Three weeks…

A hunter looking for big game is locked into a disturbing conversation with an emaciated grizzly bear. — Sleep did not come easy to the Hunter that first — and last — night. As he cozied up to his rifle, finger grazing the trigger guard for ease of access if he needed to shoot an intruding predator in the night, his thoughts turned casually toward suicide. He had…

A woman faces an age-old enemy. — When I was a girl, depression meant something else. Something just as scary. Names are funny. They always change — Well, names don’t change, but the stuff behind them, inside them, the cream filling. That’s what changes. My name is Tabithah, but my mother wanted to name me Nebraska. Papa…

An artist is out of place at a party full of patrons. — Ian had gotten his master’s in museum studies and had worked his way through enough underpaid positions at museums around the city that he called himself a serial internist. The joke, if one could call it that, had a 34% chance of getting a laugh. Less than half of those…