Gregory Gerard Allison's Blog, page 5

The Squeak in the Bed

This is just the passing-on of some wisdom I've learned in 43 years: It's worthwhile to keep a pad, notebook, or, in my case, PDA (Palm Treo) close to your bed. Some of the best ideas come at night.

I love the time when I'm just waking and my mind drifts between dreams and daytime. Something about the freedom, unshackled from the "processing" that we do the rest of the day, allows me to be at my most creative. I often work out a plot line in a story I'm writing, or I work out a solution to...

Everybody Needs A Husky

Okay, I appreciate that the days are getting longer now…so this is a little less critical. Without harping too, too (too) much on Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and Rochester's gray, gray (gray) days, I'd love to let you know about a wonderful product I discovered this winter at Home Depot.

It's a little contractor's lamp, in the 'Husky' brand line. It has three settings: 200 watts, 500 watts, 700 watts. It only cost $20. And it's the brightest darned little light I've ever encountered.

I...

The Pink Review

So I'm on a work meeting phone conference the other day and one of the guys says that we need a dry run of our presentation. Or, as he says it's called, a 'pink review.'

But then he goes on to say that 'I wish they didn't call it the pink review. Ya know, couldn't it just be another color?'

I chuckled, and the other team member chuckled…but I thought about it a little more later in the day and I felt a little sad.

Am I being too sensitive? The implication was obvious…that my teammate didn't...

You'll Be In My Heart…For Always

So as I mentioned in my previous blog, The Darkest Day , I get to feeling pretty low this time of year. The following story is very personal, and may even seem hokey to some of you…but rest assured, it felt very special to me.

In church last Sunday, I was feeling pretty bleak. The day was gray and rainy. My soul, weighed down by the darkness of winter, was sorting through depressive thoughts. I was even wondering, does God really exist? I mean really? (I know some people think of that type of...

116 Hours

Rochester news reports 116 consecutive hours of snowfall!

Can anyone say 'vokda?' (If you're not seeing the connection here, you must not be from Rochester…)

For FUN, I put my stuff at www.GregoryGerard.net .

For SERIOUS, I put my stuff at www.JupitersShadow.com .

I invite you to visit my stuff.

The Darkest Day

So today, December 20, is one of the darkest days of the year. A time of year when the cold chills deep and comfort foods beckon: chocolate, deeply cheesy pizza, and vodka (does that count as a food?) 

As a person who can get pretty dragged down by the darkness (you've all heard of SAD, of course) I have just two things to share:

One, if you suffer from SAD, what has helped me immensely is the introduction of light (lots and lots of light!) into my December/January/February months. 100 watt...

Good News

It is Christmastime and I long to be wrapped in the excitement of the season — the anticipation of parties and friends and family and church and that wonderful speech by Linus. The challenge: I am somewhere between discouraged and outraged with recent news headlines:

– New York State Senate rules against marriage equality 38-24 (with a report that said Senator Jim Alesi, the first Republican to vote, "hung his head in his hands and said, 'so many people have called in from my district...

Grateful/Blessed/Concerned/Clear/Hopeful

I'm here in D.C. for two readings/speakings/booksignings for In Jupiter's Shadow. Both events were wonderful — signing books at Lambda Rising Bookstore and sharing my testimony for the Allied in Pride group at George Washington University. That's been a very uplifting experience.

The less-uplifting (would that be down-drafting?) part of this trip occurred when I learned that the U.S. Catholic bishops did move forward to ratify a pastoral letter on marriage that contains this text:

The legal...

Memory's Stark Reality

Memory's Stark Reality by Gregory Gerard

 

I see that memories come unbidden, like roaches scurrying down the dark-drenched walls of my first apartment after college.

I hear that memories can delight; the soft patter of my grandmother's voice telling her tales of Irish intrigue over mouthfuls of maple walnut ice cream.

And I know that memories are long as the elephant's rough-hewn snout, twisting and thrusting through the spanning years; stories of rights wronged, and dreams realized.  

 

But...

What's right?

I write this on the eve of a discussion in the New York State Assembly: The Marriage Equity Act. If this bill is passed into law, same-sex citizens of NYS would receive equal privilege to commit their lives in marriage.

I welcome those New Yorkers who support this bill to make their views known to their representatives. http://www.nysenate.gov/districts/map

I challeng those New Yorkers who oppose this bill to consider what is fair and just in this civil — not religious — right that is sought...