“I don’t want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell the truth, I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it! Don’t turn the light on!” ~ A Streetcar Named Desire
Lately I’ve found myself veering away from the social media saturation that gains followers and friends. It’s been a rather natural progression as the internet and the online world seems to get more and more vitriolic. Maybe it’s the upcoming election cycle, or a world gone mad with dismal prospects, but whatever the case it hasn’t been as fun being online, so I’ve delved into other pursuits. The timing is good for such, as the gardens will soon be beckoning for attention and revamping. I’ll also be setting up some travel plans for upcoming tour stops, and being online will take a second or third seat to all that real-life excitement and enjoyment.
If there’s one thing I try to create with this blog it’s an atmosphere of calm and peace – yes, I want it to be fun and thoughtful and sexy at the same time – but most of all I want it to be a respite from the rest of the chattering and screaming and arguing that constitutes an average visit to any site that enables comments – or the general madness of FaceBook and Twitter.
I’m not promising there won’t be the occasional bit of political commentary (we have crazy clowns running for President right now) but that’s not the main theme of this place, and it never has been. Like Blanche DuBois in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ I want beauty most of all. Kindness and beauty and a belief in the possibility of redemption, no matter where we’ve come from, and no matter what we’ve done. There’s a world full of Stanleys out there – people who will do their damnedest to lay a Queen low, people who exult in the destruction and downfall of others – but fuck all of that. Naysayers and negativity will have no place here or in my home, and I’ll banish all such nonsense even if it means leaving behind those who have been with me for many years.
Nobody can argue that I don’t face the cold hard truth head-on, but this is a choice I’ve made and will continue to make. Those who want to indulge in their bad moods and antagonistic tendencies will not be tolerated. I’m too old to care about hurting feelings. Let this be a space for kindness and contentment, for fun and frivolity, for the occasional bit of snarkiness and sarcasm, but certainly not only for that. Above all, let it be a space for beauty and prettiness and glamour and the very best version of ourselves that we can be.
