Dog Days of Summer

New Yorkers by and large abandon their city during the last two weeks of August. They escape to the Hamptons, Fire Island, the Catskills or the Jersey Shore to enjoy the last vestiges of summer before September arrives and brings us all back to the hustle and bustle. I too find myself in this mentality as I scrape the bottom of the barrel, sort of speak, for blog entries relevant to the movement for LGBT rights.

Today is a rainy and particularly cool August day here in Bushwick. I find myself at the local coffee shop nursing a hot chocolate. A man died of an overdose this past weekend in the Fire Island Pines. The Suffolk County Police Department apparently roughed up DJ Susan Morabito at the Ice Palace in Cherry Grove during the same period. I successfully pitched Gay.com an article on the tragic death of Victoria Arellano last month in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in San Pedro, California. I also began to plan a return trip to the Dominican Republic with my friends Paul and Doug in November. My friend David in Santo Domingo told me via e-mail yesterday the city escaped Hurricane Dean relatively unscathed outside of minimal damage along the oceanfront due to the storm surge. Life continues for this gay New Yorker despite the mass exodus which has left the city more quiet and tranquil than normal.