New Hampshire Tour: Part II

It's a cool early November afternoon here in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, as I wait for my friend Michele at a coffee shop. I spend the morning visiting my alma mater, the University of New Hampshire, and developed a deep sense of nostalgia for the place which inevitably provided me the personal strength to come out more than six years ago. The buzz surrounding U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton's visit has come and gone. The autumn leaves are finally dropping after a very warm October. And college students in Birkenstocks, puffy vests and gray sweatshirts traverse the tranquil Northern New England campus.

I met UNH's LGBT coordinator and reconnected with a number of former colleagues and classmates with whom I worked and studied during my undergraduate academic career. New York remains my home with no immediate plans to leave. But I must admit it was a bit refreshing to return to such a tight-knit and committed LGBT community in Durham. Drama and personal politics certainly remain. It was refreshing, however, to talk with activists (and all-around good people) who don't immediately point out their personal agendas or immediately blast those who don't subscribe to it. A true breath of crisp November air!