Down the Rabbit Hole

I get helpful emails from Meetup telling me about new groups which MAY interest me. A few certainly do BUT, sadly, my lack of a sound system is a bit limiting. I’d like to attend some of the Sci-fi/Fantasy group’s events but none are close captioned for the hearing impaired. Same for the political action group #Boston Resist. I did join and attend a few sessions of the Figurative Drawing Group, the Blue Hills Writing Retreat and the ASL Meetup – these are more in my ability-to-enjoy sphere.  I haven’t become a regular at any…so far.

Yesterday I received an invite to a Meetup that is hilariously and spectaculary off the mark. It’s a group for conservative lesbians.

Feeling lost in a sea of liberals? Tired of remaining silent or excusing yourself when the subject turns to politics? Do you think that "feminists" support too many positions that are harmful to the well-being of women and gays in general? Tired of being called a nasty name or less than virtuous simply because you see different solutions to complex problems? If you as a gay woman relate strongly to…

 //SNORT!//

“Different solutions” – nice euphemism for self hating, self abusing and defeating, prejudiced piles of rabid worm shit. Whose running this group? I'm guessing the ringleader's either a stunningly addlepated and masochistic fool OR some dead frog-brained, asswipian Republican/Fascist tool looking for recruits for their continuing war on us women folk.

A guy I used to work with, eons ago, would’ve been a star candidate for the men’s contingent of this group. He was gay, radically right wing, thought he was smarter than everyone else and was a regular at the local leather bar – Ramrod Boston.

It was located in the Fenway, a neighborhood I lived in WAAAAAAY back in the ‘80s. The Ramrod was just a half block down the street. from my nasty, dive apartment. I don’t think I ever went there but I did make an occasional appearance at the, right next door, 1270 Club (also a gay bar, purportedly haunted too!).

I’m not gay (OR, just FYI, male) so why was I frequenting gay hangs? My friends were there, I enjoyed the atmosphere and totally dug the fact that I could just dance (or not), have fun and not get bugged by skeevy guys on the make.

I figured, like so many other joints that made city living fun, exciting and different, Ramrod* had been priced out by the greedheaded land barons whose idea of neighborhood vibrancy is Starbucks, CVS and bank branches on every corner.

While nosing around, I came across an old and very much spot on column by Robert David Sullivan: Last call: Why the gay bars of Boston are disappearing, and what it says about the future of city life. He doesn’t just site the dwindling number of Boston gay bars – he notes the decrease in New York’s real (versus tourist trappy) Jewish delis, the radically shrinking number of bookstores in Cambridge and elsewhere (thank the little baby Bast Grolier's and Harvard Bookstores are still there) and the dearth of cheap, interesting places to nosh in Kenmore Square (hello Deli Haus, I miss you!).

The 1270 is now a generic sports bar (that being the fourth big, MUST HAVE for every bucko obsessed real estate magnate). The Avenue Victor Hugo bookstore, a regular haunt for me, is now home to a pricy ripped jeans emporium. The Booksmith in Harvard Square is now a Gap. A Verizon store sits where the charming, sweet, basement gay bar Buddies used to be.

Christ almighty, are Boston and Cambridge nothing but generic whitebread, Disneyfied suburban malls now? What’s the allure of the city? What’s my motivation for leaving Valhalla?

* Yes, Ramrod's gone but it's been replaced NOT by a bank or CVS! It's now a less seamy, less biker butch, "gay friendly" club named Machine. OK, I'm intrigued!