February 2023
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The Greatest Race
I’ve done quite a few races since I began running, but the most meaningful one was the Gasparilla 5K on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019. That’s because it was the first one I did with Cherie.1 Cherie and I worked together for a long time at the Tampa Tribune. If there’s…
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“Do You Have a Problem With Gay People?” No, I Have a Problem With This Person.
Behind the scenes, I’m very opinionated and work hard to advance civil rights. In public, though, I’m a bit more guarded with my comments. I’ve been this way since my reporter days — I didn’t want anyone ever to doubt that I could be objective and fair, even though I…
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Oops, I Madrid It Again
My eyes light up when people tell me they’re headed to Madrid. The short time I lived there as a kid gave me a long-lasting and deep connection to the city. Like a true Madrileño, I root for Real Madrid and get very defensive when someone suggests Barcelona is a…
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I Love to Get High
When I was a lad in London, there was only one way to see the city: from ground level. And I never gave that much thought until the Complimentary Spouse and I visited my ancestral homeland in 2004 and took our first spin on the London Eye. It was a…
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We’re Not Here: LGBTQ Representation in My Childhood
Yesterday, in my blog post about the Bruce Springsteen concert, I wrote a lengthy footnote about how I no longer enjoyed the song “Glory Days.” I wrote that, as a gay man: … it’s unsettling to look back at the cultural touchstones of my youth and discover I was invisible…
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The Boss and I
The first CD I ever bought was Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen. It was 1985, and I got it when I purchased my Sony Discman from the small electronics store on our High Street. As an American kid living in England, I didn’t know much about Bruce Springsteen.…