In 2001, my partner and I decided on a more-his-than-my whim to buy a 100-year old, 169-acre gentlemen's farm in Stamford, NY located in the western Catskills of Upstate New York. Stamford, the Queen of the Catskills, was once the premier vacation spot for many coming from the more affluent New York City. Remnants of that Golden Age of Stamford can still be seen today in the Village in the form of the Rexmere Hotel, which was a grand hotel opened on July 15, 1898 or the Delaware Inn, which was built in 1804. Both structures can be seen today in Stamford, and both at different levels of restoration. When we drove into the village for the first time, both of us immediately recognized this area as a coming home. At the time, we really had no idea what a new meaning we were giving to "coming home."
But soon after, fate decided to play its game: we lost our Washington, DC jobs with our DC salaries, and our beloved dog, Tadoussac, was hit and killed in front of our house. Suddenly we were dealing with a hole in our hearts as well as in our bank accounts and finding ourselves dependent on the Catskills economy. My partner eventually found the job of his dreams, but I was not so lucky. I got a job teaching German in a local high school, which was a good idea at the time. But being an openly gay man in the public school system in a rural area was not an easy thing to be. After one semester, I decided to work in New York City and had been working there for almost two years. But recently, I found a job in Albany, NY that matched my skill set and am now actually able to come home after work at night. In addition, my partner of five years and I got married twice; once in Toronto for the civil service and the second time on our land here in the Stamford for the spiritual.
I also decided to get involved in local politics, and accomplished within the matter of weeks to become the leader of our local Democracy for America group, to join the Delaware County Democratic Committee as a representative from the Town of Stamford's second district, and also with the sole other Committee representative from the Town of Stamford, to become a candidate for the local town board this November 8th. Now I have to say, that up until this point, I have been somewhat low key, except for the gay German teacher thing, but all that changed yesterday, July 21, 2005. In yesterday's Mountain Eaglethe local newspaper, I found myself mentioned on pages A2 and A8, . The A2 reference was the wedding announcement in the Circle of Friends section, and the A8 reference was an article detailing the local races, which was a continuation of a front page story. You may have to squint to see the references on A8, but look at the last 4 lines of the article. I cannot remember ever seeing my name in any newspaper other than my college paper, and now my name is in twice. So basically I just screamed out over our Rip Van Winkle Republican mountains: I am Here! I am Queer! And I am running for Town Board! So get used to it!
So why am I telling you this story of two gay men in the Catskills? Why should you care about our triumphs and tragedies? I want to spread the word. I want to inform all that live in an urban environment that they can to look outside their boundaries and take stock of what is there. Think about for a moment where you get your food, milk, water and other resources. Think about how quickly we are using these resources. Think about who is in the local governments in rural areas. Think about the decisions that they are making that influence your life. Think about how you could help affect these decisions to the betterment of all. I will start contributing my part to my community as being a member of the Democratic Party of the Town of Stamford and running for public office until I win.
So here it goes, the journey has started. But I know in my heart of hearts, that I deeply love my husband and his no-longer-only-his whim.