LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
Gay 'n Gray: School Days |
by John Siegfried |
Most kids welcome September because it's "Back to School" time. I never did. I dreaded September, even though I liked school. The source of my dismay was the back-to-school essay on "What Did You Do During the Summer?" or "My Special Summer Experience," or some variation on that theme. The problem was that I never did anything special during the summer. Our family didn't take a vacation (few families in our Depression neighborhood did). Even my grandparents were local and not a destination for a special summer visit. Completing two weeks of summer Bible School, or digging a hole to China in the vacant lot next door, hardly seemed the genesis of a September literary coup. Well, this September I want to go back to school because I finally have a special summer something to write about. I took my first ever cruiseas in boat sailing on water cruise. The other kind of cruising I've done for years with limited success, but hardly the subject matter for a school essay. As friends over the years have reported rhapsodically on their Caribbean cruise adventure, or their QE2 love affair, I've resisted boat travel as "not being my thing" (whatever that means). But I finally succumbed and the last two weeks of August found me as part of a group of six gay men aboard the Holland American MS Maasdam on a cruise titled, "Baltic Odyssey." Perhaps we were what made it an "odd"yssey. This was all choreographed as a 50th birthday surprise for one member of the groupnot me, my 50th is ancient history. It was a wonderful surprise for him and a delight for all of us to get even a brief exposure to Stockholm, Sweden; St. Petersburg, Russia; Tallinn, Estonia; Helsinki, Finland; Gdansk, Poland; Burnholm, Denmark; Wernamunde/Rostok, Germany; and Copenhagen, Denmark. It was a delightful smorgasbord of cities and I only had to unpack one time. The highlight, of course, was St. Petersburg, Russia where the six of us had arranged to have a minivan with driver and guide. We saw the Hermitage, the Winter Palace, the Summer Palace (there may even have been a Spring Palace and a Fall Palace, it all gets blurry after a while), not to mention the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul, the Church of the Spilt Blood, and there should have been the Monument of Perpetual Misery. When you see the opulence of Czarist Russia, and know that it was built on the poverty and oppression of the Russian people, it's easy to understand why there was a revolution, which in many ways continues today. The Romanoffs, Stroganoffs, Alexandakoffs and Jerkimoffs, not to mention Nicholas, Alexis, Peter and the rest of the gang, were fixated on playing "Mine is Bigger Than Yours Is"a game well known in the gay community and an organizing principle of society since the days of the cave man. The winner of the game was probably Peter, then Lenin, then Stalin and on down the line. There still is hope that some day the winner may be the people of Russia themselves, but that's certainly not a clear conclusion. Even today there is a marked contrast between the gold, alabaster and jewels of the empire and the dowdy, drab appearance of St. Petersburg, where the inhabitants are scrubbing and polishing in preparation for the 2003 celebration of the 300th anniversary of the founding of their city. This dreary appearance is in marked contrast to the vibrancy, cleanliness and color of the Scandinavian cities we visited. Copenhagen, Helsinki and Stockholm were full of life. St. Petersburg is still convalescing from its World War II siege and its near death Communist debilitation. When we saw the stream which marked the furthest advance of the German war machine in the two year attack on the city, one of our group noted that the harsh Russian winter had defeated the Germans. Our Russian guide responded with clarity that the valor and endurance of the citizens of St. Petersburg may have had something to do with it. Touche! Our Fodor's guide listed gay and lesbian night spots, along with jazz clubs, discos, etc. in all the major cities, but our pace was such we never did get to check any of them out. Perhaps a loss but, on the other hand, finding a gay space comfortable for the gray crowd is difficult enough in the States where I speak the language, in a foreign country it can be a daunting experience. As in my school days, the summers pass all too quickly, but now I have something to write about the next time I return to school in September. John Siegfried, a retired association executive, resides in Rehoboth. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 10, No. 13, Sept. 22, 2000. |