Visiting Stonewall Inn, in twenty-sixteen

As you know, I went to New York recently. My first goal was to see Starry Night, by Van Gogh, and my second goal to visit The Stonewall Inn, a legendary place. The spot where all the LGBTIQ+… etc. liberation movement started. Willow came too, you can see her looking happy in this pic:

Willow deserves her own story… another day. I’m transcribing from my diary here. Tomorrow [last week, I’m already here] I’ll leave for Barcelona and I’m already knackered. Maybe it’s exhaustion what’s allowing me to tear down the barriers that keep me from publishing things? That, and knowing that I’ve got people on Patreon waiting to read what I’m writing. More on the Patreon later. But guys, THANKS. You’ve become my top 9 favourite people in the world. Promised.

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I can’t believe I’m at Stonewall Inn. There’s a huge poster of a photo, very well (back) lit, that says:

STONEWALL MEANS FIGHT BACK! SMASH GAY OPRESSION! GAY CAUCUS [gay Ché Guevara guy’s head] AGAINST WAR & FASCISM

I also took a picture of it:

There’s this guy that looks like gay Ché Guevara, unlike the Tim Minchin song The Fence, which includes the lyrics “Che was a bit of a homophobe”:

We’ve sheltered ourselves from the rain here, and from the fact that it looks like my period is about to come and kill me. OUCH. At Times Square I’ve had to ask Pablo to carry my backpack, and then squat, and breathe. That was my small-town girl moment in New York: Why is there so little space to sit in such a crowded a public space? The answer is obvious: to keep you circulating. And circulate we did.

We arrived running through the rain all the way from the subway station. Willow and Pablo are drinking White Belgian with Orange Peel. That’s a beer and it’s delicious (each bottle costs seven dollars plus one dollar tip, which is the standard issue in this town).

Elisa and I were fooling around over Skype yesterday, and she said:

“You’re going to Stonewall? Cool!”

“Yep, apparently it has 3.8 stars at Yelp”. ¬_¬’

[This was clearly a joke, because her answer is, as it should be, outraged laughter].

“But how is it possible that anyone would DARE to rate such a mythical place on Yelp? And once you’re at it, what kind of person gives it less than five stars? It’s legendary!

And yet, people dare…

When we arrive I’m afraid we’ve sat at the back, where they had normal chairs and sofas, not high chairs… and we’ve interrupted a couple of gentlemen of around fifty years of age, very formal, with their suits and shirts, a black gentleman and a white gentleman that kissed each other very sweetly while sitting in their stools.

There were two bathrooms, one that said “All genders” and another that said «Urinal room». Cool. Specially considering all the fuss going on in the US with toilets.

Five stars. I mean, come on.

(Trying to smile behind my dark circles and rainbow scarf).

The Patreon thing

Patreon is an online platform in which people can support artist so they can go on doing their stuff. I’ve just published my profile, at last! Now you can support me so I can go on writing, for as little as a dollar a month. There are several types of rewards for the patrons, but mostly the main reward is that I’ll be able to devote more time to writing (and also to sleeping, eating, having showers, that kind of thing) and I’ll have more resources to publish stories like this one (and hopefully better). If you want to give me a hand, visit this link for more information: http://patreon.com/minibego.