My heart is full, my life, my art, my passion for ¨being¨ continues to unfold before me and I am alive and thankful to be exactly the person I was created to be.

At the Foot of the Volcano

¨It´s the way that we see things that makes the World be things¨
Dorothy Johnson

·
33 years sober
Thanks be to God
2011
Leonardo Ricardo/Len Clark Beardsley
D.O.S. December 13, 1978

PART FOUR/ MY FAVORITE ERUPTIONS UNDER THE VOLCANO 2011: Prayers for Alcoholics and Addicts, Elizabeth Taylor Knew, Cultural Prejudice, Doubletalk From Lambeth Palace

NINE
For Those in Immediate Danger
¨Heavenly Father, save all in immediate danger due to addiction. We no longer trust ourselves or anyone else; but help us to trust you as our only way out. We beg for your help right now: to pick up the phone, to make the call, to let someone know, to admit the truth: that we have lost the war with alcohol and drugs. It is over, now, Lord, you are our last, best hope; our only one. We can’t even believe that you would stoop so low as to pick us up. Yet you are ever strong to save and eager to love us, despite our overwhelming sins and grief. Lord, by whatever means necessary, help us to surrender now to your loving power. Put aside our pride, heal our shame, calm our nerves, quiet our hearts and show us, O Lord of Power, that you will get us through this to new and better life, if only we are humble enough to ask in the Name of Jesus. Lord, we never knew we needed a Savior; but we do.¨ Amen.

Mar 31, 2011
FROM THE DAILY OFFICE: ¨Prayers for Alcoholics and Addicts¨ by Josh Thomas
HERE

TEN
WE DIDN´T KNOW WHAT TO DO BUT ELIZABETH TAYLOR DID -- SEPTEMBER 19, 1985 --

DINNER WITH ELIZABETH TAYLOR
Early evening on September 19, 1985 a group of specially invited guests -- including the fabulous/beautiful and bejeweled friend to all, Lillian Bernie Wallen Ezer (RIP) of Beverly Hills, who was the only female present at our party and later served as hostess at our table-- gathered at my duplex near Fourth and La Cienega--just a few blocks from Cedars Sinai hospital. Champagne corks popped and drinks flowed and we were lucky to all be alive! We were having a little pre-party before a very special dinner later at the downtown Los Angeles´ Bonaventure Hotel. All were thrilled and dressed elaborately, rented several limousines and with great thanks to my somewhat homophobic ¨employer/dinner-sponsor´ in New York, Sirco International Corporation, Burt Siris (RIP), Chairman, we were ready to attend a ¨star studded¨ dinner after purchasing a ¨Silver¨ table (I don´t think I knew there were ¨Gold¨ tables available for purchase or I would have pushed for a ¨Goldie¨) at the AIDS Project Los Angeles’ Commitment to Life dinner. Intertestingly, Dame Elizabeths face, hair and lovliness is exactly the ¨minds eye¨ image (above, although she wore a gorgeous gown) I recall it to be as she made her presentation at the dinner that night. It was the start of decades of her warriorlike activism when fighting HIV/AIDS!

Mar 23, 2011

Dinner With ELIZABETH TAYLOR: Just me, my coworkers, our round ¨silver¨ table and 2,500 others at the Bonaventure Hotel, Los Angeles
HERE

ELEVEN
"Cultural prejudice has not only succeeded in making most heterosexuals hate gays; it has succeeded in making most gay people hate themselves" Randy Shilts

¨I wholeheartedly agree with this quote from the late Randy Shilts, but I would add that it is cultural prejudice, fueled and reinforced by religious prejudice against LGBT people, spewed by all too many clergy who have vilified Gay people from their pulpits, that has spawned this hate by their justification of that hate and discrimination, that frequently leads to vilification, bashings and murders of LGBT people.¨ the Reverend Dr. Jerry Maneker 

Feb 26, 2011

Christian Hate Spewers : ¨Every single drop of blood shed by LGBT people, either through suicide, bashing, or murder, is on the hands of homophobic clergy...
HERE

TWELVE
The Archbishop of Canterbury supports Bishop Orombi's exclusion of homosexuals.* How does excluding people for who they are even pretend to be Christian?

In his press conference yesterday in Dublin, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, condemned the actions of the Ugandan rag "Rolling Stone" (not to be confused with the US magazine) for calling for the hanging of "homos". He pointed out that words matter ..... when uttered by what he called "this rotten, disgraceful Ugandan publication" and they have serious consequences. Responsibility needs to be taken, he said.
¨The same goes for the Archbishop. Words matter. In the same press conference he defended Ugandan Archbishop Henry Orombi's anti-gay stance. The Irish Times put it this way: "Defending Bishop Orombi, Archbishop Williams, head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, emphasised that, as with other relevant Anglican primates, Bishop Orombi’s position concerned “exclusion from ministry on grounds of behaviour, not orientation”.

Jan 31, 2011

Defending Bishop Orombi? We need to ask the Archbishop of Canterbury to stop speaking out of both sides of his mouth... HERE

PART TWO/MY FAVORITE ERUPTIONS UNDER THE VOLCANO 2011: Leonardos birthday, David Hicks and Lady Pamela and Gay Equality too!

FOUR
Gotta keep my eye on the ball, gotta keep moving along...Happy 68th Birthday to me!

“The only man who makes no mistakes is the man who never does anything.”

Aug 26, 2011

A BIRTHDAY MESSAGE FROM TEDDY: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” HERE

FIVE
The Grand Canyon (the real reason David Hicks and Lady Pamela Mountbatten came to see us)

Jul 13, 2011

ARIZONA HERE I COME: I´m returning to the scene of the non-crime -- well, mostly non-crimes! HERE

SIX
¨Openly gay New York Times op-Ed columnist Frank Bruni writes about what he believes is one of the biggest reasons marriage equality finally made it's way to New York state: those who once opposed same-sex marriage had their minds changed by the gays and lesbians in their lives.¨

Jun 26, 2011

GAY PRIDE: ONE DAY AT A TIME, MOMENT BY MOMENT, BREATH BY BREATH, TRUTH BY TRUTH, SIDE BY SIDE WITH EVERYONE ELSE! HERE