find me in a field 🌿 @fieldnotesgay - Tumblr Blog

never the loudest in the room. always the most observant.

noticed my body changing in a positive way in response to going to the gym. But I’ve also noticed it ageing in certain ways too.

I’m happy I’m still here, don’t get me wrong. I’m glad I chose to stay and get sober.

But at the same time, you can see the life I’ve lived in my skin too and that makes me sad as fuck for myself.

#nick talks

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I’m watching that documentary “Before Stonewall” about gay history pre-1969, and uncovered something which I think is interesting.

The documentary includes a brief clip of a 1954 televised newscast about the rise of homosexuality. The host of the program interviewed psychologists, a police officer, and one “known homosexual”. The “known homosexual” is 22 years old. He identifies himself as Curtis White, which is a pseudonym; his name is actually Dale Olson.

So I tracked down the newscast. According to what I can find, Dale Olson may have been the first gay man to appear openly on television and defend his sexual orientation. He explains that there’s nothing wrong with him mentally and he’s never been arrested. When asked whether he’d take a cure if it existed, he says no. When asked whether his family knows he’s gay, he says that they didn’t up until tonight, but he guesses they’re going to find out, and he’ll probably be fired from his job as well. So of course the host is like …why are you doing this interview then? and Dale Olson, cool as cucumber pie, says “I think that this way I can be a little useful to someone besides myself.”

1954. 22 years old. Balls of pure titanium.

Despite the pseudonym, Dale’s boss did indeed recognize him from the TV program, and he was promptly fired the next day. He wrote into ONE magazine six months later to reassure readers that he had gotten a new job at a higher salary.

Curious about what became of him, I looked into his life a little further. It turns out that he ultimately became a very successful publicity agent. He promoted the Rocky movies and Superman. Not only that, but get this: Dale represented Rock Hudson, and he was the person who convinced him to disclose that he had AIDS! He wrote the statement Rock read. And as we know, Rock Hudson’s disclosure had a very significant effect on the national conversation about AIDS in the U.S.

It appears that no one has made the connection between Dale Olson the publicity agent instrumental in the AIDS debate and Dale Olson the 22-year-old first openly gay man on TV. So I thought I’d make it. For Pride month, an unsung gay hero.

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RATING: RELIABLE

you can listen to the clip of the 1954 interview here and find him on wikipedia here

I need to work on my self esteem…

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ask game!

making an ask game purely out of boredom

if you had to dye your hair, what colour would you pick?

in an emergency, who would you call?

favourite scent and why?

who is a role model in your life, real or fictional?

three people you wish you could meet?

would you rather be permanently moving/on the road, or live in the same place for your whole life?

describe a dream you had recently

favourite accessory you own?

how would you survive an apocalypse or at least attempt to?

dream pet?

song you listened to in childhood?

how do you show affection (this can be platonic or romantic)?

favourite film?

piece of media that left a lasting impact on you?

any “paranormal” or unexplainable experiences?

favourite type of chocolate?

drink of choice?

a compliment you’ve received?

best gift you’ve gotten?

dream car?

describe a nightmare you’ve had?

favourite time of day/night?

a hobby you tried but didn’t stick with?

movie or tv show you want to watch?

dream room?

share one outlook you have on life?

a favourite lyric?

favourite way to spend time alone?

share an adventure you went on?

what are your opinions on the person asking?

fieldnotesgay

going volunteering tomorrow at some wetland, really hoping it doesn’t rain and I come home looking like a drowned squirrel

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I did in fact get drowned in the rain. I didn’t end up staying the whole time as I started to feel self conscious and getting in my head a bit.

#:(

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Can everyone who makes video content do a Deaf bitch a favor? Watch your shit with the captions on and the sound off, and then do another round of editing to fix things including but not limited to:

Captions cover the spot on the screen you put the information I need

The dialogue is captioned but not the song you have playing that the dialogue is responding to

You only captioned the person on the screen, not the person off screen who is also talking

No captioning of critical sound effects (alarms, bells, dogs barking, etc)

Speakers are not labelled at moments where it is not clear on the screen who is talking.

Captions cover the spot on the screen that you put the information I need!

Other d/Deaf people welcome to add.

This post brought to you by the fifth video tutorial I could not follow because the bad, auto-generated captions covered what I was trying to watch today.