Stonewall-Farm

The Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village/NYC on June 28th of 1969 mark the beginnings of the LGBT movement. That day people were arrested for not dressing according to their gender. But this time they fought back. Since then we have come a long way in fighting for justice and equality for people of varying sexual orientation and gender identity. The land we bought in upstate New York, is surrounded by stonewalls, like many. We choose the name to honor this place that kicked off a revolution. Green and Proud, this Farm will house corn fields, solar power and grasing sheep under the rainbow: a working farm, camp and retreat for LGBT Youth and Adults, close to the city,

[trevornorman]

Oscar Night - and the stars who come out (not just at night)

Blogging while watching the Oscars actually makes a lot of sense, since I had been planning to honor Sally Field and Anne Hathaway for being such great Allies. Sally Field could be considered the most famous PFLAG mom, aside from being a really great actress. I thought it was hilarious, when Ann Hathaway, on the red carpet, said she was actually wearing Prada . When the movie came out "The Devil wears Prada", I thought that name was just a movie invention. Later I saw stores actually selling Prada. Somebody convinces me this was not movie merchandizing. This goes to show how educational the movies really are. Whatever she is wearing, Prada or Burlap, singing the song angry men, she is gorgeously smart and beautiful.

There are those supporters of the Rainbow Community in Hollywood and Show Buzz. And then there are the real heroines and heroes, the stars that really come out (not just at night). Among them is the pioneer of all out Lesbians, Lily Tomlin. She never kept this part of her life a secret, all while still being very private, an art. I saw her life on Broadway a few years ago doing the revived version of "In search of Intelligence ....", not only was she energetic and beautiful as ever at 60something, but also did she this amazing job of memorizing 2 hours of highly intelligent monologue, all while performing like an Olympic champion and last not least being hilariously funny.

And then there is Chely Wright. Her documentary reads like a public coming out story, with all the angst that leads to it. The film also dismantles the image of a woman star build up as a idol catering to hetero stereotypes. She is definitely a pioneer in the rather conservative world of Country music. She undertook a very courageous step and it will be interesting to watch whether her public coming out will kill her career or kick off a new beginning. Good Luck for you, Chely!

At the Philadelphia Health Conference I had the personal experience to see Chaz Bono life in a Q and A presentation. He's perhaps the most famous Transman on this planet. He was out as trans from the onset, and might have made the topic and the problems known to an audience, that otherwise would be completely ignorant about this part of some peoples life. This in itself I find admirable. His story of course, is different from most people, having grown up in Show Buzz exposed to and by the media from day one. In that presentation he was grilled by some members of the audience  with the expectation that he should represent in the public, the way they wanted trans life or certain aspects of it represented to the public. He had to defend himself, saying that he can only represent himself and not the entire trans community. Let's give this man a break! Imagine all the inappropriateness, a lot of us are facing every day, exposing himself to that by not only ignorant people around him but also by the media, that is admirable. Chaz, you are definitely my hero!

I loved the comment: We were afraid that maybe the Oscars aren't gay enough, announcing Richard Gere.  I just thought, too bad that Rock Hudson wasn't able to see this. He had to develop aids to come out, back then I think being out would have killed his career. So 3 Cheers for Hollywood, you have come a long way!

[trevornorman]

German American Bier-Blog

As a German Immigrant to New York I do appreciate the richness of pubs, bars and Bier devoted Restaurants, some of them even along with German Food, and the wide selection of beers in stores. I prefer drinking my beer in a quite country setting to a super noisy Manhattan Restaurant, so I can also have a conversation along with my beer tasting.

Most beer lovers don't just drink any beer, people usually prefer Lagers or IPA, or Alt, as we would say in Germany, or stout or.... I am definitely a lager kind of guy. Pils to be precise.

It's not easy finding a Pils in the US. I tried Scrimshaw Pilsner (1) in San Francisco, but it actually tastes more like a IPA. That was a bit dissappointing, because that takes it into a quite different direction as the savory taste I was going for. Captain Lawrence Kolsch (4)  brewed in upstate New York tasted actually almost like a pils, but definitely a good lager. This one I really liked, and lucky for me I can consider it a local beer.

The specialty about American brews is that they experiment with all sorts of spices, fruits and flavoring inventions. Since no beer could probably ever beat my all time favorite Summer beer Erdinger Kristallweizen (on a scale 1-5 it's definitely a 10) for me, (and nobody in this country has even tried to produce a Kristall), I have tried all the  US Weizen that I was able to get my hands on:Blue Moon (4) is a nice mellow version, with a sweet touch, even the regular one, the Honey moon is usually to sweet for my taste. 

I very much enjoyed Pyramid, a great west coast Hefeweizen (yeast wheat beer). Still Erdinger Kristall weizen I recommend as the perfect summer drink with a lemon. Luckily it is available in the great state of New York, however not in New Jersey. Great beer in the field of subtle sweet full fletched lager, is the Curious Traveller by Shandy from Burglington, Vermont, lager with the lemon inside, great refreshing beer and not sweet but with the tartness of the lemon. Same Burlington is also the home of another favorite fruity beer, Longtrail with their Belgian white with sweet orange and even more the Blackbeary Wheat. I visited their Brewery in 2011, where they let you watch the bottling process from a gallery.

But my real dream is to one day visit a brewery that practices open fermentation, like I believe Dogfish is doing. Also I would love to try open fermentation in my own homebrewing, along with using my own homegrown hops and all grain mash. For now I content myself with biertasting in America, from all those great small and even smaller Breweries all around the country.

[trevornorman]

Out Politicians are cool

I want to dedicate this blog to some Out Politicians:  Tammy Baldwin, the new Senator for Wisconsin. She is the first openly out lesbian Senator and all the power to her.  40 years after Homosexuality has been liberated from gracing the List of Mental Illnesses by the National Psychiatric Association and from legal prosecution we are still celebrating those first ... I am always glad to hear of such stories, and I admire the courage, particularly of women, who are as such facing all sorts of other biases along with being viewed as "different" by some, if they come out. Everybody Out there in the Lamplight of the media sets a great example and can be a role model to younger generations.Out Politicians are role models for both sides, the community plus everybody, who is not accepting of or simply ignorant about LGBT Equality.

I do respect though, if someone is not ready to come out publicly. Everybody has their own comfort level. Some might just be realistic and simply know they not going to get a start into a career in certain environments. Nobody has the right to out someone else, for whatever reason, except perhaps, well... . There is something that I want to call "Hoovering", this is someone who lives an extremely closeted life, and as if that isn't bad enough, they use their public power to actually discriminate against their own community. Hoovering is not only hypocritical but also very undemocratic.

Ultimately I hope we will reach a level, at which all this doesn't matter at all. In my vision it's just simply about the work you do, what is your contribution to society. After all, who you date, does not constitute a virtue in itself. Only as long as there is bias, taking a stand for the LGBT Community as a member - does constitute a virtue.

And since I am talking about politics here, a note on political correctness. Upon reading up on LGBT issues online I am finding myself confronted with the most up to date version of LGBT which is actually LGBTIQQ. Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Intersex Queer Questioning.

We are also about to launch the website for Stonewallfarms NY Foundation. When I was writing the text for the Website, I found myself grappeling with what term to use. I personally find the long list of Letters LGBTIQQ very hyper acronymical, and unattractive to read.  Having been through some of these letters myself, I have chosen to call our community Rainbow Community. Literature mentions Rainbow Families, they are Families with LGBTIQQ Parents. In the language of a 6 year old this is a family with two mommies or two daddies, a concept that a lot of NYC kids seem to be familiar already. One interesting thought I had in this context, is that those Rainbow Parents are also out.

In my concept a family with an LGBTIQQ Child that they are standing up to, like PFLAG Families are, those are also Rainbow Families. In other words, any Family with and Out family member is Rainbow Family. The Rainbow symbolizes diverse sexual identities. Knowing the meaning of each of the letters LGBTIQQ helps everybody to understand the various colors. No matter what we call them, an Out Rainbow Family sets an example of how we can be and live, they are role models for both other Parents and other children who might be struggling with similar questions. Let's not forget the teachers.

[trevornorman]

Happy PurpleGreen 2013!

Having been in hibernation gave me some time to achieve more clarity on the goals for 2013. I will write about that later in this blog.

I want to dedicate this blog to Jeanne Manford, the founder of PFLAG. I learned about this terrific organisation only last year and immediately started to attend meetings at a local group. The experience was mind-blowing. Here I am meeting with people who are parents and partners of other LGBT folks, some of those parents are younger than myself, a lot younger. Some of them seem to be around my age or older. They are all parents and other allies, who are practicing unconditional love. They are even proud of their children, they spend time supporting others who have maybe just found out about their "queer" child, they are struggling, some of them a lot, but at least they are trying to understand and want to learn how to support. PFLAG member set the greatest example for the rest of society on how to support you child no matter what. When I learned about Jeanne Manford, and how old she was, when she died, I did the math. And I realized, that she was the same age as my own parents.  Jeanne Manford taught me, that it is a matter of character and open mindedness, whether or not you support your child, being different.

A book I am reading on the topic of being different is :"Far from the tree", by Andrew Solomon. Being an out gay man, he writes about his own being different and how it affected his relationship with his parents. But furthermore his book covers a number of other groups of "different" children, including deaf, autistic and more. There is certainly many ways of perceiving the fact of being included in this collection as an lgbt person. His point is though, that is always comes down to the same challenge for the parents. How do they deal with the different-ness (Andersartigkeit) or diversion? Do they try to let the child be different and learn along the way, how to do this, and learn about that specific way of being different? Or do they they to "cure" the different-ness? The arguments he is finding through having carried out hundreds of interviews, is that often the parents justify curing by social requirements. In other words, people, who are in favor of "curing", do so to supposedly make life easier for their child. There is truth in this argument and error at the same time. If I want to cure my child from being gay or trans, I envision a cruel world, where there is no place and tolerance for this kind of being different. It is like saying a dark alley is dangerous all in itself. It is not, it becomes dangerous by preditors going there for an easy catch, because nobody else goes there. If I envision this world as a given, I will not invest any energy in changing that. In fact my not doing so helps the world to stay that way. It comes down to a liberal or conservative view of society: 1. Am I aware of how I help shaping society by my own actions. 2. Do I believe in change? The argument of altering the child in favor of normative social attitude can be a cover for having to deal with this challenge on a merely personal level. My impression is that PFLAG consists of people who have asked this personal question, and secondly they look at the social implication of this different-ness of their child.

Using the social pressure as an argument for "curing" whatever diversity a child is displaying, reminds me also of the argument used to justify all kinds of commercial projects: Hydrofracking and Nuclear Power Plants create job. Yes it does, so do concentration camps.

When I was reading the New Paltz Times, a great source of Hudson Valley information, I came across Susan Slotnik's great column: Outside of writing the column, she works with prison inmates, a very high percentage of whom are black. She was asked to give a keynote speech on Diversity for the New Year, but she felt she couldn't really represent the inmates, because she was white. After almost finding a black guy, he refused to give the speech, because he did not believe in diversity.

In a way it shows how far we have come since the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement for racial equality. You can now afford the luxury to kick this civil right in the but, you don't have to fight for it anymore. Just like so many people in democratic countries can afford the luxury of not to vote. You can simply afford to take these rights for granted.

When Andrew Solomon was presenting the concept of his book to the various groups and participants, he encountered a lot of protest from people feeling they have nothing in common or are superior to other groups, f.e. some people with autism  felt they should not be mentioned along with people who had down syndrome, because the latter are people with inferior intelligence. Every "different" group is different from the other.  These encounters prove that we can all still be part and parcel of bias other groups are confronted with. Just because I am LGBT, doesn't mean that I know how to talk to a person in a wheel chair, the way they want to be talked to. But if I myself come to the point, where I don't want to be judged by being LGBT, like not loose my job because of it or even be preferred for it either, then I can maybe understand that all a person in a wheelchair wants from me, is: not to be simply seen as a person in a wheelchair but as a person.

Being trans is a curious state. First of all: nobody wants to be trans. For that matter, nobody really wants to be labelled, but we use the labels in order to emphasize our different-ness. In the 70ies you could see a label reading:"How dare you assume I am heterosexual!" A lot of us go through a lot of trouble to live our lives as being different. Sometimes it can be as easy as simply moving from Pocatello, Idaho to New York City. So for all this trouble we want to be seen as such, some of us, seen as such and still accepted.

Most of us trans folks over 40 are predominantly living a binary gender concept. As Trans People, most of us undergo a lot of physical treatment, in order to change the bias of those around us, second to feeling more at home with our body.  I have heard many very sad stories, reminiscent of Leslie Feinberg"s "Stone Butch Blues", stories of transmen, who were completely estranged from their  pre-surgery bodies. Today I meet a lot of younger folks who label themselves as queer. They are the true pioneers to questioning gender bias altogether. While I still consider myself as having jumped the fence, for better and for worse, they have removed that fence altogether. They have all my admiration and support. However, I am still that old fashioned kind of guy, who simply jumped that fence. The kind of person who confronts society with the question, where should they put us in a hospital room or in a jail cell?

The advantage of transitioning at the age of over 50 is that you naturally have a clearer sense of who you are, outside of your gender. I have had conversations with younger trans friends, who are much more concerned about how to act truly male. You can be trans, and pass in your identified gender, and you can still be a gender bender. Just like older people are sometimes known to say inappropriate things in public, because they don't care, I interpret my idea of being a man along a wider spectrum of possibilities. I don't want to be another guy, who impersonates and perpetuates that male prison, where a gay guy or effeminate man doesn't fit in, because they like pink or because they have an extremely flexible wrist. I do love color and I like to walk gracefully. Now with all this talk about the Male Privilege -  it comes at a price:  I cannot find a purple shirt in the men's section - sadly.

A trans man in his 20 will measure his own success of transitioning with other guys of similar age, beard growth, chest surgery, how to relate to girls/boys, etc. Relationship with parents and dating play an important part at this age. NYC is one of the greatest places in the world to be trans. We have our own clinic, almost our own bars, and we are everywhere, along with everybody else. I learned there are subsections in local dating online platforms, where you can look for the very specific type of body typed person, you wish to date/lay. A bi curious straight man can specify a trans man or a she male or a bi-curious bio woman. There is a "market" for everyone of us. Young girls like to experiment with trans bois, because they are not so hung up on sterotypical male behaviour, and might leave more room for physical creativity. In a younger peer world it is actually cool now to experiment with any of the LGBT varieties and racial diversity. Everything seems to become more fluid, and it's not necessarily about identity, but if you then end up being one or the other it seems to matter much less. If you have explored your own gayness and maybe found it's not really you, you have satisfied your own curiosity and can simply let go. You might also end up less paranoid, if your own child turns out gay or queer or whatever.

Maybe then - together we can focus on what really matters in life - are you a Mensch?

Happy 2013!

[trevornorman]

These boots are (not) made for walking....

[trevornorman]

Wild Turkeys at Stonewallfarms just before Thanksgiving!

[trevornorman]

I'm feeling really tired!

[trevornorman]

The first summer at Stonewallfarms

Here is finally the long due update from Stonewallfarms.

OUR VISION

Over the summer we have developed plans to build a farm and retreat on our 26 acres here in the Hudson Valley: A retreat with camp for Trans Youth, LGBT Youth, LGBT Adults, a safe space with a working Farm and a learning Center for LGBT Youth and Adults. We want to teach workshops about permaculture, sustainable and fossil fuel free farming/living, renewable energy, natural building techniques, architectural preservation and everything in between.

THE CLEAN UP

Over the summer have been with a little help from some friends cleaning up the trashed land and structures. We filled one 30 yard dumpster and one 40 year dumpster, and have enough material for another one.

The entire forest and land has been cleaned. It was very rewarding to free the forest floor from layers of old car parts, broken glass, old clothes, a ton of old paper, plastic containers and you name. I could almost hear the forest say thank you for letting me breathe. Check out the movies on this blog that show footage from how we found the place.

I had someone come and pick up 130 tires, which I had pulled out of the forest. Several guys took out a total of 12 truckloads of scrap metal, densely packed. With my van I took several full loads to the reuse center at Clearwater Road in New Paltz. We try to recycle as much as possible, but we are still left with a ton (literally) of old asphalt shingle, waiting for the next dumpster.

Check out also some new pictures from the clean up.

PROGRESS

We have both incorporated as an Stonewallfarmsny LLC (with a website: www.stonewallfarmsny.com) and also Stonewallfarmsny as a non profit organisation. A website for this .org will soon be launched as well.

We have met with the Planning Board of the Town of Esopus to pass our plans for several buildings for both the farm and the retreat. The Planning Board is very supportive of our projects, the retreat the farm and various buildings.

We have applied for a permit to operate a Composting Facility at our farm. Our application is still pending, but it seems we will meet the requirements. I have developed an indoor composting kit ("Feed Dora" Bokashi), that I sold at the Kingston Farmer's Market over part of the summer. More info about this is at our farm website.

OUR NEXT PLANS

Now that the cleaning season is soon over due to lower temperatures, we are inviting the PFLAG community of Kingston to the Farm, to introduce everybody to the land and the project. This is planned for Saturday, Nov. 10th, at 11 am. If you happen to read this, consider yourself a part of the LGBT community of the Hudson Valley, email me through the stonewallfarmsny.com website to get info on the location.

I will be spending a good portion of the winter applying for grant, find ressources for funding, bring together the community between NYC and the Hudson Valley. We are also looking for volunteers to help us for the following projects for next year:

Farming: Clearing land, digging for and building a foundation for a Greenhouse, planting,

Charcoal production: Collection wood, preparing and building a charcoal burner.

Renewable Energy: Construction of a Solar array with battery backup.

Architecture: Reconstruction of relocated barns and carriage houses, embedding renewable energy into these structures,

We are looking for folks specifically within the LGBT community, allies welcome, everybody who has knowledge in any of the above mentioned areas or who is curious to learn about them. Contact us via [email protected] if you are interested.

[trevornorman]

After Stonewall on the west side of our farm

[trevornorman]

Gay Pride in Manhattan June 24th, 2012 @ the Flat Iron Bldg

[trevornorman]

Real Stonewalls!

[trevornorman]

View form the forest toward the wetlands

[trevornorman]

Stage 1

Stonewall Farm is located at the intersection of Green Street and Pride Avenue.

We are forming a Non-for-Profit-Organisation to benefit the LGBT Community, 90 MInutes from NYC, in the Hudson Valley.

OUR VISION

Weekend/weekly/camps for Trans Youth, LGBT Youth, LGBT Adults

Working Farm for LGBT Youth and Adults

Learning Center/Retreat/Farm for LGBT Youth And Adults

THE CLEAN-UP

For the past couple of month we have been cleaning up the land, a total of 26 acres.  It will still take a while to completely de-trash-ify this land. The previous owners have been dumping everything from clothes to car seats - all over the 26 acres. So far we have found 110 tires, 20 broken toilets, 15 broken sinks, 10 Mattresses in various degrees of decay, and filled at least 8 truckloads of heavy metal for the scrap yard, and around 50 bags full of clothes, paper, household goods (mostly not so goods)... 

Both houses are severely trashed as well. I spend 3 hours on a rainy day (because I couldn't work outside) clearing a space of 4 square feet, in order to be able to stand in front of the window, so I could throw out things, that,... well you get the picture. (More pictures will follow)

By the time we're done, we will probably have filled another 100 contractor bags and 2 30-yard dumpsters.

We are trying to send as little as possible to the dumpster, we collect: broken glass (20 wheel barrels), rubber (tire scrap and tubing), textiles ( in various degrees of usability), broken earthenware, paper, aluminum, ...

We have successfully turned several of the previously trashed areas into vegetable patches, we are raising potatoes, squash, corn, beans (yes -the 3 sisters!), cabbage, tomatoes (which grew in our compost), we transplanted blackberries and rasberries.

OUR NEXT PLANS

Meanwhile we are trying to build a compost toilet, draw up plans for the new and to be restored structures on the land: 1 house, 1 communal house, 1 Greenhouse, 1 Work/Utility building, 1 barn (to be restored from an old stone foundation, 1 bathhouse and several cabins.

We are also invisioning an infrastructure of compost toilets, rainwater collection, plant filtration and graywater collection systems, solar hotwater, solar photovoltaic, charcoal ovens, etc..

We invite volunteers to join us in the accomplishment of all this, free camping included. Any skill can be useful, we invite the schleppers, the collectors, the builders, the diggers.

OUR CONCEPT

We have FFF Policy, Fossil Fuel Free, if you have to come by car, you may park it near the entrance on the premises. We offer a free shuttle from the bus or train for volunteers. We welcome people who bring a bike, we have a few ourselves which may be used.

We try to stay clear of plastic (I know it sounds crazy, particularly in the light of camping - but give it a try a t least :), leave any kind of petroleum based chemicals at home, for example lighter fluid or lighter fluid infused BBQ bricquets (after your stay you will know how to really start a fire :) - with real charcoal :)

We prefer hand tools to power tools. We prefer unplugged devices to electronics, so bring your guitar but leave the radio at home.

We try to make everything from the land before we buy anything. (While carefully thinning out our neglected forest instead of deforestation).

We are aspiring to a NOWASTE lifestyle. We are proud to be located near New Paltz, a great small college-town, which has been chosen to achieve a ZEROWASTE Policy by the end of the decade along with 13 other municipalities in the US. We are on the same wave length.

No smoking and no pets on the premises.

FOOD

We are not vegans or vegetarians, but we do believe in fresh food. We will provide food but you will have to contribute by money, BYO* or kitchen work. Try not to bring any heavily packaged food, cans, styrofoam... We try not to use anything that cannot either be composted (any food), recycled (metal, glass, earthenware, paper), reclaimed (like wood, textiles from animals or plants) reused (like a lot of things) or burned or buried like of course paper. Alcohol is permitted for those of legal drinking age, again BYO*, (no place for people with drinking problems!)

BYO = Bring you own.

VOLUNTEERS

We invite everybody under the rainbow or their allies to join us in cleaning up, farming and building: beginners, naturalists, biodynamic enthousiasts, organic farmers, permaculturists, environmentalists and all those who are hoping to become one or several of the above. You will have to be 18 - 99 years of age, healthy (both physically and mentally), love people (or at least some of them) and nature (we do have wildlife) and bring a sense of humor. Again no smoking, no drug abuse, no pets, and unplugged working hours (i.e no electronic devices at the work site). Drop us a line/post and we will post back with our email.

ABOUT US

We are architects, I am also a builder and shop-teacher/highschool. We have started to wrap our heads around the many possibilities of a sustainable lifestyle and will also be very grateful for any sort of input from others.

[trevornorman]

What a mess!

[trevornorman]

WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO VISIT ON YOUR PLANET?

Equador