JULY 2006 (LIVEJOURNAL)

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68146
2006-07-01 20:52:00
2006-07-02 01:55:10
More Overdose Information - Public Health Warnings
Most fentanyl victims older Records detail deaths, show many male, white BY JIM SCHAEFER, JOE SWICKARD and BEN SCHMITT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS July 1, 2006 How to get help For more information on drug abuse, go to www.drugfreedetroit.org or www.semca.org. A statewide substance abuse hotline is available at 888-736-0253. The victims of a powerful painkiller blamed in scores of deaths in metro Detroit were most often middle-age, most frequently men and typically white. It struck equally among those living in the suburbs and the city. Records released Friday by the Wayne County Medical Examiner's office on 110 deaths related to the drug fentanyl from September 2005 to the beginning of June painted a more vivid picture of the victims, many of whom died when the drug was mixed with heroin or cocaine to produce a more intense high. According to case summaries, autopsies and toxicology reports reviewed by the Free Press, the victims ranged in age from 19 to 60 and lived in 21 communities, including Detroit. But more than half were between the ages of 41 and 55. And in 82 records where hometowns were clearly identifiable, as many people who died claimed homes in the suburbs as in the city. White people accounted for two-thirds of those who died during the period. Of the 110, 75 were men. The records, sought by the newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act, were incomplete: Many details, including names, addresses and other vital information, were removed by authorities, who claimed the release of those details would hamper ongoing criminal investigations. Hometowns were indicated in 82 of the case summaries, however. The picture drawn from the documents is an accurate one, officials said. "Drug abuse is an equal opportunity destroyer," Dr. Michele Reid, chairwoman of the Wayne County Fentanyl Work Group, said Friday. "This just goes to show you the general vulnerability of the population." Fentanyl deaths have swept several cities across the nation this year. In Wayne County alone, authorities have blamed at least 130 deaths on the drug since the beginning of 2005. The records released Friday accounted for fewer deaths because some cases were not released pending lab reports. The 110 deaths reviewed by the Free Press also did not include fentanyl-related suicides or natural deaths where the drug showed up in testing but was taken for legitimate medical uses. The victims in the cases reviewed died from injecting, snorting and smoking fentanyl or using fentanyl with other drugs. A few ate a gel containing the drug from patches typically prescribed to give regulated doses of the painkiller through the skin. The records provided a glimpse of the ways in which the drug claimed its victims. Bodies were found on floors, on stairways and on porches; they were found sitting on toilets. Frequently, they were found frothing from the mouth and nose. Several victims were found with underwear around their ankles after apparently injecting themselves in the groin. Two were found dumped along city streets and one on a freeway service drive. Many were found dead in bed. In one case in April, three young users were found dead together in a car in Detroit. Two of them apparently died while having sex in the front seat. All told, fentanyl played a role in the deaths of 71 white people, 38 African Americans and one Hispanic. Male victims outnumbered women 75 to 35. While authorities made public warnings about fentanyl this May, numbers began spiking last November, when deaths associated with the drug jumped to 16 from seven a month earlier. The death toll ran in double digits through February, dropped in March and April, and soared to 24, the peak month, in May. But as early as January, the medical examiner's office was hearing concerns. One report details how the daughter of a 52-year-old woman who overdosed called shortly after her mother's death and said two more drug users in their neighborhood had died. The document does not indicate whether the official who took that call shared the information. Still, Reid said Friday, "there wasn't enough evidence to go public with it any earlier. There just was not a critical mass before May." That's when local officials warned that fentanyl was showing up in dangerous quantities, mixed with heroin and cocaine. Police said dealers have capitalized on the scourge, branding their goods in packages named Drop Dead and Suicide Packets. At least one user wasn't scared by the warnings: Records show a 27-year-old Detroiter discussed with his girlfriend a "new mix of drugs and that it was killing people in the Detroit area." He was dead within hours. Wayne County Health Services 640 Temple 8th Floor Detroit, Michigan 48202 Phone: (313) 833-2500 Fax: (313) 833-2156 TDD: (800) 630-1044 RR TDD: (888) 339-5588 Substance Abuse Health Alert: Fatal Mix of Heroin with Fentanyl The Wayne County Medical Examiner is reporting an increase in the number of deaths due to drug use. Most of these drug deaths have been associated with heroin that is combined with another drug named fentanyl. Fentanyl is a drug that is related to heroin and morphine, but is much more potent, especially when used in combination with heroin. The Medical Examiner has also seen fentanyl mixed with cocaine. People who use street drugs should be made aware that they may come in contact with drugs that are much more powerful than what they are used to, and that these drugs may result in death. Help is available! Substance Abuse Treatment Services: Statewide Substance Abuse Hotline (888) 736-0253 DETROIT 24-Hour Hotline - (800) 467-2452 www.drugfreedetroit.org Wayne County COMMUNITIES Outside Detroit 24-Hour Hotline - (800) 686-6543 TDD (800) 649-3777 www.semca.org www.semcaprevention.org Office of Communications and Community Collaboration – May 2006
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68412
2006-07-02 18:48:00
2006-07-02 23:48:40












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68610
2006-07-02 18:50:00
2006-07-02 23:50:19
87 degreees downtown today - let's go for a walk





































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68941
2006-07-03 19:07:00
2006-07-04 00:07:03
Another walk - East Duluth's newest homes, etc.
Today's walk went through the most exclusive part of Duluth; 34th Ave E - 40th Ave E from the higher to the lower streets.







Entrance to the NCC and the outdoor pool, 38th Ave E & Superior St.

Northland Country Club Estates

Ordean Junior High School, 40th Ave E & Superior St.

One of the $2.5 million homes on top of the Northland Country Club Estates

These homes were just built by Hawk's Ridge...very $$$$$
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69247
2006-07-04 17:08:00
2006-07-04 22:08:58
Perfect 4th of July afternoon in Canal Park





































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69411
2006-07-05 21:14:00
2006-07-06 02:14:07
Today's photos


The Best Western Edgewater's New Themepark

The Marshall School, private school grades 5-12

Central High School, where I went...

the 'commons' at Central

We raised the money for this sign

the new condos on Mesaba Ave (www.superiorvista.com)

Years ago this was the Duluth Orphanage...today it's an apartment building on 15th Ave E & 5th St.

Temple Israel, 16th Ave E & 2nd St.



Endion School, 18th Ave E & 1st St; now a community center.

Alternative bookstore, 19th Ave E & Superior St. The apartments above are really cool.
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69859
2006-07-06 12:49:00
2006-07-06 17:49:12
At 32


It's my 32nd birthday today. After I turned 30, which was the WORST birthday of my life, I had a few life changing experiences emotionally and physically that inspired me to, now, feel better about myself than I did when I was 15. I'm in the best shape of my life, I am more active than I ever was (I was up and playing basketball the day after Grandma's Marathon!) and the only thing I have to continue to work on is my depression and self-centered depression which occassionally gets bad. Otherwise, I'm having a good day. My dad just took this picture about 20 minutes ago =). Happy 32nd birthday to me, even if I don't have anyone to romantically share it with.
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70126
2006-07-07 19:03:00
2006-07-08 00:31:26
The Day After My Birthday
At 32 This birthday was like most every birthday I've had since 21 - uneventful, nobody to do anything with, and noplace to really go. I stayed home and worked in the yard and later played 2 hours of basketball in the driveway. The weather has been so great, and I don't want to miss a minute of it. I've never been this tan in my life. This year, however, has been different. My parents could tell that I wasn't in the best mood last night...and for the first time in a long time I told them why. There is a reason why I've never 'gone there' with them, and I'll explain that in a minute. 2006 has been a special year for me. Most importantly, it's marked 10 years since I was in the one and only relationship as of yet, with a very wonderful guy named Jeff. I met him by accident - I was in Minneapolis for the Twin Cities Marathon in October 1995, and the night before the run, I decided to go out, which turned out to be the luckiest decision I ever made. When I got there, I saw a very striking latin guy my age watching the dance floor. Our eyes met, and he smiled at me - time stood still. This is what I had been waiting for, someone who I felt an attraction towards and sensed had a good heart. I couldn't let him slip away. So we talked - for four hours. I learned he was born in Colombia, raised in an orphanage until age 5, and then adopted by a family in Apple Valley. He liked a lot of the same things I did. He liked sports, didn't smoke, and didn't do drugs. My kind of guy. So the marathon came and went, and the cards, letters and phone calls with Jeff intensified. By January 1996, he was headed to Duluth on a Greyhound Bus on the night that the windchill was -55. Being impulsive, we decided to make the visit permanent. I had never been happier in my life - finally I had everything I wanted. My family was here, Jeff was here, and I had a reason to succeed - I had someone in my life now. Unfortunately, I slowly learned that Jeff was not doing well emotionally. Later, his sister told me about the abuse he endured at the orphanage, the anger he had about losing his parents, and how his coping mechanism was to just get up and leave a situation that became too hard to deal with. By September 1996, I came home one day to find him gone, along with his belongings. No warning, no note, no closure. Ten years later, I've decided to do a lot of reflection and ponder what I've learned since then, and where this will bring me next.. I'm still learning about who I am - within the realm of everyone else's problems, a society that has gone nuts, and people who trust each other less and less. I am finding that you have to let those things go at some point and refocus on who you are and ask yourself what will really make you happy. For a long time, I wanted a relationship because I was, and still am, incredibly lonely. I want touch, I want companionship, I want to feel like I'm a part of something. But I also want to feel a sense of belonging, and I am realizing this is a huge amount of pressure to place on another person. Because if the relationship doesn't work, you've lost your sense of self - giving that person the power to control and validate you. I will not allow that to happen to me again. However, my problem as a gay man concerns choices. It's very frustrating to have learned so much about yourself and know what you want, only to have nobody to share it with. One of the best things about being gay, though, is that we must gain knowledge about ourselves and become independent - we do not have the option of defining our lives through children or marriages. It's us, often alone, which means accepting all those things that other people get to forget about because their kids need a ride to the Y or their spouse needs them to come along to a company dinner. Our lives aren't as complicated, and we have the ability to reflect on things that most straight people don't get to do until they retire or lose their spouse. Then there are times where the old me comes back hoping that sometime during summer 2006 I would have the luck of a romantic movie moment where there was a phone call and reconciliation; or I was playing basketball some evening and Jeff walks up the driveway out of nowhere and my life has changed. But, since he probably lives 165 miles away, and he isn't that kind of person, I know deep down those things will never happen. Not with him anyways. Even though I knew not to expect much, my heart still hurts. I had hoped that he would have found something within himself to get in touch with me and at least wonder how I'm doing. Because more than anything I want to know that he is okay. I was never angry at him for what he did, because meeting him opened so many doors for me and allowed me to explore a relationship for the first time. Had I not met him, maybe I wouldn't have experienced that at all. I explained to my dad that this summer has been extremely hard for me. At 32, I've now waited 10 years to find someone who is special, attractive, has something in common, and wants the same things that I do. I have moved to Minneapolis, I've gotten jobs at different places, I've gone to places where single gay men hang out; I've placed personal ads, I've gone for long walks, I've pretty much done everything within my power to put myself out there to get into contact with someone. And nothing has happened. While I understand that even in the largest, gayest cities, we still make up a very small percentage of people, I continue to feel like a failure or useless because I can not attract the kind of man I seek. I feel that there is nothing else I can do - that I haven't already done before - to change that. When you've tried so many things, so many times, over so many years, you do lose hope. You do start to believe that this just isn't going to happen. You don't get excited to go on trips anymore. You don't tear through the employment ads seeking a great new job. You aren't looking for that perfect apartment someplace. Because you've done all these things before, and the end result has always been the same: at the end of the day, you come home to an empty space. Everyone else at work goes on and on about their spouses, kids, new relationships, whatever; and you have absolutely nothing to add to the conversation. I hate that the most. And while I'm glad that many of my straight friends try to understand, they need to know that it takes more than two guys being gay to match them up. That would be no different than assuming that two black people are going to form a relationship on the basis of blackness alone. There has to be common interests, attraction, values and goals. When you have such a small percentage of people to begin with, finding someone in this mix is like searching for them in the dark. After a while it gets hard to hang on to hope. It no longer has much to do with 'getting a boyfriend' but rather it has to do with everything you had once believed about being gay. This is where I got my parents involved. Unless you are gay, and know intimately what it's like to be this alone for this long, and tried this hard to change that, there is very little a parent can say or do to help. Because it's not their reality, and it's a very complicated situation. No other group has this problem that gay men do. Because we only make up 2% of the population, our selection base can literally be 15 people in one city. And that's not factoring in mutual attraction, interests, hobbies, interest in relationships, etc. So my dad, wanting to help, begins to offer suggestions on how to fix this. Maybe I should start throwing myself into applying for new jobs. Maybe I'll meet someone in graduate school. He said these same things after Jeff left. Nothing happened. At this point, I don't believe it anymore, so that advice no longer works on me. The bottom line is that there is nothing else I can do that I haven't already done. This is a situation that is so out of my control, and out of my reach, that it has literally driven me crazy because of that impossibility to change it. I can not control who is gay and who is not. I also can't do anything about the fact that the people who are gay tend to be people I've already met, already seen, or already talked to and there's a reason why I didn't want to pursue anything (no attraction, or I have no tolerance for addictions, lying, bizarre behavior, etc). And when you see those same guys over and over, yes, it's likely that they're the only choices here. How do you feel good about that, and how do you explain to a straight person that the way they tend to meet each other is generally not how it works for us (just happening to meet someone at work, or school) - my experience has been that people are more closeted around each other in those settings because there's a lot at stake if they offend the wrong person. While I wasn't looking for an answer from my dad (I think I just wanted validation)...it was hard at the end of the conversation when he had nothing really to say. Just that this was not what he had expected for me and he knows that I did not ask for this to happen. My mom gets too emotional about this whole thing. They are both understanding and supportive about my being gay, but it's a little more complicated than that. The things that go with being gay are as difficult as the initial acceptance of a gay child. This happens about 10-15 years after coming out. Parents begin to notice things about their gay child that really do make them stand out, like being alone and unable to find someone special. While most straight people who are your child's age are meeting someone, getting married and having kids, your gay kid might not be meeting anyone - at all. To watch this happen, for a parent, who had much different ideas on how this child's life would be when he was born, this must be very upsetting. I can tell because my parents continue to avoid the heart of what hurts so much - so they tell me to start applying for jobs and get out of the house more. The same thing they told me 10 years ago. The same advice that made no difference. That is why I don't even bring this up to them anymore. I love them for trying to understand, but at the same time it makes me so angry that they shut themselves out by just saying 'numb your feelings by drowning yourself in work or school'. That is not an answer...that's putting your problems on hold for another 10-20 years. I am not angry at my parents, don't get me wrong. It's because of them that I had the luxury of coming out while I was a 9th grader at Washington Junior High School. By the time I got to Central, we had no secrets. They knew I was writing to different guys (none local, of course) and wanting to learn more about who I was. They were always very supportive of that, and I will always appreciate how lucky I was to have them in my life. I know many gay folks who were told to pack their bags and get out - at 16- the moment their sexuality was discovered. Many of those people are no longer alive today. I credit my parents, who are my supporters, my best friends, and role models, for teaching me to hang in there the best way they know how. What I am learning it that all of these experiences are learning tools for all of us. As my life continues, they learn more about me. As they get older, I learn more about their relationship and how their lives change while they still work things out as a couple. Those are lessons I have gained the most knowledge from and am lucky to be able to observe at this point in my life. I love them for trying to help. I love them for wanting me to be happy. So the summer continues, uneventful for the most part. I still hang on to my memories of summer 1996, but I also have taken my parents advice which is essentially to realize that I have a gift of strength and courage that has kept me going this long. Life is about uncertainty; being able to accept that while not allowing the world to stop is so important. And whether or not I meet someone again isn't my main focus anymore; as I continue to mature emotionally and spiritually I appreciate those who have always been by my side no matter what: my family. Those are my family values.
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70193
2006-07-09 19:21:00
2006-07-10 00:21:50
Hot weekend!
When I have nothing to talk about I talk about what I know, which is my city. Here's some recent pictures:

me again on my birthday

The new condos in Canal Park. These are the most expensive ones, I think.

You can see the sign for the Sauna here (www.duluthsauna.com)

Again a picture looking up 1st Avenue East

County Courthouse

The Board of Trade Building. Louie Anderson used this building as the opening for the intro for his short-lived sitcom.

Here's the YWCA. I worked here for a long, long time at the front desk from 3-11 pm.

I live in the room with the air conditioner

Alworth, Torrey, Medical Arts and Meierhoff Buildings, 300 block of W Superior St.

Close up of the condos at 411 W 1st St. It's going to be a while before they're ready.

This is another building that's becoming condos. I want to live at this place, 411 W 1st St. It's in the center of everything.

Until 1995 this was Duluth's jail. The new one is literally in the middle of nowhere, 15 miles from downtown by the airport.

Duluth Police car parked outside the DPD offices.

sign across from Washington Jr High

I went to school here; Washington Junior High School, 315 N Lake Ave.
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70829
2006-07-11 21:16:00
2006-07-12 02:16:59
Tonight's photos!


The new sculpture at the University of Minnesota - Duluth (UMD)

Washburn Elementary School, where I went from K-6th grades. I hated this place. It's very eerie to come back here as an adult and recall the memories I had at this school.

This is the new Olive Garden that was built by the Miller Hill Mall. They put a lot of money into building it into the side of the hill. People who live around there fought that development tooth and nail.

Stanbrook Hall High School (all girls private school). My mom went to high school here.

Another photo of Stanbrook Hall Girls' H.S.

The College of St. Scholastica, which shares the campus with Stanbrook Hall.

UMD's new library.

UMD's new student center and transportation hub.

UMD's Swenson Science Building, completed January 2006



Woodland Junior High School, where my sisters went to school.

Mount Royal Manor, one of the 'nicer' apartment buildings with a desirable (East) address. The penthouse at the top rents for $2000 a month and has its own rooftop pool and garden!
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71127
2006-07-12 20:18:00
2006-07-13 01:18:55
Going WEST
It was 88 degrees today, and after working in the yard all afternoon I took a drive out to the other side of the city then over the hill. I got some photos: This is the new St. Louis County (Duluth) Jail that I have never actually seen before because it's so far off the road in the middle of nowhere, past the mall. Tonight I decided to look at it. It's really not much of anything, huh?





Off to the west end:

Duluth Denfeld High School, 44th Ave W & 4th St.

One block away from Denfeld, the Greyhound Bus Depot; 44th Ave W & Grand Ave.

The old National Bank Building; 2000 W Superior St.

This is the city's WORST property in terms of drugs, assaults, even a DPD officer was killed here: the Seaway Hotel, 2001 W Superior St.

Again, the worst intersection in the city, 20th Ave W & Superior St.

Kind of a cool building, now apartments...1915 W Superior St
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71627
2006-07-14 20:18:00
2006-07-16 01:18:35
Long Walk & Vista King Night...
I've decided to take the initiative this summer and go do things that I've been waiting to do (if I met someone) and just do them myself. One of the things I've wanted to do for a while is tour the city through the Vista King which goes out onto Lake Superior. Of course I was the only person who was alone on the cruise, everyone else was with a spouse or boy/girlfriend...but I got so into taking photos that after a while I didn't mind. I had a good time. Here's some photos of the walk down to the lake from the house, and photos from the boat:

view of downtown from the lakewalk on 15th Ave E

The Vet that Misty goes to (and all our other precious pets =)

Right by our house is Dunn Bros Coffee, 24th Ave E & London Road

The official beginning of Interstate 35, at 26th Ave E in Duluth.

this is a huge luxury housing development along the lakeshore at 28th Ave East

Classic Congdon home on 24th Ave E & 2nd St

Holy Rosary Church, 29th Ave E & 4th St

This is the bridge that connects Duluth with Superior, WI

western edge of downtown

downtown



Central Hillside






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71381
2006-07-15 15:38:00
2006-07-15 20:38:58
You will only see this once in Duluth
The same city that brings you -55 degree windchills in January is now the same place that registered at 106 degrees downtown today. It's damn hot. And I hate to say it, but it's a challenge and I love it. If you're trying to contact me from my article in the Reader, my email is DuluthJon@mac.com Here's my downtown photos for today!





































I went for a ride on the Vista King last night for the first time; see last night's entry!
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72363
2006-07-16 16:54:00
2006-07-16 21:54:41
A photo tour of two states and a walk in between them
Temperatures were much more comfortable today, so i embarked on my longest journey as of yet: a trip to Superior, and a 6 mile walk across the Bong Bridge back towards West Duluth. I got some great shots, however, there's only so much to shoot in Superior, WI. There was hardly anyone on the sidewalks downtwon. One thing you'll notice right away about Superior is the amount of bars. Over in Wisconsin:

The bridge that links Duluth and Superior

Superior, the most northwestern city in Wisconsin (Superior - Milwaukee = 395 miles)

Unsuccessful Asian restaurant turned tanning salon?



The Main Club, 916 Tower Ave, Superior, WI

Androy Hotel. This place has a neat history.

Another shot of the Androy Hotel, notice the area's gay bar to the left - the Main Club. Along with the Sauna in Duluth, these are the two main gay spaces in Duluth/Superior.

Who's Bar and the Androy Hotel

Another bar on the main street, Tower Avenue

One of a couple new buildings downtown in Superior, the library.

I used to come to this place to get the Milwaukee newspaper on Sundays - the Globe News, Tower and Belknap Back in Minnesota:

Officially in Duluth and Minnesota.

Interstate 35; traffic with its tailights are likely headed on the 165 mile trip back to Minneapolis - notice the steep s-shaped, winding hill ahead to climb - in the winter this is a hell of a hike for the semis.

Duluth Denfeld High School, 44th Ave W & 4th St; the jewel of West Duluth

The welcome to Minnesota sign

long ways to downtown (1st Ave W) looking from 46th Ave W

back downtown near the Voyageur Lakewalk Inn, 4th Ave E & Superior St

the most popular malt shop near downtown and the hillside, Portland Malt Shop, 8th Ave E & Superior St

Kitchi Gammi Club

Northland Medical Clinic a block from St. Luke's.

St. Luke's new building

I was born here - St. Luke's Hospital, 915 E 1st St



The most expensive hotel in Duluth (so far); Fitger's Inn, 600 E Superior St



Later, far away from downtown up by the Miller Hill Mall:

The front entrance to the Miller Hill Mall

Lake Superior College (LSC) where I went for 2 years (and Jeff went here for a while)

LSC

LSC

The main entrance to LSC

Miller Hill Manor Apartments, directly across from the Mall. This is my favorite apartment building in Duluth...it's right by everything and it has a great pool.

Olive Garden, just completed

Caribou Coffee
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73150
2006-07-17 19:24:00
2006-07-18 01:01:27
Anniversaries and such
Today was my parents' wedding anniversary. July 17, 1965. They've been married 41 years now, which to me is something I can't even imagine. I'm trying to imagine someone to go out to coffee with, or someone to even find interest in. Someone even on the horizon out there for me. Not happening. So tonight, my parents and I went out to dinner, which was a perfect evening. The weather was great, we had a great meal, but we didn't get to do what I had planned. I wanted to go down to that church on Park Point where they got married and get some pictures of them outside the church. It was getting late, and so I didn't get to take any photos. We still had a good time tonight and that's more important anyways. The weather here has been just amazing. It was over 100 degrees on Saturday, and I was downtown to catch all the photos and scenes. The rooms at the YWCA just looked hot - everyone had their windows open and had fans blowing - what little good that did because it just blew around hot air. There were a lot of people just hanging around outside, which was fun because so often people don't leave their rooms or apartments, and it was fun to see just who's out there sometimes. Before the internet, before telephones, before all this technology people had homes with a wraparound porch, and people in the neighborhood would walk around and talk to anyone sitting on the porch in the evening. As much as I love my privacy, and as much as I like talking to people online from all over the world, there is something to be said for having local connections. We've lost so much of that today. It is fun to get to know people from different places online, but it's much different talking to real people in real life, watching their expressions, listening to the change in their voice as they tell you about their day. Someone was commenting on how Duluth has changed so much in the last 20 years and I think it's not necessarily Duluth, but a common thing seen throughout society - people don't know their neighbors anymore, because people are overextended in their lives. They do their thing at work, have some extra time to do something else on the weekends, and with other committments, there just isn't that much time left over. So people don't get very involved in their communities, or if they work a low-wage job, they don't make enough to invest much in their community. That's why people move around so much now, and the homeownership has dropped. West Duluth is a prime example. West Duluth has always been a blue-collar part of town. Call it a cross between 'Grace Under Fire' and 'Roseanne'. It has always been a white, working class part of town where most people worked at factories or mills; over the past 30 years all of those places have closed. So what happened was, the families who made just enough to afford a modest home had to move because suddenly they couldn't make the house payment (and there's no jobs left for middle aged men without a college degree), and since nobody bought the house, it turned into what it is today: rental properties that look like hell. Some people stay six months, other stay longer and utilize the house for selling drugs, harboring felons, and who knows what else. There are some people who really are trying to start over and make a new life for themselves, but most of them get scared off by the people who don't want to be responsible and instead just let their kids roam the neighborhood and throw rocks at cars. So over the past ten years, West Duluth has gone from being on the fringes of middle to low income, and now it's almost all very low income people - about half are minorities now. That shouldn't be important, but if you grew up in Duluth and knew how resistant people in West Duluth were to blacks in particular, you'd be shocked to see how many black kids are at Denfeld High School. It's just a place where there was so much hostility between lower class whites and people of color, that you thought they would never coexist in the same neighborhood. Today, they do. I'm not sure if people became more accepting, or if they had no choice (and still feel the same way as before - but don't say anything). But is it more about race or is it about income and class? There are people of color who live in the eastern part of the city who aren't looked at or seen in the same light. But these are the people of color who are doctors, UMD professors, chemists, etc. They are a visible minority but have the education and material wealth that does not put them in the same category as the people of color downtown or out west. So it's a complicated discussion: do we have more unsolved issues with race, or with social status? I think there are a lot of assumptions that we all make, for example, about people of any color who have no money and a lot of kids. We also make assumptions about people with a lot of education, a lot of wealth, and a lot of ambition. We assume that one made a lot of bad choices while the other had drive and motivation to do well. But within communities - whether it's race or sexual orientation, there are social structures that make things more complicated. With gay people (I'm talking in big cities), in order to live among other gay people in 'the neighborhood', you have to have money. 'Gay neighborhoods' are always trendy, upscale, clean, sophisticated, artsy and the center of everything. Because there are generally few to no kids around, the marketplace can be much different than other places. But because it's assumed that gay people have a lot of money and no kids, the rents and prices of homes are jacked up so high that if those homes were in any other neighborhood, you wouldn't pay half the amount you would in a gay one. So there is this association with gay people and wealth - that we tend to look like we have money (although a lot of times we don't) - it's assumed that we do. On the other hand, a neighborhood with a lot of immigrants or people of color suggests poverty or crime - whether that's the case or not - it's another assumption that people tend to make. It's interesting that nobody else has picked up on that and then asked the question - why is it okay to openly despise gay people, but not any other group? It's because we have what other people want - money and education. It's assumed that we have lots of it, and we have the luxury of no kids to support. I think that some people envy that in the worst way...if only they didn't get drunk that night and have sex...if only they didn't have the extra kid in hopes of saving their marriage...if only they would have waited another five years to have those kids, etc. Gay people don't have to worry about getting each other pregnant (we just have the huge issue of HIV!). I think the difference is that, when a group is seen as a burden onto society - one that has to be supported or one that is economically unstable - it's not okay to say bad things about them or demonize them. When the group is seen as being wealthy, having a lot of higher education (therefore 'knowing better'), then they don't get any pity or support because who the hell are they to complain? They live a life so free of responsibility and committment that anyone would jump at the chance to be in their shoes, right? Maybe. I think that is a great possibility for why it's still okay to hate gay people.
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73327
2006-07-18 18:26:00
2006-07-18 23:33:43
Not so sure about this one
According to the Duluth News-Tribune today: UMD among 100 best campuses for LGBT students NEWS TRIBUNE The University of Minnesota Duluth has been recognized as one of the 100 best campuses for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students by Campus PrideNet. It will be included in the August 1 issue of "The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students." The publication profiles 100 colleges and universities across the country that offer resources and create a positive living and learning environment for LGBT students. The 100 campuses listed were selected from 680 that were nominated based on institutional policies, commitment and support, academic life, housing, student life, counseling and health services, campus safety, and recruitment and retention efforts. As someone who went to UMD for three years, I would have to say that it was not this way at all. And I'm someone who has been out for a while, knows where and who to contact regarding gay stuff, I can get the sense of the attitude on campus, etc., and I did not get a good feeling at UMD. In fact, I never met anyone gay besides the person who staffed the LGBT student center. I did, however, talk to a few people on gay.com who went to UMD and would never come out, would never meet another gay person in public, nor would they attend any of the groups on campus. And this is a campus where 80-90% of the students come from Minneapolis/St. Paul, one of the most gay friendly metro areas in the United States. So either hardly anyone gay comes here, or the ones who do are deeply closeted and say/do nothing until they get home. I don't know. I think there are many instances where your experience is what you make it, but in this case, it's very difficult when you feel alright about being gay, but none of the other students do; in turn the attitude on campus seemed to be that gay people hide, which means gay is a bad thing. There were many columns in the UMD Statesman that were very adolescent in nature that made fun of gay men in particular, had they said these types of comments about anyone else they would have been thrown out of school. Or their lives would have been made a living hell. But gay people aren't a force to be reckoned with, and since most of us are too isolated at home on gay.com, nobody is going to go outside and start a revolution to fight to be treated with dignity and respect. We can't even treat other gay people that way. We can't even treat ourselves that way. So why should anyone else?
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73717
2006-07-21 21:44:00
2006-07-22 02:44:49
I Ran The Park Point 5 Miler
Here are some pictures taken yesterday and today. Last night, I walked along Skyline Drive to the West End; today I walked through our neighborhood and took some photos of classic Congdon Park homes, and finally to Park Point where I ran the 35th annual Park Point Five Mile Run - and had a great time!! Seen this evening on Park Point:



Congdon Park Homes (22nd-29th Ave East_





















Skyline/photos of downtown Duluth from Skyline Drive:












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2006-07-31 19:46:00
2006-08-01 00:47:47
July heat to go down in city history
Warmest month ever recorded in Duluth BY JOHN MYERS NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER Duluthians have almost made it through the hottest month in recorded history. The average monthly temperature should hit 71.8 Fahrenheit by day's end, thanks to one last surge of blistering hot air, surpassing the previous record high of 71.7 degrees set in 1881. The heat wave had enveloped much of the nation's heartland, with electric utilities, including Duluth-based Minnesota Power, asking customers to conserve power whenever possible. Hayward hit 103 degrees at 3 p.m., the second time in four days, and it hit 100 at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport for the first time in 11 years. "It's hot. When you walk outside it's like a furnace out there," said Walker Van Dixhorn of the Hayward Area Chamber of Commerce. "We've got a lot of beaches around here.... But I think people are just staying in their cabins and waiting it out. It's too hot to be outside doing anything." In Duluth, where the temperature sat at 91 at 3 p.m., there have been months that had more 90 and even 100-degree days, but never a month that was as consistently warm, day and night. "Records like this just aren't broken very often. It's very uncommon," said Sam Standfield, climate expert for the National Weather Service in Duluth. Oddly, January 2006 also was the warmest January ever recorded in the city. Standfield said the warm record is a lock -- unless thunderstorms this evening bring in an unusual well of cold air. If temperatures remain at 64 or higher through Midnight, the record is set. The weather service figures the average monthly temperature this way: Total all 31 daily high temperatures, then divide by 31. Add up all the daily lows and total them, then divide by 31. That gives you the average high and low. Combine them and divide by two to get the monthly average. Duluth International Airport officially never hit 100 during the month, although it hit 102 Friday at Sky Harbor Airport on Park Point. But the month saw three days officially in the 90s. Duluth usually only records two days in the 90s all summer. Only two record daily highs were set. But nearly every day was well into the 80s, with low temperatures in the upper 60s, which pushed the average up. There were 23 days when the high reached at least 80. Predictions of a big cooldown now appear unfounded. While it may not hit the 90s anytime soon, temperatures will remain above average, with highs in the 80s through the weekend, forecasters said Monday. Duluth officially received 1.9 inches of rain over the weekend and some National Weather Service spotters in the region recorded more than 4 inches of rain. Nearly all of the Northland saw an inch or more, helping lawns and gardens, but soil moisture in some areas remains critically low.
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