Petrelis Files

My 70th Birthday: Gaiety, Depression and Baryshnikov

Chronologically speaking, today I am hitting fifty-five but in queer years it is my seventieth birthday. Still here, still queer and still kicking butt!

It's been quite a year since my last birthday, one full of plenty of gaiety with loving friends and my great family, more serious health challenges than I can to think about, quite a bit of depression in general and much grief over the suicide of my good buddy Carl Goodman, and deep happiness with my life-mate and partner Mike. We go on.

One of the treats from Mike to celebrate all my decades and our life together is seeing Mikhail Baryshnikov next weekend in a theatrical and dance performance piece based on two Anton Chekhov stories at the Berkeley Rep. Gifts to myself include seeing a restored 35mm print of Satyajit Ray's classic "The Music Room" at the Pacific Film Archive, and today I'm catching their screening of a Technicolor print of  Jean Renoir's "The River".

What's my present to Mike? I'm soon getting hearing aids for both ears. He's been on my case to get my hearing levels tested, the audiologist recommended devices and now when Mike is shouting at me to turn down the Judy Garland records, I'll be able to hear him loud and clear. Ah, the joys of ageing are fabulous with Mike at my side, giving me reason to smile every day.

Happy birthday to my fellow January 26 birthday folks Angela Davis, Ellen Degeneres and Paul Newman, not to mention everyone Down Under celebrating Australia's National Day!