BAMMER and Me: Joel Tucker, The Backstreet Cafe Shooting
PODCAST—EPISODE 15: Mike interviews Joel Tucker twenty years later: one of six survivors of the horrendous Backstreet Cafe shooting in...
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Mar 12, 20214 min read
Dad and Me
STORY: I grew up in a close-knit and loving family of four in Minnesota. As a child, I was always close to my mom but didn’t really know...
Dec 4, 20191 min read
BAMMER and Me: Cliff Morrison, The First AIDS Ward (Part 1)
PODCAST—EPISODE 10: Cliff Morrison arrived in San Francisco as a nurse in the late 1970s, as AIDS was about to erupt. In 1983, while...
Nov 11, 20196 min read
The Dead, The Living, and The Inheritance
STORY: Fall is a time of sad anniversaries for me. When I tested positive for HIV in the fall of 1988, it was hardly surprising. Many sex...
Oct 30, 20191 min read
BAMMER and Me: Life in NYC Avant Garde Theatre Scene and Stonewall
PODCAST—EPISODE 8: Mike talks with Frank Carucci, a life-long New Yorker, about working in the NYC avant-garde theatre scene, the...
Sep 29, 20191 min read
BAMMER and Me: Edward Field, Gay Life in 1950s' NYC, (Part 3)
PODCAST—EPISODE 7: Ninety-five-year-old renowned poet Edward Field shares stories about gay life in NYC amid the social change of the...
Sep 12, 20191 min read
BAMMER and Me: Edward Field, Gay Life after WWll (Part 2)
PODCAST—EPISODE 6: Renowned poet and author Edward Field discusses with Mike, his colorful and bohemian life after WW2, including his...
Aug 21, 20191 min read
BAMMER and Me: Edward Field, Life of a Gay Soldier in WWll (Part 1)
PODCAST—EPISODE 5: Mike Balaban interviews renowned poet and author Edward Field. At 95 years old, Edward shares his experiences as a gay...
Jun 25, 20193 min read
In Living Color
I was 14 years old in the long-ago summer of 1969. My freshman year of high school approached but my concerns were still very boyish:...
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