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The Gay Road Less Traveled

The Gay Road Less Traveled

Tag Archives: Romany

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Am I Cursed?

24 Saturday May 2014

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Andy Warhol, Basquiat, buy John's book, eye stye, Florence & the Machine, funny, gay, gay dating, Gypsy, humor, Lemongrass St. Petersburg, LGBT, modern art, Nitally's St. Petersburg, perspective, point of view, queer, Romany, St. Petersburg, tampa, Tampa Bay, the Dali Museum, the dog days are over, the Warhol Exhibit, Thinner Stephen King

Am I Cursed?

Dear Diary,
On days like these I have to question if I have a gypsy curse , voodoo or worse hoodoo, did somebody put roots on me?! My story begins last week, when I met this lovely man on the interwebs. He is cute, smart, former military, and is clever in his texting and emails. We made a date to have lunch at Lemongrass on today (Saturday) and then we were going to the Warhol Exhibit at the Dali. I have been preparing all week for this day, getting an expensive haircut, buying a new Polo shirt to match my eyes, Just for Men-ing my eyebrows, cleaning the apartment, bathing the gremlins, and finally calling in sick to work and going to the beach (so I will be all tan/red and healthy looking when we have our joyous meet). I am so excited, I am ready, the dog days are over, this is my husband!
During the night, I wake up a couple of times rubbing my eye, which is bothering me for some reason. I finally get up for good around 8 a.m. and have a look in the mirror: it’s bad, real bad. My right eyelid is red and swollen, making my eyes observably different sizes. I panic and google and text my friends and figure out I apparently have a stye. Now this is where I start to question being cursed. I have never had a stye in my life, didn’t even know what it was, but I mysteriously have one on the only, only, only day that I am meeting this beautiful man? FML…
I can’t let my future ex-husband see my like this, and when I explain my situation he (quickly) agrees to push our glorious meeting out a few days, when I am better. He was very agreeable to this, especially after I disclosed it was vaguely contagious 😦 I hope he is the patient and loving and kind man that i have imagined him to be, and will wait for my disease to dissipate. I just can’t let him see his future blushing bride with one big eye and one little eye, it ain’t cute.

eye

jj

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Posted by johnjernigan | Filed under Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

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Video

Guy Runs a Scam at a Dodger’s Game

14 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by johnjernigan in My Favorite Things

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babies, baseball, college humor, Dodgers, funny, gay, Grand Scam, gypsies, humor, LGBT, love, MLB, perspective, point of view, Romany, scam artists, sex, St. Petersburg, Tampa Bay Rays, the Hacks of Life

The only one not great is smearing the condiments on the t-shirt, like isn’t the price probably about the same? maybe just pay for the hot dog…

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My Granny

28 Wednesday Aug 2013

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Alabama, dating, gay, hall & oates, inspirational, john jernigan, LGBT, perspective, point of view, relationships, Romany, sara smile, the bird and the bee

My Granny

So yesterday was my birthday. It came and went without a phone call from my mother, but I didn’t expect to hear from her anyway. I find myself really missing my grandmother, I love you Sara Caldwell!

GE DIGITAL CAMERA

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Posted by johnjernigan | Filed under My Heart

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Video

Chocolat

11 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by johnjernigan in Movies

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art, Chocolat, chocolate, cinema, culture, fairy tale, fantasy, gay, Gypsy, john jernigan, Johnny Depp, Judi Dench, Juliette Binoche, LGBT, movie reviews, movies, queer, Romany, St. Petersburg, theater

A magically sweet fairy tale…

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Gypsy Boy – Mikey Walsh

12 Tuesday Feb 2013

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authors, autobiography, book reviews, books, gay, Gypsy Boy, john jernigan, LGBT, memoir, Mikey Walsh, Roma, Romany, travellers

Gypsy Boy - Mikey Walsh

“The gypsy race is an old-fashioned and, sadly, a very bitter one. They live, breathe, sleep, grieve, love and care for only their own people. They don’t like or trust the ways of others and don’t have contact or friendships with other races, afraid that one day they will be forced to turn their backs on their once proud way of life and become like any other.”

Warren Rochelle review:
Gypsies were a stereotype: hoop ear rings, olive skin, colorful clothes, bandannas, and tambourines and they sang a song about the Gypsies being wild and free every time any outsider showed up.

So much for the mythology of popular culture and stereotypes. Mikey Walsh was born into a Romany Gypsy family in England and grew up in an insular, closeted world that had little connection to the greater non-Gypsy or Gorgia community. Rather the caravan was Mikey’s world–and this world, as he tells it in this frank and sometimes shocking memoir, has a “vibrant and loyal culture,” and yet it is a culture that hides abuse, taught him how to commit fraud, and it is a culture that apparently has no place at all for a gay boy.

Mikey Walsh obviously survived and escaped and today has a partner to whom he is married. His uncle, who sexually abused him for years as a child, was finally caught. Mikey’s father bullied his family for years–which only ended when a younger brother finally stood up to the man. Mikey had been his father’s punching bag. Mikey learned how to read, got the education he missed growing up and he is now bearing witness, even though as he says, “You can take the boy away from the Gypsies, but you can’t take the Gypsy out of the boy.”

agb

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Posted by johnjernigan | Filed under Books Check 'Em Out

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Gypsy Moves

24 Thursday Jan 2013

Tags

culture, different, fort lauderdale, gay, Gypsy, john jernigan, LGBT, Miami, point of view, relationships, Roma, Romani, Romany

Gypsy Moves

alternate title: It’s You Baby

My paternal side of the family are of Irish ancestry, black Irish. My maternal side is a hodge-podge, German, Italian, French…and Romani, Roma, the people. I’m looking back on some of my life choices and wondering if I can blame the mistakes on my gypsy roots. I have caravaned my way through life for 23 years now, moving on, giving up, starting fresh…however I want to spin it. At 17, I moved to Pensacola, FL, then Birmingham, AL, Jacksonville, AL, Alpine, AL, Atlanta, Birmingham, Pensacola, Orlando, Pensacola, Oakland, CA, New Orleans, Birmingham, Pensacola…and now Fort Lauderdale. Four months later, I’m trying to talk myself into moving back to Birmingham, there might be a man there, cost of living is low, I could possibly swing a mortgage, it actually gets cold…WTF?

Take a good look at yourself, John: It’s You Baby! Until I find myself and figure out how to be happy with me, I’m not gonna be able to settle down and live happily ever after, ever…with someone else or alone. I’m in arguably the gayest nomenclature in the U.S., certainly in the southern states. I have a good…uhh fair…uhh paying job, I’m healthy, I have some degrees and education, there are literally thousands of middle-aged gay men lurking everywhere ’round here…I need to make this work, I can make this work, people like me, I’m special (good special)… I’m all yours Fort Lauderdale, help me get back to being happy and gay! well happy anyways…

arom aroma_arrest aromani aromani2 agypsy sara-picnik

My Granny, Sara Caldwell

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C.L. Bolin Books & Art: When I get the chance, I love reading John Jernigan’s blog. I’m laughing, homesick, crying and peeing myself all at once.

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The Gay Road Less Traveled

A friend of mine who used to be one of the hard working under appreciated social workers for the State here in Pensacola has written a book now available on Kindle, John Jernigan’s ā€œThe Gay Road Less Traveled.ā€ I purchased it tonight to start it, couldn’t out it down, it was so funny. Graphic, real, and hysterical, John’s writing is endearing, funny, smart and if you happen to be drinking coffee, it may shoot out of your nose at some point during one of his vignettes. You can read it on Kindle.

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