Moonlighting

To my regular readers please note that you can find me over at Towleroad this week filling in for Andy while he's on vacation. And if you're just now hearing of me because of my job moonlighting, I say hello and welcome to my site. I thought I'd assemble a quick post featuring a few of my favorite posts from the past (almost) two years. I'm hoping these "greatest hits" will introduce me to you in a way that is far more effective than a straight bio could ever be. --kw

Mouse Patrol / I can still remember the moment I decided I wanted to live in New York City. I was 5 years old watching reruns of "Family Affair." How I envied Buffy and Jody. Not only were their parents dead, but they got to live in a glamorous high-rise apartment building in Manhattan! Apt. 27A just seemed too good to be true. The fancy furniture. The city views. Mr. French at your disposal. That fun doorknob with the big metal circle around it. All of this and I'd never have to "go outside to play" again. I hated the outdoors even then, so I figured living in an apartment I'd be exempt from anything along those lines. (I also remember that despite living in a big house in the suburbs, the mother of my Fisher-Price family -- who was loosely based on Angie Dickinson's Pepper -- kept a sweet pied-a-terre downtown.) (Keep reading)

Gay for Play / I came across this photo of sexy librarian slash crime fighter Barbara Gordon (Yvonne Craig) -- aka Batgirl -- yesterday. I remember how I'd anxiously watch the opening credits of the "Batman" reruns when I was a kid to see if Batgirl would come kicking her way into the show. I'd be so disappointed if it was an episode without her that I usually wouldn't even bother watching it. It got me wondering where my Batgirl obsession ranked compared with some of my other more noteworthy childhood symptoms of gaydom, namely my toy collection ... (Keep reading)

Lunch Special / Well, it wasn't quite "My Dinner With Andre," but yesterday I had a date that might be worthy of at least an NPR show. You see, my archenemy from 7th grade and I officially "buried the hatchet" over lunch in the famed Conde Nast cafeteria. (Hey, if you're going to wait more than 25 years to do something like this, you might as well have a glam Frank Gehry backdrop.) (Keep reading)

Darling, I Love You, But Give Me Park Avenue / As a longtime city dweller, I found something really endearing about this New York Times story about a group of hurricane-surviving urbanites who were relocated to the Baptist Vista Encampment, a summer retreat in the Ozark Mountains in northwestern Arkansas. Used to the city life in New Orleans, these evacuees were just not prepared for the great outdoors.
"All these trees," Betty Taylor sobbed, as her husband, Ray, and her two sisters reached out to comfort her. "It seems like hell." (Keep reading)

Blue Gremlin / When I was in little boy growing up in the Detroit suburb of Madison Heights, Michigan, there was a serial child killer on the loose. Known as the Oakland County Child Killer (and sometimes Oakland County Child Molester), all of Hiller Elementary lived in absolute terror for years as this lunatic managed to lure kids into his grip, seemingly in broad daylight in crowded areas. Was he a clergyman? A police officer? Everyone wondered how he could abduct so many children without anyone noticing. Each week we'd have a new DON'T GO WITH STRANGERS seminar, with filmstrips and corresponding badges and handouts. While most of the kids trembled at the mere mention of the subject, I found myself completely intrigued, often engaging my teachers in lengthy discussions about the case. Not a lot happened in my neck of the woods, so a real-life serial killer felt more like watching a scary than something to be really afraid of. (Keep reading)

Love Allergy / The Boyfriend of the Cat: What to do when your favorite guy is allergic to your favorite feline. (From the February issue of Instinct) (Keep reading)