#chris bartlett

It’s kind of sad that Wikipedia doesn’t include transage identities when people have done cool stuff.

I was trying to learn more about Randy Wicker and Chris Bartlett. Two people that are transage as far as I know. Randy Wicker was one of the first if not the first people to identify as transage (in 2008), and Chris Bartlett called himself YtO transage on Twitter in 2010, making him potentially one of the first YtO transage people. Also, both of these people are relatively famous outside of being transage, enough to have Wikipedia articles.

Neither of their Wikipedia articles have any mention of them being transage. Both of their articles talk about them as LGBTQ+ activists. Chris Bartlett’s article talks about his work on HIV/AIDS advocacy and advocacy around other health issues affecting gay and mspec men. Randy Wicker’s talks about him as an activist for legalizing human cloning and for the rights of human clones. Neither page mentions them as transage anywhere.

It might be that being transage is a small part of their identity and there’s a lot to talk about with them. But I can’t shake the feeling that if all the stuff they did was actually bad things instead of them being cool people, their transage identification would be plastered everywhere.

I know this is an issue with a lot of minorities. In particular, there’s the issue of how Wikipedia will bend over backwards to call Jewish people “born to Jewish parents” or “raised in a Jewish family” rather than “Jewish”. But still. It’s sad that the fact that they’re transage is nowhere.

A beacon of hope

Stands mighty despite life's tides

Emanating promise and light

Amidst clouds and blue sky

Signals emerge from way up high

Signs that we'll be fine

Set aside any expectation

Embrace real-time anticipation

Move toward the lighthouse

Your internal compass . . .

Spiritual guide and companion

Watchtower of wisdom

When you're lost at sea

Find your way home

Image & Poem ©️ @followcb

How can we even inventory an unquantifiable and unqualifiable loss? And who would take on the remembering and inventory? Do we need a community occasion to acknowledge that history, or is the process best left informal? Could younger queers, who haven’t lived through this trauma so directly, share in the collection and documenting of these thousands? The inventory must be done—we need to capture all of these stories to explain our advances and the missteps.

(...) I remember a light-hearted gay culture where cruising was the norm. Does anyone cruise the streets anymore? Younger gay men often seem fascinated (and/or appalled) when I talk about my ability to meet random and unknown men on the street, to have a conversation, to engage. This behavior seems like ancient history—a time when you didn’t first pre-determine all your similar interests through Manhunt checkboxes and online surveys. Friends remind me of a time when sex was much lighter and more playful. There was not always the spectre of HIV, the spectre of fear in every interaction, or the spectre of denial of both these realities. It was just lighter, because it could be lighter. But like all light, it came in many forms: the lightness of possibility on the dance floor; the strength that came from chanting with thousands at a rally; the lightheadedness that came from fear.

When I have shared drafts of this essay with gay men who came up and out during the ’70s, some have cautioned me not to be too nostalgic for a decade that was painful, dark, and difficult for many. They remind me of the horizontal hostility between gay men, the cattiness, the elitism. And I get that and acknowledge it, while I celebrate the assets that were no doubt there.

In my life, I have seen this hostility directed mostly at those viewed as gender traitors—especially sissies and ultra-butch women, or anyone viewed as having transitioned outside of their “given role.” I have also seen the hostility directed towards elders, or to the idea of growing old—so that we create an invisible older generation whose wisdom and learnings aren’t accessible. And, most pertinent to levity and gravity, I have seen an unspoken hostility toward the memory of those who have died and toward those who are currently living with HIV—risk reduction has pulled us apart.

My gay elders remind me not to let my own sadness and pain and anger consume my sense of purpose, my faith in what we can do next. They also remind me to remember the tremendous achievements we made individually and collectively, in the face of the multiple challenges we confronted.”]

Notes: green leaves, tea, magnolia; coconut, cacao, woody notes, neroli, incense; sandalwood, musk, patchouli, amber

Nose: Chris Bartlett

Ahhhh. Zoologist Elephant opens green. Really heckin’ green. Juicy and full of chlorophyll goodness. With a touch of fresh airy neroli.

Within a few minutes it goes way down in projection, and becomes a dark green patchouli-and-wood skin scent, with a helping of cacao; don’t worry, it doesn’t smell like a chocolate bar, just a mellow, unsweetened cocoa powder that blends easily with the patchouli.

Patchouli and cocoa is a modern classic combination, in fact; Lutens did it with a roar in Borneo 1834 and Chanel did it with a whisper in Coromandel.

Very slowly — not till two hours in — I start to get a bit of what might be the sandalwood, warm, steady, and gently spiced.

The coconut is more an aura of milkiness than anything too explicit, but I feel that slightly fragrant, almost green, milkiness throughout.

In the far drydown, it sweetens and it does begin to smell chocolatey, but it’s faint enough by then that I don’t feel like I’m wearing dessert.

I really like Elephant. It has some of my favorite elements (greens, neroli, patchouli, sandalwood), and it’s a mild, subdued, yet nuanced unisex scent. Definitely evokes crushed tropical foliage and petrichor, a fantasy of a misty morning in India.

Have you ever . . . been

loved for you . . . and only you . . .

for no other reason . . . than

to be loved . . . and simply be

held in the arms . . . of

someone you've always loved

someone . . . who sees

the beauty of the essence . . . of

your spirit . . . and your soul

a lover . . . who recognizes

what makes you . . . YOU . . .

completes you . . . makes you whole

the magnificence of you . . .

perfection of your imperfections

strengths . . . amid weaknesses

understands . . . your wants and needs

the one . . . who'll hold you . . .

forever through life's . . .

sunshine and darkness of rainy days

. . . a protector who . . . supports

. . . you and your unique ways

of sharing . . . of all that you have to give

immense passion . . . to love . . . to live

have you ever . . . believed

embraced . . . all that love could bring

every . . . silly . . . romantic

song that we . . . could sing . . .

everything . . . everything . . . love

may have in store . . . for you

. . . for us . . . together every day

welcoming . . . the kind of love

that's come home . . . to stay

finally . . . come for you . . .

finally come . . . your way

love that needs . . . no words

no flowery poetry . . . to say . . .

I love you . . . YOU . . .

. . . it's always been you

You are my now

my here, my everywhere

crystalline, clear sky

my escape, my fantasy

and always we will be, will be

holding hands and kissing

together, no time for missing

my constancy, my constant sea

You are the forever of

a promise everlasting

abiding faithfulness of devotion born,

there is no space or distance,

time is meaningless

when souls are bound by love

nothing can unbind

what love has twined

What hope and joy, it is

to have the certainty,

lover of mine, that you will hold me

in the best and in the worst of times,

that you will always stand by my side

what sweet peace it brings

to know I am accepted for who I am,

and loved, oh . . . so deeply

You, you and I combined

a romance, a dance, so . . .

so elegant . . . so refined

our future, love, a classic

redefined, resplendent love,

instantaneous love

something exquisite, something

sublime, resplendent lovers

in their prime

©️ @followcb & @heartofmuse

May 25, 2022

Another dance, another dalliance, an affair of

she is the sun

shining upon him

from dusk till dawn

she dances with moonlight

awakens from lucid dreams

opens her eyes to sheer delight

always the star of the night

brilliant in her rising

enchantress of dark skies;

I dwell underneath

your bewitching spell

he is the sky

blanketing her

In a azure coat of clouds

by day

In a midnight cloak of stars

by night

adoring her is his delight

magic breathes in him,

so mesmerized by love,

as he watches her dance

she smiles - for her joy

is her heart adoring him

with all its might

otherworldly lovers

cosmic constellations of gleaming light

kept under covers

dreamily dancing

spinning across the universe

hearts orbiting

to a new tune that's unrehearsed

exploring seasons

of their ever-changing closeness

infinite intimacy

twin souls entwined

in tidal annals of time

©️ @followcb & @heartofmuse