1960 Marijuana Girl, cover artist: Santos  "Vintage Paperback & Pulp Fiction Cover Art"    copyright 1995 Jeffrey Luther/PC design PO Box 417 Palo Alto, CA 94302     www.pulpcards.com

In the late fifties I had gone to a party at which jazz… Read full post »

"Nurses" at AIDS walk, NYC.

Three weeks post op and not even four weeks since I last posted and that muse bitch of mine has gone off to do something more amusing than to hang out with me during my boring recovery.  I have beseeched and cajoled and… Read full post »

 San Bernardino, Ca.      May 2011

Some of you may (or may not) have noticed that I haven’t been posting either comments or new sections of my memoir lately.  This is due to some recent medical testing and procedures that have been going on… Read full post »

 Our house in San Bernardino, California.

  It is with a heavy heart that I say I that it came as no surprise to me that my father's last will and testament was designed to make certain that I would never forget how little he thought of me. My mother… Read full post »

Mickey contemplating the view from our balcony in Anaheim.

 Flying over palm trees as our plane descends for our landing at LAX after our trip to New York, I find I am very happy to be coming back to what I now… Read full post »

 In the epicenter of conservative Orange County, 1997. Photo by Thomas McGovern

It has been good to get to know my mother and father-in-law and it is interesting to observe those traits in Thomas that I admire the most echoed in his father whom I… Read full post »

From a 1929 portfolio of German printing arts.

 It was summer vacation, I was ten years old, and with my girlfriends Barbara and Patsy headed for the Loews (we pronounced it Lowees) Theater on Broadway and 181st Street for a matinee.  Loews, 181st Street, was… Read full post »

Thomas and the Yellow Devil, on the road to California, 1997.

Once again I find myself packing to move.  We have an “apartment sale” drawing lots of people to our door and we sell some things and lighten the load while raising much needed cash for… Read full post »

 Postcard postmarked Schenectady, 1908, a yard sale find.

In May of 1995, Thomas and I with Shoe the dog drove north to Schenectady, New York to check out what was to be our new home. With the exception of the… Read full post »

My subway stop. 

In 1994, Thomas decided to quit his job as photo editor at the Village Voice amidst frequent and sometimes unfriendly shifts of editorial personnel and the need to devote more time to his personal work.  It didn’t… Read full post »

Rosy at age fifty.  Photo: Thomas McGovern, 1987

 For me, while it mattered a great deal, my work was not all consuming and there was a lot going on in my life besides my job, though my office often… Read full post »

Rosy with a patient at the office, 1988          Photo: Susan Kuklin

By the mid eighties our medical practice had grown beyond what Dr X could handle alone and even as we added both medical assistants and clerical help, his workload… Read full post »

I am too lazy to explain but there you have it.

 My parents circa 1943

With the phone call telling me that my father had died, it was as if a heavy stone had been lifted from my heart.  I shocked even myself at how instantly I felt released.  It was no secret that my father and I had… Read full post »

photo: Thomas McGovern

In 1965, Jose Sarria, the country's first openly gay political candidate (for San Francisco Supervisor) founded the Imperial Court System and set the Court standard of humor, heart and humanitarianism that today governs more than 65 royal courts in the United… Read full post »

Sorry about that, I can't help it.......

TO ALL MY FRIENDS AT OPEN SALON, A MERRY SMOKIN' CHRISTMAS.

The Way to get to Fire Island.

During our interesting, albeit turbulent lives in the eighties and early nineties in New York City we were fortunate to have been able to spend some time at both the Pines, the very high end section of Fire Island, and… Read full post »

When I was about sixteen , I had a huge crush on one of the soloists of the New York City Ballet, Jaques D'Amboise.  I was also a passionate student of ballet and desperate to get to know my idol.  At the time I was actually the art editor for  Overtone,… Read full post »

Annie Sprinkle        photo: Thomas McGovern (www.thomasmcgovern.net)

Thomas’ AIDS portraits were shown for the first time at the Neikrug Gallery in New York in the winter of 1988 as a fund raiser for the People With AIDS Coalition, better known as PWA Coalition.… Read full post »

Rosy's desk, 2010

One year ago  I published my first post on Open Salon and found a community of writers with whom it has been an honor to share these pages.  I take great pride in having been chosen for a number of Editors Picks and now with… Read full post »

photo: Thomas McGovern from the 1999 publication Bearing Witness (to AIDS), a ten year photography project on the AIDS crisis. This book is available  from amazon.com and photoeye.com and signed copies are available directly from the author at www.thomasmcgovern.net

 The drearine… Read full post »

Rosy, Flushing Meadow Park, NY circa 1984 Photo: Thomas McGovern

By chance, after about a year with my nice but boring OB/GYN I ran into one of Dr. Neil’s former patients who had always claimed that she would love to have a “secretary” as efficient… Read full post »

Rosy, 1983. Photo by Thomas McGovern   www.thomasmcgovern.net

In 1982 the sexist and dismissive term “cougar” had not yet been coined as a way to once again denigrate women in an entirely new way. Inexplicably, I have always been attracted to men younger than… Read full post »

 Portrait of Rosy by Thomas McGovern, New York City, 1982

After my cancer surgery I was ready to begin the new decade as a single and healthy person. I saw some pretty good men now and again but never with serious intent about any of… Read full post »