There are some moments that I didn’t want to share with you…but they have lingered like a prison fart.
Begging to be remembered.
One particular memory I hoped to forget:
Our dorm, as you know, was the school dorm…the honor dorm. On occasions when the police came into the dorm to conduct the evening count, when we lay on our beds, our faces in the mat, our plastic identification bracelets on view for the deputy to inspect…the police would call out, “Give it up for deputy…so and so..” and it was our job to cheer and shout and welcome the new deputy into the dorm.
If the deputy was homophobic we would be primed to make even more noise, the more well endowed, busty trannies to leap up and show the deputy their tities or dance seductively around him.
The blushing deputy, bloated on the attention, would playfully curse his colleagues.
I refused to cheer and shout. It made me sick. I wondered if the Nazis had ever played games like that in the nissen huts at Auschwitz. Making the starving jews/gays/gypsies play games for their amusement.
One night, an attractive deputy called Gonzales arrived and they cat-called him and cheered his arrival. We gave it up for deputy Gonzales and he, in turn, ran a lap of honor around the dorm. I thought, wow, he’s a good-looking man.
Weeks later Gonzales took a few of us to the visiting room but not before he had told us that homosexuals had a ‘sick lifestyle’ and we disgusted him.
It was strange to me that such a beautiful man had such ugly thoughts.
Today, I was arraigned which meant that I went back to court at 8.30am and plead Not Guilty. It was odd being in court wearing my own clothes rather than my blues. The DA, Anne-Marie Wise was wearing her badly cut, black suit, treating the event like it was a first degree murder of a small child…or something truly heinous.
Anne-Marie and I had Facebook friends in common (another DA) who she demanded de-friend me. Surely she can’t do this? Unbelievably her entire Facebook history is on view for the whole world to see. Her kids, her vacations etc. Why do people do that?
We were presented with the transcript from the preliminary trial so, I assume, this is all on public record. Who I am, who he is, who she is etc. I am still loathed to use his name…just in case it breaks some obscure law.
We met our new Judge, Judge Michael V. Jesic who seems like the most grown up Judge so far. Like a real Judge. He was a Hardcore Gang prosecutor. Son of Yugoslavian immigrants, born in Belgrade. He has gravitas. He loves animals and met his wife at a pet adoption event. Like most of them he is an ex-DA. He seems, from the video published above, like a fair man.
The LA Times endorsed him in 2008 and he is most likely to be described as ‘ethical’ by his opponents. Read a full description here.
However, he is a registered Republican (fiscally) and was strongly recommended by church organizations during his election campaign in 2008 as most likely to hold beliefs that would uphold their biblical values.
Judge Jesic will be our third and final judge.
The first judge (whose name escapes me) the first time I saw him last November, was a MESS. Papers all over the place, tie off, hair askew…when I returned with TMZ in tow he had combed his hair, wearing his robe…his tie was neatly tied around his neck. Showing his best side for the camera.
Judge Karen Nudell was our preliminary judge. I was still in custody so the petulant, young deputy who lead me into the court would rearrange my chair and tell me off for wearing my spectacles on my head.
Judge Karen sat yawning, shuffling papers, playing with her huge earings and stroking her long hair. She sat at an odd angle to the courtroom, like Mona Lisa…but less enigmatic.
She reminded me of the mother in the movie Carrie.
During the prelim Anne-Marie was trying to shame me for describing the victim as ‘The King of The Cocksuckers’. I reminded her that we were gay and being good at cock sucking was probably not an insult.
You can tell what a fiasco the trial will be. The press will have a field day. Anyway, Judge Nudell looked appalled that the words cock and sucker were being used in her court in such close proximity.
My friend later commented that Judge Nudell’s grandchildren probably made excuses not to visit her on Sundays…
Let’s hope that Judge Jesic isn’t so squeamish.
You asked me to describe my arrest. Well, let me tell you that the very courteous cops who arrested me looked like extras from a ZZ Top video. Long beards. Very, very long beards. So long in fact that their police badges were hidden behind them.
The detectives who interviewed me were charming. The first was a good-looking man probably my age (looked better clean-shaven) and the second a younger, probably rookie detective. I had no complaints about the way they treated me, they were doing their job. I’m sure they would have preferred leaping over cars chasing rapists.
I have been slowly crawling back into my life. The dog, who initially pretended not to recognize me, is back on my lap. Three months apart, he had to make Jason his master. He’s a one man dog. Of course he was confused, poor darling. We are getting on fine. We walked to Sarah and Paul’s house on Hume but they moved out. The house was open and empty…except for the leopard print, wall to wall, carpet. He ran around the house looking for them. So did I.
Mel took me to dinner at the Real Inn last night. I ate fish and chips. We sat by the fire. We speculated about the couple sitting near us, whether they were having a first date. She was wearing heels. Her Angora sweater was too short revealing her fat hips.
The house is back to normal or as normal as it ever will be with three young men who find clearing up after themselves almost impossible. Thank you twins and friend for being here. Filling the house with laughter and youthful enthusiasm. I delight in being mother hen…washing and making good food for them to eat.
I can’t complain about anything…even though I feel like I am already dead.
