Darlings, You Know We Care About Social Injustice!!!!!!!!!

Well, girls, our sense of social activism was certainly activated during what turned out to be an active, and emotionally fraught, weekend. It began Thurdsday eve, when we filmed our "It Gets Better" video at the Center Library, with the lovely Monsieur Davide, and my visiting friend Angie on hand. Sweeties, I did MY segemnt in a single take!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe it? I mean, Meryl Streep would be SO proud!!!!!! I used my technique, lambs, which was, as I delivered my speech, to mentally visualize being on the bridge alongside poor Tyler Clementi, and speaking to him, as if I were talking him out of doing what he did. And if that had been reality, you know damn well, girls, I would have succeeded, and Tyler would be here still not only to enrich the world with his presence, but maybe to teach me how to ride a unicycle, which, from what I have read, was another of his many accomplishments!!!!!!!!

One of my accomplishments was surviving spending Thursday night with a woman under my roof, because Angie stayed over, so we girls could have a visit. And didn't we all just have so much fun???? But you know how spooky The Raving Queen finds having women under his roof--and my God, with only one bathrrom and vanity!!!!!
And those are mine, lambs, and let me tell you, sharing these is not as easy as sharing drinks and a meal!!!!!!!!! But somehow we made it through the night, had fabulous girl talk, and then I marched into the city for my doctor appointment, and then downtown to Monsieur Davide, where we dined well an went to brd early, even though we still watched "The Golden Girls," loves, because we had to get up at the crack of dawn!!!!!!!!!

I mean, you would think it was a work morning, but let me tell you it was much more. This past Saturday, Octobrt 16, had been set aside for a comemorative walk over the George Washington Bridge, to honor Tyler Clementi, and you know I was ready, willing and able to do this. So on a very sunny Saturday, so nice, in fact, that I am certain the spirit of Tyler was smiling upon his, paving the way, Monsieur Davide and I set out at 7:30 AM!!!!!! Can you believe it, girrls????? I mean, at that hour all the "Sex and The City" wannabes are still sleeping off their Cosmo hangovers, and their boyfriends are exhausted from pounding them on the mattress, and the Farmer's Market is just setting up. And here we are getting on thr A train, going up to the 175th Street stop, walking up yo 178th, over to Cabrini Blvd, and then onto the bridge. Darlings, there we were at 8:30 am, walking across a bridge I had never driven over in my life, and never expecyed to walk on, let alone for a reason like this. I could not help noticing, darlings, as we got on, a white sign with green letters warning about suicide, and how just five minutes can make a difference, and save a !!!! At first I thought it had been put there because of Tyler, but Monsieur Davide assured me this had been in place long before he was heard of. So on we continued, on the bridge's South side, dodging bicycles, till we arrived on the other side, in world famous Fort Lee, New Jersey, home not only to Mr. Richard Feder (who writes "Dear Roseann Roseannadanna....") but our own beloved Cousin Manny!!!!!!!! If only we had had his address, we could have invited him, or stopped by for a cup of coffee!!!!!!! But when we got onto land, I felt like Neely in the alley in "Valley Of The Dolls," yelling "Hey!!!!!!! Where is everybody????????" One gentleman, who knew what we were there for, told us the walk was going to be on the North side of the bridge, but lo and behol;d, it was closed. We went back to the corner on the South side, and were told by two journalists, a reporter and photographer, that the walkers were convening atop the hill in Fort Lee park.

As Monsieur Davide can attest, I ran up the hill, compelled spiritually, like Bernadette when she was compelled to go to the grotto. We reached the top, where we found cars, people, signs, and a lovely spread consisiting of juice, coffee, donuts, bagels and ice cream. I sipped and picked here and there, while Monsieur Davide practically scarfed down everything in sight, including Ben and Jerry ice cream, and very taken he was with the strawberry shortcake flavor. Meanwhile, I mingled, trying to get a sense of the lay of the land, seeing who was who, wondering if any of the Cl;ementis would appear, etc. I talked to this violinist, who was playing Civil War songs at the park site--which, girls, was actually so beautiful, what with a community building, library, rest room (thank God) and all, that I would actually, under better circumstances, make a return visit--and when we reached the spot at the bridge to honor Tyler--was going to play "Going Home," the theme from the film "Gods And Generals." Monsieur Davide and I both got in our word with this nice, young reporter from the Bergen Record; I spoke of how and why Tyler's death affected me personally, my having been raised so close geographically to Rutgers, and the type of bullying, I, as a burgeoning gay teen, endured during my junior and senior high years. Monsieur Davide spoke of the political ramifications of Tyler's death, the inherent homophobia which triggered his veing violated visually on webcam, and how while ALL bullying must stop, Tyler was picked on singularly because he was GAY. No two ways about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The walk was supposed to start at 9:15, but actually didn't kick off till after 10am, when one of the organizers spoke and got everyone ready. It turned out she was a Rutgers grad, was from nearby Franklin Lakes (former home of an SHU classmate of mine, Susan Cella), and so, armed with roses which were to be dropped from the bridge into the river at appointed time and locale, the procession set out. Girls, I am telling you, it wa so solemn, it was like something out of "The Song Of Bernadette." As we reached the bridge, with police protection all the way (and thanks to the Fort Lee PD!) we found the North side had been opened especially for us, and onto the bridge we marched. Honey, the wind on the Northside was worse than on the South; Monsieur Davide and I literally clung to each other, for fear if n ot we would have gone flying over the side. And what is withthese railings, that make it so easy for someone to jump????? Let's hope in the wake of Tyler, higher mesh wire or something is errected. Anyway, we reached the midpoint of the bridge, where we stopped, prayed, sobbed, the violin played, and we tossed our roses into the river, watching them float, like the souls of the innocent like Tyler, who have gone before us. We love you, Tyler!!!! Hopefully now you will know how much you were loved, and would have been, had you stuck around!!!!!!

Our two journalists accompanied the walkers, as did cameras and reporters from ABC, New York 1, and who knows who else. Yes, girls, Monsieur Davide and I made the news, and while you can only see us in the background, we were proud to represent Tyler and all that his death stands for, yesm sir, Amen!!!!!!!!!

But wait till you hear this!!!!!!!! Having walked over the bridge from Manhattan to Jersey, and then on the walk from Jersey to the halfway point for Tyler, we now disovered, as Monsieur Davide found out from a very nice, and I think, darlings, hot cop, that we would have to walk back again to Jersey, and then over again to Manhattan, which means a total of walking bridge three times!!!! Sweeties, it is a good thing I have my Donna McKechnie legs!!!! I was worried about Monsieur Davide, but, girls, he is a trooper!!!!!!!!!!!

It turned out our final walk was the mosdt poignant, as it occured to me that, in so doing, we were actually tracing Tyler Clementi's steps. I have my own idea about where he did it, but I could be wrong. Only Tyler knows for sure. But as we walked, I happened upon something I did not notice on the way over. It was a special phone errected on the bridge, for, I imagine, motorists or others, who might need help at times. I touched it, and sobbed, thinking, "If only Tyler had done that," when suddenly Monsiueur Davide signaled to me to look at something. On the right side of the phone box, someone had written on it, in black "RIP Tyler." Maybe they had the same idea I did. Or maybe it was marking the spot where...but we will never conclusively know.

Now, darlings, all this sprituality and social activism got me EMOTIONALLY exhausted. So, you can imagine, how it felt, when, after successfully dodging cyclists all across the bridge and back, I got sideswiped by some idiot biker dude as we reached the Manhattan side. I was SO angry but too drained to retaliate, which was probably a good thing, as Tyler's tribute should have ended, and did, on a peacerful note, as the noon sun shined downward, and we made our way to the downtown subway, with me, appropriately enough, singiong the Washington Heights lyrics from "Broadway Baby."

To wrap up, darlings, we discovered that one of the walkers was Jim Swimm (oddly macabre name, given the circumstance) who happened to be the one to find Tyler Clementi's body floating in the water. Very brave and honorable of him to come. And Stephani, one of the organizers, informed us the family had been notified of the event, are appreciative, but still prefer to grieve in privacy. It was an honor, girls, by doing this walk, to remember Tyler, and share that grief with the family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!