Some post-election thoughts:
Someone asked me how I’m doing this week.
Please. I’m old-school homosexual.
I’m used to being bullied.
I’m used to being called names.
I’m used to walking home from a bar at night, and not knowing who was around the corner.
I’m used to a government that either ignores you or actively works against you.
I’m used to living with fear.
Bring it!
I’m grabbing my dress and wig, and a little lipstick. La fête continue.
I wear a chucky three-inch heel, because sometimes, you gotta run…and I carry a hat pin in my purse.
Rich “Trixie” Volo is a Hudson fixture (as they say) &, when I heard his oral history, I understood why. He is unabashedly himself & just about getting the job done. “Catskill’s got a Pride Parade but we don’t? Ok, I can get that done.” Mostly he gets things done with a combination of baking cookies & relentless work. “No big whoop” as he says &, before you know it, not only does he have the gays on board for the first Hudson Pride Parade but the firefighters are volunteering to help out. And if you think a parade is his only claim to fame you haven’t heard his oral history. His life is full of bravery made ordinary, civic action folded in to a desire to create a world he can comfortably live in, love for people & community that is “no big whoop” but is also monumentally moving. I love you Rich Volo Trixie Starr!
Thanks Hudson Area Library for beginning & continuing this oral history collection & Spark OfHudson & John M Schobel for funding.For Trixie’s & other oral histories: https://oralhistory.hudsonarealibrary.org
– Brenda Shufelt