January 24, 2011

Zack

Zack, age 7
Los Angeles, California (1985)


This pic was taken on one of the many outings I made with my parents to The Southwest Museum here in LA. My Uncle Ken was visiting and we stopped to snap this on the way out. I think the person taking the picture had made some exclamation about "posing" and I obviously took this to heart. I was always a bit of a ham. It apparently runs in the family, as Uncle Ken is pretending he is blind here, by facing the wrong way...

"Strike A Pose!"
I loved visiting this museum as a kid. All the crazy garments and dioramas of Native American life just fascinated me. I wanted to live in those crazy little models and just ached to try on those awesome floor-length head dresses, with all those colorful feathers & beads. This place beat Disney for me any day! I wasn't into the arrowheads at the gift shop, and opted for the beading and coloring sets.

If I couldn't wear those costumes from the past, I was gonna make my own!

At this point I knew I was gay, even if I didn't really have the terminology for it. It started around age 5, when I was caught kissing a male schoolmate backstage while waiting to go on as shepherds in the school play. Lucky for both of us, we had an amazing schoolteacher named Mrs. Carey, who lovingly informed us that 'This isn't the time for that, there's a play to do!'

How the hell did Oscar Wilde ever get anything done?
He must have followed that motto at some point...

Now that I'm back living in LA, I've yet to visit the Southwest Museum as an adult. I think it's just something I'm saving. Or maybe I'm a little afraid to revisit it, since so many magical childhood memories reside there.

Once it reopens in 2013 after their restoration and preservation, I have a feeling I'll be the first in line. And maybe - just maybe - it will be time to do a modern re-enactment of this pose on the stairs!

Zack's first, famous-person same sex crush:
John Ritter (in "Three's Company")

Tight pants and all!
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8 comments:

Unknown said...

'This isn't the time for that, there's a play to do!' I love it!

Anonymous said...

This is nice. But is the site about being born gay or lesbian, or about being born transgender? Do you think that masculine gay men or feminine lesbian are not natural? Why?

Adelcir Oliveira said...

No soy gay, pero tengo un hermano que eres gay. Yo lo entiendo perfectamiente. Las personas no hacen una escoja en ser gay.

Zacki said...

Anonymous - I think it is less about the feminine and masculine of it all and more about how you approach life with a sense of who you are right from the start. Of course not every kid who acts a little more feminine or every girl who tries out for softball will end up gay or lesbian... It is just fun sometimes to look back at photos and see a sneak peak at a kid just having fun being who they are free of judgment or expectations based on society's sense of "norms"...

Anjale said...

Zack - I love this! And although I was a couple years younger and never got to see you as the shepherd, I'm sure you were faaaaabulous, as always. Everything that you touched was :) Great story, my friend.

Ernessa T. Carter said...

The show must go on! I love that you learned that from an early again. Great post and even better picture, Zack!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, if you're still seeing this - please note that this blog also features childhood pictures from feminine lesbians and masculine game men! Examples:

http://borngaybornthisway.blogspot.com/2011/01/alysia.html

http://borngaybornthisway.blogspot.com/2011/01/peter.html

Anonymous said...

Okay, let's try this again - still learning how to post links in the comments...

example of a feminine lesbian's post on this blog

example of a masculine gay man's post on this blog