I think I’ve made my Vallejo Weekly debut! It’s not the clearest photo, but some of us from the Madhatter Parade are in one of the pictures in this “centerfold.” This city-issued magazine is released every Thursday, and it’s always got great content! I’m very proud that Vallejo has such a great newsletter. In the first picture, I’m the elf on the left. It’s sort of a profile, which I can tell because my “elf shoes” were practically falling off my Sketchers.
Yes, I’m a media whore. Even for those who don’t know about my being on the Rosie O’Donnell Show, Stephen Colbert’s show and several other televisions panels, interviews and other appearances I document here on my blog, I love seeing myself on those shows, seeing my name in print and being in the papers and making some kind of legacy for people to read about long after I’m gone. My blog alone is one way in which I hope my legacy will persevere if my daughter or other people who love me care enough to maintain the site, not that I plan on going anywhere for a very long time, mind you. I realized the other day, as the breadth of what I lost materially in the fire keeps hitting me, that the books that I’ve been mentioned in (including a few Barbra Streisand biographies) may not have been replenished. This particular book, written by a friend of a friend in Brooklyn, was one of them. Benita Smith Allison and I are both mentioned on the acknowledgment page of Children of the Dream – The Psychology of Black Success, co-written by Audrey Edwards in the 1990s. I was able to find it and replace it. With Google Lens, I might try to do that for other obscure possessions I had as well, since I was able to replenish the tapestries and that Spanish credenza that I thought I’d never get repaired. Material things were the least of my worries with what I lost almost two years ago, while I still impatiently wait here in this rental property for my house to be renovated, but little bits of joy like this make my day.
Yesterday Calvin and Hobbes were a hit at the Benicia Library. There was a regularly-scheduled Cuddle Club event, which is a pet therapy program of HSNB that my friend Carlene Coury founded. However this time the press was there!
The news story mentions them in the first words of the main article on the front page of today’s Vallejo Times Herald! Despite “holding court” there, they were not photographed, so I’m including a picture of them, together with the article and the two pictures of some of the other dogs that were there. Several people were interested in adopting Calvin and Hobbes together, so we’ll see. They were incredibly well-behaved with lots of people and children. Everyone was surprised that they had never done anything like this before.
I was so busy answering questions that I didn’t even pull out my own camera. In hindsight, I should have deputized Shea to be the cameraman. I so appreciate that he was gracious enough to join me.
Good job and good publicity for the upcoming Betty White fundraiser for HSNB in today’s Vallejo Times-Herald. Nice to get our picture in the paper from last year’s dinner.
Shando was on the front page of the Vallejo Times-Herald! This is at least the second time Shando’s been photographed in that paper. Other friends, including Santa, were in the picture too, of course, I’m a little shocked that the headline says “several hundred” when the crowd looked like THOUSANDS to me.
Brenda, Tom, and I are quoted in the article on the front page of the Vallejo Times Herald for the Photos with Santa event yesterday. Precious baby Rowan on the cover (with the pumpkin hat) is the child of a wonderful female couple who are both trained as vet techs and have a grown child. I told them about how I’m a gay dad myself. The article content is below with appropriate credits for photos and story:
Three-month-old Rowan takes a snooze as she gets her picture taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus in downtown Vallejo during a Humane Society fundraiser on Saturday. Santa will return for a second visit on Dec. 2. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)
By Thomas Gase | tgase@timesheraldonline.com | Vallejo Times Herald November 25, 2023 at 3:18 p.m.
Just two days past Thanksgiving, Saturday was officially the time to get that picture with Santa and break out that list: A new toy truck, doll, video game, book …Or a new pet, suggests the Humane Society.
Downtown Vallejo and Tony’s Cakes was the site for the annual Humane Society of the North Bay photos with Santa event, a major fundraiser for the organization to help spread awareness while also adding holiday cheer.
Vallejoan Olivia Lizotte showed up to have her picture taken as a walk-in appointment.
“It’s a nice event and it’s important to have our picture taken but it’s also important for the Humane Society, which I hear needs some help,” Lizotte said. “So it feels good to help out.”
Sarah Rojas was there with 4-year-old a clearly delighted Angelica Martinez, who was constantly jumping up and down with a huge grin after getting her picture taken.
The organization was asking for a suggested $25 donation for any pictures. Board president Brenda Mooney said that the group made approximately $800 last year in donations.
“I love being able to come her and see the folks of the community,” Mooney said. “We had nine reservations but much more drop-ins. It’s nice that Tony’s Cakes is allowing us to use their space and we have a ton of volunteers helping out. It’s a fun event and it all goes to benefit the animals and the shelter. We also have some books available at the tent that tell people about the animals we have ready for adoption.”
Mooney said that there are approximately 25 cats, 20 small dogs and 40 large dogs ready to be adopted.
While the organization has its share of walk-ins, treasurer Joseph A. Hayden said the event also has its regulars. “There was someone here at 9 a.m. this morning that said they had their picture taken on the cover of a Times-Herald newspaper last year, so they wanted to come again,” Hayden said. Hayden said that some people stop by and want to have their picture taken, but aren’t sure how their pet will respond to Santa.
A dog named Cow nervously sits with Santa and Mrs. Claus to get their picture taken as part of a fundraiser for the Humane Society of the North Bay on Saturday in downtown Vallejo. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)
“All we ask them is to please try,” Hayden said. “There was one dog that did not want to come inside and they were afraid. But we came out to them and then the dog went right to Santa.”
Thomas Bilbo, who is playing Santa in Vallejo once again, said it’s important for the staff to serve the needs of the pets visiting —not the other way around.
“We go to them. There was one dog that wouldn’t come inside,” Bilbo said. “But we went out to the street. We go to where the dog is mentally and physically. Some dogs get scared and it’s important to realize that pets are important creatures that also have feelings and fears.”
Bilbo — who has six cats with his partner — has been dressing up as Santa since 1995, and for this event since 2015.
“I did it first in Mississippi, then San Francisco, and now Vallejo,” Bilbo said. “I have 16 gigs this year, and it’s all for charity. It helps organizations with their money. If I’m out there raising awareness for their [sic] organization if they need help, then that makes me feel great.
“But the best part of the day for me is seeing all the kids and parents enjoying the day,” Bilbo said. “That and the camaraderie that goes on between the staff. We’ve been working with each other for years, not only at this event but also at the Mad Hatter Parade. We all get into the Christmas spirit.”
The Humane Society will continue the pictures with pets and Santa next Saturday — once again at Tony’s Cakes, located at 418 Georgia St. Pictures are available from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
This morning a Vallejo college student and now adult former youth activist, Genesis Miguel, appeared on OZCAT radio’s Vallejo Project program here in Vallejo.
The subject matter is the activism that we’re doing to get a Tobacco Retail License (TRL) instituted here in Vallejo, which the City Council unanimously directed city staff to draft robustly for voting on in the coming weeks.
Our coalition successfully got Smoke-Free Multi-Unit Housing passed unanimously last year, but this year we want to further that health equity and protect youth even more from becoming the next generation addicted to nicotine after being targeted by Big Tobacco. Vaping is an epidemic among youth, particularly the ones who are of color and queer, as they smoke at higher rates and have been specifically targeted by Big Tobacco in their advertising. Deceptive highlighter-styled devices and other decoy products are meant to avoid detection as well.
The websites mentioned for our coalition include:
It’s not some kind of native American tradition to push tobacco in the forms it is now to maximize nicotine addiction. It’s historically callous, huge corporate capitalists who target new populations around the world, all the while knowing the product’s addictive potential. Here in the USA when men weren’t enough, they made it acceptable in society for women to smoke. Believe it or not, it was controversial when the first women smoked on screen (gasp). When the European descendants weren’t enough to grow profit, they went specifically for people of color, showing how “hip” they were. When hetero-normative people weren’t enough, they made sure to play upon the queer populations as a purported ally.
Big Tobacco has to keep changing their names as their true nature is revealed. Altria literally doesn’t mean anything. This is deliberate. The families who made their fortunes on tobacco (Reynolds & Tisch are just two examples) also took their names off of products once there became a stigma and people suffered too much loss, even though they put their names on HOSPITALS and medical school buildings!
The business model is always to maximize profit despite the millions of people the product quite predictably kills very prematurely and usually in the most undignified ways, all the while attempting to avoid pesky rules disallowing them from selling to impressionable, rebellious youth. Indeed, that is the only way they can keep surviving as an industry, knowing the lack of mortal thoughts that this age group has when they embark on this incorrectly assumed “safer” vaping option. The medicinal allowance for cannabis in some jurisdictions is probably making it seem like the same vape devices that can be used for tobacco are also harmless. Learning the corporate origins of these devices and the callousness with which these practically anonymous drug lords (the biggest in the world) are exploiting our youth should be the reason for the passion, provided an individual’s health and that of their family is not enough. Case in point, attempts to make tobacco companies look like altruists with big tax write-offs in recent history, like the Whitney “museum” of art. Make sure to play the one-minute audio file on the Whitney link.
I was reminded recently of how disgusting it is that this “museum” exists when I heard it mentioned casually with the other fantastic museums in New York as must-sees on CNN. Lots of museums have controversies for pillaging various cultures around the world, but this one existing at all is a complete insult. I was even invited to events at “the Whitney” when I was in law school in NYC. I let people know why I would never attend those events, nor ever step foot in that building paid for with blood money. I didn’t care what people thought of me if it helped even one more person realize the truth of its origins.
Now back to Vallejo:
The green room at OZCAT is very cool:
Arriving at OZCAT in downtown Vallejo:
Group photos of attendees taken with a drone!
My friend Tom Bilbo gave me a chance to talk about the activism I’m doing with LGBTQ Minus Tobacco and a coalition of other organizations at today’s picnic. The microphone was faulty, but it was a great opportunity to also talk about the Tobacco Retail License we’re working on with the City Council in Vallejo and our accomplishment last year with the Smokefree Multi-Unit Housing ordinance that passed unanimously with City Council.
UPDATE: There was an article that mentioned us in the Vallejo Times Herald on Monday, June 13. Check it out here.
We had a lot of good things going on in February with the Humane Society of the North Bay shelter!
We were given a check from the Vallejo Waterfront Festival as one of the non-profits that benefitted from this two-day event in 2022. Photo courtesy of Vallejo Times Herald.
Volunteers from Cal Maritime Academy here in Vallejo came to volunteer with us, as they regularly do.
My friends and fellow volunteers, Linda Overton and Carlene Coury take two seniors to the wonderful Muttville facility in San Francisco.
I tabled for the Humane Society of the North Bay again at the Greater Vallejo Recreational District‘s first Pup-kin Patch Dog Festival. Shando came later with our most ambulatory dogs and he caught the eye of a photojournalist.
