• The Twist Podcast

    The Twist Podcast #69: Millennial Malaise, Fascist Emojis, and America Makes Child Abuse Great Again

    Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we take a look at the headlines, shrinking prospects for millennials, ‘F’ is for fascist, and America’s current fondness for abusing migrant children.

    Enjoy The Twist on LibsyniTunesSoundCloud, Stitcher, YouTube, and right here at The Twist Podcast page.

    Copyright 2018 MadeMark Publishing

  • Latest

    Murder Came Early: Black Cat White Paws Release Date Now June 27

    The release date for the eBook edition of Black Cat White Paws has been moved to June 27. You can still get it at the special preorder price of $1.99 (regular $4.99).

    About Black Cat White Paws

    In Black Cat White Paws, recently widowed Maggie Dahl finds herself faced with challenges on all fronts: life alone in a new town, running a business she and her husband had dreamed of and started together, and now pursuing a killer. Her sister Gerri moves from Philadelphia to Lambertville, New Jersey, to support her sister and start a new life of her own. Together the women search for a murderer, helped in critical ways by their neighbor’s cat. A black cat with white paws. A cat whose independence sets it all in motion and sees it through to the end.

    Black Cat White Paws finds Maggie moving from New York City to Lambertville, an idyllic river town with artists, restaurants, incredible landscapes, and enough local characters to populate a murder mystery. Join Maggie, Gerri, Checks the cat, and a cast of colorful small town natives just as eager—and as shocked—to find a killer in their midst.

  • Q Audiobooks

    Q Audiobooks: A Queer History of the United States, by Michael Bronski, Narrated by Vikas Adams

    A Queer History of the United States

    By: Michael Bronski
    Narrated by: Vikas Adams
    Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
    Release date: 06-12-18
    Publisher: Random House Audio

    About ‘A Queer History of the United States’:

    Winner of a 2012 Stonewall Book Award in nonfiction

    The first book to cover the entirety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history, from pre-1492 to the present.

  • Gadgets and Tech,  Latest

    Gadgets, Gizmos and Tech: VicTsing Bluetooth Mini Speaker


    Gadgets, Gizmos and Tech is a regular feature at LGBTSr offering cool things you can live without but might not want to.

    A friend of ours gives us the most interesting gifts every year when she visits. This year she brought us Alexa, Echo, and this marvelous little VicTsing portable speaker. Billed as a shower speaker, probably because it has a suction cup attached so you can stick it on a bathroom mirror or shower wall, it works just as well sitting on a hotel night stand. It’s very basic, and very handy. It doesn’t take up much more space than the palm of your hand, but once you’ve connected your iPhone or other Bluetooth device, it serves as a small portable speaker. You can listen to anything you’d hear or stream on your phone through this little dynamo–music, audiobooks, or a podcast. If you can hear it through your phone, you can hear it through the VicTsing. We recently took it on a trip to Atlantic City and had our own portable sound system in the room.

  • Announcements

    Point Foundation Announces 2018 Scholarship Recipients

    Via Press Release from the Point Foundation:

    Awards to 45 LGBTQ Students in Programs Ranging from Community College to Advanced Degrees

    LOS ANGELES, JUNE 20, 2018 — Point Foundation (Point), the nation’s largest scholarship-granting organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students, today announced its 2018 scholarship recipients. The 20 LGBTQ students were chosen to be Point Scholars from more than 2,000 applicants. Point is also welcoming 25 LGBTQ students to its Community College Scholarship Program.

    This year’s scholarship recipients include seasoned advocates for LGBTQ rights and social justice, impressive young scientists, industrious medical students, and competent young people who will undoubtedly impact professions from law to business and the arts. In addition to their accomplishments, many of the scholarship recipients have overcome barriers to their success that are all too common among LGBTQ individuals, including discrimination, immigration status, homelessness, family rejection, and abuse.

  • Columns,  Savvy Senior

    The Savvy Senior: Tips for Living with Low Vision


    By Jim Miller

    Dear Savvy Senior,

    What resources can you recommend to help seniors with vision loss? My husband, who’s 76, has macular degeneration that has progressed to the point that he can’t do a lot of his routine activities anymore, and has become very discouraged.

    Looking for Help 

    Dear Looking,

    Unfortunately, there are around 15 million Americans, like your husband, living with macular degeneration today. Over time, this progressive disease can rob people of their central vision, making everyday tasks like driving a car, reading the newspaper or watching television extremely challenging. Here are some resources that can help.

  • Columns,  Sue Katz,  Travel,  Travel Time

    Travel Time: Amsterdam and Utrecht Travelogue, by Sue Katz

    Reprinted with permission from Sue Katz’s Consenting Adult Blog

    By Sue Katz
    All photos courtesy of Sue Katz

    May 19

    The taxi driver at the Amsterdam Centraal Station tries to rip me off. That’ll be €20, he says. What? says I. No way. Oh, says he, I meant to say €10. Turn on the machine, I suggest. Too late, he says.

    The delightful flat where we’re staying is up two narrow steep flights of steps and luckily my friend Sue has already arrived and comes to help me wrestle my modest suitcase up. The problem is that the width of the first flight is cut in half by the rails of a Stairmaster. And it is also missing a bannister. Bannisters are essential to anyone who does not bounce up stairs with athletic buoyancy and tightrope walker balance.

  • Columns,  David Webb

    David Webb: U.S. Pastor Council Poses Growing Threat to LGBTQ Communities

    David Webb

    By David Webb
    The Rare Reporter

    A coordinated attack by powerful conservatives threatens LGBTQ communities in every major urban area as an anti-gay Houston extremist makes plans to grow his organization.

    U.S. Pastor Council President Dave Welch boasts about his prowess in trampling on LGBTQ rights in Houston, and he makes clear his ambition to expand the group — also known as the Houston Area Pastor Council and the Texas Pastor Council — beyond its current regional boundaries. Given his previous successes, Welch could succeed in his expansion plans.

  • Book Reviews,  Columns

    Book Review: Shapeshifters: A Journey Through the Changing Human Body, by Gavin Francis

    By Terri Schlichenmeyer
    The Bookworm Sez

    Shapeshifters: A Journey Through the Changing Human Body, by Gavin Francis
    c.2018, Basic Books  $27.00 / $35.50 Canada
    283 pages

    Change, they say, is good.

    It’s the opportunity for growth. It’s a chance to take a breath, reassess, reconfigure. It makes the landscape look fresh; it also muddies the waters. And yet, you bounce back and, as you’ll see in Shapeshifters” by Gavin Francis, so does your body.

  • Columns,  Savvy Senior

    The Savvy Senior: Cheap Cell Phone Plans for Seldom Calling Seniors


    By Jim Miller

    Dear Savvy Senior

    What are the cheapest cell phone plans available to seniors today? I’m 78-years-old and want it primarily for emergency purposes.

    Infrequent Caller

    Dear Infrequent,

    While unlimited high-speed data, video streaming and mobile hot spot are now standard for most cell phone plans today, there are still a number of low-cost wireless plans designed with seniors in mind.

  • Columns,  One Thing or Another

    One Thing or Another: Not So Fast (Age and the Morning Routine)

    It’s always One Thing or Another … a lighthearted look at aging, life, and the absurdities of it all.

    By Mark McNease

    I hope my morning routine hasn’t stretched to an hour when I’m seventy, and I certainly hope I can accomplish it unaided. I’m trying.

    I used to be able to get up, shower, dress, and ready myself for another day faster than the opening theme song to the morning news. By the time the anchors announced the top stories, I was pouring my second cup of coffee and adjusting my tie, fully prepared to meet the demands of a stalled career.

    How does anyone without superpowers accomplish this? Was there a phone booth in the bathroom, into which I hurried one minute and emerged from the next scrubbed and presentable? Or was it youth itself? A youth that extended into my fifties before vanishing into the mists of a morning routine grown longer by the year?