Saturday, April 16, 2016

Looking for Bears in the Straight World


Plains, April 2014

The problem with living on the Plains is, all the gay men look like this.

Smooth, blond, 21.

Anxious to get you into bed, but not to be friends afterwards.

And if you do become friends, they won't be around long: they're planning to run off to the nearest gay neighborhood as soon as possible.

The guys who stick around past 30 are typically heavily closeted, on the downlow, with wives and girlfriends waiting at home, requiring "discretion" for hookups and no socialization after.

So how do I build up a friendship network, like the ones I had in West Hollywood, Florida, and even Upstate?  Guys to chat with at the bars, see at parties, have over for dinner.

Maybe if I find some bears -- chubby, husky, hairy guys, typically over 40, therefore more settled, likely to stick around town for awhile.

1. Work

There's a gay employees group that meets at a different restaurant in town once a month.

January:  12 lesbians, 2 straight allies, 1 gay man in his twenties who gives me Attitude.

You get Attitude just trying to make friends?

February: 6 lesbians, 4 straight allies, no gay men.

March: 8 lesbians, 4 straight allies, 1 gay man: Mike, a professor of education in his 60s, who agrees to a date later.

A muscle bear, rather handsome, with a hairy chest and a little belly, and a nice Kielbasa.

It's not really a date, since we never leave my apartment.  A little conversation, bedroom activities (mostly oral), and he leaves.

When I suggest more activities, he states that he's busy: club meetings, organizations, dinners with straight friends every night of the week.  But he'd be happy to come over for another hookup.
 


2. Church.


There are only two gay-welcoming churches in town. I select the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, which is more dedicated to social issues than spiritual enlightenment.  Every Sunday there's a new sermon on something I should feel guilty about.

I'm not eating organic, free-range, fair-trade, low-carbon footprint, locally-grown potatoes;

I'm shopping in stores that oppress workers in Guatemala.

My fitness regiment is elitist, oppressing the poor who don't have the time and money to join a gym.

I drive a car.

Besides, there's only one gay couple, Hank and Wayne, 50s and 70s, and they're totally assimilated, hanging out with straight people all the time.

I try to befriend them anyway, and end up with an evening of intense boredom, discussions of room additions and favorite recipes, and a date with their 21-year old boy toy, Jimmy.

3. Bear Parties

In West Hollywood and New York, there were bear parties every weekend, where 30 guys got together for socializing and sex.  Why couldn't I host one on the Plains?

I put an ad on craigslist and some social media sites: Bear Party, husky/hairy/chubby guys and their admirers.

Crickets.  Silence.  A few inquiries like "Will there be any really goodlooking guys there?" and "Will there be any young, cute guys there?"

Five guys show up, all smooth twinks in their 20s.

Ok.  I try again: "Gay and Grey Hookup Night."  Younger ok, but over 40 especially welcome.

More inquiries like "Will there be any young, cute guys there?"

This time I get six guys, all over 40.  All closeted, downlow, "is this discreet?", with constant discussions of "my wife" and "isn't this or that actress hot."

Sex only (mostly oral), no socializing later: "I told my wife I was out shopping for tires."

Ok, one more time:  "All ages and body types welcome."

Twenty guys, ten closeted downlow "is this discreet?" bisexual chubby bears, the rest out-and-proud, open gay twinks.

I guess I'm stuck with the twinks.

There are worse fates.


See also: My Platonic Friends and Their Boy Toy; Yuri and the Muscle Daddies.


The Muscle Bear Who Didn't Believe in Sharing

Rhinebeck, New York, May 1999

In the spring of 1999, when I was dating Joe the Regular Guy, we took the train up the Hudson Valley to Rhinebeck to visit his ex boyfriend Travis, the first guy he ever dated, back when he was a young, naive undergrad at Bard College.

Travis actually worked as a carpenter -- he made good money building custom furniture for rich people.  He was in his 40s, muscular, with a beard and a hairy chest, wearing overalls with no shirt.

He had two dogs, who greeted Joe enthusiastically, two cats, and a rabbit.  Plus two pick up trucks, a wood shop, a refrigerator full of beer, and a living room with copies of Field and Stream on the coffee table.  Just like my mother's relatives in Indiana, except he was gay.

 I started having fantasies of those long, dark nights at the farmhouse outside Garrett, sitting on my Uncle Paul's lap or trying spying on Uncle Ed's "gun."

Although Joe and I hadn't discussed it on the way up, I naturally expected to "share."

Rhinebeck is full of chic bistros with names like The Tasting Room and Puccini's, for the Gucci crowd that drives up from the City on weekends, but Travis took us out for pizza.  Then we watched a movie, Joe and I and the dogs on the couch, Travis and a cat occupying a chair, even though he could barely see the tv from that position.

No discussion of sharing, so I decided to bring it up myself.

"It's great that you're still such good friends with your ex," I began, ignoring the fact that in gay communities, most of your friends are ex-boyfriends.  "I'm not really close to Blake, who I dated before Joe."

Joe grabbed my knee vigorously.  Later I discovered that he was prodding me to change the subject, but I thought he was just being affectionate.

"You dated Joe's roommate?" Travis asked, eyes widening.

"Sure.  In fact, we hit it off one night when Blake and I...."

Joe nudged me.

"What?  I was just going to mention the night we..."

"...all had dinner together!  Hey, Boomer, let's go out into the backyard and look at the stars!  They're very bright out here in the woods!"

He dragged me into the back yard -- the dogs eagerly followed, thinking they were going for a walk.  "Don't talk about sharing!" he whispered savagely.  "Travis is very conservative -- he's only been with three guys in his life.  He'd go crazy if he found out we shared."

"Ok, ok, I won't bring it up."

 In the middle of the night I got up to go to the bathroom, and passed Travis's bedroom.  The door was wide open.  Travis lay in bed.  He had kicked off the covers -- I could see a bare backside illuminated in pale light from the nightstand.  The dogs, curled up on the floor, looked up expectantly.

If he didn't want to invite us in, why did he sleep naked, with the door wide open?

I went in, patted the dogs each on the head, and moved on.

On Saturday we hiked to the top of Indian Head, and then explored the village of Woodstock, where the hippies never left.  In the evening, Travis invited a couple he knew, Todd and Henry, both hairy, bearded bears, over for grilled steaks and vegetables.  They brought a pie.

"So, how did you boys meet? Henry asked with a leer.

"Um...in the City," Joe said.  "Boomer knew my roommate Blake."

"There are so many temptations in the City!" Todd said.  "Bath houses, bear parties, hot guys cruising you all the time.  How do you manage to stay faithful?  It's hard enough for us, out here in the boondocks!"

"It takes work," Travis said, "But it's worth it, right, guys?"

But I was tired of feeling guilty over sharing.  "That's the nice thing about gay relationships -- they don't have to obey that heterosexual 'wife as property' rule.  Nobody's going to get pregnant, so who cares if you bring in a third guy from time to time? I...."

They were all staring at me, except for Joe, who had suddenly become very interested in feeding a piece of steak to a begging dog.

"Sharing?" Travis asked.

"Um...of course, it's not for everyone..."

"Oh, please, we're not hicks!" Henry said.  "We have Travis over all the time!"

I was confused.  "But...I was going to bring it up last night, but Joe said you weren't into it."

"He isn't!" Joe exclaimed.  "Or...every time we talk, he goes on and on about how you should be faithful to one guy, how he's only been with three guys in his life."

"I wasn't...um, exactly honest about my love life," Travis said.  "I didn't want you to think I was a slut.  Quiet, shy farmboy from Ulster County, altar boy at the Catholic Church, doesn't even know that gay people exist, has to ask me how they go about having sex."

"That was eight years ago!  I'm...people change.  They grow up."

"Ok, ok," Henry said.  "I see what happened here.  Everybody was afraid to come out.  But I can solve this little disagreement with two simple words: Bear Party.  Right here, right now.  Who's up for it?"

See also: Landing My Boyfriend's Roommate.

My Date with a Star of "The Wizards of Waverly Place"


Plains, April 2014

I'm at Whiskey River, a Plains restaurant which doesn't really serve whiskey, with Jimmy the Boy Toy, the housemate of my older platonic friends: 21 years old, slim, sandy-haired, with the most perfect uncut Kielbasa I've ever seen.

This is our fifth date: we've somehow become boyfriends.

I've been dating younger guys for years, and there are some strategic problems:
1. I go to bed at 10:00 pm, and they are still up at 2:00 am..
2. They always order the most expensive entree on the menu, plus a drink and dessert, and expect me to pay for it.
3. They want sex five times a night, and expect me to comply.
4. Their friends don't want me hanging around.
5. I don't understand most of their cultural references.

When the excitement of dating an older guy wears off, they usually move on to someone closer to their own age.

I need to impress Jimmy with something other than my physique and checkbook.

 How about a celebrity dating story?  They usually impress guys.

But not my usual Michael J. Fox or Richard Dreyfuss: too old.  Jimmy would get a blank expression and ask "Who?"

How about Nate Richert, Harvey on the TGIF sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2003)?  We made out at a gay dance club in West Hollywood.  I felt an aroused Kielbasa in his pants.

No, not famous enough.  Besides, Jimmy was born in 1993, so he probably wouldn't remember Sabrina the Teenage Witch

I could just make up a celebrity dating story out of an innocent meeting or autograph signing. Guys in West Hollywood did it all the time.

Who's famous now?  Who have I been posting about on my blog recently?

The Goldbergs, Neil Diamond, Mickey Rooney, Kevin Zegers, a lot of Estonians,   The Wizards of Waverly Place! The Disney Channel teencom (2007-2012) about a family of wizards in modern day New York, with innumerable gay subtexts and an endless supply of teenage beefcake.

The teenagers, David Henrie and Jake T. Austin, are too young, unless our date was last year, but the Dad is played by 43-year old David DeLuise, who was doing a lot of tv shows and movies in the 1990s, when I lived in West Hollywood....

"I made out with one of the stars of Wizards of Waverly Place!" I announce.

"Really?"  Jimmy's eyes widen.  "Which one?  David Henrie?  He's so hot I can't stand it, but isn't he homophobic?  Not Jake T. Austin -- I know he's gay, but he's only -- what?  Sixteen?  I know -- Gregg Sulkin, the werewolf?"

Gregg Sulkin has a recurring role as a werewolf-boy who is dating daughter Alex.

Gulp.  He hasn't mention David DeLuise.  He must not find him attractive.  I have to pick someone else, fast!  But I don't know the names of any other male cast members.

"Yep," I say forlornly, trapped.  "It was Gregg Sulkin."

Think!  What do you know about Sulkin that will give you a narrative hook?  He's young, British -- and Jewish!  And I was just back at Beth Chaim Chadashim last summer, where I picked up a Cute Young Thing, a Jewish boy from Tennessee.  Why not make him....


West Hollywood, Summer 2013

I was back in West Hollywood visiting my old friends, going to my old hangouts.  Lane had converted to Christianity and become an Episcopalian, but for nostalgia's sake he and his partner Ben took me to a Friday night service at Beth Chaim Chadashim, the gay synagogue.

After nearly 20 years, I barely recognized anyone, but the prayers and songs were still pleasantly familiar.  I got the "new guy" treatment, with people going out of their way to be friendly -- and cruise.

As a twink magnet, I drew the attention of the young crowd, the newly out and closeted guys who were still living with conservative parents or struggling with "is it ok to be gay and Jewish?"  mishegas that the rest of us overcame years ago.  I was approached by a Cute Young Thing who introduced himself as Gregg, from London. (Rich, from Nashville).

Probably 20 years old, short but rather muscular, with a broad chest and thick biceps (short and slim, with a narrow chest and long, thin biceps).  He had big hair, a round open face, and red, feminine lips, and a cute British accent (short hair, a long face, and a Southern accent).

Suddenly I recognized him as the werewolf boy from Wizards of Waverly Place, but I played it cool. "I love London (Nashville)," I told him.  "I was there a couple of years ago.  Such an interesting history."

"L.A. is great, but I miss London (Nashville) every day.  There's just something about home that stays with you forever."

"Home for me is right here in West Hollywood," Lane said.  "I live in Orange County now, but I'm still up here a couple times a week."

Gregg turned to me.  "Where's home for you, Boomer?"

"The Great Plains, all flat prairie and super-hung farmboys.  But I'd give anything to live in West Hollywood."  I forgot to tell him that I had lived here for ten years.

"Every gay guy in the world wants to live in West Hollywood." He laughed and touched my shoulder.  Feeling its hardness, he got that dreamy half-aroused look.  "So, what are you doing tomorrow? I could show you the sights of L.A..  I can give you an insider tour of the Hollywood Center Studios (UCLA).

The next day Gregg picked me up in his 2013 Fiat (1996 Toyota) and took me on a greenhorn tour: Mann's Chinese Theater, the Walk of Fame, the Pacific Design Center, Beverly Hills, the Santa Monica pier.

Whoops, I forgot the Hollywood Center Studios.  Too much trouble.  Why didn't I stick with Nate Richert?

We had to meet Lane and Ben for dinner, so we didn't have time for the Hollywood Center Studios. But we had time to go back to Gregg's house in Burbank (tiny, cramped apartment off Fairfax). He was very passionate, into giving and receiving oral, and an anal bottom.  I don't usually do anal, but he was so hot that I obliged (I didn't).  Mortadella+ beneath the belt (average size)

Time to wrap this up.  And explain why Gregg was with me when he's had any number of girlfriends.  I invent a whole conversation:

"How long will you be in town?" Gregg asked as we cuddled in bed.

"Another three days.  Why?"

"Well, the thing is, I have a girlfriend."

I stared.  "So...um..."

"It's ok, we have an open relationship.  We're both bisexual, and we like to bring a third person in from time to time.  We hooked up with a really hot girl last weekend.  If you're into it, I was wondering if...."

No!

That was a major turn off, but at least I got to go down on the werewolf of Waverly Place.

Plains, April 2014

I'm proud of myself.  I managed to transform my date with a West Hollywood Cute Young Thing into a believable date with a contemporary tv star, on the spur of the moment, with no background research.  But I'm also feeling guilty.  I've never made up a celebrity dating story before without having at least met the guy.

"Great story!" Jimmy exclaims.  "I always thought Gregg went both ways. You know the tv star I had the biggest crush on as a kid?"

"Um...no.  Who?"

"Don't laugh -- he's not a superhunk, but he was so cute!  When I was seven or eight years old,  I was totally in love with him.  My parents said they knew I was gay because every time he came on, I was just glued to the screen."

"Well, don't keep me in suspense.  Who was it?"

"Did you ever watch Sabrina the Teenage Witch?  I had a crush on Nate Richert, who played Harvey."

The guy I was really with!  I start kicking myself.

See also: My Platonic Friends and Their Boy Toy; Nate Richert's Kielbasa; Jimmy's Date with Dylan O'Brien

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Helping Marshall Lose His Virginity

West Hollywood, November 1994

I used to work out at the Hollywood Spa with a ex-soldier named Marshall -- mid-twenties, shorter than me, very pale, with a military haircut and a hard, smooth chest.

After working out, we sometimes stopped at the Hamburger Hamlet -- maybe not the best option for after-the-gym, but the hamburgers and fries were amazing!

One night we were talking about old boyfriends, and Marshall revealed that he had never been with a guy before!

"Are you newly out?" I asked in surprise.
"No."

"Terrified of AIDS?"  No.

"Self-conscious about your size?" No.

"Suffering from a urological condition?" No.

"None of those things.  I'm just waiting for Mr. Right"  

"I was raised to wait until my wedding night," Marshall explained.  "But since gays can't get married, I'll wait until I have a permanent commitment.  Bound together for life.  Forsaking all others."

"How do you handle dating?  Most guys want you in the bedroom on the first date, maybe the second if you apologize profusely."

"If he really loves me, he'll wait," Marshall said firmly.

"Has anyone waited so far?" I asked.  "Any second dates?"

"Not a lot.  But you know how it is: most guys are jerks. Sex is too precious a gift to waste on just anyone!"

"Um.. it's not that precious.  Most guys our age are good to go two or three times a day."

Marshall reddened.  "When it's true love, you never even look at another guy.  Like you and Lane.  You have a solid, loving relationship, right?  None of this sharing nonsense?"

Actually, Lane and I often brought home a guy to "share."

 What right did Marshall have to imply that our relationship was therefore not solid or loving?

"Oh, sure,"  I lied. "I would never agree to sharing!"

"And sex with complete strangers in bathhouses!  Sick!"

"That's nothing!"  I said.  "In Europe, every gay bar has a darkroom where you do things without even seeing what the guy looks like!"

"What sex-obsessed scumbag would want to do that?  Disgusting!"

Lane and I loved the dark rooms of Europe.  So now we were sex-obsessed scumbags?

I decided to do something with this self-righteous little twit -- like introduce him to the joys of cruising.

First I asked what kind of guys he found attractive.

"Older guys, Daddy types, beefy, with chest hair and beards.  Nicely built.  Big down there, of course."

"I have just the right guy for you. Tall, goodlooking, beefy, bearded, and a total romantic, looking for Mr. Right.   He'll be at the Bear Party this weekend -- I'll wrangle you up an invitation."

"What's a bear party?"

"Oh, just a party where a lot of gay guys get together.  There's swimming, snacks.  Sometimes we watch a movie.  There may be some sex going on, but you can ignore it."

The bear party:
It was held in a big house in the Hollywood Hills.  Socializing in a gigantic lounge that opened onto a patio with a swimming pool.  Downstairs, the family room had mattresses scattered around a big fireplace, and two of the bedrooms were converted into dark room-mazes.

I planned to introduce Marshall to Stuart, a regular at the bear parties: Mid-30s, muscular, a little belly, a hairy chest, Mortadella beneath the belt,  But where was he?

Lane, Marshall, and I walked through the lounge, scanning the crowd of bears, daddies, Cute Young Things, and semi-celebrities.

"I guess Stuart hasn't arrived yet," I said.  "Why don't we go in the pool while we wait? It's heated."

"I didn't bring a swimsuit."

"That's ok, neither did we."  We led him out to the patio, showed him where to strip and place his clothes, and jumped into the pool.

Marshall was too busy gawking at the dozens of naked bears to notice that his clothes were perilously close to the side of the pool, where divers were sure to splash them.

After awhile, he noticed.  He climbed out of the pool and stood naked and shivering in the cool October evening.  "My clothes are soaked!"  he yelled.  "And I'm freezing to death!"

I handed him a towel.  "Sorry about that.  But don't worry -- Lane will go pop your clothes in the drier.  They'll be good as new in 30 minutes.  While we're waiting, let's go downstairs -- I hear there's a fireplace down there where you can get warm."

All of the mattresses in the family room were occupied with naked guys, in pairs and groups, grabbing and fondling and exploring.

"Hey, you didn't say this was an orgy!" Marshall whispered angrily.

"Oh, it's fine.  We don't need to do anything -- we can just sit and warm up.  Come on --." I sat him down by the fireplace and put my arm around him.  "Besides, there's nothing wrong with just looking."

So we looked, and looked, and Marshall became more and more obviously interested.  He began stroking my knee.  I reached out and grabbed a passing muscle bear, who smiled and tried to grope us..  Marshall declined, but I didn't.

"Lane doesn't mind you...doing that?" he whispered, eyes wide.

"Doing what?  I was just being polite, not planning a romantic dinner for two."

"Just...being polite...."

"Sure...it's like a kiss. Just how you say 'hello' in gay circles."

Soon Marshall and I were kissing and groping.

When Lane appeared, Marshall jumped away.  "Sorry -- I'm...I mean...I mean, I know you're together."

"It's fine.  Boomer likes to kiss.  So do I," Lane added with a leer.

Soon they were kissing and groping.

Then Marshall went down on Lane, while I went down on him.  His first time was a three-way!

And Stuart never did show up.

Don't worry about Marshall, though.  He found True Love, with a guy he met at the Bear Party.

In the dark room.

See also: Sharing the Kept Boy with Alan; How We Invented Sex Parties

Monday, April 11, 2016

A Sausage Sighting of The Ex-Wrestler

Long Island, April 2000

You're not supposed to think of people at the workplace as sexual beings.  Supposedly it distracts you from doing your job properly.

Work clothes are designed to minimize his physicality, keep the biceps and bulges under wraps, prevent you from imagining him naked.

But in fact, work clothes become all the more erotic because they're not supposed to be.

College students dress informally of course, wear tight jeans stuffed with socks or shorts that obviously bulge left or right, and as you walk up and down the aisles, you often get a good view of not only bulges but tents, as they struggle with an unexpected arousal.

But college professors dress a bit more formally, with shirts and slacks that keep things hidden.  You rarely see a bulge, never a tent.

Still, you can imagine what they look like naked.

Cruising -- leering, touching, and statements of erotic interest  -- is inappropriate in the closed environment of a workplace, but anyone can look, and once in a while you get to see him in real life.

He may ask you for date or hookup.  In thirteen years as a college professor, not including adjuncting, I've been approached by dozens of students, but never by another professor.  

You may run into him at a Bear Party or a bathhouse.  This is the stuff of porn movies, but it has happened to me only once.

You may see him in the locker room.  That's happened to me three or four times.

You may be standing at the urinal in the restroom at the same time.

That's happened a lot more often, maybe fifteen times.

Ok, most college professors are straight -- the gay ones burnout or get fired quickly -- so they're not asking you for dates or going to bear parties.  They usually don't work out, or not at the same time as you.  But they all stand at urinals.

You can even predict when: academics will use the restroom closest to their office, typically just after teaching a class (after dropping their stuff off in their office) or going to lunch, or just before they leave campus for the day.

Or during those long, boring committee meetings.  He'll probably check out after about an hour and a half into it to use the restroom; or if not, he's sure to jump in the moment the meeting adjourns.

If they're open urinals, with no barrier between, you got it made.

When I was a graduate student at Setauket University, New York, I wanted a sausage sighting of Dr. Chester, a former professional wrestler who taught the history and sociology of sports.

 He was in his 50s, massive, with a huge barrel chest, a bull neck, gigantic wrists and hands.  Unfortunately, he wore a business suit, uncharacteristic for college professors, with slacks that hung straight down and didn't offer a bulge.

He had a wife and kids, so he probably wouldn't be asking me for a date, or showing up at Ravi's Bear Parties on Long Island.

He didn't use the campus gym.

He never taught classes at any time convenient for "accidentally" using the fourth floor restroom.

Besides, during the 1999-2000 year, I was living in Manhattan, commuting to Long Island three times a week, teaching three classes, working on my qualifying exams, going to weekly Bear Parties, and hooking up with the BDSM Birthday Boy, a Man in Black, a teenage model, and Andrew Lloyd Webber.  I was a little too busy to do a lot of strategizing over a mere sausage sighting.

Then, one day in April 2000, late in the afternoon, I was on my way out of the Social Science Building to meet Yuri for dinner.  I didn't really have to go, but I decided to do a pre-emptive, just in case.

I unlocked the outside door and walked through the swinging security door into the faculty men's room.  It was very small, really only big enough for one person, with a toilet stall and a single urinal right next to the sink.  And there, at the urinal, was Dr. Chester, just starting to unwrap the most massive Kovbasa I had ever seen!

It was like a fire hose.  It took two hands to hold it.  Very thick, uncut.

How could he walk around with that thing in his pants?

He glared at me.  "Good afternoon, Boomer," he said  coolly, obviously not happy to be disturbed.  " I'll be through in a moment."

"Oh, sure, take your time," I managed.

He let loose, oblivious to my staring, or thinking that I was just impatient.

When he finished, he played with it for a moment, then turned, still hanging out.  I stepped back to let him past me.  He stood in front of the mirror and played with it a little more, while I watched.

Guys always wrap up while standing in front of the urinal.  They never walk to the mirror, still hanging out.  Unless they want to give you a show.

Was he suggesting something?  Was he offering me that gigantic Kovbasa?

Or was he testing me, to see if I was one of those "predatory" gay guys who accost straight men in urinals?

 I wasn't about to find out.  I went to the urinal and conducted my business, while Dr. Chester wrapped up, washed his hands, and left.

To this day, I wonder what would have happened if I had reached over and touched it.

See also: The Homophobic Student in the Shower; Twelve Teacher Hookups


L

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