Welcome to My World!
First I suppose I should tell you a bit about myself.
I was born in 1954, which makes me 46 as I write this.
I am originally from the suburbs of New York and still consider myself
a New Yorker at heart although I have not been a resident of New York for
almost 25 years. I currently live in New
Haven, Connecticut, USA, which is a medium sized city living in the
shadow of a world-class institution, my employer, Yale
University.
Physically I am 6' 1/2" tall and 400 lbs. Yes, that
is no typo, I am big, large, chubby, fat, whatever term you feel comfortable
with. The fact
that I can say that here on the Web is a testament to the personal growth
I have had in the past few years. And no I don't mean physical growth,
although that also seems to happen over the years.
I am a third generation Italian. If you are interested in reading about my grandparents, their experiences as immigrants and their families, click here.
I am also a gay man and very happy to be that way.
I am not saying that there was any choice involved except the choice to
face reality or not, nor am I saying there is anything wrong with being
heterosexual. What I am saying is that I really enjoy the advantages of
being a gay man. Of course there are many disadvantages, but I am not writing
this to moan and groan. What I am trying to say is that having an identity
that was always hidden in the closet and never socially defined (except
as evil and sick) now gives me a chance to 
define
that role for myself. I can, for example, decide for myself the meaning
of romantic relationships and also gender roles.
Because I am a frustrated poet who has only rarely been published I have included a number of original poems all written around 1976-1977. This is the first time many of them have been published, and well, as long as I am not going to get paid for this, I might as well post them somewhere where folks will read them. To read my poems, click here.
I also have some other interests, but since I didn't
have much original or terribly interesting to say about them, and I did
not want to create a page of only links, I have not made pages for them.
Just in case you're interested (and if you're not interested, you should
read this anyway, because it took me time to write it) here they are: 
MUSIC Since high school, I have been interested in classical music. Today my greatest interest is in the Baroque composers, such as Bach and Handel. In college, thanks to a roommate who played Sergio Mendes constantly, I developed an interest in Brazilian samba/bossa-nova music, especially the music of Jobim. I also like Jazz and African drum music, although I confess I don't know very much about Jazz artists.
As for me, I learned the accordion when I was young and as an adult was happy to find out that the now-stylish electronic keyboard can be played in quite a similar way. Because I have a friend who is a belly dancer, I learned to play the doumbek (a middle eastern drum) to accompany her performances.
LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS. My college major
was Russian and I have also studied Spanish, German, Italian and Latin.
Unfortunately, I am very rusty in all of them. I also find linguistics fascinating,
especially as it blends with anthropology. I had the pleasure of teaching
English as a Second Language to a Russian woman (now a US citizen!) through
Literacy Volunteers.
I also enjoy COOKING, especially BAKING BREAD and OK, eating (I know you were thinking that). And did I forget to mention COMPUTERS? I am on my computer usually on IRC, for most of my free time (OK, so would watching TV be better?). Although I spend much time on the Internet, I have books to thank for much of what I have learned in life. To see a list of 10 books which have changed my life, click here.
At home I live with my partner of over 20 years, MICK, and our "daughter" PERSEPHONE (the cat). Thanks for taking the time to read this.
To send me e-mail Click here.
I would be especially interested if you found any typos
or bad links.
