As I was combing through my feeds to catch up with the goings on in the world, I came upon two stories which touched my heart with sadness. The first story from Michigan was about 17 year old Josh Pacheco who took his own life on November 27 after incessant bullying inside and outside of school. My heart goes out to his parents and friends at the loss of another vibrant young man driven to an awful, desperate act by the unnecessarily hateful acts of bullies simply for being who he was. According to his Mother's account "My son was very funny and exceptionally sensitive and loving to other
people’s feelings. He was having problems with bullying. He didn’t really
want to tell us very much...it was very disheartening to me.” Disheartening indeed, and so very saddening. How many more of our young people have to die before we rid ourselves of the scourge of hate, bullying and discrimination?
Meanwhile, further south in Alabama, 21 year old openly gay Zachary Stirewalt, a former honor student, an aspiring photographer and an Eagle Scout has been arrested. Zachary has been charged with murder in the death of 43 year old Daniel Turman with whom he had been staying. Zachary is being held in lieu of a $75,000 bond and has been placed on a suicide watch. Apparently Mr Turman had offered Zachary a place to stay when Zachary told him he had recently left home and had nowhere to go. Zachary had interned as a photographer over the summer in New York City. Natalie Hayes, 33, manager of Go Studios, where Stirewalt worked from June through late August, said she hired him on the spot and allowed him to live with her for more than two weeks until he found a place to stay. “He was such a people-sweet person," said Hayes, who added that she never saw Stirewalt get angry, lose his temper or even say anything rude. "I can only imagine that he did it in self-defense and that was his only option,” she said. I am sure there is a lot more to this story than what is known at the present time. I am left to wander what sad state of affairs would drive this young man to this desperate act. From his description in the story, Zachary does not seem to be the cold blooded murderer type, I will be interested to find out more about what happened.
I am greatly saddened by both these events which affect not only the young men involved but also those in their circle of family and friends, all of whom will be in my prayers during this holiday season. These events give us two more reasons to do all we can to reach out, accept, support and encourage our LGBTQ youth who so desperately need that beacon of hope that we can and should provide.
For your musical entertainment today, I have the Premier, Second, Third and Fourth of the "Les Concerts Royaux, 1722" by Francois Couperin. The performance is by Le Concert Des Nations featuring Marc Hantai on Flute; Alfredo Bernardini on Oboe; Manfredo Kraemer on Violin; Josp Borràs on Bassoon; Bruno Cocset on Bass Violin; Xavier Diaz-Latorre on Theorbo and Guitar; Guido Morini on Harpsichord and Jordi Savall on Viola da Gamba and Conducting. The performance is, as with all performances by Le Concert Des Nations, on authentic period instruments.
Following the video is this week's collection of marvelously, muscly denim delights known collectively as Men In Jeans with enough variety of man types to satisfy almost any and everyone. Thanks for spending some time with me today, see you again tomorrow. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Meanwhile, further south in Alabama, 21 year old openly gay Zachary Stirewalt, a former honor student, an aspiring photographer and an Eagle Scout has been arrested. Zachary has been charged with murder in the death of 43 year old Daniel Turman with whom he had been staying. Zachary is being held in lieu of a $75,000 bond and has been placed on a suicide watch. Apparently Mr Turman had offered Zachary a place to stay when Zachary told him he had recently left home and had nowhere to go. Zachary had interned as a photographer over the summer in New York City. Natalie Hayes, 33, manager of Go Studios, where Stirewalt worked from June through late August, said she hired him on the spot and allowed him to live with her for more than two weeks until he found a place to stay. “He was such a people-sweet person," said Hayes, who added that she never saw Stirewalt get angry, lose his temper or even say anything rude. "I can only imagine that he did it in self-defense and that was his only option,” she said. I am sure there is a lot more to this story than what is known at the present time. I am left to wander what sad state of affairs would drive this young man to this desperate act. From his description in the story, Zachary does not seem to be the cold blooded murderer type, I will be interested to find out more about what happened.
I am greatly saddened by both these events which affect not only the young men involved but also those in their circle of family and friends, all of whom will be in my prayers during this holiday season. These events give us two more reasons to do all we can to reach out, accept, support and encourage our LGBTQ youth who so desperately need that beacon of hope that we can and should provide.
For your musical entertainment today, I have the Premier, Second, Third and Fourth of the "Les Concerts Royaux, 1722" by Francois Couperin. The performance is by Le Concert Des Nations featuring Marc Hantai on Flute; Alfredo Bernardini on Oboe; Manfredo Kraemer on Violin; Josp Borràs on Bassoon; Bruno Cocset on Bass Violin; Xavier Diaz-Latorre on Theorbo and Guitar; Guido Morini on Harpsichord and Jordi Savall on Viola da Gamba and Conducting. The performance is, as with all performances by Le Concert Des Nations, on authentic period instruments.
Following the video is this week's collection of marvelously, muscly denim delights known collectively as Men In Jeans with enough variety of man types to satisfy almost any and everyone. Thanks for spending some time with me today, see you again tomorrow. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment