This is the time of year when it’s so hot that “go soak your head” is not an insult but a good idea. As president of the LGBT+ swim club The Fins Aquatic Club, Arthur Zeng suggests you come soak not just your head but the rest of you as well.
If it seems there are a lot of exclamation points this interview, it’s because this week’s Portrait is an impassioned and animated speaker.
Doug Greene is a Philadelphia-based installation artist, designer, actor and my new bud. We met last week at an Our Night Out event and I was drawn to his quiet energy and warmth. Greene has done work with Philadelphia faves such as The Bearded Ladies, Quintessence, Brat Productions, Renegade Theatre Company and many others. We met for a chat at another Philly favorite, Writer’s Block Rehab.
This week’s Portrait has a chronology of places in which he’s lived that sounds like a Beach Boys song. With more than 20 years in the hotel and hospitality industry, Jerry Rice has resided in Miami, Seattle, Arlington and Wilmington and Huntersville, N.C., where he was the “Youngest Dual General Manager in Marriott Brand History.”
The statistics are sobering. In the U.S., suicide is the 10th-leading cause of death. LGBTQ youth are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual youth. Forty percent of transgender adults report a suicide attempt. More than 90 percent of them attempted suicide before the age of 25. The recent high-profile suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain have brought the topic back into focus but a number of dedicated organizations has been battling the problem for decades.
