I found myself today on the front porch of a beautiful garden home, chatting casually, with three of the most important architects to my politics and thinking that exist. I took a deep breathe, and examined the people around me. David Halperin. Suzanne Pharr. Eric Rofes. Talk about overwhelming.

Two weeks ago, I was at Eric Rofes' house for his monthly potluck gathering to discuss issues of sexuality (politics, theory, journalism, ideology, and more). Before the meeting, Eric and I were discussing Suzanne Pharr (author and activist, wrote "Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism") - his friend and also who I brought to UNC as keynote to my final Unity Confererence. Because of our previous connection, he invited me to a benefit he was hosting at his house for The Highlander Institute today (Pharr used to be executive director of the Highlander Institute).

And so, here I am two weeks later. David Halperin let me know back in September that he was coming into town this weekend for a conference. I met David at SFSU's 2004 Summer Institute on Sexuality, Society, and Health. Incidentally, in honor of his visit, I made my first trip to Steamworks - the big gay bathhouse in Berkeley. I'll blog about that experience more later!

Somehow today I wound up having brunch with one of David's former colleagues at MIT and then I invited David to Eric Rofes' house for the benefit for the Highlander Institute.

My life is too crazy. I was lucky enough to arrive in time to the event to hear Suzanne speak. She was, as she always is, brilliant. She spoke of the political and cultural aftermath of Hurricane Katrina with the conviction that has made her career as an activist so succesful. I got a chance to chat with Eric and David - which was surreal enough in its own right (since I met David in San Francisco and then later read, in Eric's book, David's thoughts about HIV prevention work in Australia).

What a damn day!