Living Out Loud with Darian

I’m sure you’ve all been wondering why I haven’t updated the site in the past couple of days. Believe it or not I didn’t have easy access to wi-fi (or I guess I should say free wi-fi) in New York City, but I’m back in Atlanta for a few hours and I get to sleep in my own bed tonight before I head out again in the morning.

New York has changed so much since I left in 2001, it’s still dirty as ever, but for some reason it never bothered me when I was a resident. I guess it’s hard to re-adjust to it when you’re so used to seeing trees everywhere and smelling fresh air.

The highlight of my trip was finally getting to see Fantasia as Miss Celie in The Color Purple on Broadway and I have to say she was born to play this role. From the moment she entered the stage she was totally immersed in the character. I know a lot of people questioned the decision to cast Fantasia as the lead after seeing her Lifetime movie “Life is Not A Fairytale”(which I still have not seen), but believe me when I tell you there is a reason why she’s being called the ten million dollar woman, she IS Miss Celie onstage. If you live in the city or if you’re planning to visit make sure you grab a ticket to see The Color Purple, you won’t be disappointed.

I also had an opportunity to hang out with two black gay NY bloggers, one who will remain nameless and one who I’m sure you all know since he’s all over the place. Steven E. Martinez aka Queer Kid of Color spent the afternoon with me and I had a chance to see why this young man is so successful, from writing for Clik Magazine and The Advocate, to being profiled this month in HIV Plus Magazine and producing the new gay TV series Christopher Street, his work ethic and infectious personality is to be admired.

As always you know I had my camera with me, so you’ll get to experience my day with Steven in the West Village and images from around the city. I was that annoying tourist stopping the flow of traffic in Times Square because I was taking pictures. I was a local’s nightmare…lol! I do it all for the blog.

I want to give mad love to one of my loyal readers Kev; it was a pleasure running into you. It still baffles me when strangers approach me and they know who I am. It’s funny that everyone seems to read my blog but my mother. Or does she but she’s just not talking about it? That’s another post for another day.

Regular postings should resume on Monday.