Monday, December 22, 2025

2025: Rachel Harlow featured in the Inquirer

A new feature on Rachel Harlow:

A very important thread. When I was probably no more than 10, I saw this picture of the woman known as Harlow in the Philly Inquirer. A little babygay, I was shocked that such a glamour queen could live in my hometown and even more shocked to see her described as "a former man."

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— Tom & Lorenzo (@tomandlorenzo.bsky.social) December 6, 2025 at 10:33 AM

It was my first real inkling that there was a kind of life out there other than the one I was told I should have. Later, I rediscovered her in the 1968 doc THE QUEEN, in which she won the drag pageant and got read for filth by Crystal LaBeijja youtu.be/RYCQEl8TPeM?...

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— Tom & Lorenzo (@tomandlorenzo.bsky.social) December 6, 2025 at 10:33 AM

But her life was so much more than that moment. She premiered the doc at Cannes, where she dined with Capote and Welles and danced with Sharon Tate, this drag queen from South Philly

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— Tom & Lorenzo (@tomandlorenzo.bsky.social) December 6, 2025 at 10:33 AM

Getting to know this legend has been one of the greatest joys of my life and I'm so pleased to introduce you to her with this gorgeous feature from the Inquirer, where she speaks for the first time in over 30 years on her incredible journey share.inquirer.com/XdfXr9

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— Tom & Lorenzo (@tomandlorenzo.bsky.social) December 6, 2025 at 10:33 AM
chrysalis

Thursday, December 4, 2025

UN General Assembly: On recognizing a Palestinian state

Not so long ago — say, 2022, for example — there was discourse about recognizing Palestine as a non-state entity.
Palestinians will have 'an entity,' not a state, says Gantz Defense Minister Benny Gantz described a future where Palestinian sovereignty, and Israeli security, are mutually respected. Tovah Lazaroff, Jerusalem Post, Feb 20, 2022

Rabbis Stage Protest, Call For Cease-Fire Inside United Nations The protesting rabbis appealed to the global community to stop Israeli military operations in Gaza, despite the United States’ ongoing support for Israel’s invasion. Matt Shuham, HuffPost, Jan 9, 2024

"More than half of the estimated 2.2 million people in Gaza are seeking refugee in the Rafah area, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)."
"Tent city holding more than 1 million Palestinians is rapidly expanding, satellite images show." Paul P. Murphy and Gianluca Mezzofiore. CNN. February 5, 2024.

"More than 1.3 million people are believed to be in Rafah, the majority displaced from other parts of Gaza, according to the United Nations...Rafah is the last major population center in Gaza not occupied by the IDF."
— "Netanyahu directs military to draw up plan for "evacuation of the population" from Rafah: Amir Tal in Jerusalem, Mick Krever in London. CNN, Feb 9, 2024.

'THE United Nations General Assembly has passed a draft resolution demanding Israel withdraw from Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, and recognise the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and establishment of an independent state.'

— Roger Alan Blackwell (@rogera.bsky.social) December 4, 2025 at 6:52 AM
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