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NEPA BLOG
by & about Northeastern Pennsylvania
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March 2005
The City Paper of Philly cites NEPA case of gay domestic violence
NEPA's Rainbow Alliance board member Stacy Hawkins was interviewed for this story that was the cover story for the Philadelphia City Paper. Michael Pierson, the late activist from Northeastern Pennsylvania, is mentioned, along with the organization founded in his memory.
The City Paper (Philadelphia) - Uncivil Unions
"It defies all the stereotypes"
What does same-sex abuse look like? It's a question primarily for law enforcement, expected to recognize what's happening on arrival at a domestic dispute. And without the traditional assumption that the man present is the aggressor, things get confused.
Mike Pierson was a star. A passionate outreach activist in Wilkes-Barre, he would tirelessly duck into bars to talk to men about HIV infection rates. Two years after his death, his friends in Luzerne County still talk affectionately about the impact of his work. Stacy Hawkins, a former chair of the Pennsylvania Lesbian Caucus, knew Pierson socially, in Northeastern Pennsylvania's gay scene, which she says "isn't what you'd call happening."
In January 2003, police responded to a call from Kenneth Stephens Jr., Pierson's partner. They found Stephens with a minor stab wound, which he claimed to have suffered in a domestic dispute. The night of the incident, he and Pierson had been driving home during a heavy blizzard. There had been a tussle, he said; he had been stabbed and Pierson had run off. Stephens was young 21 to Pierson's 40 and slightly built. Police followed his advice to search for Pierson outside Pennsylvania.
However, Hawkins remembers that "Mike's friends knew something was just wrong." They called on the police to search the area of road where the altercation had occurred, at the edge of Glenmaura National Golf Course in Moosic. But the snowdrifts were thick and, as Hawkins puts it, police "believed they already had the victim." It wasn't until the snow melted two months later that Pierson's body, bearing a fatal stab wound, was discovered near the 16th hole.
"It defies all the stereotypes, you know?" Hawkins says. Police "are used to assuming that the stronger partner has the power, and that's not always the case. Even in lesbian couples, the idea of butch partners as stronger than femme isn't true."
In Pierson's case, the judgment call made by the police, based on a traditional reading of the situation, didn't fit.
Photo of Michael Pierson at the 2001 AIDS Walk in Wilkes-Barre:
Watermelon Punch - Photo Album - 23 Sep 2001 - Mike Pierson at AIDS Walk picnic in Wilkes-Barre
Photo of Michael Pierson's 'place setting' at a Domestic Violence Awareness Vigil:
Watermelon Punch - Photo Album - 16 Oct 2003 - Mike Pierson's 'Empty Place at the Table' @ Domestic Violence Awareness Vigil
Photo of Stacy Hawkins speaking at a Domestic Violence Awareness Vigil:
Watermelon Punch - Photo Album - 16 Oct 2003 - Stacy Hawkins speaks @ Domestic Violence Awareness Vigil
posted by Chloe | Thursday 24 March 2005 5:24 PM
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Lyric Consort concert
The Lyric Consort
"The Lyric Consort is a professional a cappella vocal ensemble based in Northeast Pennsylvania."
I highly recommend attending their concerts. Their music is beautiful. The first time I heard them I actually was brought to tears!
They have another concert in Scranton on Saturday:
A Musical Meditation for Lent
From Palestrina's first mass setting on the Gregorian Chant, Ecce Sacerdos Magnus and J. S. Bach's monumental motet on the Lutheran chorale, Jesu, meine Freude, to the echo of medieval chant and polyphony in Arvo Pärt's Berliner Messe, Cantate Domino, and Bogoróditse Djévo, western composers have regularly drawn upon the ancient to build the new. The Consort will be joined in this program by guest artist Mark Laubach, accompanying Pärt's Messe and sharing solo organ works by the contemporary Estonian master.
Saturday Evening, March 19, 2005 at 8:00 p.m. @ St. Peter's Cathedral, Scranton
Their concert schedule including April's concerts:
The Lyric Consort - Concerts
Photos taken for their 10th Anniversary:
NEPAphotoBlog - 05 Jun 2004 | The Lyric Consort in Scranton
NEPAphotoBlog - 22 May 2004 | The Lyric Consort
And some videos (poor sound quality unfortunately):
Watermelon Punch - 22 May 2004 - The Lyric Consort 10th Anniversary
Watermelon Punch - 03 Jul 2004 - The Lyric Consort @ Barnes & Noble
posted by Chloe | Monday 14 March 2005 2:35 PM
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Parents of Murdered Children, NEPA Chapter
Northeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children holds meetings every first Tuesday of the month at the former Nesbitt Hospital on Wyoming Avenue in Kingston. (Excluding holidays and snow days)
POMC.com - The National Organization of Parents Of Murdered Children
For the families and friends of those who have died by violence. (POMC)
POMC Chapters hold monthly meetings, provide support, advocacy, and court accompaniment. Many POMC Chapters publish their own newsletters and have designed and implemented special programs to meet the needs of survivors in their area.
The local chapter can be reached by:
Phone: 570 255 POMC (570 255 7662)
E-mail: jamie1115@aol.com
The local chapter was started by the mother of Jamie Walling who, at age 22, died of homicide in the Poconos in 2000.
posted by Chloe | Thursday 03 March 2005 3:22 AM
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