Holiday wrap up. Hang on guys cos this is a big one!

Thanks everyone for waiting. I have had a great time and I am keen to tell you all about it. Palm Springs is an interesting place. It's about 2 hours from Los Angeles and has a significantly older population that I expected. It was great to see so many young people from L.A. coming down for pride.

It still surprises me everyday just how the Universe unfolds. As you know I have been pen pals with Corbett Harper (speedo student) for a little while now and we were going to try to catch up in Palm Springs. Well as it turned out Corbett was staying in the same resort as I was and we got to catch up on the first night. It was great to finally meet him. 2 weeks ago I would never have imagined that I would be in the U.S again, let alone meeting Corbett. My boss calls it Fate Karma and Destiny. Everything that happens in our lives is due to one of these three things. Corbett is an interesting guy and if you look closely you may notice something interesting about this picture. He even managed to convert me to Mexican food.

The first thing I noticed about Pride march here is that is is much more conservative than our Mardi Gras parade. There were precious few boys out there marching in speedos but in many ways it was refreshing. There was a real American feel to the parade ( not surprising ) but I really enjoyed seeing some different kinds of floats. Horses and cowboys, old American Classic cars and the odd singing bear gave a flavor to the parade that I haven't seen in Australia. The parade was in the morning to avoid the desert heat. By midday the sun was searing all those caught outdoors.

The thing that caught my eye the most during the parade was a boy marching with his mum. He was wearing a sign that said "I'm 14, I'm trusting you. It gets better". I was so impressed by this and it was this boy that easily received the greatest cheer from the crowd. A lot of people in our community question the relevancy of parades like this one. I still believe that they are a vital voice for those elements of our community that would not normally be heard. Activism is still an important part of our communities and although these events can seem more like a party I think it's an important part of our identity.

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