Landmines + Lost Treasures
The Search For Signs Of Intelligent Life (+ Love) In My Universe
Once upon a time, it didn’t take me long to pack and move. Especially those first few apartments. I could “just do it” in a weekend. So why has it taken me more than two months and I still have so much more to go?
Long story short, I now have many more mementos and memories than I did the last time I moved twelve years ago. Landmines and lost treasures come with the territory.
Not real explosions or real gold, of course. Just things that make me pause, remember, and stop packing. Things like:
A folded letter with handwriting I know better than my own
A photo tucked between pages of an old notebook
A stack of Christmas cards from family and friends, past and present
A mixtape or mix CD that reminds me of the person who made it
Suddenly, I’m not organizing. I’m excavating.
It takes me forever to pack because my universe is littered with ephemera. Paper trails of past lives. Mementos that once felt disposable now radiate meaning. Every drawer, every box, every “junk” pile is a time capsule. I find love letters with coffee stains and tear smudges. Birthday cards from people I haven’t spoken to in ages. Polaroids from nights I barely remember but still ache for.
And with each piece of passing ephemera, the process becomes less about what I’m taking and more about who I’ve been.
Yes, I am a sentimental archivist and a reluctant curator of my own chaos. And when you love hard, live wild, and keep receipts (literal and emotional), packing becomes a challenge.
Some days, it feels like I’m chasing intelligent life through old voicemails and expired credit cards—trying to decode who I was, who I loved, and who really saw me for me. Other times, I find real treasure: a scribbled note that says “You make the world better.” A postcard that arrived late but right on time. A photograph that proves I was radiantly handsome, even when I didn’t believe it.
Yes, it’s exhausting. Yes, I move at a snail’s pace. But maybe this is how I travel through time now. Maybe this is how I mourn and celebrate and make peace with ghosts in my figurative and literal closets.
Packing isn't just boxing up my things—it's walking a map of memory, dodging detonations of nostalgia, and occasionally discovering gold.
So if I’m moving slowly, please understand: I’m not just sorting stuff.
I’m in search of signs of intelligent life (and love) in my universe.
Keep calm and carry on!
Clint 🌈✌️
LOST + FOUND
This little handout was given to me during my senior year of high school. Most of my classmates tossed it on their way out of the classroom, but I held onto my copy, filing it away for future reference.
And over the past 35 years, I’ve referred to it time and time again.
I’m sharing it now in the hope that others might find it just as helpful…
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FOR YOUR (SUBSTACK) CONSIDERATION
(of Gay Buffet) just posted an essay I hope everyone will take a few minutes to read. It's timely and incredibly perceptive. The analog-digital divide he explores is something my dear, nears, and queers have been cussing and discussing lately. Mostly from afar. Curious to hear your thoughts. Well done, Aidan!
ON THIS DAY = JULY 9
BIRTHDAYS
1819 = Elias Howe = American inventor, best known for the sewing machine
1893 = Dorothy Thompson = American journalist and broadcaster 🌈
1908 = Minor White = American photographer 🌈
1926 = Mathilde Krim = Swiss medical researcher 🌈
1928 = Vince Edwards = American actor, singer, and director
1933 = Oliver Sacks = English-American neurologist and author 🌈
1935 = Henry Geldzahler = Belgian-American curator and critic 🌈
1934 = Michael Graves = American architect and designer
1937 = David Hockney = English painter and photographer 🌈
1942 = Richard Roundtree = American actor
1945 = Dean Koontz = American author and screenwriter
1951 = Chris Cooper = American actor
1952 = John Tesh = American composer and tv host
1955 = Jimmy Smits = American actor and producer
1956 = Tom Hanks = American actor and filmmaker
1957 = Kelly McGillis = American actor 🌈
1957 = Marc Almond = English singer-songwriter 🌈
1957 = Tim Kring = American screenwriter and producer
1959 = Jim Kerr = Scottish singer-songwriter
1965 = Anthony D. Romero = American lawyer and ACLU executive director 🌈
1971 = Marc Andreessen = American developer and Netscape co-founder
1975 = Jack White = American singer-songwriter and producer
1976 = Fred Savage = American actor, director, and producer
EVENTS
1776 = George Washington orders the Declaration of Independence to be read out to members of the Continental Army in Manhattan, while thousands of British troops on Staten Island prepare for the Battle of Long Island.
1795 = Financier James Swan pays off the $2,024,899 US national debt that had been accrued during the American Revolution.
1868 = The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship and all persons in the United States due process of law.
1877 = The inaugural Wimbledon Championships begins.
1893 = Daniel Hale Williams, American heart surgeon, performs the first successful open-heart surgery in United States without anesthesia.
1922 = Johnny Weissmuller swims the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds breaking the world swimming record and the 'minute barrier'.
1937 = The silent film archives of Fox Studios are destroyed in a vault fire.
1969 = The Mattachine Society of New York invites activists for the first “gay power” meeting. It’s held at the Freedom House in Midtown Manhattan and attracts over 100 attendees.
1982 = Tron is released in theaters.
HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES
Constitution Day (Australia)
PORTRAIT + QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I prefer living in color.”
David Hockney
Oh I felt this. As someone whose cleaning habits have often been compared to a faulty Roomba by my partner, I understand the curating of ones junk, seeing past selves and kindred spirits reflect in the smallest most mundane things.
There is some fear attached too, perhaps it is age or perhaps it is something innately human, but somehow at times I fear losing the memento will mean loosing the memory.
Well Clint I told you a short time ago, ditch the glitz and ephemera, the real memories--that count, live on forever more in your/our memory. It also helps of course for when we shuffle of this mortal coil and someone/whoever has to come in and clear your effects. Most likely it all means nothing to someone else. But still I'm not like everyone else and living in the Ivory Tower I do see things differently 😎 I'll catch up on that guys essay laters as my response to you about Jack and Margaret in the Part2 posting I have just made has quite depleted my emotions. Jeepers I must be human after all 😲 Cheers DougT 🇫🇴🇬🇧