RSS FeedSep 15 2009
Vermillion
So while I’ve been in AZ, I’ve been staying in my friend Jay’s guest room. My current plan is to continue to rent a room for him while I’m down in AZ completing my certification course.
My friends in AZ are acquainted with Jay but for those readers who don’t know him, Jay is a 40-something, gay, black man I’ve been friends with going on two decades. I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about Jay in the next few months, but I’ll start by saying that Jay’s decorating tastes diverge widely from my own. A lot.
Jay’s condo is known in my circle of friends as “Vermillion Manor”. Jay happens to believe Versailles is the peak of architectural achievement and he has designed the interior of his condo to be a miniature homage to Versailles’ glory. He even has his own tiny hall of mirrors and collection of statuary.
Imagine walls and walls of mirrors, crystal chandeliers, baroque furniture, tassels cascading from every available vertical surface, and a surfeit velvet and you get the general vibe of the place where I’m staying.
Rumi took one look at the place, fell into immediate love, flounced upon the floor of the main salon, and announced loudly in Balinese that he had finally “arrived”. I, on the other hand, with my love for zen lines and muted color schemes, have been cautiously tiptoeing around like an unplanned-for extra on the set of Night at the Museum.
I don’t in any way mean to make fun of Jay’s decorating. Creating Vermillion has been an act of passionate creation for more than a decade, now. And I’m fairly certain, Jay would feel as much a Stranger in a Strange Land aboard my floating home as I do padding barefoot around Vermillion. But even Jay would concede that Vermillion can be a bit daunting for the first-timer.
To add to my whole down-the-rabbit-hole sensation, Jay has decided to dub me the “Lady in Residence” at Vermillion. Unfortunately, if he had hoped having a woman in the residence was going to class-up the joint, I’m afraid he’s been sadly disappointed. I’m much more of a Pygmalion-style project.
When I first arrived Jay had visions of the two of us sitting down on Sunday mornings to high tea with NPR Baroque Sundays wafting softly on the stereo. I’m afraid his sensitive, artistic soul was well and truly crushed the first time I came home from a night at a fighter practice looking like a sweaty version of a Fraggle, popped open a domestic bottle of beer, and proceeded to share it with the cat–without either of us even bothering to use the crystal stemware intended for weekday use.
So far, though, Jay has been a remarkably good sport about me invading his sanctuary from the modern world. And, for my part, I’ve been grateful for the lack of domestic chaos and also having regular good company in the form of a roommate.
I promise at some point I’ll do a more detailed video or photo tour of Vermillion. I just know if I try to take any more pictures when Jay is home I’ll send him in to an apoplexy of cleaning and I’ve already disturbed his natural habitat more than enough for the present.
So while I’ve been in AZ, I’ve been staying in my friend Jay’s guest room. My current plan is to continue to rent a room for him while I’m down in AZ completing my certification course.
My friends in AZ are acquainted with Jay but for those readers who don’t know him, Jay is a 40-something, gay, black man I’ve been friends with going on two decades. I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about Jay in the next few months, but I’ll start by saying that Jay’s decorating tastes diverge widely from my own. A lot.
Jay’s condo is known in my circle of friends as “Vermillion Manor”. Jay happens to believe Versailles is the peak of architectural achievement and he has designed the interior of his condo to be a miniature homage to Versailles’ glory. He even has his own tiny hall of mirrors and collection of statuary.
Imagine walls and walls of mirrors, crystal chandeliers, baroque furniture, tassels cascading from every available vertical surface, and a surfeit velvet and you get the general vibe of the place where I’m staying.
Rumi took one look at the place, fell into immediate love, flounced upon the floor of the main salon, and announced loudly in Balinese that he had finally “arrived”. I, on the other hand, with my love for zen lines and muted color schemes, have been cautiously tiptoeing around like an unplanned-for extra on the set of Night at the Museum.
I don’t in any way mean to make fun of Jay’s decorating. Creating Vermillion has been an act of passionate creation for more than a decade, now. And I’m fairly certain, Jay would feel as much a Stranger in a Strange Land aboard my floating home as I do padding barefoot around Vermillion. But even Jay would concede that Vermillion can be a bit daunting for the first-timer.
To add to my whole down-the-rabbit-hole sensation, Jay has decided to dub me the “Lady in Residence” at Vermillion. Unfortunately, if he had hoped having a woman in the residence was going to class-up the joint, I’m afraid he’s been sadly disappointed. I’m much more of a Pygmalion-style project.
When I first arrived Jay had visions of the two of us sitting down on Sunday mornings to high tea with NPR Baroque Sundays wafting softly on the stereo. I’m afraid his sensitive, artistic soul was well and truly crushed the first time I came home from a night at a fighter practice looking like a sweaty version of a Fraggle, popped open a domestic bottle of beer, and proceeded to share it with the cat–without either of us even bothering to use the crystal stemware intended for weekday use.
So far, though, Jay has been a remarkably good sport about me invading his sanctuary from the modern world. And, for my part, I’ve been grateful for the lack of domestic chaos and also having regular good company in the form of a roommate.
I promise at some point I’ll do a more detailed video or photo tour of Vermillion. I just know if I try to take any more pictures when Jay is home I’ll send him in to an apoplexy of cleaning and I’ve already disturbed his natural habitat more than enough for the present.
I hesitate to say whether it has ‘improved’ or not since I was there, nevertheless- Jay is quite the individual.
Good luck!
As a first time visitor to Vermillion the other day, I found it to be very pleasing to the eyes, with lots of things to look at and admire…and I’m not talking about my own reflection in the hallway mirrors either!
)
The only downside to having such lavish decorations is the dust factor. I hate to dust and keeping things dust free would be a major chore! Hopefully the next time I have a chance to visit ‘The Manor’, Jay will give me the full tour! He certainly has a knack for decorating!
P.S. Has Rumi met his outside ‘girlfriend’ yet or has she moved on to disturb someone elses peace & quiet?!
Steph, it’s good to hear about what’s going on with you. I hope you have enough space and enough clarity, and that the remainder of your certification course wraps up with ease.
Jay’s house looks like a great place to visit. I admire you for stepping up and staying there. It is always harder to deal with someone else’s tastes when you are staying for an extended period, even when they aren’t as diametrically opposed as your’s and Jay’s. I once had intended to spend a month with a cousin, arriving to find that she had just transformed her house into and homage to the colour blue – after I had just spent a year painting over all the blue in my own home. I lasted four days and then went off to stay with a different cousin whose brand new house was still all builder’s beige. I look forward to a photo tour of Vermilion.
Wow. I have to say, his condo sounds like an interesting place to visit! I don’t think I could stay there, though, and I certainly wouldn’t want to help him move anywhere…
Must be an interesting experience. Trying different or uncomfortable things can really be a learning experience.
But tell us: why do you use your friend’s skin color and sexual orientation to describe him? It’s not how you introduce yourself (you say writer, senior analyst, consultant not white, heterosexual, middle aged).
ET, very good point. I will certainly write more about Jay in the near future and try to flesh out my description of him in more meaningful terms. I think, in part, I described Jay the way I did because back when we met one another 15 years ago, that is exactly how he described himself to me.
He said: “Hi my name is Jay and I’m a black man?”
The reason I’m getting back to you on this is because I think it speaks to a key issue – whether we’re talking about gender, race or living choices: our prejudices and how we relate to people who are “other”. Many of us are met with surprise or disdain when choosing to live on the edge or even beyond. Witness how hard it is to find a place to park a small trailer, to build smaller than code, to do without rather than live beyond our means.
I hope the less we judge others, the less we will be judged.
Cheers! ET
ET, actually, the way the exchange went down was this… I had just joined a group of early music players. I showed up at my first practice at two of the players’ homes. Jay was sitting on the floor. When I walked into the room, Jay jumped up, stuck out his hand, and said: “Hi, I’m Jay. I’m gay.”
Now, I agree this isn’t a typical introduction. But it’s totally Jay. After the moment’s pause I needed to collect mysel, I responded, “Hi, I’m Steph. Let me guess… you’re black, too.”
That was how the two of us met, and we’ve been fast friends ever since. To this day we both remember our first exchange.
Larger point still taken, though.
Steph
I don’t want to speak for anyone else, but from my position as a white, queer, transgender man, I can kinda understand how some gay people of color might want their identities to be visible and recognized. In the white gay community, gay people of color are rendered invisible, and in the straight community, people of color who are gay are rendered invisible, until sometimes I would just want to walk around with a big sign. Especially on the internet, where everyone is presumed to be white and straight and non-transgender until proven “guilty”.