Connecting Coast to Coast
Mike hosts from Crimson House PDX, sharing personal reflections and music, as well as a map-based crowd-sourcing platform that collects and documents LGBTQ+ experiences and memories tied to specific geographic locations.
Mike George begins the broadcast live from Crimson Rouge Studios in Portland, Oregon, at 5:00 PST. He notes the early hour, mentions he is not wearing makeup, and briefly shows a view of New Babbage while preparing for the first segment.
The segment focuses on "Missed Connections," a concept similar to the old Craigslist section where people post stories about meeting cute strangers in public places like the metro, gym, or work. He introduces a website called "Queering the Map," which serves as a digital map documenting "magical times" shared by the queer community.
While navigating the map in Portland, he reads several entries:
Transgender workplace transition: A story about a man who transitioned at his job to make things easier for the next transgender person, who turned out to be the narrator, a queer trans woman.
Unspoken feelings: A post from someone who went to a specific spot to calm their nerves before meeting a person for the first time since August, ultimately realizing they missed them but never said so,.
Gay magic: A short entry about feeling "gay magic" and realizing love for someone in a hotel room.
International and camp stories: He mentions a post from Hong Kong and reads one about admitting love to a friend who was in England,. He also shares a story from a summer camp where two girls silently recognized each other's queer identities.
Throughout the video, Mike interacts with a viewer named James, explaining the concept of “missed connections” as encounters in which people met briefly but never exchanged contact information. He encourages James to visit queeringthemap.com to contribute a story.
The broadcast features several musical moments and personal commentary:
He plays "My Future" by Billie Eilish and later "Breaking Down" by Florence and the Machine,.
He plays "The Look" by Metronomy and a "sappy romantic song" to fit the theme of the show,.
He reads a story about a "best date" at a place where Carabar used to be, involving a lineup of local bands,.
At 5:20 AM, he notes it is 4:20 AM in Alaska and decides to "smoke a bowl for Alaska," expressing a desire to visit the state "before it all melts".
The video concludes with a dedication of a song to an ex named Jared.
