Connected 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.
The site contains a variety of anonymous stories, ranging from accounts of gender transition in the workplace to bitter-sweet romantic encounters. It reveals the interconnected-ness of Queer lives and the importance throughout our communities in recording and preserving, and re-telling our shared narratives. Listeners are invited to contribute their own community histories and add to the platform.
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.
To understand the concept of "Queering the Map," imagine a global community bulletin board where every pin represents a personal memory, allowing individuals to leave "digital footprints" of their shared history in physical spaces where they once felt a connection,,.
