Wilkes-Barre, PA.  Working in a coal mine, going down down down.

Despite a traumatic sojourn in Ohio during my formative years, those of you acquainted with the more intimate details of my story [a portion of which is included in Hometowns: Gay Men Talk About Where They Belong, John Preston, editor, NY: Dutton, 1991] are aware that originally I hail, like Sharon Stone, from Western Pennsylvania.  Which I hasten to add is a long way (in more ways than one) from Wilkes-Barre, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the northeastern part of the state.  I think you will agree, however, that at the end of the day it is still all one big state, roughly speaking, even if some people think of it as more of a vast blurred patchwork of abandoned steel mills and coal mines, remote Deliverance-like mountain enclaves, and the occasional picturesque Amish boy in suspenders and hat, with Pittsburgh and Philadelphia thrown in somewhere.  Nevertheless, I would be remiss if I did not direct your attention to important events unfolding there.  Regrettably, unlike Truman heading off to Kansas, I can't simply drop everything and be there in person to give you a blow-by-blow eye-witness account, but I can offer you the next best thing.     

First, however, let me set the scene.  As you know, mine disasters are commonplace these days in China [Source] but did you know that in 1904 the same held true in Pennsylvania?  Yes, in this very area, once called the "Anthracite Region" cave-ins, collapses, explosions and various other accidents were all an accepted part of daily life, 15 miners, for instance, dying in 1904 in the Locust Gap and Auchincloss mines, with over 200 other reported fatalities just in Wilkes-Barre mines in the fifty years for which records were kept between 1886 and 1936, not counting the hundreds of other deaths in nearby communities [U.S. Dept. of Labor Statistics].

Now you don't need to be raised in Pennsylvania to appreciate the relevance of these statistics.  I think it's even fair to say that we've all dated a coal miner's daughter or two along the way -- if not a coal miner's son -- and we've all lived to tell the tale, as they say.  Therefore it should come as no surprise that, as I attempted to explain in yesterday's post, we cannot help feeling connected on a deep level, physically and spiritually as the case may be, deeply and meaningfully -- or at least deeply -- to our Chinese brothers and sisters.  Plus China came up in yesterday's post.    

In any event, I wanted you to be aware that there is ample and extensive coverage HERE of the murder trial currently underway in Wilkes-Barre/Luzerne County Courthouse of Harlow Cuadra who with his business partner Joseph Kerekes, (who separately pleaded guilty in exchange for life without parole) is accused of murdering rival gay porn producer Bryan Kocis so that Harlow and Joe could make films with the deceased's star performer Sean Lockhart AKA Brent Corrigan.  Young Sean testified in court yesterday.  I had reported some time ago about this case HERE but failed to do justice to the matter. 

And yet, just try and imagine the challenges the jury members face as this case proceeds.  Already they have heard testimony from young Mr. Lockhart himself, explaining the on-going battle to extricate him from his contract to Mr. Kocis so that he might be free to have sex on-camera for Messrs. Harlow and Joe's rival production company.  The jury has witnessed Mr. Lockhart break down in tears on the stand and they have been shown footage taken of Mr. Lockhart and Mr. Cuadra frolicking naked with a volleyball and doing handstands during a visit to a nude beach in California during which visit Mr. Lockhart and his older companion secretly taped Mr. Cudra and his business associate reportedly confessing to the murder -- the microphone and tape recorder device being hidden in a key chain since no one was wearing any clothes, in case you were wondering; I know I was. 

As you can imagine all of this is a great deal for one small community to absorb.  The good-citizens of Wilkes-Barre, more accustomed to stories of mine cave-ins and layoffs than to tales of the sexual exploits of underaged boys (Mr. Lockhart lied about his age to break into the business), are surely a broad-minded and generous people at heart, and one could argue that the experience will be very educational for those who have been called on to perform their civic duty as jurors.  On the other hand, let us not forget that we all respond differently to what is new and unfamiliar, and so precisely how accepting and understanding coal miners' sons and daughters can be, when push comes to shove, remains to be seen.  

For what it's worth, Gentle Readers, I can personally attest that as a former Pennsylvanian, pretty much anything young Sean might have done, on camera and off, was also done back in my day if perhaps with less interesting drugs and considerably more guilt.  I also feel quite sure that whatever Harlow, Joe and the late Mr. Kocis might have directed, planned, committed and perpetrated went on more or less in a similar fashion in the Pennsylvania of my youth, albeit with significantly less publicity.  Even in the rural backwaters of the Quaker State, young people have always craved attention and dreamed of fame and fortune. Some of us were willing to do all sorts of things, for instance, in exchange for a steak dinner at the local Howard Johnson Motor Lodge, if not a six pack of Pabst for a quick visit behind the truck stop.  I understand Sean was given a shiny new Volkswagen for his efforts.  

This is Pennsylvania, of course.  Out here in California, the really talented ones aim for a Porsche.