The Regensburg Choirboy: why go downtown if you can't kiss?

During my freshman year at Augustana College, I declared a major in English and Modern Languages and registered for advanced Spanish and French.  So when I had the opportunity to spend a quarter abroad during my sophomore year, you'd expect me to pick Spain or France, right?

No -- Germany.

It wasn't my fault.  I was taking first-year German, too, and the professor kept rhapsodizing over his trips to Germany: Munich, the Black Forest, the Rhine, Neuschwanstein Castle, Wittenberg, where Martin Luther nailed 95 Theses on the cathedral door.

So I started packing for Germany.  Six Augie students flew from Chicago to Frankfurt on August 19th, and then took the train south to the university town of Regensburg.

 We all took Intensive German and The Protestant Reformation, and for my elective I chose German Myths and Legends. Classes met in the morning, so we had the afternoons free for sightseeing, and there were weekend trips to Augsburg, Munich, and Salzburg.

I had just "figured it out" a year before,  and, I didn't know how to meet gay people.  I didn't realize that Regensburg had several gay bars, or that Munich, an hour away by train, had a gay neighborhood full of bars, restaurants, bath houses, and community organizations.  So it took me awhile to find a boyfriend, sort of

Regensburg was predominantly Catholic, so I overcome my early religious training about Catholics being evil! evil! evil! and toured all the churches.  I even went to Mass at St. Peter's Cathedral -- don't tell the preacher -- where I heard the famous boys' choir, the Domspatzen.

 There were about 80 members, mostly little kids, but in the back row I saw some teenagers and young adults.  

One caught my eye -- the tallest of the group, broad-shouldered, probably muscular, with a shock of unruly brown hair.  I thought he looked back, but I was probably imagining it.

The next day I went to the Musikgymnasium, the boarding school attached to the choir, said I was an American university student, and asked for a tour.  

They summoned a boy my own age to show me around -- 18 year old Wolfgang (not his real name) -- not the one who caught my eye yesterday, darn it! 

More after the break.  Warning -- explicit.

Was Joe MacMillan in "Halt and Catch Fire" gay, bi, or straight? Fans couldn't agree, even after the Episode 1.3 kiss

The title Halt and Catch Fire is misleading, evoking the gruesome deaths of soldiers in battle.but the series (2014-2017)  is not about war, and no actually catches fire. It's about software development in the 1980s, with Joe MacMillan (Lee Pace) trying to develop a new "personal computer." 

The episode synopses on wikipedia are so loaded with jargon that no one but an IT professional could possibly figure out what's going on.  Except when the plot veers away from coding problems to Joe's love life.  

Through nearly three seasons of The Righteous Gemstones, fans argued vociferously over whether Kelvin is gay or straight.  When he kissed his boyfriend Keefe in Episode 3.8, speculation ended.  A few holdouts didn't want to believe that he was gay, so they proposed some wild alternatives.  Maybe Kelvin is actually a transgender woman, or straight but kissing Keefe to mess with the family.   When Joe kisses a guy (Travis Smith) in Halt and Catch Fire Episode 1.3, paradoxically, speculation begins.

"WTF was that scene about?  Is Joe gay?" 

"He's not feminine, so he can't be gay."  

"Maybe he's bi?" 

"No, he's straight, but seducing  Travis to get something he wants."

"This is the 1980s! There weren't any gay people back then!"  

In Episode 1.7, Joe's ex-boyfriend  Simon (D.B. Woodside) shows up, hoping to rekindle the romance and threatening his relationship with his girlfriend Cameron. 

The two specify that they are ex-boyfriends, so Joe must be bisexual, right?  The safe sort of bisexual man who had one same-sex relationship in the distant past and spends the rest of the series pursuing the Woman of His Dreams. 

But the long-gone bisexual romance did not codify Joe as bi, at least not for many fans, who continued to assert that he must be straight. 

Gemstone connection (other than the kiss):  One of Gavin Munn's first tv appearances was in Halt and Catch Fire Episode 3.8 (2016). He played one of a trio of Halloween trick-or-treaters: a Hobo, a Witch, and Alf (from 1980s tv)

Nude Lee after the break