Charlie Bonner embodies so many of our favorite qualities: queer, native Texan, political activist and organizer, joyous community maker, consummate individualist. His work in and around the state legislature in Texas has championed the rights of the LGTBQIA+ community, voting rights and other crucial issues in powerful ways. In any group of people, his manicures always win. We lost Charlie as a neighbor last year when he moved to London, but it makes us smile to think of him representing our community out there in the world.
We sat down virtually with Charlie to ask him our favorite questions, and unsurprisingly his answers were delightful.
We miss you Charlie!
We sat down virtually with Charlie to ask him our favorite questions, and unsurprisingly his answers were delightful.
We miss you Charlie!
Personal motto: “You got to have fun while you’re fightin’ for freedom, ’cause you don’t always win.” - Molly Ivins
Dream car: Orange Volkswagen Bus
Favorite bumper sticker: “Less Honkin, More Tonkin”
Vacation read: Right now I'm traveling with “The Places in Between” by Rory Stewart, a wild read from a UK political analyst and former MP about his first-hand account of WALKING across Afghanistan for 38 weeks just after the fall of the Taliban.
Next trip: Training from Copenhagen for fashion week through Germany and down to Paris to catch some of the Olympic chaos
Coffee order: Drip coffee with a splash a milk (but alas resigned to Americanos while in my expat era)
Road snack: Check Mix, Sour Patch Kids, and Dr. Pepper
Early bird or night owl: Night Owl (but if you stay out late enough, eventually it’s all the same, no?)
Driver’s seat or shotgun: While emotionally, “I’ll be your shotgun rider till the day I die” like Beyoncé - But in reality, It’s the driver’s seat for me, babes. Hop in loser, we’re going adventuring.
Soundtrack: Right now, I’m all about the collaborative trip playlist. I send around a link to everyone heading out on a trip to add whatever they’re listening to right now, what they’re dancing to, or anything that reminds them of where we’re headed. Throughout the trip we pick up anything local that’s blasting in the cabs, cafes, and gay bars. Then at the end we have a lil auditory time capsule of the trip. 10/10 would recommend.
Epic travel story: In the summer of 2018, I ventured out on a 10,000 mile solo road trip to chat with people about politics as part of a writing project called “A Republic If You Can Jeep It.” I spent two months driving coast to coast and border to border to get a better understanding of wtf was going on with our politics - spoiler alert: I still don’t know. One day while stopping over in Whitewood, South Dakota the tornado alarms started sounding and I was forced to seek shelter. Naturally I chose a local wine store (I am my mother’s son.) I watched out the window as the tornado touched down on the small-town main street, just barely missing our hiding spot beneath the racks of wine, and leaving behind a large crack in my windshield. That night I went back to my Airbnb on a 200 acre ranch and several of the other folks staying there had driven through the storm and arrived with no windshields at all. The center of this deeply odd little ranch was an old saloon, filled to the brim with taxidermy, midwest tchotchkes, and dusty liquor bottles. I spent the rest of the night with a young couple from Minnisota who had just arrived and were still picking broken glass out of their clothes. The saloon was a serve yourself situation, and serve ourselves we did. We drank and laughed and listened to old country songs from a phone in a solo cup, we talked about politics and road trips. We talked about nothing and everything. Somehow we took a day that could have ended horribly, into a night I’ll never forget.
Far West favorites: If you don’t have the El Cosmico Duvet Cover, what are you doing with your life? It’s my favorite possession and reminds me of every magical night I’ve had staring at the stars with my besties under that big ole Marfa sky. I was getting a lil homesick in the UK and did in fact force my mother to pack the duvet in her checked bag when she came to visit. So now every night in London, I get wrapped up in a warm hug from West Texas.
