Amidst over 70 Pride festivals in Pennsylvania, I stand alone as none of my friends want to go. Not the big Pittsburgh Pride, not the small community park festivals.

This feels upside down. I’m a lesbian blogger and have no Pride friends?

I respect personal decisions, but this is a year to show up. Show up even just for an hour. Buy something, throw some coin in a basket. Our community might crumble. Showing up for Pride is not the same ask as door knocking or phone banking. Connect with people without saying a word. Remind yourself who we are. Send a message. Insert more little sayings. You get my point.

I decided to skip tabling this year. My energy is low. If I go to Pride, I want to just be one of the folx.

I wouldn’t actually mind going solo, but I have no vehicle. Gertie is still not running. Should I Uber? How long might I have to wait for a drive home?

Tomorrow, May 31 is Ross Township. I might Uber there.

Saturday, June 6 is New Castle Pride in Lawrence County.

Sunday June 7 is Pittsburgh and Connellsville. I can walk to Pittsburgh.

Saturday June 13 is tough – Indiana, Oil City, Mt. Lebo, Scottdale

Sunday, June 14 is Vandergrift and Freeport

Saturday June 20 is Millvale

Sunday June 28 is Forest Hills, Dormont, and Hazelwood

Monday June 29 is Aspinwall/Fox Chapel

Showing up in Lawrence, Fayette, Indiana, Venango, Westmoreland, Armstrong counties feels important.

What do you think?

“(T)he applicant is proposing a minor building addition of 1,300 square feet to the basement level because the specialized proton equipment required a slightly larger support space,” said Allie Smith, an associate planner with the city’s professional planning and zoning department.

Smith is referring to what would be the second proton therapy cancer treatment center between New York City and Boston, after the Connecticut Proton center in Wallingford, which is scheduled to open later this year.

Proton therapy is considered advanced radiation treatment because it uses the positively charged particles to “target cancer with exceptional precision,” reducing damage to nearby healthy tissue.

The expanded building plans for Danbury Proton are the latest development in a prolonged effort to serve western Connecticut and nearby New York residents with the novel cancer treatment.

The project, which was set to break ground on a 3-acre site overlooking Danbury Municipal Airport this spring, is “very busy marketing and selling the bonds,” a spokesman said.

“We’re ready to break ground as soon as we close on the bonds,” said Drew Crandall on Friday. “We are in conversation with investors every day and we are making good progress.”

In March, Danbury’s City Council agreed to use its bonding power to help Danbury Proton get low-cost financing under a “conduit issuer” agreement. Around the same time, the city’s Planning Commission extended approvals for the project, which were scheduled to expire in July.

All that means that Danbury Proton expects to open its 17,000-square-foot facility at 85 Wooster Heights Road in late 2027 or early 2028.

“The day is coming when we will be treating patients with revolutionary proton therapy cancer treatment,” Crandall said in a newsletter to supporters last week. “Countless patients and their families will benefit from proton therapy.”