In The Media
October 25, 2022
Thomas visits Singapore, Cambodia, and Vietnam
Thomas was afforded an amazing opportunity to present his recent autobiography, ‘Here is What Happened – A Black Man’s Discoveries and Decisions’ while onboard a riverboat in southeast Asia.
In mid-October Thomas and his husband, Bill Henning was among the guests who enjoyed a 7-day cruise on the Mekong River aboard the vessel Mekong Jewel. Their actual vacation began a week earlier in Singapore. Thomas had first visited Singapore in January 2018 and decided to return this time with Bill en route to Siem Reap, Cambodia where they joined the Brand g tour group. While in Siem Reap they had the opportunity to tour the majestic ruins of Angkor Wat, Angkor Tom, Ta Prohm, and Banteay Srei. The hardest part of the trip was the emotional visit to the notorious Cambodian ‘Killing Fields.’
The Brand g organizers of the tour to Cambodia and Vietnam were happy to allow Thomas a slot in their program to promote his new bio while the riverboat was docked in Phnom Penh. During Thomas’ talk fellow members of the tour group were treated to afternoon tea in the Sapphire Lounge aboard ship.
In Vietnam, the group toured the sights of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) including a visit to the Cu Chi tunnels.
August 31, 2022
A Prideful Summer for Thomas
The Summer of 2022 proved to be a ‘Prideful’ one for Thomas. Early in August Thomas visited his longtime friend Roy in Amsterdam. The visit was to celebrate a significant birthday for Roy a friend of over 40 years. It also was an opportunity for Thomas to meet and spend time chatting with Roy’s Dutch neighbor, Margreet who was delighted to have her own copy of Thomas’ book, ‘Here is What Happened.’
To cap off Thomas’ visit to the Netherlands he was able to enjoy the annual Amsterdam Gay Pride Parade. It was a full day of fun and food and spending quality time with friends Darlington from Nigeria and Edward from Zimbabwe.
To complete the Summer of Pride, Bermuda held its annual Gay Pride Parade on August 27th. This year the Bermuda Library had a booth in the park which was the parade’s termination point. Although Thomas was not able to be on the Island for the pride celebrations this year his book was featured amongst other Bermudian authors at the Bermuda Library booth.
May 15, 2022
Thomas speaks at the Men’s Club Dinner at Danvers Senior Center
Thomas MacDonald & Pamela Parkinson
On May 15, 2022, Thomas had the opportunity, upon the invitation from Pamela Parkinson, Director of the Danvers Council on Aging, to speak at the Men's Club Dinner held at the Danvers Senior Center on Stone Street in Danvers, MA.
Thomas spoke on the topic of writing his recently published autobiography, ‘HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED: A Black Man's Discoveries and Decisions’. The gentlemen were very engaged and attentive as Thomas spoke of the process involved in writing his book and as he read a few selected passages. Opportunities such as this also provided a space to discuss events that are occurring today in terms of race relations in America and changes in attitudes that may have come about in the decades since Thomas emigrated to the United States in 1985.
As a thank you for purchasing his book, Thomas gifted to all of the gentlemen in attendance a copy of ‘HOME FREE: An American Road Trip’ which was written by his editor Ethan Casey, who is the publisher of Blue Ear Books. Visit the site for other books on various interesting topics.
March 24, 2022
Thomas speaks at St. Botolph Club, Boston Dinner
Thomas was the guest speaker at the St. Botolph Club in Boston. Ken Turino a longtime friend of Thomas’ and a member of the St. Botolph Club invited Thomas to speak at the Club’s weekly dinner event.
Located at 199 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, the St. Botolph Club is a private social club founded in 1880 by a group including many artists. Its name is derived from the English saint Botwulf of Thorney. Originally exclusively a men’s club, the St. Botolph Club has been open to women since 1988 in advance of a Supreme Court ruling against sexual and racial discrimination in social clubs that would have mandated it.
Thomas spoke of his recently published autobiography, ‘Here Is What Happened: A Black Man’s Discoveries and Decisions’. He also engaged in a conversation about his work as a co-chair for the subcommittee on Public Safety in connection with the Race Equity Task Force that was done from June 2020 to May 2021 in Salem, Massachusetts.
February 22, 2022
Thomas speaks with NAGLY Youth on 2-22-22
2-22-22 was not just special because of the repetitive twos on our calendar but also because Thomas had the opportunity to present at the Northshore Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth (NAGLY) meeting space in Salem, MA.
To have the opportunity to speak to north shore youth who ranged in age from 13 to 18 under the guidance of their leaders was an absolute privilege. Thomas’ presentation was based on the release of his new autobiography, ‘Here Is What Happened – A Black Man’s Discoveries and Decisions’ which was released in September 2021.
Thomas would like to thank NAGLY Executive Director, James Giessler, Program Director, Tony Leone, and youth leaders, Ash, Al, and Piper for making his presentation to our very intelligent and engaging LGBTQ+ youth possible.
For more information about NAGLY please contact James Giessler at 978-224-2102 or james@nagly.org.
February 8, 2022
Thomas speaks at the Salem Rotary Luncheon
Thomas was the guest speaker at the Salem Rotary Club's weekly luncheon held at the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, MA. Thomas talked about his recently released autobiography, 'Here Is What Happened - A Black Man's Discoveries and Decisions.' He also spoke about his work as the co-chair of the Public Safety subcommittee which was part of the overall initiative of Salem's Race Equity Task Force in 2020 - 2021. Thomas is pictured at the luncheon and was warmly welcomed by the current Rotary president, Joe Amico.
February 2, 2022
Thomas gets attention from Canada
Thomas was the guest of Brian Cope and leZlie lee kam on their Rainbow Space podcast in cooperation with Luma Care in Toronto, Canada. Brian who led the interview with the assistance of leZlie were joined by followers of their program from Winnipeg, Grimsby, Ottawa, Kingston, and Toronto. Even an old Bermudian friend of Thomas' who once resided in Toronto, tuned into the program from Bermuda. The hour-long show which featured Thomas as the guest was to kick off Black History Month.
January 8, 2022
Keep It Local Radio with Kate Fox
On January 8, 2022, I had the pleasure of being the guest of Kate Fox, Executive Director of Destination Salem on her weekly podcast program. The radio program was originally broadcast on NorthShore 104.9.
December 14, 2021
Royal Gazette Bermuda reports on Book Signing at the Bermuda Library
While recently in Bermuda to celebrate the birthday of my mother who turned 88 on December 2nd, I was afforded the opportunity on December 1st to hold a book signing event at the main branch of the Bermuda Library on Queen Street in Hamilton, Bermuda. The event was organized by the library and with the cooperation of the Bermuda Bookstore. It was structured to start at 5:30 pm with a book signing, followed by readings and Q&A, and wrapped up with another round of book signing.
Prior to the event, Royal Gazette reporter Jessie Moniz Hardy interviewed me. The interview was witnessed by my longtime friend, Darlene Ming Livingston (a Bermudian broadcaster), and my husband, Bill Henning. Jessie delved into asking how the book came about, how I came out to my family as gay, and what I hope readers will take away from the book. The book is available at the Bermuda Bookstore and online at Amazon. An Autographed copy may be ordered through my website for U.S. residents only.
Below are images that were taken by Jessie Moniz Hardy prior to the interview in the nearby Par-la-Ville Park and clippings from the Royal Gazette newspaper’s December 14th edition.
December 8, 2021
Promoting my BIO on the Salem United Show on SATV
On Wednesday, December 8th I was the guest of Doreen Wade the host of the Salem United Show on Salem’s SATV. I sat before the cameras at the SATV studio in Salem to talk about the recent release of my autobiography, ‘HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED: A black man’s Discoveries and Decisions.’ The interview which lasted just over thirty minutes was chock full of anecdotes of my growing up in Bermuda, emigrating to the United States, finding my life partner, Bill Henning and living out and proud as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Doreen with her reputation for being direct also asked questions regarding my perception of race relations in Bermuda versus those here in the United States and other issues that are of concern in these times of people of color. The interview is slated to be aired on SATV early in the new year.
December 1, 2021
Book Signing at the Bermuda Library
On December 1, 2021, I was afforded the opportunity to hold a book signing event at the main branch of the Bermuda Library on Queen Street in Hamilton, Bermuda. The event was organized by the library and with the cooperation of the Bermuda Bookstore. It was structured to start at 5:30pm with book signing, followed by readings and Q&A and wrapped up with another round of book signing. I was delighted to see all twenty seats filled at the event which was limited by necessity due to the current Covid 19 pandemic rules in Bermuda. Much to my delight several friends from Bermuda’s LGBTQ+ community participated in the readings and Q&A segment.
November 29, 2021
Bermuda National Library will be the venue for my next book signing.
With the cooperation of the Bermuda National Library in Hamilton, Bermuda, and the Bermuda Bookstore, I’ll be holding a book signing event on Wednesday, December 1, 2021, at 5:30 pm. There will be an opportunity for a limited audience to enjoy a reading from my book and as time will allow, ask questions. It will be thrilling for me to be back in Bermuda after almost 2 ½ years.
November 8, 2021
Waltham Cable TV Interview on ‘Around Town’
On November 8, 2021, I appeared as the guest on Around Town hosted by Sally Collura at the Waltham Cable TV Studio. Sally and I have been friends for more than twenty years since I arrived to work in Boston for the Bermuda Department of Tourism.
This was a wonderful opportunity for me to speak about the process of writing my recently published autobiography, Here Is What Happened – A Black Man’s Discoveries and Decisions.
See the full interview with Sally Collura below:
November 1, 2021
Thomas MacDonald’s Book Launch
On November 1, 2021, the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, MA was the setting for the book launch of my autobiography, ‘Here Is What Happened – A Black Man’s Discoveries and Decisions.’ I was grateful for the number of friends that were in attendance to help me celebrate this important event in my life.
I was honored to have the mayor of Salem, Kim Driscoll, and State Representative for Salem, Paul Tucker introduce me and humbled to hear them speak about my contributions to the city of Salem.
