Shaken Faith

The world cracks open and breaks our hearts - Japan's quake keeps the horrors on refresh as things go from bad to worse.  I am not wanting to post much frivolity lately, and while I should be focusing on career aspects, I just can't for some reason.   Visiting there in the early oughties, I was a huge fan of the culture and people, and found them to be very calm in the chaotic world stage of wars and famine.  I see pictures I can't post and videos I just do not want to watch (like 9/11), it's not our porn to obsess over.
I hear - but do not at all want to venture online to corroborate - that a governer of Japan said the quake was a just punishment from God.   I am sickened to think this might be true - and even more sickened that our side will come up with way worse (the Pat Robinsons and Phelps clans should be ignored at this point).
I thus think we need to give back some how that doesn't involve a paypal account and unseen transaction.  There's an uneasy, arrogant feeling in the house that 'we could be next' -  and time is generated/wasted on considering those possibilities and blogging.   Why can't that energy be harvested to help the situation?  
Sorry - guess I'm feeling rather heavy at the moment.

Yuletide Bullying #2: National Portrait Gallery Protest

Man protests Smithsonian's censorship of the David Wojnarowicz video art piece "A Fire in My Belly" on his iPad, is wrestled to the ground, arrested and is banned from the Smithsonian for life, proving that art is dangerous and not to be trusted by it's very keepers. Good luck in trying to keep people out with ipads, different ideas and non-violent strategies.

Yuletide Cultural Bullying

Wow - sometimes backsliding culturally goes so unseen and unnoticed, to where you wake up and think - huh - is it really a 1990-culture war all over again?  Eerily enough - 20 years later - the Smithsonian's move to remove David Wojnarowicz from the Hide/Seek exhibit, namely the "Fire In My Belly" video, is like a sad synchronicity. Something that's not grabbing headlines as it should be, and not angering enough people.  Just in time for Christmas - and even more sadly enough - on World Aid's Day.
It is, however, self-edifying on two fronts - The exhibit is called Hide/Seek: all about that gay and often hidden desire, so subtle and lurking that no one knew (or cared to know). The National Portrait gallery is showing the other "secret history" of America - one that angers conservatives if taught and expressed and causes religious fervor, such that, the artist is hidden under a campaign of intolerance.    The gallery has works that start to evolve and become more prevelant and then show what happened with the epidemic.   Maybe there will be a shift in heart among the intolerant to see an arc of work, then a crisis followed by many deaths.
And secondly, that Wojnarowicz was practically showing the stifling silence and censorship that was killing his friends and loved ones in his work (including this one). It is amazing that this has come up AGAIN. As pointed out in prior posts, the man meant not to go quietly...  He wanted to serve as cultural beacon - and his "One Day" work is very much the anticipated panacea of gay bullying if there ever was one, and this work here is very much a religious work (and derives images from biblical passages and themes) as pointed out by Andrew Sullivan.
So - we must say thank you once again for illustrating our point, Bill Donahue - your timing on World Aid's Day shows you've got real showmanship potential.    Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for you) - the world has a secular device called "the Youtubes", and while we email the Smithsonian to ask that they project this on the biggest wall possible - I'll gladly post this here...

Norman Rockwell Conquerors

The crispness in the air, the leaves changing and my civil rights are up for a vote in a few weeks. Gosh, I love fall. It really is great to have to remind the confused, out-of-touch voters in remote areas that Ref 71 has nothing to do with taxes or (god forbid) the children... And I can't tell you how much I trust the virtual hoards of these voters like I would if they were carrying torches and pitchforks. I'm picturing a Norman Rockwell mob here - a well-meaning lynch mob decked out in Pendleton wool plaids; civil, optimistic, and helping to start a bonfire where we're all chained... Gruesome, yes - but pastoral and in fall colors.
Sorry for the dark cynicism - but this whole thing is like the annoying children's game "Perfection" -- we run around plugging the oddly shaped pegs into manic small holes with seconds to pass, and then boom - our rights are thrown asunder and taken away and we're three steps back. I try to think bigger picture here - that maybe there is some paradigm shift around the corner where people realize it has nothing to do with them. That there is some point where where you're not the manifestation of years of dogma coming at you, that there might be a few more advances toward enlightenment. But then again, there are still people who believe in witchcraft and cosmic forces, so there you go... we've not advanced...

Wha??? Awww, Hell no!!!

Uhmmmm:

"...However, until Congress passes legislation repealing the law, the administration will continue to defend the statute when it is challenged in the justice system."

#($%ING God#$%&* and *#$%ing %*(#!!!! In otherwords, No comment.

Fearful Fringe

I'm always doubtful when someone calls something "the lunatic fringe", but as it was pointed out today on Huffpro, maybe that's what it takes to make a point these things are on the rise. The sad case of Dr Tiller actually started with his first mousy would-be assassin, Shelly Shannon, taking a crack at him in the early 90's. I recall this because working in rural Oregon at the time I not only was horrified by the local right-wing response from the community of 'reverse martyrdom' in trying to paint her like a Joan of Arc, but that she actually took vacation time to do this. Why hate so much when you can go to Maui for all that bellyaching? But as Wilde pointed out: The worst vice of a fanatic is his sincerity...
Rosanne Barr once had a great quote about the type of haters who took time to complain to TV guide about a recent cover of her - "Oh, you know - it was no one normal that wrote in to complain. I guess one good thing was that it took time away from them picketing abortion clinics"... Then it was the lunatic fringe. Now, it's practically a jihad of "Prayer Warriors" and people who are on the militant edge. Sorry to be grim, but I don't see much distancing happening on the right on this... Watching a frontline special on the Taliban in Pakistan training small children to run into crowds with bombs strapped to them is not a far cry from Shelly Shannon. I'm not breaking windows or disrupting marriages to get my rights, and the fact that now the freaks forming the human-fence outside of abortion clinics now have access to guns. The whole thing is tragic - and yet it somehow sickly resembles this film...

More H8, Less Filling

Well - still 2nd Class citizens, but hey, at least a small handful of marriages will remain valid (until some no-life NOM-type will seek to invalidate those)... But gosh, think of how happy the children will be now. Life will be great and the great American family will be more cohesive than ever (the sound of a solitary, sarcastic applaud for emphasis here).
I could go on - but won't, because little did we know that we did win some of the culture war today. Rockstar games announced that it will develop a game just for us, the Ballad of Gay Tony. Just think, we're going to really influence the hearts and minds of brainless tweeners with more appalling stereotypes, because, you know - it's just a game... And that will totally win the paradigm. (Again, more sarcastic clapping)....

All You Protest Kids...

So - the video of Jamie and I at Saturday's protest march made Towleroad, which is kinda funny b/c I hadn't really intended to have it broadcast on the national blogosphere... And had I known, I certainly would have made an attempt to edit it better. (However, I love that another protest-goer comments: That is the worst footage ever. It makes it seem like a big jumbled mess instead of the well organized and powerful statement that it actually was.. Yeah, uhh - how about a big cup of STFU? There's more to this march than my crappy video obviously, and the fact you probably wanted some sweeping epic makes me wonder which march you attended? But - not to dwell... The march was good, not great. It probably could have used 200 more people to be honest and the video actually makes it look like there were more people than actually were there. Also - while I was happy to be part of this protest, I think the audience (Capitol Hill) is in agreement - Homophobia has no place. It's the hidden bigots and barbarians at the gate (read - people from out of town, other places) that have a problem with gays.

In any case - the video is here for any who are interested.

PS - yes, the jar-lamps are very easy to make and you bang 'em out in under 1/2 hour. Just need medium squarish mason-jars, coat hangers, a good pair a pliers (that can also cut wire)...

Regime Change

So, unless you live in a remote tribe cut off from any form of mass media, today was a historic occasion. Obama took the Oath and kindly ushered the last 8 years out of the White House. While I won't go into my own hopes and misgivings (uhm - homophobic pastors, cough), I'll say that at least we're looking up at this point.
His speech, however, as powerful as his words - is marked by lot of "Storm und drang" weather metaphors: Dark Clouds, Horizons, Storms clouds, etc. This is a page from the romantics and leads me to believe that we're entering a phase from "Republican Neo-Classicism" (*Old methods, paradigms and values will keep the country going) to "Necessity Driven Romanticism", the progressive revolutionary kind we saw with Clinton, where service/self-sacrifice seems to empower the self and center. Or at least that's the hope. Revolutions have a life-span before they come full circle - that's the problem with them -- they're revolutions, meaning they can only go 180.

Propagator H8ter

The one casualty of the election season of course is prop 8, which it's passing signifies that again the American public has faith-based voting practices, and not sensible ones. That the country moved forward in progress (voting in Obama) yet somehow latched onto the values-voting arguments of the right is sadly not surprising. I wish I had the chance to do my own PSA on the matter and my read-copy would have gone somthing like this:

Hey - Look, I know the words "Gay Marriage" tend to make your blood boil because you feel the uncertain need to race to the back bible each and every opportunity to put us down. You can't discriminate against us now in the workplace nor can you bash us in public without some serious consequences. Yeah - you must feel pretty powerless as the last few civil rights measures passing demonstrated to you that religion and constitutional rights are entirely separate, so you've decided to take your feelings of inadequacy and place them on the one, most single boring institutional right that we're trying to fight to get - the right to be part of the normal status quo. Fine. But have you really looked at what this threat is? Have you seen the gays and lesbians marrying in the pages of NYT or People for that matter? They're hardly the hedonists you worry about at night. They're not the glamorous monsters you have romantic notions of conquering. They're not demons dressed in Folsom Street fetish wear. They're normal. They're boring. They might have kids, mortgages, concerns like yours. They may or may not have superfluous reasons for getting married, but 9 x out of 10, it'll be because they've been through a long , boring haul like you with the same partner of so many years. But hey - you're not fighting to reverse gay personal rights, nor sodomy laws. You're making this about gay marriage - basically benign subject if you look at it objectively. But hey -- I bet you need to lash out at something. I know you really feel the need to kick a puppy right about now with losing a few culture wars in the past, so the defenseless puppy are these gay couples who pose no threat to you. Fine - kick the puppy if it will make you feel better. (However, the puppy grows into a very large, resentful dog who will one day be evaluating you for a loan or possible business deal... And wow, it'll be apparent that you were such a bigot in the past. What will you do then? Will you still keep fighting the "good" fight?) But hey sport, at least you can sleep safe tonight knowing that there's one less married couple in the world troubling you. There's just alot of angry, single voters out there now... Growing in numbers and coming to your town to demonstrate. Good night.

A New Hope

I am so thankful this AM... Having been on capitol hill last night and getting the news about Obama's victory was cause for much celebration. It was like having a true New Year's eve on a dawn of the new century, only it came 8 years later and with much struggle. Obama's speech was moving, people were crying and hugging. There was dancing in the street until 2am. It seemed like maybe the cynicism that America didn't have a conscience was washed away... And for once, Patriotism wasn't some bigoted, divisive tool used to drive the country apart.
But, we'll have to see what can happen in the next 4 years. There's alotta mess to clean up.

Hallows Election Eve

I am not going to dwell on things or think bad thoughts... Nor will i resign to cynicism or be pessimistic. I am, however, going to take tomorrow in stride. Is it any wonder that the eve of the election is so close to Halloween? I think there's some dramatic nature effects that are aligned to make it look like the world is secretly conspiring against you... that maybe things are not going to work themselves out and that we get the president (or despot) we secretly deserve. There's a time where meaning wears masks and tries to trick you into voting against your interests, where such obvious rhetoric flies in the face of things that you know is concocted by spin doctors (who are no better writers at copy than j-school freshmen)... tricksters, how we fall for them time and time again. Will there be more lies and deceit as we draw close on the 11th hour or will things work out themselves? Are systems always corrupt and full of decay or are they self-correcting? I can't say for certain, but I do know that I will be drinking tomorrow night (either happily or unhappily) at the Showbox.

Hillary is Mom Jeans

Obama or Hillary, Tina Fey comically articulates why people do not want to buy Hillary and the misogyny that pervades the political rhetoric of the campaign (Bitch is the new black!)... However, if you need to find a reason to not to vote for Hillary, you can use the Random Reason Not To Vote for Hillary Generator (and submit a few yourself)...

Close to the Knives

So, today I get my usual email update (spam) from Vice mag, included in their do's and dont's is a picture of a young AM'd out hipster with the quote "There isn’t much more of a DO than looking like a freshly reincarnated David Wojnarowicz (but this time around without the AIDS)", and I just thought - hmmm, really, Vice? Do you wanna go there with me?" Lord knows they've said worse (wayyyy, wayyyy worse) but this comes off as praise for an artist they've given little thought to.
Wojnarowicz had an anger that is still apparent today and while he seems a bit didadatic (I had watched a short film in the Butt Shorts festival this past November and the film techniques were dated, and thus it did seem to drag), it's all still relevant. Homophobia and AIDs are still tearing through America like a divisive knife, being used by the angry right to drive up votes and justify hate-crimes like the outrageous death of Lawrence King (as boys will be boys).
Wojnarowicz was angry - he took the downtown NY art scene to the death and disease that was killing his peers, the gay bashings that were happening with regularity throughout the crime-ridden city (and not acknowledged) and showed them how bad it was... I had his NEA picture (the one w/where his lips were sewn shut), on my college dorm-room door in protest of censorship. I admired his honesty, his fire and fight with the AFA with his virtually last breath.
So -- when a stupid hipster journal decides the look is "Wojnarowicz without the AIDS", it's like the "Think Different" campaign from Apple back in 97: Too stupid to be heresy. It just makes me wanna call the cultural authorities and have their 'irony license' revoked is all.

Caucus Ruckus

So - I just ducked out of the Beacon Hill (on Capitol Hill) Caucus. It was kinda fun to connect w/neighbors and such, but I was really there to cast my initial vote. I didn't exactly want it to consume my entire afternoon off (afterall, I have a mountain of laundry and have to have to have to clean my floors today... No question.) Needless to say, I hung out for an hour and was starting to get that "sweaty, stiffled over-layered" feeling and surrounded by the B-Hill precinct was starting to wear on me. I wasn't exactly wanting to be 'swayed' from Ob to HRC, so I just signed and dashed out. And yes - I cast my vote for O. I might regret it (or who knows, he might not make it into the primary) but hey - i did my part...

Frozen in Time

I'm sad to say that I totally forgot tomorrow was Super Tuesday. I'm even more embarrassed to say that when asked, I could not rightly remember what it was (and mistakenly told my trainer that it was our primary -- it wasn't). Ok - mea culpa, when I was asked - I had just finished benching about 140 (almost getting to my goal of benching my weight), and the blood was not exactly making it to my cranium... but yeah, I feel really dumb. I also feel out of touch. I read the occasional analysis of the candidates, but I seldom watch the debates nor take interest in what their message is. I know HRC's voting record and that Obama is great communicator, but aside from that, my voting pref' is based purely on show-biz intuition - who's gonna have wide appeal in November (ahem - Obama)... Gawd, am i that shallow? Meanwhile - the eastern seaboard will sound off who might actually have a chance against the Mccain...
In any case - here's something also in NY.

SOTU is Suture

I won't watch the SOTU. I am instead concentrating on getting through my routine and 25 minutes of intense cardio. I know what the transcript is already going to say. Yay us. Look what we did. I know that people will stand and clap and they won't represent our interests. I know that W will throw around vernacular that will defend wiretapping and bombing Iran. He'll suggest the surge is working (it's not). He'll mention facts that are not entirely true, but with enough rhetoric, he'll take credit for a few datapoints of success while we are sliding into a recession. I can't be too angry, I'm just too tired at the moment. Instead, I suggest you do a little reading up here...