So very much

Too, too much has happened since my last post. I can't encapsulate it all. Maine is in the process of legalizing marriage. So is New Hampshire. Many other things have gone on. I will try to post about some of them soon, but for now, tears of joy.

Unusual Saturday

Things I don't usually do on Saturdays but did on this particular one:


1. Go out for lunch.

2. Buy shoes.

3. Drink tequila.

4. Wear a false moustache on my lip, nose, and forehead.


El Nico had a hangover and needed eggs, so we went to Eat Well, where we did just that. Two of the attractive waiters decided to spend time groping each other in the middle of the restaurant, so we got distracted from our conversation. Then we went to the Fluevog store to take advantage of their old-model-shoes-are-cheap sale. Or rather, I went to take advantage of the sale, and he went to keep me company and prevent me from being overwhelmed by all the shoes.

Y'all know I don't handle shoes very well.

Luckily, there was a terribly attractive boy working there to help me pick shoes. He had a bass clef tattooed on his forearm, so we got to talking about how we both play the cello (!), and he showed me some shoes I might like. I ended up spending more on shoes than...ever, I think, and I now own these, something approximately like these but in olive green and with laces, and most importantly these. The website calls them brown, but they sure look purple to me.

The tequila was añejo, meaning aged at least a year, and it tasted amazingly Scotch-y. This was a good thing, as I normally don't like tequila, but I do love me some Scotch. Post tequila, I headed over to a western-themed party at I Can Call You Betty's house, where I attempted to fit the theme with a plaid shirt and a fake moustache. Sadly, the moustache refused to stick to the scraggly stubble on my unshaven lip, so I moved it to my forehead to simulate a unibrow. As I was growing quite a substantial unibrow of my own, it also failed to stick there. The top of my nose, however, was sufficiently hairless. Equally sadly, if not even sadlier, the plaid shirt I borrowed turned out to belong to a cat owner. After an hour or so in it, my eyes started stinging and itching.

All in all, though, a good Saturday. Note the distinct lack of anything productive!

Tea parties

Obviously I don't need to convince y'all that the tax-protesting tea parties are idiotic or that the phrase "teabagging" is hilarious in this context.

I just want to point out that in this slide show of tea parties from the New York Times, I count one face of color. Maybe two, at most.

I've been to a lot of protests, and I ain't never seen no protest that white before, folks. Just sayin'.

Nothing personal...

Hey there, readers of this blog. If you are interested in following the details of a pretty painful personal situation that is going on but not getting posted in this public forum, feel free to add me as a friend on LiveJournal. Just make sure I know who you are, and I'll add you back so you can read my locked updates.

Quick hit

The shitstorm over Amazon's homophobia glitch led me to peruse a few things on their site.

I discovered that pretty much the only bestseller that doesn't make me want to throw up is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Drama masks

Here's the happy:

Vermont legalizes gay marriage
D.C. recognizes gay marriages from states

Here's the sad:

Iraq's Newly Open Gays Face Scorn and Murder

I'm feeling so, so very excited about the state of being gay in this country. And so, so very depressed about the state of being gay in some others.

I will soon write about my fabulous, wonderful seder. But right now I desperately need to read for class, apply for a job (teaching assisting in LGBT studies here), and vacuum up the remnants of said seder. Good night, internet.

Economies of School

This article pleases me. I particularly love this quote from a music professor mother:

“We bought our apartment in 2004,” she said, “and like most new parents we never even thought about the public school zoning issues. We just assumed our son would go to private school.”

Excuse me? Most new parents would never even think about public school!? How outrageously far up your ass can you possibly stick your head? According to the 2000 U.S. census, EIGHTY-FIVE PERCENT OF STUDENTS go to public schools.

Now, I will admit that there can occasionally be advantages to a private school. I never learned what wine to pair with my meals in public school (luckily, I have an innate knowledge of wine pairing just from being gay). I didn't have very many teachers with doctoral degrees. My fencing team (Oh, yes. We had a fencing team. I was on it.) had to practice at the elementary school with no real facilities and water fountains at knee height. We could have used a school lounge with luxurious deep red armchairs and a roaring fire to sit in front of while the butler brought us tea.


Can you tell that I don't actually know what a private school is like? I picture it like England about 75 years ago. But without the depression. And without the damp.


But back to the public school thing: I love that these parents are being forced into it. It's much, much harder to improve the public education system when those adults with the most influence in government/school policy (i.e. with the most money) opt out of the system and then just shake their heads at how inept it is. Put the money that goes into one year of private school tuition for one student into a public school. It'll buy a shitload of textbooks for a shitload of kids. Maybe you could even pay a teacher for them!

Really, I can't figure out why people don't have the urge simply to spend their money efficiently. Use your money to do the most good for the most people. Simple, straightforward, easy to understand.

IOWA

Playlist for today:


1. "Iowa" by Dar Williams

2. "Iowa Stubborn" from The Music Man

3. "I Know All I Owe I Owe Iowa" from State Fair

4. "Iowa Waltz" by Greg Brown

5. "Iowa" by Slipknot (I've never heard this one, actually. Google gave it to me.)

If you have anything else to add to the list, please do. In case you haven't heard, this morning the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously found in favor of Varnum in Varnum v. Brien, legalizing gay marriage in Iowa starting in three weeks.

Unanimously. In California, we won our first marriage case 4-3. I am sitting here with tears streaming down my face, happy tears. Thank you to everyone involved in the case, if you happen to read this. We're going to have to fight to keep it, but for right now I'll just bask in it.