I Cry for You, California

So many of you know that the California Supreme Court has upheld Proposition 8, which essentially tells same-sex couples that they cannot marry. I don't want to get into the wherewithals of the reasons behind the decision, because I do understand that there were other implications involved. I want to talk about my feelings, of course.

I'm saddened, obviously, because Prop 8 from its very inception is nothing but a clear-cut case of bigotry, but also for a more basic reason.

Love.

The state of California has (again) screamed to the rest of the country (world) that you are not allowed to love who you want around here. Has told us that we just can't have people running around willy-nilly, choosing who to fall in love with, wanting to take care of another person for the rest of their lives & devoting the rest of your life to making another person happy. Not without passing the physical. No way, we'd have way too many happy people around, and we certainly can't have that. We need to make it as difficult as possible for anyone "different".

As somebody with so much difficulty with relationships in the past, I simply cannot get my head around why any person/entity/organization would want to deny any person/entity/organization the freedom to love freely who they wish. My marriage was between a man and a woman and so therefore legal. And now over. Good thing we didn't let gays and lesbians marry here in Colorado - would have completely destroyed the sanctity of THAT blessed union.

I'm sad because in a world that is clearly in need of more love, ANYONE has the cojones to try to tell ANYONE who to love. I'm sad because last time I checked, it clearly had a bit about "the pursuit of happiness" in the Constitution, and I'm sad because the Jesus I met in Sunday School when I was a kid had a lot to say about spreading love to EVERYONE, not just people that are the same as you.

Please, people. Love is a beautiful thing. Period.

The Tao of Dude

This is an absolutely true, almost word for word account of a real conversation I had with the boy on the way to school today. Seriously, I can't make this stuff up.

Dude: Mom, I can't decide what I want to be when I grow up. There are three things I want to be.

Mom: Really, what are they?

Dude: Well one is a geographer.

Mom: A geographer?

Dude: Yes, cuz I'm really really good at taking pictures.

Mom: oh, you mean a photographer.

Dude: yes, a pheographer -

Mom: ....

Dude: - I want to be a pheographer and take lots of pictures. Because I like that. I also want to be a police man, cuz I'm really good at talking on the walkie talkie -

Mom: ...

Dude: - and a policeman has to do that all day long. I also want to be a scientist because I'm really smart.

Mom: oh, you are?

Dude: yes, I'm really smart. So I can't decide which one I want to be.

Mom: Why don't you be all three?

Dude: No, that would be too much work. And when I grow up I want to have a dog and a cat and they will miss me too much, I will need to be there to take care of them.

Mom: okay.

Dude: Oh, and you know how you call Poo a bear and me a monkey? Well, it's a really good thing that we're not really animals, and you are just joking about that.

Mom: uh, okay, why?

Dude: Because then we wouldn't be able to go swimming at Daddy's condo. Because they don't allow any pets in the place where they keep the pool. So it's a good thing that in real life, we're really people.

Mom: I see.

OKAY FINE!!! Here are my 25 things about me!! Now everyone stop telling me to do it...

1. I’m a pop-culture garbage can. I remember quotes from movies I saw once five years ago. Sometimes things are so ingrained in my consciousness I don’t even realize I’m quoting a movie or book or what have you.
2. I read and read and read. I’m a huge believer that reading makes you smarter. Doesn’t matter what you read.
3. When people ask me what I do for a living I always feel like it is so pompous to say “I’m a marketing consultant”. The problem is I also feel like it is pompous to say “I’m a writer” or “I’m an event planner”. Though recently I've been able to say "I'm unemployed", which is not pompous at all.
4. I’m still trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up.
5. I ask little kids what they want to be when they grow up, looking for inspiration.
6. I think a lot of people are a lot more racist than they think they are, and its incredibly sad.
7. I don’t think I ever believed in Santa Claus, but I wanted to.
8. I believe there is real power behind Voodoo and Astrology.
9. I’ve never been outside the US. I don’t even have a passport, which is depressing since I’m not getting any younger.
10. I have, however, been to D.C. on more than one occasion, which is a lot like visiting another planet.
11. I strongly believe that life offers us two great gifts: time, and the ability to choose how we spend it.
12. I strongly believe EVERYONE has the power to choose how to lead their own life.
13. Nobody ever seems to believe me when I tell them I don’t really watch TV. It’s true.
14. I do watch a ton of DVDs though.
15. Two years ago I lost 35 lbs and have kept it off.
16. I’m 34 years old and I’m in the best shape of my life. And I don’t even own a Bowflex.
17. I work out almost every day.
18. I don’t like onions.
19. I love tomatoes.
20. It took me forever to come out of the closet, but today I have a healthy, open love for all things geeky.
21. I LOATHE talking on the phone. I’m not sure why, I like to talk to people. I’d seriously rather text or email than talk on the phone though.
22. I think the most important lesson I’ve learned in my life is to pick my battles.
23. I’ve definitely mellowed with age.
24. All I really want to do is have fun and laugh. Life is wayyyyy too short.
25. I can drink a 12 pack of beer by myself. Without falling down. Seriously.
26. I’m a huge smartass, and I don’t like doing as I’m told. Which is why there are 26 items on my list.

On Being Proud to be an American Today (and a Fangirl)

Many, many years ago I worked for the company that owns the Brown Palace Hotel here in Denver, and during that time briefly met numerous and varied celebrities, from politicians (President Clinton) to rock stars (Ozzie Ozborne, The Spice Girls) and some people only famous for being famous (Kato Kaelin). The hotel puts you through a bit of training to learn how to deal with these kinds of people; how to take complaints with grace, how to refrain from being starstruck (never, never ask for an autograph when in uniform) and resources on how to fill some of their stranger requests.

So the point I'm getting at is that I am not easily starstruck, having had exposure to celebrities in this way. With one exception, and that was the ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS Maya Angelou. I've always been a huge fan; love her books and her poetry, the way she has lived her life (what an interesting life she has had!), and her inner strength and her gentle beauty and confidence that shows through in the way that she carries herself. OMG she is a living legend and I can't possibly put into words how her work got me through some dark days indeed.

At any rate, she was visiting Denver on one occasion in the early 90s and she decided to take high tea in the Brown's lobby one afternoon. I had been following her visit with great interest, hoping to get a glimpse of her (I swear it's not called stalking if you work there), and I luckily was walking through the lobby at the time she was enjoying her tea. She was sitting in an armchair with a small throng of adorers surrounding her, HOLDING COURT. Everyone with her was hanging on her every word, absolutely enthralled. And she was not loud, or obnoxious, or showing cleavage (HEAVENS, NO, she's a lady!) or drunk, or anything that normally causes one to pay attention to another but WOW did she have the undivided attention of her listeners.

It's a scene I'll never forget, standing there in the lobby and being reduced to a blubbering mass of goo, thinking "durrrr its Maya Angelou.... durrrr its Maya Angelou.... durrrr its Maya Angelou.... durrrr its Maya Angelou.... durrrr its Maya Angelou.... "

So, as I said, I have a great deal of respect for anything that leaves Ms. Angelou's pen, so when a friend of mine posted the following on Facebook earlier today, I had to jump on it and share it with you all here. It's a great day for America; the walls that have been torn down today are epic and it is my sincere hope that we can all move forward as a nation to abolish wrong and really, truly make us the greatest nation in the world.

A new president cannot have too much good advice, so BBC World News America asked personalities from various walks of life to tell President-elect Barack Obama what they think he should do when he takes up his new job on 20 January. This is what Maya Angelou had to say:

I am a poet. What I'm going to say to you now, however, is not a poem, it doesn't pretend to be. These are ruminations or reflections upon the advent of President Barack Obama.
We needed him. We the race needed him.

We the American people, we needed him. Banks, automobile companies, insurance companies needed him. The stock market in Japan and Germany, in France and Britain, in China, in New York City needed him.

And out of that great need, I believe he came. Barack Obama, Senator Barack Obama came.

Intelligent, facing forward, including everyone, excluding no-one. He came with some charm - not enough to make him seem glib. But what he did is he brought something we cannot live without, and that is hope. He brought the possibility that we might really see ourselves as we really are. A great country.

I believe in the secret part of every heart of an American is the desire to belong to a great country.

I think that President-elect Barack Obama offers us the chance to have a great president with whom we can identify.

Not as a black person, not even as a male, but really as an American citizen who will speak for the voiceless, who will not forget the poor black or the poor white, who will remember the out-of-work Asian and the dislocated Spanish-speaking person.

This is a man who I think I would like to hear speak to people in hospitals, he has intelligence and compassion. Those two elements are not always to be found in the same person.

It is said to whom much is given from them much will be expected. I believe we have been given a great president. I believe he needs us probably more than we even needed him.

I believe that each of us, each American, has got to pay back or pay it forward. I believe each of us has got to do something to help us become more of what James Baldwin called these yet-to-be United States.

I think that each of us can find a place to give some time... I think these seem to be small things but they accumulate. And I do believe that good done anywhere is good done everywhere.

I think that our new president deserves all our help. I believe we Americans, we deserve the most we can get. I believe we are a great people and I believe we will have a chance to show it.

When I see the cabinet President-elect Obama has chosen, I realise he's very serious. He really means to bring together a team who will match the mountain of work - we have men and women in that cabinet who match the mountains.

They may not be all that cunning politically but we've had quite enough of that, I think.

They may be more forthcoming, and not a minute too soon.

I know what an American is. You can say it in these three words: Yes I can.

I can be better than you imagine. And if you force me, I can be worse than you can imagine. Yes I can.

In a climate where all men and women are known to be equals, "yes I can" speaks for the brahmin in Boston and the theologian in Nashville, Tennessee. It speaks for the rabbi at the hall of tolerance in Los Angeles and it speaks for the imam in the largest mosque in the United States. It speaks for us all.

Advice

Lisa: I need your help!

Louie: What?

Lisa: I need a new idea for a nice place downtown for a double dinner date.

Louie: Are you finally taking me out on a date? :D

Lisa: If I say yes, will you give me good advice?

Louie: SHAMELESS!!

Happy Festivus

Happy Hanukkah!

Oh, that was last month...

Merry Christmas!

Dammit, that was a while ago too...

Kwanzaa..?

Missed that too.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Oh, wait..

Crap! Why am I so behind on all these holiday wishes?

Hold on, I gotta throw away some of these empty Goose bottles. BRB