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Can you believe this?



Actually, I can. I never said that what I wrote here was appropriate for the kiddies.

It's been a long day - up at 5:30AM, worked all day, drove to the in-laws' house two and a half hours away after that. And now, here I sit. Exhausted. Hopefully, I'll muster up the energy for something relevant tomorrow. Until then, if you're under 17, make sure your parents are reading over your shoulder, embarrassing you because you don't want the cool kids to see you with YOUR PARENTS.

I missed out on a lot of good movies and free food because I had the required "I'm too cool for my parents" phase when I was a teenager.

Random jottings

I'm borrowing from dear Mikey (who I sincerely hope is feeling better) for my post title, and now, on with the song.

1) Wouldn't you know it, the week I tell Casey Stratton he should get on to last.fm and, oh, by the way, artists can upload their music to it and potentially get more exposure, the damn site has the worst server issues it has had in months. Scrobbling has been intermittent at best and apparently, his music won't get on line for a while. Motherf*ckers! (the non sexy ones, thankyouverymuch.) The scrobbling issue seems to have sorted itself out, but who knows when his music will be available for streaming.

2) I slept until 11AM today (well, not quite, but nearly.) I haven't done that since college or since the last time I was sick.

3) I got the CD Evil Dead: The Musical (Original Cast Recording) for my birthday. While I'm not one to get into Broadway showtunes (movie showtunes are an entirely different story), I'm finding this to be right up my alley. Of course, having zombies in it doesn't hurt it one iota. The duet between Scott and Ash entitled "What The Fuck Was That?" is a definite highlight. A real earworm, I tell ya.

4) That having been said, I've had Evil Dead out from Netflix for a week and a half now and I have yet to finish it. It's not as good as I remember it being.

All right, off to finish that movie. Or read my book. Who knows what I'll get up to.

Loose teeth and lightning bugs

Today has been a watershed day for Anna. As I got into the car after work tonight (Heidi and Anna came to pick me up), Heidi said that Anna had an announcement. That announcement was " I HAVE A LOOSE TOOTH." And she does. One of her bottom center teeth is loose - quite loose, actually - and this is a big thing for Anna. It was kind of hurting the other day and we asked her if she thought it was loose, but she said it wasn't. But today it is. She is alternately weirded out by it and excited by the prospect of money for a lost tooth.

She's growing up, that's for certain. A loose tooth is another of those inevitable rites of passage. Funny how I hardly remember any of mine.

And then tonight, we followed my dad's lead and went out hunting for lightning bugs (aka fireflies) in the front yard. They did this while Heidi and I were in Chicago last week, and she's been asking me for several days to do this. Well, tonight it just worked out that the weather was decent and I wasn't exhausted from work. They were everywhere, I tell ya - although it seems like there were more of them when I was a kid. Whether that's scientifically quanitifiable or just memories from my childhood playing tricks on me I'm not certain. Predictably, she wanted me to catch them and put them in her hand, but the bugphobe in her quickly tired of that.

Chasing fireflies with my daughter reminded me of the simpler things in life. I know it seems trite, but it's true. Watching them flash was so wondrous to her, and watching her watch them with such a fresh perspective was amazing to me. Of course, after we were done, she wanted to know what a baby firefly looked like. We did a quick Google search and found this. And in so doing, I found my new desktop wallpaper.

(picture via Wikipedia)

Waxing political

Heidi already blogged this, but seeings as we don't have *all* the same readers, I thought I would as well. First of all, watch this:



Then, follow this link and send a message to your Senator and tell them that it is imperative that they pass the federal hate crimes bill. Even though our idiotic illustrious President has threatened to veto it, those of us in the reality-based community need to demonstrate that hate of any type will simply not be tolerated.

Then do yourself a favor and go buy the version of "All Through The Night" used in the ad here.

Making the best of a bad situation

This is via Caryle, and it made me laugh out loud tonight after work. I totally love geeky humor like this.

So You're Hosting An Alien Embryo...

Of course, I take issue with several things.

1) Everyone knows that once you have the facehugger on you, you pretty much lose consciousness and aren't able to host parties or take in food. Kane in the original Alien is pretty much in the sick bay the entire time the facehugger is attached to him.

2) Even if you were conscious, the facehugger only hangs on long enough to implant the embryo - falling off and dying shortly thereafter. And then it's only a short time to sternum fracture and the appearance of the chestburster.

3) The embryo implanted in the mediastinum DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THE FACEHUGGER. I mean, why would it? The facehugger is just the means to implant the embryo. The embryo looks like this:

Of course, I'm a total geek about all things Alien, so sue me.

But still, what a great laugh it was!!

P.S. In surfing for photos for this post (and doing general research) I discovered that Alien 3 (arguably the most maligned installment in the series) can be read as an AIDS allegory. It's past time to watch that movie again - especially the extended cut on the Alien Quadrilogy.

And then, there's this craziness:

Subconscious craziness

I slept like a rock last night, but I dreamt like crazy as well. I don't frequently remember my dreams, but the ones I do remember are usually doozies. Last night was no exception.

My dreams frequently have celebrities in them - like the time I dreamt that I was at a Stevie Nicks concert (because her cover of Led Zeppelin's "Rock & Roll" was playing on my iPod as I slept) only when I went up to meet Stevie, she looked like Estelle Getty from "The Golden Girls" (!) Last night I dreamt I was at a concert and Casey Stratton was there with my friend Lucas (who has a great album available on iTunes - go check it out!) and another performer who I can't remember. In any event, we were in a pretty big arena - probably like the Auditorium Theater in Chicago or CY Stephens here in Ames - not the coffeehouses that Casey will frequently play. The place was so big that I remember having to sit BEHIND the stage! Anyway, they each played a solo set, and then played a few numbers together at the end. I only remember one song.

It was Diana Ross' "Take Me Higher."

I swear to God I wasn't listening to my iPod while I slept last night. I don't even remember the last time I'd even THOUGHT of that song, let alone listened to it.

Of course, it prompted a huge Diana Ross listening party this morning as I did my morning surf and e-mail check. And "Take Me Higher" got played 3 times.

The insanity of the subconscious sometimes baffles even me. But what baffles me even more than that is that this is the only instance of the song (in a non-live format) that I could find on YouTube. Diana Ross hilariously set to the Care Bears Movie.

Clearing the jungle

There's a spot in my backyard that I swear is tapped into a natural well of Miracle-Gro. And of course, it's really nothing but weeds and thistles and junior trees - things I don't want growing. Despite all my efforts to keep it under control (mostly me saying things like "I wish it would just stop growing!" and other equally ineffective things) it almost always gets away from me. For your consideration:


So tonight I finally got out the hedgetrimmers, put on jeans and gloves and went out and cut down all the brush. It is not my choice of activities, but it really needed to be done. And here as I said to Heidi, is the fruit of my fucking labors:

Beautiful if I do say so myself. Of course, it wouldn't be me operating a power tool if I didn't get the cord caught in the hedgetrimmer (I did.) So now I have to try to figure out either a) how to fix it or b) where I can buy a new one. So we'll see. I sweat like a pig while I was out there cutting it down (mostly due to the jeans - but it was either that or get stuck by the thistles) but it feels good to have it done. For now. Give it a couple weeks and it'll be back.

My own private Dagobah. Or maybe Endor. It's hard telling.

Joan knits

Heidi found this on her page-a-day knitting calendar and I'm so in love with having a functional scanner again that I just had to post it.

I can only imagine Joan knitting!!

Logic of animals

Every now and again, I rediscover Animal Logic. They aren't a band that I think of often, although I had the cassette tape in extremely heavy rotation my last year of pharmacy school (1994-95.) I was late arriving to them, although "There's A Spy (In The House of Love)" was a mild radio hit during my senior year of high school. I remember my friend Kelly giving me the tape on a trip to Chicago - her brother or someone worked at a radio station and had one of those FOR PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY - NOT FOR RESALE copies of the tape. She thought I would like it because it reminded her of Carly Simon, an artist whose music I was enjoying quite a lot at the time.

I liked "There's a Spy..." enough, but I never really got into the album - I'm not sure why. But by the time 1995 got here, I was totally ready for it apparently. I couldn't get enough of it - especially the jaunty little "I'm Through With Love" with its clever little lyrics describing the singer's bad experiences in relationships ("a burning torch I'm carrying against my will" is one of my favorites!) And at a concise 38 minutes, it is just the right length - a refreshing contrast to today's bloated albums that feel the need to fill up the 80 minutes of a CD just for the sake of being able to do it.

I just love Deborah Holland's voice - it's soaring yet understated but always clear and beautiful. Their music is difficult to categorize though -- is it pop? Kind of, but not quite. Is it jazz? Not really, because it's too poppy. Perhaps that's why I like it so much, it's a bit of an amalgam of a jazz and pop without being that dreadful smooth jazz that I so dislike. Her solo work is not really in the vein of Animal Logic - she has some mp3s posted on her web site, and while I like them, it's just not Animal Logic.

It's a pity that they never really broke through to mainstream success, although with the sound they have, they really had an uphill battle at the changing face of radio at the end of the 80s. Pop was on its way out and there certainly wasn't space for jazz/pop fusion as rap made more inroads and grunge was just around the bend. They recorded a second album called II which I never saw in stores and was, unfortunately, out of print by the time I was listening to the first album constantly in 1994. I managed to snap most of it up on Audiogalaxy, but alas, not all of it. I have never listened to it as closely as the first album, but perhaps I will listen to it in bed tonight.

As I mentioned, II is out of print, as is Animal Logic, but both are available used on Amazon for very reasonable prices. I'd recommend picking up the first one for sure. The second one is a bit more hit and miss, but the first is an essential component of the soundtrack of my life, even if I don't think of it all that often.

With that, I'm off to bed. It's late and I should be in bed, but what the hell? It's Father's Day, Bedelia. Now where's my cake?

Back to life, back to reality

A quick one-off before work today. I have so many items in my Google Reader to read that I'm tempted to just go through and mark them all as read - except for friends' blogs natch. That's what happens when you step away from the world for a few days. I'm feeling a bit like I'm burning up on re-entry into the atmosphere, but I'm sure it'll all be fine once I get out the door and to work. I'm working the least desirable of all shifts today so that helps nothing. Plus I was irritated to go back to my regular work clothes rather than my fun Chicago clothes!

So we'll see how I do. Like I said, I'm sure it will be fine, but it's always hard to go back to work after vacation.

True Colors shining through

Well, we're back in one piece - a lot has happened since last I blogged. I will defer to Heidi for the details on the dance recital (a total of 7 hours of recital - not exactly how I envisioned spending my 35th, but you know, you do what you have to for your kids) and Capital City Pride. However, I did have the singularly interesting experience of having Anna announce her intentions to use the bathroom, and then taking her into Blazing Saddle to use the restroom. It's not often one ushers a 5 year old girl through a gay bar to go use the restroom, but that was just what we did. As I entered, I was explaining to the guy at the door that I just had to take her to the bathroom, and he was all nice and went on to explain that he wasn't with the bar (I figured he was) but people had been bringing kids in all morning!

That night, my mom and dad came and picked up Anna and took her back to their house where she would spend the next three days. We then tried to adjust to the suddenly very quiet and very empty house. We finished up a few odds and ends and then went to bed pretty early as we were getting up the next day to head to Chicago for the True Colors Tour.

We ended up getting off to a later-than-we-liked start on Monday, but fortunately, we were only going to Naperville that night which is one of the most western or all the burbs. Once we got there, we checked into the hotel and because I had my hands full of other stuff, inadvertently left the suitcase in the hall, which prompted Heidi to ask if it was "another suitcase in another hall." Have I mentioned how much I love this woman? The fact that she would not only get a joke like that but had the idea to make that joke herself just endears her more to me every day. Of course, because we are dorks, we had to take a picture of it.

After that, we headed out to dinner and browsed the very burby downtown of Naperville. We decided that we couldn't really live there - a bit too trendy for our tastes and while the downtown is cute, it's also a bit full of itself and besides, the traffic is about 100 times what the roads are meant to handle.

The next day we spent in the Lakeview District - specifically the portion known colloquially as Boystown. It is an incredibly vibrant neighborhood with a lot of great shops and restaurants. There are also many cool residential buildings - most of the being refurbished townhouses and brownstones that just appeal so much to the part of me that despises all that is sterile and barren about suburbia. We just fell in love with the area - it's so cool because you're in Chicago, but you almost don't feel like it. Every now and again, you catch a glimpse of a skyscraper (usually the John Hancock Tower) and you're reminded that you're in a metropolis of 3,000,000 people (and that's just the city of Chicago by itself!)

I love the Lakeview District - it's a must visit every single time we go to Chicago now, if for no other reason than Borderline Music which had some ultra rare (and also very expensive) Madonna picture discs - one of which I might have considered purchasing had I had excessive money just laying around waiting to be spent. It's a very Madonna-centric store, but it's also much more than that. I always forget how much fun it is to flip through CDs and vinyl - especially when it's not at Target or Wal-Mart. The owner of the store is very nice and a huge Madonna fan who still doesn't think that Re-Invention is going to get a DVD release (I asked.)

After picking up the new Erasure and a CD-R of Madge's 12" remixes from the 80s, we walked around the neighborhood, hit Gaymart Chicago (another of the must-stops) as well as Chicago Comix (where I struck out in my search for other zombie figures) and finally a store whose name I forget but had a lot of Buddhist and Hindu jewelry and figurines etc. I picked up a pocket Ganesha - he is the remover of obstacles in Hinduism and I figured if ever anyone needed obstacles removed, it would be me. However, I found out that he is also the creator of obstacles, so who knows.

The time for the concert was drawing close so we headed downtown as the concert was at the Auditorium Theatre on Congress Parkway. We ate at the Artists' Cafe which was just around the corner from the venue which was quite good - although I was a bit worried that we wouldn't make it out of there by 6 as the service was a bit slow. But we really had no problem, so it was all for naught.

We arrived at the concert only a bit early and they started pretty much on time. Our seats were rockin - only about 26 rows back and smack dab in the center. This is the first concert that I've been to where more than one act was on the bill, and it was also in a smaller venue than I am used to being in. The lesser known bands played first - at our show, it was The Cliks and The Dresden Dolls. The Cliks were very Green Day-ish, kind of emo and I just wasn't sure what to make of them. Despite Margaret Cho's incredible enthusiasm over them, I just didn't find them all that good. The Dresden Dolls were a bit of a different story - they were relatively new to me in that I knew of them but not really any of their songs. Well, they played a couple of really good songs, one of which I ended up buying from iTunes tonight - that being "Coin Operated Boy" which I guess is one of their better known songs.

The third act in the set was one of the ones I had been waiting for - that being the one and only Deborah Harry. At 62 years old, she's easily the oldest of the performers. She's also been around the longest of any of them counting her time with Blondie. Oddly, she played nary a Blondie song and stuck to her own solo catalog which is, admittedly, a bit spotty and has not been very successful chart wise. So instead of "Call Me" and "Heart of Glass" we got "French Kissin'," "Rush Rush," and "The Jam Was Moving." She played several tracks from her upcoming album Necessary Evil ("Two Times Blue" is available from iTunes US now)which will be out in August and if the tracks she played are any indication of the sound of the album, it will be her best and most accessible solo work yet. The funniest part of her set came, however, from my wife, who leaned over to me and said "She's like Anne Murray, only hard!!" One review described her as watching Florence Henderson rock out - mostly due to a very unfortunate haircut (see picture.)

My biggest complaint about the first half of the show was the sound - it was about twice as loud as it needed to be and the instruments were so loud that you often had a hard time hearing the vocals.

After a 15 minute intermission, Rosie O'Donnell came out and spoke for about half an hour - she was very good and very funny. She introduced the next artist - the one Heidi had been waiting for - Erasure. All I can say about their roughly 45 minute set was WOW! Their performance was worth the price of admission all on its own. It was hit heavy - playing only three songs from their new record - but they had the crowd on their feet and dancing and singing along like none of the other bands had. When they played "Drama!" it was fabulous to hear a huge portion of the crowd yelling out the "Guilty!" part in the chorus. Crowd favorites "A Little Respect" and "Chains of Love" were fabulous and they ended their set with "Oh L'Amour" (just as Heidi had predicted.)

Cyndi Lauper, the tour organizer, was the last act in the line-up and she opened with a real head-scratcher - that being "Hole In My Heart (All The Way To China)" - her first flop after a string of hits. But it was a great live performance and reminded me of a song I had all but forgotten about. She played a bit of an odd set - a couple new songs as well as hits like "The Goonies Are Good Enough," "She Bop" (slowed way down in a way similar to how she performed it when she was touring with Cher,) and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (although it seemed a bit perfunctory.) In addition to the songs, she gave an impassioned speech begging for support for the Matthew Shepherd Act aka the federal hate crimes bill. The final song of the night was, of course, "True Colors" which most everyone (save Deborah!! - Heidi said she probably had to take her pills or something) came out and joined Cyndi in. Here's a great shot I got of it.


After the show, we decided to follow the energy (although I was hesitant) and go out to this bar that had had flyers at the show promoting their after-show Erasure party. The place was called Neo and is located on Clark Street south of Lakeview in the district of Lincoln Park. We initially thought it would be a gay bar considering its proximity to Boystown and the plentiful amounts of Erasure being played. As it turns out, it was not, although they are open about who goes there and pretty much anyone can dance with anyone (after getting home, I found out it was a goth bar which, in hindsight, totally makes sense.) We had to walk DOWN A DARK ALLEY to get to the entrance which pretty much made me want to turn around and go back to the car, but Heidi, ever the adventurer, pushed us forward and we went and had a couple of drinks and ended up dancing our butts off to new wave music (mostly Erasure, but some Blondie, New Order, Pet Shop Boys and others thrown into the mix.) It was a FANTASTIC time. We met a guy there named Kevin or Evan or Ewan or something like that who, of course, thought I was gay, but when he found out that Heidi and I were not only a couple but married and married for 10 years (!) he confided in her that I was a hottie. *blushes* Heidi and I were there till around 1AM but then went back to our hotel - a mere 45-50 minute drive to Naperville.

It was a great time and I'm so glad that Heidi pushed us to go to the bar because I have not danced with such reckless abandon in so long. And it felt so good. I highly recommend it. It made this 35 year old married guy feel like not such a stick in the mud.

By the time we got up today, we had nothing to look forward to other than 5+ hours on the road home. I drove the whole way, we stopped in Iowa City for some coffee and wi-fi and other such things (as well as a needed break.) We made it home around 5pm today and my parents were here with Anna waiting for us to come home. It was so good to see her - and she was very happy to see us as well. We all went out to The Cafe to belatedly celebrate my birthday and then it was back to reality. Getting Anna ready for bed, reading her books, doing the dishes. All those sexy things that still wait for you when you get back from vacation.

So tomorrow, it's back to work and it's probably all there just as I left it. But I have learned a thing or two from these last couple days. Even though (as Heidi says) it's a very trite new age phrase, I am going to try to live "in the moment" more - doing so while we were in Chicago was so refreshing and so liberating. And even though I'm sure to suffer some re-entry trauma tomorrow (I almost always do), I told myself that I would take a little of the experiences I had in Chicago and take them with me to my everyday life.

Finally - here we are - a bit fuzzy, but it's us at the concert.

In the year 3535

...and this man is still alive. 35 years old today and really, I feel fabulous. That is not to say that every day is a bed of roses, but overall, life is good. It feels weird to be 35 - I remember a pharmacist that I worked with when I was in college who had always predicted that his 35th year would be the best year of his life. I don't recall if it turned out that way, but man, that's peaking way too early if you ask me. I've said it so many times that people are probably sick of it, but I just love being in my 30s. They are so much better than my 20s - perhaps because I spent so much of my 20s in school, but more than that, I also spent most of my 20s feeling awful and depressed. Also, I feel like once I hit 30, I was really and truly an adult. It certainly helped that by the time I was 30, I had a child. Not to say that having a child legitimizes you or that you have to have a child to be a true adult (that was only true at my grandma's house - until you had a kid of your own, you sat at the kids' table), but it sure makes you grow up fast.

The party was last night - it was a small one with just Heidi and Anna and Heidi's mom who is here for Anna's dance recital this weekend. We had a cake that looked like it had been decorated by a zombie (how apropos!) but was very tasty.

There were actually 35 candles on the cake. We had 31, and since we were so close, Heidi got 4 matches and put them on. We nearly burned down the house.

I also got a homemade T-shirt that says "What would Cher do?" that I can wear to Pride tomorrow. I know, it's cheesy and stereotyped, but it wouldn't be Pride without it. I saw it on Cafepress, but 23 bucks for a shirt that will immediately become a bed shirt? I just couldn't justify it. The one I have is not nearly as colorful, but it will do.

Like I said, being 35 is kind of weird - I'm half way through my beloved 30s, inching closer to 40 (as I'm sure Jeff and I will say when that day arrives, "I hate being 40!" just like Barbra "hated being 60!") But growing older doesn't bother me all that much - it's a privilege denied to many. And rather than declare that my 35th year will be the best year of my life, I will instead declare it to be the best year so far. Each year just keeps on getting better, I tell you. Each year, I learn more about myself, open more doors, allow myself to be me in ways that I never thought I could. Each year brings an even clearer realization of who I am and what my true "purpose" is for lack of a better word. Although I have had setbacks (as anyone might), I wouldn't change a thing, as a wise person once said (Kylie, I think.)

So here's to 35 years under the old belt, but please don't spank me!

I Am Legend

While not quite a zombie story, Richard Matheson's I Am Legend is definitely a piece of post-apocalyptic fiction that has zombie-ish elements to it. But this time, instead of a zombie apocalypse, it's a vampire apocalypse. I read this short story for the first time a few years back and was a bit underwhelmed. For all the hype that had surrounded it, I just didn't really feel the horror of it - perhaps it was the victim of over inflated expectations. So about a year ago, I read it again and found it completely engaging - scary in just the right way. So who knows what changed along the way.

Anyway, via Ghost in the Machine, I found a link to the teaser trailer for movie version that has been talked about for probably 10+ years now. After going through several stars and several directors, Will Smith is playing Robert Neville. The movie bears very little resemblance to the book, but this is just the teaser, Overall, I am fairly impressed. Will Smith seems to be playing it pretty much straight - if ever a movie role did not call for his wink-wink brand of humor, it would be I Am Legend. And besides, I despise it when a movie that is supposed to be scary plays it for laughs.

So we'll see. And I'll definitely see this movie.

I'm beautiful, damn it!

Last day of work today until next Thursday, so YAY for that. It was a good day overall. But really, the best part was after work, when Heidi decided that I needed to go out to Younkers and shop for some new clothes, especially with us going to Chicago next week and going to the concert, we wanted to have something special to wear - something new and fun and not necessarily cut from the same cloth that I'm used to.

I didn't think that Younkers would be the place to break out of a clothing rut - really, it kind of caters to professional men and golfers. I know that sounds bizarre, but it really is true! But honestly, I found some pretty cool stuff. Actually, scratch that, Heidi found some pretty cool stuff for me. Well, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves - sans glasses and with a little requisite hamming for the camera.



The black T-shirt is from the Claiborne for men line. And the pants - I think they're from the same line. What I love about the T-shirt is how it hugs my body - I'm so used to wearing things that are a little bit baggy because, well, I'm not as thin as I used to be. That's mostly a good thing as I was a real rail when I was in high school/college, and overall, I think I look better now, but a few too many Starbucks (and about 20 pounds of Prozac if you want to be honest about it) have left me with a bit more weight than I'd really like. But these clothes are very slimming, and I don't feel self conscious at all. It makes me want to stand up straighter, which I really need to do anyway. Tall people always want to slouch, much like in the story Memily.

I also purchased a shirt to go over the top of it for the show - and here's the results of that purchase.

Ooh, I can't stop loving myself, as Bette Midler once said (or something like that anyway)! That's probably very vain and my Midwestern humility and solid Lutheran upbringing makes me feel guilty for looking at those pictures and thinking, dang, I look good! But it's the truth. I usually hate pictures of me, which is why I hardly ever use them as avatars - not that I think I'm unattractive, but mostly because I can't stand to look at myself on all the web sites I frequent. But I think these pictures are really good.

I'm pumped for the show, to be out on the arm of MLW (in shoes that will make her taller than me.) We've got some fun things lined up, but mostly, we're just going to enjoy being together while Mom and Dad watch Anna for a few days. Oddly, I'm not worried about how Anna will do at my parents' house, I worry more about them!

I'm still here

I fear I might have lost all my faithful readers as I haven't blogged in a week. I have kind of needed a break from it - mostly because I've been busy at work and other areas of life, but fear not, I will return sooner rather than later.

I love my Amazon

...but do not cross the Amazon - especially when you hit a hot button issue with her (well, and me as well.) Since LJ was not posting last night for reasons completely unexplained, she ended up posting to her Mac page (or whatever it is) the result of opening up the paper, hoping to see the letter to the editor that we had written praising Anna's preschool. Instead, we opened up and saw not one but two letters full of homophobic vitriol and bigotry - brought on by the recent presence of Faith in America in Ames. As you might imagine this did not sit well with the missus.

You can read the post that LJ would not let her post here.

Heidi will always be the trailblazer among the two of us - but I am always more than happy to follow.

Perhaps the Faith In America ad that got me the most was the one on the back page of the Sunday paper a couple weeks ago (you can see it here) - it featured a cross full of smiling people and at the top, it asked "Do you know someone who is homosexual? - Would you give your life for them?" And at the bottom is says "Christ did." Now, I don't even categorize myself as a Christian these days - thanks mostly to the hateful zealotry and unquestionable bigotry of the religious right - but that got even to me.

As I have detailed in many posts here, I find myself in a strange position - a straight man whose tribe really is amongst gay men. And those hateful words are directed at every single one of those friends who are so dear to me - even the ones I do not know as well. Comments like "That's so gay!" - especially when uttered by straight people - even bother me - one would never find it appropriate to say "That's so black!" or "That's so Jewish!" which IS THE SAME DAMN THING. My natural tendency toward no-conflict-thankyouverymuch a lot of times keeps me from saying something of which I am particularly ashamed this morning.

For those who don't like my diatribe, too fucking bad. It's something I feel strongly about and as I've been up this morning, thinking about how Heidi came to bed at 3AM last night because she couldn't sleep and how this kind of crap is still ok to say in our society, I've just gotten more riled up.

This is why I feel passionate about working with the gay community - especially if it can involve work with HIV/AIDS. The gay community deserves our compassion and certainly doesn't deserve what I'm sure they are used to getting from a good chunk of the straight community.