Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A Right Delayed is a Right Denied - Martin Luther King, Jr.





I can handle losing, when I go up against an opponent (physically, verbally, or even just playing a game) who outwits, outplays and outlasts. When we both give our all, and that day, theirs is just better than mine. I can be happy for them (well, eventually, anyway...I'm not a saint!) and go on with my day. But, when the losses come at the hands of people who are uninformed, misled, or just plain ignorant, it drives me BONKERS...especially when my side is so clearly right. :)


This week, I've seen the most ridiculous arguments regarding Amendment 1 in North Carolina. When one person Tweeted about marriage equality, and said "if you disagree, don't follow me", a person replied "Just because people don’t agree with you? How can you be so narrow-minded?" (!!!) Since when is equality for all (something we are all born with) "narrow-minded"??


Or, how about the comment I saw this morning, comparing marriage equality and homosexuality to stealing and murder?


[and I quote] 'Those who say, "people should be able to do what they want" & have a problem w/banning unholy things, how come you don't have a problem w/murder or stealing being banned. "Thy shall not kill or steal" but I don't hear you having a problem w/that. How come people can't kill & steal from whomever they want? Do God's will b/c Everything "You" want isn't good for you or us.') This was followed by: “I’m just glad it passed!”


I mean, really...


Or, when a similar vote was on the ballot in Maine, in 2009 - I saw a Facebook status that said:


“Yes on 1! Stand for marriage between one man and one woman!!”


As you might expect, this person had like-minded friends who posted notes supporting this stance, but the one that stood out to me was this one, which said:


"C'mon Christians! Get out there and vote... Don't vote your conscience. Don't FOLLOW your heart - it'll steer you wrong. (Above all, the heart is deceitful and wicked...) LEAD your heart, and vote according to Gods principals. That would be a resounding "YES", on 1!!”


It got me thinking – whoa! That’s really what we’re up against, isn’t it? I was glad that very shortly after I saw that, I happened upon this:


http://www.melwhite.org/blog/91


…which basically says (quote): “I will no longer debate the issue of homosexuality in the church with anyone. I will no longer engage the biblical ignorance that emanates from so many right-wing Christians about how the Bible condemns homosexuality, as if that point of view still has any credibility. I will no longer discuss with them or listen to them tell me how homosexuality is “an abomination to God,” about how homosexuality is a “chosen lifestyle,” or about how through prayer and “spiritual counseling” homosexual persons can be “cured.” Those arguments are no longer worthy of my time or energy.” –Mel White


What I know for sure is that, someday, we will reach the point where “with liberty and justice for all” actually applies to ALL, and not “some”. I just hope and pray that we don’t do irreparable damage to each other in the struggle to get there.


God is LOVE, people. Doesn’t it make your heart sing to believe that? It does mine.

Friday, December 10, 2010

My Beautiful Sister

Stop, Thief!!

During a recent visit to my sister’s home, I had a conversation with her which has been on my mind ever since.

First, for your reading pleasure, a little background: My sister has lived in faraway distant lands for what has essentially amounted to all of our adult lives. Selfishly speaking, this has sucked. I miss her. Of course, I’m thrilled for her, and the opportunities she’s enjoyed. What’s been challenging for me is that she is the one person on this planet (the one single solitary person) who SEES me (who I ‘let’ see me?). They say that siblings share the closest relationship possible. I agree. Parents: of course, they are close – unconditional love, and all that good stuff. (And, yes, Mom, I know you see me, too. ) Friends: I know that some people’s friends ARE their families, and I surely have some of the dearest friends known to man. I adore them. Still, there’s a line that none of them can cross – a place where only my sister can be. She knows when something is wrong…if my actions don’t jive with the words that are coming out of my mouth. The fact that she hasn’t lived in the same city with me has meant that the only person to hold me accountable for the choices and decisions I’ve made has been me, myself, and I. And, therein lies the rub.

See, when you’re in a relationship with someone who doesn’t share the same level of commitment as you do, it becomes necessary to develop an ability to use a large amount of creativity when talking about said relationship. Especially when you’re someone like me, who tends to worry a bit too much about what other people think. (See? Now I’m worrying that I just told you all that, and I want to defend myself…I don’t “always” do it…I “really” know that what others think is their own perception, and doesn’t carry as much weight as my own thoughts and feelings when making decisions for myself…) It took me a long time to get to the point where I was ready to walk away from my ex, because I had worked really hard to make sure that the relationship people “saw” was what I wanted them to see. My ex was my physical ideal – tall, well built, very fit, great smile, attractive – we looked cute together. I liked that. (I actually used to joke that our relationship proved Darwin’s Theory of Evolution – because no one would put up with an ugly dude who pulled the shit my ex did. lol) When he met people he was sweet, friendly, warm, charismatic – everyone liked him. The trouble was, he had no interest in developing friendships with anyone outside of our relationship. He liked my family just fine…he just didn’t care to join us for holidays, or participate in the birthday celebrations… Because he’d met most of the family on one occasion or another (he couldn’t avoid EVERY holiday after all), they all had a perception of him based on the way he acted when they met – which was that warm friendly guy I described a moment ago. So, I made a bit of a trap for myself. Inside I knew things would never work between us if he didn’t care to be involved with my family or friends (and there was the other minor issue of his being a lying cheater) – but I needed my family and friends to believe that I was with this great guy, so I stayed a lot longer than I might have otherwise. If Kjersti had been here, I could NEVER have carried on the façade as long as I did.

So, back to the part where I was visiting my sister. The ex’s name came up in casual conversation – and I acted the way I always do when his name comes up – sort of joking around, using humor to cover the truth. She wasn’t having it. Her reaction was instant and fueled by the fierce loyalty that only a sibling can muster. She said “I don’t even want to hear his name. For you, maybe there’s grey area, but for me, it’s black and white. He stole the life you should have had.”

Those words have stuck in my mind. See…I was with him on and off – mostly on - for 10 years, from the ages of 29 to 39. That biologically ticking time bomb (er..I mean ‘clock’) ticked away the entire time. During that decade, virtually everyone I knew got married and started families, including my sister. She has created a wonderful family life for herself, and as of now I still don’t have that for me. I’ve always said I wanted kids. I’ve always assumed I’d have them “someday”. In her eyes, he took that from me. I don’t give him quite that much power – I was an adult participant who, for whatever reason (there are probably many – see follow up ‘full circle’ moment in the next paragraph) was not ready to be in a ‘real’ relationship at that time, so I settled for one that looked good on the outside. I got to do all the regular things that girls like to do: shop for a boyfriend on Valentine’s day, set my desk up at the office with cute boyfriend pictures, go on dates to the movies, snuggle up have lazy Saturday mornings at home…and I just sort of let the time pass. Her words put a whole new perspective on it for me. I’ll never know now what “might have been” had I walked away sooner than I did – but I learned that I’m not willing to settle for a pretend relationship any more either.

As things in life often do, this came full circle for me. My absent father and I have never had any type of real relationship. Over the years, on numerous occasions, I’ve reached out to him in an effort to try to know him. Although I never felt it should have been up to me to do so, I swallowed my pride did it anyway. On each and every one of those occasions, he’s dropped the ball. I call, we talk, he promises we will get together “soon” and I don’t hear back from him again. Recently, my mother got involved and suggested that we drive to meet him for brunch one day. (He only lives a few hours away…and has NEVER lived further than that in my entire life.) At first, I considered it. Then, after thinking about my sister and her clear view of the relationship I had with my ex, it all snapped into place: I’d be doing the exact same thing with my biological father – ‘creating’ some sort of relationship where really, there was none. Unless HE is the one to reach out to me, and HE is the one to say whatever it takes, I want to know you, and learn about you - - it would be pointless. He’s shown me exactly who he is. First, by being absent throughout my childhood and then, by repeatedly choosing not to maintain contact with me every time I’ve reached out to him. So, I’m not going to just offer myself to him. He hasn’t earned the right to know me. He may never earn that right. But what I know for sure is, I’m not willing to “create” another relationship for the first absent man in my life, who, with his absence, may have stolen the life I should have had.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Monday, July 12, 2010

Long Time No Blog






I haven't written a new blog in so long - I thought it was time to stop by and say hello. Lots has been going on - but since I use Facebook daily (Ummm, yeah...it's really a pretty sad addiction. Don't judge me.)I've felt like it would be redundant to post here after talking about anything interesting that happened to me on my FB status already. Then, I gave myself a pep talk. I mean, come on - my life, my existence cannot be summed up in daily two sentence status updates, right? Right!

The most noteable happening on which I can report is that an event I've been co-planning for the last year has happened. The Second Annual ANT Colony BASH took place here in St. Paul, the weekend of June 25-27th. It just so happened that Twin Cities Pride was going on that weekend also. We had a GREAT turnout for our event, and I had the opportunity to meet several people from the blog that I hadn't met in person before...as well as reunite with several great friends who I met last year in Seattle (at the first BASH). It was a crazy busy weekend, and by Sunday I was so sleep deprived I was in a bit of a haze. Thanks to my cousin Josh and his company, AV for You, we had a great flat screen monitor at our party on which to display some video and online fun during our lunch - and he provided the audio (mic, speakers,etc..) for our comedy show that night, too. ANT and Jason Dudey performed and a GREAT time was had by all!!

Monday, December 28, 2009

Auntie Donna's Christmas Surprise



It's so awesome to have access to see him - and to have heard this happen for the first time - YAY!!!!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

The Tights That....Weren't


Okay. So it's finally Fall. The season I wait for all year long. Weather that lets me wear soft fluffy sweaters, cute jeans, warm tights...and the air is so fresh and crisp. The sun shines down on the Autumn leaves and all is right with the world. So, I get up this morning and I think to myself, "Self, let's pick out something cute to wear today, it's FALL!" I choose carefully. My new cream fleecy jacket, over a cream sweater, with a denim knee length skirt, my favorite black tights (you know, ladies, the nice soft cottony/matte ones, not the shiny nylony ones) and a pair of black ankle boots. And, tying it all together? A lovely scarf that my Mom gave me last year for Christmas - black with a grey and cream floral print on it. I set out for my work commute feeling pretty darn cute, if I say so myself. Walk to the bus. No problem. Get off the bus, walk to Starbucks. No problem. Head down one last block to my office. Uh-Oh, we have a problem. I start to feel the waist of my oh-so-cute-and-comfy-cottony tights slide a little lower than it should. I'm thinking, okay, no biggie, they can be low riders. I keep walking. The trouble is, once this starts to happen, it happens QUICK - and with each step I feel those tights falling lower. I'm in a skirt, and they are now so low I can't even really grab them from the top any more. I thought surely they would have stopped near my hips, or even my bootie...but NOOOO, down, down, down they went and now I'm thinking "Good GOD I'm wearing a knee length skirt and each step brings me closer to having the crotch of my tights falling BELOW the hem of my skirt!!" I thought, please please please let me make it to my building...but alas, this was not to be. I was trapped. I had to stop walking for fear that they would literally drop to my ankles. I could hear footsteps behind me, so I started digging around frantically in my purse, to give the impression that whatever I was looking for was so important that I had to halt all forward motion just to seek it out. I let the man pass me while I “searched”. So, then I'm thinking - well, I can't just STAND here all day, I have to do something - but I can't pull my tights up without lifting my skirt - nope..don't want to do that. So, I did the only thing I could, which was to start shuffle stepping forward along the wall of the building, hoping for an opportunity to duck into a doorway somewhere - my kingdom for a doorway!! I ended up wedged next to a revolving door at the entrance of the building across the street from my office. I had to drop all of my bags, grab my tights and pull them the remaining 6" down to my boots, take off my boots, take off my tights, and put my bare feet back into my boots while shoving the stupid soft cotton NO ELASTIC HAVING waistband m*f*ing tights back into my bag... One lucky thing is that my hair is so long right now that when I bent forward, it reached almost to the ground, like a curtain blocking the view of passersby. (Not so lucky was the guard at the desk on the other side of the glass wall I was leaning my ass up against as I disrobed on the street...) Once I had my boots back on, I just picked up my bags and started walking. I sent visual daggers at the dude on the corner who had been staring at me since I first began my frantic rummage through my purse - but seriously, who was I kidding? There's no coming back from that.

Maybe Winter's not so bad after all.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

A Tail of Two (Okay, Three) Kitties - 3

Part 3

And then, there was Bella.

IMG_0927

I knew when Jasmine died that I’d be in the market for a kitten. I only waited about 2 weeks. I found Bella through an online Feline Rescue group. They were hard core PRO-cat! I even had to sign a contract saying I wouldn’t feed her grocery store “cheap” cat food. They recommended all natural organic cat foods. Part of her adoption fee was applied automatically to having her spayed, and they practically set up the appointment for us. It was really handy. Bella was, as you might imagine, a very cute kitten.

Bella Snowflake and Britta s Shower 016
Bella Snowflake and Britta s Shower 063

She is very social – she loves to say hello to visitors. She always has something fun on the agenda and can often be heard bustling from room to room in the house; but both she and Zoey always settle wherever I am, which is nice. (Zoey, certainly, is my closest shadow. I wish I had a way to communicate with her when it’s laundry day – she follows me up and down the stairs time and time again…thinking that I’m on my way someplace fun. I’ve almost killed myself many times because she’s always underfoot, especially on the stairs!)

Bella is extremely athletic, but as for gracefulness she’s got about a 50/50 shot. Maybe 40/60. She’s the only cat I’ve ever seen fall flat on her back. Thud! It doesn’t seem to bother her, she just gets up and goes on about her business. She’s almost 3 now, and she’s still about 90% kitten, I think. She loves to play, and unlike Zoey, she’s not picky about who’s on the other end of the laser light. She’s equal opportunity all the way. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’ll have the hands of a 12-year old girl for as long as I have Bella. I always have scratches and battle scars to remind me of the hours we spend playing “attack the thing under the blanket” which normally leads to a quick game of “swipe the hand that just came out from under the blanket to change the channel”…which typically wraps up our play session. But she’s also a snuggler – she curls up in my arm the way Jasmine used to, which I love. (Zoey thinks she’s a scarf, and cannot “snuggle” unless she’s on my neck. As you can imagine, not super comfy but once in a while, I give her the go ahead and she climbs on board.)

I recently realized who Bella reminds me of. Growing up, I loved the cartoon Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin was always getting into something but he was so cute and earnest when he got caught you just had to love him. And he was clever. That’s how I feel about Bella. You don’t very often get to use the word “mischievous” but that word fits Bella. The markings she has on her face probably disguise some of her explorations around the house, but when she comes sauntering casually into the room, with cobwebs dangling from her whiskers, blinking innocently, I can always be sure she’s searched out another corner of the basement heretofore untouched by man or beast. We could all do well to take a tip from Bella – every day is an adventure.

Last year, I was taking some pictures during the holidays. Bella had curled up under the Christmas tree, and she looked so precious:
IMG_3419

So, I turned to get a picture of Zoey who was perched on an ottoman next to me. I took a couple of shots where Zoey was blinking, or not looking; sadly, she’s not super photogenic, I’ve found. The room was relatively dark since I was trying out the Christmas lights, so I didn’t notice movement – but the next picture I got showed me that a certain someone didn’t want to be left out of the shot:
IMG_3441

That’s my Bella! :o)

Friday, November 13, 2009

A Tail of Two (Okay, Three) Kitties - 2

Part 2 of 3 (Scroll down for Part 1)

IMG_0958Jasmine and I lived a very happy life together for several years. Every once in a while, I toyed with the idea of getting another kitty. I took mental turns projecting contentment and lonliness onto Jasmine. One day, I would think how fun it would be for her to have a companion during the days while I was at work. The next, I was sure she would find the idea repugnant since she would no longer get all of the attention. (I mean, I actually thought it would hurt her feelings and make her mad at me! Oh dear.) Around that time, I had moved to a house that was located blocks away from the Humane Society. One of my favorite things to do was to torture myself looking at cats and kittens - I would stop by "just to see them" in their little cages, but always force myself to leave without any of them. But, one day, I saw this little kitty. She was a little bit bigger (about 12 weeks old) than some of the kittens I'd considered before, but like Jasmine, she just sat at the edge of her little enclosure, watching me while her siblings rolled around and played and ate. She was mostly black - beautiful long, silky black fur with a white star on her chest, white "armpit hair" under each front leg, and her most unique feature - - grey tufts of hair behind each ear. I call them her "ear flaps". I broke the cardinal rule of window shopping, I asked to hold her. She and I had a little talk, but I wanted to be sure I was ready to take on a second pet so I took advantage of the 24-hour hold rule. By the time I got home (literally 5 minutes later) I knew she should be my kitty. I went out the next morning, got a few extra toys, and some kitten food and headed back over to pick her up. When I arrived, I went straght to her little cage...and she was GONE! I asked around. The person I'd worked with the day before was off but evidently, they had neglected to perfom a key step in the 24-hour hold process, which was to actually HOLD the kitty. The woman behind the counter informed me that someone had adopted her about an hour earlier. I was really upset by this point. I'd seen her, held her, and thought of names for her (she was originally going to be "Joey" - I've always loved the Concrete Blonde song of the same name, and I thought it was a cute name with Jasmine...). She was MINE and she was GONE! They said they'd call the family who had adopted her and "ask them" if they would consider bringing her back. They sent me home and said they'd call me when they heard from them. Fortunately, this other family took pity and even though they probably loved her, too, they did bring her back. I raced back to bring her home. Within the first day, even though she was an awkward little adolecent kitten, her silky black fur (which turns to mink brown in the sunlight) and pretty markings told me that the name "Joey" was too tomboy for her. She was a Zoey.

Now, Jasmine wasn't wild about the idea, and she wasted no time in asserting herself. Zoey was fine with that, she just wanted to play play play. It took them some time, but they became buddies. I really did think they'd have a lot more time together. It ended up only being around 4 years. During that time, they each earned their very appropriate nicknames. Pukebucket and Shitass were my babies. Jasmine was famous for wolfing down her food and then puking it back up again. And, poor little Zoey...she had her first "accident" early on, when she came home to live with us she got scared and shat herself. All of that silky long fur - - and after the brief ride home, she looked like she sat in pudding. I thought - hey, it's her first time away from her siblings, I'd probably do the same thing. But it, sadly, was a foreshadowing of things to come. Fierce little Jasmine was like my Guard Cat, but Zoey was more like my Scaredy Cat. I've moved twice since bringing Zoey home that day. Each time during transit to the new place, she's been scared to the point of pooping. Poor little thing.

Since Jasmine died, Zoey has taken on the one woman cat role. She's pretty standoffish around people. Like Jasmine, though, she's so pretty, people want to pet her. A lucky few get that chance, but most of the time she hangs out in places where only I am. She will sit next to me for ages, and just wait to be petted. If she just can't take it any more, she reaches out her paw and places it on my hand, or my arm, or my shoulder - a gentle reminder, "Here I am, see?"



Here they are:
January 2006 009

Zoey, the shadow:
DSCF1662

They both pretend to be ignoring each other:
DSCF1657

Then, with no warning...ATTACK!!
DSCF1656

Followed by kisses:
DSCF1654

They had fun together.

A Tail of Two (Okay, Three) Kitties - 1

Part 1 of 3


DSCF0961, originally uploaded by d_jazmine.

One day when I was in my mid-twenties I decided the time had come for me to become a pet owner. It hit me out of the blue, I wanted a kitten. Specifically, a calico kitten. I’m not sure why, but the thought of a calico cat had always been appealing to me. Now, I’m the kind of person who makes her mind up, then puts the plan into action. No spreadsheets, no compiling of raw data, no studies of pros and cons…just jump right in. So, while I was at my desk at the office where I worked at the time, I called the Humane Society with hopes of driving straight there after work to pick out my kitty. They were closed. Some people would have taken that as a sign that this was not to be. I took it as a sign that I needed to work harder to find my kitty cat. I was lamenting the fact that my need for instant gratification didn’t match up with the funding available for staffing at the Humane Society, when one of my co-workers said “Hey, my cat just had kittens a few weeks ago, you can have pick of the litter if you want one!”. I said, “Thanks, but I was really hoping to find a calico kitty.” She said “The mom is calico, and so is one of the kittens!” So, off to the farm I drove that night, to see the babies. When I arrived, all of the kittens were piled up having supper on mommy…all except for one tiny calico kitten who marched over to the edge of the box, looked up and me, and said “MEW!”. I was a goner. I cannot tell you how cute she was. My precious baby Jasmine. She was only 6 weeks old, so I did end up having to wait a couple of weeks to bring her home, but on the designated day, I found the softest blanket in my closet, set up her litter box and kitten food, and headed out to pick her up. She was so teensy weensy. I have pictures of her at home, playing with an old 35mm film container, and it was the size of her torso. Insane! She never got bigger than 7lbs. She was petite and beautiful and extremely graceful and athletic. From day one, she was always a one-woman cat. I loved that about her. There were times that I envied people who had cats who would jump happily into anyone’s lap and purr away, but Jasmine was never that way. She had very discriminating taste. Furthermore, she used her perfect pink kitty nose and all of that petite cuteness to lure in many victims over the years. No one could resist her charms, but most wished they had. It was like she got a kick out of seeing how many people she could trick into trying to pet her, only to pay them back by taking a swipe at their fingers. I once took an online “personality” test on her behalf, and her result was: “Al Capone”, possible aliases: Biggie, Mugsy, Vinny, Killer, Claws, The Predator, and Meanie. Because most of my family and friends would agree wholeheartedly (and at least partial-fingeredly), I had a hard time convincing them that when I wanted to get comfy on the couch and watch a movie, she was always my cuddle buddy – she nestled perfectly right into the crook of my arm, with her little fuzzy head on my shoulder. If I was sad, she would come over and investigate, sandpaper licking away salty tears when necessary. Although I used my mommy-tone to “scold” her when she swiped at yet another visitor, she knew from my secret winks that deep down, I adored the fact that she loved me the best.

The hardest thing I ever had to do was say goodbye to Jasmine. She got sick when she was only 10 years old...way too young in kitty years. I had looked forward to spending another 10 years with her when one day, she just didn't seem herself. I took her to the vet, to be told she was in kindey failure. They offered to euthenize her right on the spot if I wanted, since the prognosis was pretty grim. I was shocked and in no way prepared for the news. Since they said she wasn't in pain, we got some fluids in her (I took her in every couple of days for weeks)and she bounced back for a while. I think she knew I wasn't ready, so she let me have a few more months. Then, on April 18th, 2007, I took her in for her last vet visit. They say that we know when it's time for our pets to say goodbye, and it was true. I knew. Ironically, it was my Grandma's birthday (she never was a big cat fan) and the day before my own birthday. That day, I cried the first salty tears in 10 years that she couldn't kiss away. A few slip down my cheeks from time to time, even now, when I think of her. She was my first, after all.

Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

...URP! (eeew!!)

So, in the middle of the night last night, I woke up, uncertain at first what had interrupted my gentle slumber. Moments later, the sounds of my roommate vacating her gastric cavity orally (a.k.a. PUKING HER GUTS OUT) into the toilet cleared that up for me. I chanted mentally "don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it" and eventually, I was able to fall back asleep. A few hours later, I was again awakened by a familiar and haunting sound: ack-ack-ack-ack-HAAACK...my CAT puking up a hairball - - on my bed!! EEEWW! Throw blanket on floor (I know, that's gross, but I was trying to recover quickly without having to wake all the way up), get another blanket, "don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it" and eventually, I fell back to sleep. As the sun rose, basking my room in a soft pink glow, I was yet again awakend by the violent splashing of stomach contents into the toilet. So, I guess you could say I'm happy to be at work right now. I hosed down the bathroom with Lysol. I scrubbed myself clean, and have applied antibacterial hand cleanser several times this morning. I enjoyed what has become my standard breakfast: Airborne, Advil, and Vitamin C.

Oh, please don't let me get sick, I HATE being sick!!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Election Day, 2009: NO ON 1 in Maine

So, yesterday, I was tuning in to some of the big election day “hotspots”. Specifically, I was paying attention to the “No On 1” campaign in Maine. I remember last spring, thinking – those lucky people in Maine – finally some progress being made for the GLBT community there. So, I was particularly interested in the outcome of this issue on the ballots. While I was online, I saw the Facebook status of a Maine resident, and it read “Yes on 1! Stand for marriage between one man and one woman!!” As you might expect, this person had like-minded friends who posted notes supporting this stance, but the one that stood out to me was this one, which said:

“C'mon Christians! Get out there and vote... Don't vote your conscience. Don't FOLLOW your heart - it'll steer you wrong. (Above all, the heart is deceitful and wicked...) LEAD your heart, and vote according to Gods principals. That would be a resounding "YES", on 1!!”

It got me thinking – whoa! That’s really what we’re up against, isn’t it? I was glad that very shortly after I saw that, I happened upon this:

http://www.melwhite.org/blog/91

…which basically says (and I quote): “I will no longer debate the issue of homosexuality in the church with anyone. I will no longer engage the biblical ignorance that emanates from so many right-wing Christians about how the Bible condemns homosexuality, as if that point of view still has any credibility. I will no longer discuss with them or listen to them tell me how homosexuality is “an abomination to God,” about how homosexuality is a “chosen lifestyle,” or about how through prayer and “spiritual counseling” homosexual persons can be “cured.” Those arguments are no longer worthy of my time or energy.”

What I know for sure is that, someday, we will reach the point where “with liberty and justice for all” actually applies to ALL, and not “some”. I just hope and pray that we don’t do irreparable damage to each other in the struggle to get there.

God is LOVE, people. Doesn’t it make your heart sing to believe that? It does mine.

Friday, October 9, 2009

President Obama On Winning the Nobel Peace Prize


This speech is an example of why he deserved to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. I'm amazed by all the people who ran around calling others communists and terrorists and socialists if there was the slightest question about Bush while he was in office - "YOU MUST SUPPORT YOUR PRESIDENT DURING A TIME OF WAR" was being blared over the loudspeakers... And, we now have a President who has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and he's being torn apart by most of those very same people. My aunt Ann said it best: could we all possibly get behind our President and give him a chance to actually fulfill the potential of his election?

Matthew Shepard - 11 Years Later










It is absolutely heartbreaking to see those images of Matthew as a child. Instant tearjerker. It shouldn't be any more heartbreaking than seeing pictures of him as he was when he died; but it's such a forceful reminder - he was their child. He was a human being. NO ONE deserves what happened to him, not even the people who did it to him. (Well...maybe them...but no one else!) And, as long as I'm here - can we get a WOOT WOOT for Ellen? She's one uber cool chick.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Olan's STAR themed 1st Birthday Party


Seattle Brock and OLAN 435, originally uploaded by d_jazmine.

We enjoyed a fun day of celebrating, and watching all of the boys play at the park at the Pavillion at Parker's Lake. Brock, Brayden and Olan had so much fun! Rayna was precious and appeared to have a perfectly lovely time (with the exception of her brief and chilly wardrobe change, necessitated by the fact that she's got a stellar digestive tract firing on all cylinders!). There was a nice breeze, so a kite was flown, and each of the boys took turns with it. It was a beautiful day!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY OLAN!

Make a wish!


Seattle Brock and OLAN 393, originally uploaded by d_jazmine.



Brock demonstrates the proper form for candle blowing. Aren't they cute all lined up?