The Village Smithy

See my loafers....

A View From The Doctor's Office

Morning Shadows

A New Frame

The skies clear.

Mmmm... A pub

Community in the Post Modern age

Is it still possible to have connection in the post modern era? I
long for a community of my own.

Who are these people?

Day -66

Wow, the reality of our move is starting to sink in further-and-further, day-by-day. Our apartment search has begun in earnest and the nightmare of finding an apartment in NYC is starting to come true. There are so many obstacles, and keeping a positive attitued is becoming more and more difficult. I know that we can't be the only people in our situation looking for apartments in the city. And Gods know that we are willing to live with a lot, all I as for is basic safety and reatlively little insect infestation. Above that, everything else is gravy.

While the physical move is one part of the stress, there is a whole component that is lifestyle changes as well. We have built a good life in Denver, and now we are about to uproot and change everything, a major life event. I admit that my thoughts have been a bit lax, and I have not really faced the significance of this move, but now as the day approaches, I am starting to see it.

On top of everything else, we are coming to the realization that moving Java and Sue with us may not be best for them. With as little time as we will potentially be spending at home, it isn't fair for the creatures who have become such a part of our lives. In the past couple of years, we have from time to time been gone for extended periods, but nothing like what we are most likely about to experience. I know that we would be able to find an apartment for all of us, with a lot of extra work, I just don't know if it is really fair to them. I suppose sometimes you have to love something enough to know when it is time to let it go, but it still sucks. Big time.

Gore Vidal

I am continuing my huge Gore Vidal kick... he inspries me as an individual because he refuses to be silenced. I want to learn more, and be more. Like Gore Vidal.

Good Things Come....

to those who wait..... Apple announced the new iPhone today. Missed it by that much. Damn.

Today's Warm and Fuzzy Thought

This past week a story has come to light about a couple who was thrown out of a Seattle baseball game for inappropriate display of public affection.  Now, in spite of the fact that the stadium was filled with 30,000 fans, I don't think we will ever get the real story on how far they were taking their affection, so I don't necessarily want to comment on this specific story, save how it incorporates an argument which I feel utterly offensive.  

It has been reported that the woman who complained about the lesbian couple's PDA stated that she was concerned that their behavior wasn't appropriate for a arena where children are present and that she did not "want to have to explain to her children why women were kissing."  That is the statement which always stands the hair up on the back of my neck.  

Now let me say that I believe that there is a time and a place for everything and I am far from the prude I once was.  I don't believe for a moment that any couple, regardless of gender, should have inappropriate PDA. Period.   I have seen enough teenage couples eating each other's faces to last a lifetime.  

However, I have been around enough to know that there is a vast difference in how queer displays of affection are perceived.  For better or worse, when two men or women show affection (at any level) in public, we are making a statement.  Not intentionally, we are just trying to live or lives, but in the eyes of those who don't feel that we are deserving of equal treatment and equal footing we are perceived as forcing our lifestyles onto them.  Most don't consider for a moment the barrage of imagery and messages we in the Queer community have to face on a a daily basis, but that is beside the point.  

To quote the feminist mantra "the personal is political", whether we want it to be or not.   That is a decision that those of us who chose to live our lives openly and honestly have to make on a daily basis.  It is not easy, just the other day my husband and I were walking hand in hand and had a homophobic slur screamed at us out of a truck window.  Of course I think it takes a real big man to yell fag out of a window traveling at 35mph, but once again I digress.  

I don't think that it means a tinkers cuss that we have our own television network, or that a nationally syndicated talk show host is talking openly about marring her same-sex partner, when I still can't manage to make it through a day without being reminded that that I am supposed to be less than others.  Don't get me wrong, I love Ellen, and all of her excellence, and she has done a lot for the Queer community, but it isn't enough.  

In 1994, I was going to college in a medium sized town in Northern Colorado.  Fresh from high school, I was exploring my own sexual, gender and political identity.  I was trying to figure out what it meant to be a 18 year old queer, and I went through a lot of shit.  Very active in campus politics, I had a nick name dubbed by the College Republicans which involved a string of pejoratives many of which I wear as a badge of pride today.  To make a long story short, I went to a screening of a film in full drag.  

I was a bit nervous, though I had already made it through dinner alone in the dorm cafeteria, about being in drag in what was really not

 exactly Greenwich Village.  So eventually the time comes when I have to go use the loo so I ducked into the boy's room (not wanting to push my luck, besides I wasn't fooling anyone).  While finishing up, I was approached by a young man, fresh from the ranch, who asked me the most brilliant question I had ever been asked in my life "Look, where I come from, there aren't many people like you, and I don't really know what to say or do, except to ask what do you want from someone like me?" 

I was frankly shocked by his frank honesty, and wish that more people had it.  I thought for a second and replied simply "The same level of respect and dignity that you expect.  Nothing more, nothing less."  

"I can do that" he says.  And that night, I realized what it was all about.  What my Queerness was about.  What my coming out of the closet was about.  What life is about.  Simply treating others with the level of respect you want and in return.  Now I know that there are plenty of times when I have forgotten this, but in the end that is what it is really about.  

So, how does this relate to a couple of lip locking lesbians in a baseball stadium in Seattle?  The Malcom X  in me responds, fist raised, that I don't really give a fuck how uncomfortable you are having to explain to your child what it means when two women kiss.  Your discomfort and ignorance is your problem, not mine.  The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in me says, that even though you may try to deny me my right to be myself openly and honestly, it doesn't change the fact that I am Queer.  And some day, your daughter who you tried to shield from my life and story will wake up, and realize that I am not the monster you made me out to be.  

In the mean time, I'll remind those of you who are offended by my life and sexuality that I am Queer, I am Here and you will have to get used to it.  'Cause ain't no reason for me to ever have to step back inside the closet.  

Never Again. 

The last thing I see....

Horror7
Originally uploaded by Blackfijre

What will the last thing i see be?

Clouds

Originally uploaded by Blackfijre

For the first time ever, i noticed a significant number of people looking towards the sky at the clouds forming to the East. Who can blame them? It was a beautiful sight.