I stayed in CU til around 6 PM today when I left for home. The suburbs of Chicago were calling my name. They tend to do that around Thanksgiving. By the time I was nearing Sauk Trail on I57 I got a phone call from my mom asking where if I hit the road yet. She was happy to hear that I would be home within minutes and that steak would be ready for me when I got home.

STEAK.

REAL MEAT.

For the last few days I have been eating these Healthy Choice Steamer things that you microwave for 4 minutes at a time. They’re delicious but in terms of meat there’s usually only one or two pieces that amount to about the size of a chicken nugget. That is not several steaks piled on top of each other like pancakes.

STEAK STACKED LIKE MOTHER FUCKING PANCAKES.

Needless to say I was pleased. However, a few moments ago I read Craigslist. As opposed to several other news sources in CU, Craigslist tends to have the best gossip column. Now, the reason I was in CU so long was because I had to work through this evening at the cafe. Last night I had gone to Home Depot not only to finish painting my room (check YouTube for exciting documented footage) and pick up a few supplies for the cafe, namely nails and this weird sticky felty tape object that you can find in the paint section. By morning three of my colleagues/friends/baristasauruses had beautified the men’s bathroom with some awesome LPs and album covers. One included a purple puppet from Sesame Street who happens to know a lot about Africa.

Then, today, after I got back from break, I realized something interesting about the Barry Manilow album cover. No, I wasn’t shocked by Barry’s charming smile and devil may care attitude, no, I noticed the word “FAG!” scribbled next to his face. I could have been offended that they wrote this word, but I really don’t care about the word itself. Maybe I should and I know that a lot of people do, but it’s not something that makes me want to pillage or anything like that. I was just pissed that after all the work my friends put in to making the place you piss a somewhat decent place, someone decided to graffiti it 12 hours after it had been put up! The fact that they used the word “fag” means I can blog about it and make it seem like some sort of hate crime.

The FAG! Himself

I doubt that it was a hate crime. In fact, I probably made this guy his coffee. That’s the way things tend to turn out, right? The best part is the great lengths this guy went to write it next to Barry Manilow. Barry is hanging at the very top of the wall above the urinal, which means this guy had to lean well into the urinal to do this or he had to drag the chair over in order to accomplish his poetic goal. But why is this so hilarious? Because at eye-level we had a WHAM! album cover which remained perfectly clean. Barry Manilow is a fag, but those WHAM! guys … they’re alright with this guy. They’re cool. Hip.

My friends took down the decorations today. My one contribution, the nails, they rest in the dumpster right near a Jimmy Johns and an over-priced apartment complex.

It just kinda sucks that customers even at this extremely liberal cafe are willing to trash art for …. well I really don’t know. What would inspire anyone to write that on the art itself? I mean why not just write it on a post-it note or something? Or leave an index card with your suggestion that we inform everyone of Barry Manilow’s fagginess somewhere for us to find. We will do our best to let everyone know.

I think I’m gonna start walking around campus with the word FAG painted on my forehead. Or at least my tshirt. I’m not going to do it for any other reason than wanting the attention and a cheap laugh. At least it won’t be done anonymously, right? If there’s anything that upsets me it’s when people voice their opinions but aren’t confident enough in them to tell you who they really are.

But once again, this is much more of a rant than a blog. I’ll add some pics to give you that blog-y feeling and in the meantime, enjoy your friends and family.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Since the DI did a shit job of showing everyone that we actually exist, here are a few photos the lovely Rachel Charlie Storm took at the protest last Saturday.

The next few pics are from the Facebook event:

AND here some more pics by Rachel from the Chief protest. Feel free to draw your own similarities/differences/parallels/comparisons/inferences/etc.etc.etc.

If you picked up a copy of the DI this morning you probably read about several things. Two cover articles involved the Next Dance of Chief Illiniwek as promoted by the RSO Student for Chief Illiniwek that occurred this past weekend. Another cover article involved students seeking out alternative entertainment in sword swallowers and people who make balloon animals. Nowhere in today’s edition of the DI is there mention of the protests that were held in cities across the country. The Boston Herald, the NY Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the LA Times all thought these protests were worth mentioning, but the Daily Illini, well-aware that protesting was taking place here at the U of I campus, did not find the story fit to print. Yes, there is an article on the Daily Illini website, but the editors of the DI apparently think it’s more important to print how students seek fun with clowns and circus folk rather than printing an article about a group of 80 or so people who came out this past Saturday to bare the cold weather and protest against the passing of Prop 8.

Yes, I agree that the Chief and his next dance are interesting, but why does he get so much press coverage when supporters of a national movement get nothing more than a URL? The fact that the DI always tries to give this appearance of not being a liberal or conservative paper annoys me.

Whatever. Following this blog is one shitty video that I made at the rally and one much better video that Marti Wilkinson filmed and edited. And then there’s a video of some fun stuff that happened in Salt Lake City (as in Utah). In the meantime, I have a question to ask.

The next “big event” that is scheduled is taking place December 10, International Human Rights Day. What you’re supposed to do is call in “gay” to work and spend your time volunteering for a human rights or LGBT organization. It’s called Day Without A Gay and I’m wondering what your feelings are toward it. When I first heard about this I immediately thought of the sit-ins and bus boycotts of the Civil Rights Movement in the last 1950s. Based on many of the chants that were echoed across the country this weekend, it’s clear that gays are trying to remind America about the last time it discriminated against a minority group. Gays are definitely trying to make use of this new Black president of ours to remind the U.S. that discrimination isn’t acceptable and it will not be tolerated.

Will people actually notice Day Without A Gay happening? To be perfectly blunt, it’s probably a lot easier to notice a bunch of Black people walking around instead of using public transportation than it would be to notice a bunch of gay people calling in gay. I asked someone what they thought of the Day Without A Gay and they immediately labeled it stupid and ineffective. He didn’t explain why it was stupid or ineffective other than, “That’s just how I feel, ok?!” He’s gay but he just doesn’t want to participate. You, friend, need to tell me what you think of this, because I have no idea whether skipping classes and work would be worth it. Will anyone notice? Will anyone care? Will anyone get fired in any of the 30 states where it’s still legal to fire someone based on their sexual orientation? Will it be worth it? Is getting fired from your job worth your civil rights? Will our movement actually ever be comparable to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s? Do we want it badly enough?

If you do believe it will make a difference, you might want to buy a tshirt and start advertising now.

In the meantime, check out these vids and enjoy the snow.

P.S. Sorry that today’s blog was plagued with links, but sometimes I just can’t help myself.

Rally today at the Alma Mater at 11:30. That’s like … an hour from when this is being posted. Go!

UPDATE: There will be a rally here in CU, so we can make our voices heard without having to go to Springfield or Chicago!

ALMA MATER AT THE U OF I
11:30 AM ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15TH

Find the Facebook event and say that you’ll attend, and then, most importantly, actually attend!

**

A friend of mine recently spotted that I joined a group on Facebook that is protesting the outcome of the Prop 8 vote that took place in California. When it comes to this debate I have a very strong opinion that marriage, heterosexual or otherwise, should come with no legal rights. I believe that church should be separate from state and therefore a union under the eyes of God(s) should have nothing to do with whether or not a couple is exempt from certain taxes. However, I do believe that there are benefits to these laws and therefore I do believe we should be able to have civil unions. I believe that heterosexuals and homosexuals should both be granted the right to form a union under the eyes of the government. I also believe whites should be allowed to marry blacks and I also believe a woman should be able to propose marriage to a man.

I do not believe that an adult should legally be able to form a union, marry, or have sex with a child and I do not believe that an adult should be able to form a union, marry, or have sex with an animal. Children are not mature beings and do not have a complete grasp for what these things mean. Most animals also probably lack the ability to define what these words mean to society. Therefore adults would be taking advantage of ignorant beings whom they have power over, which is, in my opinion, wrong.

**

Several other debates have arisen due to the passing of Proposition 8. One of my favorites is that the reason Prop 8 passed is due to a high turnout of the Black population. Polling data reveals that 70% of Black California voted for Proposition 8. I think people have become too p.c. when others discuss this statistic. They are called racists, and I disagree with this.

United States history has shown segregation between blacks and whites. First Blacks were slaves. Then Blacks were free but they were denied equal rights; we were kept “separate but equal.” Eventually they were given full rights, but only sort of kind of in a way I guess maybe but not really. If you glance at the suburbs of Chicago you’ll notice some very predominantly White suburbs and some very predominantly Black suburbs. The white suburbs happen to have better education systems than the Black suburbs. New Trier, one of the highest rated public high schools in Illinois, is found in the city of Winnetka. Total Population in 2000: 12,419 White Population in 2000: 11,958. Winnetka is also known for its incredibly expensive property value and gigantic homes with statues in the front yards. Robbins, a suburb on the south side, had a population of 6,635 residents in 2000, 96.3% of which was Black. What is Robbins known for? Well, one of its natives played a character on Star Trek (Uhura), but that’s about it.

Uhura/Nichelle Nichols

Maybe I’m exaggerating the “importance” of Winnetka and Robbins, but the fact of the matter is that there are many cities across the United States that are still separated by race, and what tends to be a common factor is indeed less funding for the Black cities. If there’s less education and less money there is probably also more of a dependence on God. (If you are going to view me as a bigot/asshole/blaspheme in any way, I would prefer you do so in my linking of economics and education to belief in God than a direct link between race and belief in God.) If a majority of Black cities are poorer and less educated than white cities, then this means Blacks will be more religious.

Maybe I’m absolutely wrong. Maybe God does exist and I’m just not an enlightened individual. Fine. But this does not change the main point that many Blacks believe in God.

Now, because Obama ran this year there was a very high turnout of blacks at the polls. Many people have linked the turnout of black voters with religious beliefs which in turn resulted in Proposition 8 passing in California. There are arguments for this, such as the one written above which I am sure will be misread, and there are arguments against it. How could a minority that has been oppressed for so long and is finally being represented in the White House possibly vote against another minority that is also struggling for the same rights that all heterosexuals already have? Whether it was all White people or all Black people or a mix of the two that got this proposition to pass, something tells me that God has a lot to do with it.

**

At the same time, I’m really glad that Proposition 8 did pass. If it didn’t, many gays in California would be appeased and people would just go on with their daily lives. Many gays from across the nation would probably pack up and move to California and live out the rest of their lives at Disney Land and that other theme park across the street from Disney Land. Thankfully that didn’t happen. Thankfully these rights are not going to be coming slowly one state at a time. This Saturday, November 15th, people in EVERY STATE will be gathering to protest Prop 8. The GLBT community is not going to simply be satisfied with a single state, but we will be demanding equal rights as a nation.

If you’re interested in going to one of these protests in Illinois, there will be one in Springfield, Normal, and Chicago. Information on those locations can be found here.

**

One last thing before the comments about me being a racist ensue, I have a little shout out to the people writing Opinions for the Daily Illini:

PLEASE STOP REFERRING TO SEXUAL ORIENTATION AS SEXUAL PREFERENCE.

Get the lingo right.

**

Here are some links in regard to Blacks and Prop 8:

http://www.jasmynecannick.com/blog/?p=2902
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/raymond-leon-roker/stop-blaming-californias_b_142018.html
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1378391.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/06/AR2008110603880.html
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-139408
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7723645.stm

Prop 8 is getting more and more discussion time, and since it passed in California people across the nation are getting pissed. A few months ago I mentioned how we’re not seeing any change for gay rights in America because there’s no revolution. There’s no protesting in the streets.

Well, thanks to 52% of California, there is now. If you have time November 15th, join in on the Gay Revolution (which will probably later be termed the Rainbow Revolution of the Fabulous Revolution or something of that sort). Get in while the gettins good.

Join the Impact!

the first and last rainbow pic I will ever post on this blog

On Tuesday I woke up and skipped my workout routine in order to vote (I skipped the gym this morning too, but that was out of laziness) for the next president. Later that evening a large hunk of a Mexican dating one of my roomies knocked on my door, lifted me off my bare feet while I was in pajamas, threw me over his shoulders and then directly into his car to celebrate the next President of the United States: Barack Obama.

During the first four sentences of his acceptance speech, he said something that I have not heard from President Bush in the last 8 years he has been serving this country:

It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.

We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It was a great evening, though I’m pretty sure being kidnapped in the middle of the night is why I nearly failed my exam on vitamins and minerals in the human diet.

Of course there was also the extremely disappointing part of this election. Though we’re still waiting on 3 - 4 million absentee votes, thus far it seems that California has passed Proposition 8. For those of you living under a rock, Prop 8, when passed, will make it illegal for same sex couples to wed in California.

If you’re not aware, California tends to be a rather progressive state. If gay marriage cannot pass there, where in the United States can it pass?

I don’t even want marriage. I want a union that will grant me the same rights as a heterosexual couple. The church does not need to be involved.

We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

So many marriages will now be null and void if Proposition 8 passes.

This is what it means to be an American?

Fuck that.

I feel I start all of these with “So I know I haven’t updated in a while…” and I apologize for that. I’m tryin’ to keep it real but I’m also trying to deal with school which, as the semester continues, somehow progressively gets worse and worse. Cry me a river, woe is me, etc. etc. No, this is not an article from the Frat Boy Diaries. Those will be posted soon. I hope.

Now, since this past weekend was Halloween AND dads’ weekend I was also tied up with parties and tending to my dad and uncle. Since I am a very conceited individual, I will post a picture of me and my roommates from Halloween since our costumes were pretty much the bomb diggity. That’s how we role.

This is us as the crew from Drawn Together:

Xandir, Foxxy Love, Captain Hero, and Ling Ling

The party we were at was totally ballin’ and we had a blast etc. etc. etc.

But then Saturday came along, a day know to you clever little Christians as All Saints Day. Naturally at The Molly House we had an All Slutz Day party to celebrate the festivities. One of our goals as a house is basically to accept our sexuality. Not that all people exist solely to have sex, but personally I think it’s terrible to make people feel bad or guilty about having sex or being sexual. It’s a very human thing to feel and, more often than not, feeling sexy is often coupled with feeling good. Finding yourself as sexy makes you feel, among other things, confident and strong. Desired even.

Everyone dressed up the night before for Halloween, so now was a chance to dress down. A lot of people came and were dressed in sexy clothing. Everyone from sorostitutes to Little Red Riding Ho was present and letting their inhibitions down for a little while. This was a party where everyone was a slut, and the sluttier you were the better, so there was no judgment among anyone at the party saying things like, “Gross, that girl’s tits are totally hanging out. She’s like … hanging all over that guy. What a slut.” The point was to be able to show the sexual side of your personality and not have to feel ashamed about it.

One of my best friends here on campus, who we will refer to as Samantha Darling, is an RA here on campus. I happen to be friend with her AND one of her residents (we’ll call her Bianca) so naturally they were both invited to the party. They were in the same room as each other, they were wearing sexy clothing, and they saw each other. They know each other, maybe they even consider each other friends, and a photo was taken of them standing next together. The photo was reported and Samantha was warned that if the photo was not taken down from the internet she would be fired from her job. The photo consists of the two women smiling together, Samantha has her shoulder over her resident’s shoulder, and her shirt is indeed open. No nipples were exposed. No vaginal areas were exposed, but you could see that Samantha was indeed a female who had breasts.

Apparently this could be seen as sexual harassment. I do not study law, nor do I intend to, which is why I am begging anyone with knowledge of “the system” to explain how this works. These two people are both friends of mine and were both invited by me to the party. No alcohol is present in the photo. If the two were at the beach, they would more likely than not be wearing less clothing than they were at my party, yet a photo of the two at the beach would not be deemed unacceptable by housing officials. Why is this? Does anyone have a finer knowledge of RA contracts?

Now, if Bianca hadn’t seen Samantha Darling at the party, I would have been the only person she knew at the party. I believe that because her RA was at the party she was actually in a safer environment. Does this make sense? Am I just so sexually liberal that I’m blinded by what can be considered sexual harassment? Is it wrong to believe that an RA and her resident can have a friendship outside of the dorms? Is it really so wrong for them to admit to knowing each other by taking a photo together at a party?

Another one of my friends is an RA at another residence hall and he has often been very wary of coming to parties at The Molly House because he sees residents of his hall on the invite list. I hate that my friends feel they cannot come to a party I am throwing because I am friends with both them and their residents. I hate that my friend’s residence and income that she depends on is threatened because she took a photo with one of her residents at a party. It blows my mind, but according to housing officials it really shouldn’t. This is a small town and people know each other. We’re a close-knit community and we should be proud of it, not punished for it.

But I’m ranting. I know I am and I should probably go over this and edit it and make it a bit more objective, but damn, it’s election season and I will be damned if I don’t have an opinion.

Vote Dukakis.