Trip Ups- North Carolina Politics and the Thinly Veiled Biases That Drive Anti-Gay Legislation

The Gist: NC Senator: "You're trying to trip me up":

'via Blog this'

Two things come to mind when watching the above...utterly infuriating clip: 1.) Signorile doesn't have to TRY very hard to "trip up" Senator Forrester at all, 2.) The misconceptions and loaded rhetoric behind his reasons- "gay as unhealthy lifestyle", "the preservation of marriage" arguments just don't hold up over the slightest scrutiny.

Rally Point Alpha- A Post Rally "Conversation"

I managed to catch the tail end of the rally as I lumbered across Hargett St. A dwindling processions of sign carriers, with stickers and pins adorning them saying things like "Keep Hate out of Our State", and "Hate is NOT a family value". I felt a gnawing anxiety that hadn't abated. Police officers skirted the perimeter of the rally point in groups of two or three, shades on, watchful. Late to the party, I scanned the retreating parties for signs of life, for the collective temperature of the proverbial room and moved further in.

It was then I, and a trio of police officers heard shouting. We all turned, with the cops exchanging steady gazes and me peering out and over the railing and down towards the corner. A large part of me wanted to be a part of the debate and public discourse I felt I'd missed while at my staff meeting, I somehow told myself that being around people who were equally dismayed over the shenanigans of state politics would be cathartic. I spent a great deal of time both looking at want ads outside of the state the night before, and mieandering back and forth between dismay and indignation at the turn of events. I wasn't sure what I expected out of riding the coattails of the rally, maybe some closure or a chance to understand the local color on the topic of the day, but the scene was ..interesting to say the least.

As I approached the source of the disturbance I encountered two southern gentlemen who seemed to be concerned with how much hell I was going to enjoy. I stopped when I watched a tall man condesending about praying for a long suffering, tiny redheaded lesbian and decided to enter the fray. We had a civil discussion about belief, subjective truth, and civil liberties. He kept going off topic (evolution is a ridiculous theory!!!) and I kept returning him to my original premise "Should my belief system dictate yours?",he was civil and I was tactful and it wasn't until he started saying that because we say "One Nation Under God" in the pledge that we've all cosigned being a theocracy, that I told him he was batshit crazy. After I reminded him that wasn't initially in the pledge of allegiance in the first place. He and people like him fully operate as though our nation is supposed to enforce God's Will (tm). And I'm learning that sort of belief is highly, highly resistant to reason.

He shook the hand of the tiny woman he'd been alleging he was going to pray would be "changed", and she, with a kindness I don't think I could have mustered, nodded and held his gaze. I waved after him as he stormed off, saying "Have a nice day, sir.".

I then plopped down on the curb and had a most satisfactory conversation with the woman in question; about the immediacy of needed change vs the "wait for change" meme, and how a changing of tactics might be in order if SB 514 is to be countered. We parted ways, myself feeling in better spirits and musing on the peculiarities of the worlds we inhabit.

With that in mind, I think I may have found my anthem for facing this coming conflict. A Fine Frenzy- Stood Up. Pretty badass, right?

In Which We Mildly Regret Relocating...

You're going to want to watch this: Chris discusses NC legislative madness on MSNBC « The Progressive Pulse

Three things-

1.) Since I'm back in NC for the foreseeable future, I vow to take a vested interest in state politics from this moment forward. I expect it to be a cringe worthy experience if this anti-abortion legislation is any indication...

2.) I adore-full stop- Melissa Harris Perry. She inspires, and makes me want to actually finish my Phd (cutting through the angst, shocking I know) .

3.)Gov. Bev Perdue is as showcased in this clip is doing an amazing job being the "thin blue line" against the idealouges and the Tea Party drives policy from staunchly conservative to batshit conservative. Seems a tireless job to use a veto stamp so much and so necessarily.

(Speaking of somber notes, this song evokes a similar pang of longing and...utter despair)

Sidelong Glances.

I found this entry in one of my journals and its set me to thinking. A neighbor I really value is prodding me to expand on some writings and experiences and see what happens, so this is what I'm devoting the majority of my weekend to. Steady as she goes. Could be something interesting to discover in the process...

Latent Effects 5/10/2009

Fragments of last night add together and make for a decent evening. Stogies, walks in the rain, and the briefest segment of Firefly. Wine garnered from the kindness of good friends, while I mourned the coming of my utter penilessness. Talked with Kenny and John about books and the sudden return of what I call "Jersey Hands". I tend to gesture wildly as a side effect of being back in PA for too long. I can't effect a british accent because remnants of a northeastern one has crept in in its place. Its really sort of funny. Jill showed up and we did the meaningful stare across the bar of two people who know each other too well. The group of us marveled at the increasingly younger crowd that elbowed their way into the uncomfortable warmth of the room. I shook my fist in (almost) jest. The storm churned all around, ozone and lightning, noize enough to dwarf the speakers. The roadtrip to Easton was eventful, a few interviews, one maxed out credit card and 500 plus mile drives and awkward reunions with obnoxiously good looking "friends" from the old neighborhood later...I'm back in Purgatory plotting my next course of action.
The interview I had just before I drove back seems interested, and a really good fit, so I'm jazzed they're caling me back for a second interview this week. Of course, I can't afford...well...anything...let alone travel, but I think I've got that worked out. Or at least I hope. Fingers crossed. The other thing I can't afford? Not recouping some of these awful monitary losses. Being THIS broke? All sorts of demoralizing.

And this one I like from a month or so earlier:
the Traveler 5/3/2009

Right now, I'm sitting in my sister's slightly cluttered dining room with a wee bit of time to kill. I've been in Easton a few odd, overcast days, and have felt a swell of the typical nostalgia (with the inevitable stings of dashed expectations) followed by the more humbling stumble back down to earth. That trip is shaped by reunions, both bittersweet and embarassing, and the ultimite realization that with coming full circle, there's that end of the line. The point of the ride where one can no longer afford coach nor carriage, and can no longer maintain that ruse. The traveler becomes disloged from his place in timeif ever such a place was truly secured for him at all) and finds himself a resident in a strange country. One where the landscape is unfamilar and uncertian and the customs unknowable. One pauses, uncertian of his step but fully aware that the next move is of incredible importance, the respite of considerable need. The stumble need not be a permanent fall, and one hopes for the ability to dust onself off quickly and properly enough to avoid lingering for too long a spell. One hopes to find a compass. One hopes the wind will change