I’ve decided to start sharing these moments.

“I belong to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (while fishing a card for me out of her pocketbook) and we have many gay couples. And they’re very ordinary. They have jobs. I don’t like it when people are half-naked. …When we were having dinner with friends the other day…they’ve been together 25 years, and, well they’re retired now, and they were holding hands. I felt so good inside. Not tolerant you see, I felt good.”

–A Holocaust survivor in the locker room at the YMCA (and I’m not just adding that detail in for irony)

photo: Ian Taylor

Thank you Canada!

In honour of our December 29, 2007 legal wedding 1.0.

1. My mother is obsessed with my wedding. She is obnoxious and annoying. What do I do?
   
   Congratulations. This means you are finally being treated like everyone else.
2. I always learned that the parents of the bride pay for the wedding. But there’s two brides?
   
   Don’t feel guilty. This is the only time the income disparity between gay men and lesbians is reversed.
3. Which one is the man?
   
   If you have to ask, neither.
4. What gift should we buy?
   
   Something expensive. In America, if you buy them enough stuff, the marriage counts.
5. How do we deal with our interfaith marriage ceremony?
   
   Don’t worry about it. You’re already going to hell for being gay.

ulnar nerve palsy update, originally uploaded by subvert.com.

photo taken 12/3/07

accident 10/06

2nd surgery 3/07

Original post +  photo  6/13/07  

The nerve is regenerating some! My doctor was amazed. Some sensation in parts back. Still major loss of strength + agility. Thanks to those others with UNP who have posted. It *can* grow back. Don’t know how/if belief and good vibes affected this but it didn’t hurt and helped my mood a lot.  

I tried on about 50 dresses on Thursday. This was the best of the lot. You can’t see it , but in the back is a bustle with many little fake diamonds all the way down from the waist through the train.

Despite being 70% off, I wasn’t sure it was “the one.” That’s what all the women there call it. The guidance they provide in finding it is that you’ll “just know.” I guess it’s like dating. Oh us women, knowing what we want is so hard.Or perhaps I should be specific. Knowing what I want can be confounding. A lifetime of pleasing in my head got me there.Practical reality helps. It took sitting in one of these dressing rooms a few weeks ago and getting a pep talk from Sonya the older woman in the place to realize i even wanted to try on a wedding dress. This is only the 5th dress I’ve ever shopped for.I vlogged to ease my shopping anxiety. More to come.

 

Me: How do you like my hair today?

My brother: Did you ever see that movie with the aliens from the 1950s?

Me: No.

My brother: Mars Attack. When they attack the earth. They had hairstyles like yours.

Last night at JFK:
Me: Here for vacation?

She: Not really. Thanksgiving with my dad.

Me: Knowing look.

She: But we’re staying at a hotel.

Me: Great idea.

She: My dad still thinks the war in Iraq is a good idea.

Me: Is he one of the 20 people in the country who still think George Bush is doing a great job?

She: Yep. He’s super Republican. Was in the CIA.

Me: Look of realization. Oh he’s one of those “my dad beat me for my own good” kind.

She: Look of surprise. How did you know?

Me: It’s how the narrative works. Have you read Alice Miller?

She: No.

Me: It must have been really hard to grow up in that.

She: Sad look. It was.

This is the country’s politics in a nutshell. Did you know it was hard? (sad feelings/independent thought) or was it for your own good? (let’s head into Iran! Giuliani, here we come!)

Heather mixes Lawrence Lessig, comedian Aundre the Wonderwoman, marketer Deb Schultz and the “audience” about Earnestness in Politics. Is it possible? What about earnestness at work, in the corporate environment?

Listen to the full 90 minute show.

Has just been posted. This is the most in-depth audio interview I’ve done, even more so than the npr one I did on TechNation. It goes much more into my thoughts on outsiderness, stand-up and developing my interactive style of performance. Give a listen. Thanks to Dave Slusher.