by | May 10, 2012 · 10:55 am

LGBT Community Makes Strides in Argentina, Loses Ground In US

This week was a big week for the global LGBT community. Yesterday, Argentina made it easier for transgendered individuals to obtain hormone therapies and sex change operations. A few days before that, the US state of North Carolina banned gay marriage and civil unions. Is it just me or does something sound wrong here? In Argentina, “Senators approved the Gender Identity law by a vote of 55-0.”  55-0? I can’t imagine that unanimity happening with any positive legislature for the LGBT in this country…

It is reported that Argentina’s President Christina Fernandez is looking forward to signing the bill. She is proud of it just like the bill she signed two years ago making Argentina the first Latin American country to legalize gay marriage… Wait a second… Let me get this strait. In Argentina gay marriage is legal AND they have a WOMAN for a president? Whoa…

“For many, gender rights were the next step.” Gender rights? Really? Because in this country many citizens still consider the transgendered community to be less than equal; entities that are sometimes treated as subhuman. Just a few days ago, North Carolina voters ruled 39% to 61% to change the verbiage of their state’s constitution to define the “only legal domestic partnership” as a partnership between a man and a woman.

Though the puritanical reign is obviously still very much in control it appears to be getting desperate. When individual state legislatures take backwards steps as other states make progress and favor equal rights for the LGBT community, it only makes the oppositional states, like North Carolina, look out of touch with reality. What logical grounds are they using to make these decisions? Oh, that’s right… the Bible.

The Bible is much like the Constitution: they are both open for interpretation. Unfortunately many of the Bible’s “believers” manipulate its text in the same way an attorney scours the law to find loopholes. These believers only see the Bible as open for interpretation when it gives credence to their agenda.

The United States was formed and founded on religious freedom and upholds the separation of church and state. Based on the actions of certain states, it seems that there must be a hidden clause the Constitution that says “as a US citizen, you are granted tolerance and religious freedom…unless your state’s rule is dominated by a popular Christian sect.”

I look forward to the day when gay marriage is legal and the members of the LGBT community are treated with dignity because despite all this noise, it is inevitable. I am confident that one day, these antagonists of progress will universally appear as bigoted as the mid-century opponents of the civil rights movement.

 

6 Comments

Filed under News

Tagged as , , , , ,

by | May 9, 2012 · 12:10 pm

Loneliness and Sex

Since I am writing here about sexual feelings and the idea of finding love in this world the feeling of loneliness seems to be a big part of our search for happiness.  When you are finally quiet at the end of the day and go to bed alone what do you think of?  What stories do you tell yourself and what are your intimate moments like?

My mother says she is never depressed or lonely.  Many people who live alone claim to enjoy it and being part of a couple is trouble sometimes.  Being alone is easier than dealing with someone who stirs emotions that are not all positive.  But even lone wolves living in the vast wilderness of Alaska are always on the look out for others.  Lonely can make you crazy after awhile.

I think everyone feels lonely sometimes but it passes.  That must be what my mother means.  It isn’t so much that the Blues don’t find her it is that she moves on quickly and never gives up.  She appreciates living alone for the first time in her life.  I do too.  But I am lonely unless I have a guy I like to talk to on the internet or on the phone and the hope that I could be part of a couple again.

Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under Journal, Life Lessons, Love, relationships

Tagged as , ,

by | · 3:32 am

Absynthe, Tinkerbell, and Never Never Land

The above painting, L’absinthe, is by far one of my favorite Degas’. I like it more than any one of his ballerinas. This is probably because of the raw emotion it exhibits or maybe because I can identify more with a drunk than I do a ballerina… This painting illustrates the addict, the drunk, at her lowest. As I look at the piece, I can hear the clamoring and clinking of glasses— the commotion of the bar is so loud yet she hears none of it as she sits there in a world of her own. Maybe she stopped by the bar for a drink after working her day away at a hazardous industrial era mill. No wonder she looks so miserable… Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under Fairy Tales

by | May 8, 2012 · 6:31 pm

Becoming Whole

I remember the first day I babysat Melanie. I was in college and a local family hired me to watch her four days a week. Things went really well during the initial consultation. The meeting was arranged to see if she liked me. I did her nails and then we did a puzzle. She did like me, of course, and there I was again the next Monday morning. We waved from the window as her mother drove off. This job is going to be so easy, I remember thinking… And then as soon as her mother’s car was out of site, she burst out screaming and crying. She was only four years old at the time and I was too ignorant to realize that four year olds are essentially the emotional equivalent of year old babies.

My eyes bugged out of my head. I stared at her unsure of what to do. I grew up as an only child and lived a extremely solitary existence for most of my young and adult life. I had minimal experience with children up until that point. Thankfully an inkling of maternal instinct kicked in. I picked her up and soothed her until she stopped crying.

Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under Friendship, Growth, Healing, Heart, Inspirational, Journal, relationships

Tagged as , ,

by | May 7, 2012 · 8:14 pm

The Chef

He came to the store where I worked and before he spoke, I recognized him as the person I had been talking to on the internet.  He was very tall and quiet black gentleman with big doe eyes and he wanted me badly.

His wife was distant.  She was an alcoholic and that was the big elephant in the room that no one talked about in his house.  At the time I didn’t know what that meant.  Now I do and I sympathize with him.  We met again at a coffee shop in the eclectic part of town where I lived.  I liked him.  Smart, responsible and sexy.   He was a chef at a downtown hotel and he had started that profession by just walking in to a place that had a “dishwasher wanted” sign in the window.  From there, he worked his way up to head chef.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under Dating, Passion, Sex, Uncategorized

Tagged as , ,

by | May 3, 2012 · 6:53 pm

Love like this

Not long ago, I was having an email conversation with a friend who was going through some heart ache. My friend told me her story then asked for my thoughts, but not before she apologized for whining.

“You’re not whining,” I said. “You’re hurting out loud. You have to listen to your heart on whether or not you want to continue on if this other person finishes their lesson. Listen within to what your spirit tells you is good for you, don’t listen to your desires. Listen to what will be Good For Your Soul.”

Continue reading →

6 Comments

Filed under Destiny, Growth, Healing, Heart, Inspirational, Life Lessons, Love, relationships

Tagged as , , , , , ,

by | May 2, 2012 · 4:34 pm

Crazy Does It Good

Have you noticed that there is a certain abandon to someone who lives outside the box?  I have always enjoyed the characters of this world and the relationships I have had with the crazy ones involve mind blowing sex.  There is something about someone who can let loose of the norms of society and give their all to passion that ignites a spark in me.  People who are sane and able to sustain life in a normal manner usually do not turn me on.
It takes a leap of faith to jump into a sexual relationship.  So many people are afraid of that intensity.  Isn’t that why we are in these bodies?  Aren’t we here to enjoy these pleasures?  The monks of the world would tell me that the spiritual bliss they experience with their meditation is a hundred times as powerful as lowly sex.  I beg to differ.   The joy of two bodies coming together trumps all in my book and if that means I’m crazy then so be it.

Having a drink and transcending this reality is a sign that you are close to the edge.  Taking a hike up a dangerous mountain so that you can jump off it with a para-glider is crazy.  But can you imagine the thrill? Having an art show in the center of the city or publishing a novel that the whole world will read is a high that can’t be imagined.  Hard work will make you high.  Crazy to give it all up for fame and fortune.  Crazy to want to lay in bed with someone who can give you intense pleasure.  Crazy does it good.

Continue reading →

6 Comments

Filed under Dating, Destiny, Love, Passion, Sex

Tagged as

by | · 11:34 am

I’m Quitting Writing to Become a Stripper

I’m Quitting Writing to Become a Stripper

Yeah, right. However, not long ago a male acquaintance suggested I do just that. This really blows my mind because he was the second person to do this in the last year. I am and have always been fairly conservative, kept to myself and not any type of exhibitionist so what is it that makes them say such things?

Well the first time this was suggested to me, I was still doing okay writing but not in the eyes of my friend’s boyfriend who said it. “You should become a stripper. You have the body for it.” I got mad at him. He didn’t understand why. He thought it was a compliment. I guess as a concerned friend, he thought it could really help pay my bills…

The second time it was said to me by a person who’s formal education exceeds my own. He is obviously a moron, though. Money nor degrees can do anything about that…  ” You should become a stripper and write about it.”

Continue reading →

6 Comments

Filed under Art, Motivation, News, Sex, Uncategorized, Women

by | May 1, 2012 · 5:04 pm

My power works best in weakness

I was driving home this morning from an appointment and I was feeling kind of sad. Lately things just don’t seem to be going my way and I find little happiness in my day to day affairs. In my head as I drove, I asked God to help me and then I looked up and there was one of those billboards with a Bible verse on it glaring back at me “My power works best in weakness.” I read it and reread it. What was that suppose to mean? Was this some kind of riddle?

I was really having trouble understanding what it meant and even after Googling the verse I lacked further clarification. My power works best in weakness? I suppose it means that at your weakest point is when you need to be the strongest. That this is the time to sink or swim- will you pull yourself out of the metaphorical gutter or just waste away? I have pulled myself out of a lot of gutters, for sure. I continue to do so on most days even my worst ones. I have done it so many times that I have become self reliant- maybe too self reliant. I do not trust nor depend on other people. After being let down time and time again, I learned that trust is not something I should exercise with anyone. Even with my closest friends and family it is difficult for me. So instead of a trusting person, I have become a more do- it-yourself-take-charge person. This does not work when trying to relate to other people, however.

Continue reading →

12 Comments

Filed under Destiny, Inspirational

Tagged as , ,

by | April 26, 2012 · 3:15 pm

Good Luck

I had a dream the other night that I was at the Superbowl. One of the teams put me in on the line to foil the other team’s chance at winning. By some stroke of luck, I threw a half decent spiral that ended the game in a victory for my team (the team they were trying to fix for a loss).

After my sizable victory, which certainly was huge, considering I am neither a pro football player nor have I ever watched a football game in my entire life, I went to Paris, another location I had never been to. Once in Paris, I ran into my cousin who died a month ago from cancer at the age of 28. My cousin never liked me. In fact, her and her two older sisters did their best to alienate me and leave me out whenever my family visited their’s.

Upon running into my cousin, I told her about how I had just won the Superbowl. The truth is, I was pretty much telling anyone I ran into about it; I had few family left and even fewer that cared. She seemed interested in talking to me despite our history of the contrary, but inevitably reverted to her usual stance from childhood and wanted nothing to do with me. I obliged her wishes, but before parting, I noticed something strange. She had three eyes. Two like you and I, and a third that was identical to her others. This third eye was right in the middle of her forehead, where the metaphysical third eye appears. The eye was blue like her others and twinkled with life; as odd as this was it was extremely realistic.

Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized