I always want to find something pithy to say about politics, especially in an election season as charged as this one. But as usual, people who are far better writers than I have already beaten me to it. Michael Chabon's call to hope (and a vote for Obama) says everything I could hope to about why I cast my vote (absentee rocks!) the way I did:

To support Obama, we must permit ourselves to feel hope, to acknowledge the possibility that we can aspire as a nation to be more than merely secure or predominant. We must allow ourselves to believe in Obama, not blindly or unquestioningly as we might believe in some demagogue or figurehead but as we believe in the comfort we take in our families, in the pleasure of good company, in the blessings of peace and liberty, in any thing that requires us to put our trust in the best part of ourselves and others. That kind of belief is a revolutionary act. It holds the power, in time, to overturn and repair all the damage that our fear has driven us to inflict on ourselves and the world.

Link: Chabon's Washington Post commentary

Posted at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Labor: The Folks Who Brought You the Weekend"—from Jim Hightower, a little reminder of where this weekend's celebration originated. Unions have certainly had (and continue to have) their own institutional troubles, but look at working conditions in the U.S. a hundred years ago, and you'd be hard pressed not to acknowledge their contributions to the quality of life in this country.

Posted at 01:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy may be just the beginning? Interesting article from AlterNet that suggests the queer community may be the ones to refurbish the institution of marriage, along with urban neighborhoods and a select group of East Coast straight men. Mostly humorous, but there's an interesting element of truth there: that those who are kept from established traditions are often the ones who find the most value in them.

I'm on the fence about marriage myself (or "civil union" or "domestic partnership" or whatever the current term du jour is these days). On the one hand, I think the ritual and community elements of marriage are important—the idea that you're making a commitment to each other and that the community of people who care about you are making one on behalf of the couple is a wonderful reflection of the hopes of all those involved. Plus, celebration, cake and presents! But as the years march on in my own committed domestic partnership thingy, it begins to seem a bit anticlimactic in some ways, and without the formal legal rights guaranteed by even a civil union, a bit beside the point sometimes. Most of the time, however, I love the symbolism and the intent of the act. I guess now I'll have to think about how to bring my fabulous fresh outlook to the whole process and represent my tribe appropriately.

Posted at 06:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I meant to post this a while back: Why Nerds Are Unpopular by Paul Graham. It mostly discusses the difficulties of being a smart kid in middle and high school, but even though the nerds definitely bear the brunt of peer torment during those years, it has a lot to say about why that period is difficult for most, if not all kids in American schools. It certainly rang true to a great deal of my experience.

Posted at 08:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)