highrise living for a joke like me

1. Used public transit to get to class today for the first time since the snow. Was easier than I might have expected, though I did fall into a snowbank up to my thighs when I stepped on a spot that was not as solid as I'd thought. Oh, my poor coat. I will treat you to a trip to the dry cleaners once it gets warm.

2. Speaking of spring, it is my intention to cut my hair in April or so. It's currently down to my waist and still growing...and covering the house. Maybe if I start thinking about what to do with it now, I will have decided by April. :P

3. Thing #6283 That Annoys Mel: people who walk excruciatingly slowly down a pathway that you can't pass them on (hip-high snow on either side, yo).

4. My writing prof is an asshole, but at least he seems to realize when he's wrong. He keeps penalizing me for the fact that I'm not actually registered for his class yet (paperwork issues), to the point where it looked for about two hours today that I was going to have to turn in a final draft of my first short story with no outside editing at all. We got to the last 45 minutes of class, and he decided that I was going to be the one workshopped, which was fantastic (except he felt the need to point out that I didn't have copies for the class, which was kind of of obvious, and his fault, anyway, for not responding to his goddamn e-mail). But, I got helpful comments (eventually, see below), so at least I have something to work on.

4a. And then I traumatized the class with my Little Gay Story. The story ends with a kiss between two people who happen to be male, and I finished reading the story aloud, looked up, and silence in the theatre. I had to do a little rationalizing of my existence ("I'm a lesbian. This is the world I live in. This is what I know."), but once people got talking they mostly had helpful things to say. But wow, you'd think they'd never met a gay person before. :(

Got this from my dad (emphasis mine):

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

___________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 1, 2009

LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION


Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.

LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country's response to the HIV pandemic.

Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration -- in both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.

The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect.

My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.

These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA

link

why Amazon.Fail might not have been a glitch

same-sex marriage in the early Christian church (from triannamaxwell)

Have been catching up on my TV, and is it just me, or was it really creepy when Sylar ( spoilers for Heroes - 4.24 - I Am Sylar ) I don't know why I still bother with this show, I really don't. It's so bad.

Take that, Gathering Storm assholes.

Got this response, which seems to be the form letter people have been getting:

Thank you for contacting Amazon.com.

This is an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error for a company that prides itself on offering complete selection.

It has been misreported that the issue was limited to Gay & Lesbian themed titles - in fact, it impacted 57,310 books in a number of broad categories such as Health, Mind & Body, Reproductive & Sexual Medicine, and Erotica. This problem impacted books not just in the United States but globally. It affected not just sales rank but also had the effect of removing the books from Amazon's main product search.

Many books have now been fixed and we're in the process of fixing the remainder as quickly as possible, and we intend to implement new measures to make this kind of accident less likely to occur in the future.

Thanks for contacting us. We hope to see you again soon.

Eh, I'm still not convinced that it was just a cataloging error, since LGBT books were overwhelmingly targeted while books with similar but heterosexual themes were not. Yay, conspiracy theories.

And also yay, the power of the internet.

(wording largely borrowed from copperbadge, here)

As a person with a brain, the fact that Amazon.com is stripping sales rankings (and thus killing publicity) from gay and lesbian literature is offensive. As a writer, it is insulting. As a writer who is in the process of publishing a book about gay men, it's annoying on a business level.

http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11369.html

Amazon sez:

In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.

Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.

Sales rankings on erotica have also been pulled. Apparently "adult" material doesn't include non-erotica romance and literature aimed at heterosexuals, however, as their rankings have not been stripped. Way to be, Amazon.

This hits every anger nerve I have, including the one where I AM NOT YOUR BABYSITTER and it is not my responsibility to protect YOUR CHILD or YOUR DELICATE SENSIBILITIES from the internet.

I strongly suggest that if you read slash online, support equality in the arts, dislike censorship, or, you know, think gay people are people, you follow this link to Amazon's support page (you will need to log in):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/general-questions.html?ie=UTF8&type=email

and notify them that you will not be giving them your business, as they are engaging in discriminatory practices. There is an excellent letter here.

There is a petition here as well.

Update, if you're keeping track.

To expand on last night's post, this weekend was Queer Prom, so a single friend and I assumed that all the couples would be there and the single gals would be at the clubs. So, we were going to go out after I got out of work. M (the friend) picked me up at work, we got lost on the way to the club (took us an hour and a half when it should have taken 45 minutes), and when we got there we discovered that the After Prom was at the club we'd decided to go to. Plus, A and her date were there, and since M had been sleeping with A for a while, that was all kinds of awkward. M and I stuck around until 12:30 or so, but then decided that the hunt was a bust, and she had work in the morning, so we left.

And then I woke up this morning feeling like death warmed over (what the hell does that phrase mean, anyway?), so I'm just not in a good mood. [Note: this is that cold going around, not a hangover or something.]

M has a theory that there are no single lesbians, and that couples just swap until they find the right fit. I'm kind of starting to believe her.

- call
-- Aetna re: switching coverage
- e-mail
-- Imaginary Roommate re: getting more toilet paper
-- Marvelous Mayhem re: returning corset
- reschedule MMRP rehearsal
- start composing family-friendly version of the Monologues
- fold laundry
- get S to wash dishes
- Otzma reference for A
- writing
-- imaginarybeasts
-- stargate_summer
-- extra Question(s) for fandom_grammar
-- that "Old Friends/Bookends" flopsy tejas inspired

Home from unsuccessful club outing. Got mildly inebriated, but we managed to pick the club that was hosting After Prom, so it was all couples anyway. M thinks the Single Lesbian is a myth, but what can you do? We're going to go out hook-up hunting again next week and hope for better luck.

(Scarily, M and I have the same type, and since I am basically my type, theoretically I am her type. Oh, the travails of queerdom.)

You know what's a bad idea? Staying out until 2a (went to Be:Bar to see the drag show and stuck around for an hour waiting for people to dance, and then went to the Diner in Adams Morgan for grilled cheese at 1a) and then trying to get up at 9. And even though we tried the new Xanax configuration (one regular formula and one extended release at bedtime, in the hope that the latter would keep the former from waking me up), if didn't seem to have worked, so I'm still groggy as fuck.

And I have to leave for work in a little over an hour. Joy.

In good news! I've finished my picfor1000, but it's about 300 words short. I know I can flesh out the doped-on-painkillers!Daniel/indulgent!Jack interaction, I've just been staring at it too long. Help!

Singularly unproductive day, but I think I'm allowed them every once in a while. Spent a few hours trawling I Can Has Cheezburger, hence the earlier lolcat spam.

Started (and finished) Bitter Thorns, the lesbo retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" written by the same woman who wrote the pair of sci fi lesbian adventure/romance novels I might have mentioned (Shadows of Aggar and Fires of Aggar). I kind of think I could write better with my eyes closed (well, less typos, and 'twere I her, I'd shoot my editors). Maybe someday I will.

Also, signed up for lgbtfest, because I clearly have a death wish. It's a great fest, at least for those of us who like real-world implications of things. And this year I'm not writing all about children, so that's nice. (See what I did there?)

We're also not rehearsing today, due to a collection of circumstances I don't feel like recreating at the mo. Basically, I'm a little peeved at A, because I'm getting stuck dealing with everything, and she's not picking up the slack when I get fed up.

Oh well, let's try to catch up on the productivity front.

- call
-- shrink
-- Aetna re: switching coverage
-- SGA finance re: why I can't make the money transfer
- e-mail
-- Marvelous Mayhem re: returning corset
- complete line item transfer and ISR to pay for AV
- dishes
- shower
- vacuum
- assemble external hard drive
- Otzma reference for A
- writing
-- picfor1000
-- imaginarybeasts
-- stargate_summer
-- extra Question(s) for fandom_grammar
-- that "Old Friends/Bookends" flopsy tejas inspired
- harass MMRP cast members who haven't given me their schedule yet I think we have everyone, and I'm waiting to work out the rehearsal space, anyway