[i think that drinking is the only thing that you do right]
[you're gonna self destruct; i think that's what i like]
Yesterday (okay, two days ago, now) I went canvassing for One Kalamazoo. Basically, I went around door to door (we had a list of registered voters), on the north side, which is not so much a great part of town, asking people to vote for a non-discrimination law. Basically, it's still legal to fire people for being gay or transgendered (which, just for the record, my spell check doesn't think is a word. ugh) in Kalamazoo, and on Nov. 3rd people are voting on whether or not that should be made illegal. Obviously, I think it's complete bullshit, and the law ought to be passed.
A few of the people whose doors I knocked on thought that I was for discrimination, which, no. They got somewhat defensive, but then I started agreeing rather vehemently with them, and made it clear, and got the picture. Despite the fact that I was in an area populated largely by a group of people that one wouldn't expect to be for gay rights (they weren't old white republicans, but still), all but two of the people I talked to signed a thing saying they'd vote yes. There was one woman who was very much "so long as they don't bring it into the work place," but there was also one who was like "I have a gay friend, she comes over and we hang out, I don;t care so long as she doesn't make a move on me." The second woman thought I was against gay rights at first, so she was defensive, and she began with something more along the lines of "I don't care so long as they stay away from me." At that point, I was a little wary of her actual position on the matter, but I said, "or, hell, even if they do," and she agreed. Yet another woman said "I have a gay uncle who lives in [insert a large, gay-friendly city that isn't in Massachusetts here. I don't remember where it was], and he's been with his boyfriend for years." I thought that was pretty cool, because I have a gay uncle who IS in Massachusetts, and, yeah, I'm like that.
Overall, I was really inspired by the response I got. One person didn't sign, despite the fact that he disagreed with all and any discrimination, because he wasn't allowed to because of his religion. He seemed like a really sweet dude, with an adorable kid, and he did take a flier, so that was pretty cool. Apparently he and his son were mostly homeless, just living in that house for 2 years before having to pack, up, and I just. People are good, really. He was a cool dude.
One time, I asked someone "are you a registered voter?" and he said, "no, I'm a criminal." It was pretty amazing.
The only person I got an outright negative response from was equally hilarious. I was with my partner at this point, and we had jsut decided not to knock on a door because he was feeling bad vibes, and there was a "no tresspassing" sign, when a dude in a pick up truck came by and was all, "who are you and what are you doing at my house?"
We started to explain, and he said, "if you have anything to do with democrats, you can just get out right now." It was awesome. We kind of ran away, and he turned his truck around and sort of vroomed at us. We kind of ran to the sidewalk, a little bit.
Anyways, it was just really, really cool to see that Kalamazoo is a rocking place when it comes to stuff like that. While it is true that my girlfriend and I have yet to get beat up at school for dating each other, people do make a lot of derogatory comments about homosexuals, and I just didn't realize that we actually are a fairly accepting community. It was an awesome experience, and i'm going to do it again on September 1st.
The day of canvassing, I left at 8:30 am, and got home at 1:30 am the next morning, which was pretty sweet, given that I had permission and my curfew is usually 11 on weekends. I got to stay out late because it was the day of Kalamashoegazer. Which. Was equally awesome. Basically, a bunch of shoegaze bands played at The Srutt (a local coffee shop with a bar attached, which i will always know as Dino's), from 4pm to 1am. I didn't hear every band's set, though I was there from the beginning. Some friends and I went to burger king for food, because we couldn't afford it at Dino's/The Strutt, so we missed some of that, and then we went outside to talk and just never came back in for the last band.
Dancing to shoegaze is so. much. fun. Shoegaze isn't really my thing --too mellow, not angry enough, but also not poppy enough-- but I do love it live. The first band playing was Gospel Gossip, whom I really liked. They were super fun to dance to, and din't have nearly as big of a crowd as they deserved. They were...I don't know, they were boring, but I still loved them. That is, really, really simple music, but good and enjoyable. Myspace! http://www.myspace.com/gospelgossip
Then there were other bands. I don't remember their names, but some were good, some were shitty.
And then. And then. There was Glowfriends. Glowfriends is basically the biggest Kalamazoo band, so far as I can tell, and everyone who really goes to shows comes to see them. This is because the only non shoegaze (non glowfriends, tbqh) bands that play here are either not remotely rock, or play 18 and over shows only. Glowfriends is the best to dance to ever. Shoe gaze dancing, I mean. There were bodies and sweat and I couldn't see or breathe or think beyond the music and flailing arms and flinging hair, and it was amazing. I really want to go to an actual rock show and be in the pit, now...I think I might actually really enjoy that. Anways, glowfriends, check them out, and keep in mind that they're about 10 times better live. wwww.myspace.com/glowfriends :)
(ahahaha, it's 5:10 now, and my dad just came in to glower at me. This means that the rest of what I was going to say, which basically consists of "oh my god, Ryan Ross, you are such a fucked up dude," and "oh my god, Chuck Pahliniuk, same goes to you," will have to be explained some other time. *yawns*
Yesterday (okay, two days ago, now) I went canvassing for One Kalamazoo. Basically, I went around door to door (we had a list of registered voters), on the north side, which is not so much a great part of town, asking people to vote for a non-discrimination law. Basically, it's still legal to fire people for being gay or transgendered (which, just for the record, my spell check doesn't think is a word. ugh) in Kalamazoo, and on Nov. 3rd people are voting on whether or not that should be made illegal. Obviously, I think it's complete bullshit, and the law ought to be passed.
A few of the people whose doors I knocked on thought that I was for discrimination, which, no. They got somewhat defensive, but then I started agreeing rather vehemently with them, and made it clear, and got the picture. Despite the fact that I was in an area populated largely by a group of people that one wouldn't expect to be for gay rights (they weren't old white republicans, but still), all but two of the people I talked to signed a thing saying they'd vote yes. There was one woman who was very much "so long as they don't bring it into the work place," but there was also one who was like "I have a gay friend, she comes over and we hang out, I don;t care so long as she doesn't make a move on me." The second woman thought I was against gay rights at first, so she was defensive, and she began with something more along the lines of "I don't care so long as they stay away from me." At that point, I was a little wary of her actual position on the matter, but I said, "or, hell, even if they do," and she agreed. Yet another woman said "I have a gay uncle who lives in [insert a large, gay-friendly city that isn't in Massachusetts here. I don't remember where it was], and he's been with his boyfriend for years." I thought that was pretty cool, because I have a gay uncle who IS in Massachusetts, and, yeah, I'm like that.
Overall, I was really inspired by the response I got. One person didn't sign, despite the fact that he disagreed with all and any discrimination, because he wasn't allowed to because of his religion. He seemed like a really sweet dude, with an adorable kid, and he did take a flier, so that was pretty cool. Apparently he and his son were mostly homeless, just living in that house for 2 years before having to pack, up, and I just. People are good, really. He was a cool dude.
One time, I asked someone "are you a registered voter?" and he said, "no, I'm a criminal." It was pretty amazing.
The only person I got an outright negative response from was equally hilarious. I was with my partner at this point, and we had jsut decided not to knock on a door because he was feeling bad vibes, and there was a "no tresspassing" sign, when a dude in a pick up truck came by and was all, "who are you and what are you doing at my house?"
We started to explain, and he said, "if you have anything to do with democrats, you can just get out right now." It was awesome. We kind of ran away, and he turned his truck around and sort of vroomed at us. We kind of ran to the sidewalk, a little bit.
Anyways, it was just really, really cool to see that Kalamazoo is a rocking place when it comes to stuff like that. While it is true that my girlfriend and I have yet to get beat up at school for dating each other, people do make a lot of derogatory comments about homosexuals, and I just didn't realize that we actually are a fairly accepting community. It was an awesome experience, and i'm going to do it again on September 1st.
The day of canvassing, I left at 8:30 am, and got home at 1:30 am the next morning, which was pretty sweet, given that I had permission and my curfew is usually 11 on weekends. I got to stay out late because it was the day of Kalamashoegazer. Which. Was equally awesome. Basically, a bunch of shoegaze bands played at The Srutt (a local coffee shop with a bar attached, which i will always know as Dino's), from 4pm to 1am. I didn't hear every band's set, though I was there from the beginning. Some friends and I went to burger king for food, because we couldn't afford it at Dino's/The Strutt, so we missed some of that, and then we went outside to talk and just never came back in for the last band.
Dancing to shoegaze is so. much. fun. Shoegaze isn't really my thing --too mellow, not angry enough, but also not poppy enough-- but I do love it live. The first band playing was Gospel Gossip, whom I really liked. They were super fun to dance to, and din't have nearly as big of a crowd as they deserved. They were...I don't know, they were boring, but I still loved them. That is, really, really simple music, but good and enjoyable. Myspace! http://www.myspace.com/gospelgossip
Then there were other bands. I don't remember their names, but some were good, some were shitty.
And then. And then. There was Glowfriends. Glowfriends is basically the biggest Kalamazoo band, so far as I can tell, and everyone who really goes to shows comes to see them. This is because the only non shoegaze (non glowfriends, tbqh) bands that play here are either not remotely rock, or play 18 and over shows only. Glowfriends is the best to dance to ever. Shoe gaze dancing, I mean. There were bodies and sweat and I couldn't see or breathe or think beyond the music and flailing arms and flinging hair, and it was amazing. I really want to go to an actual rock show and be in the pit, now...I think I might actually really enjoy that. Anways, glowfriends, check them out, and keep in mind that they're about 10 times better live. wwww.myspace.com/glowfriends :)
(ahahaha, it's 5:10 now, and my dad just came in to glower at me. This means that the rest of what I was going to say, which basically consists of "oh my god, Ryan Ross, you are such a fucked up dude," and "oh my god, Chuck Pahliniuk, same goes to you," will have to be explained some other time. *yawns*