Much longer entry than I have time to be making
I'm very pleased that Obama won, I think I finally feel like this country has the potential to be moving in the right direction. I thought his speech last night was wonderful, and McCain's was gracious (even if the people in his audience were still being disgusting little bigots)
Pro-choice ideals held pretty strongly in the election. Radical abortion ban in SD and fetal personhood in CO have been shot down, thank God, and prop 4 failed in CA, so no parental-notification requirement. All in all, a good night for that. I'm very happy at the direction people are taking with this, even now, as the debates over pro or anti-choice get more polarized than ever.
Oregon voted down a law that would have made ESOL available for students for only two years in an unprecedented, racist, sink-or-swim kind of strategy. That's awesome, but on the other hand, Missouri just voted to make English the official language of government. And if you think that's not important, imagine a recent immigrant, impoverished, not yet fluent in English, being arrested for some crime he or she may or may not have committed. This law says if they can't afford it then there's no reason why anyone should have to tell them what's going on at their own trial.
Connecticut failed to pass Question 1, which would have essentially taken gay marriage away from the state. And that's about where the good news ends on the gay rights front. Prop 8 is passing, taking rights away from people in California. Anyone know, are people who were married under the law a few months ago going to no longer have valid marriage licenses? Doesn't it cost money to file those forms? Are they getting that money back? Somebody better be working up a hell of a lawsuit. How do class-action suits work in CA? Don't look at me, I'm not in law school.
Arizona and Florida passed gay marriage bans. HEY FLORIDA:
Click to viewNO LOVE, you hear me? NO LOVE.
And, what I think is possibly the most crushing blow to civil rights in this election. Arkansas has voted that people cohabitating outside a legal marriage cannot foster or adopt children. There are 3700 children in foster care in Arkansas, and only 1000 of them are in foster homes. And that's from BEFORE the amendment passed. I have no idea what this does to children who were previously adopted by gay couples in Arkansas, but if I were them, I'd be packing my shit up and moving to a state that recognized my right to parent.
And Colorado and Nebraska have voted against affirmative action. I'll probably be posting more on this in the future, as the Nebraska law could wind up affecting my education here at UNL. This school isn't so diverse to begin with, people. I'm highly pissed off.
I'm trying to remind myself that though the anti gay rights things may have passed, they passed by a MUCH tighter margin than they ever have, in the past, and that this country is looking towards the future, and that we only have to wait 2 more years before things can be on the ballot again.
And, now, because Kevin tagged me, a meme.
A) People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs & replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.
B) Tag 10 people to do this quiz & those who are tagged cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by & cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by. Continue this game by sending it to other people.
Tagged by Kevin. Will tag people who want to do it.
01. What music do you listen to when you're feeling nostalgic?
Much like Kevin, my nostalgia sorts itself into categories. The things that recall best childhood for me are the blues my father listened to, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Taj Mahal, etc. Siamese Dream holds a special place in my heart, and I find that, strangely enough, I recognize hooks from DC's 90s Emo-Indie scene, Dag Nasty, Gray Matter, Rites of Spring, and who doesn't love Fugazi. Then there's a bunch of very specific things, like Murder on the Dancefloor and Tim's car, and Randhal with IAMX, Sneaker Pimps, and the Kevin and Perry soundtrack.
02. What are you wearing at the moment?
Jeans, a blue shirt, and blue slippers. It's a blue kind of day, after all. Also, I'm wearing my hair in pigtails.
03. What's been keeping you sane easing your transition to insanity during stressful times?
Musicals, and Mixwit.com. And, strangely enough, Tim's radio show helps me when I'm feeling homesick.
04. What is your favorite dish to cook bake?
I love baking pies. All kinds. I'm good at making crusts.
05. What is your favorite drink?
Diet Coke. Or Whiskey. Sometimes both.
06. What is your room kitchen like?
My kitchen is long and narrow with the table and the fridge at one end and the sink and stove at the other. Kind of in-between the two ends is a baker's rack that holds my microwave and all my cookbooks (and tupperware on the bottom) The shelves above my sink and stove are huge, great for storage, but I only have a little bitty bit of counter space, so usually I prop up my oversized cutting board over the sink or just do my mixing and whatnot at the kitchen table. It works out.
07. What do you read? What are you reading now?
I've got three books on my coffee table right now, and I'm going between them. They are Macaulay Culkin's novel, Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, and a book of short stories from Persian authors. They're all at home, so I don't know the titles.
08. What will you be doing after finishing this?
Writing up my homework for Topology, then spending until 5 or 6ish studying for an Analysis test tomorrow. Then I'm going to go home, chill for a bit, watch Top Design, then do more studying for Analysis.
09. What did you want to be when you grew up?
When I was little I wanted to be either a kindergarten teacher or the president of the US. I'm settling for a healthy medium, now, striving towards college professorship.
10. What is your guilty pleasure? What's something that your friends do that drives you nuts?
Allowing food, of all things, to make them feel guilty or like a bad person.
11. Which family member are you closest to?
My mother. I'm such a gay man.
12. What are you afraid of?
Right now I'm afraid that the affirmative action ban in NE will cut some of the programs I value most from my department.
13. What are your favorite things to do on a free afternoon?
Something involving singing, dancing, reading, relaxing, cooking, or a synthesis of these.
14. Gestures that bring you the most comfort?
Bear hugs and hands combing through my hair. Comfortable almost-touching.
15. What's the meaning behind your LJ username/name/nicknames you go by?
It's French for "gnarled, knotty", and is used mainly in descriptions of a certain kind of pine tree and a skin condition characterized by red nodules.