Code En Mah Node

I've felt a whopper of a cold coming on this week, and yeeeowwch.  I am down for the count, feeling like crud.  And not that you asked, but I am a big 'ol baby when I get sick.   When I have a cold, I am always convinced no one else on earth has suffered to the extent I'm suffering, and even though I know intellectually that isn't the case....damnit it sure FEELs that way!

So enjoy your health...I'm gonna go watch some crap tv and feel sorry for my snotty self.   

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Time Travel Thursday

A gentle touch..... a warm look... a gentle embrace and a time gone by.

Oh yeah and a sun bonnet.

  Were these gentlemen just goofing around? Having a lark, posing for a fun photo to take home? Maybe.  Perhaps there was much more to the story. It's kind of sad we'll never know, but what a remembrence of two people...what a treasure to see their photograph today and just imagine what might have been between them.

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Thoughts

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WE WON! (this round)

It's the news we've been waiting to hear for a VERY long time now. For a very long time we've had to put up with every biggoted talking head on every news program, but this morning the federal court rules california gay marriage ban was unconstitutional.   It's a narrow ruling, but a VERY important one and we all know it.   It's time to rejoice.

Side note, I was paying attention to who broke the news and in what timeline in my area.  The news of the Prop 8 ruling first broke on Twitter, followed by MSNBC, then about five minutes later CNN covered it...and FOX News?   Not a mention for 27 minutes after the ruling was handed down..no banner across the screen...nothing.    Another reason to rejoice in my opinion.  

However almost immediatedly after finally mentioning it...I heard Meghan Kelly say "Can a TV change marriage?".....and the picture was of the TLC show "Sister Wives" about the polygimsts from Utah.  So Faux News is alreading starting on the offensive instead of just 'covering the news'.  

Fuck Murdoch and the horse he rode in on.

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Hope

I vividly remember waking up that morning in November of 2007.  President Obama had been elected and we had gone to bed happy, confident that Prop 8 wouldn't pass.   After all, how could it?   Gay Californians weren't asking for money or power...just the simple right to marry the person they chose.  It wasn't like they were asking for the moon, but they might as well have been....and still the hateful legislation passed.

I woke up, read the news and felt like I had been assaulted when I saw this very picture.   It was the prop 8 side cheering victory...a rampaging victory of hate.   I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach.  

But we didn't stop. 

Protestors protested.  Marchers marched.  Activists sued...and eventually we made headway ..step by step.   We found allies we didn't expect, and some were a huge surprise.  The fight for equality became a series of steps up the Capitol.... through court case after court case....and here we are now....waiting.   
The memory of the fight and failure are still with us.  We're left with the bitter, bitter memory of the passage of Prop 8.....and until the Court of Appeals posts their decision, we have to hold onto something else....hope.
Harvey Milk said it best, "And after all, that's what this is all about. It's not about personal gain, not about ego, not about power —  You gotta give them hope."

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OUR Artist of the Week: Mark Beard

It's often said that an Artist wears many hats, and that couldn't be more true than in the case of Mark Beard.  He's a stage designer, and he works in paint, prints and sculpture.  Mr Beard is an American Artist, born in 1956 in Salt Lake City Utah.  

He is a unique artist with a distinct point of view when it comes to artist growing and maturing through styles and periods versus turning one's art into a brand.    To counteract the latter he  "--developed a number of distinct artist personalities, each with a detailed biography and portrait photograph, to enable himself to work in a variety of styles and mediums."

*His different artist personalities include:

• Bruce Sargeant (1898–1938), (a spoof on John Singer Sargent) who died in a tragic wrestling accident;
• Hippolyte-Alexandre Michallon (1849–1930), French beaux-art painter who was the teacher of Bruce Sargeant;
• Edith Thayer Cromwell (1893–1962), an English friend and colleague of Michallon;
• Brechtholdt Streeruwitz (1890–1973), rival of Cromwell from Vienna; and
• Peter Coulter (b. 1948), New York-based artist who was influenced by Cromwell and Streeruwitz's work.

If his work looks familiar to you, it's because you've likely seen it before inside Abercrombie & Fitch.  The company even commissioned him to paint an eleven story mural for the A&F Tokyo store. 

Mark Beard and his partner, James Manfredi reside in an incredible Manhattan Apartment.

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Will They Do The Right Thing?

The big news today isn't about Madonna, M.I.A., or Mitt Romney...but that the California 9th Circuit Court is announcing it's verdict about Prop 8 tomorrow (tuesday!) around 10am.   This is big...huge...beyond huge.   The world is going to be watching California tomorrow and that's no exaggeration. 

Judge Walker's decision has been lauded as a brilliant piece of work, and now we're going to find out if it will stand, as it was written...on the merits of justice and equality.   It's downright frightening when religious bigotry can trump what's right because common sense plays no part in the equation.  

So?  What's it gonna be?  Let's hope they get it right.

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When You Think....

When you feel like you're being taken for granted
You probably are
When you feel there is distance,
There probably is
When you feel alone
You probably are
When you feel something's wrong
Pay attention

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Dying Regrets

Death is a part of life, and we all have to face it and deal with it sooner or later.   All of us have lost someone, and it's never easy, often messy and always abrupt. 

One of my favorite blogs, Towleroad, posted a link to the UKs The Guardian refrencing the top five regrets of a dying person.  While the article is a little misleading in that it's really a rant against homeopathy...I'm still mesmerized by the actual list itself.   

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Of course everyone has their own list, but I really like the ones that made the cut.  

As someone whose mother doesn't have much time left, I hear her regrets, fears and laments every single day and I'll tell ya.....they're right in line with the above.   The main thing she repeats over and over is how fast it all went (IE Life).   My mom was married twice, had five children, several businesses, two very interesting careers and she often says it just went by so quickly.  "Where did the time go Geoff?"

I think this list is truly important.  Each one of those regrets has a ring of truth to it...and serves as a warning, or perhaps some gentle advice from a person who is on the precipice of taking that ultimate journey you and I will one day face.  

That list has a lot of wisdom....I hope I can heed their advice.

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