Class Warfare
No one really talks about it, but it's there. In the concrete and the abstract. If you want statistics, there are plenty that talk about the widening gap between the haves and have nots in our society. The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer.
I asked a friend of mine in San Francisco where was a good area to stay when I go there in September. His response is eloquent and poignent:
"Union Square West would be your second choice, but it is a distant second because the further southwest you go from the Square the more you enter The Hood. Seriously. Crack available on most street corners, 24 hours a day. Look for the miscellaneous little Hispanic woman, who frequently employs a little 12 year-old brother as delivery man. Sad on the one hand, but also pretty incredible that six blocks from the Westin St. Francis is a segment of our population whose quality of life leaves much to be desired, and whose poor life choices only make things worse for them. In America today there does not seem to be quite the opportunities to escape one's economic heritage, and some people whose skin is the wrong color appear to be just giving up--without actually killing themselves. Meanwhile, at the Cheesecake Factory on the roof of Macy's, Marin County residents in the city for a shopping day at Tiffany's and Neiman-Marcus have parked their Mercedes-Benzes in the Union Square garage, and are unwrapping the boxes and bags that were so carefully wrapped for them just minutes before. They are comparing what they got compared to what their friends or family members already have. And they are talking about the 2006 model of some luxury automobile. And they are wearing real designer sunglasses, confident that their Visa card can solve just about any problem."
Living where I do, I see that same disconnect between the haves and the haves not. I realize, and am very thankful that I'm in the haves category. But as I walk by the latino day workers who are sitting along the wall of the McCormick paint store waiting for a chance at some work, I realize that this is really a problem.
Is it the government's responsibility to help these people? Maybe not give them jobs, but what about job training? Stuff like that? Basically, the government shouldn't make it harder for them. And the government shouldn't be making the difference between the haves and the have nots even larger. Can someone please explain to me the HUGE tax breaks for the oil companies in the Energy Bill that was just passed? Exxon/Mobils profits (profits! not revenue!) jumped 32% in the second quarter of this year. 32%. And they need tax breaks? Or this is just the government helping the rich get richer? Or should I say, the ultra rich get insanely rich?
*okay, the next post will be up beat and funny. I promise!*
Quivering Mad
Have you ever been so mad that you almost start to physically shake? I'm there now. I surfed to
Andrew's website and saw where some of the JAG Memo's on the "Military Interrogration Techniques" had been declassifed. I found the actual memo's
here. Here's the first one:
Each of the service JAGs wrote similar memos. These are the wise men trying to put the brakes on a really bad idea that got rammed down there throat. I hope one day we can correct this insane policy. But it doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon. Apparently some of the Republicans on the hill delayed the Defense bill because McCain (who KNOWS what torture is) tried to add an amendment that looks into the interrogration and treatment of our enemy combatants. Nice.
How can these people sleep at night?
Too Busy to FCUK
French Connection United Kingdom. And don't tell me you haven't see those t-shirts.
But seriously. Back from vacation and I'm deep into the full work mode. Get up, work, go to the gym, come home, shower, work some more, and then go to sleep. Repeat. Even on weekends.
I did go on a date last weekend. So I do have a social life. But it's on life support. The date? Not so much. But we did hit the Phillips Museum to see the very cool Japanese wood block print exhibit. Very cool and apparently the artist really impacted a lot of the European impressionists. They did a couple of side by side arrangements where you could really see the similarities between the two artists even though they were separated by a hundred years, and thousands of miles apart.
Anyways, I've been reading some interesting blogs recently and I while appreciate the insight into other people's lives, they seem so disconnected from me, even when we have certain things in common. I read from several gay blogs and some of them just don't resonate the way they should, or the way I think they should. Yes I was G*A*Y while I was on vacation: shopping, tea dances, etc. But now that I'm back in the real world. I'm just gay. Or maybe I'm post-gay. Or maybe I'm just hung up on labels recently.
I wonder when we'll start to apply the concept of meta data to people. Or do we do that already and I just don't recognize it?
18th and K St NW
I went on a bike ride on Saturday. Across Dupont, down Rock Creek Parkway, then into Georgetown and onto the Capitol Crescent Trail. Up, up, up I rode to Bethesda. Then turned around and came back. This was all before my session with my trainer and NOT a good move. My legs were like big block of stiff rubber by the time I made it to the gym.
On the way home, I decided to stay on K St coming out of Georgetown, go straight down K till I get to 15th and then it's just a short ride home. The lights on K St are timed, but not for a bike. So I stopped at 18th and K St waiting for the light. I normally don't go down K St. It's just ugly during the weekdays, just too much traffic and all of the buses, plus you can't take a left off K St onto 15th. But there's another reason I don't like to go down K St. At the corner of the 18th and K there is a sign that shows how many US service members have been wounded in Iraq (over 13000) and how many have been killed (1945 as of Saturday). It's a grim, and depressing, reminder of the huge human toll this conflict is taking on our country.
And it makes me mad. It's a small little sign on K St. Do any of the major newpapers show the currently tally of wounded or killed on their front pages (and I mean the print edition, not the online version. The Wash Post has a good online section)? No, there are stories about 2 killed, 4 wounded, etc. And unfortunately we've now become used to this slow attrition of our soldiers. It's easier to think about when it's a handful, when the number is small. Oh it's bad, but it's not that bad. And that's just WRONG! The number of soldiers killed is almost half of a small town where I once lived in Missouri. Imagine waking up one day to find out that every other person you knew in a town was gone. The number of wounded is close to a third of the population of that county.
As a veteran, I'm just appalled at what is going on. I have no doubt that we got into this war for the wrong reasons. But we are there, and leaving is not an option. We need more troops, better equipped troops, more allies, etc. And yet I don't see it happening. The Pentagon has decided to not just drink the kool aid, but they are bathing in it. They recently put out a report that things are looking good in Iraq. Admittedly my view and knowledge of the situation on the ground is limited, but using one very important metric: the number of American lives lost in the last few months, I have a hard time accepting such a rosey picture.
And as much as I am frustrated with the senior decision makers at the Pentagon, I'm more furious with our political leaders. Can someone please tell me why this sentence:
"I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky" is an impeachable offense, but:
"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." which was patently untrue or
"Mission Accomplished" which was patently untrue or
"Bring it On" which invited the insurgents to attack US forces are not?
Clinton's actions discredited the White House and soiled a blue dress. Bush's actions continue to discredit the White House and led to the deaths of over 1900 US service members.
When will there be some accountability? When will we make the changes necessary to really win this war?
The Republican Diet Program
I’ve been on the Republican Diet Program for almost a year now and I have to tell you it’s just AMAZING!!! Yep, a year ago some heathen, liberal, socialist, and probably gay Democrats were making ugly, unpatriotic comments about my weight, so I decided to declare a War On Fat or WOF, for short. My WOF would show them all that my love for my body is only surpassed by my love of my country. So I started on the Republican Diet.
The Republican Diet Guidebook (aka the WOF Bible!) described this great weight loss program. And the beauty of it, was that I wasn’t hungry at all. The Republican Diet Guidebook program lets you eat as much as you want while you are on the diet. Cookies, cakes, hamburgers, etc. It’s great. You’re never hungry. The secret to the program is that in future all of the food I will eat will have less calories and I’ll be burning the calories faster. So I can eat more now, since in the future food will have less calories. In fact, I need to eat more now since the food my children will eat will have no calories at all. I really love this part of the WOF!
The WOF Bible also recommended that I combine my diet with an exercise program for it to be really effective. Despite the fact that there are many gyms in my neighborhood, the RDG mandated that I had to join the Hexagon Gym, a subsidiary of Halliburton. So like any good Republican, I did. Despite the fact that the facilities at the gym were pretty bad, and the equipment was broken half the time, I really felt good about joining the gym. Especially since according to the RDG I didn’t actually have to go for the diet to work, just pay my dues. Sure it’s expensive and there were some minor billing problems. I mean, once I explain to the credit companies that the $100,000 gym fee was just a billing mistake, my credit history will be fixed in no time, I’m sure.
Unfortunately, after a couple of months, I still wasn’t seeing the results I really wanted. I had talked with the fitness experts at the Hexagon gym and they said that everything was on track and that I didn’t really need any more exercise or even diet. Surely if they thought I needed help winning my WOF, they would have told me, right?
I consulted the leader of my Republican Diet group and expressed my doubts about the plan. I’d had to buy new, larger clothes, and I felt confused. My group leader chastised me profoundly and told me that it was treason to doubt the Republican Diet Guidebook. He told me that I needed to pray to God to help me overcome my doubts and then I would lose all of the weight.
So I prayed, and I followed the program religiously. I ate, I paid my dues to the gym, and yet I kept getting bigger. Or atleast, I thought so. Everyone at my group kept telling me how great I was looking. That I must be losing weight. And they all can’t be wrong, can they?
When I had to buy XXL clothes, I went to the group leader again and asked when I would start to lose weight. He told me that my fat cells were in the last throes of their war on me, and soon I would win the WOF and be the thin, beautiful, patriotic, republican that God meant me to be.
In the meantime, my group keeps telling me how great and fabulous I look. So come join the Republican Diet Program. You too can pay lots of money, eat whatever you want, never exercise, and be surrounded by people telling you how great you look. And really, isn’t that what’s it’s all about?
A Slow Transition . . . .
. . . . back to reality.
It started on Saturday. I went to the Boatslip to lay out, and you can tell the crowd had started to change. Bear week was over and a new week was starting. So there were fewer bears, and more . . . . other types of folks. More lesibians, more twinks, more older circuit guys. At the tea dance, the crowd was much more mixed than before. But just as much fun. Everyone dancing and having a really good time. Here's a pic of me at the Boatslip.
More fun t-shirts:
1. Dip me in honey and feed me to the lesbians. (on a straight guy!)
2. Dump Him!
3. My GI Joes are Doin' it!
4. Your grandma called, she want's her hair-do back!
The last tea dance was just awesome and DJ MaryAlice hooked me up with some amazing CDs. She rocks!
After dinner I went to the A-House and danced some more. There were plenty of hot guys there.
But I think the week was catching up with me, so I ended up crashing a bit early.
I decided to catch an early ferry/shuttle so I got back to DC around 330ish. I walked off the plane and just got hammered by the heat and humidity. Ugh!
And now I'm taking a break from laundry and work. No more vacations for me till September. Unless I go to NYC in August. Hmm, let me think about that a bit.
More T-Shirt Slogans from Ptown
I find the sexual innuendo t-shirts funny, but a little bit old. So I'm just sticking to the funny random ones I've spotted in the last couple of days:
1. I'm not staring at you, I'm studying my prey.
2. I'd love you if you were more like me.
3. I Beat Anorexia. (in big letters on a BIG bear!)
Still having a great time. I've managed to get quite a little tan going. The weather continues to be AMAZING here. Sunny, hot. So hot I got into the ocean. BRRR! Another great T Dance and tonight is the Ptown Fireman's Ball to help raise money for their unit. Apparently bears are gear freaks and own fireman's uniforms. I'll be wearing a tank that has NYFD on it.
My Radical Gay Agenda (Ptown Version)
I made a mistake.
When I first got to Ptown, I should have signed up for the workshops and seminars right away.
This was my chance to really step up to the plate and become part of the radical gay agenda.
They offer all sorts of seminars and workshops here in Ptown to include:
Media Manipulation, Destroying Straight Marriages, Recruiting Straight Boys
I really wanted to get into the Recruiting Straight Boys 201. Apparently it involved a field exercise at one of the local colleges here on the Cape.
Alas, all of the good classes were taken. So I had to settle into my usual Ptown routine:
0830: Get up and have breakfast.
1000: Go to the beach.
1030-1400: Lay Out.
1430: Return from beach.
1500: Have a late lunch.
1530-1700: Disco Nap.
1700-1900: T-Dance.
1900-2000: Wander the shops on Commercial.
2000-0100: Then options:
a) Light dinner
b) Catch a Show
c) More dancing
0100: When everything closes at 1AM, go to Spiritus and have bad pizza and then go back to my room and crash.
**Repeat for 7 days**
Yikes, I’m exhausted just thinking about it. And yes, there is a lack of gym time on the schedule. But between the gout (don’t ask) and just being lazy, I’m thinking the gym can wait till I get back to the real world.
Okay, confession time. I sing when I dance. If I know the words to the song, I’ll sing them while I dance. Especially if it’s a good diva song. Today at the T Dance, they played Cher (natch!). And I’m looking at this one guy who is singing the words to the song. And that’s okay. But what’s not okay is trying to impersonate Cher ala head flips and exaggerated movements while singing. Really. Just because you’ve got bangs (yes bangs!) doesn’t mean you should be trying to do a decent Cher impersonation. Seriously. You’re in Ptown, at the T Dance, surrounded by guys. You’re gay. We got that. But the Cher impersonations? Please stop.
T-shirt slogan of the day: You Go GIRL! And take those tacky shoes with you!
I AM THIN AND GORGEOUS!
So can I tell you that I'm getting a little ego boost just by being at Bear Week here in Ptown? I've never felt for svelte!
After two days making the trek to the beach, I decided to head to one of the hotels that has a pool where you can just rent a lounge chase for a buck or two and then have access to the waiter who will bring you a cool frosty drink on a hot day like today. It was a great time. The weather was perfect, the music was interesting, and the pool was full of bears. Happy, friendly, swimming bears. Of course the joke (and it's an old one) is about the poor schmuck who has to clean the filter that is full of back (and chest) hair every night.
My radical gay agenda for Ptown today included the Tea Dance.
The Tea Dance is from 4-7PM every day at the Boatslip. Even on a Tuesday it was pretty packed. The music was awesome and there was dancing. Yes, dancing bears.
Now, Ptown is a great little town. And after coming up here for 4 years now, I keep thinking I've seen it all. And then I see something and I just scratch my head.
#1. At the Tea Dance, there was a strange man dancing with a little teddy bear. Yes, a teddy bear. And he kept holding it over his head and the lowering his arm so the bear would almost touch the people near by. It was almost like he was giving them a teddy bear blessing. Almost.
#2. At the end of the tea dance, some dancing girls came in to promote their shows. They do this in Ptown, the drag queens or other performing acts will come into to the Tea Dance to push their flyers for their shows.
I saw Wonder Woman yesterday and she looked FLAWLESS. But I digress . . . so the DJ had started spinning the great disco classic: "Don't Leave Me This Way". So there were all of these bears dancing their fur off and then there were these dancing girls (think show girls from Las Vegas) who were doing their routine to the music. The dancing crowd was just enthralled and turned en masse to check out the girls. It was just a little too surreal. A group of bears, dancing, and watching showgirls dance.
Only in Ptown.
Speaking of, I love the T-shirts here.
My favorites so far:
1) Front: I Promised I'd Be Good This Summer.
Back: Never mind. Want to Fuck?
2) I've seemed to have mis-placed my boyfriend.
3) Don't make me get my flying monkeys!
The Adonis Complex
In the early to mid 1980s, GQ published an article called “The Adonis Complex.”
It was about an emerging trend where the ideal shape of the male body, its physical form, was being changed to one of more muscular shape.
Much like how the ideal feminine form had changed from voluptuous to thin, the same trend was happening with the male form.
Today’s it obvious that the ideal male form is one of a thin waist, muscular body, and of course a six (preferably an eight) pack abs. But this article was from over 20 years ago, before every men’s magazine had a muscular, thin, shirtless man on its cover. I remember the article pretty well. At the time, I was short and overweight and it seemed like an ideal form that I would never achieve.
Battling with my weight has been a challenge ever since. The things I did to make the weight restrictions while I was in the Navy where probably not very healthy. After I got out of the Navy, I did lose a lot of weight, but I’m still kind of big. I’ve got more muscles, but its something I deal with every day.
During the shower scene in “Take Me Out”, there were 8 guys lined up, naked. From 40 feet away, it was kind of an odd perspective. They were actors, playing baseball players, but none of them were in “perfect shape”. Which is kind of accurate, I think most ball players are just in okay shape. But to see these men lined up, it was interesting to look at them and to figure out which ones had characteristics that I found attractive. Broad shoulders and chest, decent biceps, a waist that was atleast narrower than their shoulders. Like most people, I’ve fully bought into what is considered the ideal male form. But how realistic is that?
After the play, I went home and caught the episode of Will & Grace where Will and Jack are helping a “newbie”, a guy just coming out of the closet. At the end of episode, the newbie declares his desire to look like the cover boy of a mens magazine, is wearing expensive, but uncomfortable shoes, and using credit to pay for it all. Will and Grace quipped that he really was gay: unrealistic body expectations, choosing fashion or comfort, and living beyond your means.
Unrealistic body expections. The gay community, always the early adopters and trendsetters, embraced the new masculine form. Add in the fact that masculine mean looked healthy and that the gay community was associating thin and gaunt with HIV and AIDS, the new ideal masculine form became the holy grail, something to be sought and treasured. But not everybody can be 6'2", 200 pounds, have a 44 inch chest and a 30 inch waist. The gay community worships this insane body image, and those who have it, are praised and sought after.
I’m in Ptown right now and it’s throwing me for a little bit of a loop.
It’s Bear Week here.
Walking down the street are guys who push 250, or 300 easy.
Some of the bears are more muscle bears, but some are just big guys.
These are guys who have accepted that they are big and, one assumes, are happy with it.
They appreciate a little hair on the chest, facial hair, and/or a bit of paunch of a stomach.
These guys are definitely masculine, but not in the Adonis manner.
Is this a type of masculinity I want to strive for?
Not really.
But it is interesting and some of these guys are sexy.
But the bears I’m attracted to seem to be the muscle bears, so I’m still buying into the Adonis complex.
Just a different version of it.
Mixed Bag of Blog
Been really busy this week but didn't get a chance to blog. So here I go:
Random (and not so Random) Acts of Violence. A woman was attacked about 4 blocks from my condo. I walk down that street and it's pretty nice. A guy whacked out on PCP just came up to her and starting stabbing her. She called for help and people rushed to help her. It took 5 guys to hold him down. She's going to make it, but apparently it was real ugly. Even in Dupont, one of the nicer areas in DC, you can't escape violence. Just living in today's world you need to know that no matter where you are, you're not particularly safe. And I'm not getting all dooms-dayish here. It's just another reason to be on the look out, know where you, situational awareness. Sometimes there's a randomness you just can't avoid.
This week London was also attacked by terrorist and it looks like there are over 50 people dead. This was no random. This was planned. The coverage has been pretty interesting and I'm loving some of the personl accounts via blogs. Andrew Sullivan has been pretty hard core and captured alot of the reactions from across the pond. My heart goes out to all of the victims and their families.
Tired of Less? Me too!To be accurate, I'm tired of Less. The Lesser of two evils. With O'Connor's retirement, both sides of the political spectrum have started to gear up for war. It looks like Gonzales may be a real candidate. Talking with a friend of mine, he was like: Gonzales isn't that bad. And it's true if you look at the right wing political machine and the attacks they are doing on him. He isn't "that bad." So he's the lesser of two (or probably more) evils. But why can't we get someone who is actually good? Gonazales was an integral part of the Iraqi torture scandal and somehow determined that the Geneva conventions were "quaint." This is the guy you want to put on the Supreme Court? If this is what comes across as a moderate conservative, we are really in bad shape.
Who Cares Anyways?One of the things I noticed about my visit to my sister and her family is how politically apathetic they are. Gay rights? Abortion? Taxes? Abu Ghraib? None of it really effects them, so they don't care. My sister works, my brother in law stays home with the kids. They've got real life problems to deal with and don't have the time/energy to get involved in politics. It's kind of sad, but I really think that's a common problem in America. If you are working hard to just get food on the table, pay the rent, and maybe squeeze some money in savings, then you don't have time to read about the issues, get involved, support the different politcal organizations. So their voice, their ideas, their problems get lost in the political discussions of our world. I don't blame my sister at all. After working all day, coming home to help cook dinner, bathtime for the kids, read them a book and put them to bed, she's barely got any time to herself, much less time to share with her husband. But still it's sad.
Take Me OutA group of friends went to see Take Me Out last night. It was awesome and just a funny as I remembered. Classic lines:
"Fuck the gay community."
"I would but they don't want me."
Or "The beauty of a narrow life is that the small deviations produces staggering results."
Off to Ptown at the crack of dawn tomorrow. Time for some serious decompression time. Yeah!!!
Boogers! The Other White Meat?
Just got back from a great trip to LA visiting my sister and her family. I just love to visit my neice (almost 4) and my nephew (6). My nephew is the biggest drama queen. I can't remember what he wanted for lunch one day, but my sister didn't have it, so he stomped his foot and said:
"Fine. Then I'm going to go up to my room and have boogers for lunch."
How do you respond to that?
My neice is all ready for college. Apparently my sister made some sort of comment about how she could buy something after she goes to college and makes some money. So now my niece thinks college is like a bank or something, just some place you go. And afterwards you have money. The funniest part is that now my sister can use that as leverage to get her to pick up her toys, eat her vegetables, etc. It's just hilarious.
Anyways, it was the best trip. Did I do anything gay? Nope. Between the jet lag and chasing after my niece and nephew, I was just wiped out by the end of the day. Going out to West Hollywood or any such place like that was just not an option. Having children is not for people who tire easily, or are lazy. I repeatedly thanked my sister for having her children. I love them, but I don't have to live with them, and my parents are happy with grandchildren.
Not to end on a down note, but I must say that I absolutely DESPISE Dulles airport. It's a haze to get to, even driving. The remote parking lots are like in Siberia. The main terminal is a ZOO! The security lines are just unreal. And then you get to the remote terminals and they are all packed with people and the low ceilings and too few windows makes it feel dark and confining. Just not good. I don't care if I have to do a layover, I'm not flying out of there again (unless it's international). It's just not worth it. Oh, and I forgot where I parked in the hinterlands and ended up walking through three different parking areas to find my car in the 90+ degree heat. Yeah, that's a good way to end a trip!
Pics of my niece and nephew when I get a chance!
