urbpan: (dandelion)
My wonderful home state of Massachusetts was the first to grant marriage equality to same sex couples, eleven years ago. Now the rest have finally come along to the right side of history. Back then I wrote a little article about it, which exists here for now.

Because I'm afraid it may disappear, I'll put the whole article behind the cut:Read more... )
urbpan: (dandelion)
20130331_145911

In this snapshot from the weekend, Alexis rolls herself a cigarette after having planted veggie seeds in the starter pots. In the background, a broken picket in our fence gate taunts me.  But hey guess what we did last night?

20130401_203819

We went to the taping of NPR's Ask Me Another! We've been excited about the show since Jonathan Coulton first announced that he was a part of it. I was very critical of it when it first started, but I've listened to every episode as a podcast. Part of my criticism had to do with host Ophira Eisenberg, (I just had to backwards anagram "her ripe begonias" to get close to spelling her name right) I didn't think she had good flow. But seeing her live was revelatory--she improvises very well, handles difficult guests with aplomb, and has polite but authoritative control of the stage.

Here she is preparing to interview Barney Frank, who got massive applause, especially when his work for gay rights was mentioned. He quipped that when he became a congressman in 1981 it was not acceptable to be a gay man in public life, but when he retired last year, his same sex marriage was respectable--but being a member of congress is very unpopular.

JoCo played "The Future Soon" as a full length warmup, a short version of "Brookline," and the first bit of the Pixies' "Here Comes Your Man" (after the Barney Frank segment).
urbpan: (obama)
Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] heavenscalyx for reminding me, 8 years ago today I became incredibly proud of Massachusetts for being the first state to grant the civil right of marriage to same sex couples. It seemed inconceivable to me at the time, and now it seems just as unlikely that this particular right has not been granted to all Americans. I'm also very proud that my president agrees with me.I wrote an article about the celebration that happened that night.

[my tags seem hopelessly anachronistic--it's "marriage equality" and "civil rights," grampa]

On Paper

Nov. 16th, 2010 05:53 am
urbpan: (Default)
In the mid-90's, when I was publishing a comics anthology zine called "Don't Shoot! It's Only Comics," I was asked to be on a panel discussion at a library. I don't remember what the point of it was, but there were a handful of us zinesters there, explaining what we did and why we did it. I remember someone in the audience offered an almost hostile line of questioning. Basically he asked, "aren't you all doing what you are doing out of vanity?" which I guess is true on some levels but totally irrelevant (what's your hobby, asshole?) but more to the point of this this post, he asked "why aren't you publishing your zines on the internet?"



At the time, the internet was pretty new, and had a relatively small population of mostly upper middle class people. The internet is still largely a place for the privileged, but at that time it was inescapably so. Zines are populist, and they reach out to the disenfranchised and the marginalized. Using an elitist technology ran counter to most zine publishers' sensibilities.

Also, when I answered, I pointed out the awkwardness of the interface, particularly when compared to a comic book or a magazine. I used what became my standard refute for this challenge: "you can't take a computer into the bathroom to read it." Laptops, netbooks, and smart phones have made that into an absurd statement.

So now, 15 years later, why don't zinesters simply publish on the internet? I went to the Papercut Zine Library to donate lots of my zine and comic collection, and found myself wondering why zines still exist. The librarians there said they were hoping to plan more, smaller zine fairs soon in the future. That's great, I said, but in the back of my mind I wondered who the fair would be for; who finds going to the photocopy machine a more rewarding and less expensive exercise than simply banging away for a few minutes on a computer and getting feedback emailed to them? I mentioned the two zines I used to do, and that I no longer put out The Urban Pantheist in print, but that it was now online only. (I didn't tell them that it was a daily exercise that has largely become my identity more deeply and broadly than when it was a print zine.) They were visibly disappointed, not, I'm sure, because they were fans of my zines, but because I was a member of their culture who had left it behind.



I became sheepish, and mentioned that I'd had some photographs up in an exhibit--they were paper. That's cool, one guy said without looking at me. I started to try to think of a zine I could do, some worthwhile contribution to a culture I belonged to for over a dozen years. But everything I could express that way could be done here more quickly, reaching more people, with much better options for including photographs or links to other resources and related topics. I do like the idea of having a real printed product of my own in my hands, but at this point in my life, why not a book? None of my ideas are so counter-cultural that The System would refuse to publish them. (Many of the counter-cultural ideas that zines used to be the only source for, like veganism, animal rights, car-free culture, gay civil rights, polyamory, transgender issues, and so on, are pretty much acceptable topics for mainstream publishing and, dare I say it, websites). If I had the ambition and the connections I would be aiming at the book world with my ideas, not the zine world. (I just want to pause to acknowledge the role that zinesters played in bringing those issues out into public discussion. I feel like people in zine culture were behind important changes like what happened in Massachusetts in 2004.)

So who are the people still making zines? People who love paper, people who love print, love getting things in the mail. Probably still some people who feel marginalized, that even with the internet and the limitless landscape it represents that there is no place for them, no community. (Or people who are denied access to the internet? For whom photocopying and postage is still a more practical process?) I heard a technology reporter yesterday say that Apple and Google were competing to "deliver the consumer to the marketplace" with their products. That phrase alone made me contemplate making my own paper out of compost and dropping off of the grid, for fear of being "delivered" somewhere against my will. I strongly object to being viewed as a "consumer," as if my only value was that I have money to give to someone to keep me fat and quiet. So I guess I kind of understand: the culture is still marginalizing people, the Capitalists are still the enemies of progress and ideas, and zines are probably the purest way to get your message out. If you don't have a Livejournal account (or compatible log-in), there is an ad on this page. (What is it? Just curious.) As the internet get easier to use and harder to escape, zines will probably have another huge resurgence.

I look forward to the next zine fair, to see what ideas are out there, and to see what people who value print and paper have created and produced. They're still out there, right?
urbpan: (family portrait)

Alexis shows off her "cleaned entire house by herself" muscles.


"How you know you live in Massachusetts" exhibit (a.
urbpan: (Default)
The Advocate just published their list of the 15 Gayest U.S. Cities. What's most surprising are the omissions. NO San Francisco, NO Provincetown, NO Key West. The criteria used to determine gayness were: Same-sex couples per capita (anti-single bias!), Statewide Marriage Equality (So long, California cities!), Gay Elected Officials, Gay Bars per capita (there goes Salt Lake City's chances), and then some weird web-based ones including cruising spots and Netflix favorites.

Why do I care? Because gay-friendly cities are more liberal and more well-educated and more cultured, and those are the kinds of places I want to live. Sorry if it's a stereotype, but gay people being out of the closet strongly correlates with art museums, colleges, and Democrats.

So the Advocate's site spreads the results over 6 pages, probably to boost ad revenue. I've listed them behind the cut for your convenience:
Read more... )
urbpan: (Get Your War On)
Half of New England's states support marriage equality. Here's to leaving the euphemism "partner" behind us some day soon.


Picture from this article.
urbpan: (obama)
When the Supreme Judicial Court handed down its landmark decision five years ago tomorrow allowing same-sex couples to wed in Massachusetts, opponents warned that traditional marriage would be endangered, while supporters envisioned an equality movement that would spread across the nation.

Over 11,000 same-sex marriages later, neither has happened...

Gay marriage rates leveled off at about 1,500 a year - about 4 percent of all state marriages - in 2006 and 2007. The divorce rate in Massachusetts has remained the same - and the lowest in the country... What's really changed is more subtle...

"When we're out together as a couple, it really doesn't come up, [said one gay married partner,] It's now considered normal." ...

"The sky didn't fall, [said another,] The newness of it has eased. It's just another marriage."

Their rights, however, remain limited to Massachusetts: The federal government doesn't recognize their marriage, and therefore does not extend to them the rights it accords heterosexual families for taxes, inheritance, and survivor benefits, among other things.


Complete article By David Filipov at Boston.com
urbpan: (with chicken)
I think since politics are dominating my thoughts these days I have to give up on apologizing about it.  Drop me from your friends list if you must, but I have stuff on my mind and it comes out here.

The victory for chickens in California should not be taken to mean that Californians care more about chickens' rights than human rights.  I'm pretty pissed off about question 8 passing, but I'm happy about animal welfare being taken seriously.  The chickens are still going to be killed and eaten, after all.  The gay married couples have some unneeded stress and irritation coming, but hey, they still live in California.



But seriously, how could you vote to take the happy out of this picture??

EDITED TO ADD TOM TOLES CARTOON:





urbpan: (peanuts dancers)
With today's news of Connecticut's Supreme Court decision, now all three of the states I've lived in allow same sex marriages. 3/50th of the way to equal rights in marriage, for Americans!

I'm pretty surprised that Connecticut got there before New York, but since most of the people in Connecticut work in NYC, New York shouldn't be far behind. It's so nice to feel proud of where I'm from every once in a while.
urbpan: (Default)
On [livejournal.com profile] richmackin's lj, there was a stupid, incorrect statement by an anti gay marriage bigot to the effect of "All species require two opposite sexes to reproduce."

Not only is this not true of all species (all bacteria and many if not most protists reproduce by splitting in half; many plants have both male and female parts on the same individual) it's not even true of all animals: earthworms, snails and most barnicles are hermaphroditic, aphids and many stick insects are all female, and some fish can change sexes in the middle of their life.

Fungi have more than two sexes--in fact, check out this BBC article for the total number of fungal sexes, as well as an evolutionary explanation of why we only have two:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/specials/sheffield_99/447058.stm
urbpan: (Default)
Yay!

My article on the Gay Marriage Celebration was published:
http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/2004/MERC-May-20-Thu-2004/23904048.html

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