Category: Opinion

A Good Walk Spoiled

On By SarahIn Opinion, PoliticsLeave a comment

This just makes me mad. And I think it speaks for itself. I rolled my eyes when I heard about Bush saying in an interview that he was giving up golf out of some perverse idea of respect for families whose children are fighting or who have died in Iraq. How ridiculous of him to think that this “gesture” has any meaning at all. It’s almost funny.

And then one thinks back to 9/11 and this embarrassing moment. So with that moment in history, he expects us to believe that he’s sincere for making this “sacrifice”?

PuhLEEZE.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the Huffington Post reported last week that it wasn’t true, that he has played golf at least twice since 2003.

Really, I don’t care whether or not if he plays golf. Its that he plies people’s emotions with his LIES! Lies about stupid things! He tries to make people think that he cares about the kids who are dying in his useless war by lying about whether or not he plays golf!

Just(ly) Married

On By SarahIn Friends & Family, Opinion, Politics, SpiritualityLeave a comment


Just Married

Originally uploaded by silly.goose

This week we celebrated a victory. The CA Supreme Court ruled that we have the right to marry and form a family bond, and that is protected by the California Constitution. We have taken a big step away from second class citizenship!

We are indeed blessed for so many reasons. Mildred Loving was smiling down on us.

I am so grateful for all of our friends and family who have supported us, and to the attorneys at NCLR, the ACLU, and the City of San Francisco.

And most of all, I’m grateful to my wife. I’m so proud to be married to her.

Happy Earth Day!

On By SarahIn Community, OpinionLeave a comment

Every day should be Earth Day. Gillian and I are trying to live more mindfully each day, making changes that seem little, are relatively painless, but if more and more people practiced probably would make a difference. Here are a list of things that we do (or don’t do) to live in a more earth-friendly manner:

  • Take fewer showers and more “bird baths”
  • Drive less (we’re actually thinking of getting rid of our car altogether and getting into a car share)
  • Bring totes everywhere with us instead of collecting plastic or paper bags
  • Wash the laundry in cold water
  • Hang dry our clothes
  • Change our light bulbs to CFLs
  • Use rechargeable batteries
  • Use cloth napkins
  • Use reusable kitchen wipes instead of paper towels
  • Of course we recycle
  • Buy locally grown and produced foods and goods
  • Eat meat fewer times per week
  • Continue to educate ourselves about environmental sustainability

We’re also going to start composting and gardening this summer. When we shop, we try to be mindful about it, thinking about the object’s usefulness and life time, and think about what’s going to happen to the object after it’s no longer useful.

I was also gratified today to see all of the environmental links that my contacts were saving on Ma.gnolia. Actually, for the past few days.

So what if Bush won’t get serious about green house gas emissions? If he won’t create the policy to get our emissions lower, We The People can still make the life style changes to do so. If I model the behavior, perhaps my friends, family, and colleagues will be inspired to do the same. I know that I learn from the people around me, and have adopted more sustainable living practices.

So happy Earth Day everyone! Do something, however small, good for the Earth today and every day.

Information Addiction

On By SarahIn Internet, OpinionLeave a comment

Occasionally, Gillian wonders out loud about my time spend online. Am I an Internet addict? I described myself as an information addict in my online profile in a couple of places, quite facetiously, before I learned that there was a movement to include “Internet addiction disorder” in the next edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

I do wonder. As with all things, I strive for balance, and this obsessive-compulsive world of ours, it is hard to strike balance with anything.

I am online for a living. Every day I am at my computer, sometimes all day. I may be using applications that are not connected to Internet activity, but in the background I am listening to Pandora and have my instant mail program going in case anyone needs to reach me. I usually log into Facebook because inevitably I will run across and article or web page that I want to share with my friends. I’m always logged into Ma.gnolia because I discover new sites that I want to save and share every day.

The computer has become an indispensable and incredibly useful tool. I couldn’t do my work without it. Like the telephone, it is just another utility that we all use everyday to help us communicate. But there are other useful applications for personal organization, which becomes more important the more information is thrown at us. Frankly, we need these tools so that we can sort through everything to find the really important stuff that is going the help us.

I admit to having days where I get sucked into the vortex of research, finding one site that leads me to many others. Down the rabbit hole I go. It is perhaps not the most efficient use of my time, and there has been more than one occasion where I really didn’t know when to stop. I convince myself that if I just keep on trying, if I am persistent enough I will find the piece of information I am looking for, even if I get distracted by shiny objects along the way.

Yes, I do want to find a more healthy balance for virtual life and real life activity. But I have been saying for years that I strive to find balance, between the professional and the personal, spiritual and civic, and it’s all connected. The Internet has facilitated staying in touch and getting in touch with old friends in a way that never would have happened without it. For me there is no separation. Virtual life is real life.

I’m sure there are people out there who really do need help balancing their life between time spent online and managing important issues in their life. I feel for folks who are neglecting paying their bills or doing their laundry or taking out the trash or spending time with their spouse and kids because the just can’t get off line.

However, I can’t help but wonder about the trend in our culture to diagnose every dysfunctional behavior. Does everything have to be an illness? Can’t we just take responsibility to change our own behavior? I think it’s pretty funny, perhaps paradoxical, that there is an Internet site and online community for Internet addiction. I scored 13 on the test, so I think I’m in good shape…but did I answer truthfully? I could be in denial. Honestly, I don’t worry about it, and I do feel that the Internet is something that impacts the quality of my life in a positive way.

Freedom of Expression

On By SarahIn Friends & Family, Opinion, Politics, Spirituality1 Comment

My dad sent the following letter to Oklahoma Representative Sally Kern last week:

Representative Kern.

I just heard your remarks about gays. I am a 76 year old successful business executive who has known many gay persons at work and in society. All of them have been very productive and loving and kind. None of the deserve the hate that you are broadcasting. This is the trouble with this nation. People like you become misinformed and believe what they hear and become divisive. You are in a position of trust where you are supposed to represent all of the people. Gays make up over twelve per cent of the population and their friends and relatives expand that to at least twenty five per cent or more.

Do you feel responsible in your representation when you bash over one fourth of your constituents?

I ask you first to reconsider you hateful position and then become informed so you can represent your constituents properly. I can guarantee that you will be a much happier person as well.

My dad rocks. He’s one of my greatest role models. I thought this was an incredibly generous and hopeful response. My sister wrote to her, too, expressing her love and acceptance of gay people, and expressing her concern about Kern’s views (or more accurately her ignorance) about Islam and Muslims.

I can’t remember exactly what I wrote when I submitted my signature to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund open letter to Kern, but the general point was that I believe that Kern must know that her views are prejudiced, ignorant, and shameful. Otherwise she would not have expressed herself in a private audience where she believed her views wouldn’t be exposed.

My beloved pointed out that Kern is simply exercising her freedom of speech, and she has every right to her opinions. I couldn’t agree more, and I hope that more of her ilk come out into the light and expose themselves as the hate mongers that they are, especially if they are educators and hold public office as she does. People who hold office have a responsibility to represent and protect the rights of all people in their communities, even they don’t like them.