For Today

I needed to go to the well today, read a little Audre Lorde and hear her wise voice make things a little clearer.

"It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences. "

Wanda Sykes Comes Out

Comedian Wanda Sykes came out yesterday while speaking in opposition to Prop 8 at a rally. Here's a little bit of what she had to say:

“You know, I don't really talk about my sexual orientation. I didn't feel like I had to. I was just living my life, not necessarily in the closet, but I was living my life," said Sykes, 44, while speaking at a Las Vegas rally for gay marriage.

“I got pissed off,” she continued. “They pissed me off. I said, 'You know what? Now I gotta get in your face.' And that’s what we all have to do now. They pissed off the wrong group of people. They have galvanized a community...Instead of having gay marriage in California, we’re going to get it across the country.”

Glad to have her add her voice to the fray! Here's more if you want it.

Voyage to the Island of the MILF

I'm leaving on Monday for a two week trip to the city of Davao in the Philippines. My family is going to meet the family & friends of our newest member, my sister-in-law Dyane. Although I grew up overseas and can often startle people with bizarre stories in exotic settings the plain truth is that I have not left the States since 1989, nor have I taken vacations with my family of origin. So right now I'm excited & nervous & totally ready to share the trip with anyone who wants to come along!

Today's fun fact: Davao is on the island of Mindanao and it has been voted one of Asia's Most Livable Cities. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Eagle Sanctuary & lots of other sites. However, the island is home to an Muslim separatist group who have recently back-stabbed by the government and have renewed their armed conflict. The name of this armed insurgent group? The MILF. Insert jokes here < >. And if I am captured or in anyway harmed please feel free to laugh.

Why I Love the Olympics

Answer: Gratuitous moments like these. This is Mark Spitz in 1972, on the cover of Sports Illustrated. This week features the new golden boy, Michael Phelps.

Puritan American Eats Its Own. Again.

If you, like me, are spending this week mourning the political suicide of John Edwards this video is heartbreaking. It was made by Rielle Hunter (aka Lisa Druck, former girlfriend of novelist Jay McInerney and the inspiration for the lead character in Story of My Life - love a good backstory) and has been pulled from most sites. In it he talks about being more authentic, being himself, wanting "people to see who I am." He addresses the Democrat's fear of morality as an issue, claiming that leadership on moral issues include hunger, and poverty.

The idea that the most powerful and magnetic leaders we have are judged by their private sexual behaviour makes no sense to me.

See you in a few years, John. Sorry we care more about who you sleep with than who you help.

Creepy

This whole story is rather fascinating. Wartime leader of genocidal attacks Radovan Karadzic goes underground as a New Age healer - this is the movie Mike Myers should have made instead of the Love Guru.

God Bless the British Press

Really, with a photo like that do I have to write anything? So this girl felt something buzzing in her bra and thought it was her cell phone. Eventually she realizes, hey, if my phone is in my hand, what's that still moving in my, oh god. So she reaches in and pulls out a bat. At work. In a hotel lobby. Double brilliant. Here's the rest cause you know you need more. And yes, that is her in the picture above, camping it up for her 15 seconds of fame.