friend of the built environment

I’ve become especially sensitive lately with the way every public medium and social institution today seems to be less concerned with its own specialized role and more dedicated to a sort of “catalogue” response to the world. This spans everything from social clubs to political candidates, public issues to editorial stances. I’ve written about it [...]

How come when I do an internet search for “Adult children having problems with their parents” I don’t get anything even remotely applicable? Am I the only one whose relationship with my parents failed to normalize after adolescence?

So… I’m 27 years old and I have two children. One is 54 years old and one is 59. They are very nice children, and they love me. Sometimes they are good children and offer to help with chores. They are always very thoughtful on birthdays and holidays, and they try hard to demonstrate maturity [...]

Fall is the best time of year. Not only is the California fall mildly cool and predictable (an important factor when you live in the Bay Area, where “climate control” is considered insulting to the environment), but Starbucks starts rolling out seasonal latte flavors. It starts slow with such things as the Pumpkin Spice latte and culminates [...]

Am I the only one who doesn’t see what the big deal is about Christopher Reeve dying? He wasn’t that great of an actor, I don’t think he was ever hunky (even before he became a cripple), and I don’t see why he was such a “heroic” person.
Granted, it takes a substantial degree of heroism [...]

Some qualifications on yesterday’s entry, as the comments come in…
I wasn’t trying to attack Christopher Reeve. I just get a little tired these days of the fact that celebrities get so much credit just because they support a given cause. Ultimately, they are exploiting their preexisting fame, and there are lots of other activists out there [...]

To show how “up” I am on Queer Current EventsTM, I had no idea it was the anniversary of Matthew Shepherd’s death. But I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t find it all that dreadfully important a date to contemplate…

An interesting external perspective on the divisiveness of Decision 2004TM. I would say I agree with much of it, based upon my own rants about the “values gap” in America today.
True, the most ubiquitous moral conflict in the American democratic process today seems to be the requirement that we all decide whether to vote for a party/politician that most [...]

About 25 years ago, Leonard Peikoff wrote a book called “The Ominous Parallels”. Those of us who read it and love and value our lives, have always concentrated our efforts and nerves into ensuring that that work was not destined to be prophetic. Are our efforts in vain?
From Chisparoja:
“As with Germany in the 1930s it has a burgeoning, strong and [...]

Sometime in the midst of another insomniac night, I realized what was wrong with me: I want to be boring.
I am perfectly comfortable using this life to create a safe bubble in which to function. My shame is that it took me so long to realize such a thing was possible.
I want to ignore my [...]

Mmmm… Rain. Rain makes a MurderingMouth happy.
I’ve lived in California all my life, and yet each year I’m taken totally by surprise at the drama surrounding Californians’ reactions to the arrival of Rain. California tends to get rain from roughly November to April only, and only about one major storm per month. Californians don’t even [...]

 
Some thoughts surfacing from the current joust I’m having with a fellow cartoon fan:
I find South Park funny. I like poking fun at easy targets (as well as socially taboo targets). But I don’t really hold any high intellectual or social esteem for the show’s creators. They’re a cute queer couple, even if they’re totally closeted. [...]

So I have this suggestion for campaign finance reform that I believe would end the corruption, pork-barrel and maybe even the 2-party system as we know it in America. It would even work well in any other country with a good legal democratic system. It involves three specific rules for all campaign contributions:
 

Outlaw direct campaign [...]

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to the 6-billion-odd people I fucked over 4 years ago by voting for George W. Bush. It will not be happening again. However, I would also like to announce that I will not be voting for John Kerry either. Nor anyone else. Full explanation follows.
I [...]

Three years ago tonight, I turned around at the bar in Club Fred. And my life was never the same.
Happy Anniversary, baby.

One can be a resourceful person. One can have lots of abilities. One can miraculously make everything work out benevolently at every turn. But that doesn’t make it any easier to know that one’s choices are the best…