The other day I used the term “sexual preference.” Rightly, I was admonished for it. (”What is this? The 50’s? Jesus.”) It wasn’t until that note from an annoyed reader that I even considered what that term implies. Here’s how I responded:
Ya know, you’re right. I used the term without thinking, really, at the tail end of a pretty long day. This is the first time it has ever been brought to my attention that it is an offensive term. It shouldn’t have needed to have been brought to my attention–I should be more observant–but it makes perfect sense. I do not subscribe to the notion that people choose to be gay, so why would I use a term that would imply that is the case? My apologies for using language in a careless way.
Anyway, I consider myself pretty observant of what is and what is not potentially offensive language. Yesterday taught me that just because someone uses a term that is considered offensive by a good many, doesn’t *necessarily* mean that they mean any harm. It might just mean that they use words without thinking first.
Right now I’m trying like hell not to cry. I just learned that the Pride flag that hangs in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco is flying at half mast after Prop 8 passed. A black flag has been added above it.
I haven’t been able to really revel in the victory of Barack Obama, because the night was marred by the passing of Prop 8. Maybe it is because I was there the first day of same sex marriage at City Hall after the CA Supreme Court decision. Maybe it’s because my step-sister is a lesbian. It’s likely both those things, but more than that I think I’m crying because it’s just so goddamn sad.
Sure, it’s not over. Lawsuits will be filed, fights will be fought. But I’ve seen the elation on the faces of those who were finally, finally allowed to marry the loves of their lives, and the idea that anyone could snatch that from them is heartbreaking.*
I’ll never understand the hate. I cannot fathom the fear. As apophenia says, “we will look back with horror at the time when Americans thought it was right to treat people differently based on who they loved.”
*Yes, I know marriages until Tuesday are still valid. But that’s not the larger point.
Got a Flip Mino from my dear mother for my birthday (which is Tuesday, whoo!), and this is a test video to see how well it shoots. Took this video at a house in Potrero Hill which is where a newly married couple, friends of Ian’s, are living while their Mission District apartment is rid of mold. The home I shot with the Flip camera is chock-full of art, mostly the distorted female form kind.
Dear Reader: NEVER, EVER call Yellow Cab City of Albany. If you see one of their vehicles, do not flag it down. Instead, flip it off.
This morning I had an appointment at 8 a.m. The appointment is 2 or so miles away from my home. At 7:29 a.m. I phoned this cab company who picked up the phone and yelled, “HELLO!” I told them where I was, and where I needed to go.
“ONE-SIX-TWO-TWO 9th STREET…”, he said. He hadn’t been listening. I know this, because he cut me off as I initially told him my address. Again, I told the man on the phone where I lived. “15 minutes,” he told me, and hung up.
Eighteen minutes later I called back to ask if the cab was still coming. He said he would call me right back. 30 seconds later he did, to tell me the cab was 2 minutes away. 5 minutes later I rang this crappy company again.
“Oh no,” the man said when I informed him the taxi still hadn’t arrived. At this time it was less than 10 til 8. I began complaining that I would be late to my appointment because the cab was missing, and that’s when this fine, upstanding business man HUNG UP ON ME. Naturally, I called right back.
This is when he began screaming at me, telling me something about the driver, but I could not understand him. I tried to speak, but was once again hung up on.
In the end I had to cancel my appointment, and because I did not give 48 hours notice it may cost me $60.
Never, ever call this company, ever. I don’t care if you accidentally cut your arm off and all the ambulances in the Bay Area are MIA. You’ll die in a pool of your own blood waiting for these losers to do their job. Avoid at all costs. 100% unprofessional and absolutely unreliable.
Hey, Nashville, I hear you are getting a Trader Joe’s. Lucky you. In addition to enjoying dried chile mango, super cheap fresh flowers and delicious frozen foods, may I suggest the Shiraz version of Two Buck Chuck? A TJ’s stocker himself told me that the shiraz is the best $2 wine they carry, and that the Two Buck Chuck in cabernet is really uneven. There. So, now you know.
Right now I’m trying like hell not to cry. I just learned that the Pride flag that hangs in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco is flying at half mast after Prop 8 passed. A black flag has been added above it.
