radical mirrors

Dear Human Rights Campaign,

I was thinking this past week that when my paycheck came, I would finally do something that I have been meaning to do for a very long time and become a member of the Human Rights Campaign. I have been a supporter of equal rights my whole life and wanted to support an organization that was doing something about it.

However, yesterday I learned that the HRC has endorsed Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary against Ned Lamont. I am very confused why the HRC would support someone who believes that, “Homosexuality is wrong,” as Sen. Lieberman said to the New Haven Advocate, over someone who whole-heartedly supports the right of gays and lesbians to marry.

Scorecards are one thing, but to support someone like Lieberman when there is a serious alternative who would vote with the HRC 100% of the time is self-destructive. I will instead send my contribution to Mass Equality, an organization that is actually working for equal rights and not against them.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Gilson

I’ve been pretty quiet over here. Not that it’s anything new, but lately talking about my own life seems odd to me. I have nothing to work out, I’m happy, I’m getting married, and if I just wrote over and over how in love I am, everyone but Mary Ellen and myself would get bored, I’m sure.

I have been working on other things, though. Tops in the list is my new Podcast, which is a crunchy blend of music and politics, swirled with a bit of snark and blended with fine, dark roasted coffee. If you at all enjoy my political posts here, you should have a listen. If you don’t you should at least listen for the music, which hits acoustic folk and indie rock equally. I’ve done three of them so far, and they’re getting better the more I get used to using a microphone again.

Mary Ellen has her new blog, Knit Ho, which really isn’t all about knitting at all. You should check that out, too.

Things are really great. Mary Ellen got new glasses yesterday that are exceptionally cute, and there’s a camera phone picture of them over on her blog. The guinea pigs are doing well, though Rufus is still not living with the other two, since every time we try he ends up hurting someone.

We have Red Sox tickets for August 1st (remind us when that time comes, because we can both be flighty), and so we’re looking forward to that.

My dad is doing extremely well. He’s still walking with a cane, and probably always will, but considering that we weren’t sure he would ever be walking again, let alone working at Radio Shack where he has to be on his feet all day, it’s amazing to see.

My mother is becoming a comissioned minister this month. I don’t know exactly what that means, but it’s something that she’s been working toward for a while now, and she’s really happy about it.

And Otis is getting huge. He’s six months old now, and he’s showing tons of personality:

That’s all there is from here.

1,300:

Morgue officials said they had logged more than 1,300 dead since Wednesday — the day the Shiites’ gold-domed Askariya shrine was bombed — photographing, numbering and tagging the bodies as they came in over the nights and days of retaliatory raids.

1,900:

Six months after Hurricane Katrina unleashed death and destruction on the Gulf Coast, more than 1,900 hundred people remain unaccounted for in Louisiana alone.

2,302:

This is the number of US troops dead in Operation Iraqi enduring freedom.

Three years ago, right about now, I was getting off the T in Fenway. I thought I was way, way early, but in fact the one I was waiting for was there already.

That day I was nervous and quiet and didn’t know what was going to happen, certainly didn’t know whether this day was going to lead anywhere. I also hadn’t really eaten, so one of the first things she got to see me do was stuff a Powerbar into my face.

And now, three years later, here we are. We’re getting married in just under nine months. Three years ago, you would have been hard pressed to find me thinking I was anywhere near ready to get married. I wasn’t even convinced that I was really turning 27 that year. The last thing I felt was grown up.

But here I am, in love with the most wonderful woman in the world. Getting married. Here I am with short hair. Here I am still enjoying a good fart joke.

Somehow I ended up in paradise and I didn’t notice the entryway. I was too busy watching Mary Ellen to see anything else.

Baby, I love you so much. Happy Anniversary.

A couple things to let you know about.

First, I’m going to be switching to WordPress 2 shortly, so if the site starts to look really strange, that’s why.

Second, you may notice a new feature around here, and that is Amazon ads. Yes, I’m doing it to make some money. But you all were going to go to Amazon anyway, right? So, you can just do it by clicking on my handy links and help pay not only for this lovely site, but also everything else in the vast radical mirrors network.

Third, I’m going to be moving Mary Ellen’s archives over to her website, knit ho. Read nothing into this, it’s really housekeeping. She’s got quite a good blog going over there, so it only makes sense to put all her other writing there, too. Besides, with the number of updates over here, her writing might as well be where more people may read it.

Fourth, about blowing on the dying embres, after I update this site and get the templates set up, I’m totally going to write more here. No, really. I mean it.