My LiveJournal

06:51 pm - Gotta love the South (?!?)

From today's Tampa Bay Times...

(Well, the consolation is that it is 80+ degrees out and sunny, I suppose, which counts for something, at least.)

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Stop bullying of gay teens? Heaven forbid!
County commissioner opposes a student-led event that aims to end harassment.

By Bill Varian
bvarian@tampabay.com

Hillsborough County Commission er Brian Blair is seeking to head off an annual student-led event that aims to end name-calling, bullying and ha rassment of gay students.

Fresh from blasting Hillsborough schools for holding class on Good Friday, Blair has sent a mass e-mail to undisclosed “friends” urging them to protest the annual “Day of Silence.” The April 25 ob servance, which is not school-spon sored, encourages students to take a vow of silence and hand out cards to explain why they are keeping quiet.

This year’s event is being held in memory of Lawrence King, an Oxnard, Calif., eighth-grader killed in February, allegedly by a classmate and due to his sexual orientation.

Blair’s e-mail includes a copy of a call to action from the American Family Association of Tupelo, Miss. It claims students at numerous area schools are participating, including some at Blake, Bloomingdale, Bran­don, Riverview, Tampa Bay Technical, St. Petersburg, Pinellas Park, Hernan do and Lecanto high schools.

Blair says the observances are no more appropriate than noting the heterosexual orientation of soldiers killed in Iraq. “I have always believed that all citizens are equal and should be treated accordingly,” Blair wrote in his e mail. “On the other hand, no group of citizens should be given government sanction and support to promote their social and sexual agenda upon the rest of us and especially, our children.

“Considering the fact that the same school system does not want to allow just one Minute of Silence in the class room for God, this is preposterous.”

Blair is seeking re-election in No vember and faces an openly gay Dem ocratic opponent, Kevin Beckner, who is a financial planner.

The American Family Association “Action Alert” offers tips, including urging parents to tell their children: “Homosexual behavior is not an in nate identity; it is a sinful, unnatural and destructive behavior. No school should advance a physically, emotionally, and spiritually destructive sexual lifestyle to students.”

A similar observance three years ago from a handful of students bear ing signs spawned a counterprotest with signs at Bloomingdale High School. Administrators made both sides get rid of the signs.

Otherwise, the observance has largely been uneventful, said Hillsborough schools spokesman Stephen Hegarty. He said his main concern with Blair’s e-mail is that it encourag es parents to seek a change to school district “policy.”

“I’m not sure what policy he’s re ferring to, since the school board has nothing to do with the ‘Day of Silence,’ ” Hegarty said. “As long as they’re not disrupting school in any fashion, it’s not a problem.”

07:00 am - DTWOF

Heh. There's a quiz for EVERYTHING nowadays. (Thanks for pointing this out on your blog, Mr. Wife!)

Which Dykes To Watch Out For character are you?

Me:

Which Dyke to Watch Out For Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Clarice You are Clarice, a driven, liberal, workaholic lawyer. The Bush Administration has caused you a lot of anxiety lately. You have orders to cut one volunteer commitment and spend more time playing GTA3 with your son Raffi. Clarice 75% Lois 65% Stuart 55% Toni 45% Sydney 45% Mo 45% Sparrow 35%

08:27 pm

From Stasa's blog, I found a link to a "nerd test." (In other words, what kind of nerd are you, and how much so?)

Here are my results, with a link to the quiz itself:





As you can see, I'm a "cool nerd." But I knew that already.... ;-)

09:39 pm

I (finally) bought a new iPod. (I got the new 80 GB "iPod Classic." The 160 GB version just seemed a little extreme...) Anyway, this is my first iPod since the original 1st generation one. You know, the one with an actual click-wheel, in its 5 GB glory. And so now I have lots of space to add music.

Trouble is, I haven't bought any in years. In part because I didn't have an iPod to put it on, thereby creating a vicious, self-perpetuating cycle.

I need to update my music collection. BADLY. I surfed around the iTunes store for awhile, but just got kind of overwhelmed. Suggestions? I like folk, acoustic, jazz (if it's not too "freeform"), rock, some pop, alternative, classical..... Basically just about anything. What are your favorites? Suggestions? Help drag my music collection into the 21st century!

I also bought one of those cute little 1GB iPod shuffles, for use at the gym. (The red one.) So, if you have particular music selections with a driving beat, for working out to, this is helpful, too.

06:48 pm

I don't know why, but this really gets my goat. This is modern life at its absolute worst!

There is an article on CNN that some schools are now banning the playing of "tag" during recess. The reason? They're afraid the kids will get hurt and the parents will sue.

This does not seem too bothersome to one parent, who states her son feels safer: "I've witnessed enough near collisions," she said.

God FORBID America's obese children actually go outside and get some exercise!

08:23 pm

Sometimes, being average would definitely make life easier.

Take netflix. It seems that not everyone out there is requesting "Upstairs, Downstairs: Season 1 Disk 3". It's just not "Pirates of the Caribbean." Disk 1 was in the mail back to them on Monday (here in Tampa). Today I *finally* get an email: they had to send Disk 3 from Roanoke, VA.

Are my tastes really THAT obscure?.........

08:15 pm

It's been an interesting few weeks. For one reason (the one I'll talk about now), I think I've finally made some progress in meeting some real live, nice, gay people down here. And some of them have been really great about including me in things. This has made a huge impact on me. I hadn't even really realized until this past weekend how much.... better... I feel now.

I also have three friends coming in from Philly next weekend. Can't wait!

09:19 pm

I just got netflix.

When I was in Philly, there was a great artsy video store a few blocks away that always had all these interesting movies, and what I wanted was usually in stock. It was great! Between that and the three "art-house" theaters in walking distance, I was never at a loss for good film.

Not anymore. The one theater in Tampa with artsy pretension just closed, a victim of a to-be-developed condo tower. (The really sad part is that there are zillions of unsold condo units in Tampa as it is. But more and more are going up, because the speculation by the developers has now taken on a life of its own and they are financially committed, for better or worse. So the theater is gone, to be replaced by an empty condo tower, towering over the historic neighborhood it's located in. Ugh.)

Hmm... That was a bit of a vent, don't you think? :-)

My first two netflix movies are things that I had never seen (which aren't particularly artsy or high-falutin'): "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Princess Mononoke." (I had looked through the foreign film section on netflix, but had seen most of them already.)

Movie suggestions, anyone?.......

08:43 pm - First entry

I have a friend on here who has encouraged me to get an LJ page. So, here it is.

I'm not sure yet what I will do with my blog. But, in any case, I won't know till I try, right?

--Tom