Thank you Dr. Tiller

I was working on writing something descriptive, meaningful, about a man I feel honoured to have known.  Something poignet about his assassination one Sunday morning while at church.  But everything I wrote seemed pretentious which Dr. Tiller was not.  So this is what I have...

Thank you Dr. Tiller for listening to and respecting the families that you inherited from your father.

Thank you Dr. Tiller for knowing that women have needed and always will need access to safe abortion.

Thank you Dr. Tiller for trusting women.

Thank you Dr. Tiller for not abandoning the women in greatest need.

You are loved and you are missed.

Thank you.

Winning the lottery - the first post

For years I've kept a running list in my head of what I would do if I won the lottery.  This is beyond the regular pay off debts, set up college funds, update cars/house, etc.  I've probably had a dozen ideas over the years, but have not written them down any place so have promptly forgotten all but two.  Seemed like an excellent topic for a blog post that I could add to as new ideas developed so.....

By Robert Couse-Baker on Flikr

1. Start my own political party.  At least that was my plan when I first came up with this idea probably a decade ago.  However the legal climate has changed so I may look into a SuperPAC instead.  Not sure exactly how I would define all major issues at this point, but I do know it would libertarian on all social issues.  The paternalism of both major political parties is a source of annoyance and occasionally fear for me.

2. Launch a breastfeeding marketing campaign.  I know exactly what I want it to look like. I want to juxtapose images of the inconvenience of long-term formula feeding with the ease of breastfeeding (once you get past the learning curve).  So I picture something like a parent waking to a fussing baby in the middle of the night who stumbles downstairs to make-up the formula then back up to feed a now almost hysterical baby and the next scene is a fussing baby whose mom reaches over to pick him up from the co-sleeper and then snuggles into a nursing session without hardly moving.  Another might be a family stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire - crying baby empty bottle and then the same scene with a baby happily nursing.  I'm sure that you all could come up with a number of other ideas.  All of these would be followed with a tagline that was something to the effect "Breastfeeding... mom deserves it" following up by one of the abysmal stats on the education that the standard HCP get with regards to breastfeeding and urging mothers to insist that they get proper lactation support.

3.  This is one I came up with a couple of weeks ago.  I would set aside a fund that I would use twice a year during my local NPR station pledge drive.  On opening day I would call them and ask how much it would take to finish this thing off right now and then give them the money.  I'm really looking forward to putting that into action!

Of course all of these will be a bit difficult seeing that I don't really buy lottery tickets.  As a family we pass them around during the winter holidays buying them for each other, but usually only the scratch kind that wouldn't offer the kinds of funds needed for my plans.  Looks like I may have to consider some future investments.... ;-)

What would you do with your winnings?

Brown Paper Wrapper

Last month I received a solicitation to subscribe to the Gay and Lesbian Review. As much as I love magazines I don't spend a lot of time searching for new ones so this was the first time I'd run across G&LR.  We've been long time subscribers to The Advocate, but I'd recently let the subscription expire (simply because I'm really bad remembering to follow through on such things these days) and I thought maybe I'd give G&LR a shot for a change of pace.  I was pouring over the information provided, when at that bottom of one flyers I read:


"All correspondence sent in a plain envelope."

I seriously just about blew my top.  My daughter was sitting with me at the time and can attest to the rant that followed.  This of course is nothing new.  My Advocates had come wrapped and I was just as annoyed. And yes, at least with The Advocate, there is an option to decline the wrapping (I tried once, something went wrong at the website and well let's just say it went the way of my intention to renew the subscription).

But that's not the point.  This is not porn.  There is nothing on the cover of these magazines that wouldn't grace the cover of Cosmo or GQ. Nothing from which we need to shield the eyes of the innocent.  The entire purpose of this "plain envelope" was that I would not be outed as being LGBTQ or an ally to... who?  My mail carrier?

And yes I do understand the historical context.  I have family members who lived in openly gay relationships before I was born.  I am forever grateful to the pioneers who created these publications in times and places where it wasn't safe to do so.  I'm glad that they can be discreetly received by those who in this time are still not in a place where it is safe for them to do so.

My question is Why the bloody hell isn't it safe for them to do so?!

Ok so that is mostly a rhetorical question. Only because I know the answer is far to complicated to articulate here. 

Seriously folks.  Those that would like to see the LGBTQ "lifestyle" disappear back into the closet are pretty consistent in their complaints that said "lifestyle" is being foisted on them and their family.  And that there (generally speaking) conservative Christian "lifestyle" is under attack.  But when was the last time any of these people had their issue of  Faith and Family or Focus on the Family's Thriving Family offered to them in a plain envelope for discretion?