"Buff the Girlie-Man"

Our hero, Buff, was by day, an average ordinary kid in high school, dodging the slings and arrows of bullying and hatred tossed from his mean-spirited classmates. But by night, and on weekends, Buff was the Girlie-Man—a tactical smart effective ignorance-fighting machine whose mission was to save the world from low-test scores and underachievement, and to fight for truth, justice, and the American way.

Every day, Buff the Girlie-Man dutifully went off to school with completed homework in his backpack. He also prepared himself for the daily ritual of taunting, particularly from his archenemy, Annul the Bully, who hadn’t done his homework, wasn’t prepared for class, and preferred instead to ridicule him as a way to feel superior.

On one such Monday morning, Buff the Girlie-Man stepped onto the bus to school and found Annul the Bully waiting to harass him in the back seat. Annul the Bully had spent the weekend partying around town, playing up his popularity, but not having done any of his homework. He knew he was falling behind in school, but in order to feel better about himself, he chose to pick on our hero Buff the Girlie-Man.

“Hey, Girlie-Man, what did you do all weekend? Your homework!?” Annul the Bully snidely chastised our hero.

“Yes, of course, our homework is due this morning.”

“Hey, Girlie-Man, you are weak and stupid.”

And with that comment, our hero Buff the Girlie-Man went back to his books and refused to listen to Annul the Bully any longer.

In class, the students were handing in their homework. Annul the Bully didn’t have any homework to turn in, and so he insulted our hero Buff the Girlie-Man instead. Our hero stoically withstood the mal-treatment once again.

Everyday at school was the same-- taunting, harassment, spit-wads, and name-calling from Annul the Bully. Our hero found it distracting and would sometimes get angry, but would never allow it to distract him from his ultimate goals of Pride in his work, graduation, and saving America from ignorance.

In the end, on graduation day, our hero Buff the Girlie-Man found himself giving the valedictory speech to his fellow graduating peers while Annul the Bully was held back another year in school for failing to pass the grade. Annul the Bully shouted more names at Buff the Girlie-Man, but this time his shouts were drowned out by a chorus of cheers from the masses, and the rest of America, for Buff the Girlie-Man’s intellect, resoluteness, endurance through adversity, and humble Pride.

Buff the Girlie-Man was Proud of himself and his accomplishments. He knew that, if he worked hard enough, truth and justice would always win out in the end. And he could save America from utter ignorant destruction, and even help Annul the Bully.

Why would anyone do such things? Here's the headline which speaks for what I mean: Lucky bunny escapes explosive demise; Huge firecracker taped to rabbit -- owner charged I mean, why? So disturbing.

To be strong is not cocking your head. It's not saying bring 'em on. Being strong is acting strong. Being strong is having a depth of character. Being strong is not getting into the National Guard and then not showing up for the meetings. Being strong is volunteering and being a leader. Being strong is not relying on your daddy; being strong is going out and making your own way in the world. And that's what we've got here. You've to understand that. We don't have just a good candidate, we've got a damn good man. -- James Carville

Dear Family/Friends/Community:

In one week, next Tuesday, August 3rd, the state of Missouri will vote on Constitutional Amendment #2. If you live in Missouri, please VOTE NO ON 2 and forward this message to your friends, family, and community members. If you don't live in Missouri, tell everyone you know in Missouri to VOTE NO ON 2. Think of people you may know in Kansas City, St. Louis, the Ozarks, the Universities of Missouri, Mizzou, Columbia, Joplin, Springfield, St. Joseph, Hannibal, Rolla, Jefferson City, Carthage, Independence-- Anyone and everyone you may know throughout the state, or who has ties to the state somehow. You and I know a ton of people through our networks, schools, friends, emails, churches, families, community groups, affiliations, and so on. Think, contact, forward this email, create your own email, and pass along this message:

VOTE NO ON 2

This constitutional amendment isn't about 'marriage'; this is about an agenda of discrimination, hatred, and fear. It's about amending our state's ultimate governing document with language antithetical to true constitutional stewardship. And, politically, it's about helping the right-wing conservatives get out the vote for their candidates and causes in the election. The only reason this is on the ballot is because the Republicans were hoping to use it to get their voters out to the polls in November to swing the state to Bush. That’s the only reason it’s on the ballot. Not because there is any ‘danger’ to marriage. It’s politics, pure and simple. And for me, it's about time we put an end to our lives being used as a political wedge issue.

So please, one of the biggest ways you can help is by making sure everyone you know votes next Tuesday, August 3rd, and will VOTE NO ON 2. Use your own personal power to spread the word and help.

And for further information about the amendment, talking points, faith perspectives, community thoughts, and endorsements for the NO ON 2 campaign, go to their website: http://www.constitutiondefenseleague.org.

Yours,
Reese Aaron Isbell
Independence, Missouri
VOTE NO ON 2 on August 3rd

i'll have more pictures soon from my vacation with my family, but here's a coupla good ones with my mom watching for whales. she could do that for the rest of her life and she'd be happy:


do you see a 'path' here? that ice slides right over a thousand foot drop into crater lake:

about 7 or 8 years ago i purchased a backpack. now, picking out a backpack is a tremendously difficult decision. and at the time it took me several weeks to determine just the right one for me and my life. my old backpack had completely fallen apart and i had to get a new one. but i was also very mindful of how i needed to think larger than just 'now' and how the backpack would be a part of my everyday life for years. after trying out, testing, purchasing and then returning, and driving sales people nuts, i finally decided on this backpack. it was a really difficult decision that was finally laid to rest. and i was happy.

at the time, upon purchase, it came with a large envelope for returning for repair with a 'lifetime guarantee.' one of my friends at the time mentioned that i should keep it because he had heard how they were always really truthful and consistent in truly meaning a 'lifetime guarantee.' so i did.

i never had trouble with my backpack for years. it's seen me through everything. there's really not a day in my life i'm not with it. so, then, when over the last year or so the zippers starting tearing and not working i wasn't sure what to do. i mean, i knew i could send it in, but how would i function without my backpack on a daily basis while it was away being repaired. i just would put up with the problems and/or ignore them.

well, when my family was coming to pick me up for our recent traveling vacation, it occurred to me that this was the perfect time to take Jansport up on their offer and mail in my backpack for repairs. perfect timing because while traveling with my family i wouldn't necessarily need to rely on my backpack every day. and maybe i could get myself used to some other carryon for a while.

so while at crater lake, oregon, we stopped at the national park post office and i dropped off my backpack into the envelope it came with. the post officer mentioned that she'd seen people do that before and heard that Jansport was always really good about that kind of thing. wow, could this be true? a real 'lifetime guarantee' from a company that cared about their product working for years and years to come? wow, i was very hopeful.

well, since returning home i've been trying out different packs for my daily use. mostly i've been doing the whole de rigueur onestrapovertheneckandshoulder look. which i do like that look. but it's been kinda hurting my back and shoulders. i'd like to be hip and cool and have one of those fun messenger bags everybody carries, but i don't think my back could take it. and they're never big enough for me. i carry around a lot of stuff.

well, yesterday, after only a few weeks, and a previously received postcard nicely noting (even saying they were sorry i had to be without it for a short time) that they had received my backpack for repair, i got my backpack back. they even fixed more than what i had written was broken. it looks brand new and the zippers are perfect. i am so very impressed with Jansport right now. i mean, it really was a 'lifetime guarantee' and i didn't have to find a receipt or prove purchase or anything. they could see that the backpack they produced had worn some and they fixed it.

and i have my backpack back. now, sure, i might like a new look or something, a new color, a new style, or whatnot, but you know what, this backpack is perfect for me. it has everything i want in a daily carrier. and it makes me happy. so here's to Jansport for being a great reliable company and here's to my backpack for putting up with my very daily use and weathering my life with me.

I have a circle thing that needs to plug into a rectangle hole in a laptop in my office. Do you have a thing that can make the circle and rectangle connect?-- me at the computer store earlier today.... and luckily they knew what i was saying, even if i didn't

Even during the most ferocious cultural debates in American history, from slavery to more recent fights over abortion and school busing, Congress has never before attempted to deny the nation's judiciary the right to review federal laws....
Apparently, the sight of two lesbians falling in love and wanting to form a contract has so traumatized the majority that they are prepared to make the biggest hole in the Constitution since we became one nation.

Their first week in office, the Bushies claimed the Clintonites had taken the W's off White House computers, glued the drawers together and committed other vandalism -- all of which turned out to be a big fat lie. Why that didn't tip the media off about what kind of people they were dealing with is unclear to me.

www.sacramentogirliemen.com

had an interview with senator barbara boxer's re-election campaign yesterday for a really interesting and exciting job with them

but mostly i talked with them about how i'm satisfied with what i'm currently doing and i wouldn't want to give those things up to be 24/7 on the campaign

and plus, i've started some new, larger arrangements with my current location

but it was still cool to have that conversation and to be a part of the mix. and they're really good people. i'll probably be doing more volunteer projects with them in the near future, and possibly beyond november's election too.

i'm at this place in time where there's a million things i want to do and interesting projects surround me, but i'm also very cognizant of my own limitations. trying to just stay focused and grounded

Exactly 5 years ago (and 2 days) on Sunday, July 18, 1999, I arrived in San Francisco to begin my new life. Happy days are still here, again.

GOV. ARNOLD Schwarzenegger was not just offensive in trying to use "girlie men" as a term to describe what he regarded as weak legislators. He was wrong, just flat wrong, to equate male chromosomes with toughness or competence in the state Capitol -- or much anywhere else in 2004.
Frankly, many male legislators could only wish to have the level of guile or resolve of a Jackie Speier, Debra Bowen, Sheila Kuehl, Jackie Goldberg, Martha Escutia or a number of other top-notch lawmakers who happen to be women.

Hilary Clinton, Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, Harriet Woods, Eleanor Roosevelt, Barbara Mikulski, Teresa Heinz Kerry, Jean Carnahan, Debbie Stabenow, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lambert Lincoln, Tipper Gore, Nita Lowey, Shirley Chisholm, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Sandra Day O'Connor, Patty Murray, Madeleine Albright, Janet Reno, Frances Perkins, Jeanette Rankin, Geraldine Ferraro, Carole Moseley Braun, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Barbara Lee, Patsy Mink, Barbara Jordan, and on and on and on and, Mothers (Jeanette), Grandmothers (Rosetta & Clara), Daughters, Aunts, Nieces (Mariah), and Sisters (Wendy) are doing it for themselves.

"Girly" means powerful in my book.

Florida is simply a joke that just isn't funny any longer.

[John Edwards] brought a room of 700 Latino activists to their feet, whooping and clapping after a speech in which he asked them to envision a woman whose husband has been deployed to Iraq indefinitely and she is left to work two jobs to support her children.
"She thinks that she's alone. ... Here's what we want to say to that woman and women like her all over this country. She is not alone. We see her, we feel her, we hear her voice, we will embrace her and we will lift her up," said Edwards, a freshman senator from North Carolina. And if Sen. John Kerry is elected to the White House this fall, Edwards promised, that struggling woman "will have a president and a vice president who care about her, who will fight for her. ... Doesn't she deserve that?"
The room erupted.

wow, check this out. i can only imagine how wonderful and helpful this would have been for me had it been in place at umkc when i was there. and i hope that in some small part my helping to form the gay group on campus back in 1990 helped to bring this about so many years later.... wow
it's just so beautiful...

republican bumpersticker in Kentucky:

"Kerry is bin Laden's Man/Bush is My Man"

"I believe that if you look at John Kerry's voting record in the senate," head of the Jefferson County Republicans, Jack Richardon IV, "why wouldn't bin Laden prefer Kerry over Bush?"

yes, i'm sure Kerry's votes against Bush's right-wing judicial nominees, environmental degredation, anti-women/gay/civil rights rollbacks, and his tax cuts for the wealthy and the like really turned bin Ladin Kerry's way....

don't call it a comeback...
never think that it's over, and never assume the headlines tell you everything. eternal vigilance is the price of freedom and justice...

that said, enjoy today's victory, as life is finding the joy in the everyday, and successes come all too few sometimes

i haven't written much since i returned...

i've had a lot to say...

but life has been kinda loopy/crazy/mellow/intense calm since i returned

in a good way

but kinda trying to get my footing again

you know how sometimes when you go to an amusement park and spend the day riding rollercoasters....

and then you go to sleep at night, but the whole time before sleep is filled with the feeling that your body is still moving

and you mind is racing and reacting and a little dizzy

i've felt a little like that since my return

partly from being on a train for 24 hours straight, but more so from a week away, without connection to daily life, trying to figure out life/work/home and what is it i do everyday

in a good way, but still a little topsy turvy

yesterday, i was walking to work and i was in such a high from the relaxation of my trip that i couldn't focus on where i was going

i bought a flower at a flower stand

it was pretty, that's all

i put it in the pocket of my bag

a big red daisy, with a little green leaf behind, in front of my black bag

for all to see

it was random and strange and beautiful and i kept talking about it

someone at work tried to talk to me about work and i would look at the flower and tell them about my flower and they would smile and think i was loopy

and i was

and am

that's how i've been since returning...

in a daze so to speak

and so much has also been happening at work(s) and i've been dazed and numb to it in a sense

tonight my friends invited me to see spiderman2 and i had a blast with them and watching the movie

the movie made me think of my own doublelife, my own inner dichotomies

but more importantly, my vacation made me feel relaxed in a way i haven't felt in a long time

and that part of me is in there somewhere, inside me, and can be beautiful, like the flower, if i take the time to notice it and nurture it......

I got in yesterday and trying to figure out where I live again. What day is it? What time is it? Where are we in life? I'm so out of the world right now. Good vacation. :-)

i love trains....

Last night, in our motel room, my niece had on the insipid "America's Funniest Home Videos" which was now renamed AFV-- apparently it's no longer at home. They mentioned on the show that they were going to be starting their 14th season next year, and I thought, "How does something like this stay around for so long, longer than most shows, even longer than incredibly popular shows?" And I figure it must have to do with staying under the radar, not having large goals, and creating its own built in world. They offer lots of cash to new families so that there becomes a desire by kids and parents to be a part of the 'fun.' And so, therefore, they have a consistent audience that they can target and market to. 13 years! It no longer has bob saget, no longer 'home', but it's its own world now, and everybody still wants to see themselves, and their kids, on tv.

Can someone please update me on gay hidaways? I'm at friday harbor, washington, on the san juan islands. My parents are taking us whale watching and camping. And I'm surrounded by lesbians and a few gay guys. And the grocery store is a major gay cruzon. And the downtown is like a lesbian Castro, but without any rainbow flags or gay stores. And I'm wondering if this place is a specific lesbian tourist destination or a gay mecca like the castro. And I'm finding it odd to be in a lesbian Castro with my straight family from Missouri, and wondering if they even notice it, or if they're blind to it. Either way, my mother wants to move here and watch for whales all day, and I'm now thinking that its gay enough to be comfy for me too.....

My parents are crazy hiking people. They love to go as far as they can, in just their hiking boots and camera. Yesterday, as we standing along the rim of a thousand mile drop to crater lake, they would find a "path" that didn't exist, just beyond the security gates, just above the freefall point and take a picture or two. "It's fine, Reese, c'mon." Uh, huh, ok. I'm glad that I brought my xanax with me on the trip. It's not that this isn't anything I'm not used to, as they always were this way when I was growing up, but I'm older, more knowledgeable about news stories where people have done stupid climbs and fallen and died, and I have higher rates of anxiety. They haven't changed; I have.

p.s. Wen, you're daughter is fine. :)

At the oregon/washington border and my cell works again. Camped out last night at crater lake which is breathtaking and disconnected from technology. Being disconnected to my phone/email was driving me nuts just as it was soothing me.
gotta go, waterfall

Yay! It's Edwards! We are gonna win this!

I forgot to mention that I'm off on a road trip with my parents and my niece for the next week, so my posts will be sporadic depending on internet connection. I'm rather unsure when I'll have phone connection too, but tonight in a little motel in Redding, where it is 110 degrees, seriously, my phone seems to be working. I've been kinda excited about being disconnected from the world for a week, but here I am blogging from my phone-- because, well, I can. That's why I need to get away further and be disconnected from modern life for a little while. Because even when I want to disconnect, I still find reasons to connect if I have the ability. Once again, here's to disconnection, if only I could....

In 1995, I went to the movies alone (as I am wont to do often), and caught one of my all-time favorites, Before Sunrise. This movie was perfect, from beginning to end. And the thing I loved about it most was that the characters were fully realized. The guy wasn't some schlub, but three-dimensional. The girl wasn't a 'girl' at all, in the Hollywood sense, but a real human being with more to say and think than just 'i love you' or 'i can't believe you like me' or all the crap that hollywood usually gives women to say in a script. No, the woman in this movie was fully developed and had a mind, and so did the guy, and they both reveled in just talking to each other throughout their time, before sunrise. And I've seen this movie countless times and it also amazes me how perfect it is.

Cut to 2004 and they've done a beautiful, fully-realized 'sequel' called Before Sunset. I'm oh-so-happy they made this movie. It wasn't some sappy, stupid, needless sequel. But a real sequel in the sense that there was a story to be told about life afterwards, and they brilliantly decided to follow-up the story with the idea that it really is 9 years later in their lives too. The tag line to the movie is perfect too: "What if you had a second chance with the one that got away?" Watching this movie was like visiting two old friends who I've missed and catching up on their lives. It also perfectly captures the awkwardness, excitement, and general strangeness of running into someone important from your past that you think about all the time but never see.

If there's a reason for cinema, beyond popcorn hollywood big blockbusters, it's to create movies with real depth, like these two. If you haven't seen the first one, rent it, and then go out and watch this sequel. You don't have to see the first one to enjoy this sequel, but it would definitely make it stronger. Regardless, these movies are the reason that I still have hope for the cinema.

i have been so busy this week. sorry i've been so quiet. i've been working overtime for my 2+ jobs, plus trying to get a newsletter out, and a variety of meetings, friends in town, and life in general. but i've been thinking about you! speaking of my newsletter, below is my latest column, which you may notice is slightly similar to something i wrote on here for you recently (but it is different, i promise):

"Freakin’ Out Tourists and the Normalcy of Our Lives"

I'm walking to work the other day, just passing the cable-car turn-around where all the tourists gather like pigeons around half-eaten bread, waiting for their turn to ride the infamous San Francisco treat, when I spot N. N is someone I dated very, very briefly a year ago. He's oh-so-cute and we hug and smile.

Then I stare into his beautiful eyes and I jokingly query, "Wanna freak out the tourists?" by which I mean kissing with passion and lips locked and tongues lashing, right in front of the flock of midwesterners lost in the big Gay city. But you knew that, didn’t you?

We smile. It's Pride in San Francisco, the city is rainbow draped and flags are flying, millions of Gay people are here or coming here for the weekend, and tourists are the voyeurs of americana, so it's safe to say we felt the power to freak these people out without repercussion. And they probably wouldn’t have been that freaked out anyway. We smile at each other. I grab his soul patch between my thumb and my forefinger as I dart off, smiling once again at the thought of us having any power at all, in a larger society as close-minded and troubled and discriminatory as it is.

I hearken back to my very first Pride parade in my hometown of Kansas City. I was an awkward skinny young thing in awe of people being openly Queer. Kansas City’s Pride at that time was small enough to be held in a tiny triangular park no bigger than our own City’s Duboce Park. But, somehow, even within that small group and that small space, on that day, at Pride, there was a slight glimpse of a newfound power—the power to freak people out. And with that power came smiles and laughter because for a brief shining moment we were able to let loose and just be.

The usual Kansas City tourist trolley would go rolling by the park and all of Pride’s celebrants would wave and yell “Hi! Welcome to Kansas City!” And I instantly realized we all did this because it was a time to be open and public, to have fun, to break out of the standard silence, and a chance to freak out the minds of the tourists by simply being Out. By our openness about who we were, by being in public, by simply existing without shame, by being happy and Proud, we were a ‘freak’ of the usual norm, and it was a time to revel in that. And I think this may be part of what drives our community’s celebration of camp, brazenness, and loudness.

Now, this year at San Francisco’s Pride, we changed the standards. Not many people are freaked out anymore by our wearing leather, baring breasts, or standing on 10-inch heels in makeup, Catholic habit, and little else. Our ultimate freak this year was for all to see the utter normalcy of our lives: to walk hand in hand, to hold aloft a real marriage license, to kiss the love of our life, to be as everyday-freakin’-normal as everybody else in this freakin’ society.

Our last and ultimate freak-out is the fact that the culmination of our lives is becoming as blasé and americana as everyone else’s and that’s freaks out them as much as it freaks me out sometimes. Because who would have believed we were so freakin’ normal after all?