The first lady of lesbianism

I was saddened to read that Martina Navratilova has breast cancer.

Before Jane Lynch, before Ellen, before Melissa Etheridge, there was Martina.

I can very often remember the exact moment when I found a new word. Like the first time I heard the word lethargic was the first time I met my aunt from Germany or the first time I realized what an aquline nose was, was the first time I was allowed to sit in the aisle seat in a plane and on and on.

For me, the words 'gay' & 'homosexual' are inexorably linked to Martina Navratilova. I remember looking up the word 'lesbian' at 10 when they had written it under a caption of her and remember being jolted with what it meant. It fascinated me & friends & I discussed it for days on end.

I guess growing up desi in the Middle East, the understanding of Martina's choice showed that differences & choices exist, even in what I had thought of till then as basic truths - men and women came together and that was all there was to it.

I know friends who say that Ricky Martin coming out is not such a big deal because it was rather obvious all along. But it is still significant for some child out there who lives in a place where conformity rules. Where he or she doesn't know any better and is going through life thinking the choices that have been made around them are all the choices that's out there in the world.

Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act

I am so glad this has come to pass.
I remember listening to Judy Shepherd when she visited our school to talk about the hatred that led to her son's death. And I remember the earnestness with which the Westboro Baptist Church protesters answered my interview questions about why they were protesting and their v.strident belief that Mathew was burning in hell (the website was what they asked me to look into to understand more of their beliefs. At least today, it is far less frightening to look at than when I first glanced at it 4-5 yrs ago. Then it had these horrible fire graphics & other despicable whatnots. I don't think I have ever come across a more horrendous visual expression of bigotry stemming from religion. There is no possible way for me to reconcile what I know of my faith with what is taught to these young people).
In the interview, they used terms that we had to spend a lot of time bleeping in order for it to be airable on t.v. And I remember being beyond upset that such youngsters were brought up with hate in the name of religion. I know that this bill will not help in making those young people learn to love. But here's hoping that they learn to tolerate or even be more open to dialogue or at the very, very least learn to not act on their violent upbringings.

Attacked by them that’re charged to guard & defend
to watch & save
attacked at play
attacked at work
attacked at home
attacked on a bus
causes, methods, places - many
mutineers, guerillas, terrorists, rebels
no end of names, much motives, one aftermath – photograph on walls
who'll never talk, never laugh, who'll never just be.

Can I just say - the debates yesterday was a yawn?
They tore in to each other politely, spouted off the same rhetoric and then gave us mind numbing generalities that was neither here nor there.
And me thought they had so many many opportunities to really give us one of those moments where you can see the real person through the words ...
like when the candidates were asked the 'What sacrifice would you want of us' question?
Neither was specific about anything.
Obama was almost close to it when he started the 9/11 reference...
it felt like there would be 'time to bandy together as a nation during those days because times will get tough' speech, but he shied away from it.

oR even that brilliant last question - what don't you know and how will you go about learning it?
Yeeashk - don't spout out banalities here, give us a little glimpse of your personalities, a little something something...geez
I know this last month before the elections it's all about not rocking the boat, but then what's the point of having all these debates, if we are getting to get the same yawning
"McCain - look at my record
Obama - last eight years have led to this." thing?

And WHAT WAS UP with Mccain being a child and doing the petty 'if he gets more time, I should definitely get more time too?" thing???

So Brilliant

For all the writers

a 55s

Saffron robes flutter, Barefoot feet splatter, folded hands cheer, soldiers block, as peace makes its way through rain drenched Rangoon to greet a woman who speaks softly for democracy, for a country with many desperate yearnings for freedom while elsewhere, foreigners die, uninvited, unwelcome to build a free nation in another unfamiliar country

In other news, I discover some posts require many links

The Murd tries to take over,
protests galore
His handiwork - the fair n' balanced fox - may remain (un?)fair n' (un?)balanced for ever now that House has deemed it so.
Meanwhile, the 'most trusted name in news' became simpering groupies over her
But hey, numbers don't lie - perchance, we want to simper over her too.
All except her


All done, and didn't even run over prescribed time

Peeve for the day

Does nobody else have a problem with Jolie going Brownie for a mighty heart?

Granted the ex-blood wearing, neo-mother teresa of international families is supposedly a fine actress, but come now please, somebody please give me some info on real-life white people or interracial-on-the-inside-white-on-the-outside people that are being played on screen by Black/Hispanic/Brown actresses.

Update after some browsing:

Less peeved now that the Berry is doing this, as long as it's all kind of balancing out along the colour lines.

Wait..what?...no....huh?....wait...you're kidding...no!!....wait - this completely flabbergasts me??!!!????!!!?
"We are still examining the issue and may ban the product if it does not meet the specifications as per the law or if it is found to be against our culture."
So our culture is against anything that gives pleasure??!!? You must know some of my relis then.
"...and sex toys are banned in India,"
Huh?
What about "quality time by ourselves" or some fun with others? I don't get why jobless morality cretins are given power?

Happenings in my country:

this while that goes on. What are we turning into - this?

London Olympic Logo, really??

Lord Coe - I'd like some of that crack you were smoking when you approved this. Dude - the Fresh Prince called and he'd like his logo back!
oh Wait, I see the insanity stands for 2012.
Couldn't we just pick one of these, instead?

A 55

For almost 400 years, it stands -
calling the faithful to congregate,
a crude interruption
and bodies go a part
and after,
accusations of indifference
a riot in response.
No claims, No solutions, No matter
Just another antiquity plundered in/ by our generation,
another history that may go unseen ,
one less sight for the next .

i can't understand

how one individual could be so alienated to have done that?
how a group could be so reconciled to have thought of this?
And how home, even in smalltownamerica, is never as safe as everybody tells you it is.

un-loves & love

Un-Love:

This
I am still gobsmacked (thank you Sharwari Gokhale, environment secretary in Maharashtra) that such trite would come from the brain of the man who came up with this
Pujathakur's friend Gurdas had an excellent reply to it
and
This
Really Jaipur Court? Really? That's what you've been spending your time doing?
We need to find better things to protest and better crimes for our courts to prosecute.

Love:
Bill Moyers on how the war was sold

32.

127

Friday 53s

An Email folder defunct. a cleared out desk. an id deleted. a severed VPN. An outlook contact expunged. A lonely walk to the door. The remnants of a hard day's “realignment”. Fired. Laid off. Terminated. Resigned to pursue other interests. 1 whole day. 60 empty offices. A workforce cut. the trimmings cast off.

It's creeping up everywhere.
On the TV. In the newspapers. On the net.
The day is just 3 days away and I will not tune to the images.
The boy reads everything he can about it. Watches all the movies. The whys are analyzed. The pain is looked at.
For me,
I hide underneath my quilt and not think...
Of the thoughts in my head on my bumpy flight out of the rockies. Bump. shake. Jitter. Me looking at those around me - some smiling in fearful togetherness, some eyes squeezed shut. My mind thinking of them. How they must have felt. People like me on just another day on just another flight. People like me sitting at their desks on just another day of just another month.
And that's as far as I can go.

I honor GODWIN AJALA

Godwin Ajala. 33. Lawyer in Nigeria. Security guard in America. Protecting grounds by day. Studying bar exam by night. 3 children. Loving wife. 1 life gone. “When this thing happened he had every chance of running out, but he went in to help people out” Senseless bloodshed. Selfless acts. Godwin Ajala. 33. Ordinary man. Honored.

Zidane apologises
Talks fail
Conventions are adopted
Suicide destroys building
Bloggers reach out
Bombs destroy trains. Stones destroy buses. Tit for tat. Emotions stirr in a pot of porcine abhorrers, bovine worshippers, cross bearers, saffron wearers. Unrestrained grief collapses. A spoft spoken leader vows.
The city maimed,
cautiously
calmly
matter of factly
takes the next train

A 55

End of Day. Trains pull in. Crowds collide. Accents, languages, gods mix in bustlenjostle. A push, a helping hand, a shove pull bodies in. Standing, sitting, leaning, they wait, hope, dream, plan for next station, for tonight, for tomorrow, for next year. A fuse ignites. A rip tears today apart. 183 hopes, dreams, plans disappear.