Marriage Equality

I remember the election of 2000. I remember how I felt when the Supreme Court installed Bush as president, despite the fact that Al Gore won the popular vote. And in spite of the fact that it was highly disputed as to whether or not Bush had, in fact, won the popular vote in Florida. But the Supreme Court said he had won, and the fight was over. Did I like it? Hell no. Was I bitter? Hell yes. And I spent the next eight years being called a dirty libtard and told that if I didn't like Bush, or invading Afghanistan, or invading Iraq, etc., that I should leave. Because AMERICA. And how dare I question our dear leader in a time of war? I have spent the last eight years ignoring incredibly nasty posts equating our current president, whom I voted for twice, to a witch doctor and a monkey. I have watched his patriotism, his faith, and even his citizenship called into question. I have never once told those who disagree with me that if they don't like it, they should leave. This country belongs to all of us. But I am so very thrilled to watch our social conscience change. Rights for ALL of our citizens matter. And you don't get to insist that one Supreme Court ruling, like installing Bush as president, is perfectly valid, while saying that another opinion, like legalizing gay marriage, is a case of "activist judges legislating from the bench." It doesn't work that way. If you don't like this decision, you don't have to leave. It will always be your right to oppose our governance. But I hope you will at least think about it, and see if you can find it in your heart to understand that what makes one of us stronger makes all of us stronger. Your rights are not diminished when those same rights are given to others. The same goes for my fellow Christians who are having difficulties with this. Again, I say, your rights are not diminished by giving those same rights to others. Open your hearts. Listen to the true teachings of Christ. There is no mention of intolerance. Of hate. Of bigotry. Only of love. Open your hearts.

Faerie Folk

Kenny and I were talking about Alan Richman tonight, as he spoke at the conference Kenny went to in NYC last week. I would still very much like to give Alan Richman a very hearty f*ck you, with some demonstrative hand signals thrown in for good measure, almost 10 years after his review of post-Katrina New Orleans. His reviews are equivalent to kicking a dying puppy.

"During my time in New Orleans, I sought to keep some perspective. For example, when the sommelier at August brought me an incorrect vintage of the wine I’d ordered, I tried not to be too distressed, knowing that somewhere in the Lower Ninth Ward a house was sitting atop a car. Yet it’s important to come to a tough decision about New Orleans, because it’s going to cost Iraq-magnitude money to get this place back to where it was or, better yet, where it should have been."

I hope that the "faerie folk," aka Creoles, kick his ass at some point.

Yes, We're Open

Grief Anniversary

Grief Anniversary - E.B. Wexler

“anniversary” implies that I do not have grief the other 364 days

I do.

But as the date approaches

I feel, slowly arising

The original grief

The breath sucked out of me when I got the news over the phone.

The early grief

Walking around in a daze, wondering where she went

How things would be now

She was 31

She was my “person”

And it was out of the blue.

I have not been the same since. And I don’t want to be….

Ten

"Mom, you just don't know what it's like to be 10 and have people not like you."

True. I was 12 when girls started shoving me into lockers, throwing spitballs into my hair, and working their hardest to make me want to kill myself. Ah, misty water-color memories. Good times.

Security...

The restaurant where my husband works that shall otherwise remain nameless in this post is apparently hosting some type of Republican senatorial retreat this weekend. Kenny asked me if I wanted to come hang out at the bar, but after a few minutes of discussion, we both acknowledged that it would be very awkward when he had to call security on me after I asked every senator in sight about the magical pill you can swallow that ends up in your vagina.

Ten

Selfie by the TEN-year-old. Happy Birthday, Emmeline. You survived our early parenting missteps, like the time your dad accidentally bathed you with dog wipes instead of baby wipes (and the resultant full body rash), and made it to the double digits!

Fin

PARADES

One day, I will convince those of you who don't live in NOLA that real Mardi Gras isn't about drunk tourists baring it all for cheap plastic beads on Bourbon Street. It's about drunk locals waving their arms and screaming "heeeeyyyyyyyy" (whilst fully clothed) for cheap plastic beads on St. Charles Avenue. And the marching bands. And the bagpipes. And the floats. And the friends. And all together, that's why we love PARADES. If you need me for the next 12 days, I'll be on the neutral ground at St. Charles and Eighth. PARADES!!!

Godless

Okay, here's the thing. I know there are a lot of jerks out there who use their Bible (or Quaran or Tanakh or any other religious text) to justify their rights to be bigoted, intolerant assholes. I don't like them, either. But at the risk of coming off as a whiny #notallchristians post, it does get a bit tiresome being lumped in with the haters all of the time. I'm about as flaming liberal as I can get. I also believe in God. The god I believe in isn't Santa Claus, and hedoesn't have any interest in who wins the Super Bowl or Survivor or finding your lost iPad. He's also not spending all of his time damning people to hell for their sins, bc I don't believe in hell. My God is, however, a source of comfort to me, as is my belief that we have souls that continue after this life is over--in what realm or plain, I have no idea. And I get that--my faith is just a source of comfort to ME. I'm fairly certain none of my friends who are atheist or agnostic would ever say I've tried to convert them to my way of thinking. But as another friend posted recently, it does feel lately as though if I admit to having a faith, I'm opening myself up to ridicule. We don't all suck, okay? And I will never, nor have I ever, told E she has to be good bc SIN. And I still love a good sacrilegious joke. Peace.

Godless Parents are Doing a Better Job

Deep Thoughts, NOLA Style

Things I love about New Orleans: having very animated conversations w Kenny about what phase of toupee Bob Breck was in when I moved here. All I can say w certainty was that it was before his current Caesar/George Clooney look.

Rose Who?

I'm at Comic Con with someone named Rose Tyler from Dr. Who. Now, where is the bar?

Stuart Scott

I avoided posting on this all day, but Jesus, I'm sad that Stuart Scott died. This speech was so beautiful and came into my life at a time when I needed to hear it most, two days after losing my friend.

"I also realized something else recently; you heard me kind of allude to it in the piece. I said, ‘I’m not losing. I’m still here. I’m fighting. I’m not losing.’ But I gotta amend that. When you die, that does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer, by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live.”

Stuart and Kara beat cancer.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Jeff Lynne singing while Prince plays guitar on a George Harrison song equals my musical nirvana.

Deep Thoughts, NYE

It's not officially New Year's Eve until everyone is wearing a hat made of tin foil. While singing "and we want to wear foil" to the tune of "Royals." But that may just be me.

Joyeux Noel

Emmeline decided to leave her Christmas list out next to Santa's cookies to make absolutely certain he knows she wants an Isabelle American Girl doll.

!@#$% Elf on the Shelf

Tomorrow night, Snowflake will be leaving E with a photo collage of her time here with us. These are my personal favorites.

Jambalay, Crawfish Pie

I just made turkey carcass stock and roux all by myself. And now it's almost gumbo. For those of you born and raised in NOLA, this is no big deal. But for a Georgia girl whose only cooking instruction growing up was how to use the electric can opener, it's huge. Yay, me.

@#$%^ Elf on the Shelf

So help me, cat, if you mess up the Elf Christmas Gras parade, I will cut you.

Santa

God Bless Us, Everyone

This so describes Christmas with my family.