Stories from a man who fails to meet media expectations of what it means to be gay:
white, frivolous, over sexed yet sexless, shrill, single, stylish, a clown, unimportant, et al.

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As usual, I'm posting after the fact, but these elections, Dios Mio!

Although I don�t always agree with the party positions and policies, I am a Democrat, so I think who I want to win the election is fairly obvious, but the delays; closeness of the race; possible, no actual improprieties in Florida and the wacked media coverage of the election borders on ridiculous and the stress of all of this is getting to me. I�m trying to calmly accept the possibility of a bush presidency, but it is hard. Very Hard. I heard someone say this week that a conservative president may in fact have a positive side affect by bolstering queer activism. Bring back the eighties as it were. I first came out in the eighties and in many ways was shaped by the activism and actions made necessary by a president who wouldn�t even say the word Aids. In some ways the GLBT community has become complacent and could use a reminder that we still do not have the same rights shared by nearly everyone else in the nation, but I think a bush presidency would be too high a cost to pay. The supreme court is at stake and the next president will make lasting changes to it. The supreme court is already conservative and has made decisions which have affected the community negatively. I worry about what we will have to face in the future.

Aside from worrying, I have decided that things definitely need to be changed. I haven�t made up my mind about the electoral college, but I have decided that most media coverage of elections needs to be ousted. The election was being treated as a sporting event: play by play coverage, who had the higher score, what were the game strategies, gore will win, no bush, no gore, no bush...whatever. Media coverage was useless and needs to be changed significantly.

Also upsetting to me were reactions to the elections. During the week I spoke with several people who didn�t bother to vote because it didn�t matter to them who was elected. The attitude was that bush or gore, they're both boring old white men, why care who is president, nothing ever changes. While I can understand it, it�s hard to reconcile this defeatist attitude with my activist �It�s the individual who has the power to effect change in society� background.

This election would have given the very opinionated, liberal, college nico an ulcer. Now, it�s just leaving me upset.

Anyway, the week:

I went to the Catalyst potluck on Wednesday night 11/8/00. It was almost an all male event this time, most of the female regulars couldn�t make it. The food was good, though not really helped by my usual contribution of bottled water. The election dominated most of the conversations that night: we need to dump the electoral college, our country is laughing stock, oh my gawd voting irregularities, and such. Eric and I did go off on a Buffy tangent at one point, agreeing that we both love the Willow/Anya relationship. Eric seems to be enjoying his new job. Leaving retail has done him well.

After six years, the potluck won't be at McGinties anymore. I haven�t been attending the potlucks very regularly over the years and when I do go, the crowd seems to be getting a little smaller each time, maybe a change would do this event good.

I had Friday off 11/10/00 for Veterans day and spent most of the day being good son. Which means that I went over to my parents for my mothers birthday. Well, actually we went down to Orange County, had a late lunch at an EL Torito, walked around the Block (a shopping center in the City of Orange) then went to my sisters to wait for her to get back from a conference at Lake Arrowhead. Maria actually got back earlier than expected and was already there when we got to her apartment. The original plan had been to eat dinner and buy my mom the gift of television, but considering that we ate fairly late, dinner never happened (the T.V. did, after forking over some moolah to Circuit City). Ma liked the gift, but I expect that I will have to go over to my folks to connect everything together if they can�t do it.

I spent most of Sat 11/11/00 working in the back yard. I�m continuing with digging and leveling out the ground at the Jamboree and under the left walnut. When finished, there will be two new areas to sit or stand on the hill.

After being farmer nico, I ran errands. I went up into Pasadena to pick up some of the hated special Vet formula cat food for Jet, then had lunch at Lucky Boy. I hadn�t eaten there since John and I lived in Pasadena. The grilled chicken sandwich was as good as I remembered, but the fried zucchini were little, greased, cholesterol bombs. I guess I had a hardier constitution in my twenties. Afterwards I bought groceries and went back home. During this time, Arturo had come over and John was taking photos of him and some guy named Carlos. This was supposed to have been the �final appearance of Venus� (Arturos drag persona), but for some rather long and involved reason that I didn�t entirely understand, that was postponed, so I returned home to a �normal� photo session.

Kristen came over that night and she and I had a late dinner at Wild Time. We talked about her writing, anime, work and the usual stuff.

John�s parents came up Sun. 11/12/00 and we went to the Rose Bowl flea market. Admission had been raised, so I now had the privilege of paying six dollars to spend money on things I don�t need. Actually I didn�t even buy anything, although it was an enjoyable walk and the weather was beautiful, if a little chilly. Ate lunch at Soda Jerks, were I was served a cherry ricky instead of the lime ricky that I had ordered. Service was really bad today for some reason.

Well, John�s locked himself up in his darkroom (the upstairs bathroom) and I still have the Sunday times to read as well as other projects to get to, so enough of this. Oh, by the way, no CD this time, instead the radio is tuned to �Jamming Oldies.�

more later, nico

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