Cheese and Whine

Deconstructing the Minutiae : littlestpea.com

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i think love came first

Yesterday, one of my favorite artists, Robert Rauschenberg passed away at the age of 82. I’m deeply saddened by his passing, as he was one of the first “queer” artists that I was introduced to - in fact, one of my favorite scholars introduced me to him, and also to his one time lover Jasper Johns (my favorite artist of all time) when I was a student a long long time ago.

His work spoke to me then, and still does.  I will toast his memory this evening, and hope that throughout all his years he was able to answer one of the questions posed in his (now destroyed) work, “Should love come first?”

I really really hope that he came to the conclusion that yes, yes it does.

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almost made it

Someday, remind me to tell you about the time when we went to a baseball game on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and after the game running into the lesbian couple with kid who S worked with not too long ago. And the time when one of them gave me a big hug and said “Happy Mother’s Day” with incredible glee.

My only response was “uuuuh thanks.”

She ran back a moment later to apologize but damn if that didn’t kill. I think making matters worse is that their kid was the product of IVF, and they went through many many failed cycles. Seriously.

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it’s funny that way

In my new profession the busiest day of the week is Saturday. This is somewhat sad because I like having full weekends off, but my new, sizeably bigger paycheck makes losing that day (but gaining a weekday) much more bearable.

At the end of a rather busy and exhausting day today, I was putting some things away in our service area near the counter. I bent down to pick something up, and while I was bent over I heard a crash, then a thud. I stood up and saw that a tiny tiny bird had flown into the garage, hit a hanging light fixture, and then fallen to the counter. It was the most horribleist thing ever. I kind of ran screaming so that some folks that I work with could come and help out - its heart was still beating, though it had some blood coming from its mouth. After some investigation it was made obvious that this little chickie wasn’t meant to fly another day and so was put out of its misery.

This was perhaps the most traumatizing thing that’s ever happened to me at work (ok, there once was this armed robbery at the supermarket I worked at a long time ago) and also kind of freaky. Seems that a squirrel seemingly fell from the sky onto the ground near my friend KP’s head just a few days ago. As these things kind of things happen in threse, beware my friends. Animals are falling from the sky.

Even though this was very horrible for me, pretty much all things in the world were made right when one of the sales consultants I work with split his pants when bending over demo-ing a vehicle. Freaking brilliant end to a crazy day.

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interesting timing

Dear President Bush,

I’m so happy for your daughter Jenna. It appears that she’ll be getting married this weekend at your ranch in Texas. I’m glad she’ll be able to get all the protections that marriage will afford her. I’m glad that by signing one piece of paper, she’ll never have to worry that she won’t be able to visit her husband in a hospital room. Or worry that she might not get to make medical decisions on his behalf. She won’t have to fight to be covered under his health insurance (or vice versa.)

She will be able to decide where and how he’s buried if she outlives him. She’ll be able to collect his pensions and annuities and social security. She will inherit his stuff if by chance something bad happens and they don’t have a will. She won’t ever have to fight to prove that her marriage to him is real. They will have rights to joint parenting and joint adoption automatically.

And I know you like money so lets just briefly touch upon the financial aspects - she’ll be able to avoid taxes due to exemptions made when one partner of a married couple dies. She’ll be able to jointly file income tax returns and perhaps be able to save tons of money on items that she and her husband own together.

Also important for families like yours should they find themselves in the legal hot seat, just by marrying him she’ll be afforded judicial protections and evidentiary immunity.

I guess I’m wondering why you think that your daughter deserves all of this…and my mom’s daughters don’t. I fail to see the logic in any of the arguments limiting the rights of marriage to one man and one woman. I just don’t get it. I really wish that you could explain it to me in a way that makes sense, rather than using religion (something which our founding fathers would have hated) to keep me from having the same rights and protections that your daughter has, or will have as of Saturday.

Really though, I hope that Saturday is a beautiful day for you and your family. I know you won’t give a second thought to the millions of Americans who are denied these basic protections of marriage (and really, what is such a big deal about marriage? Why does the government think that people can’t decide who their hard earned social security dollars should go to even if they DON’T ever choose to marry - but this is for another time) and will just enjoy the day, blind to the discrimination that you and your administration, and your constituency dose out to the GLBT public on a daily basis.

Though, I am happy that she is getting married in Texas, because it will likely be raining here in Maine. And besides, I’ve way too much to do this weekend and it would be inconvenient for me and in poor taste to protest your daughters happy day.

Thanks for reading,

The littlest pea

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Reason I love Maine # 4386

The MPBN Great Television Auction.

I’ve never seen anything like this but right now is a live auction for Maine public television - some of the items are incredibly cool;  vacations, nights at resorts around the state and even a hybrid car.

Some of the auction items are just hysterical, like the 2 year subscription to the Wiscasset newspaper, a really ugly beaded necklace with a pewter cross,  or perhaps an overnight at the Super 8 overlooking interstate 95  in Westbrook (bidding was up to $18 last time we checked,) and some color coded bucket covers that we weren’t really sure what they were.

Our favorite one was a evening at the Lewiston Conference center (including breakfast.) We actually almost bid for that but once it went above $40 we decided it just wasn’t worth it.   But really, what could be better than a reckless evening at Sportsman’s,  some late night food at Denny’s, and a restful sleep at the Lewiston Conference center (did I mention the deluxe buffet breakfast?)

Some days I just freaking LOVE living in Maine. Today is one of them.

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