If Willie Nelson's career had ended 40 years ago, he still would have been one of the most important songwriters in country music ever.
The first concert I ever went to was Willie Nelson in the UNI Dome. I'm not sure of the exact year, but it was sometime during the "On The Road Again" period. My parents became big Willie fans around that time--and that song remains one of their favorites. While I love his original songs, I have to admit that Stardust, his album of songs from the "great American songbook," is what made me a life-long fan. The whole thing is beautiful--sometimes achingly so.
I never thought of marriage as something only for men and women. But I'd never marry a guy I didn't like. ...It's about human rights. As humanity, we've come through so
many problems from the beginning to here. I guess it finally had to
come around to this. This is just another situation, another problem.
We'll work it out and move on.
Something good must have been going on in 1933--the year produced two of my favorite progressive men, Willie Nelson and Paul Hogan, my Dad. This year, 80 is the new fabulous.
By now, everyone has heard that, in moving personal essay in Sports Illustrated, Jason Collins became the first male active player in a major team sport in the United States to come out as gay. That may seem like a lot of qualifiers, but this is a big fucking deal. Like most people, I had never heard of Jason Collins before today. In fact, I'm not sure I'd heard of the Washington Wizards, the NBA he played for last year. Seriously, while I've never been a fan of professional basketball, I do think I have fairly good general sports knowledge, but I don't think I could have told you what the name of the DC NBA team was yesterday. So, obviously take all my thoughts on this with a huge grain of salt, but I do have a few things to say.
...The color of the face attached to the cover story of Sports
Illustrated — and the photos that will be shown on ESPN and CNN and
every major media news outlet in the world — isn’t just important, it’s
revolutionary. I would argue that Collins’ coming out will do more to
advance the LGBT conversation within the black community than even
President Obama’s embrace of gay marriage. ...Now, when an
18-year-old black boy is thinking about coming out and looking for
someone in the popular culture who looks like him — he’s certainly going
to find him. Jason Collins may not have been around when I was
18. But that doesn’t diminish the pride I feel as a 30-year-old man
watching him come out now, and I can only imagine how many people who
look just like us are feeling the same thing.
Sadly, I was disappointed in ESPN for how it handled the story. First, the story was one of the lead stories on every newscast today (and not just the sports news, but the national news), but ESPN buried it. Then, this happened:
To be fair, ESPN has been pretty good on LGBT issues before (and even showed a pro-bowler kissing his partner after a big win), but this was just stupid of them. Fortunately, Jason Collins is not just a practicing Christian, but apparently a very well-read and smart one. If and when he wants, I'm sure he'll be able to rip bigots like Chris Broussard to shreds if they try to use the bible to condemn homosexuality.
We salute you, @jasoncollins34 for your courage and leadership. Any time you want to throw out a first pitch at Fenway Park, let us know.
— Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) April 29, 2013
How am I supposed to hate the Red Sox (as I do) if they keep being so good on LGBT issues?
Congratulations to Jason - society couldn't hope for a more eloquent & positive role model: buff.ly/10OvOMd
— John Amaechi OBE (@JohnAmaechi) April 29, 2013
What really sealed the deal for me was I read this passage in Collins essay:
My one small gesture of solidarity was to wear jersey number 98 with the
Celtics and then the Wizards. The number has great significance to the
gay community. One of the most notorious antigay hate crimes occurred in
1998. Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student, was kidnapped,
tortured and lashed to a prairie fence. He died five days after he was
finally found. That same year the Trevor Project was founded. This
amazing organization provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention
to kids struggling with their sexual identity. Trust me, I know that
struggle. I've struggled with some insane logic. When I put on my jersey
I was making a statement to myself, my family and my friends.
"It made me cry," Judy Shepard told FOXSports.com during an interview
Monday afternoon. "It was really quite a tribute, and I was very
honored. And I know Matt would be thrilled." And the Shepards hope, someday, to be able to thank Collins personally
for his bravery in opening himself up to the world and honoring their
son’s name in the process. "I would really love to speak to him, because I know Judy and I would
just like to thank him," Dennis Shepard said. "Because, No. 1, he had
the courage to come out, period, and No. 2 that he wore 98 in honor of
Matt, the year that he died. ...[Collins] couldn’t have been that old (when it happened), so it must
have had a tremendous impact on him, the story behind Matt, for him to
want to do that. And then to wear it all this time without telling
people why until today, that’s incredible."
So, Congratulations and Thank You, Jason Collins! I'm still not going to watch professional basketball, but if there's any other way that I could support you, please let me know.
**********************************
I have few things to add to my original post--specifically, an apology, a response to a legit criticism of the news and a new video.
An apology
I can't believe I didn't mention or link to Outsports in my original post. Cyd Zeigler and Jim Buzinski have created a blog that is indeed "the galactic leader in gay sports" news. Of course, they have lots of posts about the Collins story, including Zeigler's nice personal reflections:
...Mostly, I thought about the kids. I was one of those once. I grew up in a basketball household on a healthy diet of Celtics-Lakers
championship series. My dad was a local hero, able to hit his elbow on
the rim at a time when dunking was against the rules. I was supposed to
follow in his footsteps, but on the first day of basketball tryouts in
junior high school, I had an all-consuming feeling that I just didn't
belong. There's no doubt in my mind that being gay, just struggling with
my sexuality and being teased for it by the other boys, kept me off the
basketball court. Like many LGBT youth, I opted for individual sports
-- track & field and cross-country -- instead.
Thanks to Collins, the young
ones in Pee-Wee football today won't know a world without an openly gay
male pro athlete. The teens in youth basketball, just starting to
understand their own sexuality, will forever have someone to look up to,
someone who looks like them. The young gay men playing college baseball today got a shot in the arm: They now know the sports world is ready for them.
Well done Jason Collins- you are a brave man. And a big man at that:) 1981 was the year for me- 2013 is the year for you:)
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) April 29, 2013
I think the criticism of the media is completely fair. Fortunately, today they are beginning to fill in the gaps. I hope the Jason Collins story spurs a discussion of not just homophobia but also larger gender issues in professional sports including the sexism of sports journalism. I also think it's important to note that Jason Collins has been very gracious in acknowledging everyone who came before him and made his announcement possible, saying simply, "The words thank you are not enough." Which lead me to...
A video...
...in which Jason Collins honors his hero Navratilova. He also speaks well on LGBT issues including his connection to the number 98 amazingly well for someone who a) just came out and b) is at the center of a media frenzy right now.
Well done, sir. Now, I will try to watch at least one of your games next year. NBA execs take note, Collins is a free agent and whichever team signs him will quickly expand their fan base--seriously, as a pure business decision, it makes sense. The gays are very brand loyal to LGBT friendly businesses.
Although to be fair, for large stretches of his career, it's hard to know exactly what Gary Numan looked like.
I must say that I have I have always admired his commitment to whatever look he wears.
Plus, it may be breaking the 10th Commandment, but I covet this jacket:
Oh, by the way, I just thought of Gary Numan for the the first time is years tonight because I just saw his amazing collaboration with Nine Inch Nails in the remake of his biggest hit "Cars". Okay, it happened four years ago, but it's hard to keep up with the music the young kids are listening to these days.
The thought behind the message is lovely; however, I'm a little surprised to find out any Iowans were involved the production. The place described seems to be a DC lobbyist's idea of a generic, Midwestern farm state. "The cows still get milked"? Seriously? Still, bless their hearts, they meant well and that's what counts.
If I have to blog about how sometimes it snows in April one more time, heads will roll. Heads. Will. Roll. I just couldn't post the Prince song again. Fortunately, these cute buskers provided their original song of the same name for me to share.
Years ago, I openly wept at a listening station in the Boston HMV as Holly Near sang Pete Seeger's "Quite Early Morning"--just because I'm sort of a hippie at heart and it's really beautiful. I listened to it today, and cried again for Boston, the city I called home for several years.
I hope your darkest days have now passed, and we can have singing tomorrows.
As great as the math and grammar segments of Schoolhouse Rock were, the American history ones are rather lacking. This is really just a bunch of names and phrases associated with the start of the American Revolutionary War rather randomly thrown out there instead of any sort of lesson. To be fair, history is much more complex than multiplication tables or grammatical rules, but wouldn't telling some sort of story have worked better. So really, it's not my fault that I'm woefully ignorant about our countries fight for independence; television failed to educate me properly.
30 years ago, on April 15th 1983, the world was introduced to the greatest movie ever made about a welder/stripper, Flashdance.Jennifer Beals is an... um... interesting choice for the lead because you would think that in a movie about a dancer they might cast someone who could--oh, I don't know--dance. Really, the use of body doubles is ridiculously obvious.
Unfortunately, for Beals the scenes she's actually in are equally ridiculous. Her performance is a bit stilted, but to be fair, I blame the terrible dialogue rather than her acting skills. She did, however, get to display her excellent bra removing skills.
Then again, who am I to judge? The producers have92,921,203 reasons to think they made a good movie. Plus, everyone--myself included--took scissors to their sweatshirts after seeing Flashdance so they too could have the hip, boho Pittsburghsteel mill style.
Last night, as I went down the the Internet rabbit hole chasing music that Margaret Thatcher (to put it kindly) "inspired", I eventually rediscovered this amazing scene. While this number doesn't directly reference the Iron Lady, there's no doubt that "Town Called Malice" and Billy Elliot are both products of Thatcherite England. By the way, Billy Elliot had me at being pro-labor and gay-positive--the great 80's music was just icing on the cake. Since I can't embed the video, so go watch the whole thing at YouTube. Or, you can listen to the song here and look at pictures of the "Billy Elliot" a.k.a. Jamie Bell all grown up and looking mighty fine.
PS: If the fact that "Town Called Malice" was released 31 years ago doesn't make you feel really old, how about the news that Billy Elliot is going to be a father? Yikes.
Googling yourself is so 2004. All the cool kids today are doing Google Image searches on their names. What does it say that when I put "Christopher J. Hogan" in, three of the top hits were mugshots?
Since my name didn't yield people who seemed a lot like me, I tried Google's great "search by image" feature. Here's the picture that is the most "visually similar" to mine:
I guess that whole "what's in a name" thing is true. Clearly, I have much more in common with Kate than with the other Christopher J's. She looks like my type of gal, and if that's a mugshot, it's the best one I've ever seen.
when faces called flowers float out of the ground and breathing is wishing and wishing is having- but keeping is downward and doubting and never -it's april(yes,april;my darling)it's spring! yes the pretty birds frolic as spry as can fly yes the little fish gambol as glad as can be (yes the mountains are dancing together)
when every leaf opens without any sound and wishing is having and having is giving- but keeping is doting and nothing and nonsense -alive;we're alive,dear:it's(kiss me now)spring! now the pretty birds hover so she and so he now the little fish quiver so you and so i (now the mountains are dancing, the mountains)
when more than was lost has been found has been found and having is giving and giving is living- but keeping is darkness and winter and cringing -it's spring(all our night becomes day)o,it's spring! all the pretty birds dive to the heart of the sky all the little fish climb through the mind of the sea (all the mountains are dancing;are dancing)
2. The big mystery of the song is what Andy's last name is. In the video above it's "Wollo" but looking at various lyrics websites it could be Woloe (close), Wo-Lo (a hyphenate seems highly unlikely in Georgia in early 70's--and one of two Asian names seems almost impossible), or "Warlord" (which would be a bit much).
3. Since the song is in colloquial dialogue it's perfectly acceptable that the lyric is: "That's the night that they hung an innocent man," instead of "That's the night that they hanged an innocent man," which would be more grammatically correct. Here's my rule of thumb to remember which to use: All inanimate objects are hung; when talking about people, unlucky men are hanged but lucky men are hung.
“Kindness” covers all of my political beliefs. No need to spell them
out. I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have
done something to make others a little happier, and something to make
ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make
others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all
crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true
no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try.
I didn’t always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it
out.
[Deuce Bigalow] makes a living prostituting himself. How much he
charges I'm not sure, but the price is worth it if it keeps him off the
streets and out of another movie. Deuce Bigalow is aggressively bad,
as if it wants to cause suffering to the audience. The best thing about
it is that it runs for only 75 minutes.... Speaking in my official
capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Schneider, your movie sucks.
This morning's David Brooks column on same-sex marriage was one of the weirdest, most mean-spirited things I've ever seen in The New York Times.
Entitled "Freedom Loses One,"
the article is a sarcastic broadside against . . . well, against
something, though it's not clear exactly which of the many post-Sixties
permissive-society hobgoblins Brooks hates is the real target here.
...Brooks is trying to make a "point" here – he takes something like 800
words to make it, but it boils down to a single snarky observation:
"Isn't it ironic that these same people who've been fighting
for the right to personal indulgence for all these decades since the
Sixties are now fighting for the right to be legally restrained?"
Here's my point: I know I just barely missed being a "Baby Boomer" by a couple of years, but I really can't wait for that generation to retire so we can finally move past the cultural battles of the 60's. I'm especially sick of conservatives using "hippies" as a punching bag on which they work out their anxieties about the crazy ideas of freedom, equality and peace. As David Wilcox wrote:
Now I was just a young thing
When the sixties were in swing
They were singing of Aquarius
And all that it would bring
A lot of dreams got frozen
When the time turned bitter cold
They blossomed like a flower
But what a way to go.
