In the west

As I drove in to work this morning, I rounded a curve and the golden hills of the narrowing tip of the valley spilled out on either side, just stunning in the clear light of the young white sun. Shadows deepening the definition of folds, occasional little groups of trees adding color, all the rolling potential of hills. I had a sudden moment of satisfaction and pleasure at being a Westerner, at that very moment, in these hills. It reminded me of the sense of place I used to revel in as a teenager reading Zane Grey in Tacoma.

It's a nice, centered feeling on the Autumn Equinox, with its full moon supervising.

Good morning! Have a wonderful day.

October is LGBT History Month

Crossposted from dancingbull.net.

This history site is pretty cool; every day there’s a new ‘icon’ (historical figure). It’s fun exploring the names; nice to see Mara Keisling right up there! She rocks. I took a workshop or two from her at a trans leadership conference a couple of years ago, and see her in the media regularly.

upping the signal: It Gets Better

Kinda in memory of Billy Lucas, a gay kid who committed suicide recently, Dan Savage and his partner are starting a YouTube Channel of videos aimed at LGBT kids, to tell them that things will get better. And so maybe prevent a suicide, or at least provide some hope. And I know there are tons of people into making tiny little videos for youtube!

To quote Dan: The video my husband and I made is up now—all by itself. I’d like to add submissions from other gay and lesbian adults—singles and couples, with kids or without, established in careers or just starting out, urban and rural, of all races and religious backgrounds. Go to youtube.com/itgetsbetterproject to find instructions for submitting your video. If you’re gay or lesbian or bi or trans and you’ve ever read about a kid like Billy Lucas and thought, “F***, I wish I could’ve told him that it gets better,” this is your chance. We can’t help Billy, but there are lots of other Billys out there—other despairing LGBT kids who are being bullied and harassed, kids who don’t think they have a future—and we can help them.

Love.