But first the old one. Here’s my cat Väinämönen (but you can call him Vai) enjoying my old couch on its last day.
He doesn’t agree that there’s any need for a new couch. This one suits him just fine, thanks!
But as part of my recent initiative to successfully be my own grown-up, I knew it was time for a change. The old couch, given to me by a friend over a decade ago, has done good service, and could even look pretty good, with the right blanket —
But beneath its green Hudson Bay blanket facade, the poor old thing was pretty battered and worn. Ugh.
Besides, the springs below were falling through. Besides, the blanket was always having to be straightened out after getting rucked-up under our restless butts. Besides, with the way it kinda sank down, it was difficult for a couple of my friends to get up out of it.
Yes, time for a change. So last Friday I went down to Scanhome with my friend Marcia — I wanted her to test it out too — & picked out a new couch. Love seat, really, as the space avaialable in my apartment is too small for a full length couch. Here, after delivery, is the frame.
The style is Woodbury, which best I can tell is manufactured by a company called Renelle Futon in Surrey, BC. Pine frame in a honey finish. It’s got a fold-out ottoman with a separate cushion, and because the back will also lay flat it can be folded out full length into a full-size bed that will sleep two adults. But I don’t have the cover for the ottoman cushion for that yet, so I’ll just save pics of that for later.
The cover is in a color called “Arctic Black.” The matching cover for the ottoman cushion (which I’ve got hidden away in a plastic bag for the time being, against dog & cat hair) is on order. I’ve also got two additional sets of futon covers on order — “Alexa apricot” which is a nice apricot orange, and “Alexa grasshopper,” which is a medium green.
Cat’s not too sure of it yet, so pics of him lounging on it will have to wait.
But I’m here.
(The book is Forty Thousand in Gehenna by C.J. Cherryh.)
Hence, I will take time out from political stuff that this blog is supposedly not primarily about to begin with, to enjoy some high-quality Fake Life, in the form of this fine new video from The Guild. Here in cyberspace there is no disease.
Meanwhile, I’ll continue to prep my apartment to receive its new couch. (Love seat, actually.) There will be pictures later. Oh boy!
Pam Kelley's straight agenda is pretty much identical with my gay agenda: Equal rights. Because it's right.
Following Mayor Dan Sullivan’s veto of the Anchorage equal rights ordinance earlier today, a protest was spontaneously organized via Facebook, Twitter, and announcements on pro-ordinance blogs. It was set to begin at City Hall at 5:00 PM — which was of some disappointment to me, because I don’t get off work until 5:00 PM and would be most of an hour catching a bus just to get there. But my coworker Pam Kelley — the same whose July 21 testimony about existing law I posted previously on this blog — was kind enough to drive across town to pick me up & drive me uptown. She took part in the protest as well.
The protest mostly was held across the street from City Hall just outside the Kaladi Brothers in the corner of the Performing Arts Center building. Unfortunately I forgot until after I’d taken a whole lot of photos that I’d left my camera’s settings on black & white. Oh well, that’s life; but there are plenty of color photos in my slideshow too, once I finally recognized my mistake.
Eddie Burke was on hand asking protesters the only kinds of questions he knows how to ask: stupid ones.
Rightwing talk radio host and self-described homophobic racist Eddie Burke was there when I first arrived, interviewing people on what looked like a camera phone. I overheard a few of his questions — stupid questions, mostly, of the likes of “would you vote for special rights for fat people?” My friend John Aronno of Alaska Commons told me Burke asked him “Why do you want special rights?” John — who is straight — told him he didn’t want special rights — which is why he wanted LGBT people to be protected as well. I’d heard earlier that Burke had called for a counterprotest on his radio show, but didn’t seem any of his fans felt like showing up.
Jason Lamb of KTUU Channel 2 News: live broadcast on 6 o'clock news
News media were there in force. I was one of several people interviewed by KTUU Channel 2 News, probably for the late night news. I understand that other media there included KTVA Channel 11 and the Anchorage Daily News. I caught several black & white pics of KTUU’s Jason Lamb making a live report during the 6 o’clock newscast. I also heard other people being interviewed, including a young male and female couple — the young woman telling the interviewer that she at the protest because many of her friends were gay, and she often heard other kids at school saying that they “didn’t want to be friends” with gay kids — something which clearly bothered her.
Later, someone heard that Mayor Sullivan was having dinner down the street in McGinley’s Pub, of which he is part owner. For a few minutes the protest moved — mostly standing in front of the Atwood Building across the street from McGinley’s.
Igualdad por todos: Equality for all
One protester entered McGinley’s to ask if Mayor Sullivan was there; he was told the mayor had been there, but was no longer. Given the moral courage the mayor had displayed in facing the media with his veto — i.e., none — we weren’t terribly surprised. The protest moved back to Sixth Avenue to City Hall and the PAC.
Teaching your kids intolerance leads to hate
I took a bus home about 6:45, with my last couple of photos taken of bemused-looking people waiting for buses at the Transit Center. My friend Steve reported later that the protest lasted until about 7:30. It was hard to make a good count because of people moving around and coming & going, but there were at least 100 to 125 protesters.
I was disheartened — if not quite surprised — by Dan Sullivan’s veto. This protest put heart back into me, thanks to the spirit of perseverance of my LGBT friends, and the equivalent anger and dedication to equality of our allies. Thank you to everyone who was there tonight, and to everyone who couldn’t be there but was present in heart and mind.
The slide show below is all the photos I considered good enough to keep. It can also be viewed full screen. You can also see the entire set in my Flickr photostream.
Postscript: See Heather Aronno’s account of tonight’s protest:
8/17/09. “We came, we saw, we protested” by Heather Aronno (SOSAnchorage.net). (And Heather: feel free to make use of my photos.)
Dan Sullivan at his first Assembly meeting as Mayor of Anchorage on July 7
Today’s the day that Mayor Dan Sullivan is expected to announce whether or not he’ll veto the Anchorage equal rights ordinance AO 2009-64 passed last Tuesday by the Anchorage Assembly. Here’s the letter I sent him urging him to let it stand.
Dear Mayor Sullivan:
I am writing to urge you to permit AO 2009-64 to stand.
There have been a number of claims by various individuals that “Anchorage is tolerant” and there is “no discrimination” in Anchorage — ranging from various witnesses during the Assembly’s public hearings, to Assembly members Bill Starr and Chris Birch in explaining their vote last Tuesday, to the blogger at Alaska Pride, who over the weekend claimed that the lack of “dead queers” to match the bodies of homeless people found over the course of the summer was evidence of no discrimination.
These claims fly in the face of the experiences of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity that other witnesses attested to — discrimination that they were unable to bring before the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission or the Alaska Human Rights Commission because such discrimination was not prohibited. It was for this reason that I took part in two studies in the early to late 1980s to document sexual orientation bias and discrimination. I have appended some of the pertinent findings from these studies below. Full copies of the reports are available at http://www.henkimaa.com/identity/. Full copies on CD and hard copies of the “Prima Facie” component were provided to all Assembly members when I testified on June 16.
These findings and the testimony of witnesses who testified to more recent incidents of sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination prove conclusively that there is such discrimination in Anchorage.
As is already written in Anchorage Municipal Code 5.10.010:
The public policy of the municipality is declared to be equal opportunity for all persons.
Is this really the Municipality’s public policy? Or is it not?
If it is, there’s no question but that the ordinance should be allowed to remain as enacted last Tuesday by the Assembly. Please do not veto.
Respectfully,
Melissa S. Green
Anchorage resident 1982–1987; 1990–present
* * *
Relevant findings from studies mentioned above:
One in Ten: A Profile of Alaska’s Lesbian & Gay Community by the volunteers of Identity, Inc. (1986)
Identity Reports: Sexual Orientation Bias in Alaska by Melissa S. Green and Jay K. Brause (1989)
Of the 734 respondents to One in 10 (statewide survey in 1985):
61% reported having been victimized by violence and harassment while in Alaska because of their sexual orientation;
39% reported having suffered from discrimination in employment, housing, and loans/credit; and
33% reported having suffered from discrimination because of sexual orientation from services and institutions.
From the “Closed Doors” component of Identity Reports (based on a 1987 survey):
31 percent of the 191 employers in the survey said they would either not hire, promote, or would fire someone they had reason to believe was homosexual.
20 percent of the 178 landlords in the survey said they would either not rent to or would evict someone they had reason to believe was homosexual.
From the “Prima Facie” component of Identity Reports (based on interviews and documentary evidence through 1987)
84 actual instances of antigay bias, discrimination, harassment, or violence (including three murders) were recorded involving 30 men and 21 women in the Municipality of Anchorage (64 cases), the City and Borough of Juneau (4), the Fairbanks North Star Borough (6), and 10 other localities in Alaska (10).
Victims were predominately gay men or lesbians, but also included heterosexuals who were erroneously assumed to be gay or lesbian.
Of the 42 cases of employment, housing, public accommodations, and business practices discrimination from personal (as opposed to documentary) testimony, 32 were evaluated by a former intake investigator with the Alaska Human Rights Commission as being jurisdictional under AS 18.80 (Alaska’s human rights statutes) if AS 18.80 had included “sexual orientation” as a protected class.
Best pie chart I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen (& created) a lot of ’em. (Toni: you need to take a look!) http://bit.ly/mxeFA#
Even Fridays can be sucky. Especially when there’s no coffee. #
Wow. Second time someone’s included me for #ff or #followfriday. Hope I tweet interesting stuff today! #
@jansonjones SSB is closed today. So Starbucks in SSB lobby is closed too. Good thing I have some Earl Grey tea in my drawer-pantry. in reply to jansonjones#
APD arrests two for racial assault, harassment of AK Native man. They put videos of attacks on YouTube. http://bit.ly/Avb7l#
@jansonjones We thought about walking to ADM for coffee but that damn stand is never open! Maybe when school starts. in reply to jansonjones#
@redrummy I agree! But the powers that be at UAA decided to get rid of the Kaladi’s we had in SSB in favor of Starbucks. Dammit. in reply to redrummy#
Daily Kos: Travelocity removes ads from Fox News show of race-baiter Glenn Beck. http://bit.ly/LCYMY#
RT: @NathanFillion: I resolve not to end my sentences with the preposition “at”. And to visibly cringe when others do it. #
