I don't doubt that I have made it very apparent that I don't care too much for Utah. Sure, the state is beautiful in it's own right but there are attitudes, religion, and politics that I have a hard time dealing with. So why do I stay? There are a number of reasons. My family is there and I can't imagine living too far from my family. My friends are there and it has taken me an awful long time to find friends as wonderful and golden as the ones I now have. The BF is there, need I say more? And finally, my job is there, a job that I currently adore (minus some of the horrific travel schedules I have dealt with in the last few months). All of these things added up make Utah home, or as much home as it can ever be.
When I travel back to the midwest I fill it beckoning to me, in the deepest pits of my stomach. I feel a calmness surround me and comfort of childhood memories. I love the midwest in it's backward loving way. People are genuine, food is good, and the earth is plentiful.
I just got into Maine last night for the second time. The first trip was short and I had no chance to take in the sites. Luckily, because it is impossible to get here before 5pm, I had to fly in a day earlier. I spent the entire morning seeing the sites of Old Portland and took a small excursion to some light houses.
I am in love. Deeply, infatuated in love. While the midwest calls to me, Maine seems to wrap around my heart. I am an old soul and this city speaks to me on a level that none have before. The closest I can think to feeling this way was when I was in Boston. I love history, something that Utah lacks. I am surrounded with history here.
Sigh. Maine is my new lover. I know the BF won't mind sharing me with a state thousands of miles away. As I write this I am sitting in my hotel room listening to the sounds of the ocean (including the seagulls). How will I ever say good-bye with out breaking my heart?
Monday, July 27, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
The end of it all
The last month has been a doozy and sadly this month is shaping up to be the same. I think I was out of town more often then I was in town. My Aunt passed away during the first week of June. It was devestating to as all. It was the first funeral I attended of somsone I know and love. And it was hard. I loved my Aunt so very much. She was and always will be an inspiration to me. I think that because work has been so hectic I haven't really had time to fully grieve. I am sure that one day, out of nowhere, it will hit me. She fought a very hard and very long battle and I know that she is finally at peace with her maker. Yes I did say that.
I've spent most of the rest of the month galavanting around the midwest, visiting such great places as Brookings, SD, Danvers, MN, Greely, CO, Estherville and Carrol, IA. Don't be jealous that I am racking out Holiday Inn rewards faster then I can say supercali.. you get the idea. And yes, I stay at Holiday Inns. First off, I like them... I know what to expect. Second of all, do you think the small towns I am visiting have a Marriott? Ha, if only.
It is interesting, all the places I get to travel. I see parts of the country that most people don't, and all from country highways. Tomorrow I fly into Denver and then make the very long drive to Liberal, KS. This time I will bring my camera and I plan on taking some photos of the interesting things I see along the way. I should have started earlier, but I imagine you will all find interest in my roadside blog.
Toodles!
I've spent most of the rest of the month galavanting around the midwest, visiting such great places as Brookings, SD, Danvers, MN, Greely, CO, Estherville and Carrol, IA. Don't be jealous that I am racking out Holiday Inn rewards faster then I can say supercali.. you get the idea. And yes, I stay at Holiday Inns. First off, I like them... I know what to expect. Second of all, do you think the small towns I am visiting have a Marriott? Ha, if only.
It is interesting, all the places I get to travel. I see parts of the country that most people don't, and all from country highways. Tomorrow I fly into Denver and then make the very long drive to Liberal, KS. This time I will bring my camera and I plan on taking some photos of the interesting things I see along the way. I should have started earlier, but I imagine you will all find interest in my roadside blog.
Toodles!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Sketchy Scratch
Last night, after slaving for hours over a paper, I decided to wash my car. I know that it will likely rain today, but it was so dirty from weeks of rain and dirt. I gave the baby the whole treatment, wax and everything. This morning I was leaving for work and noticed a scrape on the driver side door. I know, since I spent time lovingly stroking her fine paint last night, that the scrape wasn't there. And since I came straight home from there and parked in my spot (next to my garage mind you), this happened sometime in the middle of the night.
I have apparently annoyed someone so much they have decided to come and scrape up against my car. My money is on Hitler. Hitler is the president of our HOA. I worked with Hitler for a year. And worked is really not the right word. I argued, yelled, and screamed trying to get my voice to be heard. I am a loud person, Hitler is louder. Finally after formally calling her a dictator last weekend and baptising her as Hitler I decided to resign. Guess what, I am one busy bitch. I have way too much going on to waste time fighting someone as crazy as Hitler. Good luck HOA, running with two candidates can't work.
I have apparently annoyed someone so much they have decided to come and scrape up against my car. My money is on Hitler. Hitler is the president of our HOA. I worked with Hitler for a year. And worked is really not the right word. I argued, yelled, and screamed trying to get my voice to be heard. I am a loud person, Hitler is louder. Finally after formally calling her a dictator last weekend and baptising her as Hitler I decided to resign. Guess what, I am one busy bitch. I have way too much going on to waste time fighting someone as crazy as Hitler. Good luck HOA, running with two candidates can't work.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Californication
Sigh. California just seems unable to escape the news. One day it is the dire financial woes of our western state. Today it is the Cali State Supreme Courts decisions to uphold Prop 8. I was listening to NPR this morning and someone actually tried to tie the two together. Yes, now there is something else to blame on the gays, the near bankrupt state of California. Damn gays, what will they do next? Decorate my home? Buy me a great class of Merlot? I jest when I really desire to be serious. But sometimes you just have to laugh at the audacity of all of it. Because when it comes down to it that is really all this is.
Ignorance, bigotry, there are many words I can think to describe those who choose to refuse to grant equal rights. I assume if I was around during the women's rights movement or the civil rights movement I would feel the same. Maybe it is, in part, due to the fact that I am no longer a church goer. I do not mean that to come across as I am not a religious person, but maybe I just haven't studied enough. Because when I think back to my days in Sunday school, my years spent studying for conformation, I remember a few things vividly. The most important was that I can not judge people. Religion is not a weapon for me to yield like a sword, cutting down those who I do not deem worthy.
If you haven't guessed by now, I am a huge supporter of gay marriage. There is only one reason, because everyone deserves the same rights as I. Just because you are gay doesn't mean you shouldn't have the ability to be legally tied to the person you love. Yes I understand that civil unions offer those who are gay in California the same rights as those who are straight. But the rights are under a different name, so how are they the same. Equal rights are not different rights. In the fifties those of different colors were also allowed to drink from water fountains, ride buses, and attend school. They just couldn't do it in the same area as white people. Equal rights, yes, but different rights.
The argument of choice is null in this case. People do not choose to be gay, just as I did not choose to be straight. I was born this way. Just as my dear friend in California was born gay. He didn't just wake up one morning and decide, "Hey world, give me hell, I choose to be gay. I choose to be labeled and cast aside. I choose for people to judge me and use the name of God to bear false witness against me".
And religion. Goodness me. I can't think of one thing I detest more than people who hide beind the guise of religion to afford them them ability to spew hatred. I assure you my God does not love gay people less. Too many negative acts are committed in the name of religion. Instead of using a pulpit to incite bigotry, why don't we use it to condone love and acceptance. I am quite certain that God would be happy with that action.
The discussion of equal rights for those who are gay is one that I hope continues with the same fever. I hope that those of us who support equal rights are never silenced.
We are all familiar with a certain figures speech regarding a wonderful dream. Instead of quoting the same passage we all know, let me provide an alternative.
In the beautiful and inspiring words of Dr. Martin Luther King,
"As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back"
"This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Ignorance, bigotry, there are many words I can think to describe those who choose to refuse to grant equal rights. I assume if I was around during the women's rights movement or the civil rights movement I would feel the same. Maybe it is, in part, due to the fact that I am no longer a church goer. I do not mean that to come across as I am not a religious person, but maybe I just haven't studied enough. Because when I think back to my days in Sunday school, my years spent studying for conformation, I remember a few things vividly. The most important was that I can not judge people. Religion is not a weapon for me to yield like a sword, cutting down those who I do not deem worthy.
If you haven't guessed by now, I am a huge supporter of gay marriage. There is only one reason, because everyone deserves the same rights as I. Just because you are gay doesn't mean you shouldn't have the ability to be legally tied to the person you love. Yes I understand that civil unions offer those who are gay in California the same rights as those who are straight. But the rights are under a different name, so how are they the same. Equal rights are not different rights. In the fifties those of different colors were also allowed to drink from water fountains, ride buses, and attend school. They just couldn't do it in the same area as white people. Equal rights, yes, but different rights.
The argument of choice is null in this case. People do not choose to be gay, just as I did not choose to be straight. I was born this way. Just as my dear friend in California was born gay. He didn't just wake up one morning and decide, "Hey world, give me hell, I choose to be gay. I choose to be labeled and cast aside. I choose for people to judge me and use the name of God to bear false witness against me".
And religion. Goodness me. I can't think of one thing I detest more than people who hide beind the guise of religion to afford them them ability to spew hatred. I assure you my God does not love gay people less. Too many negative acts are committed in the name of religion. Instead of using a pulpit to incite bigotry, why don't we use it to condone love and acceptance. I am quite certain that God would be happy with that action.
The discussion of equal rights for those who are gay is one that I hope continues with the same fever. I hope that those of us who support equal rights are never silenced.
We are all familiar with a certain figures speech regarding a wonderful dream. Instead of quoting the same passage we all know, let me provide an alternative.
In the beautiful and inspiring words of Dr. Martin Luther King,
"As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back"
"This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The beauty of Wyoming
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