This is potentially scary. In a nutshell, a couple of nuts in Congress have drafted a bill that allows the President power to shut down all civilian traffic on the web during times of “national emergencies. Given that Obama’s new Homeland Security guru, Janet Napalitano, thinks that the Canadian and Mexican borders should be similarly boarded up (because of the hordes of Canadians running south with drugs, guns and the intent to work low paying jobs without health care benefits), I am thinking the new POTUS might not be all that averse to this additional power being literally handed to him. But maybe he is a better man than GW was.
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The Iowa Supreme Court ruled today that the state cannot deny marriage licenses to same sex couples. While it’s not a surprise ruling because when the religious question is removed it is a simple case of discrimination based on sexual orientation that is clearly in violation of state law, it is a bit of a surprise to the born and raised Iowa girl in me. I am used to my home state being hopelessly mired in religious conservatism and other antequated “ism’s”.
This last weekend we attended a family wedding. The bride’s sister and her fiancée put together the slide show of the mountain top ceremony for those who hadn’t been able to fly up to witness it. They are a very cute young couple, obviously in love and no different from any other couple a person might encounter in Iowa except for the fact that they are both women – something that until today was not done in Iowa. There are plenty of same sex couples there, but they were not able to bring their relationships to the state for “official” validation before today’s ruling.
People argue that marriage is just a piece of paper and that couples can have the same type of thing without the state’s sanction. I suppose they are technically correct, but without that “piece of paper” they do not have the same rights and protections that those with the paper enjoy and that is the real point. You are not married – however much you might protest that you are – without a formal declaration and a certificate to back it up.
Before I left my last teaching job, one of the teachers there and his partner celebrated their 20th anniversary as a couple. That was two years ago. How wonderful for them if they would be able to celebrate their upcoming 25th as husband and husband.
I am still bone weary. I just do not bounce back from sleep deprivation. My body refuses to push the envelope anymore. It’s a direct result of years of getting by on 4 or 5 hours a night while carrying the weight of my small existence around on my back, stooped like a Chinese peasant tending rice paddies.
Since I know it can take weeks to get myself even again, I will have to modify my plans for the next three months a tiny bit. Yes, it’s the new quarter, and I am laying out the calendar.
April will see me finish Night Dogs. Thanks to Rob’s plot insight, I have plugged the gaping plot hole in a plausible manner and can now continue. Night Dogs will be the story I workshop in June when I have plans to take a course on revision at the U of A’s Women’s Writing Week. The revision class is the only one I found that was not fluff, and it bothers me a bit to support a program that equates women’s writing with “journaling” and poetry only but so be it. It’s the only game going and I need to take a class.
In May I will begin working on a novel whose idea came to me via a science article on Slashdot about solar flares and our planet’s scary dependence on electrical grids and gadgets. Rob listened while I outlined it as we drove and he answered my questions about what-ifs. He liked it. He is partial – to me – but if he thought the idea totally blew chunks, he would say so.
June is classes. Revision, drafting and the beginning of prodding Rob to write out his part of our story. The memoir is now a joint project. We will work on it over the summer with the idea that it might be a pitchable idea by the time I head to the Williamette Conference in August (where I am going to try to pitch Night Dogs for sure and hunt for an agent at least).
In the meantime, blogging is going to suffer, but I will continue – just not at my usual pace. I can’t say what my pace will be, but if you bookmark me or put me on your reader, you shouldn’t miss much.
If you are wondering about the trip, you can read about it here, here, here, and here – if you haven’t already.
Wednesday afternoon was spent unpacking, doing laundry and generally regaining our land legs. Slept in on Thursday but as I mentioned, I am still whipped.
I finished up the presentation for the workshop on Saturday but I am not going to be practiced enough. Hopefully my teaching instincts will take over and all will be well.
Since I am too tired (I’ve mentioned that too much, I know), here are pictures from the trip to make up for the piteous Friday update.
Revelstoke Town Centre
Rob taking a photo of Mt. Robson
anniegirl1138 