There are those who give, and those who take

Poetry Rocks (especially when set to music)!!

The thing I love about poetry and music is that they give us ready access to expressions of words and emotions. I'm so glad that this song shuffled across my path this morning; it was just what I needed...

"All I've gots what you didn't take"


- Linkin Park Lyrics

Power of Language

Because sometimes we need a little reminding...

"what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood" (40)

"For those of us who write, it is necessary to scrutinize not only the truth of what we speak, but the truth of that language by which we speak it. For others, it is to share and spread also those words that are meaningful to us. But primarily for us all, it is necessary to teach by living and speaking those truths which we believe and know beyond understanding. Because in this alone we can survive, by taking part in a process of life that is creative and continuing, that is growth" (43)

"For we have been socialized to respect fear more than our own needs for language and definition, and while we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke us" (44)

Lorde, Audre. "The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action." Sister Outsider: Essays & Speeches

Confidence is Hot, Arrogance is NOT

Enough said.

Justice For All

While my Jewish friends have already marked their last night of Chanukah, I’m only beginning to really reflect on Advent. (Last Sunday was the second Sunday of Advent, but I haven’t made the time to stop and reflect because I’ve been letting things get in the way. Not good. I think I may have been letting my life get away from me…)

On one hand, I’ve been spending a lot of quality time with people. It definitely takes desire, time, and energy to maintain friendships, and more to develop them. I’ve happily, and rather rewardingly, been doing just that this past year. Still, I won’t lie and say that that hasn’t gotten in the way of other things (namely, writing my dissertation). I wouldn’t change any of it though.

At Dignity/Washington, our theme for this Advent is “Living God’s Call to Prepare the Way.” Advent is a call to reaffirm our belief that Christ called us ALL to eternal joy. More so, it is a time “we should reflect on what good works we have done in the past and pledge to do so in the future” in order to continue preparing the way for Christ to be visible on earth (Dignity/Washington Bulletin 9 December 2007).

Presiding this past Sunday was Fr. Alexi. While I appreciate all those who preside over mass at Dignity/Washington (especially given the Catholic Church’s “official” positions on sexuality in regards to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people), I feel a special affinity for Fr. Alexi.

Due to recent struggles with his health, he hasn’t been able to preside at mass for quite some time, so I was especially happy to see him this past Sunday. While he is still battling, it was certainly good to see that he was well enough to join us for mass.

He gave a particular rousing homily, stressing Justice and Hope this Advent season.

One Jewish friend of mine recently wrote that he was reminded that “Chanukah means dedication…to loving, kindness, tolerance, freedom, and justice.” That lighting candles signals “dedicat[ing] ourselves against bigotry, tyranny, barbarism, and oppression,” and also “mark[s] the end of the war, the end of the purification, the beginning of G-d’s presence.” She wanted to stress not the completion, but rather the work.

Similarly, Fr. Alexi made clear in his homily that we are not expected to be able to overcome all oppression, but that we are RESPONSIBLE for continuing to fight injustice against all, everywhere. It was an uplifting message about the necessity of holding onto Hope to buoy us in our quest for Justice, as well as many other ways in which Justice and Hope are inextricably intertwined.

I was happily reminded of a song that I heard at the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington DC’s recent Holiday Show performed by Tach’shitim, the choir of Congregation Bet Mishpachah.

Allied troops found the text of the song was written on a wall in a basement in Cologne, Germany, where the author had been hiding from the Gestapo during World War II. The song speaks to the light of hope and faith in the midst of unparalleled horror.

May we all share in the light of hope and faith to bring about Justice for all.

“Even When G-d is Silent”

I believe in the sun,
Even when it is not shining.
I believe in love,
Even when feeling it not.
I believe in G-d,
Even when G-d is silent.
I believe.

Blood Lies

I wonder how many people who give blood are not quite 100% truthful in answering questions about their "health history?" (I put "health history" in quotation marks because while some of these questions have to do with actual health, others have to do with BEHAVIORS suspected of leading to compromised health.)

Given such things as the continuing ban on gay and bisexual male blood donors by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), I can't say that the current environment is one that elicits such truthfulness.

Great Falls Park

It took me seven years, but I finally made it out to Great Falls (Virginia) a couple of weekends ago! Just in time, too, to enjoy the remaining fall leaves...




I had a good time sitting by the water and scampering down to the water’s edge. It would be interesting to see it when the water level is a bit higher, as well as to go on a spring day when the weather is mild enough for a long outing.

In the mean time, yesterday was our first day of snowfall. :)

Adams & Leibovitz @ Corcoran

I used my long Fall holiday weekend (aka “Thanksgiving”) to check out the Annie Leibovitz and Ansel Adams exhibitions at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. An interesting outing, indeed.

It’s been quite a long time since I was last at the Corcoran, but that previous outing was also to see Annie Leibovitz, more specifically her then current exhibit, “Women.” “Women” was a FABULOUS show. I loved the concept behind the photos, and to see the large scale of the exhibit photos was stunning.

This current Leibovitz exhibit, “A Photographer’s Life, 1990-2005,” included some photos from “Women,” but reached far beyond it, too. The museum pamphlet says of the exhibit:

“[it] includes more than 200 photographs by the celebrated photographer, encompassing well-known portraits made on editorial assignment as well as personal photographs of her family and close friends. “I don’t have two lives,” Leibovitz says, “This is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it.”

Conceptually, I think it’s an interesting project; I like the way in which Leibovitz asserts her whole self through the merging of her photos. It’s a project that thrusts into the foreground (literally) her relationship with Susan Sontag, potentially surprising those unfamiliar with Leibovitz’s personal life. Photographs of other family members also strongly figure in this project. I was particularly charmed by photos of her children (to whom I was amazed to learn Leibovitz birthed while in her 50s!), and of one specific photo of Queen Elizabeth.

On the whole, however, while I am certainly glad that I went to the exhibit, I didn’t find that it touched me in the same way that “Women” had. Many of the professional photographs were ones I had seen before in various publications, and hence weren’t as exciting as they might have been to novel viewers. Or else, the subjects of the photographs weren’t ones I particularly cared about, and so I didn’t feel an emotional connection to them. There was one photograph, however, of Leonardo DiCaprio holding a swan whose neck was draped around DiCaprio’s neck that was quite evocative. Many of the personal photographs were small in scale (that is, they were more or less the size of “normal” photos), and for some reason instead of drawing me closer (literally and figuratively) this served to make me feel more distant from the subject, and hence from the exhibit as a whole since it was a look into Leibovitz’s life. Ironically, the black and white landscape photographs which were huge in scale didn’t offer me a point of connection, and failed to pull me in, too.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d still recommend that others go to the exhibit before it closes on January 13.

After spending over an hour in the Leibovitz exhibit, I headed over to the neighboring exhibit, “Ansel Adams.”

I had encountered Adams’ work before, primarily in photography books, calendars, and of course, in wall posters. Never before, though, had I ever seen any of his work in person. My friend commented that after having visited the Leibovitz exhibit, Adams’ work seemed to pale in comparison. I wasn’t surprised to find that the number of people in the Adams’ exhibit was no where near as large as those in the Leibovitz exhibit. It’s true, it’s quite a different experience to see Adams’ photographs in person than as a wall poster. For one, the photographs themselves are noticeably smaller than the posters. Their size seemed in keeping with the time at which they were done, however, and so I didn’t experience them as “small” in the same way my friend did.

In addition, Adams’ exhibit gave a sense of his work over his six-decade career, which I really appreciated. That’s four times as long as the Leibovitz exhibit showcased, in roughly half as many photographs—talk about how the curator's staging of an exhibit affects the viewers’ responses! I hope more people will take sufficient time to see Adams’ exhibit, too, before it closes on January 27.

Truth be told, however, I enjoyed Adams’ exhibit just as much (if not more so) than the one of Leibovitz’s work because I felt so connected to his photographs. I’ve seen Half Dome with my own eyes, and that made me appreciate his photos of it that much more. Viewing his photos let me re-live my own experiences of my trip to Yosemite. The same is true of his photos of the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s been such a long time (a year and a half) since last I went “home” to Daly City, CA, and so when I saw his photos of the Sutro baths, of the Golden Gate Bridge, and of housing developments in the San Bruno hills, it made me nostalgic and homesick.

There are many different reasons that I appreciate the art that I do. On this day, however, I was won over by the emotional reactions that Adams’ photography elicited from me and touched my heart.

Oh, the power of “home.”

Hold On (part 2)

Another song called up to memory by the Fall leaves, courtesy of a friendly suggestion...

"Don't Change Your Plans" Ben Folds Five

sometimes i get the feeling
that i won't be on this planet
for very long
i really like it here
i'm quite attached to it
i hope i'm wrong

all i really wanna say
is you're the reason i wanna stay
i loved you before i met you
and i met you just in time
'cause there was nothing left

i sat here on my suitcase
in our empty new apartment
until the sun went down
then i walked back down the stairs
with all my bags and drove away
you must be freaking out

all i know is i've gotta be
where my heart says i oughta be
it often makes no sense
in fact,
i never understand these things i feel

don't change your plans for me
i won't move to LA
the leaves are falling back east
that's where i'm gonna stay

you have made me smile again
in fact, i might be sore from it
it's been a while
i know we've been together many times before
i'll see you on the other side
but don't change your plans for me
i won't move to LA
the leaves are falling back east
that's where i'm going to stay

all i really wanna say
is you're the reason i wanna stay
but destiny is calling and won't hold
and when my time is up i'm outta here

all i know is i've gotta be
where my heart says i oughta be
it often makes no sense, in fact
i never understand these things,
i feel

i love you, goodbye
i love you, goodbye...

Never having been a true music connoseurer thus far in my life, I'm really appreciating the opportunity to learn and share in others' passion and expertise. More on my music education (or lack thereof) eventually...