wonderful, wonderful
Feb. 14th, 2004 05:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
verbicideWhat a great day. Ok, so 8am wasn't the best part of it, but I made it to class on time and grabbed my favorite terminal. I leaned over during a lull in class and asked Jeff if he was going to the Don't Amend Protest and he was; we agreed to go together.
Class was fine. I'm a little bummed at the pace. It seems we have to go through an hour and a half of instruction, when the easiest thing would be to turn us loose with the various lessons in the book with maybe a brief overview/summary; leaving the instructor available to walk around helping those in need. Many people in class are clearly traumatized by software and we seem to spend a lot of time with Jan saying, "Yes, we'll get to that. No, that's ok. Yes, there is more than one way to do this." so it just drags on and on. I know in-class questions are generally a good thing because other people may have these same questions, but since they're never questions I have, it's a little boring (not that I always have the answer, but they don't strike me as relevant issues). But, enh, whatever.
After class Jeff and I headed over to Westlake Park and joined the throng of people already assembled under the drizzling sky. All told, by the end, I think there were about 400-500 people there. The bad thing about it was the sound system. It was very hard to hear. But everything else was nice. Some of Jeff's friends joined us and we listened to speakers from the ACLU, representatives from various politicians as well as some politicians themselves. Thank you former Gov. Mike Lowry, if for nothing else, for speaking LOUDLY AND CLEARLY. There were tons of hilarious signs. One of my favorites was a large picture of Dubya, which proclaimed: "Keeping our Queer Eye on the Stupid Guy." *snerk*
Other signs:
"I love her, she loves me, let us be a family" (I wanted to start skipping feverishly)
"Marriage is a HUMAN right, not a HETEROSEXUAL one"
"Stop legislating discrimination and bigotry"
"Separate is NOT equal"
"Equal Means ME TOO!"
"25 Years Together; We Deserve to Tie the Knot!"
"$1.5 Billion for Neil Bush's Divorce!"
and another great picture of Bush looking befuddled, "Let's see. How can I distract voters from this troubling Iraq mess?"
It was a heart warming event. There were so many gay&lesbian couples out, holding hands, cheering the speakers on. There were families (gay, lesbian and straight) with children and pets. I saw a woman from my bookclub who came over to say hi. None of the fundies came out of the woodwork, so there was no ugliness. There was this very cute moment when this short woman was desperately trying to take a picture of one of the speakers over the crowd. This handsome, tall Jude Law looking guy (both he and his partner were there in tuxes, holding hands and just...beautifying the world with their presence) leaned over and offered to help and then easily snapped the shot over everyone else's head.
A rally like this is such a great reminder that whatever aspect of the population you're talking about (racial, gender, religious, sexual-orientation), there are representatives from all walks of life. Wide range of shapes, sizes and walks of life. I wish some of the naysayers could just open their eyes (and minds and hearts...) and see that these people are no different from them. They're just people who want to have basic human rights and love who they want to love...and not be denied federal/state benefits afforded to everyone else! They aren't gathering the forces of evil to destroy Truth, Justice and The American Way of Life (which these days, isn't something to aspire to, sadly). The only force of evil out there these days is the Bush Administration.
Afterwards, Jeff suggested we go grab a bite. We wandered around downtown and bizarrely everyplace we walked to was closed. One place sheepishly turned us out because they were closing lunch early for V-Day (humbug!). It started to get a little surreal.
We found Wild Ginger open and hurried in, apprehensive about being turned away yet again. Happily, they were able to seat us at the bar.
It was just a fantastic lunch. Post college (not so much Education Outreach stuff, but degree programs), it's really hard to meet new people, and it's always so gratifying to meet someone who is this cool and easy going and interesting. I can't help but gush. We covered religion, politics, history, sociology, anthropology, along with our own personal histories. Since he'd bussed in and I'd driven, I gave him a ride home and we exchanged more great stories about exboyfriends and life in general.
We're planning on studying for our midterm together on Monday. I'm really looking forward to it!
Class was fine. I'm a little bummed at the pace. It seems we have to go through an hour and a half of instruction, when the easiest thing would be to turn us loose with the various lessons in the book with maybe a brief overview/summary; leaving the instructor available to walk around helping those in need. Many people in class are clearly traumatized by software and we seem to spend a lot of time with Jan saying, "Yes, we'll get to that. No, that's ok. Yes, there is more than one way to do this." so it just drags on and on. I know in-class questions are generally a good thing because other people may have these same questions, but since they're never questions I have, it's a little boring (not that I always have the answer, but they don't strike me as relevant issues). But, enh, whatever.
After class Jeff and I headed over to Westlake Park and joined the throng of people already assembled under the drizzling sky. All told, by the end, I think there were about 400-500 people there. The bad thing about it was the sound system. It was very hard to hear. But everything else was nice. Some of Jeff's friends joined us and we listened to speakers from the ACLU, representatives from various politicians as well as some politicians themselves. Thank you former Gov. Mike Lowry, if for nothing else, for speaking LOUDLY AND CLEARLY. There were tons of hilarious signs. One of my favorites was a large picture of Dubya, which proclaimed: "Keeping our Queer Eye on the Stupid Guy." *snerk*
Other signs:
"I love her, she loves me, let us be a family" (I wanted to start skipping feverishly)
"Marriage is a HUMAN right, not a HETEROSEXUAL one"
"Stop legislating discrimination and bigotry"
"Separate is NOT equal"
"Equal Means ME TOO!"
"25 Years Together; We Deserve to Tie the Knot!"
"$1.5 Billion for Neil Bush's Divorce!"
and another great picture of Bush looking befuddled, "Let's see. How can I distract voters from this troubling Iraq mess?"
It was a heart warming event. There were so many gay&lesbian couples out, holding hands, cheering the speakers on. There were families (gay, lesbian and straight) with children and pets. I saw a woman from my bookclub who came over to say hi. None of the fundies came out of the woodwork, so there was no ugliness. There was this very cute moment when this short woman was desperately trying to take a picture of one of the speakers over the crowd. This handsome, tall Jude Law looking guy (both he and his partner were there in tuxes, holding hands and just...beautifying the world with their presence) leaned over and offered to help and then easily snapped the shot over everyone else's head.
A rally like this is such a great reminder that whatever aspect of the population you're talking about (racial, gender, religious, sexual-orientation), there are representatives from all walks of life. Wide range of shapes, sizes and walks of life. I wish some of the naysayers could just open their eyes (and minds and hearts...) and see that these people are no different from them. They're just people who want to have basic human rights and love who they want to love...and not be denied federal/state benefits afforded to everyone else! They aren't gathering the forces of evil to destroy Truth, Justice and The American Way of Life (which these days, isn't something to aspire to, sadly). The only force of evil out there these days is the Bush Administration.
Afterwards, Jeff suggested we go grab a bite. We wandered around downtown and bizarrely everyplace we walked to was closed. One place sheepishly turned us out because they were closing lunch early for V-Day (humbug!). It started to get a little surreal.
We found Wild Ginger open and hurried in, apprehensive about being turned away yet again. Happily, they were able to seat us at the bar.
It was just a fantastic lunch. Post college (not so much Education Outreach stuff, but degree programs), it's really hard to meet new people, and it's always so gratifying to meet someone who is this cool and easy going and interesting. I can't help but gush. We covered religion, politics, history, sociology, anthropology, along with our own personal histories. Since he'd bussed in and I'd driven, I gave him a ride home and we exchanged more great stories about exboyfriends and life in general.
We're planning on studying for our midterm together on Monday. I'm really looking forward to it!
