No retraction necessary. You don’t need a tinfoil hat to draw the connections between Tom and me or Nathan and the coalition’s creators. But again, there’s a reason Nathan is the coalition’s patron saint, if you will. He’s someone people believe will try to solve problems — not to stand smack dab in the middle of the two poles (which, it’s undeniable, have moved steadily rightward), but to listen to reason and arguments from all sides and make decision based on the merits rather than having to consider the imminent angry phone calls from a certain party boss.

Is this idealistic? Sure. But wouldn’t we rather have someone at least start in the right place before the realities of running government start their erosive process.

Now I ask you, as you list your litany of utterly righteous complaints, do you think, hmmm … No matter who’s in power, we never seem to get past the same ridiculous arguments? 40 years after Roe v. wade, we’re still letting Republicans bring up this long-settled issue. I think you yourself asked: What if there were political penalties for this?

That is part of the M2TM goal too — stop letting ourselves get distracted from real, pressing policy issues. Give a voice to the many, many people who believe this isn’t a discussion we should be having at this point, any more than we should be having a discussion about government takeovers of newspapers. It’s an inalienable right for a woman to control our reproductive health and fertility. Next!

Clearly it’s time for that burger n’ beer night…

Jeff Praught’s recent article offering a roundup of LGBT athletics in San Diego (Vol. 3, Issue 8), did not include Front Runners & Walkers San Diego.

With close to 200 members, FRWSD is an active organization for the LGBT community and non-gay family members and friends who seek to have healthy, active lives. Front Runners welcomes runners and walkers of all abilities and ages, from beginners and recreational participants to highly experienced and competitive athletes. The group meets by the entrance to Balboa Park at Laurel Street and Sixth Avenue on Saturday mornings at 8:00 a.m., on Monday and Wednesday evenings at 6:00 p.m. and conducts a Speed Training Session on Tuesday evenings at 6:00 p.m.

Another major project sponsored by FRWSD is the annual Run & Stride with Pride 5K Race. This year’s race takes place Saturday morning, July 21st at 10:00AM on the Pride parade route. It’s a fast and flat course, certified and sanctioned by USAT&F. FRWSD also provides members with social activities and members participate in numerous special events. More information about the club is available on our website, frwsd.org or check us out on Facebook, Front Runners & Walkers San Diego.

No one is asking folks to stop voting for politicians who are in a party. We’re saying vote for the people who are willing to work with others parties and not live according to party dictates when doing so doesn’t best serve the people who elected you to represent them. It’s not impossible; those people do exist, and they wouldn’t have to fear for their existence if they thought they had backup from the electorate to buck the party. M2TM aims to be that backup.

Furthermore, you know me quite well and we’ve had heated disagreements among the many things we agree on, and I can say honestly Tom Shepard had absolutely nothing to do with M2TM. I know that because I’m running the PR for this thing, and Tom knows only what I tell him — which isn’t much, because he’s too busy running campaigns right now.

Tom didn’t bring the project to me, and the campaign isn’t involved (although there’s no question they’re capitalizing on it in any way possible). I am many things (a remorselessly disloyal Dem, for instance), but I am not a liar, and I wouldn’t say this if it weren’t completely true.

The people I’m working with on M2TM are quite sincere in their desire to change the tone of politics, and the hundreds of people who’ve signed up for our email list and called me excited about this are also genuine. They may or may not support Nathan (many don’t live in the city of SD), but the idea resonates with them.

Also, let’s be clear: The CEO types who launched the coalition got the ball rolling, but the supporters jumping on board are not all rich folks or even very political; they’re just people who are gratified to find there are others out there who share their sentiments.

Not that being rich ought to disqualify you from having opinions and building a coalition, but I do think it’s important to point out that it’s more than that.

Rock on, Linda.

-Rachel

In memory of: Gil Cuadros, Arturo Islas, Reinaldo Arenas, Joseph Beam and Essex Hemphill

Today you celebrate
Like many other days of the week

Proclaim a reason

Dine out, Fight AIDS!

You craft and package this reason

Carefully and precisely
With marketing ploys and claims of convenience .
You use the phrases, “Good cause,” “Noble”, “Raise awareness” and I tell you that there is no awareness only complacency.

Motivating people to consume product–a conditioned behavior–because it’s been ingrained in our society.
Consume products like you consume bodies (of color).
Consume food and drink
As la tierra consumes those bodies
with stigmas labeled “diseased” “plagued” “AIDS complicated”.

As you wipe
From your mouth
the stains of your nourishment
I reflect how similar movements were made to wipe the stench of death, vomit, piss, shit from bodies whose vitality slowly leaves their body.

Only those who bared witness: friends, lovers, rebellious family kept death at bay…if only for mins, hours, days…until the inevitable became real.
And we lose another life, a gift, a brother, lover, an elder whose knowledge bestowed could and would have saved some of our youth today.

You laugh as you socialize, as memories of tears/cries and sobs lie in the depths in the hearts of mourners who now can only remember…

Can you name a fallen brother?

Name three…? and if not than what is there to this “cause” if your appetite is met with apathy?

Your dead are with you today.

They roam those streets you drunkingly stumble on with bellies full as theirs once were with handful of “meds” we now call “cocktails”.
And as you chase cock and tail tonight before falling on cum-stained sheets, your bodies vulnerable

May the spirits of brothers lost protect and watch over you.