Collin Kelley: Modern Confessional

Coming Out Party, July 18

2009-07-10T17:58:00.005-04:00

My next gig is a fundraiser for the United 4 Safety Task Force, an organization that works to address the lack of services for victims of violence in the GLBT community. The "Coming Out Party" is Saturday, July 18, from 8 to 11 p.m. on the roof of the Oakland Park building, 563 Memorial Drive. The roof area has dramatic views of historic Oakland Cemetery and downtown Atlanta. I'll be reading with Lakara Foster and Yolo Akili, and there will be music from DJ Lily. Admission is $20 and includes wine and refreshments. RSVP to united4safety@gmail.com.

In search of book reviews

2009-07-08T19:35:00.007-04:00

I just read -- and completely agreed with -- Victoria Chang's latest blog post about the state of literary reviews moving out of the hands of bastions like the New York Times and online in a more grassroots effort. Victoria's blog post is in response to a post by Jacob Silverman on the Virginia Quarterly Review blog that bemoans Salon.com's decision to review MTV reality star Lauren Conrad's novel, L.A. Candy. Why was this worthless book reviewed, he wants to know, and do all books even deserve reviews? Aside from the touch of imperiousness, my question is why did he waste a blog post basically giving Conrad's novel even more press (complete with dust jacket image). Maybe they were looking for a few more page views at VQR?

Vanilla Heart is an indie publisher, so they don't have the budget to send out dozens and dozens of review copies of Conquering Venus. That means I'll be sending some out myself. Here's my offer: I'm looking for five blogging friends (or new bloggers I've yet to meet) to review my novel when it's published in August. I'll send you an autographed copy free of charge. Who's in?

Conquering Venus, Swing Out Sister & Whatever Works

2009-07-06T18:45:00.010-04:00

I am anxiously awaiting the final galley of Conquering Venus from Vanilla Heart. This galley will be a last minute check for formatting, making sure the errors from the last galley were properly corrected and that acknowledgement pages are in order. I have been slowly working on building Conquering Venus its own blog, and it will now debut Aug. 1. There will be exclusive photos, poems, content and more on this blog.

While waiting for the final galley, I spent more than 12 hours (8 of those in a marathon on Friday) working on the sequel to Venus. This was a combination of rewrites and new scenes. I'm pretty damn happy with it. On Saturday night, I was positively giddy. I always listen to music when I'm writing, and the soundtrack for the weekend came courtesy of Swing Out Sister. They are as vital now as they were more than 20 years ago, with their new album, Beautiful Mess, one of the best jazz/pop albums I've heard in ages. Swing Out Sister inspired the title of my first poetry collection, Better To Travel, and here they are again giving me joy and inspiration, especially with the song/video posted above, "Waiting Game," from 1989's Kaleidoscope World. The lively melody -- and gorgeous shots of Paris -- belie the lyrics, which are quite melancholy. Thanks to Corinne and Andy, if you happen to read this.

On the Fourth of July, I went to dinner and a movie with Cleo Creech to see the new Woody Allen movie, Whatever Works. I didn't have high hopes. His last two -- Cassandra's Dream and Vicky Cristina Barcelona -- didn't rank very high on my Woody-meter, but I'm a glutton for cinematic punishment. I am delighted to report that Whatever Works totally worked for me! Larry David was, naturally, channeling Woody, but the star of this movie is Patricia Clarkson. As a Bible-thumping, Mississippi-born socialite, she storms into the picture about halfway, and owns the rest of the movie. Her transformation to a wanton bohemian is hilarious. Kudos also goes to Ed Begley Jr. -- yeah, Ed Begely! -- as Clarkson's estranged husband, who takes his roughly 20 minutes on screen and mines comedy gold. After trotting off to London and Spain, Woody is back in his beloved Manhattan -- the stylized, mannered Manhattan that only exists in Allen's films. Allen has been making variations on the same plot (older, cremudgeon falls for beautiful, young woman and comedy/tragedy ensues) for 30-plus years, and while Whatever Works is far from his best work, it's a comforting throwback.

Read This: The Brother Swimming Beneath Me by Brent Goodman

2009-07-04T15:32:00.005-04:00

Brent Goodman's debut collection, The Brother Swimming Beneath Me ($14, Black Lawrence Press), is surely going to be in my top three of 2009. Reading poems from this collection over the last couple of years in various magazines, journals and at his blog, did not prepare me for the power of the book as a whole. This collection has a nearly perfect narrative arc. Every poem falls into place, ebbs and flows seamlessly to the next and from section to section as Goodman elegantly, tenderly and heartbreakingly details his older brother's death from cancer.

I had planned to read The Brother Swimming Beneath Me in one sitting, but after the devastating second section, I had to stop and compose myself. The stand out poem in this collection is the long centerpiece, "Maier," his brother Mark's Hebrew name. The printed poem is seven pages long, the stanzas alternately cascading down the pages in short bursts of words or in tight prose. "Maier" -- or any of the poems -- could have easily moved into mawkish, self-indulgent handwringing, but that never happens. The poems are lyrical and beautiful even in the face of a death.

As the narrative builds toward Mark's passing, we see glimpses of Goodman's religious upbringing, his coming out of the closet to his conservative father (How dramatic my coming out, tears blurring my eyes. Father puts his fork down. My mother feigns surprise.), and his own near death at age four from blood poisoning, a precursor to Mark's demise (This was my small death, one which would eventually swallow him entirely.)

In the poem "Evaporation," Goodman recounts how his brother might have been stricken with cancer, admitting that this explanation has become a "religion," but not gospel (Grief begins with how, not why). Mark has dropped out of high school and is working in a pressure gauge factory, when he accidentally ingests freon. He came home ghost-faced, went to bed. Dreamt he swallowed sky until his blood turned to wind.

The third section of the collection is a series of short, experimental prose poems, which are in stark contrast to the poems that came before. Mark disappears from the narrative, yet he always seems to be fluttering around the edges: an errant birthday balloon bobbing against a ceiling, a missing pet, spaceships and seagulls silently hovering. And then, in "[behind]", a memory of shooting squirrels and spying on a girl swimming brings Mark's memory back in one deft line: Behind my brother I turn to shadow.

Debut collections this good are few and far between. The Brother Swimming Beneath Me is an unforgettable, cathartic read.

Another Prayer

Dear religion, there is no afterlife.

I hope you don't mind me saying this.

When you say heaven on earth

I think: the dead read minds.

When you think dust to dust

I say: this body is a riverbed.

Will the congregation please

recite what this wall of stained glass

is trying to tell you? Dear Buddha,

I've been knocking from the inside.

Heaven is not an ecosystem.

When I dream my brother visits me

it is my brother looking at his reflection

through my eyes, my sleeping tongue.

When we die we turn inside out and call

this turning a tunnel made of light.

Weekend Music: Crazy in Love - Antony & The Johnsons

2009-07-03T12:44:00.003-04:00

Paul Lisicky posted this on his blog the other day and I've listened to it a dozen times. Yes, this is Beyonce's "Crazy in Love." You'll never think of it the same way after hearing this orchestral version, which turns the bouncy song into a haunting dirge.

To be in England, in the summertime, close to the edge...

2009-07-01T13:30:00.004-04:00

Thanks to everyone who voted for me in Southern Voice's "Best of Gay Atlanta." The results will be announced on July 16. I was in friendly competition with fine poets -- Theresa Davis and Yolo Akili -- and was happy for the nomination. I need all the publicity help I can get with Conquering Venus just around the corner.

In other poetry news, Karen Head is blogging from Oxford, England this summer, where she's teaching at Worcester College. Check out blog, Poetic Acts in a Digital World. Karen is also part of the Fourth Plinth project, meaning she'll be standing on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square for an hour July 31 reading poetry and tweeting about it. Her new collection, Sassing, is out, too, so pick up a copy. You'll be glad you did.

Also Oxford-related, Karen is using the David Lynch/Twin Peaks-inspired chapbook A Slice of Cherry Pie (which features my poem "Sometimes Her Arms Bend Back") as part of her curriculum at Worcester. The Private Press editor Ivy Alvarez will be traveling from Wales to talk about the Lynch project (a new chapbook featuring poems inspired by Blue Velvet is coming soon). Hey, if I can't be in England, at least one of my poems is being read there.

What are you doing for 4th of July, fellow bloggers? I'm spending mine writing. Reviews of Brent Goodman's excellent collection, The Brother Swimming Beneath Me, and The Seventh Seal from Criterion coming soon.

Weekend Update

2009-06-29T21:39:00.001-04:00

I was a bit disappointed in the turnout for Saturday's Stonewall Reading at the downtown branch of the Atlanta Library. Even some of the performers didn't bother to show up. Bad form. Still, it was great to hear some of my favorite poets read, including Jessica Hand, Robin Kemp and Megan Volpert, who debuted a piece of her new "Andy Warhol project." It was 96 degrees on Saturday with the heat index at 100, so maybe that kept a few folks indoors.

Yesterday, I got my shit together and submitted poems (yes, I'm still a poet despite all this fiction blather) to two literary magazines. I've got work coming out in another lit mag later this year, the introduction to an anthology in the UK and, fingers crossed, a couple of poems in another anthology coming in 2010.

I think I mentioned on the blog before that work on the sequel to Conquering Venus has been at a standstill. On Saturday, another piece of the plot fell into place that had been eluding me for months. I have a beginning and end, it's just finding the connective tissue between the two that has been difficult. Conquering Venus takes place in 1995, the sequel two years later, beginning the day that Princess Diana dies in Paris. I'm 99.9 percent sure the third book in the trilogy will take place in 2005 -- a full 10 years after the events of Conquering Venus. I digress. You all still need to read the first book before you hear about the other two. I have a four-day weekend coming up, and I plan to use most of that to work on the sequel.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford was probably dancing through the halls of the govenor's mansion belting the Evita soundtrack all weekend, since the untimely deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson knocked him almost completely out of the news cycle. The cartoon above sumes it up. Thanks to Joe.My.God. -- my favorite LGBT blog -- for the image.

Gay Rights at 40

2009-06-28T12:36:00.003-04:00

Just in time for Pride, YouTube has posted the entire documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk. Today is the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the catalyst for the gay civil rights movement in America we are still fighting today.

Stonewall Reading Tomorrow

2009-06-26T05:00:00.001-04:00

The Atlanta Queer Literary Festival and the Special Collections Department of the Atlanta-Fulton County Library team up to present a day of readings to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which ushered in the gay rights movement in America. Readings will take place on Saturday, June 27, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Central Library in Downtown. I'll be hosting and performing in the afternoon.

Performers include: Malika, Patrique Vosges, Larry Corse, Alice Teeter, Elliott Mackle, Robin Kemp, Cleo Creech, Karen G, Dustin Brookshire, Bob Strain, Antron Rechaud, Stanley Fong, Lakara Foster, Megan Volpert, Collin Kelley, Guerin Asante, Queen Sheba, Lisa Allender, Deb/ra Hiers, Jessica Hand, Theresa Davis, Yolo Akili, KenJ Martin, Reginald Jackson, Sincere, Kristyl Dawn Tift and Franklin Abbott.

The library is located at 1 Margaret Mitchell Square in Downtown Atlanta. We strongly encourage visitors to take Marta to the Peachtree Center station. There is an entrance/exit directly across from the library's front door. Here's the full line-up:

First Section (10 a.m. - noon)

Franklin Abbott (host)
Patrique Vosges
Bob Strain
Sincere
Guerin Asante
Larry Corse
Lakara Foster
Alice Teeter
Deb/ra Hiers

Second Section (noon - 2 p.m.)

Collin Kelley (host)
Megan Volpert
Theresa Davis
Yolo Akili
Lisa Allender
Elliott Mackle
Kristyl Dawn Tift
Dustin Brookshire
Antron-Rechaud

Third Section (2 - 4:30 p.m.)

Reginald Jackson (host)
Malika
Donovan Brown
Karen G
Jessica Hand
Stanley Fong
Robin Kemp
Cleo Creech
KenJ Martin
Queen Sheba

In Memoriam: Michael Jackson

2009-06-25T19:14:00.002-04:00

No matter what you thought of Michael Jackson, he changed music forever. I still have my vinyl copy of Thriller. I'll always remember him from that glorious era. It's absolutely tragic that he and Farrah died on the same day. Rest in peace.

In Memoriam: Farrah Fawcett

2009-06-25T13:00:00.004-04:00

Farrah Fawcett lost her battle with cancer today at the age of 62. Another one of my childhood touchstones has passed. RIP, angel.

Mid-Week Notes

2009-06-24T05:00:00.001-04:00

There's been such a flurry of activity at my desk, I realized this morning that I'd left a number of loose ends. Let's roll back the clock to last Thursday and the premiere of Poetry Atlanta's DVD anthology, Trouble and Hope. There were around 60 people in attendance at the Decatur Library for a screening of the film, which includes Jon Goode, Natasha Trethewey, Alice Lovelace, Beth Gylys, Sharan Strange, Opal Moore, Mike Dockins and many more. Hats off to Bill Starr and Joe Davich at Georgia Center for the Book for being Poetry Atlanta's partner in this event. You can now purchase the DVD for $15 (+ $2 shipping) at Poetry Atlanta. If you're in Atlanta you can purchase a copy at Decatur CD, Charis Books & More in Little Five Points and Java Monkey Coffee House in Decatur. More retail outlets will be added soon. If you're on Twitter, you can also follow Poetry Atlanta at www.twitter.com/PoetryAtlanta.

I have more than 1,000 followers on Twitter now, and I'm trying to be more pro-active by tweeting on a daily basis. I decided it was time to embed my Twitter posts on Modern Confessional, so you can see them in the sidebar. Speaking of Twitter, my print edition of OCHO #24 featuring Twitter Poets (which I guest edited with Didi Menendez) arrived in the mail today from Amazon. It's a very cool, perfect bound paperback, and at only $9.99, it's a bargain. You can order your copy at this link.

Also in the mail today: the Criterion editions of The Seventh Seal and Last Year at Marienbad. Two of my all-time favorite films in glorious new DVD sets. I'll have mini-reviews up at the weekend.

This afternoon, I had a "ladies who lunch" date at the Universal Joint in Decatur with the fab Laurel Snyder, Megan Volpert, Jessica Hand and her wife, Jeana. Lots of chips, salsa and big, juicy burgers were consumed, while Laurel regaled us with the story of her father being struck by lightning in a church and Jessica almost falling out of an airplane while skydiving. Laurel has a new young adult novel out from Random House called Any Which Wall. It's about a group of kids who find a magic wall that can take them anywhere in time. Great for all ages.

Decatur Book Festival Update

2009-06-22T19:57:00.005-04:00

Just got in from the media launch for the 2009 Decatur Book Festival at Eddie's Attic. They've got some really big names coming this year including a keynote address by Sir Harold Evans, Lee Child, Kathy Reichs, Robert Olen Butler, Douglas Blackmon, Edward Hirsch, Natasha Trethewey, Felice Picano, C. Dale Young, Kathryn Stockett, Patricia Smith, Thomas Lux, Rick Bragg and many more, including me. What amazing company to be in.

There were stacks and stacks of free books given away, and the Conquering Venus chapbook was picked up by a few folks and I shamelessly shoved it into the hands of others. They haven't announced a day or time for my reading, but I'll post it as soon as I get it.

Along with all the writers, there's going to be some other interesting events including a musical tribute to Eudora Welty featuring Mary Chapin Carpenter, Caroline Herring, Kate Campbell and Claire Holley. There will also be plenty of food, writing workshops, a poetry slam at Java Monkey Speaks and much, much more.

Along with promoting Conquering Venus, I'll be hosting part of the Atlanta Queer Literary Festival stage and an hour of poets at the Java Monkey Poetry Stage, which is being sponsored by Poetry Atlanta. It's going to be a hectic, but exciting weekend of literature.

Decatur Book Festival Media Launch

2009-06-22T10:40:00.002-04:00

I'll be at the media launch for the Decatur Book Festival this evening to promote Conquering Venus and the Atlanta Queer Literary Festival stage. Update later tonight.

Outrage and Outing Hypocrites

2009-06-20T21:30:00.015-04:00

The controversial documentary, Outrage, finally opened in Atlanta (nearly two months later than the rest of the country) and I went to the matinee this afternoon with fellow bloggers Cleo Creech and Lisa Allender. Directed by Kirby Dick (best known for This Film is Not Yet Rated), the doc outs conservative politicians (and their outspoken supporters and sycophants) who vote against GLBT rights, but are secretly gay themselves: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, former Louisiana Rep. Jim McCrery, California Rep. David Dreier, former NYC Mayor Ed Koch, Sen. Larry "Wide Stance" Craig, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith and former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman.

I do not support outing. It's a personal matter men and women should come to terms with in their own way and time. However, when closeted gays rise to power and use that power to repress the rights of their own community, I firmly believe they should be publicly outed and removed from office. Outrage offers a compelling case against all the politicians profiled, with solid evidence and reporting from noted journalists, including CNN's Hilary Rosen, Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff (who was hit on by Shepard Smith in a bar!) Andrew Sullivan and Michelangelo Signorile. Writers Larry Kramer and Tony Kushner weigh in, as well as current and former politicians like Barney Frank, former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevy and former Arizona Rep. Jim Kolbe, both of whom outed themselves.

The lightning rod of the piece is blogger Michael Rogers (Blogactive.com), who began a campaign of outing closeted politicians with former Virginia Rep. Ed Schrock, who dropped his campaign for re-election in 2004 when the news broke. Schrock, like the rest of the politicians profiled, actively voted against an array of issues affecting the GLBT community including gay marriage, expanding hate crime laws, allowing gays and lesbians to adopt and even funding for HIV/AIDS. Dick and those interviewed make it clear that all these politicians are self-loathing gay men, drunk on power and raised in an era where they were forced to suppress their sexuality. Larry Kramer levels the charge that Ed Koch ignored the growing AIDS crisis in New York in the '80s because Koch was afraid that addressing it would lend credence to the rumors that he was gay. Randy Shilts made the same charge in the classic non-fiction account of the AIDS epidemic, And the Band Played On.

Perhaps the most disturbing profile is that of current Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who has talked about running for Congress next year and has been talked up as a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2012. Outrage offers a believable series of interviews and evidence that Crist is gay and has dated women (notably during his election campaigns) as a cover. One of the women he dated would not go on camera, but told Dick "to call me in ten years and I'll tell you a story." As governor, Crist signed discrimination into the Florida constitution by banning gay marriage, endorsed a ban on gays and lesbians adopting children and appointed some of the most conservative right-wingers to the state supreme court. Equally disturbing is the media's refusal to report on these closet cases, with CNN censoring Bill Maher outing former Bush campaign manager Ken Melhman on Larry King Live and NPR refusing to mention Crist and Craig in its coverage of Outrage.

I'll be turning 40 in September, and over the last 20 years or so, I've had relationships with men who have renounced their sexuality and gone on to marry women and have children. One of those men said he was raised in a strict Christian home and his family would ostracize him if he came out. Another didn't believe he was really gay, but liked to occasionally have sex with men. I really pity his wife, especially when she eventually finds him in bed with another man, because she will. I won't out them, but I hope neither of them have political aspirations.

If the politicians in Outrage want to stay in the closet, screw their chiefs of staff and pick up tricks in airport bathrooms, that's fine with me. It's their own lives to ruin, but when they go to Washington or attain high office and use that office to suppress civil rights, then it's open season as far as I'm concerned. As openly gay D.C. councilman David Catania says in the film: "They've been chasing us for years -- we're going to chase back."

Conquering Venus Coming In August

2009-06-19T19:11:00.005-04:00

Dedication and acknowledgement pages for Conquering Venus have gone to Vanilla Heart, a final galley is coming in July and then it goes to the press. The book will officially launch at the Decatur Book Festival over Labor Day weekend. I'll be at the DBF press launch on Monday night at Eddie's Attic to say a few words about the book and about the Atlanta Queer Literary Festival hosting a stage at this year's event. More new soon!

Friday Music: "Libertango" from The Tango Lesson

2009-06-19T12:48:00.002-04:00

The brilliant dance sequence from Sally Potter's film, The Tango Lesson.

Trouble and Hope: A DVD Anthology

2009-06-17T18:30:00.006-04:00

Poetry Atlanta Presents... Trouble and Hope, a DVD anthology of poets in performance and conversation, will have its premiere tomorrow night at a special screening in conjunction with Georgia Center for the Book. The film will screen at 7:15 p.m. at the Decatur Library, 215 Sycamore St. There is no admission charge and DVDs will be for sale for $15. This film has been more than two years in the making and features some of Atlanta's finest poets and spoken word artists. My contribution is "Wonder Woman" and I'm also interviewed about Atlanta's poetry and spoken word scene.

Performers include: Amena Brown, Mr. Boom, Chris Chandler, Theresa Davis, Travis Denton, Mike Dockins, Rupert Fike, Karen G., Jon Goode, Beth Gylys, Lady Hardin, Kodac Harrison, Karen Head, Collin Kelley, BasiKnowledge, Alice Lovelace, Opal Moore, Bryan Pattillo, Randy Prunty, Tania Rochelle, Tavares Stephens, Sharan Strange, Natasha Trethewey, Dan Veach, Megan Volpert, Karen Wurl, Gypsee Yo and a special tribute to the late Shannon Leigh.

Filmed at locations around Atlanta, including Java Monkey Coffee House, Composition Gallery and the Decatur Book Festival, the DVD will be for sale at shops in Atlanta and online at www.PoetryAtlanta.com beginning this weekend. For directions to the library and more info, visit Georgia Center for the Book.

This Revolution Will Be Twittered & Tweeted

2009-06-16T14:01:00.006-04:00

An editorial in yesterday's Daytona Beach News-Journal asked the best question: Can we stop asking what Twitter is for, now? In the wake of the corrupt election in Iran, the massive protests and deaths, it became obvious that American media totally dropped the ball on coverage of what was happening over the weekend and continues today, most notably CNN. Where was the place to find news happening moment by moment? Twitter, of course. While cable news continues to play catch-up – and many news organizations have been banned by the government from gathering and reporting information – Twitter is still the place to find the latest news. Go to Twitter and follow the trending topic #iranelection. Photos, live reports and much more. This is what Twitter is for. Now.

Photo courtesy of Boston.com, which has provided some arresting images of the protests.

National Equality March on Washington

2009-06-16T05:00:00.001-04:00

The GLBT community is divided over whether there should be a march on Washington this October, but Cleve Jones – friend of Harvey Milk, founder of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the NAMES Project AIDS Quilt – is moving full steam ahead with organizing the event. The disappointment in Obama continues to grow, especially last week after his administration made a motion to dismiss a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act. Obama, who famously called himself a "fierce advocate" of the gay community, made plenty of promises last year and none of them have come to fruition. Cleve Jones said the state by state, community by community push for equal rights (in reference to the states approving gay marriage) is not enough and there needs to be national attention and action by the federal government.

There is momentum because of Proposition 8, the six states approving gay marriage and a national dialogue about GLBT issues not seen since the '90s, so maybe a new march on Washington might bring it all to a head. What would calm fears, nerves and frustration is if Obama would do one thing – end "don't ask, don't tell," get rid of DOMA, and push harder for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and the hate crimes bill to get through Congress. Or, maybe if he'd just say anything about anything regarding GLBT issues of substance. If he doesn't make a move soon, his "fierce advocate" line is going to haunt him for the rest of his presidency.

Nominee for Best of Gay Atlanta

2009-06-14T19:29:00.005-04:00

I'm a nominee for Southern Voice's Best of Gay Atlanta in the poet/author category. I usually don't shill for votes like this, but I would appreciate your vote and support. You can vote at this link.

Poets' Dinner at Top Flr in Atlanta

2009-06-13T19:53:00.007-04:00

Collin Kelley, Julie Blomeke, Megan Volpert, Karen Head & Cleo Creech

Megan Volpert, Cleo Creech and Julie Blomeke

Megan Volpert

Karen Head holding her new collection, Sassing.

Cleo Creech

Cleo Creech, Megan Volpert, Julie Blomeke, Karen Head and myself met for our third poets' dinner at Top Flr restaurant in Midtown Atlanta. Delicious food and company!

Anne Sexton reads "Wanting to Die"

2009-06-12T05:00:00.000-04:00

It's videos like this that really make YouTube a gift. Here's Anne Sexton reading "Wanting to Die" followed by a montage set to Radiohead's "I Will." There's a second clip of her reading "Menstruation at Forty" and talking about poetry, pills and mental institutions at this link.

Domestic Terrorism

2009-06-10T19:12:00.005-04:00

Just last week I wrote about the dangers of the right-wing Christian fringe in this country after the murder of Dr. George Tiller. Today, a white-supremacist, Christian whackjob walked into the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. with a rifle and killed a security guard before he was shot by other guards.

Meanwhile, you've got Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Beck and Hannity doing their usual fearmongering and egging on the right wing with their virulent hate speech on radio and television. From O'Reilly's "baby killer" crusade against Tiller on Fox to a bunch of losers on KRXQ radio station in Sacramento advocating for beating children who might identify as transgender, the right-wing in this country scares me much more than a radical Islamic terrorist. Eric Boehlert has an excellent article about O'Reilly and his ilk inciting the right-wing to violence at Media Matters.

I suppose the only good news today is that Carrie Prejean was fired as Miss California because she was too busy gay-bashing over at Fox rather than making appearances required by her winning of the state pageant.

File this under "duh": Adam Lambert is gay

2009-06-09T19:43:00.008-04:00

American Idol season 8 runner up Adam Lambert states the obvious in the new issue of Rolling Stone out this week. A few other confessions: had the hots for winner Kris Allen, likes pot and ecstasy, gets in a catty swipe at Clay Aiken for being a closet case, wants to be a singer not a civil rights leader. There, I just saved you a couple of bucks. Oh, and you can read part of it and see a video from the cover shoot (color me not impressed...meow!) at this link. I'm sure tween girls everywhere are crying into their juice boxes and 40-year-old IT guys are jizzing their pants. You know who you are.

For BFF Kathy, who wanted to know what I hadn't posted anything about it. :-)