Annabelle in Cali this week

Hiya. I'm traveling up and down (or down and up) California this week in an effort to hone my road manager skills, which I usually just practice on Tracy...

I'm road managing Annabelle Chvostek, a former member of the Canadian folk trio The Wailin Jennys. She's a pretty phenomenal multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter, and her new album, Resilience, is great. You can listen on Myspace.


18th Coffee Gallery Backstage, Los Angeles, CA www.coffeegallery.com
19th Tales from the Tavern, Santa Ynez, CA www.talesfromthetavern.com
20th Don Quixote's Music Hall, Felton (Santa Cruz), CA www.donquixotesmusic.info
21st Fernwood Resort, Big Sur, CA http://www.fernwoodbigsur.com/
22nd Café Flo, Chico, CA 530-342-1055 pullinsusa@aol.com
23rd Freight & Salvage, Berkeley, CA www.freightandsalvage.org

Rally against Prop 8 on Saturday morning

A team of PDX-area LGBT folks and allies just announced Portland’s first large-scale rally to protest the passage of California’s Proposition 8 - and it’s all going down this Saturday, November 15th, from 10:30 am onward at the Portland State University South Park Blocks, near the Saturday Farmer’s Market (corner of SW Broadway and Mill Streets, bordering the Smith Memorial Student Union).

More information is here and here. That last link is national, not just for Portland. There are rallies on Saturday in every state.

What happened with Prop 8?

So I am still thrilled about Obama, still often on the verge on tears when I listen to the news. But the Proposition 8 thing has really been bothering me. It just boils down to the fact that everyone I know is thrilled out of their mind to have elected our first black president, but not many people seem very upset that all over the country people voted to take away civil rights from another group. Maybe, as one friend said, this is a blessing in the same way that GW Bush was a blessing to Obama. As in, things have to be really f*cked up before can we understand how badly we need to change. Maybe.

But I am hurt. A lot of people are hurt. And even though I actually feel like I can say I love Barack Obama, I am angry at him now. Because he says he supports full gay rights, but he is still against gay marriage. Our beautiful new black president-elect would like to deny some of us our full civil rights. Or maybe he's not really, some people say he downplayed his support for gay marriage to get elected. And since a lot of the people who voted for him also voted against gay marriage, maybe that worked. But what he said is that he is against gay marriage but also against banning it. How do we expect people to make sense of that? Does mentioning us in his acceptance speech get him a free pass? Gay people are so used to accepting crumbs, it's ridiculous...

When I was in high school, in the early 90s, I was very active in the gay youth movement in Boston. I helped run my high school Gay/Straight Alliance, I was appointed by Gov. Bill Weld to his Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth (which was later abolished by Mitt Romney, but still exists as a non governmental-entity). I brought a girl to my prom, I was a member of the Boston Alliance for Gay and Lesbian Youth. Later, in Missoula, I got involved in fighting back when the home of my friends Carla and Adrianne was set on fire (with their 2-yr-old son inside) after they filed a lawsuit demanding benefits from the University of Montana. These days, since I moved to Portland, I am less political (aside for volunteering once in a long while). Not many of the people in my life now know much about that activist side of me. But right now, I am feeling the righteousness of my youth, and feeling called to get back to that work in some way.

I have been reading some blogs about this, and would like to share them with you. I'd love to know your thoughts on all this.

http://nailingjello.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/why-were-not-all-dancing-in-the-streets-today/

http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/2008/11/sf-mayor-denounces-yes-on-8obama-mailer.html

http://wearefambly.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/delection/

http://www.racialicious.com/2008/11/07/on-proposition-8/

President Obama

*image courtesy of obeygiant.com

I'm still kind of stunned when I think about it. An amazing day, amazing time. As part of a minority in this country, I feel so filled with pride and hope that things will truly change. Even with the disturbing outcome of Prop 8 in CA... I hope Obama can really change things. Today I believe he can. We can. One thing I heard today on NPR was that he is not the change, he is just the one who showed up at the right time to personify it, embody it.

I'm not at all used to the idea of a president I actually like. I do remember the night Bill Clinton was elected, and that was exciting, but this is a whole 'nother thing now. I don't think Clinton ever made me cry (well, not for a *good* reason).

Last night I went to the Oregon Convention Center for the big Democratic Party bash. I went with Holly and Amelia, Jennifer and Melina. It was a pretty cool thing to be a part of that.