Friday, December 23, 2011

Does anyone else feel like sometimes the Dalai Lama can be a little heavy on the platitudes?

Thursday, December 22, 2011

"Marriage, in dire crisis just a generation ago, has moved into its imperialist stage."

http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/essays/working-arrangement.php?page=all

Oof, that's good.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Aw, the little boy in dolphin tale is so gay.
Team Bella, yo.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Little known fact- the Coppertone girl does not have a bathingsuit top on because Jodie Foster is a HUGE LESBIAN

Friday, December 16, 2011

Okay the tone of my last couple posts was maybe a bit negative, which I blame on end of semester stress. But the end is almost in sight, so I hope you enjoy this video (start at 3 minutes in)

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Societal discourse can be interesting. As Foucault describes in History of Sexuality, medical discourses about the body, gender, and sexuality led to a notion of homosexuality as a perversion, and "the homosexual" as an outsider in society. As work that goes beyond discourse analysis has shown, however, (and this is one of the major contributions of the field of history), this discourse does not adequately represent the experiences of people in same-sex relationships during this period. Which is reassuring, to know that people do not blindly accept any discourse that flows their way, if it does not confirm to their actual experience regarding something. But it can also be disappointing. For instance, we live in a time when acceptance of gays is all the rage. Storylines on shows like Glee claim that anyone who bullies a gay person is probably homophobic because they are actually gay themselves. It also represents the narrative that if you come out, everyone will be wonderful and accepting. And I'd just like to say that, as a gay person, unfortunately this discourse is as false as the one before it. Being gay is not like being straight, and even some of the most liberal of people will have a problem with it, although they may not acknowledge it, and to many people the way that you are different will not, in fact, be "no big deal." I would guess that perhaps, this experience has always been the same. There are people to whom this sort of thing is not important, and there are people who feel weird about it. I think that discourse may mediate these feelings, but it does not determine them. Certainly, I'd rather live in this latter time period, as it means that the vast majority of people that you interact with will at least have to pay lip service to the idea that you do not make them uncomfortable. And I do love the idea that hating gay people arises out of a fear that you yourself are gay, although I would guess that it is true only a portion of the time. But fundamentally, no, I do not think that these discourses can alter the people with whom a gay person can have a close relationship with, and those with whom we cannot.

Thursday, December 08, 2011

Both Facebook and Gawker are constantly trying to push through a change that, to me, underscores the fact that they seem to totally misunderstand the value of their own product. The features that I am referring to our Gawker's shift away from blog form, and Facebook's "Sort by Highlighted Stories First." Now, I love to spend time on both of these websites; they make a great study break. But it is really rare that either Facebok statuses or a Gawker post is actually interesting. The way the time of my study break is passed, in fact, is by scrolling through the mediocre offerings of both websites, looking for the rare interesting one. Therefore, if I'm able to go to either website and immediately see that there is nothing good, I will not use these websites for study breaks. The key to these websites, then, is in the mystery. Behind the mystery, is mostly nothing. I think this is something that both companies have misunderstood, thinking that the top Gawker posts or the "Highlighted Stories" will generally be of any value. Unfortunately, they are usually not. And if I lose the value of scrolling through these websites in the hope of coming across something interesting, I will lose my interest in visiting these websites. So, suggestion to these companies- think about HOW your site is used, not just what your site has to offer.

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Watch Liz Feldman's web show, she is awesome.

I can't figure out how to imbed a clip, but I've been watching Liz Feldman's web show lately (inspired by my appreciation for Two Broke Girls), and this episode was really on its game. Also, yay for the friendship between gay women and gay men. And, yay for the fact that Liz Feldman's sister wrote The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which was a really good show. Awesome.