Netflix Review - Queer Eye

The new Netflix "reboot" of Queer Eye is not necessarily always for the "straight guy" (in one episode the new Fab Five make over a gay guy whose been struggling with his own internalized homophobia) but it keeps to the original format which always went beyond fashion and grooming to compassion and understanding.

I was skeptical about the show, figuring it would be all superficial and too contemporary. But because the show does stick to the original premise, the episodes are far from shallow presentations of guys being a canvass for fashionistas and pop culture. The Fab Five are truly compassionate, feeling, non-judgmental human beings who not only zero in on their subjects psychology but, in the process, reveal their own vulnerabilities, challenges and life experience.

While each is an expert in some area - design, fashion, food, grooming, culture - I am amazed that they have such a gift for focusing on the interpersonal and psychological elements of their subjects lives - and facilitating what appear to be deeply personal transformations. And they do so with respect and sensitivity.

I do have some questions, however: Who pays for all the furniture, clothing, painting, grooming and products? (One shirt probably costs more than my yearly clothing expenditure at KMart) How much of the show is scripted? How do Leon and I get a makeover from the Fab Five?

Yes, there is plenty of frivolity and silliness in each episode (we've seen 3 so far), sometimes embarrassingly so, but if the shows don't bring a tear to your eye, you may be hopelessly hard-hearted.

Architectural InDigestion

I haven't blogged in a while and despite the endless daily fodder for political commentary, I am very tired and weary of politics and the warnings about the impending end of times.

So I will talk about my ordinary life in Cochiti Lake, and my always astute observations about class and wealth.

Every now and then, someone drops off old magazines at the mail room in the village. I welcome the donations to my bathroom library and scoff them up whenever I see them: The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Time, National Geographic, New Mexico, and this past week, for the first time, several hefty editions of Architectural Digest.

So, as usual, I grabbed five or six of the magazines and took them home to leaf through them.

Now, I can appreciate interesting architecture - maybe not as much as some people - but I have an artistic gene, so I do take notice of form and color and design. I would argue that I have an innate sense of  Feng shui - without resorting to metaphysical explanations - and I appreciate the orderly placement of objects to please the eye and to create a comfortable, calming space.

But there was very little in AD to peak my interest. Architectural Digest seems to be more about over the top opulence than architecture.

The editors must feel obligated to display the most hideous, uncomfortable furniture, irritating patterns, ill-colored decor and useless objects known to man, just because the furnishings, designs and items carry a pretentious, hyphenated Franco-Italo-Espanola name of some "famous" artist, company, or designer I never heard of.

One article touted a wall covering made of concrete and "authentic" banana tree bark. (Like, beware of any designer who uses "unauthentic" banana tree bark in their concrete wall coverings.)

But it was one particular article that made me laugh, mockingly, and made me realize what different worlds we peons live in.

I will quote, emphasis in Bold is mine:

Standing in the soft glow of his perfectly pastel two-story waterfront home in Florida George Lindemann says "I didn't want a white house. I have two young girls whose favorite color is pink and because they live with two dads and two brothers I am always looking for ways to empower them. So I made pink my favorite color too." 

After local architect Ellen T. Shulman completed the 7000 square-foot tropical modern home on one of Miami Beach's Sunset Islands, Lindemann the son of entrepreneur George Lindemann, turned to his neighbor and close friend, Susan Bell Richard, who advises an impressive list of artists and designers, to zero in on the precise shade of pink. "She's a brilliant colorist," he explains, "and she knows the light on the island, having lived here for 30 years." Together they spent two years reviewing exactly 74 samples of pink paint. "We painted swaths of the house with different shades and drove the boat by throughout the day to see how it looked at every hour." The resulting hue is not unlike the sand on Harbor Island in the Bahamas. 

Our entry "Courtyard" - a very fine architectural feature of our 1100 square-foot home.

It took us 5 minutes to pick the perfect shade of sunset
when we had our stucco painted and sealed.
The resulting hue is not unlike the hue before it was painted.
Four-piece outdoor furniture from ALDI's Supermarket
$199.

Just Love Those Facebook Memes

Another oversimplified Facebook Meme that blames the victim.

…So there’s this little liberal do-gooder girl who wants to save homeless people.

She is offered $50 by a homeowner to do his garden chores. He says she could then help the homeless guy/woman on the corner by giving the $50 to the homeless guy/woman.

The little girl suddenly realizes something and says to the homeowner “The homeless guy/woman could just do the gardening and get the $50 for doing the work him/herself.

The homeowner smiles and says to the little girl, “Welcome to the Republican Party.”

These cute stories are meant to simplify a complex problem and villainize the poor and indigent without actually offering any viable solutions: let the homeless losers work for their dinner.

If only it were that simple. I worked for a homeless shelter and know something about the complexity of the problem of homelessness and the difficulty people have trying to get their lives back on track. Those who do must overcome formidable obstacles with a determination most Facebook posters can’t fathom.

What details are left out of this cute little story?

Could it be that the homeless guy/woman is a Vietnam Veteran who’s either lost a job or could no longer hold a job? (http://www.wehonorveterans.org/…/specific…/homeless-veterans)

Could it be that this homeless guy/woman had a catastrophic accident or illness and lost everything because of medical bills? (http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/health.html)

Could it be that this homeless guy/woman was prescribed pain killers and now has an addiction and engages in criminal activity to feed his addiction?

Could it be that the homeless guy/woman has been incarcerated and no one will hire him because of the application question “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?” (http://www.endhomelessness.org/pages/re_entry)

Could it be that the homeless guy/woman suffers from schizophrenia or manic depressive disorder and is unable to procure medication or medical care?

Could it be that the homeless guy/woman was a victim of Ronald Reagan, a Republican who was instrumental in shutting down mental hospitals all over the country and putting hundreds of thousands of mental patients out on the street? (http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/…/consequences-…/2058)

Could it be that this homeless guy/woman has a medical condition that is debilitating?

Could it be that the homeless guy/woman does not have the computer skills necessary to fill out endless on-line job applications?

Or could it be that he/she does not even possess decent clothing to go on a job interview?

Could it be that the homeless guy/woman has no permanent address or phone number which an employer requires of all job applicants? Because he/she lives in a shelter at night but must vacate the premises with all his worldly possessions during the day.

Could it be that this homeless guy/woman actually has a part-time job and is required to pay a fee to the homeless shelter in exchange for room and board?

Could it be that this homeless guy/woman has an alcohol or drug addiction so is not eligible to remain in a shelter and cannot get into rehab without a social work referral?

Could it be that this homeless guy/woman had job training and has applied for 50 jobs and been turned down 50 times?

Could it be that this homeless person is a woman who’s been abused by a husband or boyfriend and had nowhere to go except to a shelter.

And back to the wonderful homeowner: will this middle-class Republican really hire a dirty, smelly, ragged-looking homeless person with alcohol on his/her breath?

And if this amazing homeowner would actually hire the homeless guy/woman, would he be willing to provide guidance and patiently show the homeless guy/woman what the garden job entailed and how to do it?

So the homeless guy/woman gets $50 for working for a day doing garden chores. Then what? The wonderful, generous Republican homeowner feels justified for helping a fellow human being who goes back to the street corner no better off that he/she was before.

Is this wonderfully generous home owner going to give him a permanent job? or job training? or education? or pay for his/her drug treatment? or pay his/her medical insurance? $50 doesn’t go far. Maybe as far as the next bottle or needle.

Is this wonderful, kind law-abiding Republican homeowner going to deduct federal income tax, social security and medicare from the $50. And pay workman’s comp and unemployment tax?

How long does the homeless guy/woman have to work in the garden in order to save enough for two month’s rent and a security deposit on a small apartment?

And let’s say this homeless guy/woman has diabetes and it is under control because he has Medicaid benefits…and then he gets a part time job, but not a living-wage and without health insurance (because that is how employers get away with not giving benefits - the Republican way of doing business). But then he makes too much money to remain on Medicaid but not nearly enough to pay for health insurance, even under the Affordable Care Act…why should he take such a job, lose health care and put his health and life in jeopardy?

So put the homeless to work to earn their welfare check: Oh, No! You’ll be taking jobs away from city or state workers, or other more deserving folk who are looking for jobs. Making welfare recipients earn their welfare is tantamount to giving them money, because giving them jobs is still giving.

Welcome to the Republican Party indeed! Telling people to “get a job” is just a white, classist, privileged cop-out.

…So little girl, volunteer at a homeless shelter, run for office and support real, viable, person-centered programs to end homelessness. And let that homeowner pay a landscaper real wages to get his gardening done.

Affordable Care Act - More Questions Than Answers

I spent a good part of the morning researching how the Affordable Care Act is being implemented in Connecticut. I am on Medicare, so it doesn't effect me, but Leon is self employed and has private health insurance; we think he can keep his coverage beyond January 1st, but we're not rally sure. It is confusing.

Not as simple as it is being made out to be - at least not for some people.

Of main concern is the fact that in Connecticut we have adopted "extended Medicaid" - an expansion of  Medicaid to include anyone whose income is below $15, 500. For people who are making minimum wage or are self-employed, $15,000 can be a wage that allows for the accumulation of some assets - a retirement fund, savings, a car, even a home. Now it is a wage that may effectively force these individuals and their families into poverty.

Given state statutes that are on the books, I believe that Medicaid can attach such assets, put a lien on a house and obtain payback for expenditures on behalf of that individual after the persons death - leaving nothing for a spouse or family, let alone an unmarried "partner"- unless, and this is very unclear, unless these provisions are not enforced under "extended Medicaid" - but nowhere on the state's websites is this made clear or even addressed.

And I searched every which way I could for several hours. And I spent over an hour calling state agencies and state legislators. Nothing. I actually knew more than most of the people I spoke with, not surprising, really.

I've also learned that many individuals with HIV may possibly lose state assistance that pays for private medical insurance premiums under Ryan White if their income is less than $15,000 because they too will now be forced into Medicaid.

So for the nouveau pauvres on the Medicaid roles there is no information about how being on Medicaid will affect retirement savings, a home or other assets.

It could be that such individuals may lose everything they've worked for and at death, their estate, if any, will be used to pay back the state for lifetime of health care premiums and costs with nothing left for survivors, even taking marriage equality into account.

I could be wrong about all of this, and I hope I am, but no one here has been able to clarify these issues. I've actually called several state agencies and received contradictory information.

So, I think the working class being forced into Medicaid is despicable. Some philosopher once said that every solution creates new problems. So it is for the Affordable Care Act.

I blame the Congress for making minced meat out of Obama's original proposal - Universal Health Care with a single payer system.  Obama's biggest mistake - letting them call their Frankenstein monster Obamacare and using that as a term of endearment himself.

P.S. If anyone who knows anything about this issue can clarify it for me - please leave a comment.

No Fan of The Pope - Apologetics From a Rebel

Anyone who knows me or reads this blog knows that I am no fan of Joseph Ratzinger aka Pope Benedict 16.  And I have been critical of the Catholic Church for their cover-up of child abuse and their stance on homosexuality, women's ordination and marriage equality, birth control, use of condoms, etc.  My criticism extends to many other Christian and non-Christian religions as well.

However there is currently an unsubstantiated "news" story being repeated in gay blogs and anti-Catholic circles that links the Pope's resignation to some alleged "arrest warrant" issued by an international organization on behalf of some "undisclosed" European nation.  The reports are suspect on many levels and just reading the source/sources one would think it obvious that it is either a hoax or an exaggeration of a kernel of truth. These blogs use the story as a basis to editorialize and express a deep-seated hatred for the Catholic Church.

As I commented in one such blog:

This story is apparently a hoax.  There are no credible references to the content of this story that I can find.  The fact that there are so many who are eager to believe this "news" speaks ill for our community as well as for all whose hatred for the Catholic church is such that facts don't matter.  We talk a good talk when it comes to others spewing hate toward the gay community, but stop and reflect on how we do the same to them.  There is justifiable anger toward the RCC and legitimate demands for accountability but using unsubstantiated stories to further our cause is irresponsible. 

All of you who feel compelled to criticize the Catholic Church (and I count myself among you) please do so responsibly.  The Catholic Church, like other religions, has done lots of good and has produced countless individuals whose work with the sick, the poor, the imprisoned and disenfranchised are indisputable and exemplary.

Those of us brought up to admire and emulate the values of love, service and compassion that we learned from the Church and its teachers, feel most acutely the hurt the church has caused us and  others and at the same time we feel the profound sadness of a child who wished for a more consistently understanding and affirming and parent.

Please temper your hatred for my Mother with a modicum of respect; she may not be perfect, but she had a good side; and in your condemnation of the Pope and all you think he stands for, remember that when your whip lashes out, it may strike some of the very brothers and sisters with whom you claim solidarity.

You do the "cause" no favors when you speak hatred for the sake of shock or revenge or political correctness.  You embarrass us and the cause of LGBT rights when your hatred and ridicule overshadow your intelligence and ability to check the facts.

So criticize hypocrisy, expose the truth, demand accountability, express anger, describe your personal hurt and outrage, but please do so with some degree of thoughtful regard, with responsible journalism, with respect for the truth and, dare I say, with humility.  Hubris is unbecoming no matter whose "side" you are on.

A Stonewall Moment and Richard Blanco Inaugural Poem

Richard summed up beautifully what the Obama Presidency is all about.  A lovely tribute to all of us, this diverse country and to his parents as well.  Thank you Richard.  And President Obama, the first president to acknowledge the struggle of LGBT community specifically as a civil rights issue - even mentioning Stonewall in reference to that struggle.  His embrace of all the diversity that is this country was a thing to behold. This is why we elected him and I hope and pray that he can move this country forward in the direction that he spoke of - for the rights of all of us, created equal, to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.  Here is Richard, a out and proud gay poet:

ONE TODAY

One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores,

peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces

of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth

across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.

One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a story

told by our silent gestures moving across windows.

My face, your face, millions of faces in morning's mirrors,

each one yawning to life, crescendoing into our day:

pencil-yellow school buses, the rhythm of traffic lights,

fruit stands: apples, limes, and oranges, arrayed like rainbows,

begging our praise. Silver trucks, heavy with oil or paper --

bricks or milk, teeming over highways alongside us,

on our way to clean tables, read ledgers, or save lives --

to teach geometry or ring up groceries as my mother did

for 20 years, so I could write this poem for all of us today.

All of us as vital as the one light we move through,

the same light on blackboards with lessons for the day,

equations to solve, history to question, or atoms imagined,

the "I have a dream" we all keep dreaming,

or the impossible vocabulary of sorrow that won't explain

the empty desks of 20 children marked absent

today, and forever. Many prayers, but one light

breathing color into stained glass windows,

life into the faces of bronze statues, warmth

onto the steps of our museums and park benches

as mothers watch children slide into the day.

One ground. Our ground, rooting us to every stalk

of corn, every head of wheat sown by sweat

and hands, hands gleaning coal or planting windmills

in deserts and hilltops that keep us warm, hands

digging trenches, routing pipes and cables, hands

as worn as my father's cutting sugarcane

so my brother and I could have books and shoes.

The dust of farms and deserts, cities and plains

mingled by one wind -- our breath. Breathe. Hear it

through the day's gorgeous din of honking cabs,

buses launching down avenues, the symphony

of footsteps, guitars, and screeching subways,

the unexpected songbird on your clothes line.

Hear: squeaky playground swings, trains whistling,

or whispers across cafe tables. Hear the doors we open

each day for each other, saying: hello, shalom,

buon giorno, howdy, namaste; or buenos dias

in the language my mother taught me -- in every language

spoken into one wind carrying our lives

without prejudice, as these words break from my lips.

One sky: since the Appalachians and Sierras claimed

their majesty and the Mississippi and Colorado worked

their way to the sea. Thank the work of our hands:

weaving steel into bridges, finishing one more report

for the boss on time, stitching another wound

or uniform, the first brush stroke on a portrait,

or the last floor on the Freedom Tower

jutting into the sky that yields to our resilience.

One sky, toward which we sometimes lift our eyes

tired from work: some days guessing at the weather

of our lives, some days giving thanks for a love

that loves you back, sometimes praising a mother

who knew how to give or forgiving a father

who couldn't give what you wanted.

We head home: through the gloss of rain or weight

of snow or the plum blush of dusk, but always -- home,

always under one sky, our sky. And always one moon

like a silent drum tapping on every rooftop

and every window of one country -- all of us --

facing the stars

hope -- a new constellation

waiting for us to map it,

waiting for us to name it -- together.