Treenie's Big Gay Day!

As some of you know, I love the annual Gay Pride parade in Boston. 
And I love taking my daughter.

This is a very strange world that we live in.  It's full of happiness and joy as well as fear and sorrow.  I've experienced my fair share of both.  I have often thought of what kind of person I would like my daughter to become.  I would like her to be a fair person, a kind person, and a person who treats EVERYONE with dignity and respect regardless of their color, social class or sexual orientation.  So off we go every year to the "Rainbow" parade.

I've told my daughter that rainbows are a symbol of love.  So every year we get together with thousands of people and we celebrate love.

Last year I wasn't feeling too well and I mentioned to my daughter that maybe we should skip the parade.  She nodded and went to the living room.  I heard her weeping...not loud obnoxious crying, but softy weeping.  I knew that the Rainbow parade would be a tradition.  So here she is, patiently waiting for the parade to start.

Don't ask me to do squat unless I have my morning coffee, that even includes my favorite parade!

These are members of a group called Moving Violations, a lesbian motorcycle club.  They always start the parade.  Wow, they are LOUD!!!


I don't remember the name of this marching band, but they were very good. 
I love a good gay marching band!

Here is the Senior Pride Coalition.  I think they are great, whether they just came out or have been out for some time.  Back in the day it was hard as hell to come out of the closet and here they are marching proudly, I think that's great.

I loved her sign!

This is a member of a gay men's softball team.  He was offering my daughter the softball so she could throw it towards another guy across the street.  To my surprise, I found out that my daughter has a pretty good arm.  Why do gay men have to be hot?  Sooooo not fair!

Here is a member of a gay hockey team, they went the whole parade on rollerblades, I would have already broken my neck!

This is State Senator Dianne Wilkerson, she doesn't like paying taxes, but she supports the gay community and that's cool with me.  Hey!  I don't like paying taxes either!

You can't see it in the picture, but these gay couple was holding up a sign that said "Together for 53 years, married for 4."  Good for them!

This is our Governor Deval Patrick.  He is marching with his daughter.  She just came out.  I felt bad, the Boston Herald was going to run a story about her being gay...basically they were going to out her.  She beat them to the punch and did an interview with a local paper "Bay Windows."  The Gov has shown his unwavering support for her and has proven to be a great dad.  Now if he could just get around to fixing the roads in this state...yeesh!

These are my shoes.  I  just think they're really cute. Later in the day the MBTA broke down or their was a fire or someone just plain ol' dropped the ball and I had to walk 13 blocks to the nearest subway station... in my cute shoes.

The National Organization for Women, I like that they protect my right to choose!

Here's my friend David, he was marching with a group called Masala, the members are South East Asians.  He actually didn't march, he pulled a rickshaw.  He does so every year, its his thing.  And he was exhausted when it was all over!

I like a nice colorful drag queen!

It really irks me that this drag queen is in all probability a size 6.  Life is unfair.

There was a wonderful children's area with bouncy houses and slides and things.  Treenie had no trouble making friends...so cute!

WEEEEEEE!!

I loved this guy!  He was giving out free hugs!  And they were the best hugs!  I think that should be a job.  Imagine you are feeling down and need a little pick me up.  So you go to the free hug guy and you get yourself a great hug!  And then you feel better.  The other side of the sign said "Abrazos gratis!" That means "free hugs" in Spanish, I thought that was really funny!

More gay people than you can shake a stick at!  And it was fabulous!  As always, I had a great time and Treenie had a blast.

I know there are people out there who would disapprove of my taking my daughter to the Gay Pride parade.  Maybe they think bringing her around a bunch of gay people will turn her gay.  Just like hanging out with tall people will make you tall.  Or they think that I'm raising her to be a deviant.  Or some people even think God will disapprove.

On this final note I will share a little a little story with you.  As we were sitting waiting for the parade to start, there were some people handing out pamphlets and holding up signs telling everyone to repent and how we were all going to hell.  My daughter asked me who those people were, plain and simple, I said they were bigots.

She asked me what their deal was and I said that they believed that if a boy loves another boy or that a girl loves another girl, it would make God angry, that he would turn his back on them and send them to "the bad place."  As one of the fire and brimstone types was walking by, my little girl says as clear as a bell:

"God loves everyone, no matter what!!"

That's my girl!

Rest in Peace

The Gloucester 17....

It was recently reported in the news that 17 girls in Gloucester, Massachusetts all got together one day and decided how cool and how much fun it would be for all of them to get pregnant together.  After all, if all these friends got pregnant together, they could all babysit for each other, they could all have baby showers together, they could all have playdates together.....what a hoot it would be for all these girsl....all of whom are 16 years of age and younger.

Appauled does not even begin to describe how I feel about this.

When I found out I was pregnant with my daughter I had a wedding ring on my finger, a job, a place of my own where I could live with this child, a college education and medical insurance.  I felt confident that I could provide for my child.  I'm not saying raising a child has been an absolute breeze, after all, I am now a single mom. 

What do these girls have?  Apparently a damaged sense of reality.

I am appauled for many reason.  Within a few months, 17 babies will be born to some of the most irresponsible teens I have heard of in a while.  I am appauled because these girls thought so little of the consequences of their actions.  I am appauled because they have chosen to turn the most profound of human experiences into a fucking game.

Now...If a girl has sex with a boy and gets pregnant, that's unfortunate and she obviously made some bad choices.  But to go out with your friends, plan on getting pregnant because you think it will be fun...that's crap.  These girls have mortgaged their futures and the futures of these children.  They have "chosen life" for all the wrong reasons.  A child is a gift, not a way to get to hang out with your friends and get attention from others. 

Some of these girls have said that they chose to get pregnant because they wanted someone to love them unconditionally.  It sounds cruel, but that really made me laugh.  These girls are in for a rude awakening.  First of all, when you are on 2 hours of sleep for the last 48 hours, you do not feel unconditionally loved when your infant starts screaming at 3 in the morning.  When your kid throws a tantrum in the supermarket because you won't buy him his favorite cereal because the supermarket brand is on sale, you do not feel unconditionally loved.  The unconditional love comes from the parent not the child.  Do all kids love their parents unconditionally all the time no matter what? NO!  I remember hating my parents, because I was a kid and I didn't understand some of the decsions they made.  Do I love my child even though she is acting like she's possesed in front of other parents at school...yes.  These girls wanted to feel unconditionally loved...they should have gotten a dog.

Welcome to motherhood girs...I would have welcomed you to adulthood, but you have yet to act like adult even though you though yourselves mature enough to do adult things.  For better or for worse, you will be mothers.  Welcome to motherhood....I'm sure it will be a hoot.

The War Against Stuff....

Ok people....take a moment to look around you.  Take a good long look at your stuff.  The stuff that surrounds you in your home, the stuff that hangs out in your purse or wallet.  The stuff you just can't live without.

I think its time to wage a war.  Not against some fascist group....not against invading murauders.  Let's wage war against those sound bites and bits of adversting that tell us to go out and get stuff.  It's iPods for your ears.  Its fancy phones that take pictures, schedule your life, play music, give you directions, make movies and fries chicken.  Its the latest sneakers!  Its the right pair of pants!  Its the latest accessory!  Its the catalogue that you relax with while you contemplate getting more stuff!

Our lives are full of stuff.  So much stuff that we trip all over it, give it away, or just throw it away.  We are consumers.  Lets think about that word...consumers.  Before that word was applied to those of us with credit cards, that word was used to describe another creature...locusts.  Now when we hear the word consumer, we no longer think of flying insects that invade and consume everything around them till there is nothing left.  We think of ourselves.  Although I don't think we are much different.

Everyday I hear people saying "where does all my money go?"  Let me direct your attention to the stuff.  Stuff we don't need.  Stuff that will not make a smidge of difference in our lives but we can't bear to live without.

I am currently purging my home.  I'm looking through all my stuff seeing what I need, what I don't need.  And I am examining why I felt so strongly that I needed this stuff to begin with.  It's a slow process, but little by little, I am taking my home back and showing all the useless stuff the door.  I'm donating some stuff and I am giving it away on Freecycle.com.  This way my stuff doesn't end up in a land fill with millions of tons of other people's stuff.

Its time to wage this war on stuff.  Enough with this culture of buying.  Look at it like this, you can continue buying useless, frivolous stuff or you can save that money.  And little by little, that money will pile up.  You can use it to buy a tank of gas.  You can use it to start a savings account.  And if you don't buy all that stuff, in the end, that stuff will not end up in a land fill hurting our planet.

Enough is enough!  Say no to stuff!

Bad blogger! Bad, bad, bad blogger!

I have been absent from Multiply for a little while.  Sorry.  I just didn't have anything to say.
But I'm back now, and I have some topics perculationg in my mind.

Stay tuned...