I went to my local bar last night for a end of DOMA toast...but VRA had me down
local gay bar, everyone was excited about the SCOTUS ruling, and some people were making plans to get married as soon as possible. i, however, couldn't shake the feeling of being shafted as a black person, while celebrating as a gay person. I live in California, so I don't think my right to vote will be affected by the latest horrible, backward, crazy SCOTUS decision but it most certainly affect other black people. I can shake this feeling of...betrayal, disappointment, weariness. I find it difficult to rejoice in the outcome yesterday because of the outcome the day before.
scalia talks of racial entitlements...while the murderous bastard zimmerman stands trial for a real racial entitlement: the ability to murder black people, without consequence. roberts is an anti-voting rights activist, and had no business deciding this case (ditto for scalia). alioto and thomas: disgraces. there is a special place in hell for them.
my friend, a former DUer, moved to guatemala a few years ago, and i am thinking of joining her. i really admire the people who are energized to keep fighting, but i am tired, disappointed, etc, etc, etc. i've been engaged in this battle since ronald reagan was nominated, and i am not sure i want to do it anymore.
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It's okay.
I personally feel like I shouldn't have to 'fight' for something I've had all of my life that is a BASIC right of all Americans in our Federal Republic.
I'm in NJ - it probably won't affect me either - at least not immediately. But it most certainly will by 2020.
It's easy to say - well 'gotv'. We can do that - we can get folks ids. Doesn't mean that Texas won't throw up some lame assed law two months before an election . . . because they can.
It's easy to say - well they will have to go back and legislate it. And who is going to pass it in the House?
So - it's okay. It's not giving up. And it's okay to feel defeated.
And it's okay to have fun, and live your life, and enjoy life - and if you can't do that here . . . you can't do that here. 
sometimes even the warrior needs a rest.Im all about champagne campaigns. and being to quote Zelda Fitzgerald - a beautiful little fool. Life is lovely . . . When you allow it to be. 
Who knows! Maybe the love of your life is in Guatemala.
"I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired." 
and btw...if that friend in Guatemala is who I think it is, I'll have a dose of that too. 
and i will probably go there for a visit soon 
i am sick and tired of the lack of substantive progress on the yoyo that is american politics. by almost every measure, life is not as "great" here as our overlords keep telling us it is. when i talk to some of my acquaintances about leaving this country, they inevitably bring up murder rates, drinking water, and all types of scary stuff. and i tell them: look around you...all that same shit is happening right here. i need a big bottle of fuckitol 
i don't know how to post pics
Kind of a joke between my late father and my husband . . .
He loved my husband for me . . . because in Italy. . . they have single payer health insurance.
My dad was a liberal of the smart assed yet honest variety until the day he died! 
And he thought it was a smart move and ASKED my husband after we got engaged - so how long before she can become a citizen?
And winks and smiles at me and says: You get that Medical Card ya hear! 
So now worries my friend!
for being so understanding....just having a tough couple of days i spent some time in italy many years ago...loved it. if i could afford it, i'd be looking towards europe too. and it is still a possibility, but since my mom is still alive, i'd like to be close to her, and south american is lookg pretty good about now
But my dad - god. I hit the lottery in terms of The Parentals!
I won't STAND for it!!! 
How else are you going to meet your cyber-grandaughter? But the way things are going, I'll be shifting again soon anyway so maybe we'll just have to coordinate a rendez vous spot and meet up. How does Paris sound to you?? 
I completely understand your feeling conflicted on the court rulings this week and being frustrated and wanting to call it quits. Could the Supreme Court have been more schizophrenic this week??! I know so many black folks that are STRUGGLING. I have sent money home for so much shit it's not even funny. My grandmother was even caught up in the sub-prime foolishness and would have lost her house if I hadn't sent money home. Trayvon is just one of a long list of black people that have been claimed by this country's fear and hatred of black people. So to hear from the Supremes that somehow things are so grand and wonderful for us that we no longer need the few protections we have in place to protect us from deranged Republicans is maddening.
It IS wearying. It is exhausting. And sometimes it honestly feels as though we are fighting this fight alone. But noire, what did our mamas do? And our grandparents? And our other ancestors? Of course they kept fighting. What other choice do we have? You are a brilliant person with a gorgeous spirit and we need more people like you in the fight. Get some rest. Celebrate the victory of the DOMA smack down. And then we'll see what needs to be done to protect our brothers and sisters.
just feeling a little defeated right now. girl...you had to pull out the mama and granmama card when i am really down and feeling defeated, i remember my grandmothers and great grandmothers and all the shit they had to endure, so believe me: you hit the nail on the head with that one!!! paris sounds great! i plan to go there next year anyway. how are my cybergrandkids?
because that is a hard card to haul. Believe me, I know all too well about the grandmama card!
But this is part of who we are. Black people know better than anyone that we don't live in a vacuum. EVERYTHING we have (good, bad and in between) is because of some seriously hard fought battles. People got their heads knocked, brains spilled, got their ASSES BEAT. And they got up, went to church and hollered and cried, and somehow found the strength to keep going. I live in PERPETUAL AWE of these people. But their blood flows through us and we have the same spirit.
But that doesn't mean it still doesn't get tiring. You have earned your rest, noire. So you take it. Recharge your batteries for the NEXT battle, because girl, isn't there ALWAYS a "next" battle???
Girl, these little munchkins are doing just fine. Your grandbaby thinks that she's a princess now. She walks around in 2 inch, plastic pink heels (I honestly have NO idea where these damn shoes even came from because this is definitely not the kind of thing I buy for my babies), a tutu and a tiara and says very solemnly, "I'm the pwincess" when someone asks who she's supposed to be. That girl is a mess.
Three years old and this child is RUNNING the joint! Y'all better pray for me. The teenaged years do not bode well!! 
The first thing we need to do with the disaster in Acri is fix up the in law - so my mother can stay with us or visit.
It's done! And our building is just down the hill from my in laws. Both his mom(71) and my mom (65) come from people that live well into their 90's so we are kind of looking at the next 30years.
I'm already paying into the medical system there for myself and they are all about "family". So there are things we could do when I become a citizen to make sure my mom has health care if she decides she wants to live there.
You might be surprised what services Guatemala offers for elderly parents. At least look into it.
Re our Grandmothers - remember - they did have it far worse. Now my Gramfeathers (Maternal Grandmothers Mom) and I were very close. Irish Methodist - but don't let that fool you . . . I still have a few of her dresses from the 1920's. My mom brought my dad into her house and she literally said: Hello beautiful. All I see is Army Green! :rolling:
She is smiling down on us. Not so much my brother - she was never one for little boys in general as she had two girls . . . But the first time she held me - she wrote me in a letter before she died - she became a black woman.
She's smiling down on you. You can love who you want to love - finally! But! Her mother didn't do that hunger strike to have that vote taken away. She's winking at you - but that Irish ability to hate has her spitting nails on the other side.
I think she'd say - love and wine first.