What classic movie am I?

This is not a surprise:

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

A step ahead in marriage

I just read this provocative article about gay marriage and was encouraged. I think it's about time that folks like ministers began to use their authority and power to make a case for marriage equality. Now I understand that the Unitarian church described here is not representative of many more "liberal" churches in the US, but it's still a great gesture that should catch on in other areas.

I'd like to see more straight couples refuse to get married until their gay friends are granted the ability to get married. I got into an interesting argument with some folks after a French Department talk last year about whether gay people should be insulted by an invitation to a straight wedding. I came down on the less harsh side of this, saying that it largely depended on whose wedding it was, and that there were different kinds of weddings that could be more or less tolerant of issues of sexual orientation. At the same time, I could also see the point the other folks were making. In some ways, it doesn't matter who is getting married, but it's the fact that a whole slice of the American people is denied access to this institution that makes it insulting; it's a political issue that, for some people, trumps personal details.

At the same time, I don't want to hurt my friends by refusing to show up for a very important day for them. But, on the other hand, one would say that the ridiculous political climate where politicians use gay marriage as an election year topic to drum up radical right voters is also highly insulting and hurtful to gay people. It's harder, maybe, to register large scale political exclusion than it is to register personal insult. Gay people don't get the same "personal" chance to feel insulted that people don't attend their weddings because, well, they don't have a wedding for which to issue invitations.

Surprising Article

I'm not someone who regularly participates in environmental activism, though I try to make small contributions by walking when possible and recycling and such. I also hope, when I buy my next car, to get a hybrid. Reading this article earlier today, however, confirmed my worst suspicions. I suppose some folks out there--Michael Critchton, maybe--would say that this is yet another example of liberal alarmism or some such nonsense. But the idea that science reports from NASA get edited by a man associated with the petroleum industry (who later went to work for Exxon), is ludicrous no matter what one's political background. I'm impressed with the will of the scientists in the article to resist the partisan influence, whether from right or left.

Anyway, if you've got a moment, check out this article. And, while Exxon has entered the conversation, don't forget to stop getting gas there. Exxon has the worst record of any company in the US as far as gay/lesbian/trans/bi rights go.

Mysterious Skin

how I'm looking
Originally uploaded by Bigrextinct.

Today we have beautiful weather in Charlottesville. I went out today, though I tried my best to keep my face and neck covered up. I had to do this because yesterday I was diagnosed as having had a weird photoallergenic reaction to the sun due to some sort of product--mosturizer, hair gel, cream--that I put on my face. This comes as just about the sixth skin condition that I've been diagnosed with since the start of the year. I feel like a walking textbook, and apparently it has been determined that I have extremely sensitive skin, and will have it for the rest of my life.

Hence, I might want to take a cue from Dr. Moreau / Brando on this one and start going out with the glasses, hood, and powder. That is, however, if this continues. Apparently a lot of the things I've been getting can be triggered partly by stress. Either way, it indicates that my skin--suddenly rather oddly--is really sensitive to everything around me. Not a bad metaphor for how I feel about the big ol' PhD at this point.

Anyway, should anyone develop a strange skin condition, you'll certainly want to contact your dermatologist, but if he fails you, feel free to send questions to me. What I don't know from training I'm slowly beginning to understand from experience. Happy Spring Break!

Interim

Okay, I know I use this blog to bitch sometimes, so let me just say that I was disappointed by the academy awards, as I always am. Gay cowboys or not, _Brokeback_ was a better movie than _Crash_, which, though I enjoyed, seemed pretty sanctimonious to me. I'd be willing to say more about why I don't like it, and even speculate that Crash had wider release and made more money, but it's not worth the time. Just registering the disconent. Unlike Jake, however, I learned how to "quit" the oscars, since I didn't watch them at all. Instead I watched the 1945 film noir _Mildred Pierce_ with Joan Crawford. That was amazing.

Outside of my movie life, I'm doing more work on my third chapter, but I'm actually a bit burnt out. On one level spring break couldn't have come at a better time, but on another, I've come to realize how much the busy-ness of the writing center and the teaching, whether I like it or not, actually keeps me from losing direction. I'm tired of grad school and tired of being single. My life has been on hold for too long. So, thus, I'm finishing the dissertation in the next year, and planning to be done with the grad school thing by the end of 06-07 school year. If you know anyone who's considering grad school and thinks that it might be a good idea, they need to think through things. It's a drain and a committment far beyond the limits of human patience, and I'm really at the end of my tether. At least I know that the conclusion is closer than, say, it was last year. So forward march.