Mea Culpa

Okay, okay. I seriously misjudged the amount of time I'd have free on a holiday weekend. And the week since has been what is affectionately termed 'Dead Week' here on campus.

Now, I hear these wild tales that some colleges actually give students the week off from classes to study in the week before finals, hence the name 'Dead' week. Here, though, it's called Dead week because you're dealing with looming finals on top of classes and many Profs think it a dandy time to have projects or papers due.

Finals week starts tomorrow, but I think for me this term Dead Week was actually much worse, so I can actually start to breathe a bit easier. Once my finals are behind me, I'll have a month of 'freedom', at least from classes.

Anyway! I've got a stack of things I've been jotting down to blog about for over a month now. Most of it is already hopelessly outdated, so I'm going to just start fresh.

I hope those of you who live in the United States had a pleasant Thanksgiving. I know dealing with family can be less than fun a lot of the time for most people. One of my favorite holiday films is Home For the Holidays. If you haven't seen this movie, you really should. It's very funny.

Still, I did enjoy seeing most of my family this year. I did have to refrain from throwing a turkey leg at one of my Aunts, though. This particular Aunt is a 36 year old single mother to a nearly five year old daughter. You'd think she'd have a lot of important things on her mind. But what was her main topic of conversation at dinner? The split between Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey!

I wish I were kidding, especially given the fact that most of the people at dinner had no idea who she was even talking about.

Don't get me wrong. Celebrity gossip can be fun at times. It has its place. And I don't mind saying that I wouldn't say no to a few sweaty hours of alone time with Nick Lachey should the opportunity present itself, though I'd hate myself the next day!

But this was clearly the topic that was of most interest to my Aunt and it depressed the hell out of me to see someone so given over to the inanities of pop culture (if you can even call Nick & Jessica that) and so blinded to anything that really mattered.

One such thing is the proposed splitting up of the Ninth Circuit court. I live in one of the states that will be most effected if such a thing occurs, and it's truly a scary thought. Yet if I'd raised the issue at dinner (and really, why didn't I? That's a failing on my part that I must own), I'm probably not wrong in thinking that no one would have had any idea it was being planned.

Bernie Sanders, the man who should and hopefully will be Senator Elect Sanders at this time next year, had some very important things to say on this topic in his recent interview with The Progressive.

Like with many issues, I seem to be one of the all too few around me who understands that what is happening in politics isn't just some distant sideshow you can tune in and out of and that has no bearing on your life. The Simpson/Lachey breakup would be what falls under that category.

Most people do just want to tune out, like my friend Andie who always proclaims "I don't want to talk about anything negative today!" While they're tuning out, things are getting worse. Maybe being a gay man lends me a more attuned awareness of how it all matters? If straight people had to watch the political climate to see if they could marry or not, maybe they'd pay more attention to Washington DC and less attention to the The Newlyweds?

No, that's not fair. And it's also not accurate. I've been gay all my life, but I used to be just as oblivious as others are. And Andie is a lesbian who just doesn't want to think about serious matters.

I guess I just had the good fortune to make a friend or two who were able to help me open my eyes to what was going on.

And maybe that's what we all need to do. Next time you're talking with a friend or sitting across from an Aunt at Thanksgiving dinner, listen politely to their in depth discussion of the current murder case du jour or the celebrity break up of the week, and then respond by going just as in depth on something that REALLY matters.

I'll have to keep that in mind for Christmas dinner.