Happy Eco-friendly Holiday!

Thanks to our sister Suzy, we were able to go Eco-friendly with our Christmas cards this year. Year after year, we get Christmas cards just to be displayed during the season then to be tossed out upon decoration cleanup. Ro and I thought it would be a great idea to send an email with the card attached to our family and friends. We are still mailing out a couple but we saved about 30 cards and envelopes (and postage cost). Thanks to our sister Suz, who designed this beautiful card, we were able to take a step forward in our quest of being an ecologically friendly home.

Happy Holidays from our Family to Yours....

Got Milk?

Ro and I volunteered for Equality Utah last week. We passed out postcards to everyone leaving the filming of MILK. The best part is we got to watch the movie - free!

Until the last year, I hadn't had much contact with the GLBT community, I wasn't too aware of our history. So, coming into this movie, I wasn't sure what to expect. I got more than I expected.

Harvey Milk is often known as a "martyr for gay rights". He opened a camera store on Castro St. and setup residence in the Castro district. This was at a time when this district was experiencing an influx of gays and lesbians. He ran for and lost City Supervisor a couple of times until a final victory. He used his popularity to lead the gay political movement in fierce battles against anti-gay initiatives. When I was one year old, Milk became the first openly gay man to be elected into office. During his time in office, he took on the likes of Anita Bryant, John Briggs and the infamous Proposition 6, a bill that would have taken the job away of any openly gay teacher.

Milk is especially known for the two bills he sponsored. The first one was a civil rights bill that outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation. The other bill Milk concentrated on was designed to solve the number one problem according to a recent citywide poll: dog poop. Within a month of being sworn in, he began to work on a city ordinance to require dog owners to scoop their pets' poop.

Sean Penn is Oscar-worthy in his portrayal of Milk. Everything, including real clips of rallies, marches, was fabulous!

It amazes me that the fights Milk started in the 70's are still being fought today - with the addition of same-sex marriage. Many states have anti-discrimination and hate laws for sexual orientation or sexual identity. Not Utah. I could be kicked out of my apartment or fired from my job...just because of who I am...just because I am gay. It's very scary but true.

I would have loved to be part of the movement in the 70's, been part of the Stonewall Riots, but I wasn't. I am proud to be part of the movement that is today. The movement for same-sex marriages, a supporter for Common Grounds Initiative, which is going to the legislature next session, and an activist for Equal Rights for All! When it comes to my rights as an American citizen, I will stand up and fight. I have the right to justice, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - just like the guy next door.

"There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the highest creed."

Tonight Ro, Suz and I had the fabulous opportunity to meet up with Denny and his family to a kitchen to serve dinner to the homeless. The three years we've done this, it has been a very special but different opportunity for me. The first year, I was conscience but more in tune with what had to be done in the kitchen and for setup. I love working with my family in order to feed the mouths of almost 100 people in an hour. We get the food dished up, serve it, make sure everyone has water and a napkin, then we clean the dishes. After dinner's served, we do the cleanup. Wash the tables off, fold them up, sweep, mop and cleanup in the kitchen.

It has always been such a humbling and rewarding thing to do. For some reason, this year hit me hard...real hard. To know of our economic woes in this country, I didn't know what to expect. I was working in the kitchen so I was behind the scenes. As I looked out at the people that were there for a warm meal, they were all kinds of people. You could tell a few patrons were homeless, but most of them were like me. They were fairly well dressed, clean and pretty well put together. One lady that works there told us that this year, the service to homeless people had dropped to only 30%. The other 70% were people who had homes but could not afford food. This is where it hits me. These are people, like me, who had a circumstance in their lives that dropped them down a little in the reign of class. A simple middle-class person who has gone to a lower-middle class person. This could happen to anyone. The loss of a job, sickness of yourself or family member or death of family member. It just reminded me that we're all the same, though our struggles may differ, we all have them. One young man arrived 20 minutes before the end of service. He had walked an hour to get there and feared he would be late and wouldn't have dinner this night. He arrived just in time and was able to eat, yet he had another walk back.

I am so happy that I have the oppurtunity to serve a hot meal to people who need it. I turn around and look at my life and how grateful I am to have a fridge full of food, a truck, a house and most of all my family. I am grateful Ro and I have our health, grateful I have a job and am able to provide for our family. I am grateful our dogs have a warm bed and plenty of food.

After serving, we went to Denny & CeCe's new house to have dinner. They have a beautiful new home. And the spirit of family is so strong. They are neat people and I'm so glad they're my family. Both Rhonda and I have the utmost respect for Denny & CeCe, they set such a good example for their boys and for us. They love us for who we are even they don't agree. I have never felt judgement from either one of them. I treasure the love I have for them. They are the first that gave Ro and I a "couple" present. It meant so much to both of us. We thank them for their love and acceptance. We love their family bunches and bunches!!

I have so many things in life to be grateful for. Sometimes I lose touch of that ultimate appreciate but I thrive for opportunities like this to remind and humble me.

This holiday season, the only thing I ask for is everyone to have a warm place to sleep and a hot meal.

Nutcracker

A week or so ago, Rhonda, Suzy, Jeff and I all had the opportunity to see Ballet West's Nutcracker. After waiting for Suz and Jeff to get to our house (they were late, of course), we were off. While walking out of our apartment building, we smelled smoke. Notably worried, I asked Ro to knock on our neighbor's door. The boy that answered assured me that if anything happened, he'd call the fire dept.

After being escorted to the wrong seats, we were corrected by another matron. Just a row or two back - easy remedy. The seats were in the mezanine - up high but pretty good ones.

The ballet was amazing. The athletic talent of each dancer is baffling. We enjoyed every part. I knew when Ro had found her favorite part. After the Russian dancers, she sat higher in her seat and clapped with more enthusiasm than the rest. She loved the Russian dancers!

After the ballet, we stopped at Faustina's for a late night dinner. The food, company and many many laughs were fabulous! We laughed so hard we cried, snorted and maybe...well...um-no. All of our tummies hurt from laughing. We had such a great time.

I am glad we were able to go and take our sister Suz and our friend Jeff. We have such great times with both of them. Guaranteed: tons of laughter!!