I’m not a lawyer, but among my family and friends I have often been the fixer when it comes to unfair practices by insurance companies, billing “mistakes” by cell phone carriers and the like. I took on my cable provider when I moved and experienced an outrageous series of miscommuni… Read full post »

What would you call layers of trauma? Hope springs eternal, isn’t that what they say? Each new day brings me less and less hope. My sister goes to the doctor. She is told about the mass in her lung. Cancer. OK, there are treatments, cures – advances! Everyone says it –… Read full post »

Is it me, or does this look a lot like Stephen Colbert and his Black Friend? This is Rick Warren and his Gay Friend.

I was an investigator looking into fraud against senior citizens by insurance agents way back when. One particularly successful swindler, when confronted by me with evidence tha… Read full post »

Well I am blown away by the "Elmer Gantry" meets "Brokeback Mountain" feel of it all. First, Melissa Etheridge, who I have greatly admired for her powerful music, meets Rick Warren and starts palling around with the guy.  OK, maybe "palling around" is too strong a term. But she says, in… Read full post »

A legal document from the Supreme Court cases challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8 has become available. A friend of the court brief was submitted:

An urgent message from the D. Q. Mariette Do-Nguyen, Heiress of the Almighty Eternal Creator. The heiress and her church, The Kingd… Read full post »

     I don't think mom ever expected applause for her sewing skills. I don't think she did...Mom, you're an artist, a great painter with a vision. But it's for the best that you gave up your sewing machine.

I remember going with mom to the fabric store. I get sleepy… Read full post »

Wilderness of the mind...The wilderness in my head, during sleep. What's going on in there that makes my dreams so bizarre during one visit and then so mundane the next. There's always a surprise waiting in the wilderness...

I am homeless. I find out about a place where I… Read full post »

I grew up in urban southern California. Burbank, a suburb of Los Angeles, to be more precise. We have a river near there. The Los Angeles River. It's a popular pastime to poke fun at the so-called river, with it's sweeping concrete sides and algae-cover bottom, sometimes flowing with just a…

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The votes are counted and everyone has had a chance to breathe and contemplate next steps. One of the questions No on Prop 8 campaign strategists are asking themselves is "what can we learn from other campaigns," particularly the Yes on 2 campaign.  Prop 2 passed with a wide margin and… Read full post »

We got married in the morning. At 11 a.m. on November 4th we stood in the Sacramento County clerk's office and said our vows in the presence of Colleen's mom and sister, with my parents, older sister and niece listening in on speakerphone from Los Angeles.  The staff at the clerk's… Read full post »

I didn't intend to write another post about Prop 8. But the heightened tensions and emotions surrounding it have become too intense to ignore.  My partner and I intend to marry on election day. While we had planned to get married anyway, we had not planned to do it so soon.… Read full post »

How can I be so influential, so powerful yet feel so, oh I don’t know, regular-like? I apparently have the capability, by my mere existence coupled with my love for another woman, to undermine the very underpinnings of our society! Armageddon! “The Call!” Fasting and praying… Read full post »