Just returned from a Zoning Variance hearing for a very cool little urban design project by the non-profit (People for Urban Progress) of which I am a board member. We passed! Yay, I'm looking forward to seeing this thing built. It touches every aspect of what I think is good in city living, design, sustainability, and public engagement.
Plus: I *love* the variance hearing process. It makes me choke up a little every time - it's democracy in action, right there in a room like any room in every municipality in the country. Granted, our City-County hearing room happens to be a fantastic gem of Mid-Century Modern design, and I don't think I've ever not been approved for a variance, so my love of the system might be a little skewed...but it makes me proud and happy.
When you make your point without derogatory commentary you come across as intelligent, informed person whose points I consider without prejudice. When you inject racist, homophobic, sexist language into your point, you lose all credibility. You're free, of course, to continue to blame society for that, but I think you might want to start looking in the mirror a bit more often.
That or simply surround yourself with like-minded individuals and keep on blaming some sort of PC devil. I must warn you, though. He's made of straw.
I've lost track of how many zoning hearings I've been to over the years - on both sides. I go to the ones in my neighborhood whenever I have a chance, and it's the same cast of maybe a few dozen characters with a smattering of abutters - which is understandable. I'm not that young anymore, but what really bugs me is that I'm usually the youngest person there by a good decade or two. There are plenty of 20/30 somethings who live in my neighborhood, and I hear them complaining about all sorts of things, yet they never show up at these hearings.
Participation in a democracy is more than just voting or taking surveys. You have to get involved.
The ZBA here is affectionately known as the candy store. > 95% approval rate. Less than maximum possible return on speculative development is considered a headship. Most applications are presented by former town attorneys.
When you make your point without derogatory commentary you come across as intelligent, informed person whose points I consider without prejudice. When you inject racist, homophobic, sexist language into your point, you lose all credibility.
That or simply surround yourself with like-minded individuals
Perhaps we need to finesse what these attributes are, why I am not in synch with you, and others on here, on this topic, and why political correctness does in fact come into it.
Racist - stereotyping is not racist, but people have been cajoled into thinking that it is within the last 20 years. To say that, in a vigorous classroom or studio exchange, Asian students from overseas are not as likely to contribute verbally, and certainly not be involved if the situation becomes more confrontational, is not being politically incorrect and it's profiling. However, it's reality. That is one of many valid observations about different groups of people. I came to learn that people from Russia can talk to each other while taking tests. That convention has been brought over here, unless they were socialized in the U.S. Also, it is now racist to not consider dating or coupling with someone who is not of your race. How about that? It isn't the same as refusing to befriend or hire someone. They may not be within your taste palette based on physicality. This is highly personal. And, for a lot of people who cry foul here, their significant others are demographically much like themselves, so the argument doesn't hold. Nor would they cross the barrier themselves. Instead, they are paying NIMBY lip service. Not buying into interracial, intercultural, and interfaith crossovers in relationships is not about racism, but about what you value, what attracts you, and what you have in common.
Homophobic - that's another plum one. People who were indifferent to and tolerant of gays and lesbians, and any living arrangement they had, are now suddenly homophobic because they don't support same sex marriage. That's really trendy now and almost ridiculous, seeing that the marriage age has soared upward and people are having fewer children. When a huge rally against it took place in Paris and was on TV, I looked to see if they were hicks in the crowd. They did not look like they came from the fields of Provence and from picking grapes for wine. They looked like conventional, educated urban folks. All it means is that people want that institution preserved as it traditionally stood and that changing it offends more people, on a religious and others levels, than it helps the very few who will avail themselves of it. They need to do a statistical catchment study examining just that, but there are no long-term numbers. What exactly is the viability and longevity of partnerships turning into marriages? Unfortunately, while it would be valid criteria, it would make a value judgment and thus not be PC. Also, it's not as form vs. substance as access to drinking fountains was during civil rights. Then, the fact that a person of another race could not drink from the same drinking fountain as a white person was about "substance," and it was egregious. The same sex marriage thing is all about "form" - a word. The substance offered by a civil or registered partnership is the same and, moreover, benefits are even included. I disagree that benefits such as insurances, pensions, et. al. should be extended to same sex partners. The union is not a procreative one, by its very nature, and they can get their own jobs and benefits. There is a huge cost associated with that to appease very few people's hurt feelings.
Sexist - men don't have a problem with women getting paid the same amount for the same job. Rather, they have a problem with the unpleasant and "butch" attitude that comes with that feminist chip on the shoulder. Almost half of those enrolled in health fields, law, and commerce are women. No one is keeping women from becoming doctors or partners in law firms. If you're doctor shopping post 1-1-14 because of policy changes, about half of the doctors out there are women. I've had a few women doctors, if their credentials and bios looked good. If their bedside manner is then not feminine, in my perception, and they act too tough to overcompensate vis a vis a male doctor who is laid back, I will trade them in. I don't know why it's different in architecture, but it is. I have never seen women be discriminated against or paid less in the first 5 or 10 years of their careers. Instead, what I see is that male principals take some under their wing and daddy them, irrespective of their true talent. And the daddying is especially a shame when these ladies get married, have kids, never license, and go into allied careers rather quickly. Beyond being given the same pay and the same work opportunities, why should women be entitled to additional white knight (male feminist) treatment? Don't worry ... the stoic, steely ones can climb the ranks in architecture. It's the girly girls who thought it would be interesting who leave to do other things. But then, many men leave, too.
Your racist, homophobic, and sexist accusation is a huge blanket statement, much more than any of the stereotypes I proffer, which have to do largely with idiosyncracies, many of which are rooted in anthropology and cultural legacies. On the other hand, my viewpoints you deem racist, homophobic, and sexist are because I don't believe in a wholesale carte blanche approach but, rather, one with conditions, exceptions, and caveats. To accept something wholesale without distilling it to its components and questioning it is exactly the packaging that is so troubling with off the deep (left) end liberals.
I have no trouble finding people who view these topics the way I do, and they're educated and intelligent. They don't drag their knuckles. They just feel there's a line to be drawn before pulling down all barriers to favor extremes. Everything is better in moderation.
^ Why so? I listen to them. That's what friends do. So now there are 2 PC folks from "the Island" which, from all of the people I know, is a cradle of bluntness and the fodder for sitcoms.
observant dude, your name is obviously a leave over from opposite day. When someone as level headed as steven has had enough you really should think twice about why. You are not a PC busting avant garde. It would be cool if you were. But you aren't.
That video was crazy! It was long, but I couldn't look away. Remind me to never pick my nose in public.
Also, I was blown away with how homogenous it was. I mean, sure, they all had different styles and such, but about halfway through, I realized there wasn't much racial-diversity. Very strange.
observant dude, your name is obviously a leave over from opposite day. When someone as level headed as steven has had enough you really should think twice about why. You are not a PC busting avant garde. It would be cool if you were.
Look, will, you like to play dad here. That's not your role. I'm not PC busting avant garde. I just think things were pretty good, in terms of social climate, around the mid 90s. It was neither overly conservative nor overly liberal. It's been downhill slide and I actually see an increase in tension between different groups because acceptance is force fed and mandated. I believe what I want to believe and keep company accordingly. As for cool, that's your job here. While you don't outright say it, you've got the market on cool cornered here. Steven can also think what he wants ... another person I'd never be breaking bread, or having a beer with, so it doesn't matter.
I'm not sure that a straight white man can offer any original insights into racism or gay marriage.
That's like saying "Gee, I'll wander into the sub-Saharan part of the Nile River and try to find out if a Nile Crocodile really will eat me." You don't have to, if you've watched enough animal life documentaries. Observe and decide accordingly.
10 degrees outside, -8 with windchill. 43 in the shop this morning. Got the wood stove cranked now, trying not to fall asleep next to it. More java might help.
gruen I totally agree that a straight white man - and for the most woman, too - can't offer any *original* insight into racism or gay marriage. But one hopes, I know I do, that we straight white people can be open to and learn from others' original insights, and that those insights will affect how we think about the world. Sadly some people don't like to learn.
I think I've said it before here: a book that had a HUGE impact on me and how I view differences between people was Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. It celebrated "otherness" so beautifully it made me painfully aware of how totally boring and normal (I use that word self-consciously; in the book the family's word for people not like them was "norm", used very derogatorily. Kind of like muggle, I supppose) I am.
The most courageous thing I've seen on the internets recently is the lady who brought a stone to her city council and dared an anti-otherness councilman to stone her as per his reading of the bible. Pamela Raintree is her name, so awesome.
The key to observation is using it to reflect upon yourself.
I do. A lot. Not caving into group think doesn't mean a person doesn't reflect. In fact, it probably means you do more of it.
"I just think things were pretty good, in terms of social climate, around the mid 90s."
That explains a lot.
Explain what was missing then, since you're so economical with words. From '92 to '00, Bill and Hillary were in the saddle ... the same saddle ... two for the price of one.
They looked 20 years younger. Nothing was different about their quality of life, whether alone or shacked up. Nothing. It was just a different set of high drama stories. I'm talking liberal Southern California, too.
No, I'm referring to residents of Long Beach and Palm Springs who I know and just did whatever they wanted ... both then and now. Got it? Long Beach and Palm Springs ... though the latter is also a mecca for retirees and equity refugees.
As if the rest of us are not capable of observing and making our own opinions.
You all can ... and I'm sure you do. This particular topic is very divisive. Had Obama not taken the stance he did on same sex marriage, he would have conceded the 20 something vote, and possibly allowed Romney to win. It was a platform for differentiation from the GOP. However, a friend and I were discussing the election, and wondered if he may not even be in favor of same sex marriage on a personal level, but on a political and policy level. The same could be true of the Clintons. The same could be true of Bader-Ginsburg who, in pandering to her liberal NY roots, opined that the current scenario provides for a "skim milk marriage." They could all be pandering. Anything to stay in the driver's seat. I voted for Obama based on ACA and the auto bailout, which averted a catastrophe. That's right. I enthusiastically voted to keep our black President in the White House and keep potential monarchs out of there. It was great to see Ann teary eyed. She had this air of "entitlement."
How about that snow? 1:10 last night to make it 3.5 miles. Snow tires did great but other drivers were very slow and many stalled cars. I prefer a walkable future. Trying to make it a walkable present, only about 50% successful.
I biked home in the snow last night - my commute is largely on a segregated bike path, but it took me a little longer than normal because I was stuck behind cars in a couple locations - one spot I just got off my bike and walked on the sidewalk, bypassed about 50 cars, then hopped back on my bike where the bike lanes started back up again (parking ban on that street so the bike lanes were plowed) and breezed past more gridlock until I got home.
It's a shame that you are forced to drive 3.5 miles - that's easy biking distance.
re: the conversation about zoning board meetings et al., back when i had a cable/TV i used to spend hours on occasion watching the local government channel. I found that watching various planning/zoning etc boards was a great way to stay on top of local development and other news.
most people i know though i was crazy for enjoying...
about the shinjuku video, yeah totally not a mixed country when it comes to race and types. We don't have income disparity like North America, but Cattle we are. On the other hand it is an awesome experience to learn what it is like to be an outsider here and to come to terms with what that means on a very personal level. It really is amazing how brave the goth kids are in Harajuku, especially when they leave their enclave of fun weirdness. I recommend everyone try it. You don't even need to go to Japan - North America has lots of pockets of otherness to play in. If everyone tried it for a week or two am sure issues of GLBT, race, income, would become easier to talk about.
@observant, if i were your father i would be worried. You have issues that seem impossible to moderate. Its almost funny, like steve martin urinating in his chair funny, but it sometimes takes an effort to see it that way.
btw the idea that the 90's were great for the gay community is patently absurd. Ask anyone with HIV from those days if you want some reality on the subject. Just to start with. It was a painful time. NOT better than now.
btw, that video of Shinjuku station is totally not crowded. You should see it when its busy. prolly couldn't make the video like he did, but would be much more interesting. Especially late at night when everyone is drunk and dressed to the nines.
OOOh but Sarah Alaska is so beautiful and the last truly wild place in the US!
In the Shinjuku video I was mostly struck by so many people having that big-city commute face: tired, really tired, but aware enough to notice if anyone is getting dangerously close; also looking inward, not at others, but aware enough of them. Then just a few people engaging with their friends. And so many high cheekbones!
@observant, if i were your father i would be worried. You have issues that seem impossible to moderate. Its almost funny, like steve martin urinating in his chair funny, but it sometimes takes an effort to see it that way.
btw the idea that the 90's were great for the gay community is patently absurd. Ask anyone with HIV from those days if you want some reality on the subject. Just to start with. It was a painful time. NOT better than now.
will, dad is gone now, but he was cool. My father wasn't worried. He told me I was exacting and had a great memory. The issue is that I'm moderate and traditional. With the wills and donnas of archinect, that would be an issue that is indeed impossible to moderate. My dad lived in Europe, North Africa, Australia, and ultimately, North America. He could read someone like a hawk. He was a quick study. He was correct almost all the time. Of my friends, he could see who wasn't smart or wasn't rich, yet see the fact that they were good people. Conversely, he could see the ones who blew smoke up people's asses with their scripted and unauthentic pleasantries, and were bad seeds. He didn't mince words. He was irreverent, sarcastic, and funny. In fact, the family dog voted with my dad on my friends, and they can smell 1 part of urine per 1,000, or 10,000. So, I'd be worried if someone like YOU was my dad but was fortunate to have a dad like the one I did.
That you even bring up HIV is ludicrous and shows your ignorance. What you've basically said is HIV is a gay disease. It is not. The virus doesn't know your gender, your intelligence, nor your wealth and does not discriminate. People have gotten it through transfusions (I know 2) and people have gotten it through drugs (I know 1), in addition to a few people from high school and college who died. Doctors and nurses have contracted it through needle sticks when good protocols were not in place. I'm sure that the presence of the virus was a stressor in that decade, but I'm talking about setting up house in a liberal neighborhood of a large urban city, going to work, and amassing wealth. That part has not changed much. Professional same sex couples who didn't do the adoption thing probably had more disposable income than most of the household permutations out there. Where I lived, no one cared and didn't treat anybody differently, as in "to each their own." No one foresaw the current pissing contest. About half the population does not support it. That makes half of America stupid, right? You hate "Amerika," as you call it, anyway.
Given your adoption of your current country, I bet you were one of those white guys who ate Asian food with chopsticks long before you ever got there. I knew one person like that. He was a bleeding heart liberal Berkeley grad ... and annoying. That is all about being a sycophant, unless you're on their turf, but this was in Amerika. Fork and spoon, please.
@ observant, I know that HIV is not gay disease. That was not the point. 90's was not good for LGBT community. It was so shitty that even the fringe of LGBT was harsh. I was there and I remember it pretty personally. But let's drop it. trying to engage you in conversation is freakishly difficult.
@ donna, i agree on both points. alaska looks beautiful - would love to visit, by canoe if I could arrange it. And everyone in Tokyo is ridiculously well groomed and fit. Its like LA, but colder. Just as intimidating for a hick like me though.
Thread Central
Just returned from a Zoning Variance hearing for a very cool little urban design project by the non-profit (People for Urban Progress) of which I am a board member. We passed! Yay, I'm looking forward to seeing this thing built. It touches every aspect of what I think is good in city living, design, sustainability, and public engagement.
Plus: I *love* the variance hearing process. It makes me choke up a little every time - it's democracy in action, right there in a room like any room in every municipality in the country. Granted, our City-County hearing room happens to be a fantastic gem of Mid-Century Modern design, and I don't think I've ever not been approved for a variance, so my love of the system might be a little skewed...but it makes me proud and happy.
When you make your point without derogatory commentary you come across as intelligent, informed person whose points I consider without prejudice. When you inject racist, homophobic, sexist language into your point, you lose all credibility. You're free, of course, to continue to blame society for that, but I think you might want to start looking in the mirror a bit more often.
That or simply surround yourself with like-minded individuals and keep on blaming some sort of PC devil. I must warn you, though. He's made of straw.
I've lost track of how many zoning hearings I've been to over the years - on both sides. I go to the ones in my neighborhood whenever I have a chance, and it's the same cast of maybe a few dozen characters with a smattering of abutters - which is understandable. I'm not that young anymore, but what really bugs me is that I'm usually the youngest person there by a good decade or two. There are plenty of 20/30 somethings who live in my neighborhood, and I hear them complaining about all sorts of things, yet they never show up at these hearings.
Participation in a democracy is more than just voting or taking surveys. You have to get involved.
new favorite term:
magpie architecture
Donna - how about some pictures of that project?
The ZBA here is affectionately known as the candy store. > 95% approval rate. Less than maximum possible return on speculative development is considered a headship. Most applications are presented by former town attorneys.
Having attended a ZB meeting in the Hamptons recently, I can't say I was particularly impressed with the priorities of the officials.
SneakyPete you must be a neighbor of Miles.
^ Or he could have been at one time.
At any rate, it's gone from MN to PA to NY (present or past).
Pete, next time you're going to be here warn me ahead of time.
When you make your point without derogatory commentary you come across as intelligent, informed person whose points I consider without prejudice. When you inject racist, homophobic, sexist language into your point, you lose all credibility.
That or simply surround yourself with like-minded individuals
Perhaps we need to finesse what these attributes are, why I am not in synch with you, and others on here, on this topic, and why political correctness does in fact come into it.
Racist - stereotyping is not racist, but people have been cajoled into thinking that it is within the last 20 years. To say that, in a vigorous classroom or studio exchange, Asian students from overseas are not as likely to contribute verbally, and certainly not be involved if the situation becomes more confrontational, is not being politically incorrect and it's profiling. However, it's reality. That is one of many valid observations about different groups of people. I came to learn that people from Russia can talk to each other while taking tests. That convention has been brought over here, unless they were socialized in the U.S. Also, it is now racist to not consider dating or coupling with someone who is not of your race. How about that? It isn't the same as refusing to befriend or hire someone. They may not be within your taste palette based on physicality. This is highly personal. And, for a lot of people who cry foul here, their significant others are demographically much like themselves, so the argument doesn't hold. Nor would they cross the barrier themselves. Instead, they are paying NIMBY lip service. Not buying into interracial, intercultural, and interfaith crossovers in relationships is not about racism, but about what you value, what attracts you, and what you have in common.
Homophobic - that's another plum one. People who were indifferent to and tolerant of gays and lesbians, and any living arrangement they had, are now suddenly homophobic because they don't support same sex marriage. That's really trendy now and almost ridiculous, seeing that the marriage age has soared upward and people are having fewer children. When a huge rally against it took place in Paris and was on TV, I looked to see if they were hicks in the crowd. They did not look like they came from the fields of Provence and from picking grapes for wine. They looked like conventional, educated urban folks. All it means is that people want that institution preserved as it traditionally stood and that changing it offends more people, on a religious and others levels, than it helps the very few who will avail themselves of it. They need to do a statistical catchment study examining just that, but there are no long-term numbers. What exactly is the viability and longevity of partnerships turning into marriages? Unfortunately, while it would be valid criteria, it would make a value judgment and thus not be PC. Also, it's not as form vs. substance as access to drinking fountains was during civil rights. Then, the fact that a person of another race could not drink from the same drinking fountain as a white person was about "substance," and it was egregious. The same sex marriage thing is all about "form" - a word. The substance offered by a civil or registered partnership is the same and, moreover, benefits are even included. I disagree that benefits such as insurances, pensions, et. al. should be extended to same sex partners. The union is not a procreative one, by its very nature, and they can get their own jobs and benefits. There is a huge cost associated with that to appease very few people's hurt feelings.
Sexist - men don't have a problem with women getting paid the same amount for the same job. Rather, they have a problem with the unpleasant and "butch" attitude that comes with that feminist chip on the shoulder. Almost half of those enrolled in health fields, law, and commerce are women. No one is keeping women from becoming doctors or partners in law firms. If you're doctor shopping post 1-1-14 because of policy changes, about half of the doctors out there are women. I've had a few women doctors, if their credentials and bios looked good. If their bedside manner is then not feminine, in my perception, and they act too tough to overcompensate vis a vis a male doctor who is laid back, I will trade them in. I don't know why it's different in architecture, but it is. I have never seen women be discriminated against or paid less in the first 5 or 10 years of their careers. Instead, what I see is that male principals take some under their wing and daddy them, irrespective of their true talent. And the daddying is especially a shame when these ladies get married, have kids, never license, and go into allied careers rather quickly. Beyond being given the same pay and the same work opportunities, why should women be entitled to additional white knight (male feminist) treatment? Don't worry ... the stoic, steely ones can climb the ranks in architecture. It's the girly girls who thought it would be interesting who leave to do other things. But then, many men leave, too.
Your racist, homophobic, and sexist accusation is a huge blanket statement, much more than any of the stereotypes I proffer, which have to do largely with idiosyncracies, many of which are rooted in anthropology and cultural legacies. On the other hand, my viewpoints you deem racist, homophobic, and sexist are because I don't believe in a wholesale carte blanche approach but, rather, one with conditions, exceptions, and caveats. To accept something wholesale without distilling it to its components and questioning it is exactly the packaging that is so troubling with off the deep (left) end liberals.
I have no trouble finding people who view these topics the way I do, and they're educated and intelligent. They don't drag their knuckles. They just feel there's a line to be drawn before pulling down all barriers to favor extremes. Everything is better in moderation.
You should stop defining things for yourself which have already been officially defined. You might understand why I use those words to describe you.
I've laid out my reasoning and have given examples. Instead, you offer talk that is nebulous, conceptual, and idealistic.
I'm not looking to fetch your approval nor anyone else's on here. Like I said, many enlightened urban folks I know see it the same way.
enlightened urban folk ...
It's difficult to imagine enlightened people listening to you.
^ Why so? I listen to them. That's what friends do. So now there are 2 PC folks from "the Island" which, from all of the people I know, is a cradle of bluntness and the fodder for sitcoms.
@Steven Ward: "bloviations" - hah, haven't heard that word in years - thanks for resurrecting it. And, I agree with how you directed its use.
^
Some people just need to tell time, but others are indeed needed to build watches. And even design them.
observant dude, your name is obviously a leave over from opposite day. When someone as level headed as steven has had enough you really should think twice about why. You are not a PC busting avant garde. It would be cool if you were. But you aren't.
anyone interested in seeing what it is like to wait for train in Shinjuku station check out this seriously cool video. 11 minutes well spent.
Wow, Will, that was beautiful.
I miss living in a city, I miss it I miss it I miss it I miss it.
pretty awesome will. i would have expected more people staring at cell phones
That video was crazy! It was long, but I couldn't look away. Remind me to never pick my nose in public.
Also, I was blown away with how homogenous it was. I mean, sure, they all had different styles and such, but about halfway through, I realized there wasn't much racial-diversity. Very strange.
observant dude, your name is obviously a leave over from opposite day. When someone as level headed as steven has had enough you really should think twice about why. You are not a PC busting avant garde. It would be cool if you were.
Look, will, you like to play dad here. That's not your role. I'm not PC busting avant garde. I just think things were pretty good, in terms of social climate, around the mid 90s. It was neither overly conservative nor overly liberal. It's been downhill slide and I actually see an increase in tension between different groups because acceptance is force fed and mandated. I believe what I want to believe and keep company accordingly. As for cool, that's your job here. While you don't outright say it, you've got the market on cool cornered here. Steven can also think what he wants ... another person I'd never be breaking bread, or having a beer with, so it doesn't matter.
I'm not sure that a straight white man can offer any original insights into racism or gay marriage.
That's like saying "Gee, I'll wander into the sub-Saharan part of the Nile River and try to find out if a Nile Crocodile really will eat me." You don't have to, if you've watched enough animal life documentaries. Observe and decide accordingly.
The key to observation is using it to reflect upon yourself.
"I just think things were pretty good, in terms of social climate, around the mid 90s."
That explains a lot.
You actually bothered to read that post?
10 degrees outside, -8 with windchill. 43 in the shop this morning. Got the wood stove cranked now, trying not to fall asleep next to it. More java might help.
gruen I totally agree that a straight white man - and for the most woman, too - can't offer any *original* insight into racism or gay marriage. But one hopes, I know I do, that we straight white people can be open to and learn from others' original insights, and that those insights will affect how we think about the world. Sadly some people don't like to learn.
I think I've said it before here: a book that had a HUGE impact on me and how I view differences between people was Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. It celebrated "otherness" so beautifully it made me painfully aware of how totally boring and normal (I use that word self-consciously; in the book the family's word for people not like them was "norm", used very derogatorily. Kind of like muggle, I supppose) I am.
The most courageous thing I've seen on the internets recently is the lady who brought a stone to her city council and dared an anti-otherness councilman to stone her as per his reading of the bible. Pamela Raintree is her name, so awesome.
Miles put a little booze in that java. Just a bit.
I think that's why I'm nodding off. Either that or reading Quondam's posts.
The key to observation is using it to reflect upon yourself.
I do. A lot. Not caving into group think doesn't mean a person doesn't reflect. In fact, it probably means you do more of it.
"I just think things were pretty good, in terms of social climate, around the mid 90s."
That explains a lot.
Explain what was missing then, since you're so economical with words. From '92 to '00, Bill and Hillary were in the saddle ... the same saddle ... two for the price of one.
Ask a LGBT person how the 90's were.
Ask a LGBT person how the 90's were.
They looked 20 years younger. Nothing was different about their quality of life, whether alone or shacked up. Nothing. It was just a different set of high drama stories. I'm talking liberal Southern California, too.
And again you reaffirm why talking to you is akin to a conversation with a wall.
No, I'm referring to residents of Long Beach and Palm Springs who I know and just did whatever they wanted ... both then and now. Got it? Long Beach and Palm Springs ... though the latter is also a mecca for retirees and equity refugees.
Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one.
As if the rest of us are not capable of observing and making our own opinions.
You all can ... and I'm sure you do. This particular topic is very divisive. Had Obama not taken the stance he did on same sex marriage, he would have conceded the 20 something vote, and possibly allowed Romney to win. It was a platform for differentiation from the GOP. However, a friend and I were discussing the election, and wondered if he may not even be in favor of same sex marriage on a personal level, but on a political and policy level. The same could be true of the Clintons. The same could be true of Bader-Ginsburg who, in pandering to her liberal NY roots, opined that the current scenario provides for a "skim milk marriage." They could all be pandering. Anything to stay in the driver's seat. I voted for Obama based on ACA and the auto bailout, which averted a catastrophe. That's right. I enthusiastically voted to keep our black President in the White House and keep potential monarchs out of there. It was great to see Ann teary eyed. She had this air of "entitlement."
Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one.
True. And if I had a dollar for every time I've heard that, I could afford to live in the Hamptons.
I biked home in the snow last night - my commute is largely on a segregated bike path, but it took me a little longer than normal because I was stuck behind cars in a couple locations - one spot I just got off my bike and walked on the sidewalk, bypassed about 50 cars, then hopped back on my bike where the bike lanes started back up again (parking ban on that street so the bike lanes were plowed) and breezed past more gridlock until I got home.
It's a shame that you are forced to drive 3.5 miles - that's easy biking distance.
hi TC!
re: the conversation about zoning board meetings et al., back when i had a cable/TV i used to spend hours on occasion watching the local government channel. I found that watching various planning/zoning etc boards was a great way to stay on top of local development and other news.
most people i know though i was crazy for enjoying...
How did you stay awake?
about the shinjuku video, yeah totally not a mixed country when it comes to race and types. We don't have income disparity like North America, but Cattle we are. On the other hand it is an awesome experience to learn what it is like to be an outsider here and to come to terms with what that means on a very personal level. It really is amazing how brave the goth kids are in Harajuku, especially when they leave their enclave of fun weirdness. I recommend everyone try it. You don't even need to go to Japan - North America has lots of pockets of otherness to play in. If everyone tried it for a week or two am sure issues of GLBT, race, income, would become easier to talk about.
@observant, if i were your father i would be worried. You have issues that seem impossible to moderate. Its almost funny, like steve martin urinating in his chair funny, but it sometimes takes an effort to see it that way.
btw the idea that the 90's were great for the gay community is patently absurd. Ask anyone with HIV from those days if you want some reality on the subject. Just to start with. It was a painful time. NOT better than now.
btw, that video of Shinjuku station is totally not crowded. You should see it when its busy. prolly couldn't make the video like he did, but would be much more interesting. Especially late at night when everyone is drunk and dressed to the nines.
Any one else feel that way about a popular vacation place?
OOOh but Sarah Alaska is so beautiful and the last truly wild place in the US!
In the Shinjuku video I was mostly struck by so many people having that big-city commute face: tired, really tired, but aware enough to notice if anyone is getting dangerously close; also looking inward, not at others, but aware enough of them. Then just a few people engaging with their friends. And so many high cheekbones!
@observant, if i were your father i would be worried. You have issues that seem impossible to moderate. Its almost funny, like steve martin urinating in his chair funny, but it sometimes takes an effort to see it that way.
btw the idea that the 90's were great for the gay community is patently absurd. Ask anyone with HIV from those days if you want some reality on the subject. Just to start with. It was a painful time. NOT better than now.
will, dad is gone now, but he was cool. My father wasn't worried. He told me I was exacting and had a great memory. The issue is that I'm moderate and traditional. With the wills and donnas of archinect, that would be an issue that is indeed impossible to moderate. My dad lived in Europe, North Africa, Australia, and ultimately, North America. He could read someone like a hawk. He was a quick study. He was correct almost all the time. Of my friends, he could see who wasn't smart or wasn't rich, yet see the fact that they were good people. Conversely, he could see the ones who blew smoke up people's asses with their scripted and unauthentic pleasantries, and were bad seeds. He didn't mince words. He was irreverent, sarcastic, and funny. In fact, the family dog voted with my dad on my friends, and they can smell 1 part of urine per 1,000, or 10,000. So, I'd be worried if someone like YOU was my dad but was fortunate to have a dad like the one I did.
That you even bring up HIV is ludicrous and shows your ignorance. What you've basically said is HIV is a gay disease. It is not. The virus doesn't know your gender, your intelligence, nor your wealth and does not discriminate. People have gotten it through transfusions (I know 2) and people have gotten it through drugs (I know 1), in addition to a few people from high school and college who died. Doctors and nurses have contracted it through needle sticks when good protocols were not in place. I'm sure that the presence of the virus was a stressor in that decade, but I'm talking about setting up house in a liberal neighborhood of a large urban city, going to work, and amassing wealth. That part has not changed much. Professional same sex couples who didn't do the adoption thing probably had more disposable income than most of the household permutations out there. Where I lived, no one cared and didn't treat anybody differently, as in "to each their own." No one foresaw the current pissing contest. About half the population does not support it. That makes half of America stupid, right? You hate "Amerika," as you call it, anyway.
Given your adoption of your current country, I bet you were one of those white guys who ate Asian food with chopsticks long before you ever got there. I knew one person like that. He was a bleeding heart liberal Berkeley grad ... and annoying. That is all about being a sycophant, unless you're on their turf, but this was in Amerika. Fork and spoon, please.
@ observant, I know that HIV is not gay disease. That was not the point. 90's was not good for LGBT community. It was so shitty that even the fringe of LGBT was harsh. I was there and I remember it pretty personally. But let's drop it. trying to engage you in conversation is freakishly difficult.
@ donna, i agree on both points. alaska looks beautiful - would love to visit, by canoe if I could arrange it. And everyone in Tokyo is ridiculously well groomed and fit. Its like LA, but colder. Just as intimidating for a hick like me though.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.