Yum & Yuk

What a novel idea! Pro-child, anti-discrimination. The Every Child Deserves a Family Act would "ban discrimination in adoption or foster care placement based on the sexual orientation, marital status or gender identity of the potential parent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity of the child."

Can you imagine facing deportation without an attorney? From NYTimes: As Barriers to Lawyers Persist, Immigrant Advocates Ponder Solutions: "[I]n immigration court...defendants have no right to a court-appointed lawyer, forcing many to go without and drastically raising their chances of being deported."

From RadioLab: In The Running: "Diane Van Deren is one of the best ultra-runners in the world, and it all started with a seizure. In this short, Diane tells us how her disability gave rise to an extraordinary ability." (Do the editing and sound effects of RadioLab drive anyone else *crazy*? Why can't they just let the stories stand on their own a little more?)

Image: source.

Country singer Blake Sheldon's homophobic tweet. This is the same idiot who made a homophobic crack while hosting this years Country Music Awards - when will he learn? I love me some country music, but the country community needs to step up and confront the rampant homophobia among it's artists and fans. We will see if Sheldon's reaching out to GLADD comes to anything.

“If we feel deeply, and we encourage ourselves and others to feel deeply, we will find the germ of our answers to bring about change. Because once we recognize what it is we are feeling, once we recognize we can feel deeply, love deeply, can feel joy, then we will demand that all parts of our lives produce that kind of joy. And when they do not, we will ask, “Why don’t they?” And it is the asking that will lead us inevitably toward change.

So the question of social protest and art is inseparable for me. I can’t say it is an either-or proposition. Art for art’s sake doesn’t really exist for me. What I saw was wrong, and I had to speak up. I loved poetry, and I loved words. But what was beautiful had to serve the purpose of changing my life, or I would have died. If I cannot air this pain and alter it, I will surely die of it. That’s the beginning of social protest.” - Audre Lorde