Hodgepodge

A hodgepodge of happenings in my life over the last seven days:

My wife and I moved into a new home.  This is the first time that I've made an opportunity to write.  Notice that I said "made an opportunity," not "had an opportunity."  The last week was spent working my normal 10 hour shifts, then coming home and doing things around our new living space.  The new home is double the square footage of the previous two bedroom apartment that we inhabited.  I've been tinkering about, putting together desks, mounting televisions on wall brackets, changing worn light switches, building closet shelving systems and such.  I take a lot of pride in being able to do electrical work, some carpentry jobs, build cars on an assembly line and write a decent poem or two in the same week.  Ladies, if you can, find yourself a blue collar poet.  We're a rare breed. 

Last week, I had a conversation with the guys at work about homosexuality.  Men in factories are not necessarily known for their progressive viewpoints.  I am frequently referred to as the "commie atheist."  That is inaccurate.  I lean towards being a socialist, not communist.  I am sometimes surprised that deep homophobia still exists.  I'm not sure why men are afraid of gay men.  I guess I live in a sheltered "progressive" bubble.  The strong negative reaction that some people still have towards homosexuality is depressing. 

While on the topic of gay people, a friend engaged me in a Facebook instant message conversation about Michigan and Arizona's attempts to pass "Religious Freedom Bills."  These proposed laws are designed to allow religious folks to discriminate against others who are shunned by their beliefs.  For example; if the religion that you adhere to teaches homosexuality is a sin, you don't have to serve gays in your restaurant, you would be protected from having to treat them if you were a doctor, or fill their prescriptions if you worked in a pharmacy.  The laws could go so far as to protect you from issuing a drivers license to someone who was divorced. 

The law passed the house and senate in Arizona, only to be vetoed by the Republican Governor.  These laws are entirely unconstitutional and set a terrible precedent that individual liberties should be protected over the greater welfare of our nation.  Besides, if you subscribe to a religious idealology that allows you to blatantly treat another human as less than, based on who they are, then your religion is shitty. 

I pointed out to my friend, that the Declaration of Independence says that "all men are created equal."  It goes on to say that we are all endowed with certain "unalienable rights" and that our government was put in place to protect those rights for all humans.  I find it interesting that the Declaration doesn't specify that those rights are only reserved for citizens of the United States.  Of course, none of the people responsible for the Declaration or our original constitution, were born in the United States.  The Declaration also doesn't make any exceptions.  None.  Not for skin color, or sexual orientation.  Not for gender, or economic status.  There are no exceptions.  All human beings are born with these unalienable rights. 

The friend who instant messaged me lives in Texas.  I call him a friend, even though he and I have never met in person.  We've enjoyed a few hours of phone conversations and a few years worth of social media correspondance.  There is an interesting dynamic here to what friendship can mean in our digital age. 

My blog has officially been viewed 1,024 times as of today.  Sometime in the last week I hit the 1,000 mark.  It only took me four months to do that.  Thank you to those who regularly read and especially thank you, to those who share my column.  Sharing an artist's or writer's work, is one of the ways that you can help them get their work in front of more people. 

Speaking of writing.... I have five different poetry submissions floating around in the unsolicited submissions universe.  I have submitted two short stories to two different contests.  I continue to write a handful of poems each week and I am still working on a novel.  That's my writing update, in case you were wondering. 

Also, in case you were wondering, our new home features one central thermostat for the entire house.  This is awesome, because now everyone in the home can enjoy my wife setting the thermostat to two shades cooler than hell. 

Today, March 9th, marks the 21st anniversary of Charles Bukowski's death.  Last Saturday, my wife and I, along with our friend Mark, attended a memorial reading of Bukowski poetry.  It was held in a newly opened bar in downtown Toledo.  About half of the people that attended, mentioned that they didn't really like Buk, or most of his subject matter.  Buk wrote about sucking snatches, loving whores, getting into fist fights and his love of alcohol.  I understand that some of his subject matter doesn't appeal to everyone.  He was once referred to by Time magazine as the "laureate of the lowlife."  No one can deny that Bukowski was an extremely talented writer.  He wrote some of the best lines that I've ever read.  If you haven't yet done so, take a moment to find a Bukowski poem online today and read it.