I’ve been meaning to tell you guys about the mayor of Spokane Washington for a couple of days now, since it’s been all over the news here. But last night I came home from work and went straight to sleep for the rest of the night. And today I was in another class all day. [More color science… let me know if you need calibrating.] And then I came home to find out my new boyfriend did a bang up job of writing about it, understandable as that is what he does for a living, and why not just point you over there.

The whole thing reminds me of a Great Debate I had with my stepmother 11 months after my father died. It was a very surreal Christmas for all of us, everything was cold and deciduous (as they were living in Pennsylvania). Just like earlier that year, when I was out for my father’s funeral. I was from somewhere a bit more evergreen, and I remember how very depressing I found it, everything being dead, no signs of life. [symbolism lacking in subtlety, I know. ] But I digress. This was 11+ years ago, Josh was 12 and a boy scout. My stepmother was a very active scout leader. I don’t know when scouting became something he did for her, instead of himself, but I imagine it was after my father died. Anyhoo, my brothers [older and younger], stepmother and I were sitting around the dining room table after Christmas dinner, talking, and the subject of the Boy Scout leader who was asked to leave the scouts came up. There had recently been an eagle scout kicked out B.S.’s because he admitted to being gay. And when a scout leader came out in support, he was kicked out as well. We were having a knock down drag out debate. In this corner, my staunch conservative Republican stepmother, with her “Impeach Clinton” bumperstickers on the refrigerator. (Probably put there by my father.) In the other corner, me. At the beginning of the debate, I stated that I understood the scouts were a private club, and could set any standard of membership rules they wanted, however, my point was not whether this was legal, but whether this was right, whether this was an appropriate lesson of tolerance to teach to other boys. I’ll spare you my finer points of debate brilliance get to the point of the story… my older brother jumped in somewhere around the middle and pointed out to me that the scouts were a private organization and could set any standard of membership they wanted to, it was not illegal. The debate had grown quite heated, because, well, the other point of view was moronic. So I turned to my brother and reminded him that I conceded that point earlier in the argument and if he was going to participate, he was going to have to do better than that. I guess I was somewhat snappish when I said it, I know I was ready to rip some heads off some necks at that point. Because when we came home [me to Seattle, him to San Francisco] he told my mom about the debate, and my reaction, admitting that he was a little scared of me.

The sweetest news I have ever received in my life, a life half lived on egg shells whenever walking around my temperamental brother, was that he was a little scared of me. So much of my childhood was spent worrying about getting beat up [more time, by far, than actually getting beat up.] that it seems only fair that he be a bit scared of me now. Fair, and more than a little appropriate.