Northbound into the Loop, Chicago, IL.
Much afoot. Mostly over here, where a whirlwind kicked up this past month especially. When the dust settled, there was a new website, VillageQ where once there was Lesbian Family: now with an expanded mission, new comrades, and an invigorated cadre. I went to Chicago this past weekend to meet up with that cadre, and was not disappointed. By neither cadre nor city. Helped that I was rested my head each night on a pillow of loving old friendship.
Everyone complains about cancer but few of us do anything about it. Not because it doesn’t touch us; it does. I don’t know a person whom it hasn’t, directly or indirectly. It has changed (more appropriately rent) the fabric of my family of origin dramatically. (Aunt. Mother. Nephew.)
Most of us don’t do much about cancer because we have no idea what we can do, beyond informed changes in our personal habits. That changes with the American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study.
Study participants enrolling in the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3) at The Villages at Carver Family YMCA, Atlanta, Georgia, March 8, 2013. [PHOTO CREDIT: ACS]
The Cancer Prevention Study-3 is now out in the field: it’s a long-term study, running for 20 years, and aiming for hundreds of thousands of participants. They’ve got a lot now, but need more, and I’m writing this post to convince you to join me as one of them. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to be part of something very big, and very consequential. Many participate out of a sense of protectiveness for their own or the next generation. Some, like me, will be participating as a way, one among many, of paying back a debt.
Youthful Pridegoers, San Francisco, CA.
Another in an ongoing trickle of images from San Francisco’s 43 Annual LGBT Pride Parade on Sunday, June 30th. I always ask people before I take a picture that includes their face, and I always always ask young people. What I loved about the gal who’s addressing the camera here, is the pride (sorry: no other word) in her face as she brandished her sign.
Look at it, would you? And give a good long bit of thought to the amount of time she spent embellishing each and every word of it, not to mention the stars and faces and hearts that surround the words. Maybe also give some thought to what she may have been thinking as she rendered it. She is at the epicenter of that–of our–we.
Sign greeting patrons at Local 123 Cafe post-SCOTUS, Berkeley, CA.
On the Twitter the day the US Supreme Court handed down its historic marriage equality decisions, local chum Heather Flett (of Rookie Mom fame) sent not just her congratulations, but an offer to treat me to whatever felt treat-y. A drink right that very moment, or a coffee date to be redeemed soon. I picked coffee; we went to Local 123; and this sign greeted us. Fitting to post it today.
Because the A#1 and A#2 reasons I am grateful for the legal recognition of my partnership is the legal recognition conferred to Kid #1 and Kid #2. An old African American Studies professor of mine used to say, of this nation: “It’s a beautiful experiment, still unfolding.” Which it is. Jury may still be out on how we realize democracy, but I’m prouder than usual to be an American today.
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