Tarhearted.

GOVERNOR CARCIERI IS A DISGUSTING PIG.

Governor Carcieri of Rhode Island met with a gay rights group this week and said that maybe an "everything but marriage" bill was something to be considered. I don't buy it. This was a mere two days after he vetoed a harmless bill that would have added "domestic partners" to a list of people allowed to make burial decisions for the deceased. He has also given his support and money to the Massachussets Family Institute (a nice sounding name for a registered hate group) and National Organization for Marriage (which isn't registered as a hate group, but ought to be.)

That veto was a hateful, cruel, and hideous act and I have no reason to believe he would ever allow any progress for LGBT folks. Actions speak louder than words with me, so I won't be holding my breath waiting for you to make a domestic partnership bill happen.

And an "everything but marriage" law? Fuck you. I'll take advances where I can get them, but my relationship is not second to anybodys. I'm so angry about this. First California, then Maine, and now this? Fuck you all.

Let this be reminder number one billion that those saying they simply wish to "protect marriage" (as if by opening the doors to that civil right to all would somehow hurt it) are liars. The truth, under everything, is that they hate gay people, plain and simple. They don't believe we have a civil right to marriage because, fundamentally, they don't believe we have a right to exist.

Period.

Governer Carcieri, you are a hateful bigot and history will judge you accordingly.

Where is Obama and the Democratic Party on this stuff, especially now that support for ENDA is weakening? LGBT folks should no longer allow themselves to be thrown under the bus by the Democrats, who happily take our money and votes,  make all sorts of promises, and then swiftly dump us the moment it becomes convenient to do so. As far as I'm concerned the Democrats all are complicit in the discrimination of LGBT folks and should be treated accordingly.

Nor should gay people accept our fellow Americans' pitiful excuse that there are more important issues at hand like the economy or the war. Nope. No more. I am not a citizen of the country in which I was born, so I don't really give two shits about your stock portfolio. Nothing comes before my civil rights. NOTHING.

No more money. No more votes. Let the Democrats join our fight for equality or lose us.

PLEASE DON'T KILL ME. IT'S A HATE CRIME.

The Bea Arthur estate left $300,000 dollars to the Ali Fornay center, which helps homeless LGBT kids. This is reason number eleventy-billion that Bea was a hep, hep chick. Thank you for being a friend, Bea. You make me want to do The Urkel.

In other gay news, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act became law today. Hooray! Hopefully the law might help prevent more gay dudes being beaten to death and left for dead, or dissuade white supremacists from dragging a black guy from the back of their truck.

I've never understood why some people don't feel hate crime laws are necessary (bigots aside.) It's no surprise of course that these people, in general, are not minorities and thusly don't spend a large portion of their time watching their backs, but that's neither here nor there. A crime is a crime, right? Violence is violence? Not so much. When you murder a dude you're committing a crime against him. When you murder a black dude because he's black, you're actually committing a symbolic crime against the entire black community. You're sending a messgae that all black people are deserving of murder. It's a form of terrorism.

AM I CRAZY? AMERICA, YOU KILL ME.

I'm really upset about this Joe Lieberman news.

Really, dude? Really?

In a lot of ways, I don't understand the health car debate in general because, in my mind, it's really quite simple. In spite of how complicated ethics and politics and so on can seem, some things really are a matter of right and wrong.

My view may seem simplistic, but letting 45,000 people die this year because they don't have insurance is wrong. Period.

Why aren't the pious Christians fighting for health care? Oh, right. They're busy stripping away civil rights. That's okay. Obama doesn't care about gay people either.

Goldman Sachs increasing its employee compensation by 46 % after a tax payer bailout is wrong, yes?

On a local level, Bloomberg is about to buy an election and nobody seems to care. Awesome!

I feel really sad about America. I thought we could do better, but maybe Bill Maher is right. Maybe we're just not a good people. Maybe we do have the government we deserve. God damn, America is right. Where is Reverend Wright when you need him? 

I keep wishing I were French.

DON'T BE A SUCKER.

I wanted to do one  last post for today. If you are a LGBT person or ally who is sick of getting thrown under the bus by Democrats who only care about you equality long enough to get your votes or money, then support the Respect for Marriage Act. For me, going forward, nobody is getting a single cent (let alone a vote) unless the are in favor of full marriage equality, ending DOMA and DADT, and enacting tough anti-discrimantion laws. And that includes Barack Obama.

The following is a list of sponsors of the act, and if your representative isn't on it then you should freeze them out until they are. Ahem. Take note that Pelosi and Barney frank are not on it. No more money from the gAyTM!

Rep Abercrombie, Neil [HI-1]
Rep Ackerman, Gary L. [NY-5]
Rep Andrews, Robert E. [NJ-1]
Rep Arcuri, Michael A. [NY-24]
Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2]
Rep Becerra, Xavier [CA-31]
Rep Berkley, Shelley [NV-1]
Rep Berman, Howard L. [CA-28]
Rep Blumenauer, Earl [OR-3]
Rep Brady, Robert A. [PA-1]
Rep Capps, Lois [CA-23]
Rep Capuano, Michael E. [MA-8]
Rep Castor, Kathy [FL-11]
Rep Chu, Judy [CA-32]
Rep Clarke, Yvette D. [NY-11]
Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1]
Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14]
Rep Courtney, Joe [CT-2]
Rep Crowley, Joseph [NY-7]
Rep Davis, Susan A. [CA-53]
Rep DeGette, Diana [CO-1]Rep Delahunt, Bill [MA-10]
Rep DeLauro, Rosa L. [CT-3]
Rep Doyle, Michael F. [PA-14]
Rep Edwards, Donna F. [MD-4]
Rep Ellison, Keith [MN-5]
Rep Engel, Eliot L. [NY-17]
Rep Farr, Sam [CA-17]
Rep Fattah, Chaka [PA-2]
Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51]
Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7]
Rep Gutierrez, Luis V. [IL-4]
Rep Hall, John J. [NY-19]
Rep Harman, Jane [CA-36]
Rep Hastings, Alcee L. [FL-23]
Rep Heinrich, Martin [NM-1]
Rep Himes, James A. [CT-4]
Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. [NY-22]
Rep Hirono, Mazie K. [HI-2]
Rep Hodes, Paul W. [NH-2]
Rep Holt, Rush D. [NJ-12]
Rep Honda, Michael M. [CA-15]
Rep Israel, Steve [NY-2]
Rep Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. [IL-2]
Rep Johnson, Henry C. "Hank," Jr. [GA-4]
Rep Kennedy, Patrick J. [RI-1]
Rep Kilroy, Mary Jo [OH-15]
Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10]
Rep Larson, John B. [CT-1]
Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9]
Rep Lewis, John [GA-5]
Rep Lofgren, Zoe [CA-16]
Rep Lowey, Nita M. [NY-18]
Rep Lujan, Ben Ray [NM-3]
Rep Lynch, Stephen F. [MA-9]
Rep Maffei, Daniel B. [NY-25]
Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. [NY-14]
Rep Markey, Edward J. [MA-7]
Rep Matsui, Doris O. [CA-5]
Rep McCollum, Betty [MN-4]
Rep McDermott, Jim [WA-7]
Rep McGovern, James P. [MA-3]
Rep Meeks, Gregory W. [NY-6]
Rep Miller, George [CA-7]
Rep Moran, James P. [VA-8]
Rep Murphy, Christopher S. [CT-5]
Rep Napolitano, Grace F. [CA-38]
Rep Norton, Eleanor Holmes [DC]
Rep Olver, John W. [MA-1]
Rep Pallone, Frank, Jr. [NJ-6]
Rep Pastor, Ed [AZ-4]
Rep Payne, Donald M. [NJ-10]
Rep Pingree, Chellie [ME-1]
Rep Polis, Jared [CO-2]
Rep Quigley, Mike [IL-5]
Rep Rangel, Charles B. [NY-15]
Rep Rothman, Steven R. [NJ-9]
Rep Roybal-Allard, Lucille [CA-34]
Rep Sanchez, Linda T. [CA-39]
Rep Sarbanes, John P. [MD-3]
Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9]
Rep Scott, Robert C. "Bobby" [VA-3]
Rep Serrano, Jose E. [NY-16]
Rep Sestak, Joe [PA-7]
Rep Shea-Porter, Carol [NH-1]
Rep Sherman, Brad [CA-27]
Rep Speier, Jackie [CA-12]
Rep Stark, Fortney Pete [CA-13]
Rep Tierney, John F. [MA-6]
Rep Tonko, Paul D. [NY-21]
Rep Towns, Edolphus [NY-10]
Rep Tsongas, Niki [MA-5]
Rep Velazquez, Nydia M. [NY-12]
Rep Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [FL-20]
Rep Watson, Diane E. [CA-33]
Rep Waxman, Henry A. [CA-30]
Rep Weiner, Anthony D. [NY-9]
Rep Welch, Peter [VT]
Rep Wexler, Robert [FL-19]
Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6]
Rep Wu, David [OR-1]

TODAY IN WTF!

Elder Dallin H. Oaks, the current head of the Church of Latter Day Saints, has said that Mormons are now as discriminated against as the blacks were during the civil rights era. he's talking about the boycotts and protests that happened after Prop 8 passed in California, which was by and large the doing of the Mormon church.

"In their effect they are like well-known and widely condemned voter-intimidation of blacks in the South that produced corrective federal civil-rights legislation."

The nerve of this guy! After his church lead the way in removing the human rights from thousands upon thousands of Californians he has the nerve to play the victim all because some fags no longer patronize his cousin Billy's burrito restaurant or whatever? As if. 

The ability of Christians (and in this case Mormons) to play the victim while at the same time using their religious beliefs to batter minority communities is astounding. It's called a victim complex, Oaks. Read up on it.

Need I point out that this is the same church that didn't allow black members until 1978? This from the church whose founder had the following to say of blacks:

You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind .... Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race-that they should be the 'servant of servants'; and they will be, until that curse is removed; and the Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least alter that decree.

Bitch, nuh-hunh.

Oh, and just for fun, here's an old LDS created cartoon that explains the tenants of Mormonism quite nicely.

There's a great post on Pam Spaulding's blog about this.

FAKE IT 'TIL YOU MAKE IT.

This is an entry about theater, elitism, and the great class divide, so if you came here to read about fake nails or forgotten New Wave bands, come back in a bit or read the archives. I know, I know... writing about theater is boring. My photo essay on Witchboard should be coming later today, or first thing tomorrow, so come back then.

That said...

The Boyfriend and I were walking to a friend's house in Williamsburg last night when we started talking about a certain theater "opportunity" I've applied to, but haven't heard back from. I apply to it every year, and although it's supposedly for emerging artists, it's really for already biggish names and anybody willing to suck a few dicks (figuratively speaking).

But I'm not bitter. I prefer the dick suckers to the rich kids. At least I can compete against them.

I've also been thinking a lot about this stuff in regards to the O' Neill and fake submission opportunities in general. Further, I've been toying with the idea of applying to graduate school. I'm not even sure I actually want to go to graduate school. It's just that sometimes it seems to me that one has to have an Ivy league MFA to be a working playwright.

I'm not against education, but I think it's a problem that theaters use the MFA programs like NBC uses the up fronts: as a preview of what's to come. The training programs are supposed to be training programs, aren't they? I'm okay with fancy pants Ivy Leaguers doing well too, but it would be nice if those Lit Managers and Artistic Directors were also going to see Off Off shows and researching scripts from out of town as well, wouldn't it? That way, some of us lower class writers would have a shot. At least then we'd have some different voices.

It seems to me that plays are always about rich white people, written by rich white people, to be performed exclusively for rich white people. I wonder how much of that is because of the MFA programs? Contrary to popular belief, these programs aren't exclusively merit based. Most of them are cost prohibitory for working class or middle class students. The free programs only take a couple of students a year, and what are the chances that a nobody from Kentucky is going to get in over somebody who went the best private schools, an Ivy undergrad, and whose parents' financial support enabled them to not work so they could complete impressive internships?

I guess it's probably just under dog-ism, and I'm not sure how much of it is real or imagined, but it's a miracle I've even gotten as far as I have. I sometimes feel as if I started crawling to New York as a baby. It's been a long and painful journey. Until I moved here with $150 in 2003, I'd never even met somebody who went to an Ivy league school or had a trust fund. My mother is a secretary and my father is in the Navy, for God's sake. I was the first person in my family to ever go to college, and it was by way of heavy loans, scholarships, and sheer ingenuity. In order to get through college, move to New York, and make self produce my first few plays I had to do things that would make your average Harvard freshman cry. Seriously, like, whoa. 

I don't mean to sound all "poor me". I've come a long way and done a lot of awesome stuff. I'm also deceptively scrappy and tough (seriously, there were days when I would have pushed you in front of a train in exchange for a Big Mac), so I hate to seem whiny or weak. It' s just frustrating because I feel caught between two classes, and I struggle with anger when I see people who aren't necessarily any more talented than me getting opportunities I wanted because they have more pedigree. 

So I was discussing this with The Boyfriend when I joked that i should just put "MFA, Yale" on resume. Without thinking, he said, "Why don't you?"

It's so obvious! I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before, especially since I have an obsession with the old fashioned Dandies: working class or middle class men who broke into high society by impersonating it and then, like Oscar Wilde, doing it better than them.

This is a lesson I've already learned a number of times. The last time I learned it I was 21 and had just moved to New York. I learned that if you could manage to look stylish and rich then the stylish and rich will let you in anywhere. You can easily accomplish this by shoplifting, maxing out credit cards, borrowing clothes from rich kids, and convincing horny old men to take you shopping. Why, to this day I still call restaurants as my imaginary assistant, Marco, when I want a hard-to-get reservation. You'd be surprised how much it helps.

In that spirit, I am adding the following to my resume. Let me know of any other cool things you think I should add. Also, it should be said that some of these aren't crazy elitist, but just things I would have liked to have accomplished, but haven't, so I'm just going to skip ahead and pretend I did:

MFA, Yale

The O' Neill

Humana Festival

SoHo Writer/Director Lab

Ars Nova Playgroup

P73

TARHEARTED READERS HAVE ADDED:

SPF

McCarthy Genius Award

I know there must be others.

Hearts,

Joshua Conkel of the Hansville, Washington Conkels

P.S. After I posted this I came up with an idea: why doesn't somebody in an MFA program post all of their assignements and readings on an anonymous blog so that everybody can get an MFA vicariously? VicariousMasters.blogspot.com. Come on.... make it happen!

DIE QUICKLY.

Rep. Alan Grayson, of Florida, used an after hours speech last night to mockingly describe the Republicans health care position:

"If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: die quickly. That's right -- the Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick."

"Remember, the Republican plan: Don't get sick. And if you do get sick, die quickly."

You can read more here. The Republicans are angry and already comparing it to Joe Wilson's "you lie" outburst. I'd like to point out a couple of crucial difference though.

1. Joe Wilson's outburst was during a Presidential speech. Alan Grayson's was during an after hours format designed for speakers to discuss the topic of their choice.

2. Grayson's speech was funny and not racist.

Doesn't it feel good to tell the truth? For all of their nay saying, Republicans have no alternative to Democratic health care proposals becuase- wait for it- they don't want health care to be reformed at all. I'll lump those so-called "blue dog" Democrats in there as well.

Yesterdays failure to pas seither bill with a public option is a clear indicator that the people's will doesn't matter anymore and that we live in a country run by corporations. Those not in favor of a public option state that it would unfairly run private insurance companies out of business.

Excuse me?

Not fair to insurance companies?

A recent stufy showed that 45,000 were going to die this year from a lack of health insurance. that's more than one 9/11 a month. What about what's fair to them? I'm almost afraid to ask, but do profits matter more than people to Republicans and fake Democrats?

THANKS FOR NOTHING, AMERICA. YOU'RE FAT AND UGLY AND I HATE YOU. ALSO, YOU SMELL LIKE HAM.

Those fucking fuck fucks. They just shot down the first go at a public option. Read the full story at The Huffington Post.

Really, America? REALLY?

You know what? I just can't anymore. I'm French now. Are you happy? You made me French. I refuse to stand with the fatso, Christianist, mouth breathing, bottom feeders. Nor do I want to live under the rule of corporate hogs. So I'm done with America and I officially hate Capitalism. I'm now a French Socialist.

CRAZIES.

My girl Rachel Maddow had Frank Schaeffer on her show recently to talk about Evangelical Christians and it was, in a word, AMAZING.

Here is one part I particularly like. I feel like it gets to the heart of this thing.

MADDOW: How do you work to move people off of that position? It doesn’t seem like facts are relevant [to them] in trying to move people away from these beliefs.

SCHAEFFER: You don’t work to move them off this position. You move past them. Look, a village cannot reorganize village life to suit the village idiot. It’s as simple as that. And we have a village idiot in this country called fundamentalist Christianity…. There is no end to this stuff. Why? Because this subculture has as its fundamentalist faith that they distrust facts. They believe in a young earth 6,000 years old with dinosaurs [living at the same time as] human beings….  This is la-la land.

See? AMAZING. I hope against hope that people in this country are finally starting to speak out against those aggressively ignorant people who denigrate reason and expect our society to bend to their make believe. Enough is enough. No more crazies at the table.

NOTHING IS SACRED.

This story from The Arizona Daily Star just made my head explode.

Governor Jan Brewer, the leather face you see pictured, signed away domestic partner benefits that were enacted last year with one little signature. Why? Because God told her to.

This is yet another example of why the separation of church and state has to be tirelessly fought for. As liberals, we tend to try and be the party of inclusiveness, which is wonderful except when Evangelicals have spent the past twenty-five years successfully chipping away at the separation of church and state.

Social contract states that we're supposed to be respectful of each others' religions. I say bullshit. I resent the idea that I'm supposed to be respectful of people's religious beliefs, even when those beliefs seek to marginalize me and my family to second-class citizenship. I'm tired of watching reason erode because of the mouth breathers' sky god.

I say ask questions and ask them often. If people are so secure in their beliefs then they should be perfectly willing to answer questions about them. Par example: why is it okay for you to pick and choose which ancient scripture you choose to follow, revised time and time again by men, and throw away what you feel isn't relevant? How can you believe that Adam and Eve were the first humans when science proves that this isn't so? Where do you think heaven and hell exist and, assuming they don't exist on a physical plane, what exactly is the science behind all this? Etc.

We cannot afford to live in a Christian Theocracy. Theocracies are really for Muslims, and I think both religions suck about the same.