new york pride, plus other kvetching and kvelling

i got a lot of vitamin d last weekend. i spent saturday in a park in flushing with the shelter adoption van. for part of the day, i was handling two dogs at once. thank god one was a sedentary pug and the other was a chilled-out little poodle. i really saw the difference i made with the pug. i suspect she'd been abused (and had also been used as a breeder dog) by her former human. she was so scared to have anyone touch her at the beginning of the day. by the end, she was snuggled up in my lap with her eyes closing and a big smile as i pet her. it really means a lot to me that so much affection from me, the other volunteers, and all of the folks who came by the van, had such an impact. it will really allow her to be adopted more quickly. we're resocializing her to be a dog who expects to be treated well, because we at the shelter will make sure that she's NEVER mistreated again. we are always careful about who we adopt out to.

on sunday, i had my first new york pride parade experience. i didn't just see it; i was in it. my friend and her girlfriend work at an organization that provides support to queer youth. the organization was a contingent in the parade. lots of the kids, many staff, and some volunteers marched. we also had a float. it was amazing to support the kids and to be a part of this experience. there were shitloads of people all along the parade route. we walked 60 or so blocks. i noticed that many of the folks watching the parade were people of color. some had flags waving from caribbean, south american and african nations. there were also lots of folks who'd come in from the tri-state area. i wouldn't be surprised if there were folks who'd come from other regions of the u.s. and from other countries to see this huge parade. is it the biggest pride parade in the world? i don't know. all i know is that the few elite queers, some of whom happen to be in the business of writing in magazines and on blogs, are DEAD WRONG when they say that pride is "passe", "unnecessary" and "boring". maybe for your new york privileged queer ass it is. you make your big money and have your chelsea condo, and gay rights don't seem like such an issue anymore. nah, you're doing fine. why is anyone yelling about gay rights and marching in these parades nowadays? it's so 1990s. well, here are a few things i have to say to you privileged queer folks, whose declarations of the waning importance of pride i've read on blogs and in articles: YOU ARE A PRIVILEGED FEW. MOST QUEER PEOPLE ON PLANET EARTH FACE A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT OF HOMOPHOBIA AND HETEROSEXISM TO THIS DAY. nice for you that you have your circle of friends, and great job and wonderful apartment and little havens in chelsea or the west village or park slope. but, most queer people in new york city are NOT AT ALL as fortunate as you are. most of us are from families and from backgrounds and live in neighborhoods where it ain't fucking okay to be queer. most queer folks in the u.s. DON'T live in the safe havens one can find in the big apple or in san fran, etc. maybe it's more acceptable to be queer in a certain demographic (which happens to have control over what is printed in papers and magazines and has more access to blogging and the like). so, just because your bougie ass is now doing fine, you're throwing in the towel on the gay rights movement? thousands of your fellow queers here in new york are still struggling terribly. just ask some of the kids at the organization i marched with. just ask the folks screaming along the lines waving trinidadian, puerto rican, brazilian, venezuelan, nigerian, russian, polish, korean flags. their home cultures may be totally unaccepting of queer folks, but these people had the opportunity to feel totally safe among this lgbt community on the day of pride. the people from homogenous suburbs around the area, along with folks from the large swaths of the u.s.a. where conservatism and conformism reign supreme, were sure as FUCK not thinking that pride was "passe". so, please stop being so fucking selfish and ignorant, and proclaiming that pride and the movement for gay rights is "old" just because you THINK you don't really have to deal with the prejudice anymore. if you truly are for gay rights, you will fight, scream, march and dance until EVERY LAST QUEER PERSON on planet earth can TOTALLY live in peace out in the open. you may think that everything's peachy-keen for you, but remember this simple saying: "NO ONE IS FREE WHEN OTHERS ARE OPPRESSED".

to kvell a bit more about pride: i loved screaming, waving, blowing whistles, dancing, hugging folks, laughing, supporting, watching fierce vogue moves, and helping to create a huge and awesome NEW YORK PRIDE 2007!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

other news: my job is great. the lawyer i assist rocks mah world. i have one more week here. she wants to keep me longer. she says she'd permanently hire me if i weren't going back to school, but i don't think the company is going to pay for me to stay here after the new paralegal begins work after the end of next week.

i might move on sunday or monday or something. it's not for sure yet. i still have soooo much packing and cleaning to do, and i don't yet have the keys to the place. mr. j is at a leftist conference in atlanta until monday. egads! oh, well. my friend from whom i'm currently subletting isn't coming back until the third week of july. still, i wanna move soon!!!

more animal news: i found a dead squirrel and a dead baby bird. i put the bird on top of moritz's grave. i left the squirrel alone. i can't deal with another squirrel burial. fireflies visit me every evening around 8:45-9 p.m. i'm so happy to watch them! there's an ancient cat that comes around the house nowadays. i wish he'd let me pet him.

things are progressing with getting ready for school. i am signing up for "early arrival" health insurance through the school. i'm gonna get an id card. my e-mail is set up. et cetera. YAY!!!

i wrote a letter to PETA in response to ingrid newkirk's fat-phobic and rude letter to michael moore. i got a condescending e-mail response by a man from PETA, whose name i won't mention, who backed up newkirk's sizeist blitherings and said he knew that it was possible to be vegan AND fat: there were lots of unhealthy vegan snacks out there, after all. Here's my response to him (via e-mail): "Thanks for your message, ____, but I still find some fat-phobia in your message, and I think that PETA as an organization has issues with fat-phobia and the objectification of women. As for the fat-phobic comments in your message: not all fat people gorge on junk food, so if you meet a fat vegan, please don't assume they're gorging on potato chips and vegan chocolate. There are many issues affecting weight. A lot of the vegetarians and vegans I know are fat. Some are skinny. Some are average. Whatever. You guys at PETA need to focus on health, not weight. PETA is totally buying into the whole thinness obsession that *mainstream America* has (I emphasize mainstream because many subcultures here, and many cultures in this world, do not glorify thinness). PETA's literature on vegetarians, its advertisements, and its website graphics show only pictures of thin or average-size people. This does not reflect the diversity of folks who are compassionate eaters. Just remember that size discrimination is the most accepted form of bigotry in our country nowadays. Fat people can be very healthy. I am one of them. Thin does not equal health. Sometimes, the attainment and maintenance of thinness involves very unhealthy eating habits. I know some veg folks whose animal-free diets mask eating disorders. There are many fat folks who are that way because of gorging on animal products. I have also personally seen many thin or average size folks who never see a green thing on their plates. The issue of weight and diet is much more complex than society would like us to think. There are many industries making millions off of these simplifications. I wish that PETA would be more progressive and aware of the bullshit simplifications that society peddles about people. It also needs to spend more of its energy on educating people as to the cold hard facts of animal suffering. Scantily-clad women who are beautiful in a Barbie-esque way aren't necessary. I'd like to see more PETA funding going into its investigations and exposees. It would be great to see more blatant truths about factory farms, fur farms, circuses, puppy mills, etc. to be broadcasted through every medium by PETA. PETA needs not contribute to the dumbification of American media by resorting to the kind of advertising crap that swells our collective consciousness. And if PETA wants to show images of healthy, happy veg folks, please include healthy people of all walks of life (yes, including the healthy veg fat folks). Thank you for your time." yup, looks like this ass-kickin' fat New York veg gurl has just entered PETA's radar screen. I have lots more respect for the way HSUS goes about things, but I will continue to support PETA for the things it DOES do right. This needs to be heard by the kind of asshole "animal rights" people who are totally ignorant of issues of cruelty and inequality in the HUMAN race. let me educate you assholes: ANIMAL RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS ARE INSEPARABLE. some of you animal rights folks don't get that simple fact, just like many of you human rights folks are so fucking ignorant and callous about the issues of the other millions of species we share this earth with. wake up, people.

gotta go for now.