For 2013 I only made one resolution. It's bad form to tell you what it is, so I'll just say that it has something to do with Melissa McCarthy. Got my fingers crossed.
For the Winter Solstice, a friend gave me an engraved cube of burnished lead on which is etched, "Angels fly because they take themselves lightly." Lead and flying angels. Like an ironic pet rock. I don't know if she intended it and I won't Pema Chodron you, but that is the dilemma isn't it? How to live lightly amid heavy times.
Certain anonymous programs, that shall of course remain nameless, counsel an attitude of gratitude for hard times. I am grateful for my dear life partner, my work, my health and my family and friends. They have seen me through crass idiocy, violence, endless greed, cruelty, illness and loss of shoreline.
For me there is no better way to start my year going in the light direction than attending the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) Creating Change Conference. NGLTF is expecting 3,500 LGBT activists from all over the world -- including China, Honduras and Uganda - for its 25th convening in Atlanta, January 24-28.
Half the participants are under 30 -- buoyantly radical, practical and can-do queers. While I hope for good results with the Supreme Court decisions on DOMA and Prop 8 -- a girl can hope -- I know that with these LGBT activists, the heavy lifting on racial and economic justice, transgender violence, homelessness, school bullying and HIV-AIDS will continue.
Not like I'm kicking back. My Sis-Boom-Bah tour will celebrate the sisters, the boom in LGBT equality, and bah to those who are in our way! I'm no angel. Hope to see you at Creating Change or out on the road! Bring your pom poms!