I should have done this during early voting. But if you haven’t voted yet, and you either don’t plan to vote today or don’t know why you should be voting AGAINST Amendment One, here’s why:
The rights of ALL UNMARRIED COUPLES will be restricted
Discrimination will be embedded in the state constitution, reminiscent of the 1875 amendment that passed to ban interracial marriage
Health insurance access to unmarried couples and their children will be restricted
Domestic violence protections for unmarried couples for will jeopardized
No civil unions will not be a possibility; again, domestic partnerships other than heterosexual marriages will have zero recognition under state law
The state’s economy will suffer; businesses that value diversity and equal rights for employees will not relocate to N.C.
AND
I have friends who have been happily partnered for many years. They long to be parents. They are in the process of adopting. North Carolina will allow them to adopt, and they’ll be terrific parents. However, if the amendment passed, only one of them will have the right to legally be the child’s parent. This is ridiculous, it’s terrible for children, and it will be the law, unless a majority of voters vote against the amendment tomorrow.
I’ve said my peace. May my state do the right thing tomorrow.
Amendment One is not merely “the gay marriage amendment”. But the impetus for the amendment, its sponsors will tell you, is the word of God, and God’s condemnation of homosexuality.
I don’t study the Bible. Fortunately, President Bartlet does.
That’s just an arbitrary number. It may be somewhere between zero and five. And you may not necessarily be planning to vote for Amendment 1. You may just not be planning to vote. (And I’m just referring to those reading this who live in North Carolina.) This post may not change your mind. I’ll post something else later that might. But I saw this and thought this guy Zach Wahls is a great spokesperson for why The Amendment is bad. It is NOT “the marriage amendment”, by the way. Remember, same-sex marriage is already illegal in North Carolina. The Amendment will potentially deny all unmarried couples rights that they may currently enjoy. Well, more on that in another post. Just watch this.
Yeah, he was the “New Year’s Eve icon”, but he was so much more. He produced over a hundred television specials. He hosted American Bandstand for 25 years. He hosted various incarnations of Pyramid for over two decades, for thousands of episodes. He hosted the Bloopers & Practical Jokes shows with Ed McMahon for many years. Even if there had never been a Rockin’ Eve, he’d have been an icon. But, yes, he was iconic for braving the crowds and the weather for 25 years. And then he braved the judgments of many who thought he had no business going on camera to host after he had suffered a massive stroke.
This is not Herman:
This is Herman:
Uncanny, isn’t it? The markings aren’t quite the same, but everything else about them is. (Maybe the ears are different; I never really noticed that Hermans point back and don’t naturally flop.) The dog on top is Blackie, who very recently passed away from cancer at about the same age that Herman probably is now. He came from the same part of Wake County where Herman was found. The dog’s owners commented on here a couple of days ago to tell me all about Blackie and the possibility that Herman and Blackie could be related. This has really touched me. Herman has been getting hugs the past couple of days.
I have known John since he moved to Durham. He is intelligent and well-educated on the issues facing Durham. He is young, but politically experienced. The average age of a Durham County Commissioner is roughly 60, and we need fresh leadership. John came to Durham because, of all the places coast-to-coast, he felt this was the right place to raise his family. He is not an establishment candidate. He may be the most progressive candidate, but he is also thoughtul and takes a nuanced approach to complicated issues.
I think he’ll make Durham proud as a great County Commissioner.
I just sent in an application for grad school. I’ve been contemplating this for about four months. I haven’t posted about it, because I didn’t let very many people know. I wasn’t sure if I would do it, all the way up until quite recently.
I have considered several different areas of study over the past, I’d say, one to three years. No, I’d say I’ve considered several different areas of study for the past 12 years, since failed attempts at going to grad school for psychology. There are so many reasons why I haven’t applied to anything until now, and I won’t go into them.
As far as this last chapter of grad school planning, I initially developed a strong interest in a local program. It would have been essentially full-time, though, somehow people tend to find time to work full-time as well. I wasn’t sure what I’d do. I ultimately decided the program wasn’t for me. Maybe I thought it wasn’t for me because I wasn’t sure that I’d get in. I spent most of December and January figuring I’d apply, and the idea faded away. I don’t know if that was the right decision, but that opportunity is off the table now.
Then I considered an online program through a very good university that isn’t based around here. This would be a part-time program, which I convinced myself made more sense than a full-time program. Still an online program, the very notion of it, gave me pause. I countered to myself that online programs are extremely common now, and despite some definite advantages of the physical campus, online degrees are simply practical. I had done the research on the university. It would be a quality degree.
I rushed to sign up for the GRE and spent much of January studying for it. Actually, I had spent a good part of December studying for the GMAT. I actually wasn’t planning to go for an MBA, but the GMAT actually made more sense for what I was planning to apply for at the time. Come January, the GRE made more sense. And so I took the GRE at the end of January, and I did fairly well. I was a bit disappointed to not have done better on the Qualitative portion, but I think it was good enough.
I rushed with the GRE becaue I had a mid-February deadline for this online program. Then, the first week of February, I was presented with a potential opportunity at my job, something that completely threw me for a loop, enough so to give me pause about grad school.
And I did pause. And pause and pause some more. February wrapped up without an application. My main hesitation to really that I didn’t want to ask people for recommendations if I wasn’t going to follow through an actually apply…or follow through if I were accepted somewhere. This probably wasn’t the best reason to procrastinate. In reality, even if I took on a new job role at work that gave me something completely different to do, a part-time degree can take at least three years to complete, and I probably would want something else to do in three years anyway.
So, enter the month of March. The new job role possibility seemed to be hitting roadblocks. There was still another deadline of mid-May for a later start date for this program.
However, all along, I had in mind a different online program, also through a quality university. And that’s the one I decided I’d apply to. The past few weeks, my mind has been focused on the application for this program. The application is due tomorrow, either midnight tomorrow or midnight in a half-hour tonight. You’d think I would’ve asked for clarification on that. I did not. So I’ve submitted my application. The deed is done.
I’ll find out if I’ve been accepted in about a month. If I’m accepted, I’d start very quickly, in mid-June.
This isn’t the traditional type of grad program that most people consider when they think of grad school. I’ve had to get over that, or at least try to. As much as grad students complain about grad school and warn others against it, I still have always had a romanticized view of “going to grad school”. I know way too many people who went on to advanced degree, and I’ve always had advanced-degree-envy. But I’m not “going to grad school”. This is not so much an academic pursuit as it is a professional one. I’m not going for a degree in something that is completely removed from what I already do. I’m going for something that will allow me to get out of that thing I’ve been doing for 15 years, that everyone I know knows I can’t stand.
So…WHAT EXACTLY AM I APPLYING FOR?
I don’t want to say here, because, if I get into this program, I won’t want anyone associated with the program to easily uncover this site. So I’m happy to tell you privately.
Yeah, he was the “New Year’s Eve icon”, but he was so much more. He produced over a hundred television specials. He hosted American Bandstand for 25 years. He hosted various incarnations of Pyramid for over two decades, for thousands of episodes. He hosted the Bloopers & Practical Jokes shows with Ed McMahon for many years. Even if there had never been a Rockin’ Eve, he’d have been an icon. But, yes, he was iconic for braving the crowds and the weather for 25 years. And then he braved the judgments of many who thought he had no business going on camera to host after he had suffered a massive stroke.
I am wading into local politics for the first time in a few years, and I would appreciate it if you could take a minute to visit 
