| You are White Chocolate |
 |
What Kind of Chocolate Are You?
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Cool, I like lilies anyway! They are May's flower and I was born in May! Hey, that rhymed! :-D
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So, I'm like...loving a good friend. I hope that's not a Bert and Ernie "Sesame Street" type love! :-p
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Friday, May 12, 2006
What type of girlfriend am I?
| You are a Great Girlfriend |
 |
Are You a Good Girlfriend?
I'm this type of flirt...
| You Are a Coy Flirt! |
 |
What Kind of Flirt Are You?
| Your Dream Engagement Ring Has a Heart Diamond! |
 You wear your heart on your sleeve, so of course you should also wear it on your ring. A heart diamond is the perfect choice for highlighting your passionate disposition. Only a true romantic can get away with wearing this ring. Luckily, that's you. And only a true romantic can give you this ring, so make sure you find him...! |
I'm such a girl!
| You Are Girly Sexy |
 |
What Kind of Sexy Are You?
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Breaking her silence (Gay)Mary Cheney denounces anti-gay amendment, but critics say it’s too little too late
FEATURE/PROFILES
Breaking her silence (Gay)Mary Cheney denounces anti-gay amendment, but critics say it’s too little too late
By KATHERINE VOLIN Thursday, May 11, 2006
Mary Cheney broke her long record of silence on gay issues this week with a PR blitz that would make Tom Cruise proud.
After years of criticism from activists who said Vice President Dick Cheney’s lesbian daughter should have lobbied publicly for gay rights instead of working for the Bush-Cheney campaigns, the woman who once preferred to fly under the radar was suddenly everywhere, from "Primetime Live" to "Larry King" to the Washington Post. It was an unlikely week in the spotlight for a woman normally found behind the scenes.
During her father’s tenure in office, Mary Cheney has resisted sharing her opinions on gay marriage, gay adoption or other gay issues, even as her father’s boss spoke out against gay civil rights.
"She has been put in a unique place to make more difference than all of us can make combined," gay activist John Aravosis told the Blade in 2004. "With power comes responsibility."
Tired of what he saw as Mary Cheney’s irresponsibility, Aravosis launched a website, DearMary.com, in February of 2004 that challenged Cheney on her silence regarding Bush’s call for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
At the time, Cheney was serving as the re-election campaign director for her father. The site generated thousands of letters to Cheney asking for her to speak out against the anti-gay rhetoric of the Bush campaign. Characteristically, Cheney issued no response.
IN A REVERSAL of that silence, Cheney, 37, has written a book titled, "Now It’s My Turn: A Daughter’s Chronicle of Political Life," that was published on May 9 by Threshold Editions whose editor in chief is Mary Matalin, a noted gay-friendly Republican politico and Cheney adviser. Matalin did not respond to a request for comment about the book. Cheney reportedly received a $1 million advance for her story.
The book focuses primarily on Mary Cheney’s political experiences, but includes her story of coming out to her parents and the revelation that President Bush once offered her the chance to issue a public statement in response to the administration’s amendment effort. She declined the opportunity.
When she appeared on ABC’s "Primetime Live" on May 4, Cheney said she was conflicted about maintaining her position on the 2004 campaign and decided not to attend the State of the Union address in which President Bush called for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
"I didn’t want to be there," Cheney told Diane Sawyer. "No one banned me from being there, but I didn’t want to stand up and cheer."
Cheney also said that most of her disagreements over the political stances of her father and President Bush were held in private.
"The president knows that I disagree with him," Cheney said. "Can you be too respectful of the leader of the free world? Can you be too respectful of the president of the United States?" she said later when Sawyer questioned whether she held back too much.
REACTION TO MARY Cheney’s decision to come out publicly with her views on gay marriage were mixed.
"It’s extremely disappointing that she did not use the opportunity that the president gave her … to make a statement against the administration’s policy on same-sex marriage and the marriage amendment," says Pam Spaulding, a lesbian activist who writes a political blog at www.pamspaulding.com. "That is the one thing you walk away from that confirms her cowardice."
Spaulding says that Cheney’s missed opportunity to speak out against the constitutional amendment may have cost gays and lesbians marriage rights at the state level.
"How many lives could have been changed for ordinary gays and lesbians if she would have said something during the campaign," Spaulding says. "From the time she was working on her father’s campaign until now, how many marriage amendments were on the ballot? She chose silence."
Candice Gingrich, senior youth outreach manager for the Human Rights Campaign and the lesbian half-sister of former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, took a very different path when her brother was in office than the one chosen by Mary Cheney.
"I knew if there was this opportunity to talk about issues that I cared deeply about and have people listen, that I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I hadn’t taken that opportunity," Gingrich says.
She added that she didn’t believe sharing her opinion publicly was disrespectful to her half brother.
"I couldn’t believe that he would ever begrudge me for taking a stance in what I believed in, even if it was completely opposite of what he said," Gingrich says.
Although Gingrich made very different choices than Mary Cheney, she says that Cheney needed to speak out in her own time.
"I’m grateful that she’s speaking out now," Gingrich says. "I know that she feels very strongly about the marriage issue and having a voice like hers now a month out before the Senate debate on the marriage amendment is important."
PATRICK GUERRIERO, PRESIDENT of gay political group the Log Cabin Republicans, agrees that Cheney’s timing shows a critical shift in conservative thinking on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
"I think we’re seeing a growing sentiment that there are a lot of good Republicans, good conservatives, who think we should not be playing politics with the American Constitution," Guerriero says.
Guerriero also says the "Primetime Live" interview showed that Cheney’s decision not to share her political viewpoints was a difficult choice for her.
"A lot of folks were quite harsh and scrutinized Mary Cheney during that whole period and I think many of us were unaware of the kind of conversations she had and her reflections on leaving the campaign and it showed someone who was trying to find a balance between family and politics and personal integrity," Guerriero says.
DURING HER "PRIMETIME LIVE" interview, Cheney said that it was hard for her to see her father take positions with which she disagreed. "Dinnertime can always be an adventure at the Cheney house," she said. "But those are always private discussions."
Kenji Yoshinio, a gay law professor at Yale University, wrote a book on the sociological notion of "covering," which occurs when one "downplays a stigmatized identity to help other people ignore it." In the preface of his book, "Covering: the Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights," he mentions Cheney as someone who downplayed her sexual orientation.
"My intuition is that she may be covering," Yoshino says, noting that Cheney is often shown without her partner, Heather Poe, at public events. "There’s a particular pressure for people in the public eye to background the negative aspects of their identity and foreground the positive aspects."
Gingrich agrees that the pressure can be intense.
"I think that what we saw with the ‘Where’s Mary?’ campaign is there’s sometimes more pressure put on the queer relatives," Gingrich says.
Mary Cheney timeline
1969: Mary Cheney is born.
1991: Graduates from Colorado College.
1993: Works in promotions for the Colorado Rockies baseball team
.2000: Leaves Coors, where she worked as a liaison to the gay and lesbian community to repair the rift between gays and the brewery, to work on her father’s campaign.
2002: Earns a graduate business degree from the University of Denver and serves on the advisory board of the Republican Unity Coalition.
July 2003: Becomes director of vice presidential operations for the Bush-Cheney
2004 presidential re-election campaign.
Feb. 2004: DearMary.com, a website that featured Mary Cheney’s face on a milk carton with the slogan "Where’s Mary," is launched.Aug.
2004: Alan Keyes calls Mary Cheney a "selfish hedonist."
Oct. 2004: John Kerry and John Edwards both mention Mary Cheney’s sexual orientation in the presidential and vice-presidential debates. Lynne Cheney admonishes them later in a speech, and Bush’s polls spike in what was termed the "Mary Cheney bounce."Nov. 2004: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are elected to a second term.
May 2006: Mary Cheney appears on "Primetime Live" to promote her new book: "Now It’s My Turn: A Daughter’s Chronicle of Political Life."
--------
Oh, Mary, my dear, why were you born to a republican mother and father? God truly does have a weird sense of humor, doesn't he?
Breaking her silence (Gay)Mary Cheney denounces anti-gay amendment, but critics say it’s too little too late
By KATHERINE VOLIN Thursday, May 11, 2006
Mary Cheney broke her long record of silence on gay issues this week with a PR blitz that would make Tom Cruise proud.
After years of criticism from activists who said Vice President Dick Cheney’s lesbian daughter should have lobbied publicly for gay rights instead of working for the Bush-Cheney campaigns, the woman who once preferred to fly under the radar was suddenly everywhere, from "Primetime Live" to "Larry King" to the Washington Post. It was an unlikely week in the spotlight for a woman normally found behind the scenes.
During her father’s tenure in office, Mary Cheney has resisted sharing her opinions on gay marriage, gay adoption or other gay issues, even as her father’s boss spoke out against gay civil rights.
"She has been put in a unique place to make more difference than all of us can make combined," gay activist John Aravosis told the Blade in 2004. "With power comes responsibility."
Tired of what he saw as Mary Cheney’s irresponsibility, Aravosis launched a website, DearMary.com, in February of 2004 that challenged Cheney on her silence regarding Bush’s call for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
At the time, Cheney was serving as the re-election campaign director for her father. The site generated thousands of letters to Cheney asking for her to speak out against the anti-gay rhetoric of the Bush campaign. Characteristically, Cheney issued no response.
IN A REVERSAL of that silence, Cheney, 37, has written a book titled, "Now It’s My Turn: A Daughter’s Chronicle of Political Life," that was published on May 9 by Threshold Editions whose editor in chief is Mary Matalin, a noted gay-friendly Republican politico and Cheney adviser. Matalin did not respond to a request for comment about the book. Cheney reportedly received a $1 million advance for her story.
The book focuses primarily on Mary Cheney’s political experiences, but includes her story of coming out to her parents and the revelation that President Bush once offered her the chance to issue a public statement in response to the administration’s amendment effort. She declined the opportunity.
When she appeared on ABC’s "Primetime Live" on May 4, Cheney said she was conflicted about maintaining her position on the 2004 campaign and decided not to attend the State of the Union address in which President Bush called for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
"I didn’t want to be there," Cheney told Diane Sawyer. "No one banned me from being there, but I didn’t want to stand up and cheer."
Cheney also said that most of her disagreements over the political stances of her father and President Bush were held in private.
"The president knows that I disagree with him," Cheney said. "Can you be too respectful of the leader of the free world? Can you be too respectful of the president of the United States?" she said later when Sawyer questioned whether she held back too much.
REACTION TO MARY Cheney’s decision to come out publicly with her views on gay marriage were mixed.
"It’s extremely disappointing that she did not use the opportunity that the president gave her … to make a statement against the administration’s policy on same-sex marriage and the marriage amendment," says Pam Spaulding, a lesbian activist who writes a political blog at www.pamspaulding.com. "That is the one thing you walk away from that confirms her cowardice."
Spaulding says that Cheney’s missed opportunity to speak out against the constitutional amendment may have cost gays and lesbians marriage rights at the state level.
"How many lives could have been changed for ordinary gays and lesbians if she would have said something during the campaign," Spaulding says. "From the time she was working on her father’s campaign until now, how many marriage amendments were on the ballot? She chose silence."
Candice Gingrich, senior youth outreach manager for the Human Rights Campaign and the lesbian half-sister of former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, took a very different path when her brother was in office than the one chosen by Mary Cheney.
"I knew if there was this opportunity to talk about issues that I cared deeply about and have people listen, that I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I hadn’t taken that opportunity," Gingrich says.
She added that she didn’t believe sharing her opinion publicly was disrespectful to her half brother.
"I couldn’t believe that he would ever begrudge me for taking a stance in what I believed in, even if it was completely opposite of what he said," Gingrich says.
Although Gingrich made very different choices than Mary Cheney, she says that Cheney needed to speak out in her own time.
"I’m grateful that she’s speaking out now," Gingrich says. "I know that she feels very strongly about the marriage issue and having a voice like hers now a month out before the Senate debate on the marriage amendment is important."
PATRICK GUERRIERO, PRESIDENT of gay political group the Log Cabin Republicans, agrees that Cheney’s timing shows a critical shift in conservative thinking on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
"I think we’re seeing a growing sentiment that there are a lot of good Republicans, good conservatives, who think we should not be playing politics with the American Constitution," Guerriero says.
Guerriero also says the "Primetime Live" interview showed that Cheney’s decision not to share her political viewpoints was a difficult choice for her.
"A lot of folks were quite harsh and scrutinized Mary Cheney during that whole period and I think many of us were unaware of the kind of conversations she had and her reflections on leaving the campaign and it showed someone who was trying to find a balance between family and politics and personal integrity," Guerriero says.
DURING HER "PRIMETIME LIVE" interview, Cheney said that it was hard for her to see her father take positions with which she disagreed. "Dinnertime can always be an adventure at the Cheney house," she said. "But those are always private discussions."
Kenji Yoshinio, a gay law professor at Yale University, wrote a book on the sociological notion of "covering," which occurs when one "downplays a stigmatized identity to help other people ignore it." In the preface of his book, "Covering: the Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights," he mentions Cheney as someone who downplayed her sexual orientation.
"My intuition is that she may be covering," Yoshino says, noting that Cheney is often shown without her partner, Heather Poe, at public events. "There’s a particular pressure for people in the public eye to background the negative aspects of their identity and foreground the positive aspects."
Gingrich agrees that the pressure can be intense.
"I think that what we saw with the ‘Where’s Mary?’ campaign is there’s sometimes more pressure put on the queer relatives," Gingrich says.
Mary Cheney timeline
1969: Mary Cheney is born.
1991: Graduates from Colorado College.
1993: Works in promotions for the Colorado Rockies baseball team
.2000: Leaves Coors, where she worked as a liaison to the gay and lesbian community to repair the rift between gays and the brewery, to work on her father’s campaign.
2002: Earns a graduate business degree from the University of Denver and serves on the advisory board of the Republican Unity Coalition.
July 2003: Becomes director of vice presidential operations for the Bush-Cheney
2004 presidential re-election campaign.
Feb. 2004: DearMary.com, a website that featured Mary Cheney’s face on a milk carton with the slogan "Where’s Mary," is launched.Aug.
2004: Alan Keyes calls Mary Cheney a "selfish hedonist."
Oct. 2004: John Kerry and John Edwards both mention Mary Cheney’s sexual orientation in the presidential and vice-presidential debates. Lynne Cheney admonishes them later in a speech, and Bush’s polls spike in what was termed the "Mary Cheney bounce."Nov. 2004: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are elected to a second term.
May 2006: Mary Cheney appears on "Primetime Live" to promote her new book: "Now It’s My Turn: A Daughter’s Chronicle of Political Life."
--------
Oh, Mary, my dear, why were you born to a republican mother and father? God truly does have a weird sense of humor, doesn't he?
Thursday, May 04, 2006
My dearest Eric
My dearest Eric,
It’s just I again. Same old same old. I have many longings that are no longer possible on this earth. If I could only see you again…talk to you. Anything! I know you don’t want me to be this sad. What happened to you once you passed? Where did you go? As you can tell, this letter is very unorganized. I just miss you. I want this pain to stop. I want to heal. It’s weird. I mean, I know you were just a man as mortal as everyone else, but I never thought you’d die. Funny, isn’t it? I guess I’m still a child in that regard always thinking death is only reserved for the old and sick. No, death is random. Death never cares. It simply does what it has to do and no more. You were in pain. You couldn’t breathe anymore. Death must have known and acted out of mercy to halt your suffering. And then there was no more pain…physically. But the price of dying is expensive, indeed. It left a bitter debt. No more father, no more friend, no more son, brother, cousin, uncle, teacher…no more Eric. You never struck me as one to fear death though. You seemed to fear nothing when it came to life. I don’t think you were ever afraid to die. It was sort of a show to you. Death seemed to be just another part of that show. I think if you were to tell me about your experience with death, you’d just laugh and say, “Oh, he’s all talk! It’s no big deal!”
I just hope you aren’t lonely. It seems like you wouldn’t be with your first born there and your dad and all who have gone before you. Nah, you’re not lonely. I hope wherever you are, it’s fun and you’re there with souls you love. I want that so much for you.
My last memory of you is a powerful one: you were there on the DHS sidewalk, worried about my journey home by myself in my power chair.
“E-mail me when you get home,” you told me.
So I did. And you were relieved.
I wish that you could e-mail me from Heaven or wherever to tell me you’re all right. That way, I’d know for sure you’re safe. I wish I stayed in touch with you more often before you passed. Nothing can be done about that now. All I can do is talk to you and hope somehow you can hear me. Somehow, maybe somehow, you are reading all these letters I’ve written for you. I hope you know. Do you ever miss me? I know that sounds so selfish, but do you? Do you still think about me and remember our times together laughing and being stupid in class or on stage or in your office? It was always you I came to see after graduation. I guess I was afraid you’d forget me somehow with new students coming into your life. Silly me, the worry wart. I know you’d never forget me just as I haven’t forgotten you. Actually, the main reason I’d come see you was just to be in your company—just to be with you. I think you knew that.
It turns out that you touched a lot of lives. You saved a lot of lives and souls. So why should my story be so special? It’s average. You helped a girl from age 15-17 believe in herself again when the world she knew fell apart on her. It’s wonderful to know when everything else fails you and lets you down, there are still things you can believe in—things like love, and friendship, talent, and yourself. And so it turns out I was only one of hundreds of young lives you saved. How typical of you. You were magic and you are still very much so.
I worry about forgetting things so much. Silly little stuff like what you wore everyday coming into class. For some reason, I remember you vividly dressed from head to toe in black—black shirt, black pants, black belt, black shoes. You looked apt in black. How you moved—the way you walked. You could change it up in a heartbeat at your will as part of our lesson or just to make us laugh. I saw you dance, and beautifully I might add on that October night during Java Café.
You’re infectious and highly contagious. I remember so well your loud laugh when you let it free…how no one could resist joining in with it. Oh, God! I’ve seen you stressed and upset, too and that always made me want to hug you and help you out. Your smile, your dark, bright eyes. Your wild, short, Harry Potterequse dark hair. Your beautiful hands, always wide and open. I never once saw you really close them. You always seemed ready to help with them or use them in a helpful way whether it was to gesture or to push me in my chair, to touch my shoulder. They were always open. Hands that do. They did more than decorate you.
Oh, if I could just remember all the silly things you said:
“Stupid people should not breed!”
“Don’t you hate it when you’re WRONG?! Ha, ha—Celia jumped!”
‘Jeff, wake up—you’re drooling, man!”
“Ya’ll, isn’t it SO COOL I left my TV down here?!”
“I love you, little girl!”
“Love ya, mean it—DON’T DO DRUGS!”
“Oh, you are in SO MUCH TROUBLE, little squirrel bait!”
“What, Celia? Did you say ‘research’?”
“Celia’s my piece of trash!”
Oh, good times! I never wanted them to end. In my own naivety, I never thought they really would. I’m just dumb. There are only so many words to say I love and miss you and language can never express them to my satisfaction but I know that you know this already. Except for death, nothing has taken you from me. Do you hear that, death? Do you hear that, Baileys? Nothing either one of you has done or will do has taken or will take Eric from me. As long as I remember, he is with me. And I remember so much. Not everything, though I wish it were possible, but enough to keep him alive forever.
If love indeed is real and it does indeed last forever then there are no real goodbyes. There are only “I’ll be here waiting for you”s.
I remember, Eric. I remember what I have to do now: live. You helped teach me this.
I’ll stop for now.
Love to you always and always,
S.B., L.G.
It’s just I again. Same old same old. I have many longings that are no longer possible on this earth. If I could only see you again…talk to you. Anything! I know you don’t want me to be this sad. What happened to you once you passed? Where did you go? As you can tell, this letter is very unorganized. I just miss you. I want this pain to stop. I want to heal. It’s weird. I mean, I know you were just a man as mortal as everyone else, but I never thought you’d die. Funny, isn’t it? I guess I’m still a child in that regard always thinking death is only reserved for the old and sick. No, death is random. Death never cares. It simply does what it has to do and no more. You were in pain. You couldn’t breathe anymore. Death must have known and acted out of mercy to halt your suffering. And then there was no more pain…physically. But the price of dying is expensive, indeed. It left a bitter debt. No more father, no more friend, no more son, brother, cousin, uncle, teacher…no more Eric. You never struck me as one to fear death though. You seemed to fear nothing when it came to life. I don’t think you were ever afraid to die. It was sort of a show to you. Death seemed to be just another part of that show. I think if you were to tell me about your experience with death, you’d just laugh and say, “Oh, he’s all talk! It’s no big deal!”
I just hope you aren’t lonely. It seems like you wouldn’t be with your first born there and your dad and all who have gone before you. Nah, you’re not lonely. I hope wherever you are, it’s fun and you’re there with souls you love. I want that so much for you.
My last memory of you is a powerful one: you were there on the DHS sidewalk, worried about my journey home by myself in my power chair.
“E-mail me when you get home,” you told me.
So I did. And you were relieved.
I wish that you could e-mail me from Heaven or wherever to tell me you’re all right. That way, I’d know for sure you’re safe. I wish I stayed in touch with you more often before you passed. Nothing can be done about that now. All I can do is talk to you and hope somehow you can hear me. Somehow, maybe somehow, you are reading all these letters I’ve written for you. I hope you know. Do you ever miss me? I know that sounds so selfish, but do you? Do you still think about me and remember our times together laughing and being stupid in class or on stage or in your office? It was always you I came to see after graduation. I guess I was afraid you’d forget me somehow with new students coming into your life. Silly me, the worry wart. I know you’d never forget me just as I haven’t forgotten you. Actually, the main reason I’d come see you was just to be in your company—just to be with you. I think you knew that.
It turns out that you touched a lot of lives. You saved a lot of lives and souls. So why should my story be so special? It’s average. You helped a girl from age 15-17 believe in herself again when the world she knew fell apart on her. It’s wonderful to know when everything else fails you and lets you down, there are still things you can believe in—things like love, and friendship, talent, and yourself. And so it turns out I was only one of hundreds of young lives you saved. How typical of you. You were magic and you are still very much so.
I worry about forgetting things so much. Silly little stuff like what you wore everyday coming into class. For some reason, I remember you vividly dressed from head to toe in black—black shirt, black pants, black belt, black shoes. You looked apt in black. How you moved—the way you walked. You could change it up in a heartbeat at your will as part of our lesson or just to make us laugh. I saw you dance, and beautifully I might add on that October night during Java Café.
You’re infectious and highly contagious. I remember so well your loud laugh when you let it free…how no one could resist joining in with it. Oh, God! I’ve seen you stressed and upset, too and that always made me want to hug you and help you out. Your smile, your dark, bright eyes. Your wild, short, Harry Potterequse dark hair. Your beautiful hands, always wide and open. I never once saw you really close them. You always seemed ready to help with them or use them in a helpful way whether it was to gesture or to push me in my chair, to touch my shoulder. They were always open. Hands that do. They did more than decorate you.
Oh, if I could just remember all the silly things you said:
“Stupid people should not breed!”
“Don’t you hate it when you’re WRONG?! Ha, ha—Celia jumped!”
‘Jeff, wake up—you’re drooling, man!”
“Ya’ll, isn’t it SO COOL I left my TV down here?!”
“I love you, little girl!”
“Love ya, mean it—DON’T DO DRUGS!”
“Oh, you are in SO MUCH TROUBLE, little squirrel bait!”
“What, Celia? Did you say ‘research’?”
“Celia’s my piece of trash!”
Oh, good times! I never wanted them to end. In my own naivety, I never thought they really would. I’m just dumb. There are only so many words to say I love and miss you and language can never express them to my satisfaction but I know that you know this already. Except for death, nothing has taken you from me. Do you hear that, death? Do you hear that, Baileys? Nothing either one of you has done or will do has taken or will take Eric from me. As long as I remember, he is with me. And I remember so much. Not everything, though I wish it were possible, but enough to keep him alive forever.
If love indeed is real and it does indeed last forever then there are no real goodbyes. There are only “I’ll be here waiting for you”s.
I remember, Eric. I remember what I have to do now: live. You helped teach me this.
I’ll stop for now.
Love to you always and always,
S.B., L.G.
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