Wish You Were Here

Today I'm proud to be a Californian because I live in a state that has ruled that each of us has the constitutional right "to establish a legally recognized family with a person of one's choice."

The first time I saw him I knew we'd be friends. I was at my first Texas high school football game. Though September, the summer heat lingered, making it at least 90 degrees in the stands. The spectacle of the entire population of Alice, Texas, both Anglo and Mexican, joined in one loud roar of support for their team was something I had never experienced in my "regular" life on Naval Air Stations.

The cheerleaders were yelling their cheers in heavily south-Texas accented dialect. I thought it was hilarious, but I joined in, thrilled at hearing myself participate in such a conventional thing.

Then I saw him.

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License To Wed?

While Citizen Voice bloggers Alma, Chuck and I were chatting about the San Diego mayoral and city attorney races on Tom Fudge's radio show, "These Days" yesterday, the tide for same-sex marriage was turning.

By the time the three of us walked back to the KPBS Green Room (which isn't green at all) CNN was announcing that the California Supreme Court had just declared the ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional. Chuck's Blackberry was going crazy, sending him headline news via text, along with a playful proposal from his partner. As soon as I could connect my laptop with the wireless in the building, Chuck was racing around the Internet Superhighway, anxious for more details.

As a divorce attorney he was fascinated with the 172 pages of paperwork associated with the new ruling. As a gay man, he was thrilled with the possibilities. The video below shows Chuck's reaction to the ruling minutes after it was announced.

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Where Were You?

"In the hallway at KPBS, talking to our editor Nicole Lozare." 

Twenty, 30, 40 years from now -- that's how I'll answer the question about how I heard yesterday's news about the California Supreme Court's decision in In Re Marriage Cases.  Alma, Trina and I had just finished an appearance on These Days with Tom Fudge at 10 a.m. I knew the decision from the court was due at 10:00, and turned on my Blackberry as soon as we left the studio to check the news.

As we were talking I looked down and saw the alert from the New York Times: The ban had been overturned.

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Sucking On Chinese Toys and a Humble Suggestion

I recently returned from three days at the Coachella Music Festival in Indio. Three days in the desert; music, musing and dancing in a herd of thousands. Body and mind are worn – as I write this, I feel like I’ve been sucking on Chinese toys all weekend. Still, live music for three days and nights straight invites the mind to wander down many a path. Some thoughts...

Thousands from around the state, the country and the world attended the festival. Most youthful, most liberal – but surprisingly few showing their political colors. A few Obama jerseys were spotted, never caught sight of any Hillary shwag - but as always, festival icons Leonard Peltier and Che Guevara were in full effect.  Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters sent a blood spattered dirigible pig floating over the crowd emblazoned with a sword wielding Uncle Sam Death Head, “Don’t Be Led To Slaughter” scrawled alongside. The pig’s underbelly was stamped with a disconcertingly hopeful message: a  ballot check marked next to Obama’s name. Not exactly the sort of endorsement that warms a politician’s heart – but still, a shout out from Roger Waters is a shout out from Roger Waters. Prince said he was so sick of debates – he couldn’t stand it anymore.  Hillary and Obama as the bickering parents in “This is What It Sounds Like When the Doves Cry”…

Gave a jump start to some Mexican kids in their twenties from Calexico – all studying to be lawyers. They shared their beer and we did the Spanglish thing for a while. We drank to Mexico and the U.S., neighbors and friends – they raised their beers, but were hesitant to really believe the friend part.  They wished it was so, but I had to agree that most of our national gestures appear to be those of a perturbed neighbor rather than a friend…

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Surviving the Housing Crunch

Last Thursday, April 24, 2008, State Assemblymember Lori Saldaña (D-San Diego, 76th District) hosted a Home-Ownership and Mortgage Resource Fair held at the CalTrans building on Taylor Street. Assemblymember's Saldaña's seat is up for reelection on the June 3rd ballot, although she runs uncontested this election year. 

With every major presidential candidate forced to speak all over the country about the economy, (i.e., NAFTA, ethanol and corn crop production in conflict, rice shortages, food prices rising, gasoline prices soaring), the housing crisis could arguably be called, along with high oil prices, a major component in why the country faces a tough economic road ahead.

I was pleased to see a local Democrat take initiative and organize an informational event such as this, even though it might not affect me personally the same way as it will those people choosing to remain in California. (My husband and I plan to move out of California to improve the cost of living.) Still, the event impressed me enough to convince me to cast my affirmative vote for Assemblymember Lori Saldaña.

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History of a Private Life

Every once in a while, you still see them. The person in front of you in the grocery line who waits until the cashier has finished ringing up their order. THEN they start to rummage through their purse looking for... their checkbook.

Then a second search for a pen, and finally they start to write. Eventually they’ll pass it to the cashier who hands them their receipt. But wait… they're not done yet. Now they have to enter the amount in their ledger and return the checkbook to their purse or back pocket. Finally gathering up their belongings, they give way to the rest of us, impatiently clutching debit/credit cards at the ready, hoping to make up for all the lost time.

It’s hard to remember that it wasn’t so long ago that everyone wrote checks or paid cash for nearly everything. After my mother passed away, I spent the next months closing her estate and clearing out my parent’s home. I was astounded to find that my mother had kept every one of her canceled checks, in order, running from the early 1950’s until April 2003, the week before she died. They were in exact numerical order and perfectly notated as to what each check was for. It was in fact, a diary of her life. And in many ways it was also a chronicle of my family’s daily life for nearly five decades.

My father, a Navy pilot, was almost always overseas, and we lived on what the Navy called a monthly “allotment”, which was, in those days, a rather modest amount of money. Those cancelled checks told me how she often bought our school clothes on “layaway”, which meant one could make payments over several months, obtaining the items only after the final payment. 

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Having A Public Debate

As I write this, my partner in the unraveling of America's moral fabric is in Hillcrest inputting names into a database. He's spending part of his spring break to volunteer with Equality For All as they gear up to fight proposed initiatives that might make it on to the November ballot.

Among the 47 proposed initiatives currently in circulation are several that would attempt to limit marriage equality efforts, including one that would amend the state constitution to protect the "essence of marriage" and eliminate domestic partnerships.

Interesting to me that this comes up while the issue of the constitutionality of marriage equality is still pending before the California's Supreme Court, with the oral arguments having just been heard on March 4. Someone might want to wait and see how the court rules on what the constitution currently says before proposing to change the constitution. Regardless of their stance on the issue of marriage equality, someone might think that acting prematurely would be a complete and utter waste of taxpayers' money.

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An Indecent Proposal

Despite the colorful pictures hanging on the walls, there is a bleak feeling in the front office of my son's elementary school these days. Teachers and staff, including the principal, received the dreaded pink slip two weeks ago. There is a feeling of uncertainty and frustration in the air. Easy smiles and laughter have been replaced by worried looks, anger and criticism. Approximately 188 Carlsbad Unified School District employees recently received their termination notice for the 2008-2009 school year due to our California budget crisis.

Governor Schwarzenegger has asked that Proposition 98 be suspended in order to cut $4.8 billion in education funding. If passed, class-size reduction could be eliminated in first through third grades and in the freshman year in math and English. Other proposed cuts include music, science, social science, art, theater, second language, librarians, nurses, and even full-time principals.

Voters passed Proposition 98 in 1988, which was supposed to prevent our government from cutting education during economically weak times and provide a minimum protection for education funding. In 2004, however, the legislature passed a suspension of Prop 98 for the first time by a 2/3 vote. This is what they're proposing to do again this year to solve the state deficit of over $15 billion.

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Taking Pot Shots at the Governator

My wife was laid off in December, right before Christmas. 

She has been looking for work for three months now. She just now found a possible lead. So, imagine her anger when she sees Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in TV commercials on encouraging people to move to California to work.

Right now, California is ranked fifth in the country as one of the WORST states to find work in.

And yet our governor wants to bring MORE people into the state -  thus taking what few jobs there are away from those already living here!

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The ABCs of California Education

A California appeals court last week has ruled that parents without teaching licenses cannot home school their children. Wait a second. What? That decision becomes
Binding on the courts and counties that comprise the Second Appellate District, which are Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura, on March 28. The other five District Courts of Appeals in
California don’t have to view the

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