This is a diary that I did not get finished and published before Christmas. I decided to go ahead and publish it as a top comments diary because I enjoyed this event so much and I really like Steve Grand and what he is doing for the community.
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This is just a short diary to say that I thoroughly enjoyed seeing and listening to Steve Grand at the Gay Community Center in San Francisco on December 12. He did a terrific job and helped raise money for some worthy LGBT causes, and I felt fortunate to have been able to attend.
Here is a photo from the event taken from Steve’s facebook page.
Here he is singing his rendition of “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”
From SteveGrand.com:
While he loved his family and his musical upbringing, as a young man who figured out that he was gay after a stint at summer camp when he was in eighth grade, Steve says he felt like many gay teenagers do: alone and confused. Looking around for public role models in music, he found few. Though his parents now accept his sexuality and support him, his religious upbringing didn’t offer any solace, either.
“I was 18 or 19 and I realized, hey, there’s really a deficiency here. The world is rapidly becoming a more accepting place. If we really are all the same and we really are all equal, there ought to be more artists who are open about who they are and even sing about it,” he says.
While it’s become more common for celebrities to come out casually, without the fanfare or announcements on covers of magazines, Steve says it’s just as important as ever. “While people say this is no big deal anymore, who cares? You know who cares? The kids who are still really struggling with this. The kids who feel like they would still rather be dead than live life as a gay person,” he said. “I'm thinking about them all the time when I'm doing these things because deep down we all just want to be loved, we want to experience love, we want to give love, we want to take in love, and we want to feel valued and understood."
Now, on to the tops:
From Quilldriver: Only 58.2% of eligible voters turned out in 2012, a downward trajectory, and this comment by Thomas Twinnings explains why. It can be found in jobu’s diary, “Hillary or Bernie. NAFTA or The New Deal. Third Way or Bedrock Democratic Principles.”
In order for a political party to be truly successful it needs to connect with its constituents in a trusting relationship. There needs to be a clear path from the stated party ideals to the elected officials’ actions. When there is not (and now there is not), the voters lose connection with the party and stay home, or go elsewhere.
From Zen Trainer: A lot of comments in the diary about how could we as the wealthiest, greatest country allow such a travesty. I tried to say a bunch of ways that we are not the greatest country on earth. We aren't even the wealthiest ( we're 7th in wealth) and we sure aren't the nicest. Waztec said it so much better than I with this comment. It is found in Denise Velez’s diary.
Arthur Brooks, president of the Heritage Institute decried “Victimhood” in a recent column in the New York Times. I’ll guarantee you a homeless child would not have that kind of free speech. Would someone please tell me why we think, as a people, that we are exceptional, if we allow children to live this way?
From cohenzee: Lot’s of good puns in xxdr zombiexx’s diary: Noncooperator gives us my favorite.
He came across as half cocked. Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Top mojo For December 26, courtesy of mik:
Picture quilt. Courtesy of jotter: