Environmental Discrimination

As a former Michigander, I keep up with news from the mitten state. I read today about some Gennesse country jerk who blamed Flint's water crisis on black folks who don't pay their water bills. So, if you're behind on your water bill, that gives the government the right to poison your water? Huh? I read the Gennesse idiot handed in his resignation after his comments were made public and not a moment too soon either. Ugh. I guarantee you, if this same issue had come up in a community that wasn't (A) largely black and (B) largely poor, this wouldn't have happened. There wouldn't be contaminated water flowing through city pipes. You know it and I know it. When people are in poor minority communities, they're taken advantage of in relation to environmental issues. These communities don't have the power or the money to fight having waste treatment plants in their cities. Environmental discrimination is real.

No Winners Here

As I've watched the listened to the news throughout this week, I've come to the conclusion that I should probably cut down on my news watching and reading. Oy! Where to start? Is anyone really surprised by Donny T's rejection of the Paris climate accord? I'm not! By now, you'd think that people would understand Donny's mantra: US good, Europe bad! Moving on. As for the drama with Donny and Kathy Griffin, all I can say is there are no winners here. Did Kathy not think there would be blowback after her photo stunt? I'm in no way defending Donny T. who, as most people know, is incredibly thin-skinned, but Kathy went for HIM. He didn't come for HER until after she'd thrown down the gauntlet. And, clearly, she wasn't prepared for the criticism she faced. Either own it or apologize for it and move on from it. What's the expression? Don't come for me unless I call you? Take that advice next time, Griff. Don't call for Donny unless you're ready, willing, and able to deal with Donny and his minions. No winners here. And speaking of no winners, when is Hillary going to either accept responsibility for her own failed campaign or just go away and live quietly in Chappaqua? I'm tired of her excuses and blame game for not taking care of business during the last election. (I'm also tired of Donny T. bringing up the election. Again, no winners here.) It's over, it's done, we're living (or trying to live) with the ramifications.

Spicy Music

If you read my blog regularly, you'll know that I listen (and blog about) a wide variety of music and, if you read my books (and I hope you do), you'll get an idea of what I was listening to while I was writing that particular work. For example, in my new book Fluidity, I mention the Al Stewart song "Year of the Cat" a lot. (Side note: I really wanted to call the book "Year of the Cat" but I didn't because I'm not that crazy. But I digress.) While I like to think I have pretty good taste in music, I'll admit that my likes are often not in the mainstream. For example, I like some of the solo work from former Spice Girls Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) and Emma Bunton (Baby Spice).

For Geri, her song "Look at Me" is great. She can't sing worth a damn, but I love the music in the song and the video cracks me up. (Halliwell apparently can't dance either which makes the dance sequence at the end all the more entertaining.)

Emma Bunton does much better with her version of "Crickets Sing for Anna Maria" (and I've blogged about this before). I love her version of this song. It really is great to me. She also isn't the greatest singer, but she works with what she has. (She, like Geri, unfortunately, isn't much of a dancer either which you'll notice if you watch the video.) I'm working on a short story now and I'll probably end up working these Spice Girl tunes into it somehow just because I've been listening to them a lot lately.

Fluidity: Now Available

My new book, Fluidity, is available now for sale on the JMS Books website. Just click on the cover link and check it out. It's also available via Amazon's Kindle Unlimited program. This book has been a long time coming and I'm glad to see it finally published. I hope people enjoy it.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

That's Not Who I Am...Until It Is

I'm so tired of reading one person after another who does something awful and then apologizes and adds the statement, "That's not who I am!" Uh, that IS who you are. It may not be who you want to be, but your bad behavior is just that...yours! You own it. No one wants to admit making a mistake or doing something stupid. We all do bad things. However, to claim that your bad behavior isn't representative of who you are as a person is ridiculous. Sure, you may not go around punching people in the face on a daily basis, but if you did it even once, that behavior is a part of you. Hopefully, you'll learn from your mistakes and change any bad behavior you exhibit, but don't deny that the behavior exists within you, like some foreign entity overtook your body and made you do something wrong. I'm also tired of people making assumptions about people based on how they look. I'm not talking about someone stereotyping a person because of his/her race or hair color, I'm talking about people overlooking someone's flaws or bad behavior because the person is attractive. While reading some of the current news stories about Donny T.'s son-in-law, I constantly come across comments about his youthful looks and assumptions that he should be an upstanding person because he's deemed attractive. Since when did someone's looks influence that person's character? There are plenty of people who are lovely on the outside and ugly on the inside (and vice versa). I used to work with a guy who wasn't an awful guy, but he could be a pain in the ass sometimes. However, he was attractive and he used his attractiveness to his advantage in getting what he wanted from other people. Even though I'm sometimes slow on the uptake, I soon got up to speed with him and got wind of his game but not until after I also had been duped. You live and learn.

Audra at Steppenwolf

I went to see Audra McDonald in concert at the Steppenwolf Theater Monday night. (I went to the second show.) I'm a huge Audra fan and I was glad to have the opportunity to see her perform in Chicago. I just assumed after I left the East Coast, that I'd have to travel back there in order to see her again. The Steppenwolf show was good and very low-key. It was nothing like the time I saw her at Carnegie Hall five or six years ago (maybe more than that). During the Steppenwolf show, she sang and talked with her pianist, Seth Rudetsky, and performed "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" with her husband Will Swenson. Her performance of "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret was great and she ended the show with a wonderful rendition of "Summertime." As you can see from my photo below, I wasn't exactly close enough to get a good picture.

Looking...The Movie

I watched the final movie based on the canceled HBO series "Looking" this weekend and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. The series was a bit of a disappointment for me, but I did watch all of the episodes. Surprisingly, the part of the movie that interested me the most was Patrick's conversation with Kevin. Their relationship during the series made me roll my eyes many times, but I enjoyed seeing them talk and try to deconstruct what went down between them. That was good stuff. I hated seeing Richie go back to Patrick, but he seemed to be glutton for punishment. Going from Patrick to Brady was just exchanging one spoiled white guy for another, but the heart wants what it wants, I guess. One of the problems I had with "Looking" the series was that it focused too much on Patrick and he largely annoyed me with his whining and neurotic behavior. I enjoy watching Jonathan Groff as an actor, but his character on the show was insufferable. I was more interested in Dom and wished the show would have focused a little more on him. But, even with its flaws, the show wasn't the trainwreck the public made it out to be. I think too many people were expecting "Queer As Folk...the Sequel" and it just wasn't that kind of party. I commend HBO for taking a chance on a drama centering around gay men even if this particular one only lasted two seasons. I certainly hope they don't give up on LGBT-themed dramas. Once again, non-network TV is doing the heavy lifting while the networks focus on tired BS like "The Big Bang Theory" and "Modern Family."