So today indeed was the big news day. And the news was good, by and large, for proponents of same-sex marriage.
But for me it was a day of almost complete chaos, as I juggled my parenting duties, my normal blogging work for 7x7, including another interview with the founders of a startup, and a long shift at KQED News covering the Supreme Court rulings.
Since I have a quirky approach to the news at times, the first post I put up had to do with how people were searching keywords related to same-sex marriage today at Yahoo and Google. In our new data-driven world, the devil is in a new set of details.
Later, surfing around searching for details myself, I came upon this gem -- that Justice Scalia, a fierce opponent of same-sex marriage, now believes that the majority of his colleagues now would support same-sex marriage as a constitutional right!
Wow. I think that may be the voice of the devil.
-30-
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
On the Eve of a News Day
Tomorrow is the day. The Supreme Court will finally rule on Prop 8 and Doma. Depending what the justices decide we will either face a historical moment in the civil rights movement, or we will go backward a few steps.
If the latter, not to worry, equal rights for gay men and lesbians will soon be achieved.
I will be going into KQED to work in the newsroom starting at 1 pm for the next eight hours. By then, we will all know what the Court ruled and my job will be to help document the reaction. Here in San Francisco, there will be a big reaction.
Either a big celebration or a big protest. There is no middle ground at times like this. You either believe that everyone deserves the right to marry the person they love or you actually don't believe in true love.
As for the other important rulings this week, on affirmative action, the Court punted in a way that may prove useful, and utterly failed on voting rights. Pathetic, in fact, not recognizing that today's racism is much more subtle, but just as destructive, as that employed when I was a boy.
Tomorrow is a new day. Let's hope the Court does what is right.
-30-
If the latter, not to worry, equal rights for gay men and lesbians will soon be achieved.
I will be going into KQED to work in the newsroom starting at 1 pm for the next eight hours. By then, we will all know what the Court ruled and my job will be to help document the reaction. Here in San Francisco, there will be a big reaction.
Either a big celebration or a big protest. There is no middle ground at times like this. You either believe that everyone deserves the right to marry the person they love or you actually don't believe in true love.
As for the other important rulings this week, on affirmative action, the Court punted in a way that may prove useful, and utterly failed on voting rights. Pathetic, in fact, not recognizing that today's racism is much more subtle, but just as destructive, as that employed when I was a boy.
Tomorrow is a new day. Let's hope the Court does what is right.
-30-
Sunday, June 23, 2013
The Week To Come
The kids will spend most the next week here with me, as their mother travels east to visit her ailing father. My daughter just got home yesterday after a week camping near Yosemite in San Francisco's Camp Mather.
She looked taller and I have a theory about that, like I have theories about lots of things.
When they are growing as fast as she is, at the age of 14, we don't really get acclimated to their new size for a while. They have to level off and stay at a size for, say, a few months before we can accept their new height and weight as real.
Until then they just seem to keep growing before our non-acclimated eyes.
All eyes are on the Supreme Court this week. Journalists get restless at times like these. Decisions are imminent, the kinds of decisions that help alter history, or at least affirm that history has been codified into law.
Some great issues await resolution -- civil rights for gays and lesbians, affirmative action for under-privileged minority students, and voting rights for those who historically have been largely shut out of the political process.
Whatever your thinking is on such issues, they affect millions of people probably not a whole lot like you. I guess you could measure a citizen's social empathy by ranking his or her's opinions on these types of controversies.
Should people of the same sex be allowed to marry and gain access benefits only heterosexual couples enjoy today?
Should minorities who still lag in education be given preference getting into college?
Should everyone have fair an equal access to the right to vote in elections?
FWIW, here are my personal opinions, not meant to affect or disrespect anyone who differs with me.
Same-sex marriage -- it's a no-brainer. Of course. It's time to do the right thing.
Affirmative action -- I do not like it, but I recognize that it may be a necessary evil for a bit longer, under we see more educational parity in this society. I will not cry elephant tears if the Court strikes it down, however, which I suspect it will this week.
Voting rights -- it's an abomination that any state or county or district would in any way attempt to fix elections by erecting unfair barriers to participation based on race, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, party, or any other factor. It is, simply put, un-American.
Of course it matters not what I think or believe; only what nine justices in black robes decide to agree on -- make that five justices in black robes decide to agree on.
-30-
She looked taller and I have a theory about that, like I have theories about lots of things.
When they are growing as fast as she is, at the age of 14, we don't really get acclimated to their new size for a while. They have to level off and stay at a size for, say, a few months before we can accept their new height and weight as real.
Until then they just seem to keep growing before our non-acclimated eyes.
All eyes are on the Supreme Court this week. Journalists get restless at times like these. Decisions are imminent, the kinds of decisions that help alter history, or at least affirm that history has been codified into law.
Some great issues await resolution -- civil rights for gays and lesbians, affirmative action for under-privileged minority students, and voting rights for those who historically have been largely shut out of the political process.
Whatever your thinking is on such issues, they affect millions of people probably not a whole lot like you. I guess you could measure a citizen's social empathy by ranking his or her's opinions on these types of controversies.
Should people of the same sex be allowed to marry and gain access benefits only heterosexual couples enjoy today?
Should minorities who still lag in education be given preference getting into college?
Should everyone have fair an equal access to the right to vote in elections?
FWIW, here are my personal opinions, not meant to affect or disrespect anyone who differs with me.
Same-sex marriage -- it's a no-brainer. Of course. It's time to do the right thing.
Affirmative action -- I do not like it, but I recognize that it may be a necessary evil for a bit longer, under we see more educational parity in this society. I will not cry elephant tears if the Court strikes it down, however, which I suspect it will this week.
Voting rights -- it's an abomination that any state or county or district would in any way attempt to fix elections by erecting unfair barriers to participation based on race, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, party, or any other factor. It is, simply put, un-American.
Of course it matters not what I think or believe; only what nine justices in black robes decide to agree on -- make that five justices in black robes decide to agree on.
-30-
Friday, June 21, 2013
Friday Night at the Park
And if you have never discovered why baseball is this nation's greatest sport, well, you still really need to try and figure that out.
I've been working too hard and worrying too much lately, and I really, really needed to go to a baseball game. It was not the greatest of games (the Giants lost) but baseball features a long season (162 games before the playoffs) so there is still plenty of time for the World Series Champions to get back to where they belong.
Walking back to the car afterwards, we passed the old Rolling Stone headquarters and the current Wired headquarters along Third Street. Since both Dylan and Elizabeth appear to be taller than me (I'm in the process of shrinking), I thought a lot about the specialness of our youth and how much the future is theirs, and how I really must make sure to tell them about what history here touched me, so they can carry that forward if they care to.
Or they can just smile their beautiful smiles or smirk their beautiful smirks, be themselves, and hopefully make this world a better place.
BTW, Dylan's new haircut is due to Elizabeth's handy work -- the first buzz cut she ever gave anyone. As a former long-haired anti-war protester from the '60s, I have no comment. But I do get it.
-30-
Thursday, June 20, 2013
No News Thursday
Out across the Bay, through the eastern shore, up and over several mountain passes and into the fruitful Central Valley I drove today with my 18-year-old son. We finally reached our destination, meeting point really, at what has to be one of the more obscure Starbucks outlets in the little farming town of Escalon.
The farmers along this route have their summer stands, selling nectarines, peaches, onions, lavender, apricots, and tomatoes at this season of the year. A train rumbled past headed from south to north. The strong breezes waved through a corn field -- neck high even before July. The sky was blue and cloudless.
As we sat in the coffee shop, him with his bagel and frappuccino (having thrown away the whipped cream) and me with my salad, we talked. He knows I have been on-call at KQED for days now as we await the Supreme Court's decisions on Prop 8 and Doma. He is extremely sensitive to the civil rights aspects of these cases.
"How can anyone justify trying to keep people who obviously love each other apart?" he asked me.
As I looked at my first-team all-city athlete, muscular, tattooed, with a handsomeness that had the few young women in the place looking at him (he was oblivious), I felt filled with admiration for his values, his compassion, his empathy for other people.
He is himself in his first serious relationship, with a lovely young Latina woman.
Soon, his Mom showed up and they headed off, him at the wheel to Camp Mather, nestled in the shadow of the great Yosemite Valley.
I headed back here, to the cooler coast, also wondering what the highest court in the land will decide. It looks now we will find out next Monday or Thursday. As I am on-call both days at KQED, I will probably be in the thick of the news coverage when these decisions come down.
-30-
The farmers along this route have their summer stands, selling nectarines, peaches, onions, lavender, apricots, and tomatoes at this season of the year. A train rumbled past headed from south to north. The strong breezes waved through a corn field -- neck high even before July. The sky was blue and cloudless.
As we sat in the coffee shop, him with his bagel and frappuccino (having thrown away the whipped cream) and me with my salad, we talked. He knows I have been on-call at KQED for days now as we await the Supreme Court's decisions on Prop 8 and Doma. He is extremely sensitive to the civil rights aspects of these cases.
"How can anyone justify trying to keep people who obviously love each other apart?" he asked me.
As I looked at my first-team all-city athlete, muscular, tattooed, with a handsomeness that had the few young women in the place looking at him (he was oblivious), I felt filled with admiration for his values, his compassion, his empathy for other people.
He is himself in his first serious relationship, with a lovely young Latina woman.
Soon, his Mom showed up and they headed off, him at the wheel to Camp Mather, nestled in the shadow of the great Yosemite Valley.
I headed back here, to the cooler coast, also wondering what the highest court in the land will decide. It looks now we will find out next Monday or Thursday. As I am on-call both days at KQED, I will probably be in the thick of the news coverage when these decisions come down.
-30-
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Father's Day
Meanwhile, Aidan was out on the bus lines getting a card Julia made for me before leaving town and a present for me from his girlfriend, Zaira.
He also made me a card (yellow) in his distinctive artistic style, which Julia clearly decided to copy in her (blue) card.
The boys and I also did something else I rarely do -- we went to a movie: Star Trek, the latest version. What struck me, being as I almost never go to theaters any longer, were the trailers for upcoming movies -- almost every one was of the disaster/thriller/apocalyptic genre.
One of the only two that were not of that type was Anchorman 2.
While we were in the movie, Julia called me on the one public telephone from where she is camping and left me a message. I also heard from Laila and Peter, so that makes all six.
Now we're back home just in time for me to watch the Giants game.
All in all, one of the best Father's Days I can recall.
-30-
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