Heather Gold

Venom: the Hillary / Obama thing

My friend Rebecca commented on my last post about Hilary’s use of snark via facebook:

You know, I didn’t find that “over the top” and “mocking” at all — I really wish that Arianna could tone down her obvious bias in every single thing she writes about Hillary. I expected something really theatrical and dramatic. Hillary was dead on. Continue reading…

Am I married while we're in NY?

An appelate court just recognized a Canadian wedding of 2 women. Does this mean we’re married when in NY? I am still thinking I need to go get some power of attorney forms and all that other jazz we have to do to attempt to make up in contract what marriage does.

Can I make a decision for her if, for some yucky reason, she’s unconscious in a hospital?

The blogging equivalent of the wave

In looking at the Obama blog I’m noticing people doing a blogwave, basically posting one letter and then trusting the next person to spell the next letter and so on. Usually Yes We Can!

Has anyone seen this before on a blog? It’s a really interesting method of trust and connection through fun + vulnerability in a digital space.How’s that for analyzing the crap out of something fun. It’s like analyzing a joke, I know. 

Why I am 4Obama

THGS guest Lawrence Lessig’s eloquent piece (20 min) on why he supports Obama. My thoughts? What he said. Plus this:I was a feminist leader on the Yale Campus, about to turn 40, someone who saw Hillary Rodham Clinton (as she was then called) as a great asset when Bill won in 92. I was thrilled. I should be exactly who would be voting for Hillary, but she lost my support and even more so, Barack has very much won it. Feminism, like every social justice movement, is about equality, justice and inclusion. But a foundation of integrity is what compels us to care about these things.

Lawrence Lessig on Hillary Clinton

Buy tix to the next show.

Things people say to me when they find out I'm married to a woman.

I’ve decided to start sharing these moments.

“I belong to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (while fishing a card for me out of her pocketbook) and we have many gay couples. And they’re very ordinary. They have jobs. I don’t like it when people are half-naked. …When we were having dinner with friends the other day…they’ve been together 25 years, and, well they’re retired now, and they were holding hands. I felt so good inside. Not tolerant you see, I felt good.”

–A Holocaust survivor in the locker room at the YMCA (and I’m not just adding that detail in for irony)

Who's your daddy?

I want to know if people worrying about the Dynasty-ism created by Clinton’s wife being elected, were just as vocal when George W. Bush became President soon after his dad?

Do you really care who solves our problems? Beyond the Binary.

I don’t. To me this was the entire point of registering Independent. At the time I thought: “Damn, if the Democratic party can’t get a liberal, Jewish, Canadian queer chick like me to register Democrat, they’re in trouble.”But this point, of focussing on our shared problems and doing things to make them better entirely eludes Stanley Fish, who blogged today Against Independent Voters.In his lofty NYT estimation, Independents don’t really want to stand for anything except avoid politics which we hate.  Continue reading…

"15% of any group will sell them out for their own advancement."

This is what my law school mentor Professor Jane Larson once said to me when I was frustrated with the Camille Paglias of the world. (What kind of career would she have had without feminism to critique?)

I forget who she was quoting as she always gave attribution when it was to be given.  So this is how I understand the discussion on Andrew Sullivan’s blog about the Black Establishment’s relationship with Obama.

Doesn’t “establishment” = selling someone out?

To become successful without becoming “establishment,” I think you’d have to remain open to change, the success of others and supporting ideas over ones individual power. The very hope behind the support of an Obama or Huckabee is the voice not just against establishment but for fluidity of *relevance.* Politics is starting to speed up, not quite as fast as web design. But if a relevant focal point than Obama or Huckabee comes along, the non-purchased (eg marketed to) support will shift there. Just cause you can blow up doesn’t mean you stay relevant. just ask  theglobe.com .      

Just Married FAQ

I meant to write this while I was still in the vortex of power and love, but the thing about the vortex of power and love is that it felt so good, I didn’t want to do anything like leave it, and that’s what thinking would do. 

 

Now I am thinking a little.

 

Do you feel any different?

Yes. I feel relentlessly loving toward Stacey. I am not annoyed by anything she does. I have been happy every day. I can now feel the ground beneath my feet. 

 

We were together 5 and a half years and lived together for 3 before marrying. I never did the lesbian UHaul thing because I had thought moving in together would be the only marker of commitment I would have. Years ago, I didn’t think I’d have family support for a marriage and for more years than that I didn’t think I’d find someone to marry. I certainly *never* anticipated the possibility that I could get legally married. Now that it’s all happened I am amazed at how different I feel. 

 

Where are the photos? 

 Our excellent documentary photographer Ian Taylor’s + few from my sister Wendy + Paul Schreiber’s. You are welcome to use Ian’s photos, but you must name the people in the photos, credit him and link to his site: iantaylor.ca 

 

What did it feel like to get married?

Continue reading…