Sara Haile-Mariam

While on the subject, checkout the following articles.

The first is from CNN, and it’s a piece on the “gayby boom” generation, a generation of children raised by gay parents.

“O’Leary says she doesn’t personally know any same-sex parents or their children. That’s the problem, some children of same-sex children say. So many people are talking about them; not enough are talking to them, they say.

Some gayby boomers say they are tired of hearing that their family isn’t legitimate. It’s an argument many have heard since they were children. They learned that they didn’t fit the definition of the “right” family, and worried how others would react if they found out about their parents.”

Read the rest here.

And here, Frank Rich’s Op-Ed on the progress of the gay rights movement, and the obstacles that we, gay and straight, must still overcome.

I Spent the day walking in the Manhattan Gay Pride Parade with Team Yassky. Gay and straight, young and old, every race and ethnicity, people from all walks of life came out to celebrate the 40 year anniversary of the Stonewall riots and the progress that’s been made since. Part of me wants to comment on the sheer size and diversity of the crowds- but in truth, I don’t find it all that remarkable. Perhaps it’s a consequence of spending 4 years living in New York City, perhaps it can be attributed to the generation that I hail form, a generation that has made it all too clear that gay right’s isn’t a wedge issue, it’s a non-issue.

In any event, it was truly a wonderful experience.

Happy Pride Day everyone.

Just responded to the Daily Beast piece by Benjamin Sarlin in my latest Global Grind Piece.

“Jackson was the King of Pop, and while his life was comprised of trials and turmoil, his legacy is in his music, and it is there where we saw an awareness that went beyond his celebrity and instead focused on people, on the condition of humanity. While we grieve and reflect on his life, we must remember that we continue. With each day that passes, we might insist that the best way to pay tribute to our fallen icon is by living out his declaration that it us who must heal the world.”

Read the rest here.

I was born in 1987, well after a young man named Michael Jackson broke down the abc’s and 123’s of you and me.

As an artist, and a person, he evolved. Not having known the MJ of the 80s, it was hard to reconcile the fact that the youngest of the Jackson 5 was also the young man from Thriller as well as the grown man who resided at Never land.

Nonetheless, his music was, is, and always will be timeless.

I had a conversation with a friend once on how music should be categorized as a form of public service. It’s obviously different than giving food or clothes or serving in office– but that shouldn’t dismiss the fact that it still has the potential to serve the people. To make people smile, and feel, and yes, to make people dance.

So the media will probably focus on the man behind the music. On the controversies of his career and personal development. I’d rather not go there. I’d rather not pick a part the man but rather reflect on what he achieved.

He lives on through his music, and it’s his music that I intend to celebrate.

I hope he rests in peace and I offer my condolences and thoughts to all who knew him, and all who grieve him.

Long live the king….

Another piece on Global Grind on how the situation in Iran speaks to the importance and power of one voice.

Speaking of which, checkout this WAPO piece on exactly that, how Americans are using technology to impact events over there. One of the individuals profiled, Chas Danner, is a good friend. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been blown away by how his actions (on his computer in Brooklyn) could have such a profound effect on so many.

My newest post on Global Grind grapples with the ramifications of new media on our expectations of political discourse and the metrics we use to evaluate our leaders.

“As it stands, social networking enables everyone to broadcast inside jokes, silly pictures, even indiscretions, in a forum that can be accessed by individuals from all over the world. Without context, these images and sound bites could prove damaging for those who decide to take the path of public service. Similarly, the days of blackmail are threatened by instant access. The time between action and confession is shortened by the tendency, and ability, to confess while in the act.”

You can read the rest here.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Peggy Noonan has a column critiquing those who are trying to politically posture themselves to be more in line with the reformers in Iran. She states:

“This was Aggressive Political Solipsism at work: Always exploit events to show you love freedom more than the other guy, always make someone else’s delicate drama your excuse for a thumping curtain speech.”

This isn’t a time for politics, this is a time where we allow the very premise that this nation was founded on speak for itself.

Watching this video from the BBC, the sentiment “nothing can stand in the way of millions of voices calling for change” comes to mind.

Indeed, hurrah.
(h/t Andrew Sullivan)

My thoughts and prayers are with this blogger, and everyone else, who protests tomorrow.

“I will participate in the demonstrations tomorrow. Maybe they will turn violent. Maybe I will be one of the people who is going to get killed. I’m listening to all my favorite music. I even want to dance to a few songs. I always wanted to have very narrow eyebrows. Yes, maybe I will go to the salon before I go tomorrow! There are a few great movie scenes that I also have to see. I should drop by the library, too. It’s worth to read the poems of Forough and Shamloo again. All family pictures have to be reviewed, too. I have to call my friends as well to say goodbye. All I have are two bookshelves which I told my family who should receive them. I’m two units away from getting my bachelors degree but who cares about that. My mind is very chaotic. I wrote these random sentences for the next generation so they know we were not just emotional and under peer pressure. So they know that we did everything we could to create a better future for them. So they know that our ancestors surrendered to Arabs and Mongols but did not surrender to despotism. This note is dedicated to tomorrow’s children…”

(h/t) Andrew Sullivan