Out Magazine just released their December 2006 issue and as is customary for them it includes the "Out 100 List," a collection of people and events they find meaningful towards gay people over the course of the preceding year. As they describe it, it's a group of individuals who "by their life and work, demonstrate a commitment to living in truth."

Interestingly, this list is rounded out with Mark Foley, the Republican congressman accused of sending lewd and sexually-charged emails to his vastly illegal intern. As they justify, they include him "not to be perverse but for what the scandal reminds us about the oppressive and destructive nature of the closet."

I meant to write something about this back when the story happened but I got sidetracked. I can think of no better time than now, then, and this is the letter I just mailed out to the editor of the magazine:

In your December 2006 Out 100 List you included congressman Mark Foley for the reasons you chose in that article. I felt it necessary to clarify one pertinent detail about the story. Mark Foley isn't a homosexual, nor is he suffering from the same "closet" issues that haunted, for example, New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey.

Mark Foley is plain and simply a sexual predator. And as history and the news have taught us, scum like that need not be attached to a specific sexual label.

Mark Foley only became "a struggling homosexual" after the Republican spin-machine realized that the alcoholism excuse wouldn't fly. They sacrificed him to the gods of political windfall and in doing so furthered their goal by helping to reaffirm a belief held by many people in this country; namely that homosexual = an adult that will molest your children.

I expected the media to run the story provided to them, but shame on you for helping the Republicans get their work done for free. He wasn't gay, and saying he was in even a manner that soapboxes a different point about the nature of denying ones' reality destroys us more than it helps.

28 November 2006 at 10:02 pm | No Comments »
bitching

Metaverse Messenger 11/21/2006, pgs. 23&30
By JOHNNYREB PAWPAW

SL resident Joshua Nightshade is challenging the Second Life community to give more this holiday season.

From midnight Oct. 31 through Nov. 23, Nightshade's shop, Abstract Avatars, will donate 100 percent of its profits to Toys for Tots and The AIDS Research Alliance.

In addition, Nightshade has said that for each select avatar "SIGNAL v.1" that is purchased at L$300, Abstract Avatars will match an additional L$300.

"Recently, Aimee Weber did a U.N. drive," said Nightshade. "I forget exactly what it was called, 'Stand Up Against Poverty,' or something. All the avatars literally stood up to raise money. I thought I could do something similar to that, i.e., charity that's more involved than wearing a plastic bracelet."

Weber, a prominent SL designer and volunteer advocate in the battle against domestic violence, has had frequent awareness drives in Second Life about domestic violence and other issues. She said her activities generally focus more on raising awareness, than raising money. Nightshade has taken this fundraising quest upon himself.

"It's [being done] all by myself," he said. "I did consider approaching other content creators, but I was very adamant that 100 percent of sales during this period would have to be donated." So far, no one else has responded.

Nightshade said, "It's more of a sacrifice to others who rely more on [Second Life] for their income than I do."

Weber said, "Joshua has always been very active with nonprofit work. He's a hard worker and gives well beyond what many average people would when he believes in a cause."

At the end of the drive, the proceeds will be split evenly between each charity. So far, Nightshade has been able to raise more than US$150. "I donate on my own every year anyway. This year I thought it would be an interesting idea to incorporate what I'm doing in SL with it," said Nightshade.

Abstract Avatars, sells miniature avatars which look like robots. Residents who purchase these avatars can transform into the robots as easily as putting on clothes. Nightshade said, "When I joined SL, forever ago, there wasn't really anything for anybody who wanted to be something other than a 'person-type' thing." That has changed, however, and Nightshade has found his niche.

Nightshade said he feels like more could be done, both in real life and in Second Life, to give to others this holiday season. "I really believe that people should take it upon themselves to take the welfare of others more personally than they tend to do these days," he said. "So I fully support any and all efforts to that end."

A new service Abstract Avatars is offering this season is a gift option, which allows the purchaser to buy an avatar for a friend instead of just for him or herself. Nightshade said he hopes that this promotion will give customers a reason to buy more this year, and, at the same time, raise more money for charity.

At the end of the drive, Nightshade will exchange the Linden dollars his company has earned for US dollars. Nightshade said that he will donate the money personally. To remain in what he calls "the spirit of altruism," Nightshade promised not to count the money raised as a deduction from his personal tax return.

"It's great that more and more people are doing fund raisers and awareness events in SL," stated Weber. "It's a great way to reach out to a large number of people with efficiency. You don't have to even leave your home. I hope to see more events such as Joshua's in the future.

Nightshade said the fundraiser has the recognition of Linden Lab. He had to contact each charity personally, and have them coordinate with LL.

23 November 2006 at 2:35 am | No Comments »
the daily things, virtual worlds

This is probably one of the most upsetting things I've ever watched.

As the story is coming out, a senior at UCLA was asked for his college ID while studying after-hours and refused to provide it, feeling that he was being singled-out because he looked Middle Eastern. He argued with the officer before being told to leave and was on his way to do so when more officers arrived and began hassling him. They tried to take him away and he went prone, again feeling that he was being profiled.

Shortly after that is when the video begins, and goes forward for several minutes, while the kid is shocked repeatedly with a taser.

As far as I'm aware, there are strict rules to every precinct saying that the use of an incapacitating device is only to be used to subdue an immediate threat. Arguing with an officer is not such a threat. And as the video shows, the bulk of the tasering happened after the kid was already handcuffed.

Living in NYC during the subway searches after the London bombings, I've never been stopped to open my bag. I have however seen four guys who looked Muslim and two black guys, all of whom were in line behind me, made to do so. So even if the kid had a chip on his shoulder I don't think his viewpoint was unreasonable. It was moving though to watch all of the other students express appropriate outrage, and confronting the cops probably got the kid out faster than he would have otherwise.

This is beyond wrong on so many levels, and it's sickening.

Moreso because things like this only get out nowadays because everyone has a camera phone or a digital camera in their bags at all times. Did cops suddenly go nuts to have these three incidents videotaped in LA out of nowhere? No.

The cop repeated over and over "Stand up or you'll get tased again." It was a threat, it was a power trip. It's fucking wrong. And apparently the officer has a history of this sortof thing.

So that begs the question: this is what we're able to see now. What's been going on around the country that we haven't?

22 November 2006 at 11:03 am | No Comments »
bitching

• Patty Griffin
  ("Impossible Dream")
  You need to download Flash if you see this message.

red lights are flashing on the highway
I wonder if we're gonna ever get home
I wonder if we're gonna ever get home tonight
everywhere the water's getting rough
your best intentions may not be enough
I wonder if we're gonna ever get home tonight

but if you break down
I'll drive out and find you
If you forget my love
I'll try to remind you
and stay by you when it don't come easy

I don't know nothing except change will come
year after year what we do is undone
time keeps moving from a crawl to a run
I wonder if we're gonna ever get home
you're out there walking down a highway
and all of the signs got blown away
sometimes you wonder if you're walking
in the wrong direction

so many things that I had before
that don't matter to me now
tonight I cry for the love that I've lost
and the love I've never found
when the last bird falls
and the last siren sounds
someone will say what's been said before
some love we were looking for

20 November 2006 at 2:58 am | No Comments »
soundtrack

Second Life News Network, November 17, 2006
By Marvel Ousley

In the spirit of the holiday season, Joshua Nightshade for the next five days is donating all proceeds from sales at his store to two charities, the Marine Toys for Tots, and the AIDS Research Alliance.

The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation is a nonprofit charity delivering shiny new toys at Christmas to needy children.

Nightshade is the proprietor of Abstract Avatars! at Dosojin (80,242,27) , which sells futuristic, robotic items.

Taking a cue from the corporate matching gifts program, Nightshade is matching the price of the sales of his $L300 Signal v.1 avatar, and donating those proceeds to the two charities also.

The Signal v.1 is a precursor to the second generation of a fluid and feature-packed, heavily scripted avatar to be launched in the first quarter of next year, Nightshade says. The avatar now comes in a blue color, which Nightshade describes as "Metallic Water".

Abstract Avatars! has implemented a gift-system in the store, so visitors can buy gifts for their friends to donate as well.

The charity drive ends Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23. At the end of the charity drive, Nightshade will offer proof that the donations were made. "I'm going to compile and release . . . the transaction ledger from the sale, so everyone can see line-by-line the total amount raised," he says.

"I intend to write two checks for each organization, which I shall scan and release alongside the ledger, and I'll ask for– at minimum– a receipt so everyone can know it was received by the organizations."

17 November 2006 at 10:44 pm | No Comments »
the daily things, virtual worlds

Twenty two today.

16 November 2006 at 12:05 am | 3 Comments »
the daily things

The election.

Obviously, I'm overjoyed at the result that exploded out of nowhere last week. I honestly didn't expect it; legitimacy or not I expected the Republicans to walk away more or less unscathed. Sure, maybe a few seats lost here or there, no big deal. I expected this and I was planning to take this as a strong sign towards the eventual end of the world. The fact that I was proved wrong, and now get to run around gloating about it, almost makes me feel as giddy as I did when the leader of the world's leading anti-gay evangelical Christian organization came out of the closet.

Thanks Jesus. I owe you one.

13 November 2006 at 6:38 pm | 3 Comments »
the daily things

So, Second Life.

In case anyone's not entirely certain of what this thing is, it's a virtual reality where every user has the capacity to build and script creations of their own devising that are limited simply by the mechanics of the interface, which are actually pretty powerful.

Some time back people started making things, clothing and vehicles and such, and started "selling" them to one another using the in-game currency called Lindens. Eventually later, someone came up with a way to cash these Lindens out through Paypal for actual, legitimate USD. Some time later still the game developers incorporated this concept entirely into the interface itself and now there's a pretty thriving economy from which some residents make six-figure incomes.

So having been a part of this world from nearly the beginning, I recently decided to set up shop myself under my alter-ego of Joshua Nightshade. I'm not making anywhere near an income to really be smug about, but I think it's nifty nevertheless that I make enough to cover my cell phone bill and World of Warcraft subscription every month by selling off pixels.

I decided that for Halloween until Thanksgiving I would be donating 100% of sales amongst two charities, The AIDS Research Alliance and Marine Toys for Tots.

So far, with about half of the drive finished with, I've raised over a hundred dollars. I think that's pretty snazzy again considering that it's all fake stuff people are buying.

Though if you look at the official numbers, I've actually raised 30,105.00 — it's just fake money.

13 November 2006 at 12:15 pm | 2 Comments »
shutterbugs, the daily things, virtual worlds

So it's a little bit better.

I wanted to make a new layout and since I haven't updated in forever I've apparently forgotten how to do HTML and the like, and ended up breaking everything.

I can't get the old layout back at all, so I really did have to go ahead with making a new one.

Ah well. It's different, at least.

10 November 2006 at 4:34 pm | 7 Comments »
the daily things

And I don't get it, but Wordpress is now not noticing that we're in a new month.

God I hate you, Wordpress.

Edit: And now absolutely everything is broken. GOD I hate you Wordpress.

9 November 2006 at 6:02 pm | No Comments »
bitching