Alone and Unobserved

This is part of the Mormon church’s official response to Judge Walker’s decision ruling California’s Proposition 8 unconstitutional:

“We recognize that this decision represents only the opening of a vigorous debate in the courts over the rights of the people to define and protect this most fundamental institution—marriage.

“There is no doubt that today’s ruling will add to the marriage debate in this country and we urge people on all sides of this issue to act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility toward those with a different opinion.”

Listen, Mormon church. When you spent millions of dollars on a [...] Continue Reading…

Gail Sweet, Director of the Burlington County Library System, is apparently guilty of that most vile of library crimes: censorship.

A New Jersey public library has ordered the removal of all copies of Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology (Alyson, 2000) from its shelves—despite the fact there was no formal book challenge—and its library director has referred to the title as “child pornography,” according to emails obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey through a Freedom of Information Act.

—Lauren Barack, “NJ Library, Citing Child Pornography, Removes GLBT Book,” July 27, 2010 (link)

“Copies need to totally disappear.”

—Gail [...] Continue Reading…

How many of you have used “The Rule” to decide whether or not to see a movie? Also known as the Bechdel Test, The Rule goes like this:

The movie must have at least two womenwho talk with each otherabout something other than a man.

The Rule isn’t a litmus test for feminism, but it certainly is astonishing how few movies pass it, even in our day and age.

Adam Lee and Hemant Mehta have suggested a similar test for religions. Does your religion (or a particular faith you are considering)

have at least one woman in a position of authoritywho plays a [...] Continue Reading…

I finished Season Two of your show last night. Well, early this morning. And now I am a bitter, broken shell of a man, capable only of sobbing and rocking back and forth in a fetal position. That’s right, the finale was that good! Kudos. Except now I’m cursing myself for not saving the last episodes until September, when the next season is set to air.

A couple things I can’t wait to find out:

Will Agent Olivia Dunham keep that horrific new cut and color or will she come to her senses? (Just say NO to those bangs, honey. They [...] Continue Reading…

No, self. You can’t stay up all night again watching Fringe.

No, you can’t get shitfaced drunk, either!

Or high.

Or make broccoli-butter pasta at midnight and eat too much. AGAIN.

Stop looking at me like that. Bambi eyes will get you nowhere.

Stop!

Oh, all RIGHT. I can never say no to you. Where’s the bourbon and Coke?

I consider myself a logical person. I always have. Which is why, I suppose, even when I was a believer I tried to use logic to explain my beliefs. As a proselytizing missionary I spent countless futile hours reasoning with believers in other faith traditions, trying to get them to see the inconsistencies in their belief system and to demonstrate—with words, with logic, with the force of conviction!—that my beliefs were superior and they should convert to Mormonism. You may or may not be surprised to hear that I rarely got anywhere with these tactics, except to find myself [...] Continue Reading…

I was reading Dooce’s most recent post, a letter to herself on turning “four hundred and twenty months old” entitled “That old hag.” And I was like, oh, fun, let’s plug that into the Google search bar and let it do the math for me to find out how old she is. So I typed in “420 / 12″ (boy does Google have some fun suggestions for people who type in “420,” by the way) and up pops… “= 35.”

Thirty-five.

After I calmed down a bit I did the math myself, and it turns out Heather Armstrong was born in [...] Continue Reading…

Looking around my new place, two months after moving in, I’m fairly satisfied with where I am, layout- and comfort-wise. Not forever, but for now. Except I need some more furniture, and there need to be fewer cables and power cords tangled in my living room, and my piano still needs a permanent spot and my art desk is a hideous mess and there are two growing piles of Random Crap on the floor in the living room and on the counter in the kitchen and okay, maybe I’m not that satisfied.

But it’s home. And that’s something.

P.S. Hey, what [...] Continue Reading…

I’m trying out a CAPTCHA on the comment form to try and cut down on the rate of spam I’m getting. If it doesn’t work I’ll turn it off. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it’s really been a deluge.

A note: if your comment ever fails to appear on the site—or if the CAPTCHA malfunctions and you can’t leave a comment at all!—the best thing to do is email me at sean@aloneandunobserved.com and ask me to look into it.

Something I constantly wonder: how could anyone meet me (let alone know me for any length of time) and not know I’m gay?

Really what this is about is my perennial wish to never have to tell family members, or former Mormon acquaintances, or old roommates, that I’m gay. Because it’s always awkward. They start reviewing every interaction they’ve ever had with me (I can see them doing it in their heads!) and the straight guys feel weird because what if I thought dirty thoughts about them! and everyone feels betrayed and on and on and on. Basically, I want [...] Continue Reading…