You have entered the web home of Jonathan Arehart. I'm
a thirty-four year old gay male living in Austin, Texas. I'm about 5'10" with blue eyes
and long dirty-blond hair (usually in a pony tail). For those of
your interested in a bit more detail, I am currently single and a
scorpio with some libra thrown in just to be complicated. :-)
Below, are my ramblings, rants, ruminations, and/or hypothetical situations
about life. I will be frank about some topics, so if I discuss something
that offends you, please remember there is no requirement that you keep
reading. If you'd like to comment, my e-mail address is in the footer of
each page. Opinions expressed are solely mine and may change over time.
2012.05.11 at 07:25 AM CDT
(Friday, May 11th, 2012)
Related to yesterday's post is another essay on POTUS and his evolution having
completed. This
one is from Pam
Spaulding. Also, am I the only one who hears the Zerg "evolution complete!"
recording each time this comes up? :)
I do think it is a good thing and it is phenomenal for a sitting US President
to declare such support.
However, after previous stances (prior to the 2008 Presidential election
cycle), stances during the 2008 elections, stances as POTUS, and now; it is
very difficult to not see the timing as politically motivated, more
than motivated by an actual change of thought/position/heart. Please excuse me
(and many others) if we're non-plussed when our fucking civil rights are
being used as playthings.
Others, including the presumptive Republican POTUS nominee in 2012, people who
backed the recent North Carolina amendment which passed Tuesday, and those
backing Texas' 2005 Proposition 2, are just as guilty of political motivation
when playing with civil rights. They are not alone. Need I mention NOM (to
whom I will not link)?
I fully grant that all of the above aside, such a move is not without risk for
things about which I do care, such as progressive/liberal stances doing well
overall in the upcoming elections. That said, it is a slap in the face (from
a member of another minority, no less (not to say that the GLBT community is
any better as we definitely have our faults/fails)) when this happens
the day after a state constitutional amendment vote about which POTUS had not
made a clear, strong statement. It is also a slap in the face when same sex
marriage is said to be a state's issue, while DOMA is on the books as the only
exemption to full faith and
credit.
Need I remind you the state
of civil rights for GLBT citizens of the United States? (Thanks to the
Guardian.) Also note that I have not made disparaging remarks about North
Carolina. They are essentially just as bad as my current home state, Texas.
Oh right, I do need to remind... I do need to remind people about DOMA and the
current state of equality. After I interviewed for my current job, it came up
in discussion that HR staff did not know that it isn't illegal in Texas to ask
about or discriminate based on sexual orientation in employment. Some of my
own family has wondered why I would bring it up in an interview (despite legal
protection or current lack thereof). And yesterday, a co-worker didn't see why
the North Carolina or Texas state constitutional amendments were such a big
problem until I mentioned DOMA. Then he was like, oh, yeah, the whole thing
(the amendments and DOMA and inequality in general) is crap. Yay for different
perspectives and for DOMA being old enough that people forget that I can't just
go to a neighboring state, get married, return to Texas, and all is sorted.
One of these days, maybe, the citizens of the United States will stop voting
on each other's civil rights, and just fucking recognize them... *sigh*
In other "news," I will be moving for better civil rights long before
Texas is dragged into actually having them (since I do not expect it will be
soon, despite the valiant efforts of many activists). And no, I do not yet have
a concrete time line for such.
2012.04.17 at 12:10 AM CST
(Tuesday, April 17th, 2012)
Third, Slate had a couple of interesting articles
about the United States and walking (or lack thereof).
Fourth, I had interesting decisions recently. I did not post about it due to
the timing and nature of the decision. I am not yet leaving Austin, though
probably in the next year or three. And now we hope current situations
improve. (This is not to alarm anyone; I'm fine.) :)
2012.01.25 at 10:15 AM CST
(Wednesday, January 25th, 2012)
And now that 18 January's actions around the Internet appear to have helped, I
have un-blacked my site; though I changed the color scheme at the same time.
We'll have to wait and see if SOPA/PIPA remain dead, as
well as what sort of replacement bills emerge. (OPEN?)
We'll also have to see how ACTA goes...
2012.01.18 at 12:40 AM CST
(Wednesday, January 18th, 2012) (updated 2012.01.25 at 06:40 AM CST)
Today, 18 January 2012, many sites on the Internet are blacking themselves out
in protest of SOPA. As you can see, I too am participating.
2011.11.29 at 06:50 AM CST
(Tuesday, November 29th, 2011)
Whoa! It seems I've updated the layout of the front page of my site a bit.
It isn't a re-write or move to CSS, but makes the layout a bit more
useful/standard.
Tim Wise: The
Pathology of White Privilege (as David E. said, "Everybody
should see this. My black, brown, LGBT, and female friends might not learn
anything new, but still. It's amazing.")
And finally, some OWS related links. You (and I) may not agree or largely agree
(or disagree) with the Occupy movement, but I think they have done a good job of
forcing the US (and the globe) to at least discuss a few things we've been
avoiding; and hopefully to do so with the addition of some often ignored
perspectives.
Finally, happy birthday, I guess, to this country. I'd be more patriotic and
more excited if more of us had equal fucking rights and if we, as a country,
didn't do so many brain-dead things with which I disgree. *sigh*
2011.06.07 at 01:10 AM CDT
(Tuesday, June 07th, 2011)
Also, I will admit my bias. I voted for Randi Shade, and will again in the
runoff. I think she is the better choice for a balanced, fair council member
who will work for the best of all of Austin.
2011.06.01 at 12:15 AM CDT
(Wednesday, June 01st, 2011)
First, if you have arehartj@io.com on file for me as an email address, the
io.com domain
will no longer accept mail starting July 01, 2011. (Details from PrismNet if you're
curious. Rumor has
it that i/o Data Centers may have
aquired the domain.) Contact should be through jonathan@arehart.net or
jarehart@clarkk.net, both of which I've had for a while now. Yay for the "fun"
of one month to adjust mail away from an address I've had since at least 1998.
In other news, Queerbomb is this Friday,
June 03, 2011 starting at 07:00 PM CDT. See the site for more information, or
be at 1000 East 6th Street, Austin at the above time.
And in City of Austin news, we have a run-off
election coming up for Place 3 on City Council. In my opinion, for a
council not more overly influenced by the Austin Neighborhoods Council (ANC), one
should vote for Randi Shade over Kathie Tovo. I do not think Shade
has been perfect, but I think she is a more balanced voice on Coucil,
especially for those many residents of our city who are not home owners, but
deserve as much input as those who are. I also think we'll have better
progress toward being a walkable and sustainable city without ANC having
excessive influnce on Council. Early voting is June 06 to June 14 with the
election on June 18. Local elections are those where an individual vote can
make a real difference, so please vote.
2011.04.08 at 01:20 AM CDT
(Friday, April 08th, 2011) (updated 2011.04.09 at 04:30 AM CDT)
Two very good reads regarding urban development in Austin, both from Austin Contrarian are:
In my opinion, the second is the more important in the immediate future. It
makes the point, with links to other resources, that if
Austin is to do urban rail it must have reserved right-of-way for
most (90% or better) of the route, not just the convenient parts (about
50% or less), as is currently the
plan.
SERIOUSLY, if Austin does not do this correctly, it is not worth doing
at
all. Building urban rail badly, will only further cement the idea that
rail transit does not work in Austin and will set fixes/other rail transit back
for a generation (or two), if not permanently prevent something better. We have
enough failrail
with the Capital MetroRed Line, we DO NOT need
more.
I, most definitely, think Austin needs rail transit to go along with its other
forms of transportation, so that it can become the dense, walkable, sustainable
place it seems to desire to be (and for which I would like it to be). However,
the Red Line and the currently proposed Urban Rail ARE NOT good rail
transit, and are/will hurt more than help.