Thursday, May 17, 2012

Random Musings

Okay, so the Mittsy the Bully story isn't dead yet, and, well, I for one have more to say.
While I am disgusted by his actions as a teen, I realize that people change, and the Mittsy who tormented the gay, and allegedly gay, students at his high school is not the same Mittsy today. But, the part of the story that disgusts me most, is that when he talks of the incident[s], he first says he doesn't recall them--which, you know damn well his victims have never forgotten--but he laughs about it, albeit nervously.
See, I have my own story of bullying, and, no, not being bullied, but being the bully. And the difference between Mittsy and me is that I feel shame, right now, today, as I write this, even though it happened when I was ten years old. That's decades of shame for what I did.
I was in the 5th grade. I didn't know from gay, though I did have a wee crush on my math teacher, Mr. Farris. But, my best friend Paul and I didn't like this one kid, because he had a funny sounding last name; well, his last name was also the name of a disease. So, we tormented him, at school, and on the way home. So, much so that he would try to find other ways of going home, and we would find him again, and start over. We verbally bullied him; it was never physical, though that doesn't really matter, you know?
Anyway, one day at school, the day after we’d sent him running home in tears, the principal wanted to see Paul and me. Our victim had told on us, and we were taken to the principal's office and reprimanded severely. Parents were notified, and I truly felt ashamed for what I’d done. There was school punishment, home punishment, and a public apology to our victim.
And, unlike Mittsy, I never did it again.
And, unlike Mittsy, I feel the sting of shame to this day.
That’s my issue with Mittsy and bullying. Not so much that he did it, because, most of us, as children and young adults, have probably done our share of name-calling and bullying, but because Mittsy seems to have no remorse.
When you giggle and offer a non-apology, you've learned nothing.

The male stripper movie, Magic Mike is coming out soon, I guess, and this is the new cover of Entertainment Weekly.
Channing. Joe. Matt Bomer. So cannot wait to see this.
But, um, Matthew McConaughey? The mere sight of him makes me wanna scrub myself clean.

So, we all remember how the Colorado House killed the Civil Union bill?
Well, Don Coram is one of the Republicans responsible for letting the bill die before a vote. And Don Coram has a son, Dee Coram, who is a gay man; a gay man who says he begged his father not to let the bill die. Which it did, by one vote.
Dee Coram: "Yesterday was the first and only time I ever called him and said, "Can you do this?....He said, 'I love you, but absolutely not.'"
The elder Coram said he was representing the interests of his rural district by killing the bill because, he believes, civil unions legislation was akin to gay marriage, which state voters banned in 2006. 
I'm not seeing Father of the Year in Don Coram's future.

So, I saw this preview for a new show about a gay male couple wanting to have a child via a surrogate mother. It seems irreverent and funny, and really very witty. It's from Ryan Murphy, creator of both Glee and American Horror Story.
It looks fun, but, I wonder, after the baby comes, is it just gonna be the standard sitcom about a couple with a new baby where hilarity ensues?    

So, Starbucks came out for Marriage Equality and NOM threatened a boycott.
Starbucks' sales and stock prices soared.
Tough break NOM. But, maybe there's a reason for that.
See, antigay preacher Bob Enyart proclaimed his dislike for Starbucks's Marriage Equality support by buying coffee at the chain and then dumping it down the sewer. And he videotaped himself doing it.
Um, Pastor Dumbass? The purpose of a boycott is not to go into the store and buy something from them. I don't think Starbucks cares if you dump your Venti-double-half-caf-half-decaf-low-foam-caramel-Latte-with-whipped-cream in the sewer after you PAY FOR IT.

So, season finales.
Desperate Housewives.
I hung with this show, even in the lean years, the bad years, and the awful years. So I watched the series finale.
Yawn. Except for the death of sarcastic Karen McCluskey, it wasn't much. But, oy, the writing.
See, Gabby’s husband, Carlos, killed Gabby's child molesting stepfather at the end of last year, but the wives banded together to protect him because he's a twice-convicted felon.
This year, Bree went on trial for the murder, and when it looked like she would be convicted, and you knew that wouldn't happen, Carlos was gonna step up and admit to killing Alejandro with a Candlestick in the Library.
But, Gabby begged him not to, citing the Three Strikes law. As a convicted felon, Carlos would go directly to Jail, and would not pass Go and....
Whoa, two board game references? But I digress.
So, how did Gabby keep her felon husband from testifying? She put a knife in his jacket and when the felon walked through the metal detector, it was discovered.
Um, anyone with me? Felon? Weapon? Courthouse? Three strikes?
The writers weren't thinking on that one. Oy.
Glee. Not really the season finale, that comes next week, but this was the National Championships for Show Choir episode.
It was cute. The choir finally won. Predictable. But the moments between Coach Bieste and Puck were, I thought, very sweet. And even their song together, "Mean" by wide-eyed Taylor Swift, was nice.
And then they added Lohan to the mix. 
Yes, cracktress Lindsay Lohan played a sanitized version of herself, and made a less than memorable impression with her three-line art.
But, what I found funny was the scene where the awards were handed out on the stage. Other guest judges, Perez Hilton, playing an emaciated Perez Hilton, and an actor playing an Ohio congressman were onstage, but Lohan was not to be scene.
Was this one of those times when she ALLEGEDLY disappeared into the bathroom?

3 comments:

  1. You don't forget. I even remember the time I tried to be a bully. This girl was just wiping the playground with me at tetherball. She was taller than than the other kids and a bit large and she was laughing and killing us at the game. So I took a deep breath and yelled out, "You big (and here I planned to say fatty and...) SKINNY!!"
    The girl was totally flummoxed and I was slunk off - beaten at tetherball and a failed bully. But I remember it vividly at ten years old.

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  2. I think we have all done something in the past that we have regretted.

    So, Magic Mike. OMG, I cannot wait for this movie to come out!

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  3. I remember doing it twice, with words alone. Once when I was in Kindergarten and once when I was in about second or third grade. I had a feeling and I knew that I had done something wrong as I watched the victims, my younger brother's friends in both cases, break down and cry. As you've said, you don't forget it if you know that it was wrong - you have a conscience. The shame never goes away.

    Apparently Rmoney can afford not to have a conscience and I imagine that this has served him well in his professional life. After all consciences are for the little people.

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