lisah, you are a trip. Actually, the ones I posted were all pretty much ones not really on the list (like the one with the scaryass bathroom and kitchen on Falls. No way would I want to live right on that street. And that poor house had been abused and neglected.)

This Gawker post about the NYTimes article about high schools not being ready for Rent (even an edited version) also links to an article about Grease: [link]

Thank you, Theo, Barb, Sue, Suzi, Jesse, Toddson, Tom, Calli, Fred Pete, Matt, Glamcookie, Lisa, Gudanov, Sail, Kathy, Aims and anyone I might have missed!

FAQWife is out of town this weekend for a conference, so I plan to enjoy my birthday at home by running around in my underwear, scratching myself and getting drunk.

Have people heard about this?

Utah State Sen. Compares Gays To Alcoholics, Terrorists: ‘They’re The Greatest Threat To America’»

It has a happy ending:

Utah state senator to lose his committee chairmanship after homophobic diatribe.»

But I initially missed this lil' quote of his:

Utah state senator Chris Buttars (R), who called gay people “the greatest threat to America going down,”

Heh. Because there's nothing worse than when America goes down, only to discover it's going down on a gay....

Mom didn't seem to mind at all when I asked her 'what does "the chicks'll cream" mean?' In fact she seemed to enjoy the way I squirmed as she explained it was a shortening of the expression "to cream one's jeans".

When I was in high school, my youth theater group did Grease. The plan that year was for the teenagers to do Grease and the little kids to do Oliver, but the little kids begged so much that they decided that they could do Grease too, in a heavily edited version. The editing wasn't quite as careful as the director thought, though, and during the first read through, the nine-year-old playing Rizzo read, "Everybody out! What do you think this is, a gang bang?" And then asked what "gang bang" meant. The director very quickly collected everyone's scripts and changed that to "party."

Belated Happy Birthday to Beverly!

Punctual Happy Birthday to Jon B!

Utah state senator to lose his committee chairmanship after homophobic diatribe.

However, despite the calls for his complete ouster, it's doubtful he'll be removed, because the majority of expressed public opinion is "So what? They are." We've got a loud and active gay minority here in Utah, but the silent majority stares at them with disgust and tries to keep them from getting anything done.

There were several Common Ground bills proposed this session to try and get basic parity for gay civil rights. They were often framed in terms of recognition for non-gays being considered a civil unit, such as unmrried people raising kids etc., in an effort to make it more palatable, but eery bill was shot down with "it's a step towards gay marriage, and no one wants that."

The upsurge in gay activism that was giving me hope has been met with the upsurge in the majority who thought they didn't have to worry about those icky gays taking strength in their numbers and saying exactly what they think.

It isn't a matter of uneasy "we know this isn't in the best of taste and we suspect we're wrong about what we're doing," it's "why on earth do we have to have this disgusting stuff shoved in our face, why are you here in our perfect state anyway?"

That linked article about the school that banned Grease is great. I especially liked that, because of the controversy over Grease, the principal canceled the planned spring play, The Crucible, and replaced it with Midsummer Nights Dream. Because Shakespeare is wholesome!

Because Shakespeare is wholesome!

He is! There was nothing naughty going on back when he wrote plays....