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Suits, gay-straight alliance news
Apparently it was someone's birthday.... happy happy to the now-older couple, though I've myself gone from celebrating birthdays to indifference, and soon to actively repressing. :-) There must be some LJ function to remind you of other users' birthdays, but I don't know what it is.
Went shopping for a suit today. I need something formal to wear to my stepson Dan's wedding in August, and this week![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
excessor invited me to join him at GLAAD's annual Media Awards Dinner next weekend, so I suddenly needed something even faster. My last suit purchase was in 1989, for a series of job interviews in the Bay Area. Gather round techno-kiddies, and I'll tell you how you used to have to wear expensive and uncomfortable clothing to get hired you would never wear on the job.... by the last time I did a job search in 1998, wearing a suit for a technical job interview was considered odd, possibly evidence of social impairment, depending on the atmosphere of the company involved, unless you were a new graduate or recent immigrant.
My old suit still looks great but it does not look great on me since, alas, am several inches wider in chest, neck, and waist, so no reasonable tailoring could have fixed it. We went to Nordstrom Rack first, since we had heard viaexcessor that they had reasonably-priced tuxes, and Mike needs something really good as father of the groom. The tuxes turned out to look okay but not okay enough to impress us, and I ended up bonding to a black Joseph Abboud 40R which fit perfectly. The alteration lady did the pants hemming in 30 minutes and a mere application of Amex plastic resolved all issues. This suit cost me about the same as the slightly lower quality one I purchased in 1989, meaning after inflation it was about half the cost. Status competition via men's formal clothing is far less important to success in society than it used to be, and outsourcing of most clothing manufacturing has produced this "bargain." The cost would keep me in my usual clothing for years, and as a geek by nature you normally can't get me to any function requiring uncomfortable clothes, but I wouldn't want to look too sad to those fashionistas who might be observing either event. But now they tell me I can't even wear black skate shoes! Geez, fascisti everywhere.
One of my gym buddies, Flash, a 50ish woman, stopped me last week to ask if I had seen the Mercury News. I had, and she wanted to know if I had read the article (Similar to this one, which doesn't require registration) about her daughter's Gay-Straight Alliance group at Los Altos High. While I had read the article I didn't realize the Alison mentioned was her daughter. We then had a lengthy conversation about how valuable an experience it had been for her, why the reluctant councilmen had backed out of passing the Pride Day resolution, why we still have a significant minority who don't accept separation of church and state despite 200-plus years under a legal system which has gradually raised what had been an ideal often overlooked into a real protection, and other related topics. As a good progressive parent she was outraged anyone would oppose the obviously good work her daughter was doing. I tried to explain (I am always explaining the Devil to others) that our cherished myth of a country founded on a search for religious freedom was made up after the fact, the Pilgrims having founded a colony as religiously oppressive as any on Earth, and that it was decades after the Bill of Rights was passed before the States were themselves restrained from favoring particular religious sects, and a century before it was widely accepted that non-Christian faiths were to be placed on an equal footing. Heretics were hung on Boston Common, witches hung or drowned or pressed to death, and so on and so forth:
Well, Wednesday the issue was addressed again, and this time the council corrected their error (after a strongly negative public reaction):
Now doesn't that make you feel better about young people? At least in Los Altos. :-)
Went shopping for a suit today. I need something formal to wear to my stepson Dan's wedding in August, and this week
excessor invited me to join him at GLAAD's annual Media Awards Dinner next weekend, so I suddenly needed something even faster. My last suit purchase was in 1989, for a series of job interviews in the Bay Area. Gather round techno-kiddies, and I'll tell you how you used to have to wear expensive and uncomfortable clothing to get hired you would never wear on the job.... by the last time I did a job search in 1998, wearing a suit for a technical job interview was considered odd, possibly evidence of social impairment, depending on the atmosphere of the company involved, unless you were a new graduate or recent immigrant.My old suit still looks great but it does not look great on me since, alas, am several inches wider in chest, neck, and waist, so no reasonable tailoring could have fixed it. We went to Nordstrom Rack first, since we had heard via
excessor that they had reasonably-priced tuxes, and Mike needs something really good as father of the groom. The tuxes turned out to look okay but not okay enough to impress us, and I ended up bonding to a black Joseph Abboud 40R which fit perfectly. The alteration lady did the pants hemming in 30 minutes and a mere application of Amex plastic resolved all issues. This suit cost me about the same as the slightly lower quality one I purchased in 1989, meaning after inflation it was about half the cost. Status competition via men's formal clothing is far less important to success in society than it used to be, and outsourcing of most clothing manufacturing has produced this "bargain." The cost would keep me in my usual clothing for years, and as a geek by nature you normally can't get me to any function requiring uncomfortable clothes, but I wouldn't want to look too sad to those fashionistas who might be observing either event. But now they tell me I can't even wear black skate shoes! Geez, fascisti everywhere.One of my gym buddies, Flash, a 50ish woman, stopped me last week to ask if I had seen the Mercury News. I had, and she wanted to know if I had read the article (Similar to this one, which doesn't require registration) about her daughter's Gay-Straight Alliance group at Los Altos High. While I had read the article I didn't realize the Alison mentioned was her daughter. We then had a lengthy conversation about how valuable an experience it had been for her, why the reluctant councilmen had backed out of passing the Pride Day resolution, why we still have a significant minority who don't accept separation of church and state despite 200-plus years under a legal system which has gradually raised what had been an ideal often overlooked into a real protection, and other related topics. As a good progressive parent she was outraged anyone would oppose the obviously good work her daughter was doing. I tried to explain (I am always explaining the Devil to others) that our cherished myth of a country founded on a search for religious freedom was made up after the fact, the Pilgrims having founded a colony as religiously oppressive as any on Earth, and that it was decades after the Bill of Rights was passed before the States were themselves restrained from favoring particular religious sects, and a century before it was widely accepted that non-Christian faiths were to be placed on an equal footing. Heretics were hung on Boston Common, witches hung or drowned or pressed to death, and so on and so forth:
There were early dissenters, however, including people of non-established churches as well as people who did not believe in the establishment of religion. Roger Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635 for his critique of Governor Winthrop's colony and his views on freedom of belief. He then settled in what is now Providence, Rhode Island. In 1637, Anne Hutchinson was found to be "disrupting the peace of the Commonwealth and the churches," and was tried for the heresy of a radical "covenant of grace" over and above any reliance on "works" and for having the audacity to teach her views, quote the Bible to support them, and claim divine inspiration. She was banished from Boston and took refuge in Rhode Island. Her friend Mary Dyer, a Quaker, was also run out of the Bay Colony as a dissenter. Refusing to accept expulsion, she returned repeatedly to press for her religious freedom until she was finally hung on Boston Common in 1660.
Well, Wednesday the issue was addressed again, and this time the council corrected their error (after a strongly negative public reaction):
On Tuesday, after hearing from nearly a dozen gay rights activists, political representatives, students and others, all but one council member voted to add Gay Pride Day and keep Tolerance Day. Ron Packard dissented.
Kui Mwaniki and her sister, Thitu, said they are Christians who were born and raised in Los Altos. Kui, who was leaving Safeway on Wednesday afternoon, said she's pleased about the council's reversal.
Gay folks ``are residents, too,'' said Kui, a 17-year-old student at Gunn High School in Palo Alto. ``Isn't this America where you should be free to do what you want?''
The Mwanikis said they are more concerned that gay residents feel comfortable than they are that Christians feel comfortable, because Christians are more accepted in society.
``The Bible says homosexuality isn't right,'' said Thitu Mwaniki, 18, a student at Foothill College. ``But it also says not to judge people.''
The girls said a number of their friends who are gay have to go to other cities to celebrate gay pride because there aren't any festivities in Los Altos. The sisters said they make a distinction between their personal beliefs and people's civil and political rights.
``It's like how our parents may not like everything we do but they still love us,'' Thitu Mwaniki said, explaining how she feels about her friends who are gay.
Now doesn't that make you feel better about young people? At least in Los Altos. :-)