Beyoncé’s Top

After handing out more than thirty five thousand dollars in gift cards a few days ago to Wal-Mart customers, Beyoncé has done it again with a new video that surfaced and proven she cares about her fans deeply and that she’s at the top of her game. This time Beyonce made a dying teen’s wish come true at a concert.

Taylon, whose last name and age have not been released, is suffering from inoperable brain cancer and her dying wish was to dance with the mega-star.

After learning of her wish, The Philanthropy Program Partnerships made it happen and organised for the youngster to meet and dance with her idol.

You can read more here. You can watch the video there, too. In this case, you can tell when someone really cares. It’s just all over both of their expressions.

M/M Support for Authors

Here’s an update on M/M author, Eric Arvin, who is going through a serious health crisis right now, and at this moment (I think) undergoing brain surgery. I only have an overview of the medical issues and I don’t want to post anything inaccurate, so I won’t go into detail about them now. But his health issues are serious and I’ve been amazed to see how readers and other authors continue to support Arvin, and his partner, T.J. Klune.

I think most of us have gone through fairly serious health issues with family members, so we know. I’ve been through my share with Tony. And reading and seeing all the emotion and support for both Arvin and Klune has left me speechless more than once. It’s just mind blowing how people in this genre have reacted with so much love. And it really hits home for me because I know what Klune is going through right now. I’ve been there and it’s a strange place to be. To watch someone else go through it isn’t easy. You act and react on instinct and raw nerves. It’s like being in a long term state of shock and you focus on the most important things at hand and everything else seems to diminish. All of this is happening on social media. There’s also a fund set up to help offset medical costs, and all kinds of other things that happen during times like this.

It’s also a little strange for me to watch all this unfold because I don’t know Klune or Arvin very well. I’ve only noticed things on social media and how T.J. Klune seems to have an interesting way with people most authors don’t have. But in my recent release for a book I wrote months ago, Cowboy Christmas Miracle, one of the main characters in the story goes through a serious health crisis in fiction that’s a lot like what Arvin is going through right now in real life. I’d never done anything like that before in a book because I don’t like to go that deep with emotions too often. It’s not only draining to write about, but also tends to darken a romance if it’s not done with care. I gave my characters a happy ending, and I’m hoping the very same for Arvin and Klune.

And, another author I know, Jill Elaine Hughes, spent the holidays in the hospital with her infant. Jill is a seasoned writer who has been around for a long time and she’s written M/M romance and recently a few new adult novels. She’s also a great mom who balances a full time writing career and a family, and I think all moms will agree there’s probably nothing worse than seeing your child hospitalized. And I just wanted to mention her and offer some support, too.

Dell Blocks Gay Web Sites

This is interesting because I’ve seen this discussion over and over again…all my life. Even when something isn’t deemed adult content and is rated G, there are people who think ALL gay content is unsafe and harmful just because it is gay content. In other words, a web site could write and post about LGBT people who are deeply religious, and that content would still be considered not suitable for children.

And now Dell and other companies are feeding into that mindset:

Leading computer companies are helping anti-LGBTI people to block public access to ‘gay and lesbian’ websites – including vital services. The policy, including at Dell, has been condemned as ‘incredibly poor business sense’ and dangerous for vulnerable people.

But more interesting than that, two companies are known to support LGBT people in public and yet they are also supporting a product designed to filter out gay content altogether.

You can read the details here.

I have to think about this one for a while. If I could block and filter the Bristol Palin types of the world I wouldn’t mind them blocking and filtering me.

But that’s not how things work. The bigger picture here is that ALL LGBT content is considered porn in some places, by some people and no one’s blocking the Bristol Palin types. I’ve seen it with books and the way books are sold and categorized. A perfectly harmless little love story with no sex at all could be classified as porn just because of gay content.