TaskRabbit.com
When I first heard about Taskrabbit.com I thought about Fiverr.com, and the posts I’ve written on that topic. The difference between the two web sites is simple. One is for outsourcing and the other is more entertainment oriented. For example, at fiverr you can hire someone for five dollars to sing you a song, do a dance in his underwear outside an old outhouse, or write you a book review. (As long as the person hired reads the book I see nothing wrong with it. I’ve never done it for my books, but Kirkus Reviews charges five hundred dollars to write book reviews and I don’t see much difference between them and Fiverr.) At taskrabbit.com you hire people to do things you don’t really want to do yourself. And from what I gather you can hire people to just about anything and it doesn’t cost all that much.
Here’s a list of some of the things people will do:
Wait in line for the new iPhone
You can read more about it here. It’s an interesting concept, and it’s free to join, unlike Angie’s list. For busy authors this could be invaluable just for managing social media alone. And while it doesn’t look like it’s as much fun as Fiverr, it certainly can be if you decide to wrap your coworker’s desk in tin foil. Or, maybe get a man to kill that big spider.
Nuns Fire Lesbian Teacher
This article to which I’m linking is long, detailed, and filled with interesting facts. It’s not just about a group of nuns firing a teacher for being a lesbian. But I’m focusing on that one topic here…the nuns firing the teacher, because I’ve become jaded with this kind of mindset and the shame it promotes to all gay people…especially those who have not come out yet.
So it was a shock to many when the IHM-sponsored all-girls Marian High School in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., fired longtime chemistry teacher Barb Webb, a lesbian whose pregnancy through nontraditional means goes against Catholic teachings. The outcry over Webb’s dismissal was passionate — and voluminous.
Now, the sisters who oversee Marian say they don’t want what happened to Webb to happen again to any of their employees.
“We want to make sure the gospel values and our values are lived out at the school,” said Sister Mary Jane Herb, president of the 377-member IHM order and a onetime Marian teacher and vice principal.
I find this personally interesting because I went through 12 years of Catholic school and saw plenty of same sex situations that were always covered up. I might have told this story before, but, in short, when Tony and I were first together we had three gay friends. Three gay men in a three-way long term relationship. We never asked questions. They all seemed to work it out together. But there was something odd about them. They never actually mentioned what they did for a living. They kept us all guessing for years. They even joked around that they were spies. There was always a great deal of money being tossed around in a carefree way. Until one day I found out by accident one was a high ranking bishop in the Catholic church, the other was his monsignor, and the third was just their younger kept lover. These people were not Catholic priests who left the priesthood. They were practicing priests, with parishes, in close contact with Rome because of their positions, and were living double lives in the most furtive way I’ve ever seen. If that doesn’t say it all about hypocrisy, I’m not sure what does. And that story is not rumor. I knew these people personally. I don’t bother with them anymore. I don’t see how you can have it both ways.
You can read the full piece here. And before anyone decides to comment in support of the Catholic church on this topic, please understand that I’ve been through it all before on this topic. I know many Catholics support gays, but the church itself doesn’t…at least not openly. The only thing new I could experience with being gay and the Catholic church would be a welcome with full acceptance, not just a condescending we’ll pray for you. That guilt doesn’t work for me anymore. It might work for you, but not for me.
Pits and Pervs and Pride
There’s a new film titled, Pride, out in Britain that’s about an unlikely alliance formed about 30 years ago between gays, lesbians, and miners. Margaret Thatcher’s government ordered the closure of 70 mines, which sparked a controversy that lasted for one year. Gays and lesbians came together to raise financial support for the miners.
Deprived of income from their jobs and of benefits from the government, many families in the collieries were struggling to scrape by.
In the end Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) offered the money to miners in the South Wales valleys.
Mike Jackson of LGSM was in the first group to meet David Donovan of the Neath, Swansea and Dulais Valley Mineworkers.
While the movement was bigger than two individuals, without them, much of what followed may never have happened.
Donovan told GSN: ‘LGSM brought together disparate lesbian and gay women and men around London in a common cause to help the striking families in Wales.
It’s a long uplifting article about two very different groups pulling together to gain power and support. The film looks excellent and I’ll be looking for it. You can read it all here.
Gay/Straight Celebrity Bromances
I find this highly entertaining because it shows how little the mainstream knows about gay men, especially web sites that discuss gay books and gay men as if they’re lab rats. I have straight male friends, always have, and I’m not the least bit attracted to them sexually. The dynamics between straight men and gay men in a friendship has changed and evolved, and is probably one of the most underestimated topics around today.
This article about Andy Cohen and his straight best friend is worth reading if you’re interested in learning more about gay men and their straight friends.
Perhaps straight men have let down their guards after figuring out that not every gay guy wants to sleep with them. Or perhaps gay and straight guys alike have simply realized that, at the end of the day, the sexual attractions of your friends don’t matter. Sex is irrelevant to friendship.
Whatever the reason, there seems to be a whole new comfort level between the orientations.
You can read more here, with photos of other gay men and their straight male friends. What actually worries me more than anything is the topic of gay men and their stereotypical girlfriends who like to exchange make up tips and go shopping together. I have plenty of good women friends, too, but we don’t braid each other’s hair, and we don’t shop for shoes together.
Just think about all the things you learned about gay men on TV shows like Sex and the City and try to block them out of your mind forever.
