A few things that have been bothering me

[puppetmaker]

I have worked in the entertainment industry most of my adult life in various jobs.

While in the theater, a friend and I had a phrase gay until proven straight. It worked quite well for us and we didn’t really worry about the sexual orientation of anyone we were working with because it didn’t matter if they could do the job and, frankly, it was none of our business.

Yesterday Joel Grey informed the world that he was a gay man. I think it is more impressive that at 82 he is still a fine actor who can learn and retain his lines but that’s me. Yes he has children. Yes he was married. But you have to consider (remember 82) the world he grew up in and the social morays of the time. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t love his wife or his children.

He is not the only person that I know who has come out late in life. I have a number of gay friends in their 60s and 70s who were married and had children. It was what you were supposed to do at the time. Now they are much more comfortable with coming out and being themselves without having to hide parts of them that they were afraid they would be condemned for. More often than not the spouse has been supportive.

I am honestly waiting for a time were who we are attracted to is not a big deal. I am also waiting for women to be paid the same as men and women to be allowed to train for the jobs they would like to do along with the character of a person being more important than the color of the skin. I know I will be waiting for a while on all this but with each generation these things are less of a problem until they aren’t an obstacle at all.

Dear NFL, stop making Marshawn Lynch do things that he is serious uncomfortable with. It isn’t funny and is quickly getting to the sad part of the spectrum. He doesn’t want to participate in media day. The right to free speech does include the right to not talk. Maybe he had a social anxiety. Maybe he feels that no matter what he says, it will be taken the wrong way. But forcing the man by taking away chunks of his paycheck is really rude. Also so he wore a hat with a logo that was not vetted by the NFL. Was it an obscene hat? No. It had his logo on it for whatever beast mode is. There is apparently a clothing line that goes with it. The NFL needs a reality check about these bullying tactics they use against the players. But since they are a privately held company, they won’t be.

Dear local government, believe it or not the people who live in the side streets and cul-de-sacs need to be able to drive safely too. I know I am one of the lucky ones that are on a street deemed important to the town’s transportation grid so we are some of the first to get plowed. The fact that it took you over 24 hours to get to a little more than half the sideroads is not great. Y’all put reminders in our mail boxes of what fines were in effect if we didn’t take care of our property within 24 hours of the end of the storm, which most of us did. I am going to be interested to see if you go after those who didn’t. Also some of your rent a plow operators were scraping up the streets again when there really wasn’t anything to plow. We needed salt and sand not more grooves and places for potholes to form.

There, I honestly feel better. Now on with the rest of my day.

I am grateful that we can get our car out of the driveway if we need to.

Comments

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

I have to be honest and say that I have no sympathy for Marshawn Lyynch whatsoever. Stop making him do things he doesn't want to do? This guy signed a multimillion dollar contract to play football--to be an entertainer. He's obliged to follow that contract, by law. If he didn't know the terms of his contract, which surely included clauses about making media appearances and wearing league-sanctioned clothes as a result of getting those millions of dollars, then only one of three things is possible: 1) his agent wasn't doing his job, informing him of what he was doing, and should be fired, 2) Lynch didn't care enough to get informed himself, which means his agent ought to give him a stern talking-to at the very least, or 3) he's an arrogant prima dona, a spoiled child, thinking that he can sign contracts and then not honor the agreements and still be entitled to the multimillions.

If he's not comfortable doing the media stuff, then he should have told his agent and they should have negotiated that issue. I worked with contract negotiations for ten years involving money nowhere near as large as this and even I know this.

I genuinely do not understand the sympathy this guy is generating and I live in Seattle! He's on my town's football team.

[delle.livejournal.com]

thank you for your support of Marshawn Lynch. I'm in Seattle and I know we are rooting for opposing teams.... but, yes. Yes, he signed a contract - as they all do - that he will make media appearances. But he's been outspoken (I know, a contradiction for Marshawn) about how he wants his behavior on the field to speak for him. He isn't a grandstander. His "Beast Mode" brand funds a foundation for inner city kids in Oakland. I understand that the NFL doesn't want all their player hawking their own brands - and I'm enough of a cynic to know not all those brands would be for social good. But perhaps Marshawn wouldn't feel the need to break the rule about what he can/can not wear if he weren't being forced into public appearances he doesn't want to do?

He's a real charmer, away from the spotlight. Last year he rode on the front of a Ducks craft, throwing skittles into the crowd for the Superbowl celebration parade. He didn't refuse to go or not show up. He's accessible, in his own way.