epicwelshman

I’ve been thinking a lot about the so-called success of Proposition 8 in California, but I’ve been unsure what to say about it.

For those who don’t know, California legalized same-sex marriage on June 17, 2008. Proposition 8 is designed to change to state constitution to read that marriage is only valid between a man and a woman. Millions of dollars were raised on both sides of the issue. Brad Pitt, Stephen Speilberg, Google and Apple all donated $100,000 to fight the passing of the initiative.

There was hope that such a liberal state as California would overwhelmingly deny the amendment, enabling same-sex couples to continue to marry. Unfortunately, Proposition 8 has passed (though there is hope that the uncounted absentee ballots will change the decision). It seems that despite California’s liberal tendencies there are plenty of people who remain against same-sex marriage. 

I, along with many opponents of Prop 8 see this as a civil rights issue, and that replacing the word ‘gay’ with ‘black’ shows how ridiculous and outright offensive the amendment is. Proponents of Prop 8 don’t see this at all, and range from straight out homophobic to accepting of the gay lifestyle but not enough to allow marriage.

All I can say really is that it’s a sad day for California. In a time when the country overwhelmingly elected a black president, an idea that seemed impossible just a couple of years ago, for a state to not just deny its citizens the right to marry but to blatantly take that right away once it had already been given is horrendous.

The blogosphere is buzzing with news of Obama’s win. Around the world people are jubilant, hopeful and excited. Others are pleased, but wary. Other still, I’m sure, are disappointed for whatever reason.

In the US there seems to exist a true feeling of optimism for the future. The world has been going in a downwards spiral for a number of years now, and until Tuesday it felt close to hitting bottom. We’re certainly not out of danger yet, but there is certainly a feeling that with Obama at the helm there is hope for the future, no matter how slim.

I’m often wary of getting too involved with the politics of other nations. Canada held their elections recently, and most of the world didn’t even know, let alone care. Both Australia and France had elections within the last year, but for the life of me I can’t tell you when. I hate admitting my own ignorance, but I can’t even pretend otherwise. I’ve never even voted in Britain or The Bahamas, two countries where I hold citizenship (albeit through no fault of my own. I’ve never been over 18 in Britain during an election, and The Bahamas doesn’t allow proxy voting).

But America is different.

Sure, we slam the country for being arrogant, self obsessed, and for getting involved in the business of others. We criticize its influence on the western world’s economy and culture, its warmongering nature and its self-proclaimed leadership of the free world. We criticize seeing Obama bumper stickers on Bahamian cars, Obama posters in the UK and Obama t-shirts in Japan. We think, ‘hey, it’s not your election’.

But in some ways it is our election. For all of our bitching, America is almost inextricably the leader of the free world. It does shape the globe in a myriad of ways, and the lives of almost everyone on earth is intrinsically tied to the success of the United States. I joked the other day that the world should be allowed to vote in the US election… the US meddles in the world so much, why shouldn’t the world meddle in the US. I was being facetious, of course, but in some ways I do feel that. We’re all so affected by American policies and actions that it is our election, and maybe we should have some kind of influence over it.

But back to Obama. Starting in January America will have a young president, an intelligent president, a president who will be able to bring change to the United States, and to the world. America will have a president who isn’t influenced by the religious right and will move the country’s attitudes forward into the 21st Century. American will have a president who inspires hope, who creates optimism, and who will help America reach its potential. The US, under the Republicans, took advantage of a world that loved it well. Obama will help to rebuild that old reputation and will lead the world, not as a dictator but as an ally, in solidarity with its global brothers, into a brighter future.

Finally, I do have to say a few words about John McCain, particularly his concession speech. He was eloquent, honourable, and accepting of his loss. Rather than criticize Obama one last time, he held out his hand in friendship, support, and respect to his new president. His concession, where he took the high road, made up for all of his negativity and mistakes throughout his own campaign. America is headed for a brighter future, and both John McCain and Barack Obama will be a part of it.

I’ve developed a bad habit of locking my car without using my keys. You know, click the lock down, hold the handle up while closing the door - a safety mechanism of some sort to prevent accidental lockage. I’ve also developed a bad habit of forgetting to put my car in park. But that’s another story. Although I have had to quickly jump back in my car as it started rolling slowly down a hill.

But anyway.

The other day I stopped at the gas station, locked my car and suddenly realized my keys were still in the car. After a moment of panic I remembered I had left my back window down, and was able to get back in. My carelessness, thankfully, saved me.

So you’d think I would learn to be more attentive. Maybe make sure the keys were in my hand before the locking the car, that sort of thing. Apparently I didn’t receive that memo because it happened again. With the windows closed. With the engine on. 

I’m… dumb. Or, in the words of my father who came to rescue me with my spare key - “Stupid ass.”

Stupid ass indeed. I need a checklist before leaving the car apparently:

1. Make sure the engine is off
2. Make sure the keys are in your hand
3. Lock the car WITH said keys

Oh, and 4: Make sure the car is in ‘Park’. Stupid ass.

When I started blogging I had a Blogger account. As I got more into photography I got fed up with Blogger’s inability to easily handle a large photo post, so I moved over to the less sophisticated, but more flexible LiveJournal. LiveJournal also gave you the ability to have a “friends page”, where you could view all recent updates from other LiveJournal users you “follow” on one page. I began to follow a guy called Scott Loudoun. He was a quasi-”scene” kid from Victoria, British Columbia who would document his life. Everything from school to parties to road trips would be documented, and it was fantastic. While he wasn’t the best photographer he was certainly entertaining.

The reason I thought of this is because I flipped through my old LiveJournal today, when I would do something similar… document nights out and events. It was a lot of fun, and I feel I’ve lost that aspect of blogging/photography/whatever. I’m so into photography as an art form that I feel I’ve lost track of the spontaneity aspect of it, if that makes any sense. I’d like to document my life more instead of focusing solely on artsy photos.

I’ve spent countless minutes (not hours, I’m not all that dedicated) worrying about the design of this blog. I’ve searched for templates, different designs, different styles… I’ve designed banners and all sorts, and I’ve never found anything that really, really appeals to me.

Yet I hardly ever write on here anyway. I know I say I will, I’ll “turn over a new leaf” and all that, but who knows. It’s so weird that I earn my living as a writer yet refuse to write on my own blog. Maybe it’s because, as I’ve expressed before, I have an urge to want to bare it all, to be completely honest and yet I don’t feel I can be. Maybe that’s hindering my creativity.

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Well, tried to do a Wordpress update to 2.6. It seems to have worked but not only is Wordpress telling me to download 2.6 when I already have, but the Wordpress iPhone software that requires 2.6 doesn’t seem to work.

How about that?

The fact that the baristas in my local Starbucks know me and my drink and start making it as soon as soon as they see me enter the coffeeshop means one of two things. Either a) I have an addiction to caffeine, or b) I am a true capitalist, doing my part to support my local economy. One is bad, and one is good (depending on your personal socio-economic viewpoint). In that respect the two cancel each other out, and I become karma-neutral once more.

I can justify anything.

The Bahamas seems to be in a frenzy about a certain Mr. Barack Obama. Everywhere I go I see bumper stickers on all manner of vehicles - high priced luxury cars, taxis, cement trucks, etc. It seems that many Bahamians are 100% behind Obama for president.

But frankly, I wonder how much this is to do with Obama’s colour instead of his political policies.

For those who may not know, The Bahamas is roughly 90% black. Since independence in 1973 the leader of The Bahamas has been black. The last white leader of the country was Sir Roland Symonette as the Premier of The Bahamas in 1964. A few years ago his son, Brent Symonette who is a white Bahamian was contemplating running for the leadership of the Free National Movement, one of the two major political parties in the country (which if it won the election would make Mr. Symonette prime minister). On many of the radio talk shows the primary topic of discussion was, essentially, “should a white man run The Bahamas” (the insinuation that The Bahamas is a ‘black country’ went unspecified, but not ignored). Callers seemed to be divided between those who felt that only a black person should be leader, and those who supported Mr. Symonette as, black or white, he is a true Bahamian. Both ideas were present across the entire populace - there were wealthy Bahamians supporting him and poorer Bahamians against him, just as you had poorer Bahamians supporting and wealthy Bahamians opposing.

The point is that for the first time a black man has a very, very good shot at being the leader of the U.S.A. His entire race for the White House has been extraordinary - he’s young, a first term senator, black - all so-called “obstacles” he would have to cross when compared to the traditional Washington machine, or so it seemed. Generally speaking it’s only natural that many Bahamians would support a black candidate for the White House, even more so if the candidate is as inspiring and eloquent as Obama.

Now, colour and race aside, Obama is a liberal Democrat. He supports abortion rights, stem cell research, supports homosexual civil unions, etc. These are all things that the conservative Christian country (or so it considers itself) is usually against. After the recent spat of gay murders here people called into a radio show with the almost unanimous idea that the victims “got what they deserved”. That’s the kind of conservative fundamentalist attitude that’s present across the spectrum of the populace.

For what it’s worth, I’m in no way defending that idea, nor even the conservative nature of The Bahamas. I’m all for liberal attitudes, a secular government, etc. But that’s another blog post for another time.

My point is simply that if Obama was a white man, with all of the same left-leaning ultra liberal tendencies, would the conservative citizens of The Bahamas really be as supportive of him as they seem to be?

Oh man, you have no idea how long it took me to get that new banner image sorted out. Jeez.

I figured that I need to start personalising my blog instead of simply changing the template every now and again, so this is the beginning of my effort. I’d say that I’m turning over a new leaf, but this is probably the 7th time I’ve said that, so take it with a grain of salt.

So, plenty has happened since I updated back in… goodness me, May?

1. I’ve continued going to the gym at least semi regularly, which is very unlike me. My arms are getting bigger, my chest is getting tighter, yet inexplicably my middle section is getting even softer than it was. I don’t understand. At this rate I’ll look like a pregnant bodybuilder. Which is not a good look.

2. I was part of a photo exhibition! That’s probably the most exciting news. I’ve wanted to have an exhibition for a while, but haven’t really been sure how to pull it off. Luckily, I was more or less invited to join a group exhibition which meant I got the experience of being a part of the show without having to prepare and organize myself. It was a lot of fun, a good deal of people came and I even sold this photo for a couple hundred dollars, which was utterly shocking.

3. Other stuff has happened, obviously, but it’s been so long I can’t remember it. Therefore, it must not be important. And if it’s not important to me, it’s certainly not important to you.

On that note, Ashley out.

…god, I did not just say that. I apologize.