Last Post.

Well Folks,

     I guess I've come to the end of the road with this project.  The Matsu LBGT coffee and blog are no more.  exit. done. finis.
     I've had a great time and met some marvelous people.  I've drank lots of coffee, and had a lot of smiles and laughs, but all good things have their end times.  I am entering a new season of life as the year turns over.  One wherein I am going to concentrate on my health, and weight (I seem to be growing sideways again).
    I had hoped the Valley would enthusiastically embrace the idea of a resource center, and that people would start to get excited and put together safe, fun activities like pot-lucks, movie nights, and so on.  I wanted to see an environment created where people could meet new friends, and network together a web of mutual support for the hard times that sometimes plague LBGT+ people.  I must admit to being less than a stellar performer at "community organizing".  I had hoped that if someone like I were to put a toe in the water, another would come along with better skills, and more emotional stability,  to take over and help it expand.  Sadly, that didn't happen.  Perhaps I failed to advertise properly, or perhaps there was something else I needed to do, perhaps it is simply that I have no earthly idea what I'm doing or how to go about it.  I think the last is most likely.  I learned a few things though, and made new friends, and that makes the whole thing worth the efforts I did put in!
     It's my hope that someday the valley will bloom with flowers of love and goodwill.  That we all will participate in the Mat-Su Community as powerful individuals,  confidant of our worth, and confidant that we will be treated equally with other classes of Americans.  I want to see LBGT people garner the respect they deserve, and to be solid enough emotionally to deserve great respect.  We should be farmers, leading our community in planting goodwill, promoting human well-being and safety, and spreading benevolence and warm hugs to the many who feel outcast, un-loveable, unwanted, unworthy.
     If you have read my posts and followed them through the last few years, I thank you.  I intend to leave the blog as it is for a few months, then to terminate it about mid-summer, erasing it from the net.
Happy 2013, I hope  a well-spring of good tidings floods you by this time next year!
Thanks.

Brianne

Advent Sorrows and Depressions

Hey out there,

     It's Sunday Evening and I'm kinda zombied from the hangover of a Migraine this morning.  I poked around the news services here and there all week and of course we all are pretty much unable to avoid the horrible monstrous massacre of innocents.  I leave you to look it up and read about it as you wish.  I have nothing but sadness, empathy, and useless anger to contribute to that subject.  Guns and Mental Health are intertwined in this mess, and I have no hope in human agency to fix it, avoid future slaughter, or disarm the insane.  That is pretty distressing and depressing.  I do however take some comfort in the heroism of Teachers that day.  God rest them all.

     Better news is that our Supreme Court is taking on the DOMA cases and the State level marriage cases like prop.8.  While I doubt the Court will make a ruling that forces every state to implement Gay Marriage, I believe they will clear the way to ending DOMA and unfetter gay marriage at the National Level.  We can only sit back and  see the verdict.  The Supreme Court has been a defender of minority rights by and large, Dredd Scott aside, and I feel confident that right will prevail there.

    Christmastide is upon us, and traditionally  the season of Advent is supposed to be a time for pondering the year past, of assessing and admitting our failings and wrongs and taking stock of what we have accomplished.  I have to say in my case, that's not much.  We cannot go back and re-do the lost time, but in the year to come I am going to strive to take better care of myself, be more loving to my spouse, and responsive to her needs, and to work harder at the difficult tasks before me.    I have been burdened with sloth this year, and have felt the pain of losses.  I am in fact overwhelmed with remorse and grief at the loss of a human friend and a deeply loved pet.  I have been avoiding the hard work of daily journaling, self assessment, amends making, and abstinence from excess food.  

     As we gear up for the most joyful day in the Christian calendar, and the season of holidays of warmth, love, and light for non-Christians, it's a good time to let people you know how much you care about them, to let them know your love and feel the touch of sincere emotions.  Good Luck in the coming year! 

     Oh, Wednesday Coffee is being moved an hour sooner so that I may both attend it and another Wednesday meeting.  Wednesday Valley Coffee at Vagabond Blues is now from 4pm to 5pm (or longer if  people choose).

Hugs to all

Bri!

Snow!!

As it has finally decided to snow in the Valley, we have decided to call off the Wed 5 oclock meeting tonight.  Enjoy the snow storm but stay safe out there!

Sludge-Coffee

Another week, another coffee.  Sludge is the somewhat unappetizingly named but delicious double extra strong black coffee that is my favorite beverage over ice, served up by the great folks at Vagabond Blues.
     As for this weeks post, I must shout out a thank you to our guest attendee Machara, Thank you for coming!  We enjoyed your company!
     After the fun discussion we retired to the Eagle for a delicious repast.  I can recommend the Eagle Hotel Restaurant as a fine food for a reasonable price!

     I'm not going to have much to say today.  Goblin, my cat of 16 years, passed away and I am distraught, sad and low as I write.  I find I miss her presence profoundly, and coming just a few months after Julie's passing away, whirling feelings of loss, inadequacy, second guessing, wondering what I should have done, and if I am, after all, a good person because I'm afraid I failed them...  it's hard to grieve, and it takes time.  God bless us in this holiday season.  I'm thankful that the big Palmer fires, so fed by this gloomy windstorm and tinder-dry uncovered ground were put out before they got anyone's homes.
     May you find something joyful to admire in this season.  God save us all,
Brianne

All Quiet on The Mat-Su Front

Hey there Everyone!

     It's been another quiet week for the LBGT Community Center.  We had coffee on Wednesday at 5. Was a lovely time with friends!
     A few things I've noticed in the News; Morgan Freeman has lent his voice to a pro-marriage-equality spot.
     In India Gay Rights pioneers have organized a successful pride parade which I think's pretty neat.
The Ukraine is begining to realize it must deal with LBGT equality, it cannot be simply ignored anymore, swept under a rug, and forgotten.
     GLAD has released it's "Network Responsibility Index" which is nice, though I'm not much of a watcher of sit-coms, or TV for that matter.
     These can be added to the gains in states with Gay-marriage.  So it seems like we are in an age of growing LBGT "normalizing", wherein we LBGT people get to melt into the American melting pot, becoming part of the great Alloy that is Modern America!
It does come with some costs, as we assimilate into the mainstream, features of  the sterotypical "gay lifestyle" fade away, the drag shows, meat market bars, and secret hanky-codes.  The secret culture of "gay people" are no longer the way we protect each other, no longer necessary as we can be openly out of the closet, and are welcomed into ordinary venues of social intercourse.
     Nothing comes free, if American society has grudgingly accepted that Homosexuality is a normal expression of some human beings, with rights that can no longer be denied (in the post DADT world LB&G people are now openly serving, and one cannot long oppress people who fight for everyone) it comes with some price tags.  The first is that we put down our defensive reverse bigotry.  That we accept the responsibility to defend and protect and co-exist with our neighbors.  That we do our best to be responsible and law-abiding citizens and use our Gay Powers for the Greater Good of everyone.  
     It's a bargain in my opinion.  We get to be Honestly ourselves, and still participate in the (imperfect) Glory that is the American Republic.  *strains of the Battle-hymn of the Republic fade in*.
With love, and the hope that you get to help and love someone today, Brianne.

Transgender Day Of Remembrance 2012.

Hi friends,

         So the day of Remembering has come again.  I lit my candle for my friends and sisters who have left the world early.  I have tears in my heart tonight.  tears.
     Julie is gone, She was a brilliant light.  A very intelligent woman with fantastic skills, a bent for self sufficiency and resourcefulness, and a friend.  I miss her very much.
     Chloe was young, unaware of her beauty, and also highly intelligent.  She took her life because of the alienation and abandonment that came from her family.
     The tragedy and pain of transition sometimes seems overwhelming.  It's not an easy road for the most intelligent, and most stable of us.  Those who are weak in faith and poor in hope have next to no chance to make it.
     The good thing is that friends can give hope.  We can love others when they can't remember to love themselves, and we can remind them that they really aren't alone in the world.  I'm not saying that we can really KNOW how someone else feels, but we can still empathize with pain, and offer hugs and love.  I'm blessed to be surrounded by people who care, who remind me when I forget to love myself, who point out my blessings when I begin to doubt the future, and refresh my faith.  Let me tell you that no matter how lonely you feel there absolutely are people who care.
Blessings follow you
Brianne

   

Monetary Thoughts

Forgive me a second post today, but at coffee last night the politics of the National Budget came up.  To be able to have a realistic discussion about things one must of course have some idea of the facts.  The internet providith!  so here's what I came up with;

OK, I'm lousy at maths, so I decided to try and wrap my figure impaired mind around the actual national budget so I'd have a realistic idea of what our most important crisis is.
On this, Wikipedia looks pretty legit, and is backed with refe

rences also 

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year1950_0.html.

$712 billion will be spent on the military and war. Social Security will cost 766 billion, Medicare 482 billion, Vetrans get 127 billion,
Interest on the National Debit is 256 billion.
Total income of the Govenrment is 2.469 Trillion
The Government is spending 3.796 trillion
we are short 1.327 trillion this year which will be added to the National Debt.
This kind of spending is, frankly, irresponsible, and this year the Republicans are responsible for trying to cut income and attempting to cut on welfare, and increase military expenses. 

The Democrats are pushing for raising taxes on the wealthy and closing the loopholes they use to shield thier money, to increase the federal income.
The fact is we need to raise an extra 1.327 trillion a year, plus a little more and/or trim about the same amount from the expenses. Don't forget that we need to hedge a little extra next year to cover the inflation and the new additions to welfare and social programs, and vetrans' expenses as more people will be covered under those programs. To do this will require compromises on both sides.
Personally I want to see the super-rich taxed more, (I am poor so possibly that's why I like progressive taxes, if I were rich I'd probably think flat rates were better) 

 on the out going side, I want to see the military shaved about 150 to 300 billion, and see where we get with that, of course i

t means ending some wars and cutting back on building fancy expensive aircraft carriers ...but isn't that a good thing? also I also want to see Homeland Security abolished as I think it borders on fascism, the proper place for bringing together intelligence from the FBI, the CIA, and all the other organs of law enforcement, and military operations is the Department of Defense.  That's just my opinion, and worth what you have paid for it...possibly less.