toto, i don't think we're in kanagawa anymore

or a christmas tree, a three-dollar bill, and me.

last night, less than 36 hours after returning to the united states, i was seated in the mezzanine of the palace theater watching liza minnelli make her triumphant return to broadway. and – this makes me extra gay – i cried. twice.

look. judy garland has special meaning to those of us in the "community." she's our mother. and at the same time, she's us. she's dorothy, she's tragic, she's strong, she's weak, she's tortured, she runs away from home only to find there's no place like it, she's been over the rainbow and back, and, well, there are plenty of other reasons. some super top-secret reasons that we just can't divulge to the straights. so stop asking. sorry.

and – now i don't know if you knew this – liza minnelli is judy garland's daughter. she might be 102 years old, enjoy plastic joints where even barbie doesn't, and warble with a voice that...well i can't. (and neither can she anymore.) but no matter, she is liza. she just is. there's no one like her, and there ain't gonna be another. she's the last of a dying...or dead...breed.

last night she told jokes about her gay husbands. she performed a song as a man in drag. she giggled and laughed that crazy liza laugh ("your really t-scherrific!") the first time she said the word "mamma" the audience erupted into applause, basically crying out "we're a part of your life, liza! we're a part of your family! damnit, we're a part of you!" and she agreed. she strutted and posed and mugged and said "cha!"

and she performed (sang would be generous) "cabaret" and "maybe this time" and "the world goes 'round." and "new york, new york." on a broadway stage. at the palace theater. and i was there. she did an encore that took even me by surprise and had me spontaneously sobbing like a big gay baby. of course, i'm still suffering from some serious jet-lag. i'm sure that contributed.

but this means i'm basically one degree from dorothy.
and i'm as queer as a...well. you get it.

to my japanese friends...2008

let the past flow away like the river

so says a japanese proverb often used in response to questions about world war II. it is not lost on me that i am in tokyo on december 7th. war is a horrible, complicated thing and, proverbs aside, we need to remember what happened on this day in 1941 (and before) as well as our eventual, some would say disproportionate response in august of 1945. there are fewer and fewer left to remind us.

UPDATE 12/8/08 – in a move that's being called everything from clever to brilliant to stunning, president-elect barack obama appoints gen. eric k. shinseki, a japanese-american, to head the veterans affairs depeartment, and he does it on december 7th.

what would jesus abraham, jacob, or david do?

does the bible argue for gay marriage? newsweek's cover story poses the question, along with this: how does the bible define marriage?

"Shall we look to Abraham, the great patriarch, who slept with his servant when he discovered his beloved wife Sarah was infertile? Or to Jacob, who fathered children with four different women (two sisters and their servants)? Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon and the kings of Judah and Israel—all these fathers and heroes were polygamists."

modern marriage is defined in two separate institutions: civil marriage, and religious marriage. atheists, people too old to have children, the infertile, and – on a whim – a couple in las vegas, wasted out of their minds, can marry. god probably has little-to-nothing to do with any of those marriages. (i'd guess the couple in vegas does not have god on their minds. nor do the atheists, certainly. and while the infertile couple might be believers, they have no intent, or ability for that matter, to be "fruitful and multiply".)

while i am perplexed at the notion that because you believe something to be true, i must follow those same rules, no matter my beliefs, i wonder what would happen if i decide not to follow your rules? maybe i'll pull some tom ackerman on you:

I no longer recognize marriage. It’s a new thing I’m trying. Turns out it’s fun. Yesterday I called a woman’s spouse her boyfriend. She says, correcting me, “He’s my husband,”

“Oh,” I say, “I no longer recognize marriage.”

and if you really, really, really want to protect families, and children...

prop 8 - the musical

corky st. clair meets proposition 8, via marc shaiman and friends (margaret cho, andy richter, maya rudolph, john c. reilly, allison janney, kathy najimy, jack black, neil patrick harris and more.)

UPDATE 12/5/08 – one week in the making, and 1.2 million hits in less than 24 hours: marc shaiman talks to the new york times and the advocate about his mini-musical.

better late than never

question of the day

since the recession actually began in december 2007, can we still blame it on obama?