A guy who can't finish his laundry
Posts tagged twitter
Pets of the Homeless
Aug 15th
Part of my Sunday morning ritual involves sipping a cup of coffee and going through PostSecret. I have been doing it for years. This morning there was an email comment to one of the posts that caught my eye, and for the first time I fellt the need to actually send something to PostSecret.
The comment said, “I don’t give money to homeless people if they have a dog. How can you have a dog if you can’t even feed yourself?”
Here is what I sent to Frank at Post Secret:
During a routine trip to my vet a weeks ago I saw a donation box for http://www.petsofthehomeless.org in the lobby. I asked my vet about the organization and learned a few things.
Being homeless is frequently a temporary situation and not long them. People with pets sometimes have a harder time finding a home, because shelters and subsidized housing will not allow animals.
Homeless people are often the subject of scrutiny, jokes, and harassment and lack of understanding by those of us who have a home. The bond they feel with their animals is incredibly significant. According to Dr. Michael Lemm, “pets provide emotional support, companionship, so they can have a definitely more significant impact on the lives of their owner.”
Homeless people will frequently make sure their animals are fed before they eat themselves. They will also seek veterinary care for their animals before they seek health care for themselves.
I encourage your readers, especially the person who sent that email comment, to visit petsofthehomeless.org to learn more.
The website includes a Flickr feed with photos that I find both heartbreaking and amazing. Some of the pictures capture the unconditional love the people have for their pets, and animals have for their owners.
When I decided to leave my roommates and get an apartment on my own, we had just helped with the birth of six kittens. My roommates asked me to take some of them. At first I said no, and then I said I would take one, and then I (begrudgingly) broke down and agreed to take two.
Although I joke about them a lot, and have my own quirky sense of humor surrounding them (they have their own website and twitter feed), I am so happy that I have been adopted by Zan and Jayna. Becoming a pet owner at this stage of my life is one of the best things to happen to me.
To the straight guy at the party last night.
Jul 4th
via Truthwinsout.org
A brilliant little article was posted on Craigslist in Lansing, Michigan, a couple days ago. Since then, several people have flagged it for removal — reasons unspecified. Until someone comes forward with a reason for its removal (such as copyright violation), I’m reposting the article here.
A mutual friend of ours threw a big party for her 30th birthday, tons of people were there and it was a lot of fun. Somewhere along the line you and I ended up on the balcony for some fresh air at the same time. We started chatting; we talked about sports, books, tv — discovered we both are about to start our masters degrees and spent some time debating the pro’ and con’ of the educational system. We talked about hanging out sometime, and you wanted to meet my girlfriend.
I understand how upsetting it was for you when I blinked mildly in surprise and said I was here with my husband. I know it was a shock to your system, if your face had turned any paler I might have called 911. You made a good recovery though – that hurried mutter of “I’m not like that” was very polite and you only knocked over two drinks and one vase in your hurry to rush to anywhere other than near me. I can’t blame you — I forgot how delicate you straight boys are. So I wanted to give you a few helpful hints about where you went wrong last night.
- As a general rule we don’t walk around with big signs around our neck proclaiming our sexuality. No scarlet letters, no scent of hellfire and brimstone‚ sorry about that.
- We do not generally assume that everyone within 5 feet of us must also be homosexual — it was nice of you to immediately reassure me that you are hetero, but it was really unnecessary.
- Homosexuality is not infectious. While I am sure you meant no disrespect with your hasty departure; in the future you can rest assured that taking a few extra seconds in your mad dash for safety will not result in you being turned gay. It will however keep you from destroying expensive vases and knocking over senior citizens.
- This next one may come as a surprise; but you are not, in fact, irresistible. The fact that you have a dick does not instantly turn me into a bundle of uncontrolled lust. Contrary to popular opinion, being in the same room with a straight man does not cause a gay man to instantly lose all common sense and basic common courtesy. Though I am not so sure about the reverse.
- Homosexuals in general get a little irked when people treat us like some sort of leper. Rushing to another mutual friend of ours and advising him of my sexuality, so he could be “forewarned” was really uncalled for.
- Upon being told (by said mutual friend) to stop being an idiot and that you were not my type anyway‚ it generally confuses the issue when you then proceed to become upset that I DON’T find you attractive. Three seconds ago you were running through a crowd of people with your hands cupped protectively over your junk as if I might attack you at any moment with a blowjob. See hint number 4.
- We homosexuals have an odd sense of humor — I can’t help that. Something about watching you freak out as if all the demons of hell were after you just struck me as vastly amusing.
- While being pissed at me for dissolving into uncontrollable laughter might be understandable‚ gathering a couple guys together to “teach the fag a lesson” is not.
- You might also want to drink a little less and be a little more careful about the guys you approach for your little proto-hate-mob.
- 10) Assuming the two tall muscle-bound bruisers must be uber-hetero and just as appalled by my presence as you was your first mistake. It was an understandable one though. How were you to know that P-Flag tshirt the first guy was wearing wasn’t a sports team? Also the rainbow ring the second guy was wearing could have meant anything I am sure.
- In retrospect I suppose that upon hearing your not very subtle hate-talk and seeing who you were heading for; I could have said something instead of just laughing harder. I apologize for that. I should have just introduced you to my husband instead of letting you walk up to him and ask him if he wanted to help you teach “that fag over there” a lesson. I hope that broken nose heals up cleanly.
To Our Friends in Dallas – KITTENS!
May 23rd
Friends:
A year ago we were adopted by a young stray cat. Miette Petite (aka Little Crumb). She was scared of people, other cats, and anything that sent a slight breeze her way. Through a lot of patience and love, we befriended Miette.
Some young women to go a little crazy when they hang out exclusively with gay men. Soon, Miette was flipping her hair on the dance floor, knocking over drinks with her big purse, and complaining that “she couldn’t find a man like us.” She longed to be the fifth cast member of Sex In The City. She was drinking cosmos by the gallon.
She was a hot mess. Think Brittney before she cut off all of her hair.
This happened before we had a chance to take her to the clinic and have “the talk” about the dangers of the world.
All it took was one night, with some guy named Tom, and Miette was pregnant.
Six kittens were born on April 8th. Miette has been great, and the kids are adorable. They have become very social and friendly. We have grown to love them a lot. However, it is time for us to start looking for new homes for them.
All of the no-kill shelters in Dallas are overly full, and they are not taking any new babies. We are placing ads on PetFinder.com and Craigslist.com, but we are understandably concerned.
Both of those sites have had problems with degenerates looking for kittens because they want to train hunting dogs, or are looking for something to abuse and take their anger out on.
So, we are putting out a call to our friends who might be considering a pet. We would love to see these kids go to good homes with people we trust. Alan will be taking two of them when her moves into his new place in June. Disney and Phillip will most likely be keeping one. That leaves three kids looking for love.
Please take some time to visit www.miettepetite.com. There are videos, pictures, and information about the kids.
Spanish Judge Who Pursued International Crimes Suspended
May 15th
The Spanish judge who indicted Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and Osama bin Laden and pursued charges against former Bush Administration officials for torture has been suspended from his post. The decision on Judge Baltazar Garzon came today after a judicial oversight board conducted an emergency meeting. If convicted, Garzon could be removed from the bench in Spain for 20 years.
To discuss the case, we’re joined by Alejandra Vicente, she’s an attorney with the Center for Justice and International Law, that’s an organization with offices throughout the Americas that promotes human rights and litigates before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Vicente is from Spain and has been following the Garzon case. She joins us from Washington DC.
Why am I posting this? Because the guest, Alejandra Vicente, is my sister in law. She currently works in Washington DC and perviously worked in the Hague. My family is so cool.
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I have a new supervisor
May 13th
Sometimes Miette Petite likes to take a break from the kittens to see what I am doing. Normally I don’t like showing myself on video, but this was just too cute.