a very special holiday kitteh

Hey I just saw Milk! Or: 10 things the gay mainstream WANTS you to believe about queer history!

1. YES WE CAN has MOAR images of homo respectability!
2. gay rights = african american rights = ladies' rights = consumer's rights = whatever = &c., &c. (This is why, for instance, African Americans must have their leaders and gay Americans must have our own leaders.)
3. If u are gay and want change and whatnot u should definitely get out of the streets and into the campaign office because that is where politics happen.
4. The Tenderloin smells like pee.
5. DO NOT FEAR: Contrary to popular belief, gay men do not have sex, they just get naked and slap each other's butts while rolling around and giggling.
6. oh im sorry were you expecting AJ to insert some comment about the post-Stonewall gay liberation movement and how it evinced a very different set of politics and praxis than can be found in the biopic Milk? WELL UNFORTUNATELY THAT WOULD BE HARD TO DO BECAUSE IN THE WORLD ACCORDING TO THAT MOVIE GAY LIBERATION SEEMS TO HAVE NEVER HAPPENED.
7. One lesbian is PLENTY.
8. HEY WE PAY TAXES!
9. Individually, coming out is the most important thing a homosexual can do in his life; collectively, coming out is the most effective strategy for alleviating pretty much anything that would ever be objectionable to a homosexual community.
10. OMG finally we must thank our lucky stars for the white gender conforming male homosexuals of yesteryear because otherwise how would any of us have any RIGHTS and stuff? TRULY I TELL YOU WE WOULD HAVE NONE.

ok

it is unspeakably embarrassing that it took a feministe post for me to finally see the video for this song which has been around for like 4eva but i gotta say this its simply aj's favorite video he's seen all year. it makes me miss new york so bad my heart hurts like its died a thousand deaths

ps MIA is relevant to my interests

quickhit: <3 internet, feminism <3

I'm not sure what is more relevant to my interests: the NYT blog article on orgasmic childbirth or the fact that the very first question Feministing's readership picked up on is whether having an orgasm from a baby traveling through your vagina raises questions of consent with regard to the baby.

Keep having ideas, everyone... AJ likes it!

let's talk about the weather

AJ was getting bummed because the balmy 37˚ weather we're experiencing right now is about to plummet about 50 degrees and not make it above 0˚ tomorrow (how am I supposed to get to school) until I decided to mess around and see what kind of weather everyone else is having...

In defense of Mother Russia, it looks like it's about 2 AM right now in the North Pole of Cold, so idk maybe it'll get up there as the day wears on. If you're like AJ, you might now be wondering what's the coldest part of the United States, and if you saw 30 Days of Night, you might be thinking, "Oh! It's Barrow, Alaska!" but you would be wrong as Barrow is right there on the Arctic Ocean, which basically acts as an insulator. In fact, the weather in Barrow right now is not so different from Minneapolis. Landlocked parts of Alaska (as tends to be true for landlocked areas in general) get much colder, making Fairbanks one of the coldest cities in the U.S. Now, the *northernmost* western hemispheric city AJ was able to locate on weather.com is Iqaluit, Canada, which is the capital of Nunavet and somewhat further north than Barrow. The northernmost permanently-inhabited settlement in the western hemisphere is the Canadian Forces Station Alert on Ellesmere Island in Nunavet, but that's not on weather.com so whatever. 

Anyway, USA Today confirms that Minneapolis is the coldest major city in the United States. Boo. Minnesota is also home to International Falls, known as the Icebox of the Nation, supposedly the coldest town in the continental U.S., though apparently this has been challenged by Fraser, Colorado. Hm, I think I've been there. On the other hand, the *snowiest* U.S. cities (according to a different USA Today article) are neither in Minnesota nor (as one might expect) upstate New York. Blue Canyon, California, weirdly, takes the snow cake. 

Anyway that's all I have to say about that!

UPDATE TO ADD: OMG! I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT WITH ALL OF THIS TALK OF CANADA AJ NEGLECTED TO MENTION THAT WOLVERINE TRAILER IS 110% RELEVANT TO MY INTERESTS 

spitzface is now a meme!

MY GUBERNATORIAL "OOPS" FACE... LET ME SHOW YOU IT!

:-[

AJ gives props: VIKING METAL

And now for another installment of lolAJ's intermittent feature: Props!

Do you know what is exceedingly awesome? VIKING METAL. It is a well established fact that few things approach the awesomeness of viking metal. It is also true that nothing is more EPIC. AJ has been thinking about viking metal a lot lately and is pretty grateful that such a thing exists. Unlike his little brother, however, AJ is far from an expert metal connoisseur and there are probably all kinds of things he doesn't even know about viking metal! However, here are a few videos that AJ particularly enjoys and wishes to share with his readers.

Turisas: "Battle Metal" (probably the greatest viking metal video in existence)

Amon Amarth: Twilight of the Thunder Gods

Einherjer: Iron Bound

Bathory: One Rode to Asa Bay

Enjoy! Hope I didn't alienate too many readers lololol! xo-AJ

PS: ODIN OWNS YE ALL!!!!1ONE

Ask a Lesbian: Proposition 8!

AJ apologizes for the wait readers have endured to hear Nell's thoughts on Proposition 8 (moar liek prop h8 amirite) -- presently our fearless lesbian is keeping a very busy schedule fighting hard to secure same sex domestic partner benefits for pharmacists! Without further ado, lolAJ is pleased to present to you: ASK A LESBIAN --- PROPOSITION 8. 

Wait but first! Some music to set the mood...

READERS WANT TO KNOW

Dear Nell,

Which do you think is more significant: that Americans elected a black president or that they banned gay marriage in California?

thanks,

interested

Dear Interested,

In fact, neither one is significant. Both are simply spectacles distracting us from substantive issues. 

Cynically yours,

Nell

-----------------------------

Dear Nell,

In a post-racist and post-proposition 8 country, what is the most important thing Gay Americans can be doing to work for marriage equality and other gay civil rights?

thanks nell!

Dear post-racist,

The most important thing Gay Americans can be doing these days is making it clear to everyone that they are simply Americans who happen to be Gay.

Your in assimilation,

Nell

-----------------------------

Dear Nell,

Which do you think is a bigger problem: racism in gay and lesbian communities? Or homophobia in African American communities?

thanks,

concerned


Dear Concerned,

I think the biggest problem is YOU.

Sincerely,
Nell

P.S. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/04/poll-prop-8-voting-driven_n_148379.html

-----------------------------

Dear Nell,

Which out and proud gay celebrity would you rather be and why: Ellen Degeneres or Jane Lynch?

sincerely,

curious


Dear Curious,

That's a great question. While Ellen has a certain appeal that comes with daytime tv stardom and really became the face of the anti-Prop 8 movement as people tearfully asked each other, "But what will happen to Ellen and Portia??," I'd have to go with Jane Lynch. She's just got more of a sense of irony, from what I can tell. By looking at her. 

Keep reading!

-Nell

kwik hitz

via Feministe, AJ has learned of SRLP's recent victory in getting a bar to legal name changes removed--"possible confusion" is no longer a valid reason to deny a name change petition if an individual is going from a masculine to a feminine name or vice versa. In my ignorance, I did not realize that petitions in NY (where AJ had his name legally changed) were regularly denied on these grounds.

AJ's a little tickled because "fraught with... confusion" is precisely how he'd describe his entire experience living as a transgendered person.

I am still waiting on SRLP to get some kind of ban on judges doling out patronizing lectures to trans people who are going through name change processes tho I guess in the end they make for good stories.

WHEN I SAY DYKES YOU SAY OMFG

Resident lesbian expert Nell has brought my attention to the New York Times piece on Alison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For, which I cannot but recommend as exceedingly hilarious. The article, of course, mostly reveals more about the reviewer, American political culture, and the paltry tools most Americans have to think about politics beyond an extremely narrow partisan scope than it ever tells us about Bechdel's work. Reviewer Dwight Garner, for instance, assesses the political content of Dykes to Watch Out For as "Greenpeace meets PETA meets MoveOn.org" to which I can only properly respond via kittycat:

Garner also seems sort of surprised that a lesbian writer of comics would be familiar with Foucault, Butler, et al, demonstrating that he has never actually met a lesbian who went to Oberlin. I did appreciate however his comment that "You'll come to notice that lesbians have been, over the last 25 years, on the cutting edge of just about every cultural trend in this country." HEAR HEAR! Tho AJ might offer a tiny rejoinder that on the matter of tattoos, lesbians tend to be about 12 years behind the times. Other things our journalist discovered thru his perusal of Dykes to Watch Out For:

- lesbians became the first foodies when they all went vegetarian

- lesbians composted stuff way before the rest of us even knew what a carbon footprint is

- lesbians had weird names before the rest of us

- lesbians wanted to impeach the FIRST Bush!

In the end, I have to concur with our intrepid reviewer: Dykes to Watch Out For is not (just) a comic, it is ETHNOGRAPHY. And should be considered required reading for lesbians and non-lesbians alike!

2 things

SCORPIONS? IN YOUR BANANAS?? It's more likely than you think! AJ has unearthed not one but two articles on scorpions in bananas from the last couple months. Eek! AJ is sort of arachnophobic, for those who did not know.

Feministing weighs in on Alex Kuczynski's piece on surrogate babying. AJ: RANT RANT RANT LOL! wtf lol feminists rant rant rant baby pwnage stfu! RANT rant adoption do not want babies aj's mom has a foster baby too rofl. Baby mama wtf! Read Gawker's post instead. Also... moar on TEH KUCZ.

--

PS: zomgz0rz! tina fey's hubby tots talked about her scar in vanity fair

ok this definitely deserves its own post now

IMPORTANT UPDATE: A particularly insightful and attractive commenter has observed that the mysterious woodlands piano (see below) is almost indubitably the work of an ears with feet. Allow me a moment to illustrate:

Tori likes leaves inside so why not pianos outside?

Where else will abducted Tori play her piano if not in the woods?

Tori needs a new piano cause she burned her old one! why did u do that silly?

And finally--and most important of all--what lives in the woods?? FAERIES LIVE IN THE WOODS. Case closed.

couple sunday lynx

Here is a pretty neat NYT article on hairstylists and domestic abuse. The piece confirms a suspicion that AJ's had since the first time he saw Diana's Hair Ego way back when, which is that beauticians are in fact the vanguard of the revolution.

In other news, OMFG TYRA IS TOTALLY PAYING FOR ISIS' SURGERY! OMG OMG! too bad she didn't pay for it *before* the show--maybe Isis would be America's Next Top Model by now... curse you, underwater shoot!

As a fellow bedroom dancer, AJ is simply in awe of this fine individual. Respect.

Also: Mystery piano in woods perplexes police. Need I say moar??

Also these ads are sexist lol

this is pretty much how aj spends his afternoons too

lol-aj.livejournal.com has a RAGE

OK first of all some goddamn revolting queer purloined my puffy warm reversible Levi's vest last night. WTF! Who steals someone's clothes at a queer dance party?? AJ needs that vest cause he doesn't own a real winter coat and therefore has to layer. Give me my vest back, revolting queer! 

Secondly, AJ's car has real shitty tires and another one went flat on him today and I was turned away from SIX different tire stores (which were booked or closing) before I gave up and went home. Although AJ appreciates the feelings of manliness that changing a tire inspires in him, it is a universal law that finding a place to patch/replace a flat is never a simple task. And though driving around Lake Street in search of a tire store is vaguely reminiscent of driving around Coney Island Avenue* in search of a tire store, which is good for purposes of nostalgia and stuff, AJ still really misses Brooklyn where all the tire stores are weirdly open 24 hours a day.

H0WeVAR THE GOOD NEWS IS:

SCORE! This ingeniously designed new face mask (it velcroes in the back instead of being a huge thing that goes over your head which is also good cause it messes w/ my glasses arms less) has a hole cut around the nose with a flap over it so your breath goes OUT through the nose area but the icy wind can't come back IN! It also makes me look a little more like a storm trooper. Which brings me to my next question: does anyone want a balaclava? AJ spent good money on that thing--it's North Face!--and would be happy to see it find a good home, tho he does not recommend it for the bespectacled. Thanks for all the suggestions readers.

OK thats all i guess im supposed to wriet a paper  

---------

* I miss you, Coney Island Ave! :'(

wooooooooooo

OK AJs about a week behind on this one but...

NEW WATCHMEN TRAILER! NEW WATCHMEN TRAILER!

weeeoooo

also: Koyaanisqatsi???

OK EVERYONE CHEER UP again

Whoa AJ needs to like srsly remedy the moroseness into which his blog has fallen today so for your viewing pleasure he presents the music video of HIS THEME SONG.*

u can watch here if ur havin trubble wit my video

-----------------------

* AJ would be remiss, not to mention potentially in trouble, if he did not stress his great fortune in already being possessed of a girl who looks good (as a matter of fact I am trying to call her right now why isn't she answering). The remainder of the song speaks directly to AJ's experience, however. He h8s when ppl laugh at his hatchback.

RIP Chloe "Chlobers" Hernandez-del Valle (1991 - 2008)

Since we are all in a reflective mood today I thought we could also take a moment to mourn the passing of Chloe Hernandez, possibly AJ's favorite high-maintenance geriatric diabetic no-tailed partial manx. Chloe is survived by her human, Teresa, who has issued the following remarks:

Not all of you had the pleasure of meeting Chloe. Sweet, loving and not without her occasional flare of Diva-esque attitude, Chloe was a great kitty. Despite my ranting about the arduous nature of her special needs, she was a precious companion. Thank you all for lending me your ear to vent each and every time I 'couldn't take it anymore'. I especially thank those of you who helped with her care when I was out of town (or out on the town, xoxo Juan). I literally could not have done it without all of you. And I am glad that I kept her with me through to the end. It was a challenge to take care of her and it has been just as challenging letting her go. I love her and miss her. 

AJ is pretty sure everyone with a soul should miss Chloe the curmudgeonly adorable halfmanx. Aujourd'hui, nous sommes tous Chlobers.  :'(

more news, stuff on thursday, etc

AJ hates bein a Debbie Downer, but he thinks its sort of useful to try to keep up with this stuff:

Teish Cannon, a black transwoman living in Syracuse, was shot and killed last Friday night; community and family members agree she was targeted because of her gender identity/perceived sexual orientation. Much of the news coverage has been referring to Cannon as a gay man, though HRC (in their recent statement) and others working with the family are trying to correct this.

Also, AJ has been meaning to post this article from the Aurora Sentinel (Aurora, CO is where AJ's maternal grandparents lived for a long time!) on the recent death of transwoman Aimee Wilcoxson, whose alleged "suicide" is being questioned by her friends and family (the last sentence of the article is pretty much the saddest thing AJ has ever seen).

This Thursday, November 20th is the 10th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance and if you live in New York, or even if not, Jack at Feministe has posted some recommendations for action, including Housing Works' upcoming vigil and the Day of Remembrance at the Center.

If you live in the Twin Cities, where we are comparatively bereft of progressive POC-oriented intersectional queer organizing, you can still go to the Day of Remembrance service at the Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ (2930 13th Ave South), at 7:00 this Thursday. The Trans Commission at the U is also apparently planning a "collaborative art and information display" which will be in Coffman Union from 11:30 - 1:30 on the same day if you're into that sort of thing.

AJ wishes all of his readers peace in struggle!

monday news

Interestingly, Duanna Johnson made the New York Times.

A search for "transsexuals" on NYT turns up this weird piece from a couple weeks ago, in which the author waxes on about her trans twin bro, trans reproductive issues, and, of course, sea horses.

Continuing with the Times trend, AJ also draws your attention to this article on drinking in Wisconsin--Wisconsin is right next to AJ! and apparently it "[leads] the nation in binge drinking." AJ did not know that it's legal for minors to buy alcohol in bars in WI if they are accompanied by their guardian. That sort of makes AJ's inner libertarian (shh!) happy.

What in the hell? Prince is talking smack about the gays?? As a Minneapolis resident, homophile, and popular music enthusiast, AJ is not even sure how to respond. Plus I mean like you know obviously, hello. IDK sounds like someone needs to purify themselves in the waters of lake Minnetonka.

And just as a general aside re: Wanda Sykes, I really hate it when I pluck a titillating piece of news out of an otherwise unremarkable article but then twelve hours later its on every single blog in the blogoverse, rendering lolAJ redundant and dull.  my life is super hard  :(

Finally, the Biggest Loser only for cats is always an excellent idea.

jebus finally

All this prop 8 hullabaloo has finally turned out some interesting news: Wanda Sykes is gay, gay, gay. AJ is shocked.* R u shocked?

Quoth the New York Times:

In Las Vegas, the comedian Wanda Sykes surprised a crowd of more than 1,000 rallying outside a gay community center by announcing that she is gay and had wed her wife in California on Oct. 25. Ms. Sykes, who divorced her husband of seven years in 1998, had never publicly discussed her sexual orientation but said the passage of Proposition 8 had propelled her to be open about it.

“I felt like I was being attacked, personally attacked — our community was attacked,” she told the crowd.

Unrelatedly: How about that gmail video chat??? 

-----------------------

* By shocked of course AJ means he's about as surprised as when Katherine Moennig or Jodie Foster formalized their outness. I think for a while word on the street with Sykes was that she tends to pop up at Lovergirl now and again. ONLY LESBIANS GO TO LESBIAN BARS, PEOPLE.

problem.

OK I am wondering if my readership can help me out here. AJ is trying to winterize in preparation for the next several months of bicycling to school and he's having sort of a problem. I bought some real cycling gloves, some hiking socks (I had been experimenting with doubling up regular socks but am finding truth in my crunchy Boulder-bred lesbian friend Nell's observation that if you sweat in cotton the sweat just stays there and so I've been spending a lot of time with soggy wrinkly chilly toes), and finally a balaclava. Herein lies the dilemma: AJ can't see without his glasses but if he wears his glasses with the balaclava his breath is funneled up out of the hole at the top and fogs up his glasses such that he can't see a goddamn thing (see fig 1). Wtf!

fig. 1

Surely there is a way to remedy this right? BTW this picture was taken inside so you can imagine how much worse the fog situation is when the lenses are cold. Also AJ can't wear contacts they feel like sand in his eyeballs. Any additional tips about biking in extremely nippy weather are also appreciated (I have yet to get fenders for my bike and also probably some fatter tires but maybe not til the snow gets really out of control).

In other news, stay tuned for lolAJ's next installment of Ask a Lesbian featuring Nell who is an expert on lesbians. I think a lot of us want to know how the lesbian community feels about all this business in California; I know I do.

Also: folks who are as intrigued and titillated by the 35W dancer (below) as I am might be interested in perusing AJ's other neighborhood-related videos (courtesy of google maps) such as sad drag queen singing Martha Smith, and uh, this dude. AJ has to concede that if these videos are any indication, he must live in a pretty bodacious neighborhood!

aj is rockin out w/ I-35W, Amanda the windows dancer

this is one of the related videos that pops up when i plug my address into google maps. it is exceedingly excellent

omgloltrannieswtf

AJ called up the benefits office at his university and the exchange went sort of like this:

[Backstory: the U's policy on partner benefits is be gay, be married, or GTFO]

AJ: Hi there, I'm calling because my partner is going to be moving in with me and I'm transgendered so we're wondering if she and I are eligible for same-sex domestic partner benefits.

Woman: Well, we use birth certificate gender to determine partnership arrangements, but we won't actually ask to see the certificate or anything. 

AJ: Oh OK, great

Woman: You see, we feel... [Woman takes on this weird didactic tone and starts explaining something about how once a person is further along in their transition they will change their birth certificate to match their identity but AJ is confused and pretty sure he doesn't like where she's headed so I sort of cut her off]

AJ: Uh yeah, super. So if my birth certificate lists me as female, she and I can just sign that same partnership affidavit as any same-sex couple and mail it in to you guys and that's it?

Woman (surprised): Well, have you had your birth certificate changed already?

AJ: Um, well no it's the same one I've always had.

Woman: No, like I already explained to you, we would then consider you a different-sex couple.

AJ: Wat! But you just told me you go by birth certificate gender!

Woman: Well am I correct in my understanding that your birth certificate lists you as male?

AJ: wtf no wai lady I was born female lol!

Woman: [spluttering]

lol AJ would be more annoyed but instead I'll just take it as an affirmation of my manly timbre.* I got paperwork sitting right here in my desk that I've been meaning to send in to get that birth certificate changed... now I'm pretty glad that I never do anything in a timely fashion. My girlfriend, who is basically a sweetie, feels bad cause she thinks she's forcing me to remain a woman 4eva.

The OTHER excellent news is called BEST BABS-THOMAS BEATIE INTERVIEW EVAR!!1

Highlights also include--

Thomas: I wake up in the morning and feel like a man. (me too, thomas, me too)

Also: AJ is sort of shocked that Feministing covered Duanna Johnson's murder. Of course the first commenter weighed in with, "Johnson looked like a troubled woman--not exactly a model citizen." 

Stay classy, feministing readers!

o rite, also via feministing, WETV brings you... SEX CHANGE HOSPITAL! \m/

-------------

* not that AJ thinks the transladies sound like dudes, of course, just that he assumes cispeople expect them to.

BABIES: IT'S ON!

that's aj right there on the right, btw. aj is not typically in the habit of revealing his SECRET identity to the internets, however dire circumstances have impelled me to allow this one exception.

oh and here's the shifty lilliputian my mom is replacing me with

JUST YOU WAIT LITTLE JOEY!!! YOU AND I AREN'T FINISHED YET!!1!

EVERYONE CHEER UP OK

moar!

worst day ever!

gays r bein all racist, gus the ugliest dog died, and aj has to write a paper

 

UPDATED TO ADD: oh no it really is the worst day ever -- Miriam Makeba dies at 76 AJ never got to see her perform this is awful :'(

Oh and also this... diligent readers might remember AJ mentioning Duanna Johnson's police brutality case over her beating in a Memphis police station back in June. Johnson, who was transgendered, was found shot to death last night.

nooooooo

LOL OOPS

wat a mess!

I do know this, though: I’m done pretending that the handful of racist gay white men out there—and they’re out there, and I think they’re scum—are a bigger problem for African Americans, gay and straight, than the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans are for gay Americans, whatever their color.

o heres a lolAJ quickhit

With his mind still a-reelin' from the developments of the past week, AJ is now more than ever grateful for the intellectual guidance of the blogosphere--and I think io9 pointedly directs us to the question we've all really been wanting to ask this week without even knowing it: WHAT DOES THE ELECTION MEAN FOR SCIENCE FICTION?

AJ must in good conscience, however, warn his readers: linked photo of Gillian Anderson is EXCEEDINGLY SEXY. I can't believe it's not NSFW! Also make sure to watch the choice clip from HOME, unquestionably the gr8est epis0d3 EVAR unless ur my former roommate who can say wat is up with taht

CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER

Thanks to a particularly vigilant lolaj tipster, AJ's attentions have been directed towards a somewhat smaller (in jurisdiction, anyway) recent social barrier breach--with which some of my readers may already be familiar. The town of Silverton, Oregon has elected our nation's first fluidly-gendered mayor, a move that in this instance suggests Oregonians' tolerance not just of transgenders, but also the hilarious nutjob community.

Something is sort of fishy about this dude and AJ can't quite put his finger on it but he suspects it is AWSOME in nature. (Btw, AJ initially thought there was a major pronoun/category fail happening with that first article but upon actually reading you'll notice Stu Rasmussen identifies himself as a heterosexual male who "likes to look female"). AJ has to admit, he's a fan of any public servant who explicates their gender identity via a segment on their website entitled Reality Check (OLOL@"Really?" ---that's totally how AJ feels about his gender sometimes!). Anyway Rasmussen gives folks the straight talk (pun!) on the situation:

"Some guys' midlife crisis is sports cars or motorcycles or climbing mountains or trophy wives or whatever. I always wanted cleavage! So I went out and acquired some."

Yes we can! AJ's lingering question mark is what the hell sort of town not only elects a transgendered mayor, but elects one who apparently missed class the day they explained what a palatable transsexual is (heterosexual male who had top surgery cause he likes to look female does not strike AJ as the most publicly intelligible subjectivity of all time). The only theory posited to me thus far is that logging industry-generated pollution may have addled Oregon's collective brains for the better.

Well... w2g Stu! Here's hoping he keeps on keepin' on with the "having more fun than a drunken cowboy with a new pickup" and whatnot. \m/

Also check out OR-based Homoblog Just Out for further coverage.

btdubs

also not to beat a horse thats already approaching its demise but how about that homosexual pwnage that got dished out california-style? the LA times had some sort of striking photos:

^^^FUCK YEAH!!!1 \m/

and conversely:

^ sad 'mos are sad :'(

U have to hand it to Cali for srsly knowing how to rock a tyranny of the majority--52.5%!! Californians like gay marriage bans just a tiny bit more than a high-speed rail (52.1%) and just a tad less than victims rights (53.5%). HRMHRMHRMHRMHRM

The anxiety AJ felt waiting for the polls to come in has induced an uneasy acceptance of his inner homonormativity. Also was I the only one who felt real bad for Palin when she was all tearing up during McCain's speech last night? I think AJ just really hates seeing the ladies cry...

also as an aside

What the hell? Just how many daughters of former slaves voted for Obama? So far I have found:

109 year old Amanda Jones in Texas:

and

114 year old Gertrude Baines in California:

One daughter of a slave voting for a black president is impressive and two is twice as many! Are there more?? AJ's cup runneth over, and by cup he means his heart which overflows with warm feelings due to these ineffably touching anecdotes.

UPDATED TO ADD: sweet I found an article w/ a video on Amanda Jones though she herself isn't exactly prominently featured

lol-aj.livejournal.com brings u some UPDATES

- AJ didn't do much for Halloween tho he did manage to dress up... AS A PHILOSOPHICAL ZOMBIE LOL!!

- It seems as though my mom and stepdad are totally going to become foster parents to a small HIV-exposed baby. WTF! Their intentions may be noble but one's things for certain: nothing sucks up EVERYBODY'S ATTENTION like a small HIV-exposed foster baby. THAT BABY'S GOING TO STEAL MY THUNDER!!! The baby is white, btw. He has a name that makes him sound like he's from Woonsocket, and he totally is!

- My dad was nice enough to have my double bass boxed and shipped to me, which was probably expensive. Now there is a crate bigger than my couch lying in my living room and if I know AJ, I know that crate is going to be a living room fixture for a while.

^^lol now what

- Overall, AJ finds Minnesota to be sort of a crappy state for the transgendered. I've had to resign myself to a Harry Benjamin-adhering doctor, the DMV is giving me shit about my license, and the U only gives out domestic partnership benefits to "same-sex" couples (AJ happily anticipates the arrival of his better half in the not-too-distant future). The matter of partner benefits is yet unresolved but we hope ultimately to have delicious cake and nom it too.

- Also the Obama campaign has called me four times so far today and I will be pleased when all this is over and everyone gets their facebook status messages back. And for those of you voting at the center of the universe, it would be foolish not to avail yourselves of this.

k thats all

aj to nyc

LOL SUCKERS!!!

uh oh

OK since aj doesn't have an iota of energy to look at this news and stuff (my father tells me I can use his credit card to buy a thanksgiving plane ticket home but do it now before the money's all gone uh oh) this is going to be an lol-aj.livejournal.com installment:

Neway this morning I was going over some readings for a class discussion I have to lead this week and noticed I had underlined a part in the text that read:

The ideological construction of crime is thus complemented and bolstered by the material construction of jails and prisons. The more jails and prisons are constructed, the greater the fear of crime, and the greater the fear of crime, the stronger the cry for more jails and prisons, ad infinitum.

And then I noticed that next to it in the margins I had scribbled:

in

MOAR! Because moar!

Here is a visual aid of what I think the author (Angela Davis duh) must have been getting at. I am pretty insightful!

In other news, pursuant to a conversation with an lolAJ tipster about the possibility of some white people being human (in which AJ desperately insisted upon his human bean status), I received this followup email:

On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 6:00 PM, xxxxxxx  wrote:

AJ, I do not think of you as a white and I do not think of you as not white...

I think of you as an angel.

LAWL! omg get it? it is a to wong foo reference, which makes it additionally funny, since AJ is ALSO a transsexual. ROFFLE! Moreover, it opens up a whole new possibility of ethnic identification for AJ since we all know whiteness is a real sticky mess to be caught up in and white people should avoid identification with whiteness whenever possible. AS A MATTER OF FACT some people even tell me my curly hair looks sort of angelic sometimes!

AS AN ASIDE: OMG THIS IS A REAL MOVIE IN THEATERS??? CAN I SEE IT NAO PLZ??

updated to add: I CAN'T STOP WATCHING THE TRAILER!!!

ALSO in more profane relevant happenings: My girlfriend, who is something of an Andy Samberg fan sent me this today which is pretty righteous. And then Andy Samberg reminded me of this fine lady (they are a couple if u did not know):

In conclusion, I just drank a litre of Perrier and a pint of stout. Eek! I think I'm going to float out the window. wait i have to write a paper warblgarbl

ANTM state of the union

OMG NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

i had a whole post but it is no longer relevant

~ aj, crying with his eyes

wat!

AJ to other white ppl: STOP STEELIN MAH LIFE.

wait aj is tickled by the fortuity but why is this article supposed to be interesting? 

maybe they'll start a real estate blog *crosses fingers* wait no it would be so boring

nevermind about that other thing! bai!

Nobody expects a transsexual

(wtf why is it so weird being of transgendered experience)

I will tell you whats on my mindgrapes!

I typically think of myself as *barely* passing, in that, while I take for granted my ability to pass as male in day to day existence, I don't expect it to require any large stretch of the imagination for the casual observer to imagine me as a former member of the fairer sex. At 5'4" I don't exactly tower, the fuzz that grows on my cheeks would be an embarrassment for most male-type persons old enough to see an R rated movie, and--as a lesbian I know personally once observed--being a masculine, female-assigned person gives new and ponderous meaning to the phrase "hips don't lie." So ya, passing, but not with flying colors.

As such I'm always sort of startled by the inability of laypeople to imagine the possibility of a transsexual incarnate. I suspect herein lies our greatest strength as a people. For instance:

Now that I have departed the homosexual metropolis of Gotham for the differently-queered Twin Cities, I have to go to a clinic for regular normal people. I sort of assumed that the nurse taking my medical history knew what was up when I explained that I was prescribed testosterone but he looked completely confused when I told him my medial records back in NYC might be filed under a former legal name. He sort of blinked and said "Oh really? Why? Did you like get married or something? No, that wouldn't make sense..." So I just sort of stared at him and was like "um anyway it might be under this name..."

In a similar vein, last week I went to go get my photo taken for my student ID card and the exchange was sort of like:

BUBBLY WORKSTUDY: Hi! Can I have your student ID number?

AJ: Um sure, let me find it... I guess I should warn you though I might still be in your system under my former legal name--I filed the name change form last week but I don't know if everything is updated yet. [AJ gives student number]

BUBBLY WORKSTUDY: Nope you're here! Oh wait! [laughs out loud] That can't be right unless your name is [REDACTED]!!! [Continues to LOL]

AJ: Uh... actually, that'd be that former name I told you about. I guess I'll come back once your system's updated.

Anyway, this week I went back to the student services center to see why it was taking so long for the system to update my name change. I explained the situation to the worker who agreed it was taking longer than usual and I was again asked for my student ID number. Upon looking up my record, however, the man's face went blank and he stared confusedly at the monitor for several seconds before turning it around to show me what was on the screen. Looking completely befuddled, he said "I think something's wrong--can you explain this to me? I don't understand." And I replied "Um yes. That there's my former legal name. That's what I'm trying to get changed. Also that gender designation is wrong--I don't know why it says that. Can you change that too please?" (It was interesting that I was entered as female in the University system since I definitely never checked any "F" box on my application. Fun fact: my girlfriend, who bears a decidedly masculine name despite being a lady through and through, has discovered in the past that the university she works lists her as male in their system.) 

Anyway the guy puttered off to speak with his supervisor and I ultimately learned that the reason my information was never updated in the university systems was because the form had never been processed: whoever got saddled with the paperwork I originally filed had apparently determined that it--I--must be some kind of mistake. Which, depending on your ideas about, you know, the particular discursive nature of gender in our society and everything, might in fact be more true than that person realized. LOL!

The moral of the story is obviously that NOBODY HARDLY EVER EXPECTS A TRANSSEXUAL (to exist). AJ will need to report back once he has determined how to best take advantage of this phenomenon (suprize! world domination?) but in the interim, recommendations are welcome.

youtube <3 <3 <3

hey look i found my favorite song from when i was like 12. i haven't even thought about this movie (liquid sky) in like a decade. 

w00t! youtube also has the trailer here. youtube and i are bff.

mpls is cool/poppin

sum thoughts on aj's new abode:

whar is the blogosphere? here is a photoblog about uptown, which is basically like the park slope of the twin cities and is also adjacent to my nabe. i can't find anything interesting tho. andminneapolis luxury real estate blog, u r so not curbed. halp!

lakes. we haz dem. when people swim in them, they say they are going to "the beach."

this lil journalistic jewel was front page news last week. LOLWTF

AJ did go to the MINNESOTA STATE FAIR. AJ eated:

- cheese on a stick

- pizza on a stick

- corndog (on a stick)

- sausage on a stick (note for future reference: sausage on a stick =  corndog)

- fried twinkie on a stick

Other things that can be eated on a stick can be viewed here.

Unfortunately by the time I'd finished eating I felt too sick to go see the barnyard animals :(

al franken is running for senate here and MY GF TOTALLY SAW HIM IN THE MSP AIRPORT.

speaking of political stuff somehow i've ended up with the rnc in town twice in a row! wtf aj h8s getting arrested and plans to have nothing to do with that dumb hoootnanny. also in anticipation the daily show has taken out some advertising along I-494. via. i also saw a billboard on hennepin advertising roast capitalist pig at some restaurant. le sigh.

being in a strange city and living on my own for the first time is pretty different, but dr. steve brule's pointers have been invaluable.

like the rest of urban american academia, the U of M american studies program is totally tranny chic, by which i mean there are a number of bespectacled white ftms in the program and i am told we are already being mistaken for each other lol. this is excellent news because aj has been in the market for a new avenue thru which to channel his righteous indignation for some time now.

the Cities also bear many commonalities to the City: 

for instance, we have our own version of cattyshack. 

also, like the only other two american cities i've lived in, streets in black neighborhoods have speed bumps in them (a la the south side of providence or bed stuy and brownsville in bklyn). aj is going to fess up about his own ignorance and ask if anyone can explain what the deal with that is (urban studies/urban planners amongst us?). it would obviously appear to be some form of social control but it would be nice to have a whole scoop.

also, on my way to work in midtown west/hell's kitchen, gentlemen used to offer to sell me fake IDs--and i would take on my best indignant affect and splutter "GOOD SIR, I AM TWENTY FOUR YEARS OF AGE!" similarly, here, as I passed by a liquor store a fellow lounging out by his car asked if i wanted him to go in and buy something for me (I assume he expected a modest commission for services rendered).

the main difference between minneapolis and nyc is that mpls is comparatively like a MASSIVE HIPPIE TOWN. however, this topic warrants a post of its own so i shall revisit it later. also ppl are pretty nice here but it is WEIRD. 

also i will probably go ahead and post some photos soon cause god knows i have the time on my hands and for whatever reasons i feel less politically conflicted about doing that here. 

kbai

o hai

aj interrupts lolaj's impromptu sabbatical to say i am still trying to figure out how to reconcile this blogs content with the fact that i suddenly live in the MIDWEST (zomg!). tips re: the minneapolis blogosphere would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.

in the meantime, i bring you these nuggets:

Tyra brings MODEL OF TRANSGENDERED EXPERIENCE into next season of ANTM. HOLY SHIT! tyra u r such an ally

Also Ellen and Portia are TOTALLY MARRIED. But Tila is PISSED! Ingrates!
Tila, I would totally invite u to my gay marriage.

very important items

One thing that is cool about sexual minorities is that we are always coming up with like new identities (can I get a "LGBTSTTQQIBDSMGNC"??). This is especially excellent for people like me and Judith (Jack? idk) Halberstam who suffer from really severe taxonomic impulses. One thing that is really funny is when ppl come up with new modes of identification and I totally don't take them seriously! LOL! But according to the innarwebs, G0Y IS NOW A MEME.

Also OMG AJ has been waiting for someone to write this post for a LONG ASS TIME. (It is a critique of Muslim women in comics focusing on Sooraya Qadir, otherwise known as "Dust," the niqab-clad mutant youth who first joined the Marvel universe during Grant Morrison's run

on New X-Men.) One thing AJ feels the article does not sufficiently stress however 

is how fucking cool it is that Dust can like instantly strip all the flesh off of your bones by turning herself into a wicked sandstorm. In the subject of "uber pwnage" AJ is happy to award Dust with a final grade of EPIC WIN.

In other news, here is an example of why its dumb when liberals are like "why don't we just give cops tasers" because they think it will solve the problems.

Gawker endeavors an answer to AJ's age-old question: wtf is the deal with the MSM not caring about LinRon??? 

WAFL award: Park Slope parents are all like: Who do they think we are, people of color or something?

There are totally some raccoons in Brooklyn and other parts of the city too! They are definitely adorable and potentially a public health threat.

Also you definitely want to hear Racialicious weigh in on Logo's new(ish) show Gimme Sugar. Logo, lol.  oh u.

And finally, AJ can think of no better way to leave his readers than with the words of this young warrior poet, for truly her work gives new meaning to our understanding of the erotic as power. Read poem here plz.

are you very bored at work?

...WELL I HAVE EXCELLENT NEWS FOR YOU. Two sites that will easily kill AT LEAST an hour or so of your day. 

Wikipedia: List of unusual deaths. (I skipped antiquity.)

ABC News: Medical Marvels slideshow! (sort of NSFW at times)

Bonus slideshow for my mormonphilic readers: RUMSPRINGA!

(WARNING: this slideshow is SURPRISINGLY BORING.)

QUICK HIT: YOUR LOLAJ MORNING TRAFFIC UPDATE

What, dear readers, have you been googling to find me? I will tell you some highlights:

• i hate diablo cody
• jodie foster
• they be stealin mah bukkit
  
• "lesbianism is a political ideology"
  
•  "lolcats" "jackie warner"
  
• diablo cody obnoxious
  
• diablo cody and her feminist politics
• the lighthearted feminism of a fine merlot
• is lolspeak racist
• dykes are the new fags
  
• genderqueer brooklyn hipster 2008
  
• h8 sex
• flds women sexual frequency
• lolesbians
  
• look, it's terrible, i know, but weakness really, really bugs me, to the point that if there is a wounded bird on the sidewalk, i look at it and i go: i think i'll just kick it
  
• roflcopter black white sex
  
• timeout ny christian siriano white trash

plus like a dozen permutations of samantha ronson and lindsay lohan.

oops i meant to post this yesterday

the good news is:

Some of you may be interested to learn that the Park Slope Armory, which will soon offer YMCA programs, used to be home court to the Smart Set Athletic Club, which assembled the first "formally organized and independent all-black basketball team." Admittedly, AJ has only really ever thought of the Armory as "that big building over near the Lesbian Herstory Archives" but you learn something new every day!

My girlfriend has appraised me that BAMs Afro-Punk festival includes a screening of The Federation of Black Cowboys which is a documentary on... YOU GUESSED IT! It's going to be awsum!! Aforementioned girlfriend and I occasionally see aforementioned black cowboys clip-clopping down the street with their ponies when we go to the Gateway Center out in East New York and we are really big fans.

the bad news is:

my girlfriend and i slept through a 2-alarm fire one block from our house at 2:30 this morning

mayor michael bloomberg is 'disgusted' by the death of esmin green, who waited almost 24 hours in a kings county hospital waiting room then keeled over, went into convulsions, and eventually died as staff continued to ignore her. the whole thing is on a (highly disturbing) surveillance tape... unfortunately for kings county hospital. readers may not be shocked to know that green was both a woman and of color, which likely goes some way towards explaining how the fuck someone can fall over and die in the middle of a hospital without anyone noticing. updated to add: aj just noticed womanist musings has a pretty ok post on green.

news that is neither obviously good nor bad:

the city is settling the shawn bell wrongful death suit but wtf happened to my link? i lost it

LOL! This article is silly! What is most silly is on the matter of the alleged anti-tight clothes movement in Brooklyn, the Voice abruptly defers to a presumed authority identified only as "Park Slope resident Jenny Brauer." Wtf who is that? And why is this "park slope resident" apparently the only one who has anything to say about homophobia?

So Starbucks is closing down 600 stores nationwide. Holy crap!

On the one hand: AJ thinks Starbucks is a loathsome union busting corporation hellbent on annihilating the locally-owned coffee shop with egregiously overpriced drinks that they bill as gourmet even though they taste like burnt dirt. Plus their baristas are poorly trained, most of their beans are procured without fair compensation to the farmers that grew them, and god knows what they add to their coffee to make it look dark like that (no, I assure you, that is not just the color of the roast).

On the other hand: Burnt dirt is a delicacy compared to the street stand coffee in my work neighborhood, which tastes like diesel fuel that somebody pooped in. And for someone with a caffeine dependency as formidable as mine, the local Starbucks--barring potable alternatives--is more of a "need" than a "want" for me. (And YES, before you suggest it, I HAVE tried brewing coffee in the office and it SIMPLY DOES NOT WORK for a number of reasons which for brevity's sake I will not explore here.) Also I am quite fond of the baristas at *my* Starbucks, who know me by name and habit and often give me discounts on my drinks (along with other freebies such as APPLE FRITTERS and compliments on my outfits). However, I'm fairly confident that my Starbucks is not underperforming and will ride out this string of closures with little trouble.

neway, i wonder if my coworkers can sense me not working...