Tag: LGBT

Posted in Holidays, kindness

I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Wouldn’t Do That)

Posted on by D. Parker

And I would do anything for love,
I’d walk briskly right into hell and back
I would do anything for bloglove,
I’ll never lie to you and that’s a fact

And some days, it ain’t easy
And some days, it ain’t hard
Some days it ain’t happening at all

I’ll do anything for bloglove (but I won’t do that)…

Goodbye Meatloaf (gone like a bat out of hell)

I don’t know about you, but to me January 2022 felt more like Groundhog Day than a new start, but now it’s February so everything will be different, right? Right?

February started with the Lunar New Year aka Chinese New Year – it’s the year of the tiger, ok, I’m singing it as “Eye of the Tiger” and thinking of Monty Python, how about you?

What else is February (allegedly), for such a short month, it’s crammed full of expectations including but not limited to:

  • Black History Month (to remember, to learn, to grow, and to look to a better future)
  • Valentine’s Day (and National Impotence Day is the same day, hmmm, interesting)
  • LGBT+ History Month
  • National Library Lovers Month (having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card!)
  • World Cancer Day (to state the obvious, cancer sucks)
  • Random Acts of Kindness Day (again, you shouldn’t need a day for this, just be kind for pity’s sake)
  • Love Your Pet Day (shouldn’t that be everyday?)
  • Family Day (wow, how many times can I say this, should be every day)
  • Spunky Old Broads Day (bet a lot of Maxine cards are sold for this day)
  • National Pizza Day ( ummmm, pizza)
  • World Whale Day ,as opposed to Worldly Whale Day (très magnifique whales, hmm, wonder if worldly whales would play Wordle?)
  • Read to Your Child Day (Every. Single. Day.)
  • Extraterrestrial Culture Day

2022 is not a Leap Year, so February 2022 has only 28 days, oh no, but hopefully not 28 Days Later, fast zombies are scary, speaking of, guess who’s coming back and with fast zombies, “The Walking Dead”. February has more, but I don’t want to be a bore!

February will come and go in the blink of an eye, pushing into March. My year of chronic change marches on, topsy turvy with all the moving; organizing; growing “Chronic Not Hopeless” (chronicnothopeless@gmail.com https://yadadarcyyada.com/2021/01/30/chronic-not-hopeless/); getting addicted to “Among Us”; reading, reading, reading, so much reading; writing; snow, so much snow, eh…

Watching: “The Gilded Age”, “Midsomer Murders”, “1883”, “Snowpiercer”, “Stay Close”, “What We Do in the Shadows”, “Shetland”, “The Expanse”, “Vera”, “The Great”, “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure”, “The Eternals” (we’ve waited 7000 years for this movie, ha, Marvel/Disney, more like it felt like 7000 years watching this movie, wow); waiting for the return of “The Walking Dead”, waiting for the return of “The Orville”, waiting for common sense/#kindness to poke it’s head out and return us to a better reality.

Here’s what’s happened so far…

In August, it was a difficult decision, but I had to break up with myself 

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2021/08/23/seems-breakin-up-was-easier-in-the-90s/

In September I asked “What If…?”

 https://yadadarcyyada.com/2021/09/29/what-if/

Then in October I knew that “Sweet Screams (Are Made of This) 

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2021/10/29/sweet-screams-are-made-of-this/

Then in the midst of November chaos came calm 

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2021/11/27/have-yourself-a-merry-little-christmas/

Counted down in many ways in December 

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2021/12/02/24-days-of-our-christmas-lives

Shared tips to save

In January I shared ways I’ve learned to save money, of course, if there was affordable housing and even slightly less corporate greed scraping pennies wouldn’t be as necessary. People’s health would be better, physical as well as mental health. I also did a presentation about how to save money for “Chronic Not Hopeless”, a grassroots support group for people with chronic conditions, here for each other because when one of us shines, we all shine.

Contact/get links to Zoom events/volunteer/suggestions/questions/resources/donate:

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2022/01/21/cant-buy-me-love/

Wishing you and yours a safe, happy, and fact-based March, hope it treats you kindly.

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Posted in Canada, Family, Holidays, Parenting, Political, Uncategorized

How To Be Good To One Another

Posted on by D. Parker

1funny612One life but we’re not the same we get to carry each other,
carry each other.
One…One…One…
~U2

How to be good to one another. We could start by spending less time arguing about: who’s right, who’s wrong, who’s what, who’s to blame.

The internet exploded last week, with rainbows, due to the U.S. Supreme Court same-sex marriage decision.
Online profile pictures went rainbow. #LoveWins trended worldwide.
June is Gay Pride Month so this added to the parties, parades, pride.
I’m pretty sure if you checked, your poo might be rainbow too.

1funny639
It’s a great step for equality, I only hope hype and hyperbole don’t bog down the message that it’s not so much about this issue, but about fighting for rights, not just new ones, but the ones we already enjoy.

It’s been 10 years of marriage equality in Canada (Happy Belated Birthday Canada! You don’t look a day over 147), joined by 17 other countries: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Uruguay, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and now The United States of America. Come on, why aren’t there more? Who cares who you love, as long as you love?

1love51
Sadly, on the same day of this ruling, there were also:
terrorist attacks, natural disasters, murders, child abuse, rapes, corruption, and more.
This decision doesn’t stop bigotry, hatred, racism, or human rights abuses.
It doesn’t feed the world’s hungry, or stop conflicts,
but it does add some equality (can’t have enough of that),
it makes people happy (especially wedding planners and lawyers),
and it shows that justice is still out there, we just have to expand its reach.

1funny647

I’m always amazed at how so many people have the time or energy for:
hate, prejudice, racism, hypocrisy, manipulation, machinations, lying, stealing, playing the ‘gotcha’ game, cheating, and judging – especially for people or groups of people they don’t even know.
That must be draining, or maybe invigorating? I can understand, everyone has felt or done that stuff at one time or another, but holding onto that just seems weird and in the end, you must hate yourself the most.

1funny679

Week 5 of my year-long try-to-find-happiness challenge is on.
Here are the first 4 weeks if you want to catch up or need a refresher.
https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/06/03/dont-worry-be-happy/
https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/06/09/to-blog-or-not-to-blog/
https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/06/15/rock-me-amadeus/
https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/06/25/in-my-life-i-loved-them-all/

Week 5 (approximately 10% done!):

1. Accept that apology never given. This one is soooo difficult, but this is something I really want to do for myself, but more, something I want to teach my son.

2. Embrace my age gracefully, doing a fairly good job, but I’m still going to avoid full-length mirrors, come on, we’ve all seen funhouses, these have got to be the same mirrors, right?

July 1 Do something really Canadian for Canada Day. Maybe respectfully pour Canadian beer on maple syrup butter tarts, Nanaimo bars, and poutine while playing hockey, eh.

1funny655
4. Drink one more glass of water per day.

5. Pack up a box of stuff and give it away.

July 4 Celebrate our American neighbours by watching that fascinating documentary about the time they saved the world from alien invasion, you know, Independence Day.

7. Clean out that closet. I thought I should tell someone where I’m going so if I’m not back in an hour, send help.

1funny706

How to be good to one another? Be kind and accepting. Accept that people have different beliefs, opinions, cultures, politics, points of view, religions, lifestyles, life experiences, abilities, neurofunctions; different ways to love, to live, to grieve, to have fun, to be angry, to be sad. Just because someone isn’t the same as you doesn’t mean they’re: wrong, scary, defective, a sinner, a monster, or a loser. As long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, don’t worry about different.
Life’s way too short to be: feared or fearful, hating or hated; try to love and be loved.

If you really have to worry about something,
worry about being good to one another.

1funny659

Posted in Books, Movies, Political, Uncategorized

Words Will Break Cement

Posted on by D. Parker

1jons4

Truth is, everyone needs to be more tolerant. Everyone.

Aren’t most of the world’s problems because of intolerance?

Would we have to fight for rights and freedoms if everyone was more tolerant?

Why does it bother anyone who you love?

The colour of your skin?

The shape of your body?

Whom you choose to worship?

That someone has special needs?

What you choose to listen to or watch?

Why does choice intimidate some many people?

Just their need to control?

Whatever. Relax.

1pussy1When I first heard the name Pussy Riot I thought they were a punk band.1pussy5

So I read Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot by Masha Gessen (Riverhead Books/Penguin) in the hope of understanding the situation. Well-written and painstakingly detailed, it made for fascinating read.

I don’t always get performance art, I’m way too plebeian for that. However, I understand the need for artistic expression.

The women from Pussy Riot are part of one of the Russian art collectives who call themselves Voina. They stage performance art, often as a form of protest.

Their performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow went viral. Was it tasteless and a slap in the face of religion? Absolutely. Although I rather think that was their purpose.

Russia gives them ample material to protest.
LGBT rights regressing rapidly.
A wealth gap like the space between planets.
Barely existent women’s rights.
Maybe Georgia and Ukraine could give us some insight into how the Russian government feels about, you know, rights.

1pussy4Whether or not you agree with civil disobedience or the way this group or others protest, it gets attention. I disagree they should be jailed, separated from their family and friends, brutalized, beaten, persecuted, and maligned just because they don’t agree with the people in power. Also, it really just, well, proves their point.

Every country has its problems. Democracy seems to be creeping into twilight around the world, soon to join the dinosaurs as fossil fuel. When we don’t stand up for something, we really do seem to fall for anything.

Sadly Russia is not unique in intolerance, grinding of rights and freedoms, and overenthusiastic authoritarianism. Putin is just really, really open about it.1pussy6

It’s easy to pick on Russia, they have those cool accents that make everything sound sinister and we’re kind of programmed by James Bond flicks.

Tolerance would do us all well.

As long as you’re not hurting anyone…then who are you hurting?