Me

This is what it looks like for a girl from
Southern Ohio, raised in a military family,
to shout "No Blood for Oil."

'Friendly Fire," the ultimate oxymoron.

Text from an November 5, 1991 Washington Post article exposing the circumstances of my cousin’s death during the 1991 Gulf War.

The military reported that he was killed by Iraqis during a conflict near Kuwait. It turned out that the military lied and that he was actually killed by another American tank. This false reporting was rampant during Desert Storm.

I was in college at Ohio University during the first Gulf War. While I supported my cousin as a soldier, I was actively involved in large scale anti-war protests on my campus.

Upon learning of his death I wrote a letter to the school newspaper decrying the war and my cousin’s death. Soon after the article was published I was called into the ROTC office and harassed by military personnel for my “unpatriotic behavior.”

I am curious, just how patriotic is it to lie to the family of a fallen soldier?

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Eagle Scout/Marine

After having my Dad read a few of the letters he wrote from overseas, we talked about the feelings that came up for him as he reflected on his career in the military.

He, his brothers, his nephews and now his daughter have all had long military careers.

His time as an Eagle Scout clearly informed his time in the military. I can't locate any military pictures of him, but the Eagle Scout picture foreshadows his time in uniform.

He is on the left, his brother Howard is on the right.
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Christmas Abroad

My Dad was one of 9 children, 8 of which were boys, 7 of whom served in the U.S. Military during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

While serving in Cairo, Egypt my Dad wrote letters home to his mother who was in Portsmouth, Ohio.

Here he writes about spending Christmas in a Muslim country.

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letters home

My Dad was a Marine during the late 60’s.
He served as an Embassy guard and was stationed
in Cairo, Egypt during that time.

While there he wrote letters home to his mother.

Here he reads from one sent around Thanksgiving 1966.


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Yard SIgns

Yard SIgns

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An audio piece I made in the aftermath of the last presidential fiasco. 

Even though Bush "won," tons of people in my neighborhood kept their John Kerry signs up in their yards for months after the election. 

Liv and I went out one Sunday to find out why.  She filmed and I interviewed and in the end the piece seemed to work as an audio piece rather than a video.

Here 'tis. 

5 mg

5 mg

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It's finally Spring and I've been looking forward to the sunny weather with great anticipation this year. 18 months ago the counselor that I have seen off and on for 10 years diagnosed me with SAD, the acronym for Seasonal Affective Disorder. Known otherwise as seasonal depression. She recommended I combat the affects of this depression with a daily dose of Lexapro, 10 milligrams of a little white pill that would help moderate the levels of serotonin in my brain. I was not easily convinced to try medication. I have weathered so many family storms without medication and still managed to keep my head above water, I just didn't think I needed a daily pill to get by. I discussed it with my partner and sister and with gentle urging on their parts, decided I owed it to myself to give it a try. It's been 18 months since then. My doctor said it would be best to try two full winters on medication. I've done that now and am ready to taper off. Under her care she has recommended I cut my dosage in half and move off completely after 4-6 weeks. I've had a good year and a half. Liv and I bought a house, I have started school again, I am doing yoga on a regular basis and am training for a triathalon, and most signficantly, I am much less fragile around my oft explosive mother. I don't know what to attribute to the pill and what is simply a function of wise decision making, that's the hard part, especially as I make the decision to go off the medication. No one can say for sure. There aren't tests for serotonin deficiencies in the brain. I sat down to cut my pills in half today and suspect I may soon gain some insight into how much the 10 mg have done for me on a daily basis.

Toot

Toot

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I'm not one to toot my own horn, but I'm going to for just a minute. I edited this video to include subtitles and I am pretty damned proud of myself for figuring it out. I had some help from a handout made by a professor at Ohio State, but part of the instructions were chopped off, so I had to figure it out from the Quick Time instructions.

This may not sound like a big deal, but for me, this spells some seriously monumental growth. Two years ago I broke down in tears and frustration because I spent an hour reading the Garage Band manual and got completely stuck. I can't remember a moment where I felt more stupid than I did that day. I felt like the dumb driver who relies on their car everyday, but has NO CLUE how it works.

I'm not stupid, but I didn't grow up with all this technology (I got a B.A. without using a computer once), and it has confounded me for years. It's not a joke that my blog is subtitled "The Audio/Visual Adventures of a Thirty Something Technophobe." I have been scared off by computer technology for YEARS.

So, it is with that background in mind, that I stop for a minute to pat myself on the back for everything I have learned in the past 9 months. Toot, toot!

Rough Cut

Rough Cut

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Trailer for YVO screening June 21 at the Arena Grand in Columbus, Ohio. Local lesbian singer Katie Reider opens, followed by screening of video project and panel discussion by youth filmmakers. $10 suggested donation raises funds to send queer youth to The Right to Be Different: International Conference on LGBT Human Rights at the World Outgames in Montreal, Canada, July 26-29, 2006. more info at www.videooutreach.org

Hate Crime?

This morning I walked to the mail box on the corner and passed by the For Rent sign in my neighbor's front yard. I stopped dead in my tracks because the For Rent sign had been painted with the word "Queers" across it.






I started to yank it out of the ground because I thought it had been vandalized in an act of homophobic rage. Then I noticed the stars around the word "Queers" and the careful detail used to fill in a word so often spit forward with hate.

Then I put it together. The building with the For Rent sign is called "L Town" by the people who live there. 'L' for Lesbian. We live across the street sandwiched between a hippie couple and another set of dykes and we affectionately refer to it as "Trannyshack." A steady steam of queers has occupied that corner for the past 6 or 8 years.

I realized in that moment that the "Queers" emblazoned across the For Rent sign was actually an advertisement, an exercise in self preservation. We are a corner of queers and none of us want homophobes moving in, so what better way to protect ourselves than to ask for what we want?

May 17 is International Day Against Homophobia and sadly, we are still surrounded by homophobia even in our very tolerant pocket of South Clintonville. The campus of the second largest university in America is just 1.8 miles to our South, and while Universities often breed acceptance and diversity, we are still in Ohio, recently rated the worst state in the U.S. to inhabit as a LGBT person.

Hallelujah for my queer neighbors and the courage they found to shout "Queers" with stars and bubble letters! It is that kind of deliberate resistance that gives me hope for my community and my state.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day

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Since part of the goal of this blog is to track my relationship with digital technology, I think it gives me license to use my blog to share a special card I made for my sister.

She's in the Air Force and has been in San Angelo, Texas for the last 9 months in officer school. She's finally near the end of her training and is on her way home next week.

Yipee!

Anyway, this is for her!

Scootking

Scootking
i am blogging my blog, whatever that means.

Jetgirl Sound

Jetgirl Sound

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Experimental sound for Jetgirl Party June 17, 2006 Skully's Columbus, Ohio www.jetgirlparty.com Jetgirl: launch A Summer Party Series for Queer Gals and Their Boy Pals

Sheets and Hollers Audio

Sheets and Hollers Audio

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A segment recorded for the NPR program "This I Believe"

scootking cubed

scootking cubed

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tag for my videos

Bachelor Pad

Liv was gone for 5 days last week and I had the house to myself, something that rarely happens for either of us. I had really good intentions to get all the laundry done and clean our room and work in the yard while she was gone, and I did all that, but I was struck by fine line I walked between total chaos and cluttered disarray throughout the week.



With no one home but me and the cats, we were all able to spread out a little bit more. I work from home and with only me in the house, I often choose to spread out on the kitchen table. My spread grew increasingly larger each day Liv was gone. It started simply enough, with the computer and a notebook and grew to magazines, the checkbook, a dirty plate from lunch and three empty glasses, not to mention the baked bean stains and crumbs from breakfast.

I knew I should make the effort to tidy things up, but with only me around I just got lazy. For dinner one night I grilled a lone hot dog and ate potato chips, not a green vegetable in site. On Sunday morning I had breakfast with my Dad and Johnny and smothered my french toast in what I thought was powdered sugar, only to find out after my first mouthful that it was actually flower-YUCK!

The point is, in the years I have been with Liv I have said many times that being with her has "been good for me." And I mean that, but what never occurred to me before this weekend was the notion that perhaps I would be less of a person without her (she just yelled at me from the bathroom to remind me that the bathroom needs cleaned).

This isn't one of my "Low Self Esteem" moments, I don't mean to say I would not still be a good person without her, but somehow this weekend I just realized that she helps me be my better self. Lots of people aid me in that quest, but she gets some big props in that department and as we approach 5 years together I am starting to realize that some of what replaces the hype and thrill of a new relationships is really worth waiting around for.

Skybridge

Images from the banks of the Olentangy River.

Up, Up and Away.....

Look at us go off in our Beaver...

...fantasy photo creation by Liv!

Models

Check out these two blog/vlog sites, 29fragiledays and 20mmphotoblog. We looked at them in my class, they are much more in keeping with what I would like to do with my blog.

We discussed a recent Wired article that again listed vlogs of note such as amyville.
After viewing them I concluded that what was missing for me from blogs like Amyville and Ryane is heart.

Hopefully my posts won't suffer from the same lack.

We Are Strong Women

We Are Strong Women

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I am not sure this is going to work. This is an audio track Heidi and I made for a Healing Weekend last year. The weekend is sponsored by the Ohio AIDS Coalition and it is for people living with HIV/AIDS. The track is a compilation of stories told by HIV+ women. When I made the track I wasn't very concerned about using copywritten music. I plan to go back and re-edit everything and include music made with Soundtrack, just to be on the safe side.

Revolve Magazine

Good news! There is a new GLBT publication in town and on the web. It's called Revolve Magazine and its goal is to provide a completely environmentally friendly publication to the GLBT community. I was asked to contribute to the magazine by a long time customer at my forever job-The Coffee Table. The first issue deals with music, so I was asked to write specifically about that topic. I intended to write about podcasting, but decided instead to offer my blog as an ongoing column for the magazine.

So, I am adding a link to the magazine on my blog page and encourage folks to check it out. Hopefully Revolve readers will find my wacky, political, rambling rants of interest. Remember, the blogosphere is interactive, so please post comments at your leisure. Enjoy!

Just Say YES

OK, so maybe I am not the only one who feels this way, I don't know, but I get really tired of going to public parks, public pools, art museums, movie theaters, etc. (places that are supposed to be fun), only to be confronted by GIANT signs commanding me not to do this, that, or the other thing.

Why do we always have to have signs telling us what NOT to do, rather than telling us what we can do? NO ROLLER BLADES, NO SKATEBOARDS, NO BICYCLES, NO RADIOS, NO RUNNING, NO YELLING, NO JUMPING, NO, NO, NO!

All those bold typed large font NO's put me in a bad mood and make me forget why I came to the pool in first place.

So, in my futuristic Utopian world, there will be signs in parks and on playgrounds and at swimming pools that command community members to just say YES.









Maybe then we would have fewer wars.

Vital Tunes

I stole this idea from Red Rider, but had to do my own. I am an AVID music fan and there are hundreds of songs I absolutely love, but this list of albums contains songs I could not live without. The list betrays my age, but who cares, these albums hold the songs that are the soundtrack to my life. With the addition of "Southside" by Texas and "Strange Free World" by Kitchens of Distinction, these are the cds that would go with me on the desert island (a concept that dates me also).


Anger. Joy. Sorrow. Longing. Elation. Heartbreak. Fear. Isolation. Love.

All are recalled for me in these tunes, sometimes as if the moment never ended.

Music does that for me.
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