Dogged Blog

Mixed bag: Dogs, bugs, and politics

Helloooooo?

I haven't blogged here in EIGHT DAYS? I mean, my girlfriend came to visit me last weekend so, well, you know... not so much online. And then there was that big Tuesday deadline, and my SFGate.com column on drug-resistant staph infections in dogs that turned into a really big story, but it's Friday now and I have no idea how that happened.

*stares at calender willing it to move backwards*

Okay, enough of that. Allow me to catch you up.

One, my SFGate.com column on my dog Kyrie's struggle with MRSI, the canine version of human MRSA:

There's a new and growing threat to your pets' health, and while I wish I could tell you it's just another Internet rumor, it's all too real. I should know, because my dog is its latest poster child. I'm talking about something you might have thought only affected humans: drug-resistant staph infections.

We hear a lot about these types of infections in people these days, severe ones spread in hospitals and less severe ones spread in daycare centers, schools and gyms. Most human infections involve methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. In dogs and cats, the bacteria is slightly different — methicillin-resistant staphylococcus intermedius, or MRSI — but it's otherwise pretty much the same problem: some strains of a common bacteria found in and on most dogs, people and surfaces have evolved to resist the antibiotics we normally use to treat it.

My introduction to MRSI began three months ago, when I noticed my 9-year-old borzoi, Kyrie, had a small, quarter-sized red patch on her hip that seemed to hurt her terribly. I got her into the vet the next day, and she diagnosed a spider bite, shaved and cleaned the area, and put her on antibiotics, pain medication and a topical lidocaine spray to numb the wound. She predicted Kyrie would feel better in around 48 hours.

But Kyrie spent the night restless and whimpering despite the pain medication. And the next day, her coin-sized sore had become 8-by-8 inches of infected, oozing, red, raw skin. Unable to sleep while she was so uncomfortable, I spent a few hours on the Internet, where I learned two things. One, there are no venomous spiders in San Francisco, where we live, and two, most diagnosed spider bites are really something else entirely: drug resistant staph infections.

Full story here.

And if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, the local NBC news folks were out here this morning, filming Kyrie and me for the evening news. They weren't sure if the segment would air at 5 pm or 6 PM, but if you're local, watch for us! Or it will probably be on their website, www.kntv.com.

I also blogged at AfterElton.com about politics... but don't tell them, they say they're not a political blog.

It seems only a bare handful of queer blogs and bloggers got credentialed for the Democratic National Convention in August.

One of them is Pam's House Blend, a widely respected political blog run by Pam Spaulding. Two others are also strong political blogs with queer bloggers or site owners, John Aravosis' AMERICABlog.com and ThoughtTheater.com. And the fourth is Andy Towle's Towleroad.com.

[....]

Four blogs? Out of more than 120?

It's not just that four out of 120 isn't close to the percentage of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people in the United States, let alone the Democratic party, let alone the liberal blogosphere. 

It's that four years ago, our struggle for civil rights became the scapegoat for George Bush winning the 2004 election. A flood of anti-same-sex marriage ballot measures was blamed for driving conservative and religious right voter turnout to record highs. "God, guns, and gays" became the rallying cry of the right wing, and not only are we the "gays," we're a hefty hunk of the "God," too.

And this year again, not one of the three viable Democratic candidates dared to endorse marriage equality, betraying progressive ideals while acknowledging the conventional wisdom — no doubt true, however much I hate to say it — that no candidate can be elected President in this country if he or she supports same-sex marriage rights.

Given that big right wing flag that's planted like a stake through our hearts, given that yet again, our civil rights are a political lightning rod, given how we were told to shut up and be quiet four years ago, and four years before that, so as not to scare the "Reagan Democrats" away from us, given that more than a few folks are no doubt cursing California for recognizing marriage equality just in time to make it an election year time bomb yet again... we get four blog credentials?

I really think the Big Tent folks can do a hell of a lot better than that for us, considering how much fire — quite a bit of it "friendly" — we keep taking for them.

There's more, although actually, not too much more, here.

Now, go watch Kyrie and me on TV!

DAMN YOU BARACK OBAMA

If I hadn't vowed to donate all my shoe money to Barack Obama until the convention, I could buy these.

Not even for Howard Dean did I give up shoes.

*looks at shoes*

*looks at shoes again*

You know... this is actually Bush's fault, right? If he hadn't stolen the election Gore would still be president and the country would be in better shape and we wouldn't be so desperate for change and I could buy these shoes!

Damn you George Bush!

Yes, we can!

I started my Obama fundraising page with a teeny little goal to raise $500. I raised it.

I upped my goal to $1000. I exceeded it.

Today, on the night that Barack Obama took the majority of pledged delegates in the primary, I've increased it to $5000, in recognition of the fact that we're now in the general election phase of the campaign.

From now on, it's not just about how much I love Barack Obama, and believe in him. It's also about saying no to lies and lobbyists, to business as usual, to heartless policies and ruthless politics.

It's about saying no to a third Bush term, to a hundred years in Iraq, to war and poverty and government of, by, and for the corporations.

It's about saying no to John McCain. Please donate now, and help me reach my goal!

Interview and other kinds of mojo

My interview mojo has been just toxic lately.

First, I had a big problem getting an interview on one particular subject, period. No one I contacted would talk to me, and it wasn't even anything controversial! It was like I was cursed. Finally someone agreed, only to keep rescheduling until it was literally too late for me to use the interview in my article.

Then I actually had to cancel an article due to problems lining up an important interview.

Then I had to spend a week getting a freaking comment from one person, this time having to reschedule the article.

Then I spent the last week and a half trying to get someone who had agreed to talk to me, again about something totally non-controversial, to actually spend ten minutes on the phone with me.

Well, I just did two of those much-delayed interviews, and am having them transcribed by the good folks over at escriptionist.com, and I feel like the weight of the world is off my shoulders.

Now I have to interview the two gay contestants on the next Design Star, so if that goes okay, perhaps it means the curse has lifted.

Speaking of mojo, I wrote a diary over at Daily Kos about Barack Obama being adopted as a member of the Crow Nation... that is the top-recommended diary over there for the last 24 hours! I've been on the rec list there a few times with pet food recall pieces, but this is the first time with general political blogging.  I even got asked to cross post it at Native American Netroots, where it got front paged.

*iz proud*

Also, my coverage of the lesbian side of the GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco is up over at AfterEllen.com... with lots of photos of Sharon Stone, Jennifer Beals, and more.

Climate change? Srsly?

It's hot here in San Francisco, yo.

I mean, very very way way hot, no doubt because yesterday's historic ruling that the configuration of our genitalia or our chromosome count cannot be used to deny Californians our civil rights when it comes to marriage laws has opened the gates of hell.

Or, you know, climate destabilization due to decades of pro-business, anti-environment policies on the part of legislators.

The exact "why" might vary with political affiliation, but historic temperature records are falling all over the Bay Area, and it was in the 80s when I walked my dogs at 7:30 this morning. This does not happen here. I know; I'm from here.

My mom, in a fit of prescience and generosity, bought a tiny window unit air conditioner (I mean, I have purses bigger than this thing) for my bedroom. She said it was so my dogs wouldn't be too hot. They did, indeed, spend all day yesterday in that one room, and graciously let me sleep in there with them last night. I feel very guilty at the environmental toll of running that damn little machine all night, but not enough to have turned it off and suffered.

It is possible I own the only window unit air conditioner in San Francisco. I'm not sure.

So not only can I get married, at least until November when we'll see if the out-of-state religious right hate groups succeed in getting our constitution amended to strip me of my rights again, I am also the only person in the City who is not going to sleep in an agony of hotness tonight.

Well, the only one other than my mom, because she, too, has an air conditioner.

A friend in Virginia laughed last night when I said no one in San Francisco has air conditioning. She thought I was joking, and it took me five minutes to get her to understand, no, really: No A/C in this city. Not in homes, not in apartment buildings, not in older office buildings, not in restaurants, not in stores. Only the really big, newer public buildings, malls, etc. have climate control. Some movie theaters don't even have it, although all the new ones do.

Anyway, yes, I feel really guilty, but the dogs are blissed out and napping in my bedroom, and it's 84 degrees in my living room right now -- at 10:30 in the morning. So I'm trying to live with it.

Why I'm not ready for a post-gay world

A lot of younger LGBT folks are kind of dismissive of  old-fashioned identity politics, and specifically reject labels about their sexual orientation. I understand it, but I'm not there.

I'll be totally ready for the post-gay world when I actually have equal rights under the law. Until then, I'm intending to fight as a lesbian to not be relegated to the cheap seats in the theater of American law. I'm just saying.

So, on that front, there's amazing news that broke just a few minutes ago: The California State Supreme Court has overturned state laws prohibiting same sex marriage.

The moment's joy I felt at that news, and I shouldn't underestimate its importance, was blown to hell by the realization that, assuming all its signatures check out, there's a well-funded ballot initiative amending the state constitution to ban marriage equality for lesbians and gay men in California.

Which would make California the 28th state to adopt such an amendment. Which means that in the majority of the states in the country, there are laws on the books that explicitly deny me the rights that heterosexual Americans have, and in only one state -- Massachussetts -- would I have that right, even though no other state, nor the federal government will recognize it so you know... not so much, even there.

And the idea of having my civil rights and equality under the law put up for a VOTE makes me want to tear the skin off my body with my fingernails and throw bricks through windows.

What, me, bitter?

But seriously, I'm trying to be happy. I swear it.

GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco -- the Boyz

My coverage of the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards got split by gender... AfterEllen.com will run the girl version later this week, but AfterElton got the boyz up already.

I have to say I had a lot of fun doing this, except for the last hour and a half standing in high heels while my blood sugar crept ever-lower. But I saw some old friends, met a couple of people I've interviewed on the phone in person for the first time, got to interview several people I had never spoken with before, and got to do a second in-person interview with Alan Cumming, who has to be one of the nicest people I've ever met in the not-always-nice entertainment industry.

And those guys? They're Quincy LeNear and Deondray Gossett, the creators of here! network's The DL Chronicles. I've never interviewed them before, but I can't wait to do it again... definitely top ten most fun interview time. And they told me they're developing a lesbian spin-off of the series, so hello... I probably will!

Get a bunch of well-dressed queer and queer-friendly media people under one roof, roll out a red carpet, and give out awards, and you have the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco.

The fourth in a dazzling series of Award nights held in New York City, Los Angeles, South Florida, and San Francisco, the event honored actors,writers, directors, editors, musicians, and political figures for their contributions to positive portrayals of the LGBT community in media.

On the night of May 10, stars including Alan Cumming, Jason Lewis, David Bromstad, Sharon Stone, and Jennifer Beals walked down the red carpet and stopped to talk with AfterElton.com about the awards, queer visibility in the media, and of course, the hot topic of the night: Kevin and Scotty's upcoming wedding.

Story here. Have fun; I did.

(Photo by KT!)

Oh yeah. Yoga.

I've been extremely frustrated with my physical existence lately... didn't that sound dramatic? What I mean is that my hormones are screwed up, I'm fighting to lose a few pounds I've put on despite being extremely careful with what I'm eating and how much exercise I'm getting. I'm not sleeping well and I'm SO FUCKING STRESSED OUT all the time.... So I was stretching after lifting weights this morning and I suddenly went.... yoga.

I used to take yoga and I loved yoga. It was the first thing I did to start myself on the road to all the positive changes I've experienced in the last few years. So I hit Yelp and found a class not far from here and emailed the teacher and she emailed me back, and it sounds like she'll be a really good, non-dogmatic, flexible teacher for me to start getting back into yoga with.

I start Sunday afternoon. I can't wait.

Queerly Beloved

It looks like Kevin and Scotty got married last night. I know because I saw it on YouTube!

If you don't know what I'm talking about, that's okay, because I don't actually watch "Brothers and Sisters" either,  although I think that their proposal scene may be the most romantic thing I've ever watched totally out of context.

I also wrote a lengthy history of same-sex weddings on TV and film over on AfterElton.com:

When Kevin and Scotty marched down the aisle Sunday night on ABC's Brothers and Sisters, it marked the first same-sex wedding of a series regular in the history of American network television. But even when the field is expanded to include cable and British television, its on-bended-knee proposal and family wedding will still be one of only a very, very few same-sex weddings ever shown in a scripted drama or comedy on the small or the large screen.

In fact, excepting a handful of documentaries, one mockumentary, and the increasingly gay-inclusive folks on reality TV, scavenging for same-sex weddings in the media requires a lot of detective work. Finding those that depict genuine marriages between two people in love where no one is left standing at the altar requires a magnifying glass. And if you want to count only legal weddings, without Canada, there'd be nothing at all.

Full article, with lots of photos and video clips, here.

GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco

The interviews and tons and tons and tons more photos by KT will be on AfterEllen.com and AfterElton.com next week, but since I mentioned blow-drying my hair and picking out shoes to go to the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, I thought I'd show you how it all turned out.

Here is me, interviewing Sharon Stone, who was honored with the Vanguard Award, "presented to media professionals who, through their work, have increased the visibility and understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community."

I think I'm going to stop wearing high heels to interviews, though. In addition to having to stand for THREE AND A HALF HOURS, I was taller than just about everyone, with the possible exception of David Bromstad.