I Love California Reason #464

So, we whine entirely too much about living here. Oh poooor me, rent is expensive...I got here 40 years after the hippy movement....it's soooo sunny here.

I know, we're ridiculous.

Now that our time here is nearing a close (somewhere in 2010,) I thought it fitting to buck up and be grateful for the lovely things this state has to offer. Most of all it's the lack of snow we love.
We do like it here a lot. It's just that we have what I like to call geographical ADD...we're too focused on what's next.

Today, my attempt and being grateful in the now:

10. San Francisco. We don't visit you often enough, but when we do, you rock our world. We love your Golden Gate, your bay views, and even your crappy weather-because it makes us feel at home!

9. Stanford & MIIS. Thanks for those degrees, finished and pending. How lucky we are to get a world class education from such fine institutions.

8. Protesters. Whatever you're protesting. You give me the California of 40 years ago I longed to see.

7. Stanford Mall. Pratik may not agree, but it's so lovely to live near such a fine establishment. A mall on campus-what a concept!

6. Grocery stores. How you spoil me with your always fresh local produce all year round, reusable bags and free-range and cage free selections. I know, Whole Foods is nation-wide and I love it. But I also love Mollie Stones and Country Sun-especially for their organic gift selection. You've made me a more green and conscious shopper.

5. The housing market. I know, it's a strange one. But knowing what's out here will make me so much for grateful for whatever four walls are in our future...even if they do say "Frigidaire" on the side.

4. Palo Alto. From those grocery stores to my workplace, you've taught me the importance of the word "local."

3. Parking Lots. I love your warnings. "Did you remember your reusable bag?" Where else but California would you find a warning that exhaust fumes are known to the state of California to cause cancer!

2. Dog friendly establishments! I can take Molly everywhere, even to Nordstrom's. That's the way it should be! It's children that should be restricted in public :)

1. Weather, I love you weather. I will enjoy you here no matter what, no complaints, rain or shine. I will enjoy you while I can, before we inevitably move back to snow and ice. For now, victory over the snow bunnies is MINE! We know not what wind chill is anymore...this week's high will be 76 degrees. Eat your hearts out!

Gay Marriage

I've had a lot on my mind lately with the recent election. I was extremely satisfied with our choice of president (more on that later) and extremely happy to see that other freedoms and choices were passed on ballots across the country. I was, however, extremely dismayed at the voter's acceptance of California proposition 8, about banning gay marriage, and to see rights stripped away from fellow human beings. It took this long to for us to propose California proposition 2 that requires farmers to provide enough room to farm animals to turn around. What a level have we stooped to as a nation - we are voting on a piece of paper in 2008 on whether or not animals and humans should be treated humanely!

If you are not as infuriated as I am about this situation, let me explain my background a bit more. Most of you know that I was born in a small town for which there is a special place in my heart. I am incredibly lucky that I can, in fact, always go the the home of my childhood again. Small town America has its charms for sure, however, it's easy to grow up sheltered when your town is lacking in much diversity. Having been born disabled, I learned first hand what it's like to be different. How lucky I was to have friends in my childhood who loved me and accepted me for who I am, especially when most of my peers still hadn't taken the opportunity to learn to accept other people's differences. Let me be clear -- being gay is not a "disability", but being disabled or being gay has sometimes ostracized people like us from their own communities as if it is a Scarlet letter we bear. It is not that we grew up with racist monsters on every corner of our small town. We had plenty of people who loved and accepted us for our differences and had parents, friends and teachers who never put us down but built us up. But when you are called names like "gimpy" or "faggot" by people whom you know so well because your town is so small, it really pours salt in the wound.

When one of my friends came to me in high school and told me that he was different, I cried. I didn't cry because I was embarrassed or ashamed of him or his sexuality. I cried because I knew how much he would have to struggle in high school. I thought growing up and becoming adults would change a lot of this. I thought moving out into the "big bright world" beyond our town would change this. In this election, I have learned that time doesn't change anything and that large cities can be equally cruel. Cruel people in this "big bright world" think that taking away the rights of gay men and women can be decided with a vote.

How is is that the federal equal opportunity law protects against discrimination based on race, religion, disability, gender, national origin, and everything else but leaves it for the states to decide if it's OK to discriminate on sexual orientation? (http://www.eeoc.gov/abouteeo/overview_practices.html) How can a proposition based largely on Christian values be forced onto the rest of the country that is built on the the Bill of Rights which clearly guarantees the freedom of religion FOR ALL PEOPLE? (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html) Can it be really true that the cruel people supporting proposition 8 think that freedom of religion means the freedom to choose your sect of Christianity? But I guess they must believe that it's OK to be a bigot if they write it into their state's constitution and use the scripture to support their claims -- never mind how many revisions, omissions and/or translations your state's constitution or the scriptures have been through.

I guess for such Christians, the "Golden Rule: treat others how you would like to be treated" isn't a part of Christianity anymore. What Would Jesus Do? Using the scripture or the Constitution (in this case, of the state of California) to strip others of their freedom to be who they are and choose their own religion is not being a good Christian. I'm so sick of standing by and letting people pretend that it is. I can't imagine one day meeting my maker and telling him/her/it that I thought it was OK to enforce my beliefs on others and treat certain people at a lower standard.

For some of these people the family values are most important and it's a question of the welfare of their children. "But it will be enforced in schools!", they say. Not only did the California Superintendent of Education publicly denounce that myth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIL7PUl24hE), imagine what are they teaching their children about treating others. What would they do or expect others to do if their children happen to be gay! Would they turn a blind eye to the discrimination their child will face? When people made fun of me, Peter didn't just stand by and let them. He stood up for me and never once cared about his own reputation. I have never known true friendship like I have with people like him. I refuse to sit on the sidelines and let people take away his freedoms and prevent him from building a loving family. Fifty years ago, it would not have been legal for Pratik and I to be married in some states. If it weren't for Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple who fought the state of Virginia to be together, it would be still illegal. I think everyone needs to read this statement issued by Mrs. Loving right before her death: http://www.freedomtomarry.org/pdfs/mildred_loving-statement.pdf

Some of these people argue that gays will still have the same civil rights as others. I heard (on Mandarin radio here in California) statements like "well, we're not saying they can't live together! They can still have a civil union!" If it's not a big deal, maybe EVERYONE should only have a civil union. If I had known this would happen, I'm not sure I could've gotten married in this state. I'm not sure I could've brought myself to get married. Peter was in the MIDDLE of training for a touring Broadway show and had it written into his contract that he could leave in order to attend my wedding. He wouldn't miss that day for ANYTHING, even the biggest opportunity of his life. What a fool I feel like that I couldn't even defend his rights after how much he celebrated mine.

If you think this has nothing to do with me, a straight woman, you're wrong. It has EVERYTHING to do with me. Because that type of ignorance is a plague that spreads like wildfire, and it's only a matter of time before I see my rights as a disabled woman stripped if this continues. Or my right to marry my husband, who is not a U.S. citizen. Or the freedom to practice whatever religion we like in our own home. It has everything to do with me, because I know what it's like to be treated like I am a plague on society. That I'm not worth anyone's time or that I am an afterthought because I'm different.


If you feel it's wrong to treat ME differently, then I hope you think twice about how you treat the gay community..

Pratik's Paper Published in JACS!!

Pratik has hit an important milestone in his career at Stanford--his first paper was published! Pratik is a second author on a paper that was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS.) This is one of the top journals for a chemist to get his/her work published in, so this is a great accomplishment for him as well as his fellow authors.

This is a summary of the paper in Pratik's own words. (Mind you, I can't even understand the title and my eyes glaze over when I get an in depth explanation. This is Pratik's version of a layman's definition...):

"In order to understand why complicated biological proteins are capable of doing reactions quickly and efficiently, we build artificial models that are amenable to study by a variety of tools that we have developed. We can use that knowledge to improve the design of the catalysts used in industry or design drugs to treat diseases that result from improper functioning of these proteins. In this particular work, we have prepared a compound that acts as a model for the enzyme galactose oxidase involved in metabolism of a type of sugar called galactose. We identified the structural features of the compound responsible for its interesting properties and ability to react in a manner similar to the enzyme."

We can't put the whole paper on the web due to copyright issues, but you can ask for an email copy from Pratik if you're really interested.

I may not understand it, but I'm really proud of him and of all the hard work he's put in. A second paper is also in the pipeline (another second author) and a first author paper should also be coming out within a few months. He's really moving along and there has been talk with his boss of defining his final thesis. Thus, he's on track to graduate on time, probably in 2010.

Congrats to Pratik and the other authors who worked hard to make this publication a reality!!

Molly wants YOU! to Barack the vote.

This past weekend was our dachshund club's Halloween party. There were a ton of dogs there sporting great costumes. I'm proud to say that our Molly won third place for her "lipstick on a pig" costume. Check out these photos of the party.



Molly really hopes that you turn out to the polls tomorrow and BARACK the vote! She's been a very vocal supporter here at home. Here are photos of Molly modeling her political views!



Please click here if you would like to see our photos in non-slideshow view. Here's hoping for a better tomorrow!

The Madonna Concert

My coworker, Linda, and I went to the Madonna concert in Oakland last night (November 1st.)  I've been to many concerts, but none that tempted me to follow the rest of the tour!  It was A-mazing!!  First of all, the visuals were insane.  Costumes, lights, video, color, and a CAR onstage.  Second, the remixes of her old songs were amazing.  She invited the entire audience to sing "Like a Virgin" with her a capella, and stepped it up by playing her old tunes with fiddlers and electric guitar.  Some other old tunes I remember off of the top of my head--"La Isla Bonita," "Human Nature," "Get Into the Groove," "Ray of Light," and "Music."  It was a great mix of new and old, especially the new tunes from the "Hard Candy" album.

Here are some videos from You Tube of my favorite moments.  Hamutsun Serve, a Japanese band her website describes as dance animation and music, were featured throughout the evening but this is the most fantastic number of the evening.  Ascending to the stage in kimonos with clips of the Eurythmics' "Here Comes the Rain Again" and deafening sounds of thunder and raindrops, these boys moved around the stage by barely moving their feet.  You'll see it toward the end of the first clip.  
This second video clip is when they ended the dance and the cylindrical video screen with the rain drops/butterflies revealed Madonna on the inside of the cylindar on a piano that ascended to the stage. Dressed in a hooded cape, she began to sing her new tune "Even the Devil Wouldn't Recognize You."



This also ties as a favorite moment--her new song "Miles Away." On the screen was a video of maps, passport stamps, and people from all over the globe. It really touched my weary travelin' heart!!! This video's quality is much better, even if the video screens aren't the focal point (the images made the song make total sense.)



But the best part of all was her very vocal support for Senator Obama, as well as overthrowing the anti-same-sex marriage proposition that was put on the California ballot. That had the entire stadium cheering wildly. Given that I had just voted (we can vote early in California) that morning for Senator Obama, this just topped off the entire day!



If I keep talking about this, I'll be on the next flight to take my mother to the November 18th show. I wish! I'll be on a high until her next tour. Usually I'm satisfied seeing someone once or twice in concert...this left me wanting more!!