Can I Panic Now?

Murphy knew what he was talking about: "If anything can go wrong, it will" and "If everything seems to be going well, obviously you've overlooked something."

My best friend agreed to host Thanksgiving dinner this year. Why not? She's got a huge, beautiful Victorian home, she's a holiday decorating fiend, and she honestly enjoys entertaining. (For the record: If entertaining requires effort, I'm not in favor of it. People are welcome to visit my cottage, comfortably appointed in what designers lovingly call "eclectic sty," as long as they're self-sufficient.)

Just a few minutes ago, Friend called. "Are you sittid dowd?" she wheezed into the phone.

I wasn't, but based on what passed for her voice I assumed the position.

"I've beed in dedial for a week [hack, cough], but I cad't hide adybore."

"Oh no! You sound really, really sick. Are you all right?"

"Ndo."

"Do I need to do Thanksgiving over here?"

GAH! What had I done? If I could have kicked myself, I would have.

"Gould you? I really dod't deed to be servig people food."

She was right, of course. Typhoid Mary didn't need to be rubbing shoulders with the masses, either.

"Sure. No problem. You just get better. We'll send you a plate of food."

What am I going to do? I have no yams! I haven't finished baking the desserts! Fortunately I have potatoes and stuffing ingredients on hand, and others among the six guests who will be showing up at 6 p.m. will bring the turkey, rolls, green beans and ... well, whatever else they were planning to take to Friend's.

We'll all gather on the floor among the dust bunnies and dog fur and eat with our hands off paper plates. It'll be fun.

I hope someone was assigned to bring copious amounts of alcohol.

Fortunately, Thanksgiving is about gathering with family and friends to share good food and good company. Our feast, while decidedly untraditional in its informality this year, still will embody the spirit of the season.

May all of your feasts be equally as heartwarming.

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Nationwide Prop 8 Protest Scheduled for Nov. 15

Spurred to action by California voters’ passage of Proposition 8, a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights group has called for a peaceful nationwide protest on Saturday.

Beginning at 12:30 p.m. central time, members of the GLBT community, their families and supporters will take to the streets in all 50 states in what could be the largest simultaneous protest rally since the civil rights movement of the 1960s demanded — and won — social and legal equality for African-Americans. Hundreds of thousands of individuals have pledged to descend upon city halls, courthouses, state capitols and Washington D.C. in order to make their voices heard.

A listing of local gatherings may be found at a website established by organizing group Join the Impact. The site has welcomed more than one million visitors in the week it has been online, a Join the Impact member said.

Proposition 8 was a ballot measure calling for the amendment of California’s state constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. It was proposed by social conservatives in response to the state Supreme Court’s declaration in the spring that marriage discrimination violated the California constitution. California voters approved the controversial ballot measure Nov. 4, and outcry in the GLBT community was swift and strident. The amendment already faces court challenges.

The concept behind Proposition 8 and similar measures in other states including Arizona, Florida and Arkansas spawned growing nationwide civil unrest among gays, lesbians, transgendered people and their families and supporters. In the less than two weeks since the election, peaceful rallies in support of same-sex marriage have erupted in several states as the media has analyzed the results, voter patterns and the political, religious and financial underpinnings of Proposition 8 and its brethren.

The message is clear, according to Join the Impact: Discrimination based on sexual orientation is no less heinous than discrimination based on race, gender, age or religious affiliation.

“Let’s move as one full unit, on the same day, at the same hour, and let’s show the United States of America that we too are united citizens equal in mind, body and spirit and deserving of full equality under the law,” rally organizers urge on Join the Impact’s website.

Organizers stress the rallies will be peaceful demonstrations.

“We stand for reaching out across all communities,” Join the Impact notes in its mission statement. “We do not stand for bigotry, for scapegoating or using anger as our driving force. Our mission is to encourage our community to engage our opposition in a conversation about full equality and to do this with respect, dignity and an attitude of outreach and education. Join the Impact, as an entity, will not encourage divisiveness, violence or disrespect of others, and we do not approve of this…. [W]e will continue to encourage debate from all sides of the conversation provided it is civil and respectful.”

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The Illinois Connection

Two tall, thin men of extraordinary intelligence and uncommon perspective emerged from Illinois to lead the United States at critical moments in its history.

The first was Abraham Lincoln.

Barack Obama became the second Tuesday night.

The two men share some similarities. Lincoln was an attorney; so is Obama. Lincoln married a strong, steadfast, intelligent woman; so did Obama. Both men overcame a number of obstacles in order to rise above mediocrity. Both were remarkably dedicated to easing the plight of the common man. Both faced public excoriation by their political enemies. Both persevered.

My heartiest congratulations go to President-elect Obama, along with my most heartfelt wishes for his continued success. He will prove himself the man we the people intended to elect if he remains true to the goals, hopes and dreams he shares with us.

And, as history indicates Lincoln did, he must remain dedicated to easing the plight of the common man and to making America a better place for all of us.

Godspeed.

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