Victory, Howl, Bisexuality, Death, Glee, Labor, Freedom

DADT:

Sunday Funday is a time of joy and celebration, so we are not going to remark upon the emotional toll that the insane rollercoaster of DADT news is having on us, and merely be glad that today is a moderately positive day in this special magical journey that we’re all on. A Washington court ruled yesterday that Margaret Witt, an Air Force medic who was discharged under DADT, must be reinstated because the military could not prove that her sexual orientation had an effect on unit cohesion or morale. Specifically, the court has ruled that she should be given the chance to return to her job “at the earliest possible moment,” and that DADT violated Witt’s due process rights under the Fifth Amendment. (@washingtonblade)

We have very little knowledge of the repercussions of cases like this; we know that the ruling on Witt’s case only directly applies to Witt, and does not imply that anyone else needs to be reinstated or force the military to repeal DADT. But, like, it can’t mean anything bad, amirite? At the very least, I think it’s safe to count this as a moral victory, or at least one singular instance of the outside world confirming our understanding of how the universe works, therefore postponing our complete emotional breakdown over this issue for a short period of time. And seriously, thank God for that.

HOWL HOWL HOWL:

I am simultaneously excited about finally reading a review of this movie and enraged that someone else got to it before me. IT IS ONLY PLAYING IN VERY LIMITED THEATERS IN MY CITY. But just you watch, I will review this movie. I will review it so hard. Anyways, here’s what Slate said. “You think it’s a conventional indie biopic of the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, with an earnest but mannered lead performance by James Franco. Instead, it’s a minimalist oddity, a full-length movie devoted to the recitation, comprehension, and appreciation of a single poem—that would be “Howl,” of course, published by City Lights in 1957 and made famous in a landmark obscenity trial.” omg omg omg omg omg HOWL (@slate)

ETA: As commenter Itsonlymemories points out below, HOWL can be seen, inexplicably, via Directv pay-per-view! WHAT I DON’T UNDERSTAND THIS EITHER. It’s like that episode of Friends when Joey got free porn except it’s not free or porn but that’s ok because it’s HOWL.

BISEXUALITY DAY:

I think Riese’s birthday may have been “Celebrate Bisexuality Day”? Is it me, or is that really funny? Also, Queerty used a photo of Malcolm X for their post on this, which I have a lot of feelings about. The end. BISEXUALS WE LOVE ALL OF YOU. (@queerty)

JILL JOHNSTON

Jill Johnston, celebrated author of ‘Lesbian Nation,’ has passed away this week at the age of 81. She will be fondly remembered for her seminal and intensely personal writing and her contributions to political lesbianism/lesbian politics. (@kansascity)

GLEE:

Hi, do you want to listen to every track from the Television Event of The Week, the Britney/Brittany episode? Or would you like to talk about race, gender and sexuality in the second season? Because both of those are totally options you have on the internet right now. (@jezebel) (@ontd)

STEPHEN COLBERT:

Continuing on the theme of not understanding anything that is currently happening w/r/t the legal system in our country, somehow Stephen Colbert was allowed to testify in character on a Congressional hearing on migrant workers. That happened? Yeah, I know! (@bestweekever)

FRANZEN:

Are you one of the approximately eighteen million thousand Americans reading Freedom right now and therefore preventing me and everyone else I know from getting it from the library? If so, maybe you are interested in hearing Jonathan Franzen to talk to Slate about his book and stuff. “Q: Obama famously was photographed with a copy of “Freedom.” If he read it, what do you hope he took away? A: I hope he was so preoccupied with urgent national affairs that he wasn’t able to take away much more than a general enjoyment of the experience. I didn’t vote for him in expectation of his mooning around pondering literary novels.” (@slate)

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!
Related:

Rachel

Originally from Boston, MA, Rachel now lives in the Midwest. Topics dear to her heart include bisexuality, The X-Files and tacos. Her favorite Ciara video is probably "Ride," but if you're only going to watch one, she recommends "Like A Boy." You can follow her on twitter and instagram.

Rachel has written 1141 articles for us.

23 Comments

  2. “I hope he was so preoccupied with urgent national affairs that he wasn’t able to take away much more than a general enjoyment of the experience. I didn’t vote for him in expectation of his mooning around pondering literary novels.”

    Dear Jonathan Franzen: My love/hate for you is confusing. Please stop the emotional rollercoaster. Love Taylor

  3. The Witt case could be very important because it introduced the Witt Standard. Rachel Maddow had a good segment on the case on Friday, but the gist is that now (in at least the 9th Circuit) courts have to determine if discharging someone (and that person specifically) is in the best interest of unit cohesion/moral.

  4. I was in a book shop the other day and like 12 million 40 year old women came in asking for Freedom and/or The Corrections and the snarky kid behind the counter was like ‘ffs, why don’t we just become the Jonathan Franzen bookshop’. It was pretty funny/weird.

  6. read this whole post while listening to holly miranda and i promise you’ll get giddy, optimistic feelings…

  7. Sharing is caring.

    We’ll do a three-way wedding.

    Hmm according to the dictionary, Polygamy is when a man has multiple wives and Polyandry is when a woman has multiple husbands… what about a woman with multiple wives?
    HollyMirandary?

  8. I stand by my claim that Popular was/is a far superior show to Glee. Glee’s treatment of women is horrendous: every girl is an exaggerated caricature; not one is a well-rounded character. Rachel is annoying (and she’s our LEAD?), Mercedes is your stereotypical black diva, Tina is your stereotypical shy Asian girl, Quinn is the bitch with the heart of gold (a type we’ve seen so often–and usually handled with much more care–that here, Quinn just falls flat), Santana is the spicy slutty Latina, Brittany is an idiot, Emma is spineless, Terri is overbearing, and Sue’s extremely inappropriate lines are defended with the argument that they’re said to show how ignorant she is, because she’s our villain, etc. But Jane Lynch still rocks. Ryan Murphy, can we get a likable, REAL lady up in here?

    I like the show’s snark, I like the music, and yes, the actors are all easy on the eyes. Sure, it’s supposed to be satirical, but like a lot of the posters on that blog have pointed out, satire without allegory is not effective. Glee has zero in the way of nuance, which is something I feel Popular handled pretty well most of the time, and made you believe that the characters were real. You could identify with them. I’m a Sam, I’m a Lily, I’m a Carmen, I’m a Nicole, I’m a Mary Cherry, I’m a Brooke. In Glee, characters don’t learn anything. Any epiphany Rachel has about learning to share the spotlight one night is rendered moot the following week when she devises a plan to steal someone’s solo. The characters are so flat and cartoonish that I can’t see myself in any of them, or engage with them.

    And now I prepare to feel the fury of everyone here! :D

Comments are closed.