A non-food-related rant

I have a blog now. That means I can sit down and speak my mind about whatever and you have to listen, right!?

Right.

For about a year now, I've been growing into myself, having recently undergone a major re-working of my personal life. In this time, I've taken up yoga, obviously ramped up my from-scratch cooking skills, read incessantly and have also begun to educate myself on some issues I believe are worth mentioning in this type of venue. Read on if you like, if not...stay tuned for more foodie updates soon...

Last summer, a friend of mine introduced me to a sex-advice columnist and gay rights activist named Dan Savage, who writes the weekly column Savage Love out of The Stranger, based in Seattle, blogs daily, and produces the weekly out-loud version of his column Savage Love as a podcast (aptly named The Savage Lovecast). Savage is openly gay, extremely sex-positive, and to my delight, very articulate and educated.

Long story short...I've learned a TREMENDOUS amount about human sexuality and all its variations. After listening to a dozen or so of his podcasts (of which he is nearing on 200 episodes soon!) I was sold: Savage delivers a hysterical and yet sobering and honest message of openness, communication, inclusiveness and acceptance that everyone should embrace with open minds and hearts. Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't taboo, I think everyone should be ok with talking about his/her interests and be open with his/her partner(s). If there's one thing Savage has taught me, it's that being open and communicative makes you a better lover. Period. It makes you a better human being as well, in my experience. Of course, it still grosses me out to hear a caller ask Dan how he can get rid of the smegma built up underneath his festering foreskin and how the bacterial infection it has caused has fused his foreskin to the head of his penis and makes sex painful and grosses out his partners...Yes, that's gross. However, not so gross are the calls about gay teens living in bullshit tiny-ass towns who can't even talk to anyone about their sexualities because of the nasty misconceptions made about gay people in these bigoted towns.

Turns out, long story long.
Savage also starts most of his podcasts out with a bit of a rant, mostly about what's going on in the news in terms of gay rights and the like. I'm not going to reproduce every single example, but if you're at all interested, a good place to start is to Google "santorum" and follow the various links until you understand the types of things that (rightfully) piss me off about some people in our world.


I strongly suggest you to check Dan out, at www.thestranger.com and click on "SAVAGE". Read through archived columns, download the podcast, read Dan's blog....bottom line: EDUCATE YOURSELF. We have a lot to learn about sexuality and acceptance in our society, and this is an excellent place to start. Listen and read enough, and hopefully you'll be convinced, just as I was. One more person on the "all things right and fair and equal" train.