Community Matters

(Community Matters) Dining under the 40 foot Elm, twinkling and dangling lights from the branches, candles on long tables . . . one of my favorite dining experiences this year.  Our friend Sonya Cote opened Eden East at Springdale Farm. We had dinner there last night with Shawn Sides and Graham Reynolds – admittedly, we could probably have cafeteria food with these two and still have a spectacular night – and the farm to table dining experience was magic. 

Sonya’s previously opened Hillside Farmacy and as the chef for East Side Showroom. We’ve loved them all and especially the newest.

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(Community Matters) Hip hop artist Macklemore. His single “Thrift Shop” has been viewed on YouTube over 350 million times. Same Love –  56,807,005 hits.

The video, spanning decades, depicts the life of the main character and the same-sex partner with whom he falls in love, including the social conflicts which befall them in relation to their sexual orientation, their eventual marriage, and their final parting in old age. Macklemore cameos in a non-speaking role in the video.

When I was in the 3rd grade
I thought that I was gay
Cause I could draw, my uncle was
And I kept my room straight
I told my mom, tears rushing down my face
She’s like, “Ben, you’ve loved girls since before Pre-K!”
Tripping, yeah, I guess she had a point, didn’t she?
A bunch of stereotypes all in my head
I remember doing the math, like
“Yeah, I’m good at little league”

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(Community Matters) Paul Krugman: Defining Prosperity Down

(Community Matters) I had an epiphany on our most recent trip – things have little value to me if I can’t share them.

(Community Matters) Fron Politico’s Playbook, not an inconsequential predictor:

SIREN — RARE JOINT EDITORIAL from two of the most muscular conservative voices in the land – “Kill the Bill,” by William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, and Rich Lowry, editor of National Review: “We are conservatives who have differed in the past on immigration reform, with Kristol favorably disposed toward it and Lowry skeptical. But the Gang of Eight has brought us into full agreement: Their bill, passed out of the Senate, is a comprehensive mistake. House Republicans should kill it without reservation. … The enforcement provisions are riddled with exceptions, loopholes, and waivers. Every indication is that they are for show and will be disregarded, just as prior notional requirements to build a fence or an entry/exit visa system have been … Marco Rubio says he doesn’t want to have to come back ten years from now and deal with the same illegal-immigration problem. But that’s exactly what the CBO says will happen under his own bill. According to the CBO analysis of the bill, it will reduce illegal immigration by as little as a third or by half at most. By one estimate, this means there will be about 7.5 million illegal immigrants here in ten years. And this is under the implausible assumption that the Obama administration would administer the law as written.

(Community Matters) What an extraordinary music video of a gay man’s confusion about signals from a friend. Steve Grand’s story

(Community Matters) Ellen Gallagher – born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1965 and now living & working in Rotterdam and New York –   evidently one of our most acclaimed modern artists, is of biracial ethnicity; her father’s heritage was from Cape Verde, in Western Africa (but he was born in the United States), and her mother’s background was Caucasian Irish Catholic. I didn’t know her work until this weekend but love her range of mediums and imagery.

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(Community Matters) Sitting around kissing under a blue tree, discovered Kon Dimopoulos.

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(Community Matters) Always fun w/ Steven.

Conor McPherson’s The Night Alive

Punchdrunk’s The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable

The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park

with one more evening to program – beyond bummed James Baldwin’s “Amen Corner,” isn’t showing this weekend.

(Community Matters) I’m surprised not to know – well maybe not but want to get to 

(Community Matters) Polling shows Senator Rubio significantly boosts his favorability among Hispanics by advocating for immigration reform. Doesn’t appear to take a hit whether or not it’s likely to pass. So, as we see him promoting it, while he’s supporting extremist amendments such as Sen John Cornyn’s – which is widely acknowleged as a ruse for torpedoing the legislation – seems he can eat the cake too.

Of course, at great potential costs with his primary voters – Tea Party activists. Oh wait, he’s now sponsoring the cookie cutter abortion restrictions (20 weeks, emergency care center standards, hospital privileges). That this legislation has no chance of making it out of the Senate doesn’t seem to matter either.

I still say not a chance in hell again during my lifetime.

(Community Matters) Super hanging with my sister, Bridget, and her friends in Austin earlier this week, with Revs Amy Donohue-Adams & Bill Adams last night, then with Steven’s parents in NYC this afternoon. We’re looking forward to Punchdrunk, Rolling Stones & catching up with a couple of other friends this long weekend.

Ah, and enjoyed seeing the James Turrell exhibit at the Guggenheim.