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Tuesday briefing and open threadTuesday briefing and open thread

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Monday briefing and open threadMonday briefing and open thread

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Snyder to consider deregulation of 18 industriesSnyder to consider deregulation of 18 industries

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Welcome

Saturday Open Thread: A Little Respect

posted this on December 11th, 2010.

Tweets lead to tweets lead to tweets, and a tweet led me to this little blast from the past, updated for today's fight for equality for LGBTQ folks:

 

My first thought was, "OMG Andy Bell went and got all old on us!" Hey, it happens. I met Andy Bell and Vince Clarke back in the late 80's (88? 89? It was the concert at St. Andrews in Detroit to support the album "The Innocents", from which this song came) with my roommate/asst. manager Kathy, who filled my head with the pop/disco sounds of Erasure, the Pet Shop Boys, the Communards, the Smiths, and any other English bubblegum band she could get her hands on. I was in my "I'm going to drink myself to death before I'm 30" phase, and was listening to a bunch of Marillion, Genesis, Pink Floyd and other depressing stuff, so this was good for me. Fun, bouncy, upbeat. I love good pop, and Erasure is one talented songwriting duo.

Kathy's best friend was a high-school senior named Matt, who worked for us at the record store I managed. He had a boyfriend named Steve. And all they wanted to do was get the hell out of Michigan, and move to Chicago. Matt had trouble in high school with bullying, as most "different" kids did – and unfortunately still do. I'll never forget his high school graduation party at his parent's cottage on Lake Michigan in Douglas – we sat around the bonfire on the beach and stared to the southwest on that cold, starry, spring night, and could only dream about the freedom in the distance. Matt and Steve moved soon after, and found the place where they could be themselves without fear. I was very happy for them, and we used to go visit them often. (Lucky bastards lived two blocks from Wrigley. And they didn't even like baseball.)

So we come to today, and here is Andy Bell with a re-mix of the song to address today's fight against bullying, and that period of time and those two came alive for me again…

 

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December 11th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , | Category: Equality | Leave a comment
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