PEOPLE ARE SO HUNG UP ON SEX.

So this man, Esera Tuaolo, is a former pro football player who's now coming out of the closet. Get over it, people. It's not freaking contagious.

I'm sure things are a bit different in a team sport as opposed to a sport like tennis, golf, etc, in terms of making the goals, personalities and work habits of many people work toward a common objective, but what in hell makes every man in that locker room ASSUME that this guy is interested in THEM? Just 'cause he likes guys doesn't mean he likes big burly athletes, for one thing. For another thing, I love that these guys have no problems being teammates with murderers (Rae Carruth), thieves, drug abusers, misogynists and wife beaters, but it's the end of the world if--in his PRIVATE--life, a man dates other men. TRY to be secure in your own sexuality, please, without needing to make others ashamed of their own.

More PoetiCollab fun, on the theme of "the first time":

the first time i knew you were for me
and i
for you,
was a moment of ferocious joy wearing
a coat of
wariness, disbelief. "not me."
nothing this wonderful could come to me. what is the cost? where do I pay (and for how long)?

the first time i was sure of you
was
the first time i was sure of me.

Well, well, well, whaddaya know? A poor Navy pilot who has been missing since 1991 has suddenly had his status changed from "missing in action" to "missing-captured." I'll give you three guesses where he was supposedly captured, and the first two don't count. Iraq, you say? Damn, you are smart. I wish the poor man, alive or dead, and his family, nothing but peace and love, but I find it very interesting that this status change occurs a day after a report surfaced that George W.'s oil company might have been pulling a little bit of Enron-style accounting. Timing is everything, is it not?

So, one of my co-workers sent me to a site called Losers.org (mean, I know, but funny as hell). Anyway, check out this woman. She certainly knows what she wants, and is only a tad bit controlling. For the full effect, check out all of the pages, but especially the FAQ and the "special e-mail response" she requests--nay, demands--from potential suitors. Yikes.

Just some fun, as I've been lax on posting for a month now:

Long Bets (bet on things that will happen two or more years from now)
Esquire says they like women. I'm not sure, but what the heck.

My first contribution to PoetiCollab, on the them of "unsent messages."

I lie in darkness, seeing unspoken words escape my mouth like hot breath on a frozen day, watching repressed caresses shoot from my fingertips, leaving shooting-star trails while looking for their intended recipient, now long gone. I clutch in my left hand all the letters unsent, and know they will leave a mark there in the palm where they smolder and yearn to be read by the only one who might understand the words.

They will never be sent, never read, never spoken.
You will never be touched by me, while I am touched by this fear and hesitation, lying long and longing in this lawn of regret.

THE LIBERAL MEDIA...

I am SICK of hearing people--particularly people in my family, but all people in general--about the "liberal media." You're damn right the media is liberal, and I would go a step further and say that the whole idea of the United States, including its consitution and the circumstances under which it became a nation, is liberal.

Liberal is defined thusly:

lib·er·al Pronunciation Key (lbr-l, lbrl)
adj.

Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry.
Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded.
Of, relating to, or characteristic of liberalism.
Liberal Of, designating, or characteristic of a political party founded on or associated with principles of social and political liberalism, especially in Great Britain, Canada, and the United States.

Tending to give freely; generous: a liberal benefactor.

A country without a free, open LIBERAL media is a country in which governments keep secrets (and yes, I realize some information must be classified, but I mean keep any damn thing they please secret), a country in which the people are not informed about the political, economic and social problems and successes in their own homeland. We NEED a liberal media, and we are at heart a liberal nation. We welcome people from other countries and offer them equality and opportunity. We created a nation from nothing, a very liberal idea if ever I heard one. I'm not a person who says, "If you don't like it, get out," but a free and open press being one of the tenets of a democracy, I feel compelled to say: If you want a country without a "liberal media," move to Cuba. Theirs is pretty damn conservative, I imagine.