Life Lately...

Went to two really amazing restaurants that are here in San Antonio, both I recommend! Also, experimented in cake making. This photo series makes it look like all I do is eat... which is probably true!

Black & White

I've been shooting a lot in black and white lately, maybe it's the heat.

Freedom or the whole Chick-fil-A issue.

     I am an active supporter of equal rights for the LGBTQ community, and I have been my whole life. Though, honestly, it took me a long time to realize that the whole community wasn't fighting laws or regulations, they were fighting religion and the close-minded people who accompany it. Not to say that all those who are religious are close-minded or that all those who are not are open-minded. There is a fair mix of both, there are mean, rude, awful people everywhere. But the main arguments against LGBTQ equality come from a biblical standpoint, which is the part that I never could understand. As a child, all of us who were raised in the United States learned about the beautiful fact of our constitution's existence. It was what made us free. We have free speech because of it, freedom of religion, freedom of press. And as children, that's something to be in awe of. But then you grow up and realize that we don't have freedom, we have rules and laws and people who believe that they are right no matter what. There is no separation of church and state, despite what they will tell you. Because if there was, the battle for LGBTQ rights would no longer be a battle and in fact, it most likely would rarely appear anywhere. Now, I realize that freedom of speech allows people to disagree, and that's fine. But when Dan Cathy of Chick-fil-A came out with his views on gay marriage and the LGBTQ community, and even more so, made it clear that his company has donated and will continue to donate millions of dollars to take rights away from this community, he made a mistake. If he had come out in favor of slavery and admitted to donating millions to that, or in favor of arranged marriage in teenage girls without consent, a much larger majority would come out in protest of Chick-fil-A because these are things we have already agreed as a nation are wrong. But because he came out against the rights of the LGBTQ community and that has not yet been recognized unanimously here as a true civil rights issue, it is merely Dan Cathy exercising his 'free speech.'

I call bullshit. 

     I say, protest the shit out of Chick-fil-A, because it's not just chicken, it's an idea. That chicken you're buying, some of that money is going towards the fight against basic human rights, and that is not fucking cool. In fact, I say research all your companies. It's not that hard, we have the internet and none of us are so busy that we can't spare a few minutes to find an alternative place to get a chicken sandwich or whatever that isn't costing people their rights as citizens of the United States and the world.

     If you're against people having the right to love who they choose, be who they choose, and identify as they please, then by all means, buy the goddamn chicken. But if you stop for even a second and think, "Hey that seems a little fishy, why is it anyone's business what consenting adult marries what consenting adult or whatever," then I suggest doing something about it. No fight for any civil right was ever won by anyone sitting on their ass (though sitting on your ass instead of buying Chick-fil-A may help a bit...), so let's all stop pretending that this fight is just an issue of 'free speech' and let's fucking do something about it.

    The truth is, this issue should have been settled long ago. Whether you are gay or straight or bi, man or woman, man then woman, women then man, pansexual, asexual, etc, you should have the right to marry or love any consenting adult who feels the same. Anyone who disagrees should disagree in the privacy of their own home because no one is forcing them to take part. Let's all grow up, get our noses out of every one's business, and focus on making ourselves better people.

Realism.

I think a part of growing up, at least for me, is learning that you really can't control much of anything. You can shape things, move them along, try to retain them or release them, but in all honesty, your influence on anything but your own mind is often miniscule. And that's okay. I've been learning the art of patience, above all. Patience and hope. Because as much as I hate this moving around and not having anywhere set to live for years and years, I also love the unknown. I don't know what I'll be able to hold on to, from my various locations, but I can hope it'll be the things and people that matter. I'm gonna try my hardest, but the only real test is time. I'll have to just...wait and see. That's something I'm learning to be good at. So I'm trying to hold on to the moments in my mind, so I'll always have something, even when I feel I don't.

Maybe it meant something. Maybe not,
in the long run; but no explanation,
no mix of words or music or memories
can touch that sense of knowing that
you were there and alive in that corner
of time and the world. Whatever it meant.

-Hunter S. Thompson.


So...while I'm staying with my parents in San Antonio in their brand new (to us) home, I'm gonna try to stop dwelling on what I've left behind, and focus on being alive here. And the possibilities of the future.