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It's pretty hard to feel good about anything today. Something that far too many progressives, liberals and leftists took for granted as permanent was just flushed down the drain, when—as expected—the Supreme Court
overturned Roe v Wade.
I really don't think even the people who support this are thinking at all about the far-reaching implications of this, well beyond abortion, even though abortion is arguably by far the most significant and important element. But the key point is that
Roe v Wade hinged on a constitutional right to privacy, which this overturning basically ignores. Our Supreme Court has effectively told the nation it does not have a fundamental right to privacy. And Clarence Thomas went on record
in his concurring opinion that the Court should reconsider other landmark legislation on same-sex relationship protections, including same-sex marriage, as well as contraception.
It's madness. This court is wildly out of step with public opinion, but they are slavishly devoted, not to an objective reading of the Constitution and the inevitable evolution of its meaning over time, but to their subjective interpretation of it.
That said, I do think it's a bit of a reach, all these people on Twitter declaring a contradiction between the Supreme Court saying states cannot be left to decide on their own in regards to conceal-carry gun laws, but states
can be left to decide on abortion. I don't agree with the court in either case, and many people far smarter and more familiar with law don't agree with the court in either case either, but there is still a clear distinction to be made between something in merely the second Amendment of our Constitution (guns), and something never mentioned anywhere in the Constitution (abortion). We need to be making reasoned arguments about this, not making ones that demonstrate a basic lack of reading comprehension.
I need to stop obsessively looking at tweets about this. Getting caught up in social media hysteria is a big part of our whole problem in this country right now.
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Shobhit has a noon appointment at the Costco Tire Center on Monday for getting his tires fixed. He had hoped he could call AAA for a tow last night and see if Costco could take care of it then, before they closed at 8:30. After our last experience there, where they were overloaded and understaffed, I didn't see any sense in holding our breath for that. And then, traffic was nuts downtown yesterday, and Shobhit's bus downtown was stuck on one block on Queen Anne for over ten minutes. It became clear that he'd never get home early enough, so he bagged the idea and invited Sachin over.
And come over Sachin did, but I'm not giving either of them a Social Review for this, as I didn't hang out in the living room at all. I did walk to PCC to get supplies for making lasagna, but decided to hold off on making that dish because there was still a lot of a dish Shobhit had made leftover, and we just had that for dinner. (I don't know what it was. Something similar to couscous, although it wasn't couscous, I don't think.)
I spent most of the evening in the bedroom after that, working on re-drafting the links section of my Spring Social Review, which right now only shows the social rankings and points, as I accidentally deleted the links list after drafting it as I went along, as usual, for three months. The process of recreating it is going faster than I expected, although I'm probably going to miss a social outing here or there, but whatever. I never do a recount later to make sure I had been accurate in the social review standings; just trust that the numbers are right!
Anyway, I got through mid-May this time, getting through all the days of my Birth Week, which was a lot of data gathering. What this means, likely, is that I will have gotten this whole thing re-written in just three sittings, four at the most, but next time I have some time for it—probably tonight—I expect to get too close to finishing to want to stop until I'm just finally done again.
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I just had FaceTime lunch with Karen, in the "phone room" right by my desk. I've only taken a picture of that setup once, but every time it looks the same,
like this—when I remember my iPad and don't have to use my iPhone set against my tumbler, anyway. And I did remember my iPad this time!
There were some connectivity issues and she had to send me a Zoom link as an alternative, which worked out well because FaceTime won't "share content" properly from my end anyway. I don't know if it's because my iPad is ancient or what. But, sharing content was much easier via Zoom, allowing me to show her slides of the photos of
Malahat Skywalk outside Victoria, B.C., which proved to be surprisingly accessible and Karen could easily visit it with her wheelchair, a big reason I wanted to tell her about it. We also talked a bit about B.C. Ferries. I even shared with her two different video clips while sharing my screen on Zoom, one
from the top of Malahat Skywalk and one from the B.C. Ferry sailing
relatively close by passing islands. It was a fun conversation.
And! I asked her if she'd be open to finally meeting in person for one of our lunches this summer, and unfortunately she said her work is just too busy these days for her to take the travel time needed too and from her office. But! She's unavailable for our regularly scheduled virtual lunch next time, on Friday July 8 because she'll be in Tacoma for work, and she suggested getting together after work. She asked if I knew about The Mountaineering Club, and I was like,
I sure do! Laney and I went there for Happy Hour in 2019 and I'd love to go back. So now we're looking at going there for Happy Hour on Wednesday, July 6 instead of virtual lunch that Friday (I already had other evening plans both Thursday and Friday).
Okay, I guess I take it back about having nothing to feel good about that today. I feel great about that. I didn't even think to mention the Supreme Court decision to Karen, which I suppose is just as well, as it would have just brought us both down.
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Now, it's Pride Weekend . . . hence the photos in today's (and several of this week's) Daily Lunch Update. This actually exhausts all of my Pride-related backlog of DLU photos, and uses the last of my DLU images or videos from Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, two and a half years ago—the only live Pride-related event I had been able to attend in 2020.
The traditional Friday-of-Pride-Week Trans Pride was recently postponed,
to September 2, due to "a late start organizing this year—while also navigating a leadership transition, hiring, and ongoing COVID-related challenges." I'm bummed by this development, and hear (from Gabriel) that plenty of others are too.
But, after all of Pride had to go virtual in 2020 and then a second-year Virtual Pride
did not include Trans Pride at all, I'm choosing to be grateful we'll get an in-person Trans Pride at all. Honestly, having Trans Pride on a separate weekend might make it easier to shift focus to issues specific to the trans community anyway, although I suspect the majority of people would still want it to happen the last weekend of June as is traditional—especially considering trans people were the leaders of the Stonewall riots that launched Pride as we know it today.
In any case, this does mean Pride Weekend will basically be just two days this year instead of three. Alexia may join me to check out
PrideFest Capitol Hill tomorrow, and then our return to a Pride Parade is Sunday, when Shobhit actually has the day off! It'll be the first Seattle Pride he's been able to attend in any way since 2019—he had work shifts in both 2020 and 2021, but would never have had any real interested in "virtual Pride" events anyway. I'm looking forward to a shift back to some semblance of normalcy.
Of course, I expect many people to be wearing masks, which would have been a bizarre sight in 2019. But this is the new normal. I really don't expect I will wear a mask at the parade, being outside, but, I'll have one handy anyway, as I always do when going out in public.
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[posted 1:09 pm]
