Out & Proud in Sports

Team sports is one of the the last remaining bastions of homophobia, but the walls of silence and oppression surrounding major league sports are finally starting to crumble.

First out and a true American hero is basketball player Jason Collins, still actively playing in the NBA.

I found this via Joe.My.God. and the excerpts below is from his blog. Read the full article in Sports Illustrated:

"I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay".

"I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, "I'm different." If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand."

"My journey of self-discovery and self-acknowledgement began in my hometown of Los Angeles and has taken me through two state high school championships, the NCAA Final Four and the Elite Eight, and nine playoffs in 12 NBA seasons."

"I've played for six pro teams and have appeared in two NBA Finals. Ever heard of a parlor game called Three Degrees of Jason Collins? If you're in the league, and I haven't been your teammate, I surely have been one of your teammates' teammates. Or one of your teammates' teammates' teammates."

"Now I'm a free agent, literally and figuratively. I've reached that enviable state in life in which I can do pretty much what I want. And what I want is to continue to play basketball. I still love the game, and I still have something to offer. My coaches and teammates recognize that. At the same time, I want to be genuine and authentic and truthful."

A few tweets (Do I need to get a Twitter account I, wonder? Nah, I would never be able to handle the word count limitations.)

I'm Not Gay!

Got your attention, huh? Well, it's only the name of the song though, not another confession...

Energy!

Initiating Changes

We have been laying plans for the commencement of the changes to come in my first life.

The steps we agreed upon to improve my overall physical condition are
- improving dietary intake and eating habits (regular meals, no junk food and no snacks),
- improving my fitness through exercise,
- improving my sleeping habits,
- reducing my cigarette consumption or quitting smoking,
- reducing my weight and
- reducing my absenteeism.

The exact goals to be achieved during the three month period from June through August of 2013 are to be agreed upon by me, a personal trainer and a dietician. The hope is that this kick-start will get me on the right track for keeping it up on my own afterwards.

It will all start already on Tuesday with a complete health examination and an expanded health and lifestyle survey, including a fitness test. If I should wish so along the way I can also receive some counseling or other psychological or motivational support.

In the spirit of "Mens sana in corpore sano" it is also hoped that the physical changes will improve my psychological and emotional condition.

Sounds like quite a plan, huh?

Natural Selection

(via Daskadasenibordet,  loosely translated "Slap-the-schlong-on-the-table", at Qx.se)

A Purity Ball for My Buddies

I thought I knew everything there was to know about the American lifestyle - but apparently I did not - because when I was driving to work yesterday I heard about something I had never heard of before. The radio was reporting about a Swedish photographer who had an exhibition of photographs taken at "purity balls" in the United States.

According to Wikipedia a "purity ball is a formal dance event attended by fathers and their daughters which promotes virginity until marriage for teenage girls. Typically, daughters who attend make a virginity pledge to remain sexually abstinent until marriage. Fathers who attend promise to protect their young daughters' "purity of mind, body, and soul." Proponents of these events contend that they encourage close and deeply affectionate relationships between fathers and daughters, thereby avoiding the premarital sexual activity that allegedly results when young women seek love through relationships with young men Critics assert that the balls promulgate messages encroaching upon women's freedom, promote anti-feminist ideals, and ignore homosexuality.(...) The girls can range in age from their college years to 4 years old, however the majority of girls are “just old enough… [to] have begun menstruating” as purity ball guidelines advise. (...) Participants are described as "dates", and, according to Glamour magazine, could be mistaken for heterosexual romantic partners in the absence of information about their consanguinity." The first event of this kind took place in Colorado Springs in 1998.

I was totally amazed and baffled when I heard about this newfangled custom. The first thing that struck me was that it was an extremely male chauvinist concept whereby the father seeks to control the sexual drives of the female members of his family. It also gave me a creepy sense of being sligtly incestuos, I am not quite clear on why this happened, but possibly it was because of my feeling that these fathers were meddling with their daughters sexuality.

From what I have seen in the pictures on Google Images the girls at these events are mostly dressed in all white ball gowns, while the fathers are in their tired tuxedos. That made me think about what my male family members and buddies would wear if I threw a purity party for them in SecondLife 

I hope none of the guys take offence, but this is only me making - sometimes - completely uninformed guesses on their love life in SecondLife for a bit of semi-innocent fun. No harm or malice is intended. (If you object please tell me so and I will remove my remark about you.)

Apmel "The Six Year Old Virgin" Goosson

sirhc "The One Woman Man" DeSantis

Dejerrity "One At A Time" Mycron

Butch "Mr. Discretion Personified" Diavolo

Eddi "I Am Never Telling" Haskell

Guyke "It's Great For My Complexion" Lundquist

Kahvy "Boys Just Wanna Have Fun" Sands

Ziggy "The Eternal Bad Boy" Starsmith

Ryse "Mr. Professional Actor" Skytower

"We Didn't Even Get Dessert..."

Yesterday the Much Honored Bock McMillan, laird of Southern Charm and prince of Cascade Falls, returned back home from the short state visit to the Kingdom of Sweden.

According to the communiqués issued from both nations the visit went well and the peace and friendship treaty between the Commonwealth of Southern Enchantment and the Kingdom of Sweden was signed as intended. This blog however, soon after the return of the entourage, picked up on some rumors from the loose-lipped confidants that had accompanied the laird on the trip that perhaps all had not gone as well as the communikqués declared.

As far as it has been possible to establish it seems the laird himself was involved in an unfortunate incident at the closing luncheon arranged by the Swedish hosts. When we approached the laird for some information about what may have occurred he was surprisingly forthcoming. 

"It was that German woman, what's her name---?, the tall one with one too many facelifts...? (Prince Wild whispered discreetly "Queen Silvia") "....ahh yes Silvio, thank you Wild. That woman, the queen, had been badgering me for two days telling me that I "simply had to come" to the wedding this summer of their youngest daughter to some American commoner. Finally I could not take more and snapped at her that I certainly would not attend because I had much more important things to do, I could not be expected to attend every wedding I was invited to. Besides the same weekend as the marriage I was going to a spa for a purifying and purging colonic and after that there was the annual Farmers Market at Southern Charm where I was going to be head judge in "The Mr. Sexy Farmer" contest for the sixth year running. This kind explanation lead to the German woman getting upset and starting to howl and cry like crazy and it was then suggested that I and my delegation better leave the lunch. Well, what does one expect really from the descendants of a French revolutionary from the Napoleonic era? We didn't even get dessert before being thrown out, imagine that! "