How My Favorite Book Ended Up In the Trash Tonight

As many of you know, I like to read. I like to read a lot. In fact, I probably read too much. I have way too many books. I read them so fast that I don’t even remember them half the time or take the time to savor them. But I can’t help it. Ever since I was a little kid, I have read and read and collected books and even attempted to write some of my own. 

So naturally, people often ask me what my favorite book is. Unlike movies, where I have a list of like five million that at any given moment of the day could be coined “my favorite,” I used to actually have an answer for the book question. When I was in high school, a friend of mine was reading Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. When he tried to tell me about it, it sounded completely boring and uninteresting. Something about little kids fighting off an alien invasion while sprouting a lot of philosophy and getting bullied all the time. And they like to play games at their school, apparently. But my friend INSISTED that I read it because it was going to change my life, it was so good. I was like, “Fine, whatever, I guess,” just so he would shut up and also, you know, never judge a book by it’s cover and all. 

Ender’s Game was the best book I had ever read, and no description or summary or praise could have really prepared me for what I read. Chances are, you’ve heard about it, your friend’s have talked about it, often in hushed whispers and awes of amazement. I won’t get into plot details or anything, but I want to point out that the book spoke to me in a way that nothing ever had before. Above all else, it was simply about what many great books are about: learning to love yourself, regardless of who or what you are, and to not take any shit from anyone. And on top of that, OSC’s writing was phenomenal. The points he expressed, the characters he created, the unthinkable places where he took the plot leave me spellbound to this day. 

Orson Scott Card quickly became my favorite author. Not just one of my favorites; my favorite. The cock of the walk. I read all the sequels and most of the prequels to Ender’s Game, and they were wonderful. I read some of his other books. I planned to read everything the man ever wrote. I was enamored. I planned the Ender’s Game movie in my head and I wanted to write books just as well as him someday. 

Now, I was aware that OSC had a very strict religious and conservative background, which is just fine with me. Even when I disagreed with him on some of his points, he expressed them in such and elegant and un-condecending manner that impressed me. He never made you feel like your point of view was wrong, just that there were other options out there. But his main ideas were always those of inclusiveness, of peace, of love for everyone and, whether you grew up Mormon like Card or discovered you were a socialist through an online test like me, that’s something everyone can agree with and feel good about. 

So it was with great sadness that I once ran across this article online, composed by Card. It is called “The Hypocrites of Homosexuality.” The gist of the article stem’s from Card’s belief that there is no scientific explanation for gay behavior, and that gay activities not only threaten the Christian world (“…one cannot serve two masters,” he writes), but the future of humanity itself. According to Card, when the gay lifestyle is accepted by society at large, less people will have children, and before you know it mankind will cease to exist. Let me know, if anyone cared to read it, if I got any of this wrong. Because I read it several times, trying to see what Card was really getting at, if there was actually some sense to his argument, if he was simply giving another point of view in his usually tactful way. 

But I came away with nothing except what I summarized above. Now, I certainly understand where he is coming from with the religious thing, because it is something I have seen all my life. And by saying I understand, I in no way mean that I agree or even accept his line of reasoning. But I know what he’s talking about. The second part, all that downfall of society stuff, is really too ludicrous to even get upset over. Last time I checked, the straights outweighed the gays by a pretty substantial margin. And the gays have been around as long as humans have, and we’re still here, right? Even if being gay were ever accepted by society at large, thus giving more people the courage to come out and be who they are, I really don’t think not  having enough babies will be an issue. That’s what China is for. 

This article obviously soured me on OSC for a while, but I didn’t really think about it. I resolved that maybe I didn’t need to read all his books, but I would still value the ones that I had read. The themes of Ender’s Game still apply, regardless of who wrote it. But when I tried to read it again, maybe a year ago, I couldn’t do it. I could not separate the man from the art in my mind. How could anyone who wrote an article linking gays to the end of humanity possibly write Ender’s Game? It was still a beautiful book to me and I figured that, with time, I would be able to read it again. I’ve even recommended it to people since then. 

Orson Scott Card has written a new article, published in the Mormon Times. According to Card, the recent passing of gay marriage laws in California and Massachusetts have rendered democracy invalid. People did not want these laws to be passed, and the courts passed them anyway. As such, people who truly believe in marriage should over throw the government, because they are creating an unfit environment to raise children or to foster democracy. Again, paraphrasing Card here. Let me know if I got something wrong. 

I could go through the article line by line and offer a rebuttal, but I won’t and I can’t. It depresses me too much. I think even some of the most hard-core social conservatives would roll their eyes at some of Card’s claims. I mean, here’s an actual line from the article: “How long before married people answer the dictators thus: Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn.” I mean, I don’t want to call him crazy because that would put me on somewhat of a level as him, but honestly. Read that again. 

Like I said, I really don’t have to go line by line and explain everything that is faulty with some of his logic. And I’m not even going to touch the part where he starts comparing marriage and property laws because, A) that argument is a little creepy, B) it makes even less sense than some of my tangents (and that’s saying something), and C) I really don’t know what it’s supposed to fucking prove. 

But the reason I brought any of this up in the first place is this: enough is enough. Whatever you think on any of these issues, whatever you believe God wants or society wants or whatever, this is downright hateful. This is a New York Times bestselling author saying this, and no one really brings it up. When congressmen say stuff like this, it’s forgotten with a smile and a shrug. And as much as I hate to compare gay rights to civil rights, which has many similarities and many, many differences, what if he had said this about another race? Or another religion? Why is it only okay when it is about the gays? Here’s a link to a rebuttal that can sum this stuff up better than I can. I just wanted to put my personal two cents in. 

I’m done with Orson Scott Card. I’m done with Ender’s Game. And I’m done giving a pass to people who say stuff like this. Gays aren’t going to destroy society. Attitudes like this are. Whether you are straight, gay, Mormon, Methodist, Jedi, red state, blue state, whatever: we shouldn’t let this go any more. Because we’re all human. I feel stupid that I actually have to type that out, it sounds so trite, but people forget.  

In the meantime, I’m looking for a new favorite book. Any suggestions? And I haven’t proofread this because I want to go to bed.

Keeping Austin Like Texas: So Rent Prices Are Rising But We Can’t Raise Money For “Rent”?

I’m going to take a break with the wedding reporting for a moment to talk about a story I heard about on the radio this morning and then followed up on with an article in the Austin Chronicle. So the Austin Independent School District wants to sponsor a summer musical with students from all the schools in the district participating. The musical Rent is chosen. AISD backs out, saying that the play “would not be well recieved in some campus communities,” to quote the article. In other words: it’s about gays and AIDS and the district is not going to fund that.

Are you fucking serious? In Austin? I could see this happening in Gatesville, but not here. If they would have just come out and said, all things considering, that Rent is pretty fucking terrible to begin with and we’re not going to sponsor a pretty fucking terrible musical, then that’s fine (yes, I do have a soft spot for Rent, but come on. It’s pretty fucking terrible). And it’s not like the objectionable material was bad language or anything since that had been cut out of this production (which is another discussion for another time).

But despite that, the principal of McCallum High School offered his services, the cast raised the money on their own, and the show is taking place this weekend without the support of AISD. So congrats to them! I mean, I’m not going to go see it or anything. The only thing worse than Rent would be Rent performed by high schoolers! But I applaud them for sticking to their guns and not taking any of the district’s shit. What they really should do is ditch Rent and stage a full-on production of Angels in America. That’s right, all six hours of it! All six blasphemous, gay, AIDS-y hours of it! I mean, your funding is independent now. Why not really stick it to them?

And to the AISD: way to go. This embarrasses me as a citizen of the city that I thought was different from the rest of the state. I realize that the whole AIDS subject might be a little touchy to you as every time I see your acronym, AISD, I do indeed think of Rent, but this really is uncalled for. This is stupidity on a level I never thought possible here and I’ve seen some pretty stupid things done in this city. There’s not really much I can add. And to the superintendent, the Gatesville Independent School District has an opening. But you know what? Might be a bit too liberal for you, since even our friggin church choir sang “Seasons of Love.” Granted, they probably didn’t know it was about AISD…I’m sorry, AIDS, but whatev.

Here’s a link to the production’s page. You don’t have to go to the show or anything (I’ve seen it too many times), but just think about it. And that is all. More wedding deets later.

Change You Can Xerox: The 2008 Presidential Primaries!

I’ve always been kind of politically apathetic. There are issues that concern me and stances that I would like taken, but living as I do in Texas, and my political leanings being as they are, and the candidates that are selected for us to choose from, I never really gave politics much thought. “What’s the point anyway?” I thought. This is a sentiment I’m sure is shared by many people my age, people out of college and thrust into the real world who rather than face reality with a smile on their face retreat into depression and apathy and episodes of Gossip Girl (seriously, why is that show a hit? I blame my age group).

But like those same apathetic lost sheep, I’ve changed my tune this political season. I’ve suddenly come to the conclusion that, you know, things are kinda going south right now. Not just for the rest of the world, they’ve always been screwed up. I’m talking specifically about America. I don’t know if it’s because I’m older, or things really have just gotten that bad, but everyone just seems so damn miserable all the time. And I don’t think I really need to list out any reasons why people are miserable as that would just make you more miserable than you already are. Point is, things suck right now and for once I’m going to lay my cynicism and distrust of the government aside and believe that change is possible.

As someone who leans Democratic (more on that in a sec), I think it’s awesome that we have the two candidates that we have now. Two people who have inspired someone as apathetic as me to really care about the direction our country is taking and believe that maybe they can do something right for a change.

And of course they are pissing it all away. Thus far, Hillary Clinton has been my man but the longer this thing drags out, the harder it’s going to be come November for someone not named John McCain to enter the White House.

People have asked me why I even picked Hilary in the first place instead of joining the First Church of Obama with everyone else. Well, like anything else in my life, it was determined by a quiz I took online (for the record, living your life in this manner is not the best way to get things done). I really wanted to research ALL the candidates before I made my choice, so I had to know exactly what my political leanings were in the first place. I’ve always thought of myself as extremely liberal when it comes to social issues and fairly moderate on the economic side of things.

But as it turns out I’m a borderline socialist, pretty much the opposite of moderate. This came as a surprise to me as I usually consider socialists to be A) Swedish or B) pinko Commie nutcases or C) hipster douchebags. When I really sat down to think about my political leanings, I came to the conclusion that maybe a little government involvement in the economy ain’t such a bad thing. Deep down, it would be great if there were no government and people helped each other and puppies frolicked and all that stuff. And I think conservative ideals towards the economy are really great in theory: it’s my money, I should do what I want with it, leave me alone. But if you think that, then why have a government in the first place? If we’re going to go through all the trouble of setting this thing up, then I believe that the government should provide for the people and help them achieve the best life possible. Even if that means higher taxes or government involvement. On social issues, I did about what I expected. No matter what economic plan they offer, I will probably never vote for a Republican based on the party’s stance on certain social issues.

So anyway, now that you’ve stopped reading, I chose Hilary mainly for four reasons. One, she seemed to conform with my new political awakening. Two, I decided health care was the major issue this time (if we’re going to fix one thing, let’s make it that) and her plan is the one that really stands out and she has fought this battle before. Three, the test told me I should vote for her. And four, every time I see a picture of her from behind and I see that all those campaign trail doughnuts have cascaded to her thighs, I feel so, so, so sorry for her.

And this is not to say that I don’t like Barack Obama. I like him a lot, in fact. He says things that no other politician would dare say. That thing about people clinging to God and their guns? Genius. And as I touched on earlier, I almost kinda wish he would just go ahead and win to get the thing over with. Because the Democratic party is tearing itself apart right now when what we really need is cohesiveness. It would kill me if this election is lost before it has even begun because we could not stop fighting ourselves.

But in closing let me say this. Both of these candidates have campaigned on messages of hope and change and electrified the electorate (that’s a cool phrase) unlike anyone I can remember (and I really only remember Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Bush, Kerry, and Al Gore, so make of that what you will). And one of them damn well better deliver on some of their promises. Because if I get this fired up, and they get into office, and things don’t change or get worse, then I’m done. I’m through. My heart will be broken and I will never care about anything again as far as politics are concerned. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Gossip Girl is on.

So that was my first serious post. Anyway, this made me laugh for like five minutes…

Less than a week in and I’m already talking politics and posting funny pictures of cats. Is this a mothafuckin blog or what?!?