From the ‘Of-Course-I-Can-Tell-You-What-Read’ file: While Snopes has told us that the list of books circulating on the Internet that Sarah Palin ostensibly wants to ban is spurious, The New York Times (Sept. 14) did find that Ms. Palin, while a city councilwoman (in Wasilla, pop. about 8,000), objected to the book Daddy’s Roommate on the public library’s shelves. One of Palin’s campaign managers, Laura Chase, read the book, which explains homosexuality to children, and found it inoffensive. She suggested Palin read it. ‘Sarah said she didn’t need to read that stuff.’ Further, ‘ [i] t was disturbing that someone would be willing to remove a book from the library and she didn’t even read it.’ Hmmm, wonder what else she hasn’t read?
From the ‘Cross-Dressing-Stars’ file: The Chicago Sun-Times (Sept. 18) says Richard Roeper is hosting the Starz Channel’s ‘Ladies or Gentlemen,’ a new documentary directed by John Landis that is about actors in film roles where they dressed as women. The list includes Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Johnny Depp, Cary Grant, Michael Caine, Gene Hackman and the Wayans brothers. What about Bugs Bunny?
Harper’s Magazine (Sept. 2008) has a couple of tidbits for us: From its index, the magazine projects that same-sex weddings will add $684 million to California’s economy during the next three years. From the magazine’s ‘Findings’ column: ‘Researchers suggested that homosexuality in men may be an evolutionary advantage if it is caused by a set of ‘feminizing’ genes and if men who carry sub-critical numbers of these genes are rendered more sensitive and therefore less likely to kill their own offspring.’ Also, ‘ [g] ays and lesbians were found to have the most masculine and feminine voices among men and women, respectively.’
From the ‘Something-For-Everyone’ file, The New York Times (Sept. 15) reports Levi’s is using commercials that are virtually identical for straight and gay markets: ‘ … a hunky young man finding a date after putting on a pair of 501 jeans.’ In one version the date’s a woman, and in the other a man.
The Chicago Tribune (Sept. 14) awarded the title of Best Overall Garden of 2008 to an Evanston couple, Mark Mikint and Ray Salen. Their garden is both highly sophisticated and new: It’s three years old. They have elaborate boxwood hedges and many planted urns, and it’s very formal. Most of the garden is in greens and whites—the white doesn’t clash with their in-garden linens. They evicted squirrels from inside their house but they still have foxes, hummingbirds, deer and even skunks outside. By the way, a lesbian friend mentioned how common it is to see gay couples mentioned in garden magazines and garden articles these days.