It never changes.

I read BYU philosophy professor Jeffrey Nielsen’s op-ed in the June 4 (Utah Pride day) edition of the Salt Lake Tribune and cheered.

I cheered and then wondered what the fallout was going to be for Nielsen. The church has a long history of punishing members who publicly disagree with official church policy, particularly BYU professors. This despite the university’s 1992 Statement on Academic Freedom, which says, “Perhaps no condition is as important to creating a university as is the freedom of the individual faculty member … to ask hard questions…”

Earlier this week, the Trib reported that Nielsen has, in effect, indeed been “fired.” God forbid a college professor lead by example and encourage objective individual analysis and thought. So much for that bit about the importance of asking the hard questions.

Because the Trib archives stories after 14 days or so, I’m putting below the full text of both the op-ed piece and the article about the “firing.”
(more…)

It’s Utah gay pride this weekend, and I just got home from the bar. Second night in a row.

And I’m drunk drunk drunk.

Drunk drunk drunk.

Have to be up marching in the parade at 9:30, so must go to bed now. I will sleep soundly, I’m sure.

Hurray for gay pride, and hurray for being drunk!

Drunk drunk drunk!

From the barely-18-years-old-if-that gay boy next to me at the club last night, after taking his first ever hit of poppers:

“Wow… this is so weird. I feel like I’m on drugs or something!”

I’ve been researching new notebook computers for several weeks (soooooo overdue, as I type this on a 7-year-old desktop), and today stumbled across CNET’s ExactChoice tool.

I use CNET quite a bit, so I don’t know how I missed this useful little selector before - maybe it’s a new feature.

The tool is very well-designed and easy to use, and overall it’s the best option I’ve found for objectively comparing different computer brands and models. The CNET geeks have done a ton of research for us and put it all in one place - there’s even a link to buy the exact system they recommend based on your answers, with notes on what you need to customize to make everything match up.

Even better, they explain the techy stuff to us dummies in real language that makes sense. I don’t have to call out to Patrick every 2 minutes, “Umm… what does ‘2MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB’ mean??”

I love love love handy internet wizards.

And in this case I don’t (just) mean Patrick.

I get relatively few emails from people who read Zionide, usually 3 or 4 a day. I’ve tried for years to reply to everyone, and I sometimes respond to comments, too, but I inevitably get busy for a few days and end up way behind, with at least a dozen or so messages waiting to be answered, glaring at me from my inbox.

It’s really kind of pathetic; I know bloggers who get dozens of emails every day, and while most of them don’t reply to every message, some do. I always think, “If they can do it, I should be able to handle my few messages!”

But apparently I can’t. From Nate Berkus fans and closeted gay Mormons, to new bloggers and right-wing hatemongers… over and over again, I end up with an overflowing inbox. Right now it’s especially bad; I was already a few weeks behind when I went on hiatus and didn’t even check my Zionide accounts. Add the existing backlog to that 8-week buildup, and I now have more than 200 messages waiting to be answered. And that’s after I cleaned out the spam (2,039 comment spam in those 8 weeks, by the way).

Don’t misunderstand - I’m not complaining about receiving emails. I just want you to know that I’m not quick on the reply. I love to read your messages, and I do read them all. Even the annoying ones from those poor deprived people whose keyboards came without “shift” or any punctuation keys.

You know who you are.

I may groan and whine to Patrick about you, or I may add your IP address to our “creepy stalker list,” but, dammit, I read your email!

My point is this: Don’t stop sending messages, even if you think I’m an ass for not replying to your last one. I’ve read everything everyone sent in the last couple months - it’s the least I can do when someone takes the time to drop me a note - but I am giving up on responding to them all. I have to. I’ve worked my way through the inbox, in order of receipt, and will still be responding to some of the messages. I hope to finish within the next week. If, after that, you still haven’t received a reply and you really needed one, then you can resend your note and give me hell. There’s a chance some emails are going to fall through the cracks, so don’t feel bad about resending if you’ve really got a burning question you need answered or something you want me to acknowledge.

If I don’t reply after a few attempts… well, then you’re screwed. Either your email was just plain stupid (”hay, r u really gay?”) or I’m not dignifying your opinion with a response (”MORMONS CANT BE GAY………I’M ONE I KNOW!!!”).

Actually, if you’ve sent a message that may possibly put you into either (or both) the “stupid” or “unworthy opinion” category, don’t even try twice. Just stop visiting Zionide altogether. It’ll be better for us all that way.

And take your meds, pronto.

In mid-March I decided to take a couple weeks off from blogging. There are a lot of reasons, but the only ones you need to know about involve trimming the fat out of my obligations. Blogging was the easiest to jettison, and it seemed like good timing all around because I’d also just had another surge of creepy emails. The break lasted longer than I’d originally planned, though, because I enjoyed not writing more than I thought I would and I decided to use the time off to make some non-public changes in my life.

But now I’m tentatively wading back in. I was feeling left out of blogland and have a few things I want to say, things I’ve been saving up for a while.

Thanks to everyone who emailed just checking in on me (and Patrick, who coincidentally stopped blogging as well). We’re both doing well, as is Baxter. I have another new gig, one that’s keeping me very busy, and Patrick is working all the time, too. Baxter goes to work with one of us every day, and he continues to come out of his fear as he adjusts to being around people all the time.

Another reason I took a blog break is that I’m re-evaluating how public and honest I want to be here. Early this year I suddenly began getting emails and comments from people I know in real life. Not friends, usually, but acquaintances, and it freaked me out because I’ve been way too honest here in the past. I considered censoring my archives, but decided not to, at least not yet. I’ve said before that I spent the first year blabbing no-holds-barred, and the subsequent years watching every word I typed. I think the best place is somewhere in between, but I’ve yet to consistently find that happy medium. With any luck, I’ll be there soon.

Until then, I’m back blogging regularly… at least, that’s the plan.

We’ve been busy the last couple weeks helping Baxter adjust to his new home. He wasn’t socialized at all as a puppy, so lots of things are new and “scary.” Outside the house, and especially outside the yard, his tail’s always between his legs. There are just so many unknown sights, sounds, and people. He’s always looking to run and hide someplace safe.

He’s very wary of strangers (a common trait in Canaans), and completely terrified of those loud, unpredictable beasts we call children (we live by an elementary school, so… fun!). But he’s warmed up to me and Patrick a ton, and he loves playing with other dogs, especially little ones.

At least he exhibits his fear and shyness by hiding behind our legs, and not through any sort of aggression.

At home, he’s perfect: no barking, growling, chewing, digging, or climbing on the furniture. When he’s awake, he sits quietly and watches us, occasionally popping up for a quick head scratch. We go on walks twice a day, and in the evening he plays outside in the yard; other than that, he sleeps in the office while we work, next to the couch while we watch TV, or at the foot of the bed at night.

But he kinda makes up for all that good behavior with the shedding.

Oh my god, the shedding.

Some of it is still stress hair loss from the transition, but even without that, I know he’ll always be a moderate shedder.

And I’m dealing with that fact. I’m a clean-freak, but I’m adjusting. Slowly. I have to - he’s too sweet a boy to not.

That pesky problem with the rest of the world is a challenge, too, but we’re really working on it. We take him out in public regularly, gently getting him used to more and more people, ignoring his fear behaviors and praising any curiousity. He has good days and not-so-good days, but after a few months and some more confidence in us as pack leaders, I’m sure he’ll start making even more progress. After just three visits, he’s already a little more comfortable wandering Petsmart with us.

His foster mom warned me that he wasn’t food motivated, which I thought was a little strange, but it’s true. Sometimes he’ll take a treat, but other times he has no interest (and we’re talking GOOD treats here, like human-grade meats). Sometimes it’s because he’s too distracted by fear, but other times we’re at home and he’s calm and he still isn’t interested. So formal training might be a challenge, but we’re starting adult obedience classes in a couple weeks, which should be a big help.

Any canine behavior experts wanna weigh in on what else we can do to further this process along?

Thanks to all of you, Patrick and I had a multitude of suggestions available in our search for the perfect name for the new addition to our household.

There were a ton of great ones, though we had a tendency to dislike each other’s favorites, so that made things complicated. We most seriously considered Rufus, Reno (which we’d discussed on the drive home, too), and Porter, but in the end, my mother came up with the winner.

When we all showed up at my parents to do the initial introductions, my mother mentioned the photos I’d emailed her earlier in the week. “I was thinking he looked a lot like a Baxter,” she said almost immediately.

I looked at Patrick, Patrick looked at me, we both looked at the dog, and we knew it was going to work. To us, “Baxter” is clearly a dog name, which we wanted. It seems kinda smart but also a little goofy, too, which is perfect for him. And, amazingly, both Patrick and I like it. Plus, I think my mother secretly got a kick out of naming the “grand-dog.”

So Baxter it is.

HomoMojo is now accepting votes for best entry in their Gay Blogger Writing Contest. You can vote until February 25 at 7:00pm (EST); the voting page, with links to all the entries (including mine), is here.

I’m urging you to go read all the entries. There’s not a bad one in there and most - if not all - are better than mine.

Reno is not the armpit of the world.

It’s more like the elbow. Useful, but often unwashed.

I do have to tell you: On the way there (at about hour 5), we passed a billboard advertising Battle Mountain, NV (”The Gateway to America’s Outback”) that said, “Voted ‘The Armpit of America’ by the Washington Post!”

I swear to God - I’m not making it up. I had no idea my description had already been used. Or that the town’s poor travel bureau would cling to it so proudly. On the way back home, I tried to get a picture for you all, but sadly, there’s no billboard on the eastbound side of the freeway.

Anyway, our reason for venturing across the barren Nevada desert is this guy here:

Yep, we’re daddies. He’s a 16 month old Canaan Dog. About 65 lbs, 25 inches at the shoulder, and cute, cute, cute, with one ear up and the other floppy.

Because of their independence, intelligence, personality, and relatively recent (1960s) domestication from wild pariah stock (i.e. they’re healthy), I’ve wanted a Canaan for a long time, but they’re rarely available (fewer than 100 puppies are born each year in the United States), and if they are, they’re on the East Coast or in California. So when I saw this guy in Nevada on a foster page a few weeks ago, I jumped at the chance.

Because of his “incredible structure” and beautiful movement (he really is amazing when he runs - graceful and fluid), the breeder had planned to keep him as a future stud dog, but one of his ears didn’t rise and he grew an inch too tall and 10 pounds too heavy for the AKC breed standard. So, he needed a home.

It took some convincing to talk Patrick into a dog, but I managed it, obviously. He’s a dog lover but didn’t want to have to worry about caring for a pet - especially one as potentially time-consuming as a Canaan. But he came around and I think he’s already really glad he did.

How can you not love this?

I keep saying “him” and “this guy” because he’s still unnamed. We’re arguing about discussing it but haven’t settled on anything. We need to very soon, though, so send over your suggestions ASAP!