No on Prop 8

Okay, I hate to politicize my own Mom's wedding, but such are the times we are in.

We are SO PROUD of my Mom (right) and Irene (left) for finally tying the knot last week -- rushing to the altar after a whirlwind engagement of just 28 years. They are different from most newlywed couples in that they already own a home, have raised four kids of their own, are grandmothers, and have a dog named Annie Bones.

Still, until this summer they did not have the same rights or benefits as other Californian couples. Now, because they are legally married, these rights can't be taken from them. But there are still some people who want to take those rights away from other couples by voting yes on Proposition 8. Does this make sense?

Some say "8 ain't Hate", but when you limit the rights of my family, deny that we are equal, and say we shouldn't have access to the same benefits you have -- then, yes, it sure feels like hate. You can believe what you want, but it's never right to try to legislate inequality.

Of course, this marriage could not change our great love and support for my Mom and Irene. And a government stamp does not make their love and life-long commitment any more legitimate than it was in the first place. But as a son, I'm glad to know that at this point the law is on my parents' side, protecting their rights and benefits just as it does those of other people's parents, no matter what some may think about it.

So if you're a Californian, please vote NO on Prop 8 today and support families like ours.

Boo!

Jumping the Broom

I'm reprinting this in it's entirety from Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish because I like it and think it's important:

Many gay couples are rushing to get married in California, fearful that the Mormon church's Proposition 8 will soon strip gay couples of legal rights in their state. I remain confident that we can win - because we have the best argument. The new Field poll shows it very close - but winnable.

If Obama and Schwarzenegger speak out as they promised in the next two days, that would help. Their silence is deafening. But the experience of these rushed weddings is also profoundly affecting:

In a symbolically loaded part of their ceremony, an African-American friend invited them to “jump the broom.” During slavery, society refused to recognize the rights of many African-Americans to marry. Despite this, marriage — formalized by a couple jumping over a broom — continued to thrive.

Today, we recognize those earlier marriage bans as a gross historical injustice.

The thing that struck me about their ceremony was how viscerally it changed my own feelings about gay marriage. I had always supported gay marriage, but it was an abstract, intellectual support; now it’s personal. And so a friend’s wedding became, for me, the most compelling political event of the year.

And for all of us who are married, the initiative feels like a gut-punch to our weddings, a cruel and bitter attack on our families and the homes we have built and will defend.

Make no mistake: This is the civil rights movement of our time - and like past civil rights movements, its opponents deny its character. They are having a rally in San Diego this weekend to intimidate gay people and our families, and to abuse the Jesus of the Gospels to advance the the power of James Dobson and his political machine. If you think Jesus speaks in the tone of a football announcer, and the central mission of Christianity is to strip others of equality, accuse them of abusing children, and force them to the margins of society, this event is for you.

Pray for them. One day they will realize just how misguided they are.

Amado at Play in Autumn Light

Amado and I went to the High Park the other day and ran around. Fall is the best season in Toronto. I like cell phone pictures because they have an almost accidental quality about them. At least my cell phone pictures do. I never know when the shutter is actually going to snap.

Waaaasup!

Waaaasup! The Pro-Obama version.

And here's the original

Letter from 2012 in Obama's America

This is hysterical, and I don't mean I find it funny. A "Letter from 2012 in Obama's America" from our friends at Focus in the Family (which once was a fairly mainstream organization offering helpful tips on better parenting -- but with dispatches like this they are now becoming part of the extremist fringe, imo.)

Terrorist strikes on four American cities. Russia rolling into Eastern Europe. Israel hit by a nuclear bomb. Gay marriage in every state. The end of the Boy Scouts. All are plausible scenarios if Democrat Barack Obama is elected president. (From MSNBC, "Christian Right Steps Up Attacks on Obama.")

The end of the Boy Scouts? That's scrounging at the bottom of the barrel.

Yawn...

Yawn...

Nevada Ave., East LA - Now

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Street view of Nevada Ave. now. The white house at 154 was my grandmother's house - though it certainly doesn't look anything like it. The new owners have done a lot of work. Same with the orange house to the right. That's where our original family house was, the one we lived in when I was a little kid. My great-grandparents bought it in about 1910. We called it "The Shack." Obviously it's gone now and this new building has replaced it.... Time waits for no one.

Nevada Ave., East LA - Then

Here's an old photo of me from about 1964. I forget if I've posted it before. I look like I'm about the same age as our son Amado. I'm in the front yard of 154 Nevada, which is where my grandmother lived. We lived next door. There's my grandmother's T-Bird on the street I grew up on in East LA. Pretty cool.

Korea Rocks!

Nobody is as fascinated with the rocks of South Korea as Wendy's Cousin Geoffrey. And I mean that as a compliment. See his Flickr journey here.

Bubble Universe

Trying to imagine a bubble universe is a good spiritual exercise:

The bubble universe concept involves creation of universes from the quantum foam of a "parent universe." On very small scales, the foam is frothing due to energy fluctuations. These fluctuations may create tiny bubbles and wormholes. If the energy fluctuation is not very large, a tiny bubble universe may form, experience some expansion like an inflating balloon, and then contract and disappear from existence. However, if the energy fluctuation is greater than a particular critical value, a tiny bubble universe forms from the parent universe, experiences long-term expansion, and allows matter and large-scale galactic structures to form.

These are some of the things that help keep me a daydreamer.

(Photo found here.)

What's on Obama's iPod?

A mellow Obama lets people in Toledo know what's on his iPod: Frank Sinatra, Jay Z, John Coltrane. Oh yeah, and there's some countrymusic too.

Good Morning Toronto XXV

7:06 a.m. For Cathrine Paris, my colleague who died of cancer on Friday.

Turkeys!

It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada! We're supposed to be headed up to the cottage, but Amado's sick (bad cold), so we will have to see what happens.

Turkeys from Birdcinema.com

Where Am I?

Well, I'm not partying with these dudes! Once is enough!

These days I'm a little more active in these places:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/AaronMcGallegos (Also updated here in the right-hand column)
Facebook: Aaron Gallegos
and the all new WonderCafe.ca (which we've just relaunched after a summer of work!)

...if you're interested.

Mayan World Tree

I love this image of the Mayan king Pakal descending down the World Tree. (No, he's not piloting a space ship.) Just thought I'd share that.

Carlos Santana to open a church in Maui

Carlos Santana to retire in 6 years to open a church in Maui. From this month's Rolling Stone:

"I'm not sick of what I do, but I find that God gave me the gift of communication even without my guitar and with the ability to get people unstuck with certain sections of the Bible having to do with guilt, shame, judgment and fear."

I love Santana and his shows are incredibly spiritual, but I'm not sure his church would be my kind of place. But no doubt he has a gift of helping people see beyond their own horizons and get beyond their own myopia.

In the early 1980s Carlos Santana was baptized at Christian Life Center (Assemblies of God) in Santa Cruz, Calif. where I went to church and baptized as well. His baptismal statement was beautiful and illuminating. It did exactly what he says above, helping me to get free from some of the theological brambles I was stuck in at the time by pointing the way to a God that was far more than what any church or doctrine could describe.

I found the rest of the Rolling Stone interview sad and disturbing, as Santana describes the deep pain of his recent divorce and his on-going efforts to heal from child sexual abuse. God isn't finished with Carlos Santana yet.

Good Morning Toronto XXIV

October sunrises are the best.

No time to blog right now....

... but I'm with you in spirit!

Mingus

Happy Birthday to Wendy!

You are one beautiful woman!

Eternity

I've been listening to Alice Coltrane's Eternity (1976) these days. It's filled with ethereal beauty, just like her other albums. "Los Caballos" features the amazing Armando Peraza from Santana's team of congueros. Powerful medicine.

Waterfalls

Fall is starting here in Toronto, but there's still plenty of time to get out before it gets cold! Above, Amado enjoys the waterfalls at High Park (and a strawberry). It was raining, but that didn't make a difference.

Santana - Soul Sacrifice - Woodstock 1969

The older I get the more I love this clip. Carlos and the band are on mescaline. The audience is skinny dipping. A hippie is reenacting the crucifixion. And at 7:45 a naked man is carrying a sheep.

Man, they don't do shows like this anymore.

El Mirage

View Larger Map

Google maps is so cool. Here is a 360 degree street-level view of El Mirage, California. Out in the desert where I grew up. You can also drag the street view icon along any blue-outlined road to see what you can see. Rad.

Trane's Birthday

The more I listen to John Coltrane, the more amazed I am. This man was certainly in touch with something that most humans only rarely grasp--and whatever it was, it remains essential for our survival.

More honest than any political correspondent.

Andrew Sullivan blogged on this interview with hip-hop artist DMX and I found it amazing --- he must be kidding, right? Here you go....

Interviewer: Are you following the presidential race?

DMX: Not at all.

You’re not? You know there’s a Black guy running, Barack Obama and then there’s Hillary Clinton.

His name is Barack?!

Barack Obama, yeah.

Barack?! Barack. What the f**k is a Barack?! Barack Obama. Where he from, Africa?

Yeah, his dad is from Kenya.

Barack Obama?

Yeah.

What the f**k?! That ain’t no f**kin’ name, yo. That ain’t that ni**a’s name. You can’t be serious. Barack Obama. Get the f**k outta here.

You’re telling me you haven’t heard about him before.

I ain’t really paying much attention.

I mean, it’s pretty big if a Black…

Wow, Barack! The ni**a’s name is Barack. Barack? Ni**a named Barack Obama. What the f**k, man?! Is he serious? That ain’t his f**kin’ name. Ima tell this ni**a when I see him, “Stop that bullshit. Stop that bullshit” [laughs] “That ain’t your f**kin’ name.” Your momma ain’t name you no damn Barack.

Farm Boy

Yesterday we took a trip out to Everdale Organic Farm for their annual Carrot Festival. I actually didn't see many carrots, but we all had a great time roaming the open spaces. Amadisto most of all.

More farm pictures here.

Road To Ingwavuma Trailer

Maybe it's because I just had to cancel a 10-day trip to South Africa (I was to leave Oct. 1), or because this film features my favourite musician Carlos Santana...or because it also features one of my favourite leaders, Nelson Mandela, but for whatever reason I found this trailer very moving...

Twisted

I think I may have a crush on Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. Is that wrong?

Who Said I Didn't Like High School Football?

Thanks Sharon for sending me this brilliant clip. (I hope it's ok to post it!) Sharon's son Dylan (#81) and my nephew Ty (#80) both play for the Serrano Diamondbacks freshmen team. This clip is from the Diamondbacks victory over Paraclete last week. I would LOVE to see one of their games! (It's especially heartening to note that they must have retired my number 61 from the '78-'79 season, because I don't see it anywhere!) Go Diamondbacks!!!

Cleveland Browns

I think this year I'll be a Cleveland Browns fan. Not that they are likely to be winners, but Cleveland's a Great Lake town, like Toronto. They're one of the old-time NFL teams, which I like. And their uniform fashion is minimalist, and uniform fashion is high among the reasons I like a football team. Plus, I like brown. Orange ain't bad either. And, my Mom's parents are from Cleveland too.

I also like the Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings, Arizona Cardinals, San Diego Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Pittsburgh Steelers.

I know, a lot of losers in this bunch. So?

New Favourite Food

Pizza! But it's not like he's going to get it that often.

L.A. River

This picture of the L.A. River from The Jimson Weed Gazette brings back many memories of my childhood. I love it and I'm adding it to my Christmas list. You can buy it at East of West LA.

Lazytown en espanol

Amado loves to dance to this one!

Before the World Trade Center

New York from the Staten Island Ferry, 1961. By Edward Ruscha.

Here's the story behind the photo.

Post MelonHeads

Amado was great today during his 2nd professional haircut.

15 Years Ago

Yes, that's me on the right, with my boss Karen on the left. And, oh yeah, there's Carlos Santana in the middle, sitting down for our interview in Washington, D.C.

In the World But Not Of It

I've reviewed Brett Grainger's book on his experience growing up as a fundamentalist for The United Church Observer. You can read my review here.

Brett doesn't quite put the "fun" back into "fundamentalism" as I like to quip, but he does offer a more nuanced, understanding view of those with fundamentalist beliefs than you're likely to see elsewhere -- even while moving beyond these beliefs himself.

From my review:

The lesson of this book is that Christians can become so consumed by their own vision of faith that they become blind to the movement of the Spirit in the world around them. This selective blindness afflicts not only the theologically conservative, but liberal Christians as well. Grainger shows us the value of keeping our eyes and hearts open to the surprising work of God in these times of change.

Happy Birthday Mom!

We never cease to be amazed by you! I will always consider myself really lucky to have you as my mother. Much love, A+W+A

p.s. I stole another one of your photos too!