Plaintiff in PA Marriage Equality Lawsuit, Fredia Hurdle, Dies at Age 50

Fredia Hurdle

  Fredia Hurdle is remembered as a force of nature by her family and friends in the aftermath of her death on Thursday, August 7, 2014. She is known for her role as a plaintiff in the landmark case that brought marriage equality to Pennsylvania (Whitewood, et al v Wolf, et al) where she and […]

Retrospective: August 8

Today was a busy day. I had a sick dog, an elderly cat who is possibly senile and a slew of perfectly healthy but seemingly irritated other pets clamoring for food, attention and other things ALL DAY LONG. Plus, work. Plus, more work. Plus, laundry and freezing blueberries from the CSA and wrapping up a […]

If Kevin Acklin Had Lunch at Bistro-to-Go

Nikki Heckman

Tell us about a time you made a false assumption about a person or a place — how did they prove you wrong? I have a few stories in the vein. First, there was Kevin Acklin.  I wrote this in 2009 when Kevin submitted a guest blog post. My first encounter with Kevin was at the January 10, […]

ROY G BIV is a Friend of Mine

Mnemonic Device

When was the last time you experienced writer’s block? What do you think brought it about — and how did you dig your way out of it? What do you think of when I say the term “mnemonic device”? My most recent bout of writer’s block hit me last week, “write” after Ledcat left for her […]

Being a Fan of the Steelers is a Preference, Being a Lesbian is Not

Eric Waters

It is 2014. There is simply no excuse for a college educated 23-year-old man like Eric Waters to use the phrase “sexual preference” unless he is being a snide bigot. Period. I’m referring to a Tribune Review interview in which Waters talks disrespectful trash about his college roommate, Michael Sam – the first openly gay […]

Watch This Terrific Documentary on PBS This Week

Grace Lee Boggs

Over the weekend, I was introduced to Grace Lee Boggs who is a 99-year-old Chinese American activist deeply enmeshed in the fabric of Detroit. I learned about Grace from a reference on Bitch Media to a free documentary streaming on PBS (through Thursday July 30) “The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs.” Grace’s story is an […]

Pgh City Council Votes to Update Trans Non-Discrimination Protections

  Something very interesting took place in Pittsburgh City Council today – they directly addressed a matter of transgender municipal equality for the first time in history. The issue is non-discrimination which Pittsburgh City Council first took up as far back as the late 1980’s. In 1990, the City amended the Human Relations Ordinance to […]

Is Maria Bamford Procrastinating Her Reply To My Tweet?

Maria Bamford

Last night, I coaxed Ledcat into watching a 49 minute comedy show on Netflix with me. Fully knowing that watching Netflix means we’ll end up covered in cats, we curled up on the sofa to take in “The Special Special Special” featuring Maria Bamford. Maria Bamford is a comedian that I had not heard of […]

Celebrating Social Anxiety

Social Anxiety

There’s a grey area between social butterfly and hiding under the covers in your pajamas avoidance. When I bring up my social anxiety with casual friends, I get some interesting – if gentle – pushback. I certainly *do* a lot of things, especially with Ledcat. But I avoid many, many more things because they are […]

Can I Call Marty Griffin a Jagoff?

Marty Griffin

When was the last time you watched something so scary, cringe-worthy, or unbelievably tacky — in a movie, on TV, or in real life — you had to cover your eyes? I haven’t answered a daily prompt in quite a bit of time, but this was low hanging fruit.  The answer for me is the new […]