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Dec. 24th, 2010 12:23 am* I hit the DMV very early this morning. Alas, I forgot Thursdays they open an hour later. I went to get cat litter, then came back and read in my car. I lot of people clearly had the come early idea, and I watched them try the doors. The actual getting the marker switched part was super fast, but the line for picture taking was really long as they were having computer trouble that meant more and more people were getting processed. Eventually, they hand carried print outs from the front desk computers to the picture taker guy and he had to reimput them so as to have the information for temp IDs. This was dependent on individual front desk folk doing print outs, so I went from forth in line to like 20th. Sigh.
On the upside, I can now swim sans rash guard and my chances of arrest for peeing in a public restroom just dropped considerably.
* Rm on Tron: http://lettersfromtitan.com/2010/12/24/tron-legacy/
* Back when my soldier was in Boot camp, we wrote each other literally every day. Once a week, he'd mail me a like packet of his tiny printing, and I would send him a packet of my barely legible scrawl. It was a life line to him, a way of staying sane. for me, each envelope was a little packet of love and loyalty. It kept us together through that long school year. Packets of love a news from home.
I don't romanticize the military or war in general. I do think think that the poor bastards serving over seas deserve to have letters from their partners, pictures to look at on long celibate nights. I do think the husbands and wives of LGB troops back home deserve rapid notification if something goes wrong, the same health care and death benefits. Packets of love a news from home. Acknowledgment in sickness and death. There have always been queer folk in the military. For me, this isn't about whether or not queer folk can be there, but about men and women having their partners there to hug them when they get off the plane, about the photos and letters, about support from others in the unit when a partner is sick, a baby is born, etc..
I also am a Classicist. It's explicit in the way Roman Law was structured that military service and full citizenship were linked. We don't link them explicitly in modern America, but i think we do subconsciously. African American service in war helped pave the way for the Civil Rights movement. I think it's harder to look at a veteran and say, "You are less of a person and don't deserve your citizenship rights." It doesn't grant equality in itself, but it helps prepare people.
On the upside, I can now swim sans rash guard and my chances of arrest for peeing in a public restroom just dropped considerably.
* Rm on Tron: http://lettersfromtitan.com/2010/12/24/tron-legacy/
* Back when my soldier was in Boot camp, we wrote each other literally every day. Once a week, he'd mail me a like packet of his tiny printing, and I would send him a packet of my barely legible scrawl. It was a life line to him, a way of staying sane. for me, each envelope was a little packet of love and loyalty. It kept us together through that long school year. Packets of love a news from home.
I don't romanticize the military or war in general. I do think think that the poor bastards serving over seas deserve to have letters from their partners, pictures to look at on long celibate nights. I do think the husbands and wives of LGB troops back home deserve rapid notification if something goes wrong, the same health care and death benefits. Packets of love a news from home. Acknowledgment in sickness and death. There have always been queer folk in the military. For me, this isn't about whether or not queer folk can be there, but about men and women having their partners there to hug them when they get off the plane, about the photos and letters, about support from others in the unit when a partner is sick, a baby is born, etc..
I also am a Classicist. It's explicit in the way Roman Law was structured that military service and full citizenship were linked. We don't link them explicitly in modern America, but i think we do subconsciously. African American service in war helped pave the way for the Civil Rights movement. I think it's harder to look at a veteran and say, "You are less of a person and don't deserve your citizenship rights." It doesn't grant equality in itself, but it helps prepare people.