WVQN


 
Voice of Reason
            By
Kevin R. Spence

Sign of the Times (2)
 
Our unpredictably outrageous weather patterns is not my only cause for concern that maybe the Mayan prediction for the end of the world will indeed happen December 21, 2012. We are in a state of unrest not only in our country but on a global level. Tensions are higher than ever before and these tensions are on a wide-scale level. In our country we as gay individuals are fighting like crazy to be acknowledged as equal citizens but a political uproar between Republicans and Democrats is dividing most Americans to the point where hostility is growing even on Facebook from both sides. I cannot lie I have partaken in some fiery debates with folks who only want to see one side of the issue and will never apologize for having my point of view but some people are going overboard with their fanatical beliefs. Politics is as sensitive of a subject as the debate between religious people and scientists about how life came to be for humans. Neither side will ever hear out the other side but are too focused on proving their side is the right side. Can people not understand that we all have our opinions so just accept that not everybody will be able to agree with you but you should at least respect each other for their separate points of view?
One of the Biblical signs of the end of the world is “Everywhere men will hate and betray each other”. I know I am not the only person who is starting to see this prediction of the Bible unfolding because we are turning against each other in every group of people. Gay people are turning on each other while having to worry about homophobic people targeting us for violence. Straight people are turning on each other. There are uncomfortable interactions between people of the rich class, middle class, and the poor class over materialistic bullshit that will never make you a good or a bad person. Muslims are feuding among each other while attacking Christians and Americans for their beliefs. Our world is growing crazier by the minute spouting unnecessary wars which is also mentioned as a sign of the end of days. Violence and social unrest is reigning supreme in humanity. Drugs are an important variable in the American increase in violence. Most of us are staying junked up so we can cope with life and the lack of love we have not only for ourselves but for other people. Nobody is capable of having decent and honest relationships like the generations before us were capable of having.
We are currently experiencing the shift in the increase of natural disasters. Earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes are devastating all parts of the world on record levels and tsunamis are growing in intensity as well. Our supply of clean drinking water is running out especially for the citizens of Africa where they struggle to find clean water and food to maintain a healthy existence. Diseases are rampant and are wiping out millions of people worldwide. This is yet another sign of the end of days known as the first sorrows placed upon mankind to test our faith and our devotion in God. Basically what everything boils down to is when humanity loses its ability to love one another, wars will erupt from hostility, nature goes insane, and we eventually turn completely on one another then it will be time for the Dark Prince or the AntiChrist to swoop in and conquer those who fall to the pressure. Those who remain compassionate and loving to other human beings will be able to rejoice in the next venture of our lives which is a thousand years of peace. I for one do not want to work for the Devil so I am going to remain true to myself and continue to love others without corrupting my soul with darkness.
We have to save ourselves from an eternity of punishment by reinvesting our devotion to God. As long as you continue to believe that God exists and will keep you protected even in the darkest of times then you will be able to keep love in your heart. Keeping God in our lives keeps us on the right path in life. We are giving into the deadliest sins because of our ever-evolving natures and need to rebel once in a while, but is that good time really worth losing your soul? Life is far from predictable, by any means. Let’s just face it-We all suffer from time to time but we cannot give up hope that things will eventually get better. Once you give up hope then you are vulnerable from a sneak attack from the Dark Side.
 


 
                                                        
  Sign of the Times (1)
 
As I am sure many people are trying to figure out what is happening with our recent fluctuations in weather patterns which has been beyond bizarre to put it mildly. I, for one, am starting to grow increasing nervous about what this may mean for not only residents of West Virginia but for all of us globally. In the matter of a week our region has experienced floods, tornados, and now we are getting snow in the first week of March which is beyond strange that our first snow waited so long to hit. We have been experiencing 60 and 70 degree temperatures in the winter months and this has never happened in my 32 years of being alive. I wonder if people are starting to believe in the Mayan prediction that this will be our last year of humankind.
Global warming is an actual problem our planet is facing whether the Republicans want to acknowledge the fact or not. I honestly believe our planet may be predesigned to eventually grow warmer over time especially since we have had Ice Ages where our planet was nothing but a winter wonderland all the time so it would make sense that at some point all of the ice and snow would eventually melt. With that stipulation in my belief system being said, I also believe we as human beings have fast forwarded the warming process by industrializing ourselves with refineries and stripping our planet of its natural resources in the name of increasing our wealth (well I should have said the wealth of the Republicans).
We as humans need to be more respectful of our planet by lowering our needs of natural resources and finding safer alternatives to mass produce electricity and transportation fuels. Yes I know we create all these jobs so each of us can survive day to day with food, water, and other necessities but money will not do us any good if there is no longer a planet. Money will be worthless paper that we worked our asses off to acquire to have nice things but if we have no planet then we have no need to have money. We are biting the hand that feeds us-Literally!
We can create jobs that are not harmful to Earth but it is going to have to be a cooperative effort of Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and all other political or social parties to brainstorm for the better of all human beings. Their choices affect every single one of us. Can it be so hard to create jobs of safer alternatives that all of us benefit financially without putting our safety in jeopardy?
I hope these crazy weather patterns are going to open the eyes of skeptics that Global Warming is not an agenda Democrats designed to win elections but is an actual problem we are all facing. Why should we wait until it is too late before we decide to act out of need for survival instead of greed? We face devastating earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornados on a regular basis throughout the world but the intensity of all these natural disasters is increasing as each year goes by. Cities and towns are getting wiped off the planet within minutes of these devastating storms which should prove to everybody that material goods are just material goods-our lives are priceless. Instead of trying to make our neighbors or friends jealous of us by having the best car, the best house, or the best clothes we should concentrate our unified effort on saving the remainders of our comfort and security of our planet by securing safer alternatives. We may have a million dollar house from coal mining or oil production but what is the house worth if it is demolished by a tornado or an earthquake? You will have nothing left and will have to rebuild your entire life from scratch in the blink of an eye but we can stop the threat of these natural disasters for the most part by respecting Mother Nature instead of abusing Mother Nature for monetary success.
The Mayan prediction that December 21, 2012 will be the last day of humanity is growing in relevance for many people who may have not believed in this prediction years ago. These individuals were far superior in intelligence than most civilizations in human history and these individuals were the watchers of the stars and sky so I am a firm believer in the chance that the prediction could actually come true. One way or another I think we should all prepare ourselves for the roller coaster ride that this year has in store for us. I am afraid that we are going to experience one of the most trying times of recorded human history. I hope I am wrong in my concerns but we will see as the year unfolds.
My heart and prayers go out to all of those who have suffered from these recent tornados. May God help each and every one of you rebuild your lives. 

Have YOU said I LOVE YOU LATELY!

By Michael Schmidt



I am sure some of my faithful readers will be shocked at this peace. I chose this time to write about something just very low tech, something we all have the capacity to do and costs nothing! 


In this age of the Internet, Smart Cell Phones and Texting, I wonder are we going forward or moving backward. Starting next year, many schools around the country will abandon teaching Cursive handwriting. The long held stand of formal writing that our very Constitution was transcribed in. The form that great poets wrote great moving passages, husbands wrote to wives from far off wars and most of all romantic sweet hearts passed romantic notes on light pink shaded stationary. 

In 1988, I got my first apartment on the East End of Charleston. To some of you younger folks, to imagine an area of a city being the center of Gay life might seem silly, but in those days, there were no Will and Grace on TV and as those before us, we gathered together close for security and a sense of community. 

Just like the old Black and White Movies, where we see Betty Davis at a fine cocktail party, so were we. Christmas Parties and yes we even had a cast society, ground floor where we all started, a middle class of us gays and if you were fortunate enough, a sponsor helped you break the glass ceiling and there you were going to dinner, cock tails, party’s with professionals, people (gay) of position, wealth. 

It was a time, when you kept liquor in the cub bard and wine in the fridge for a knock on the door could come any moment. The new was circulated by friends visiting and speaking to passers by on the street, Gay bars, one that I will mention in sad note, THE GRAND PALACE, had crowds of a thousand or more on Friday and Saturday Nights. While we may have had root in our little Gay society somewhere, Gay bars were magical, all the latest news and rumors were to be heard there and we danced and made merry. 

However, now in this age of Manhunt, Bear411, RECON, Gay.com and others, are we really meeting more people? I honestly don’t think so! Just like you, I see pretty much the same faces unless someone’s profile gets deleted and they reinvent themselves, Camera angles from every direction trying to look younger, fitter, muscular and dare I say it, sexier. Were we free in those early 80’s, you better believe it. SEX is not dirty, while Rick Santorum might think so, I don’t. I think it a natural function between 2 or 3 or 4 people as the case may be. It is the sharing of a higher form of emotion. While it may be a one-time thing, it is something shared by people that for whatever reason at that moment found something in common. We all know about safer sex and like all of our Human brothers and Sisters decided to use them or not. 

The point I am working at and hang on with your author is that without touch a baby will die. We are tactile beings, we love to be cared about, hugged and wanted. In this time where we hear so much about Bullying, are we doing better ourselves? When you are standing with your group of friends at the Bar on Saturday Night and you see a strange face, do you just try to discretely see where it goes or do you take the bold step as those of us from yester year did and say hello?

Today, I was reminded just how fragile life really is, dear friends of ours a couple who met later in life, who celebrated love, helped one another and accepted a unique form of relationship to allow a late bloomer to explore a bit, but yet had a love so deep, it would match any great love of novels, ended at 4:00AM this morning. 

On Monday our good friend, Richard found his partner unresponsive on the floor. After getting Rob to the hospital, they determined he had a massive stroke. Luckily, Rob’s family had welcomed Richard; he had help take care of Rob’s father. Richard ran home after work every day and prepared a dinner and it seemed to be the kind of relationship, dare I say it, yes a MARRIAGE that would last into the golden years. Rocking on a front porch with a nice piece of music playing in the back ground and hold hands. 

Sadly that is not the case. In a time like this, if we let it, we reflect about not just the immediate loss but also that of others. I thought about my good friend Doug McClure who was murdered in 1985, we had chatted and truly he was my best friend, we always said at the end of a call you be good too, love you! I had talked to Doug on Thursday and he was going to meet his new love in Huntington. It was odd for me not to hear from him for several days, but I though wow, those two lovebirds are so dazzled in their arms, no time for friends. Until Sunday night a beating on my apartment door, a sobbing partner standing before me trying to tell me the most horrible news, my friend Doug had been murdered on that Thursday night. 

Rob and I had recently chatted and said as we had several times, we all need to go to dinner and I agreed, but we never made it happen. I cant give Rob another hug and thank him for inviting us to dinner, he is gone now, gone on to that other land that we all meet in that final breath of this world. 
So I ask you, your partner, your parents, your friends or any special person in your life. Have you said “I LOVE YOU” lately, you just never know if tomorrow will give you another chance!

Hugs to you!

Michael Schmidt


 

 

michaeldschmidt@suddenlink.net

 

 

 
Hi Readers!
 
Allow me some leeway with a brief background and intro to give you some insight into my perspectives on life, the universe and everything.
 
I’m a Wayne county native and Wayne High School graduate. I will ignore any ‘Out Wayne’ comments you might have in waiting. I recently turned 30, was recently divorced from a ‘traditional’ marriage that I now understand was a weak attempt at denial, but from this marriage came two children that are the basis of everything else I do in this world. I am recently ‘out.’ I am most recently a GEM (Gay Engaged Male), having proposed to a man that I never dreamed I’d meet, fall for, and commit too in such a short amount of time, having believed in my closeted days that gays were depraved, non-committal beings, but God works in mysterious ways, which brings me to another perspective. I’m a Christian, now progressive, but still recovering from years of fundamental conservatism. My fiancé and I are both extremely involved in the activities and ministries of our church (First Congregational UCC, Huntington). I also have a tendency towards snarkiness and am a self proclaimed dork, and I’m OK with that.
 
With that whirlwind tour out of the way, I want to focus on a perspective that is near and dear to my heart as a GEM. Marriage equality. I was nervous, as any man would be, about proposing to my love…This past weekend was our one year anniversary and just a few days before the date was upon me, I ordered a ring in a near panic that I had waited too long to do so as everything in my being was telling me this was the time! Put a ring on it! NOW, YOU IDIOT!!!… But it came in time (with my regards to the poor pestered-to-death lady at the jewelry store)… My heart swelled and my tears fell when he said ‘Yes.’ 
 
I was nervous again when we made our way home to relieve my mother of her babysitting duties and to tell the boos about our engagement. This shouldn’t have made me nervous and, indeed, my kiddos and their intrinsic acceptance amazed me once again. Love to them is in action and emotion, in time spent over an Easybake oven or guiding a character through his latest 3D adventure via Wii, in tuckings in and tears wiped away. It has nothing to do with what happens in bedrooms or what is stated in some pulpits or political arenas.  If only our opponents would be ‘childish’ when it comes to their perspective on love… but back to the story:
 
What pained me, however, about announcing our engagement to them, just two days before MLK day, was explaining to them, that because of inequality in this country, we won’t be able to marry in our own great home state. I love West Virginia, western Virginia, too, for that matter... I don’t plan to leave it. I join in with karaoke choruses of ‘Take me home, country roads’ alongside everyone else. This is why I want to take the issue of marriage equality to another level. I want my friends and neighbors, my fellow WVians, to see what ‘gay’ looks like, not the picture painted in their heads by the Santorums, Bachmans, Dobsons and the Biblically challenged preachers of this world but real people, real families… real inequality.
 
Won’t you join me, my fiancé, and many of our friends as we gather in an attempt to change perspectives? We have, along with several other like-minded foks, planned a small and peaceful protest coming up just shy of a month from now. On Valentines Day, 2/14/2012 we will be leading a group of same-sex couples, accompanied by supporters, both single gay folks and straight allies, to the Cabell County courthouse. Once there, we will proceed to the clerks office and apply for marriage licenses. We realize we will not be granted said licenses, but we want our presence, our voices and our fervent desire for equality to be made known. You can join the protest and follow its planning on its Facebook event page here: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/events/267468596624527/
 
Won’t you consider attending? If you feel it, but happen to reside out of county, why not follow suit and organize a sister protest in your own county? Marriage inequality is real, its tangible and its fixable.  Become a thorn in the side of all your lawmakers regarding this issue. Become the face of what ‘gay’ is to your neighbors. Together, we can make great things happen!
 
Sincerely, Justin Murdock
Dad, GEM, Dork, Christian and Huntingtonite
 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/kindofadork (You can’t miss me; my profile pic is my fiancé and I in snazzy matching red union suits)
 
 
 
 

 

 

The Straight Truth

 

 

 WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR?
 
I’m curious of how much you all would ignore & still support a group?  
 
I’m fortunate enough to work at home for my husband’s company.  I spend time on Facebook when I take a break & have a diverse group of friends on FB.  I post various articles of escapades & nastiness from the right wing.  Usually these are met w/the response of “both sides do it” but none of them can back it up.    
 
My question comes from 95% of my conservative friends say they support gay rights & marriage equality.  BUT they support the republican party who are major opponents of anything gay.  So how can someone support both?  And if these folks are pro-equality, do they just ignore the anti-gay agenda coming from their side?   And how do they think the gays in their lives, if there are any, feel about them?   I haven’t addressed this topic w/my conservative friends much.   As usual, w/republicans, my friends are gay so it isn’t an issue that concerns them. 
 
So I’m thinking there are a couple of ways pro-equality conservatives deal w/this issue.  A lot of them ignore the rabid stance of their beloved republican party & the war on gays.  I have seen this from those conservatives that I know best.  Others aren’t as accepting toward gays w/”I have nothing against gays but I think it’s a choice.”   This kind of ignorance is most disappointing to me.  We don’t even discuss gay rights.  These folks are the hypocritical “Christians”.   In my view of these folks, they wouldn’t be tolerant at all if there weren’t gay folks in their life - they would be spewing the select anti-gay Bible verses if they didn’t have to deal gay folks or their loved ones. 
 
I can't begin to understand the perspective of the gay republican!
 
Having a gay son, I know how I feel about these folks & I think my son feels the same way.  You can say you support gay rights but as long as you support the republican party - you are no friend to gays.  Unless you stand up to your prominent politicians & say “support equality for all & quit w/the war on gay, you can not consider yourself pro-equality.   Oh & while you’re standing up to the powers that be on the right wing, tell them “healthcare for all, no more war, women’s bodies are their own & CREATE jobs like you promised”!!!!



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