Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyAugust 23rd, 2009
Through the week, all of us here at BTB write a lot of serious stuff about what’s happening in and to the LGBT community. It can get pretty heavy at times. I’ve always found that one way to unwind is to take a meandering, slow journey to nowhere in particular; a sort of a brief respite before beginning again for another week. I love nothing better than getting behind the wheel and seeing where the road takes me. To me, that is pure relaxation.
That’s the idea behind a new series at BTB we call “Sunday Driver.” It’ll be a time when we can take a pause and remind ourselves about the good and enjoyable things in life. Perhaps a road-trip or weekend outing, or just some random thoughts that we’ve gathered along the way. The trip can be a real place that few people know about, or it can be a figurative destination of ideas and imagination.
And you can join in too. If you have an essay, photograph, video, or anything else that you think might be an interesting journey — whether it’s your favorite weekend getaway, unusual hobby, funny incident, poignant moment, or whatever you want to share, you can send it in. If it makes the cut, we’ll let you take the wheel for an upcoming Sunday Drive.
So tell me, where do you want to go?
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Duncan
August 23rd, 2009
I also like to wander off at such times. But I walk. It is much less stressful than driving.
Alan
August 23rd, 2009
Interesting idea.
Richard Rush
August 23rd, 2009
Good idea, Jim. I welcome the relief from the usual focus on those who devote their lives to degrading our lives. It becomes really depressing sometimes.
And, Duncan, I’m with you about the walking. My partner and I live in a biggish city and after 28 years here we can still take a walk and see areas that are new to us, or experience areas that are not new to us in a new way. Although sometimes we cheat by driving to an area where we then walk. My partner walks to work, I work at home, and essential stores (and gym) are within two to three blocks, so it is not unusual for us to go a week or two without using the car at all.
Regan DuCasse
August 23rd, 2009
My Sundays are usually spent in a small theater. The average amount of seats being anywhere between 45 to 99. These performing venues are dotted all over LA and there are two specific districts with entire rows of them.
One is called Theater Row running from East to West Hollywood.
The other is right where I live and it’s the NoHo Arts District.
I am a theater juror for the GLAAD theater committee. I’m a critic of gay and lesbian content and I spend the time driving between venues to listen to a book or opera, the most soothing things in LA traffic.
Which can get thick regardless of the time or day of the week.
I’m an arts hound and proud of it. I doubt I’d get this satisfied in a small town. Small towns are sports supporters, not arts supporters.
At least in NoHo I don’t really have to drive to the theaters.
Last Thursday, I saw “Legally Blonde” the musical and took the subway to Hollywood and Vine from my NoHo neighborhood.
It’s more like would happen in NYC, but it’s still my life as I know it in Los Angeles and on Sundays, it’s matinee day!
Burr
August 23rd, 2009
“Small towns are sports supporters, not arts supporters.”
While that’s probably true for the most part, the Berkshires would like to have a word with you..
Piper
August 23rd, 2009
Also, in my hometown of Amarillo we have our own Opera, symphony, and two theaters, one with a “traditional” stage and an “experimental” stage. The other theater is solely for children’s productions. We also have three different museums. Small cities have their own arts support, my Dad for one has been in several different plays in the past few years. I understand the feeling that small towns don’t support the arts as much, and, since we don’t have as many people, we probably don’t have as much variety, but we appreciate the arts we do have.
Regan DuCasse
August 24th, 2009
Piper and Burr, I stand corrected about YOUR towns…but not about most of them.
In some respects mass media (where television has gone), is to the ‘reality’ format, cheap producers rationalizing their unwillingness to fund higher levels of entertainment as ‘it’s what the people want’.
I know that’s an exceptional load of horsecrap.
I know that people all over the country are HUNGRY for the arts, are starved for a high quality of it, but obviously won’t get what they want or deserve because of the degradation of what preserving and attending to the quality of the arts means.
I concede that smaller towns might be hungry and if given the opportunity to be exposed to a level of the arts that truly inspires and feeds the soul, would rise to the occasion.
But unfortunately, shortsightedness and miserliness have degraded not only the quality, but variety of entertainment available to the masses.
And I resent it.
I’ve toured all over this country as a dancer and love how eagerly a good performer is embraced, wherever it is. I just wish the opportunities for nurturing talent all over were greater and not centered ONLY in bigger cities.
Bruce Garrett
August 24th, 2009
“I love nothing better than getting behind the wheel and seeing where the road takes me.”
Common Ground! It’s so wonderful to just get in the car and take a big loop somewhere random over a weekend and see some patch of highway you’ve never seen before. My favorite form of vacation is to decide on a destination, with perhaps a couple of points of interest along the way, and then let the route from here to there sort itself out as I drive.
I can do you some photos…try the “Road Trip” photo gallery on my web site for a sample…
Piper
August 24th, 2009
Regan, I understand your gripes, believe me, as the older sister of a high school football player in Texas I get sick and tired of watching the way sports are treated compared with academic and artistic school programs.
In Amarillo, those who loved the arts fought back and that’s one of he reasons our arts programs are as strong as they are in this town.
P.S. Jim I love this new idea! Keep it coming.
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