Michael Mahler's Ditherings

I have really been feeling overwhelmed of late. I am just juggling a lot of projects (Erie Gay News going to press this weekened, Drenched Fur happening the week after - pray for me!) I am hoping that the various bits don’t collide with each other.

One of the columnists for Erie Gay News is about done with the previous batch of columns, so I recently emailed him to let him know about renewing. I wasn’t sure if he recalled all the columns he had sent before, so I directed him to the page that groups together features. A while ago, I added some code so that when I link an article to a feature or an author, there is a page generated which displays all of the articles related to that and the number of hits.

The columnist sent me a very nice email and also a voice mail stating how much he appreciated that feedback. It made me feel very good. I spend a fair amount of time playing around with various aspects of the Erie Gay News site, and it’s nice to know when it is helpful.

Here is the photo of all of us from the murder mystery birthday party for Erin this past Saturday. Good times!

With today officially being meeting hell, I thought that I might be irritated or grouchy after 3 meetings right in a row.It was actually a very uplifting day! The picnic meeting went very well. When I walked in to Presque Isle Gallery Coffeehouse playing music as part of a peace and justice event. The meeting went well, and there was a lot of good energy and ideas generated. At one point, I heard the guitarist play  “The Times, They are Changin’”, which I have recently been obsessively playing. Hearing it in the background as I was at the meeting was transcendently blissful. It sounds like the fundraising activity for the picnic that we are adding this year is going along well.

After that, 2 of the folks who had been at the picnic meeting came to another meeting about fighting against an anti-gay marriage amendment in Pennsylvania. It was fairly productive. It got done quickly enough to go home and help Deb with some computer stuff.

The Drenched Fur meeting also went fairly well, and I am glad at how things are coming together.

So, for having all kinds of good people around me, and the chance to be involved in my community, I am deeply grateful.

My friend Erin had a lovely birthday party that was a murder mystery game. I hadn’t done anything like that before, but it was a fun experience to try. As it ended up, my character was the killer.

It was a great mix of people. Some of them were folks I already knew and some were new. I was chatting with the people who hosted the party. As it turns out, they are active in the Shire of Stormsport, the local chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA.) The wife taught dance within the group, which I did years ago, although she is more into the Italian Renaissance dances, and I preferred English Country Dance.

At one point, I referred to my friend Frog, and she mentioned that they had camped with Frog and Lillian at Pennsic at Moot Point. I inwardly beamed, because it was so rare to bump into someone who would be aware of that informal name for that part of the campground, and even rarer that someone else would produce it. I am not 100% sure, but I think it was actually me that came up with the term (about 20 years ago. Gad, I’m old!)

Tomorrow is officially meeting day from Hell: Starting at 2 PM, I have 3 in a row. We will see how it goes. I scurried around today doing all of the usual domestic stuff to get it out of the way.

This past Saturday was fairly busy. I had dinner with friends at Serafini’s, then I went to the Insanity Ball at Craze Night Club, which was the premiere for Sanctuary Fusion Dance. there were quite a few other belly dance performers there, and also some drag performers.

Kudos again to the excellent research being done by my 3rd cousin, Dave. Yesterday, he sent me these articles about the death of my great-great grandfather, John Ulrich Mahler. Oddly enough, yesterday was also the 122nd anniversary of his death.

My great-grandfather, John Ulrich Mahler, was killed on March 1, 1988 by a shifting train engine. The inquest indicated that he wasn't paying attention. My great grandfather was only 7 or so when this happened.

What I find particularly interesting is the misspelling of the name in the inquest article. Growing up, we didn't have much contact with my dad's side of the family, so I do'n’t know how they pronounce our last name. My immediate family has always pronounced our last name, so that it sounds like it was spelled Mailer, as opposed to pronouncing it like the name of the composer, Gustav.

I always wondered whether someone might have changed the pronunciation or the spelling. However, in the 1880 census that Dave had sent me, the name is definitely spelled with an H, as we do today. (And the article about the train crash also spells it that way.)

But the article about the inquest consistently spells his name Maler (no H), which suggests, but doesn't prove, that maybe the reporter heard it pronounced as we do today, and spelled it without the H.

So, I am guessing that the non-standard pronunciation might go back to John Ulrich Mahler.

We had some absolutely kick-ass volunteers at folding for Erie Gay News tonight. I am so grateful for all of the wonderful people who help us. We got done relatively early, quite possibly earlier than we have ever completed before. The hosts for tonight had yummy snacks on hand, which was very thoughtful of them.

As a delightful bonus, there was frolicking this evening. We do so love that.

Okay, so I am in a good mood right now. About to turn in.

Last night, I went to see FACE, the drag show at the Zone Dance Club that happens the 3rd Sunday of the month. It was Michelle Michaels birthday, so I hurried completing the newsletter and dashed off. My friend Season was acting as stage director with a clipboard and a riding crop. We thought that it made for a good photo, so I snapped that with some others.

Co-editor Deb was over today to fix photos that we had previously taken. However, the tool in Photoshop that lets one specify a particular area and then remove everything out of it was forcing all the selections to be square, which limited how much she could get done.

I did some research and called her. It turns out that she had the photo of Season with the riding crop on the screen. Deb figured out what we needed after I started, and we both noted that it was incredibly apropos to crop a photo that included a crop.

I was at a meeting yesterday for planning Drenched Fur, which is going fairly well. We were discussing what to serve at the after hours party for Friday and Saturday.

While we were debating, someone referred to making sandwiches and referred to the brand name “Boar’s Head.”

My ears perked up. I had never heard of the food company, but my first thought was of the traditional Christmas carol from England. (Which I can pretty much sing from memory, and I even have a few versions of it on my iPod. Yeah. Big time geeky nerd here.)

I think that I first heard the song at an SCA event in Pittsburgh AKA the Barony Marche of the Debatable Lands.

Oddly enough, the gentleman sitting next to me at the meeting was English and had never heard of the carol before.

Overall, it was a good meeting and I am glad to be working with the folks that are on the committee.

I am so glad that State Rep. Babette Josephs stands up to the outrageous claims and offensive rhetoric emanating from the “American” “Family” Association. I really consider the group to be pretty vile and Diane “Whack Job” Gramley to be one of the nastiest people that I am aware of.

A few years ago, Rep. Josephs and some other legislators were in Erie for a hearing about amending the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission to include sexual orientation and gender identity/expression.

Diane was there, resplendent in her frumpy finery and pushing her usual line of crap. Rep. Josephs was exceedingly polite and respectful in dealing with her, even though she disagreed with her. I don’t think I could have been that restrained. Diane later mailed me some flawed “research” that had long since been discredited. I threw it out immediately.

State Rep Babette Josephs objects to AFA of Pa.'s homophobic statements

HARRISBURG, Feb. 12 – State Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Phila., is going on record against the homophobic and ignorant statements recently made by the American Family Association of Pa. in response to "Freedom to Marry Week," a weeklong slate of events in the state Capitol organized by groups and individuals in support of same-sex marriage.

Josephs, a longtime supporter of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered rights, including the freedom to marry if they so choose, participated in a news conference in support of legislation to permit same-sex marriage held during the week's events.

After the news conference, AFA of Pa. issued a news release calling same-sex marriage the "destruction of the foundation of a successful society."

Josephs said she felt she could not let its bias go unanswered.

"The organization offers no proof beyond the assertion of its president, Diane Gramley, that same-sex marriage is destructive of society or of opposite-sex marriages," Josephs answered.

The group's view also claims that those who engage in homosexual acts account for the majority of AIDS cases, that it is a gay disease.

"I am offended on my own behalf and on the behalf of those who suffer from HIV or AIDS, or have lost loved ones to that scourge. HIV is a horrible disease that impacts people worldwide. It does not discriminate. Her statement is inflammatory and not worthy of serious discussion," Josephs added.

"All people are worthy and contribute to our society, including those who happen to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered. We should welcome and value all families, and support efforts to make this state a place where everybody will want to live, work and visit, not treat a select group as second-class citizens.

"I take the narrow-minded viewpoints expressed by AFA seriously in that it only further cements my resolve to fight for equal rights for all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation."

State Rep Babette Josephs objects to AFA of Pa.'s homophobic statements