Pomp and Circumstance

A week ago, Child the Younger graduated from 8th grade. I flew to New York two Saturdays ago, headed down on Sunday to the town where the children's mother lives, spent the week there, doing fun stuff with the kids (the Indiana Jones movie is bubblegumalicious), watched Child the Younger go through the exercises, went back up to New York last Saturday, and flew back Sunday night.

I'm still jet-lagged. I have two kids in high school. I'm not sure which is a greater signal that I'm getting old.

Law and Marriage

It's been all over the news the past couple of days: in a 4-3 ruling, the California Supreme Court overturned the law enacted by Proposition 22, stating that only marriages between a man and a woman will be valid and recognized in California. In so doing, the Court held that under the California Constitution, sexual orientation is a suspect classification, similar to race, religion and gender. This is the more remarkable part of the ruling, I think. In essence, it means that state laws discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation must serve a compelling government interest, must be narrowly tailored to achieve that interest, and must achieve that interest by the least restrictive means possible.

Conservatives have already jumped on their soapboxes, saying that the Court is full of activist judges that have flouted the will of the people. They argue that Prop. 22 was approved by 61% of voters, so it should not be overturned by four men and women.

These conservatives are missing a major point. It may have been "the will of the people" to adopt a law to ban same-sex marriage. That doesn't make it proper. The courts are charged with upholding the Constitution. If a law goes against the Constitution, it cannot survive. Prior to 1954, it was the will of the people that whites could use certain facilities, while blacks could not. Legislators in many states were following the will of the people when they adopted racially discriminatory laws. The US Supreme Court held that such laws denied blacks equal protection.

The California Constitution permits voters to amend the Constitution through a ballot initiative, by a simple majority. The proponents of Prop. 22 have submitted an initiative to amend the Constitution by adding to it the language of that Proposition. It is my sincere hope that California voters recognize that voting in favor of that initiative would mean that they, the voters, accept and embrace discrimination.

School's Out

I taught a course this semester at a law school not too far from here. Classes ended last week, and the students are taking their exams. It's been quite an experience. I have heard people say that the first time you teach a course, you learn more than your students do. I'm not sure if that's true, but I've learned quite a bit. About the subject matter (a course in which I did quite well back when I was a student), about teaching, and about myself.

One of the things I learned was that teaching is much harder than it looks. It took me a good 6-8 hours each week to prepare for a 3-hour class. Add to that the 3-hour class itself, and 2 hours of driving to and from campus, and we're talking some serious time spent. And for all that, I think I made enough money to put gas in my car, and not much more.

We need to pay our teachers more, at all levels.

I'll fill everyone in on what I learned about myself in another post.

Green with Envy

I've been experiencing something lately which I had never experienced before. I want a garden. I want to have a place where I can put my hands into the dirt, where I can feel the sunlight on my back as I make a home for ornamental plants.

I can't do that where I live. I have a townhouse in a development, with a 12x10 concrete pad out my living room door. My concrete pad is perpetually shaded, between the overhang of the upstairs and the oak tree across the path. Utterly inhospitable to growing things.

Why am I suddenly wishing for something I eschewed for so much of my life?

Refi Madness

In January, I met a woman who works as a loan officer for Bank of America. "You should call me about refinancing," she said. So I did. She took down my information, worked her magic at exactly the right moment, and got me a loan at 4 7/8%, a full percentage point below my current one. The rate was available for ONE DAY - it dipped down to that rate, then jumped back up to 5 1/4 the next morning. So I'm happy with the rate she got me.

Nothing else has gone right in connection with this refinancing. The initial documents reflected only my parents (who co-0wn my house) as borrowers, my father's name was misspelled, and the dollar amounts were all wrong. I told the loan officer, and she told me she'd correct the problems.

We requested final documents to review before signing. They didn't arrive, didn't arrive, and didn't arrive. They weren't ready by the time the rate lock was set to expire. So the bank extended the rate, at no cost to me because the problems had been on their end. And when they finally arrived on Thursday - the day before the rate was to expire after being extended - I still wasn't listed as a borrower, and the dollar amounts were still wrong.

I told the loan officer the docs were wrong, and that I expected her to extend the rate again, and to do so again at no cost to me. She promised me that, instead, she'd withdraw the initial application and resubmit, while giving me the same sweet rate.

I have no recourse if she fucks it up again. I never had a binding commitment from the bank to make me the loan. But if I end up losing out on this, I will be pissed.

You just can't find good help these days.

Running to Stand Still

Lately, I've been busting my tail at work. I completed a corporate combination (2 companies becoming subsidiaries of a new parent company) less than 2 weeks ago, and am working on $20 million of financing for the enterprise, selling a business, and buying another. I'm also teaching at a local law school once a week. And when I'm not doing that, I'm DJing every now and again, and running around most weekends.

Is it any wonder that I feel like I never have enough time for anything? Can anyone lend me a weekend? I don't seem to have quite enough.

Super Tuesday

The Presidential primary election comes to California tomorrow. After witnessing the depredations of the Bush administration over the past eight years, I can only hope that our next President will take a dramatic turn away from the pandering that we've witnessed.

I voted for Kerry in the last election. Although I have been registered as an unaffiliated voter since I moved back to California in 2000, I took a field trip on Election Day 2004, cutting class from the tax program in order to go door-to-door, canvassing for the Kerry campaign in rural Pennsylvania. I would like to think that, thanks to my efforts, the precincts I worked ended up voting approximately 60% for Kerry. It wasn't enough, of course, as Kerry was defeated through election-stealing in Ohio. Many people (mostly conservatives) say that a Kerry presidency would have been a disaster; I cannot say whether they're right or wrong, but I can say that I doubt such a presidency could have been worse than the second Bush term we got.

We're faced with a turning point. The nation can either continue down the path of fear, hatred, and domination, or it can turn to hope, acceptance and cooperation. I am hopeful that we continue the progress made in 2006, by electing local and state representatives that listen to their constituents, rather than lobbyists; by voting for people who are willing to listen, rather than condemn; by choosing leaders who embrace diversity, rather than shun it.

Election years are about hope. After eight years of despair from watching this nation's slide into oppression, anger and hard-heartedness, I am once again full of hope this year.

Stir-Fry Goodness

QIR stayed at my place for a few evenings last week. She brought with her some boneless pork chops. Not wanting to broil or fry them, I put my head together with QIR's, and together we decided to stir-fry them. Adding some green onions, thinly-sliced radishes, and bean sprouts, I stir-fried the mixture with some shoyu, rice vinegar and Chinese five spices, then added some stir-fry vegetables QIR picked up at Trader Joe's, and served over rice.

YUM! It was delicious.