I’m Lebanese, and from most outside perspective, Beirut (the capital city), is a partially-Westernized, big city, in the middle of a volatile part of the world. I was trying to convince my boss of this, and then of course they went and had two car bombs the next week. Stable, it may not be, but from pictures I’ve seen, it’s a beautiful city on the Mediterranean.
Lebanon, also has a large LGBT community, and as far as that part of the world goes, they have more freedoms than most. Recently, the Lebanese court ruled that homosexuality is not a crime:
The court ruled that homosexual relationships do not “contradict the laws of nature” and therefore cannot be considered a crime….The assumption that homosexuality is a result of disturbances in the family dynamic or unbalanced psychological development is based on wrong information.
It’s a step forward, and it’s great to see in Lebanon, of all places, so hopefully it is thinking that will continue throughout all the corners of the world. You can read more about the court ruling at the Good Men Project.
Been a while since I’ve written about the BSA, so I wanted to take a minute and discuss the current state of things.
January 1 the new policy went into affect, allowing openly gay, lesbian and bisexual youth to join (girls are able to join Venturing at age 14). And of course, the sky has not fallen. From all views, it has been a total non-issue, just like we kind of figured it would be.
Now, the policy itself is hypocritical, since it tells youth that it’s okay that they’re gay (or bi), but once they become an adult, ‘we don’t want you anymore.’
And it also creates the problems, that in the above mentioned Venturing program, youth is defined as a member under the age of 21. Meaning a gay Scout can earn his Eagle in a Troop, be forbidden from being an adult volunteer, but could at the same time have three more years in a Crew as a youth member.
And we knew this going into it. My best guess is that national knew it too, and sees it as an easy out. It’s an easy fix, and once enough of the country realizes how crazy and two-faced this policy is, it’s a quick and easy fix. Add to that, the fact that former Defense Secretary Robert Gates is the new President, considering he is man who implemented the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, I don’t think we’re far out from full equality.
And this is not hypothetical. A youth in Maryland, Pascal Tessier, became the first (known) openly gay Eagle Scout under the new policy in February. And while this was the more important part of the change, it’s still incredibly important to all full equality: otherwise we’re telling LGB youth that they’re broken and they’re not worthy, and we don’t give them role models to look up to. And companies will continue to pull back funding, such as Walt Disney World, which will not donate to the BSA until the policy is fully inclusive.
Scouts for Equality continues their great work, and I’m happy to keep supporting and working with them behind the scenes:
Here in Pittsburgh, I volunteered last year at MountainFest II after enough people begged me to. Even though I was uncomfortable, it was nice to be back at camp, and most of the camp volunteers are freaking awesome and I was happy to see them again.
I’m also working with the Camp Staff Alumni Association, which is a separate non-profit, so while I can’t be a registered member of the BSA, I can still volunteer through the CSAA.
And I know this policy will change, and probably faster than I imagine.
Alright, let’s see what we have today. First up, over the weekend Sam Adams and Heineken both pulled out of South Boston’s iconic St. Patrick’s day parade, due to the organizers continued insistence that no LGBT groups may march. Guinness has not, and so many bars, including the Stonewall Inn are now boycotting the Irish beer.
Pentatonix is back with a version of “Say Something”
The Episcopal Church of Pittsburgh went through a long legal battle over parishes leaving and property rights, now it looks like Virginia is doing the same. But the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
For those unaware, the LGBT community is great at commandeering technology. Case in point, the myriad of hook-up apps available for smartphones. The most well known one is grindr, and a new comedy video features women reading real messages from the app. Warning, not safe for work, but funny (and a bit sad):
The second time I worked at summer camp, each year I would put together an end of the year slideshow as a gift to the staff. I’ve taken that tradition, and started it anew in my own life. 2013 marked the first year, but I hope to make it a yearly tradition.
I’m a fan of loose-leaf tea, this is a page for me to keep track of my notes about different varieties, brewing times, etc. I tend to prefer weaker teas, so my notes and steep times reflect that. Feel free to let me know if you have any suggested varieties to try!
Brand
Tea
Steep time
Notes
Re-steep
Teavana
White Ayurvedic Chai
2 min
Good for mornings at work
Steep up to 3 times
Teavana
Peachberry Jasmine Sutra
1 min
Good iced, not hot
Teavana
Caribbean Calypso Mate
5 min
Only good mixed with white avurvedic
Teavana
Golden Monkey
2:30 min
Easy to oversteep, good basic black tea
Steep up to 3 times
Teavana
Pumpkin Spice Brulee
3 min
Smell much stronger than flavor
Teavana
Tropical Nut Paradise
6 min
Make sure to steep for entire time, otherwise weak. Good blended with Golden Monkey
Elmwood Inn
Pomegranate Black
5 min
Awesome morning tea at work
Steep up to 2 times
Elmwood Inn
Chocolate Mint
5 min
Smells a little stronger than it tastes, but very good
Steep up to 2 times
Fineline
Wedding
4 min
Very strong, needs teaspoon of sugar
Teavana
Strawberry Grapefruit Xue Long
2 min
A little sour (grapefruit), weak when iced
Teavana
Fig Rose
5 min
A little sour, smells better than it tastes, may want to add some sugar
Giant Eagle
Sun Moon and Stars
4 min
Smelled great, tasted horrible
Giant Eagle
Hibiscus Blueberry
5 min
Sour when brewed, needs sugar to mask. Better second time.
Steep up to 2 times
Giant Eagle
Hibiscus Key Lime
5 min
Sour when brewed, needs sugar to mask. Better second time.
Steep up to 2 times
Teavana
Weight to Go
3 min
Not bad, a little bland
Steep up to 2 times
Teavana
Cacao Mint Black
3 min
A little bland, Elmwood Inn’s is much better
Steep up to 2 times
Teavana
Peach Tranquility
6 min
Good, but a little weak
Steep once
Rishi
Pu-erh Vanilla
5 min
Steep 6 minutes after first steep
Steep up to 3 times
Teavana
Earl Gray Creme
3 min
Very good, not overpowering like regular Earl Gray
This site is first and foremost the online portfolio of Michael Crane (that’s me). In addition, it holds my blog, and some other amusing items.
I’m always interested in doing freelance work. My specialties lie in the areas of pagination, document creation, writing (from technical to creative and most things in between) and graphic design. I also do web development and calligraphy on a per-project basis (if it’s out of my league, I can help you find someone who can assist you). Please feel free to contact me with any questions or for more information regarding my work. To see samples, take a look through my portfolio .
My blog is a personal blog, it doesn’t necessarily have a set topic. However, the general rule is that the title will not relate to what I write about. I have a vast quote file and pull my post titles from there. Here are a couple of my favorite posts, they should give you an idea about my writing style here on my blog:
I’m very laid back and find pleasure in simple things (also things that are shiny). And now, some bullet points:
My favorite philospher is Socrates, although I do like a variety, including Hume and Augustine.
I look good in antlers, or so I’ve been told.
I love the Myst series of games as well as its spin-off, Myst Online: URU Live.
I am a certified Scuba diver.
I love reading, a lot. I read multiple books at once, or else I get confused. And I understand that that makes no sense, I’ve accepted that fact.
I enjoy odd music, specifically movie/game scores and instrumental music. A tangent: I usually have a soundtrack playing in my head, as if I’m in a movie, although that music alternates between instrumental and garage band rock.
I keep list of movies that I haven’t seen so I can someday rent them (right now it’s about two pages long).
I love my AP styleguide.
I am good at setting up canvas tents, a skill I acquired by working for the Boy Scouts at a summer camp for eleven years, where I became part of the freedom pit crew and everyone really did work for me.
I spread myself thin senior year, but for good causes (running the campus newspaper, one nationally-recognized retreat, Scouting U and the Ad Club, as well as working with another retreat team, Orientation, PRSSA and three fraternities). While I was able to keep my grades up, I didn’t have much of a social life outside of meetings, it reminded me a bit (in a backwards way I guess) of Bellah’s lament about the decline of civic membership in his work, “Habits of the Heart.” Not that I’m complaining, if I had the opportunity to go back, I wouldn’t change much, just musing I suppose.
More often than not, Mike can be found doing something outside or being distracted by something shiny. Easily distracted and always looking to experience new things, no matter how mundane, Mike’s writing is sometimes irreverent, oftentimes seemingly irrelevant. Mike enjoys camping, scuba diving, geocaching, reading, strange music, even stranger television and jumbo paper clips. Mike is a firm believer in the power of web 2.0 and runs and contributes to a multitude of websites scattered across the internet. Oh yeah, Mike sometimes writes in the third person.
Just a quick note to let everyone know, I’m working on some site upgrades, so over the next few weeks, it will be even more wonky than normal. It’s been acting up for a while, so I’m hoping to fix everything with a good clean install, it’s just moving the database over as well. Wish me luck, and hopefully soon you’ll get to see a flashy new site!
