What's Coming up in September
Ok, Ok, we get it! Global warming is truly here, Indiana is becoming Alaska and August was the new October. Now we bloomingOUT folks know that some of our listeners are cold weather buffs and that’s fine with us. You no doubt enjoyed this past summer immensely where as we spent a good deal of time anticipating the arrival of summer weather which to our dismay never seemed to arrive. Those 3 ½ days of sun in June we appreciated since they coincided with Indy Pride and we guess we were thankful for that week or two of 85-95 temps (our preference) in July and, well, that was it!!
We wonder if the changes are part of the predicted climate change that we are persistently warned about on the evening news, or just normal fluctuations of an ever evolving earth. We tend to believe that Mother Nature knows what she is doing in spite of human efforts to destroy all life beyond our own front doors; and while the new green movement is a good thing in terms of being aware of personal impact upon our environment it seems just too coincidental that the economic result not only parallels the oil ‘shortage’ but is helping to further enrich the lifestyles of the same group of corporate folks who own the oil companies, appliance manufacturing, auto industry as well as home construction and remodeling businesses. A connection here? We have to wonder….. Our bottom line is over population. There are just too many people and we encourage restraint in producing increasing numbers of offspring; and that goes for those celebrities who just because they can afford huge families doesn’t mean they should produce them. Adoption is a better alternative and what happened to family planning anyway?
Over the past 8 years there has been a serious destruction of intelligent focus on families, individual welfare and certainly the health care of women. We think a family is more than just some right to reproduce; it’s a serious responsibility that should include community concern rather than just individualistic desire. We are not autonomous on this planet and must consider our entire earthly biosphere when bringing children into this world. Well, we’ll get off the soap box now………………..however, in reference to the health, welfare and education of children, this past month we had a wonderful conversation with Academy Award winning documentary film maker Debra Chasnoff about her new film “It’s Still Elementary.” Some may recall the first groundbreaking film “It’s Elementary” that raised a real ruckus when aired on PBS a few years ago because it was about LGBT youth in the school system. This follow up film is a moving political drama that revisits the students and teachers from the original and further demonstrates the profound impact of using film as a tool for social change. Debra reported that her films have been adopted by large numbers of school systems across the country in their efforts to educate and sensitize those about the needs of LGBT students and their families and to help dispel harassment and bullying.
On an edition of “The Soul of Us” we took great pleasure in speaking with the Founder of the Metropolitan Community Church and plaintiff in the California marriage case Troy Perry who presented an interesting historical overview of religion and the lesbian and gay movement over the years. Femme2008 Conference program coordinator Krista Smith phoned in to tell us about the conference held in Chicago during August as well as the tenth annual International Drag King Conference and competition coming up in Columbus, Ohio in October. Ft Wayne HRC volunteer and community activist Linda Bentz told us about their planned voter education and empowerment weekend “Making Change Happen” organized for the weekend of 27-28 September.
We also had a special visit from this very paper’s fabulous Editor/owner Ted Fleischaker and his partner and web master extraordinaire Ivan. Always a delightful couple with whom we love to share lively conversation and good food, we appreciated their special trip to Bloomington for a personal appearance. And the hot pink pens are great too!!
Overall August was a month of Indiana updates and if you sometimes think that nothing is ever happening here in the mid west the folks from Indy Black Pride, IndyIndie, HRC in Fort Wayne, the LGBT Resource Center of Michiana in South Bend, Tri State Alliance in Evansville, Indiana Equality reports from Lafayette, NW Indiana Rainbow and many others say it isn’t so. They are all very busy in their efforts to make this a better place of all of us to live and be safe. Entertainers such as Jeffrey Barnes, musicians like Josh Klipp and Missy Higgins, folks local and from around the country as well as state organizers and activists keep us current on events, actions and activities. We stay informed so you can be informed.
Enough about the past; the students are swarming back to campus and we are moving on into fall……or is it winter already? Whatever, here’s some of what’s coming up: we will talk with “In the Life” Communications Officer Scott Miller, RJO artists agent Rich Overton, Trans Youth President Shannon Garcia, a Pentecostal preacher on a new edition of “The Soul of Us” and Toronto based lesbian singer/songwriter Anna Gutmanis. We will have state wide updates, a legislative update from Indiana Equality, a new edition of the “Heart of Polyamory, in depth political conversation on “Critical Inqueery,” and musical selections from Richard Cortez, Goddess and SHE, Tracy Rice and the Lipstick Conspiracy.
That isn’t all of our planned programming, but we don’t want to give away all of our secrets. And sometimes we have unexpected visitors and informed listeners who show up last minute! We hope you will tune in and become one of our regular listeners. We are educational, informative and have fun too!
Hosted by Helen Harrell and Sean Lemieux, bloomingOUT airs from Bloomington , Indiana , every Thursday evening from 6 to 7 pm EST on WFHB. For one hour each week join us for the latest updates in local, national and international news, a calendar of local and statewide events, interviews with community leaders, politicians, academics, students, celebrities and entertainers from around the world and just everyday folks as well. In addition we always have good conversations going on and never know who might just stop by our studio with some exciting news to share. So if you love music, poetry, art or are a news junky, bloomingOUT is the place to stay informed.
We hope you will join us on WFHB 91.3 FM, 98.1 FM, 100.7 FM & 106.3 FM. Contact us/podcast/download/listen at: http://wfhb.org/bloomingout/ or email: bloomingOUT@wfhb.org.
Check out our bloomingOUT News & Views with Helen, Sean and Victor at http://news.wfhb.org/news/newstopics.php?tid=19 And don't forget we are on youtube www.youtube.com too! We remain your OUT, LOUD and PROUD connection. |
