So, I'm not one who does "social" very well.

The headline is kind of sensational but the video is of Lana Wachowski accepting the Visibility Award from the Human Rights Campaign. She talks about being accepted, coming out and that sometimes you need to do something for others. She's funny, even when relating the bad times and obviously uncomfortable . It's about a half hour long.

I'm in the middle of reading Cloud Atlas at the moment and recommend it to all. It's not your standard novel - the movie opens Friday.

With no contoversy and little fanfair, Vermont became the 1st state to not require surgery in order to get your birth certificate gender changed. http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/91314/ The woman interviewed runs http://vtveto.wordpress.com/ (VETO)

Ya gotta love this state.

Jamie

An interesting essay by Gaiman about his stories and books having gender, and also a reflection about writing his book American Gods. I recently finished his kids book The Graveyard Book which won a Newbery Award this year. If you haven't read any of his work, I recommend it. He has a couple collections of short stories out may you wish to start with.

Jamie

The NPR show On The Media had a challenge for National Novel Writing Month: Write a novel in 12 word or less.

A couple examples:
"Six words into his first novel, Sam's lonely wife murdered him."

"Obituary. First five words free, she thought. Charles dead. Yacht for sale."

Hey all,

Newsweek had a pretty good article on "The Mystery of Gender", as they called it. Their website has more associated stories than were in the magazine. However, while the stories themselves are well done, you should see the comments,(or maybe not)some are a very depressing view of intolerance.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18618970/site/newsweek/

Jamie