Queer Equality Revolution: Cruel, Needless Suffering ~ Government-Approved

April 13, 2009

Cruel, Needless Suffering ~ Government-Approved

Steamboater on the Huffington Post shared this tragic story:

Try moving to the south like I did.
Your lover dies after you've been together for 24 years and the two kids he had adopted 6 years prior to his death are taken away from you by DCS the day after he dies and you have no rights because you had no marriage rights and no lawyer will handle the case because
"No Judge Will Hear It".

Now tell me why he owes

ONE PENNY to the I.R.S.

The variety of cruelty and emotional/financial violence THAT HAPPENS REGULARLY due to Marriage Inequality is horrific; here are just a few examples:

Cruel Suffering

Music and Me

I started playing the piano around age 6; finished "Teaching Little Fingers To Play" with a teacher, then was self-taught using the U.S. School of Music Home Study Course until I studied at the University of Michigan, where I was fortunate to be on scholarship. At age 10 I volunteered as the church organist for weekday Mass. My first paying gig was at 13 as the organist for Sunday Mass at St. Julian Catholic Church. My brother gave me his electric bass and amp at 13 after I played it for a few days; by 14 I was gigging in a band.

I taught music in some form (piano, theory, bass guitar) from age 20-43. During that time I was extraordinarily passionate about Piano Pedagogy, Music Learning Theory, and Early Childhood Music & Movement, and used to consider teaching young children music through the piano to be an awesome responsibility, privilege, and joy.

I earned a BM in Piano Performance in '93 from U of M, where I was OBSESSED with 20th century music. My biggest accomplishment at Michigan was performing Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata from memory; it's not virtuostic per se, but it's extraordinarily 'complex' music. At 20 I taught bass at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and performed with the W.C.C. Jazz Orchestra and Afromusicology Ensemble. I owe my ENTIRE musical life to Dr. Morris J. Lawrence, Jr., Lynne Bartholomew, and Arthur Greene.

Professional highlights include performing for President Reagan, opening for Dizzy Gillespie, and playing in the Montreux-Detroit International Jazz Festival. In 2002 I presented my one-man show "Wild About Rhythm" at local elementary schools, and owned and operated a Piano Studio from my home in Kirkland, WA between 1996-2004. I briefly had 24 piano students in 2008, until my P.T.S.D. was severely triggered on 11.05.08. In my lifetime I have performed at over 200 weddings and/or wedding receptions, but I have had to stop because the irony is LITERALLY killing me.