What's the Story?

These two headlines were cheek-to-cheek on the Sun-TImes Web site this weekend.

Several gun and knife arrests reported at Taste of Chicago
July 4, 2009
FROM STNG WIRE REPORTS

and

Police say Taste peaceful, credit heavier presence
July 4, 2009
(no byline)

So what is it? Is this year's Taste of Chicago a madhouse of thugs and gangbangers and people bringing guns and knives into the crowded streets, or is it a lovely weekend where attendees walk around with parasols, sipping lemonade, tipping their caps at fellow tourists and Chicagoans and those leaving on public transportation give up their seats to ladies and the elderly? Hmmm?

Unfortunately the latter, 'peaceful' story relies on the word of the police and city officials, who would say "everything is fine here," even if downtown was burning amid armed rioting.

Two things here -- one; if your mother (or the city) says the Taste of Chicago is safe and peaceful, CHECK IT OUT, and two; the perceived safety many have of of this city, even downtown, is an illusion.

'Royko Was a Prick'

I don't quite understand the fascination and reverence that many people of Chicago, whether they are journalists, would-be journalists, or media junkies, have for Mike Royko. Royko is the legendary Chicago newspaper columnist who got his real start in Chicago reporting at the City News Bureau of Chicago, then worked for the Daily News, Sun-Times and Tribune, writing some 7,000 columns over a 30-year career, exposing government corruption, taking on City Hall, and writing about other passions, such as the Chicago Cubs and 16-inch softball. His book, "Boss," about Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago, is a classic, and showed the mayor as corrupt and racist, and I treated that book as a bible of sorts when i was in high school and college. He's also famous for drinking at the also legendary Billy Goat Tavern.

People speak of Royko as a Catholic would speak of the pope or President Kennedy, as some speak of Sinatra, as basketball fans speak of Michael Jordan, as boxing fans speak of Muhammad Ali -- he was the greatest, there will never be another like him, you all could learn a thing or two by watching him, etc. People name their dogs after Royko. When some get pissed off at a present day newspaper reporter or columnist, they sometimes resort to saying things like (I paraphrase), "Royko was the last great reporter in this town, the rest of you suck." People still are drawn to the Billy Goat, as they were when he was alive, because they want to be in the place where he spent so many thousands of hours drinking, getting into scuffles and hitting on other guys' wives and girlfriends.

He may have been a great newspaperman, but by some accounts, the guy was a first-class prick. A year or two ago, when I heard a radio interview with Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg, who has had his own obstacles to deal with in his personal life (which you can read about in his book, "Drunkard"), in which he was asked about Royko, someone whom he spent some bar time with at the Goat, and Steinberg stated, "Royko was a prick." And by all accounts, Royko was an unpleasant person to encounter. (Maybe someone who knew him will disagree, that's fine. I never met him and can't say I regret that.)

Then, while bouncing around on the Internet today, I found that Jerry Pritikin, aka "The Bleacher Preacher," has a blog (he doesn't update often, but it is a blog nonetheless). Pritikin, now in his 70s, is a lifelong Cubs fan, a photographer by trade, and is also gay. In a piece he wrote (with photos which you should take a look at) for the Beachwood Reporter in 2008, Pritikin wrote of something he saw one summer day in the 1970s on Chicago's North Side lakefront (then and now, a place where gays liked to gather).

Pritikin saw a handful of police cars and bunch of cops "raid" the beach all because a young blond man in a Speedo was selling sandwiches on the beach, without a license to do so. Yeah, selling sandwiches without a license got nine cops to respond to the beach that day and arrest the guy.

Pritikin, who was visiting from San Francisco (he's lived in SF and Chicago) at the time, found a pay phone nearby and called the Daily News, where Royko was working at the time, and asked to speak to Royko, "who I had heard was always willing to go to bat for the little guy.

"I was connected to him and he listened my story and when I was finished Mike Royko said to me loud and clear:

'They should arrest all the faggots!'

And then he hung up."

So, you know, forgive me for not genuflecting at the altar of Royko the next time he is brought up in conversation or I remind you of how much of a prick this guy must have been when you ask me if I want to be like Royko or you assume that I ask St. Royko for journalistic guidance every day when I leave for work.

Two of My Favourite Things

Anderson Cooper and Fred Perry. I wonder if Coop plays tennis in his Fred Perry shirt or if he goes to ska shows wearing it. He needs to work on his arms a little bit more, like his buddy has obviously been.

Let the Freak Flags Fly

Joe. My. God. has some great thoughts on Pride parades. While I will not be watching or participating this year, I can't say I disagree with his feelings. I need to take a year, maybe two, off from it, but I am much closer to his opinion than those who are disgusted or dismissive of the freaks and "defectives" that make the front pages and nighttime newscasts.

What's the Point of a Parade?

So, this is Gay Pride Month, and what have we done? Well, so far this month we have seen President No Hope defend the Defense of Marriage Act, refuse to repeal (or claim he can't) Don't Ask Don't Tell, and generally ignore and certainly piss off, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and supportive allies community.

Some people are upset. Some people are REALLY upset. Some people say "told ya so!" Some people are calling for a march in DC in the fall, when Congress will be out. In the meantime, the bloggerworld is filled with anger, shouting, name-calling of the President from a place formerly known as Hope. Isn't there anything else we can do?

Cancel all the fucking pride parades. With the exception of the seven states where gays and lesbians can legally marry (each other, Mr. President, not opposite gendered people, and even those marriages aren't recognized throughout the rest of the U.S.) what is there to celebrate this year?

Instead, hold letter writing and envelope stuffing and phone calling parties. You can still close off the streets, but fill them with tables and chairs for people to do this stuff at.

Tell all the fag hags and the folks who wander on down to the "pride" parties because it's a good time that if they wanna party with the queers, drink the queer beer, throw up in the queer streets, they're gonna have to do something to earn that drink or that string of beads (and I'm not talking about more college wrestlers doing porn).

If the big corporations want to show their support, instead of obnoxious floats with naked dancers on them or giant shopping carts, have them provide snacks and drinks for everyone making the calls and writing the letters and stuffing the envelopes and calling the congress people and senators. Instead of flooding the streets with drunks, let's flood the switchboards with calls to repeal DADT and DOMA and make marriage equal and well, as long as we're at it, switch the U.S. to a civilized, single-payer healthcare system.

You think that those who don't like the gays and who make money by preaching against the evils of "San Francisco-style values" and who put video of drag queens and go-go boys on their Right Wing/Religious "news" shows get their panties in bunches by watching and talking about Pride Parades, imagine what would happen if instead they saw hundreds of thousands of queers and others in a number of major U.S. cities calling their Congress people and writing letters and collecting donations to get equal marriage on the ballot, to get the President to keep his promise to repeal DADT and to make sure all the queers are registered to vote? How better to honor the memory of Stonewall?

Yeah, I know, it'll never happen, but like that $3 Lotto ticket I sometimes buy, it is nice to dream for a little while.

Is the Hulu Party Over?

What, you thought it would always be free?

With 'Fierce Advocates' Like These ...

Dear Mr. President:

You've got the job. Now start doing the work that the people who elected you want, instead of the job you think you have to do so as not to offend those who have done nothing to support you and never will. Our patience is wearing thin, if you haven't noticed.

***
From Realclearpolitics:
" In 1948, Truman issued an executive order integrating the armed forces. That same year Gallup found that only 13 percent of Americans supported "having Negro and white troops throughout the U.S. armed services live and work together."

That Obama has not acted on "don't ask, don't tell," despite public support that Truman would have envied, spotlights the delicate political tightrope the president now walks.

Obama is consumed by an historic domestic agenda, ranging from stimulus legislation to health care reform. It's no accident that he has withheld early engagement on the same issue that sidetracked Clinton's first year.

But this is also not 1993. That year, one summer Gallup survey found that Americans were divided on the issue--48 percent supporting the policy and an equal share against. Today, about seven in 10 Americans are against 'don't ask, don't tell.'"
***

What Are You Afraid of, Mr. President?