November 18, 2015

My crazy first LEGAL gay anniversary.

This day, a year ago, my partner and I were allowed to legally marry in the State of Oklahoma. It has been an interesting year, but not all that different from some other years, and certainly more tame than a few years we have had together. I posted about our marriage last year, so I thought I would give people a "peek" into the wildness of a first year gay anniversary. Prepare yourself...

I had cards placed in the kitchen and den so my husband would find them when he woke up. The puppies got him up early as they often do. Of course, the raging storm helped too as my chihuahuas do not like thunderstorms. Oh yeah, he was home today because he was sick (since Saturday). Flu shot only works so well. LOL! But the real party started when I got up and went down stairs to him hacking up a lung. I was now fighting off his cold. I think I won! We exchanged pleasantries, no kissing for obvious reasons, and settled in to watch some TV. He promptly fell asleep. We woke up, watched some more TV, then I was off...to the doctor's office. After waiting for an hour, I was finally informed my biopsy was negative! YEA! No stomach cancer! They still have no fucking clue what is wrong with me, but hay, it ain't cancer so I am kvetching too much! Then back home with some KFC chicken pot pie. No since in cooking as he really couldn't eat too much and that is what he wanted. I did actually plan to make a Mustard peppercorn eye of round, but I wasn't about to put all that effort into something he couldn't eat. Guess what we are having tonight?!

The rest of the day was filled with more TV, napping, puppy potty breaks, MORE TV and napping, then it was time to put him to bed, where I had one final card. We hugged goodnight (remember, he is still sick and we got plans next week) and I put him and the four doggies in bed.

Boring, right? Well, even us gays have to take a day off from wild parties and what ever else bullshit the rightwing makes up about us. The point is my marriage is legal. Our lives didn't change profoundly with the exception of the following: I was now a spouse and could get insurance which reflected it; we could file as married on our taxes which greatly increased our refund (we got some serous cheddar back), we didn't have to worry about the home, cars, money, if, G-d forbid, something were to happen to him or me, it would go directly to the other, and, as of last June, my marriage didn't become unrecognized if we went from state to state.

What didn't change? Our love for each other; our commitment to one another; our desire to be with one another...in sickness and health!

I just had to share my happiness.

November 9, 2015

77 years ago, November 9, 1938..."Kristallnacht came...and everything was changed" - Max Rein (1988)

Kristallnacht, or The Night of Broken Glass, took place on November 9, 1938 and dragged into November 10th. The Nazi party, as well as everyday Germans, went on a spree of violence throughout Germany, Austria, East Prussia and the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia attacking and murdering Jews, burning down synagogues, and attacking and destroying Jewish owned businesses and homes. The event was retribution, along with the prevalent anti-Semitic attitudes, for the assassination of Ernst vom Rath by a Polish Jew, Herschel Grynszpan, in Paris, France. Over 1000 synagogues were damaged or destroyed. At least 91 Jews were killed in the two days, though the numbers are thought to be higher based on deaths because of mistreatment during the pogrom and various suicides because of Kristallnacht.


Hundreds of synagogues were attacked, vandalized and looted and dozens were set ablaze and destroyed. Firemen were instructed to let the synagogues burn but to prevent the flames from spreading to nearby structures. Additionally, shop windows in thousands of Jewish-owned stores were smashed and the wares within looted. Jewish cemeteries were also desecrated and many Jews were attacked by mobs of Storm Troopers (SA). At least 91 Jews died in the pogrom. source

This event was a precursor of things to come. After the event, several thousands of Jews were deported to various concentration camps and others "repatriated" to Poland. While the Germans added insult to injury by making the Jewish community pay for damages, the world condemned the events, a few countries even withdrew or ended diplomatic contact. However, little else was done. These events didn't occur in a vacuum, an onslaught of lies and continuous anti-Semitic propaganda made this event palatable, even acceptable, to the average German.


As the synagogue in Oberramstadt burns during Kristallnacht (the "Night of Broken Glass&quot , firefighters instead save a nearby house. Local residents watch as the synagogue is destroyed. Oberramstadt, Germany, November 9-10, 1938.
— US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Trudy Isenberg


Shattered storefront of a Jewish-owned shop destroyed during Kristallnacht (the "Night of Broken Glass&quot . Berlin, Germany, November 10, 1938.
— National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.


Burning synagogue in Baden-Baden


Synagogue burning in Frankfurt


Interior of Essenweinstrasse Synagogue in Nuremburg following Kristallnacht.


Buchenwald Roll-Call for those arrested during Kristallnacht