dumbledore's gay? oh my god, get the children inside.

My favorite author, J.K. Rowling, is under a lot of fire right now for announcing that Dumbledore, Harry Potter's mentor and headmaster at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, is gay.
I was watching CNN just now, and someone wrote into the show with a very good point. To paraphrase, he said, "When the president of Iran says there are no gays in Iran, we laugh at him and call him a moron. Why are parents trying so hard to hide the fact that there are gays in the wizarding world?"
If J.K. Rowling had announced that Dumbledore was heterosexual, no one would have been bothered. Or, rather, she wouldn't have had to announce it, because it would have been implied. This is not something that defines the character; it's color, for those Potterites (like me) who still can't get enough.
J.K. Rowling has said time and time again that these are NOT necessarily books for children. They're bloody and dark and full of misery and horror. Up until this point, however, no one cared about that--until Rowling outed Dumbledore.
Whether you're the president of Iran or a parent with your head in the sand, wake up--gays exist. They have jobs and families and friends and other things in their lives that are more important than their sexuality, to them and to those who love them. Get over it.

Oooh! Totally forgot!

Remember that sick pigeon? (scroll down if you don't) As it turns out, he was badly dehydrated and starving, probably as a result of being battered by a recent storm and pushed off his flight path. Thanks to Rose and I, however, the little guy is well on his way to a full recovery.
Long live the flying rat!

so much to do...

Oh, I've been slacking. Bad, bad Jackie. My newsletter is late, I haven't posted any articles in a while, I'm still trying to plow through my mailing list for the newest installment of postcards...ai. To be fair, I've been waking up every morning feeling like I was hit by a Mack truck, whose compassionate driver then backed up over me to finish off, and the feeling has been sticking throughout the day.
Everyone keeps telling me I'm doing too much. But...this is my moment. I screw this one up, I probably won't get another chance. So, onward and upward I go.
In other news...I'm really ticked about this whole Ellen Doggie Disaster thing. You may have heard, she adopted a dog, the dog and her cats didn't mesh, so she gave the dog to her hairdresser and her children. Nice, right? Responsible. Not according to the shelter owner, who plowed into the hairdresser's home, with cops and a warrant, and took the children's doggie away.
Granted, there was a clause in the contract that, should troubles arise, the dog should be returned to the shelter, but...it's not as though Ellen put a "free dog" ad in the paper, she knows the owner, speaks to her every day, and, animal lover that I know she is, probably gave this a good think before she did it. Personally, I think a home full of children and happiness is better than cold concrete and chain-link fence. Apparently, this shelter owner disagrees.
Of course, I do feel a little bad for the shelter owner, now...apparently, she's filed harassment charges, since she's gotten death threats over this. Part of me is screaming "KARMA!!!!" and part of me is saying, well, maybe she just took her responsibility a little too far.
For the most part, I agree with the fact that rules are rules. They are there for a purpose, to protect people, animals, trees, etc. But there is an exception to every rule, and when someone does something with the best of intentions, with the best of results, I think perhaps we can look the other way.
It nearly broke my heart this morning, when I saw a clip of Ellen crying on her show. Keep your chin up, honey...nobody blames you. And you did the right thing.

Children of the Corn

I have two very strange plants growing side by side in my backyard. For a long time, I believed it was corn, from a birdfeeder or a messy squirrel. Until a) the plants didn't produce any ears of corn, and b) where the feathery bits at the top of the cornstalk usually are, each plant has produced a clump of hundreds of tiny, gray-green berries.
I have scoured my field guides and searched the internet. Apparently, this plant exists nowhere but my backyard. Which disturbs me. Is it poisonous? Will the tiny gray-green berries burst open to reveal hundreds of tiny alien babies?
Totally freaky.