No on California's Prop 8: an open letter

Dear friends and family,

I'll be blunt. I'm writing to ask for your help in defeating California's Proposition 8, the ballot measure that would codify the discrimination inherent in the statement "marriage is between a man and a woman."

I could give you fiscal, social, familial, or personal reasons why I believe Prop 8 is wrong, but I'll just say this: it's fundamentally unAmerican to say that some people are more worthy of government sanction than others. It was wrong when we counted slaves as 3/5 of free people, it was wrong when women were denied the vote, and it's wrong today.

If you're in California, please don't forget to vote. And no matter where you are, please join me and thousands of other Americans in giving whatever you can - your time, your money, your goodwill and word of mouth - to defeat the proponents of inequality.

JOY JOY JOY: for Meg

(Is it just me, or does this feel like it's becoming my blog? Meg, we'd love to hear your take on this all...)

Anyway. Last night I arrived safely from Switzerland and went straight to The Borderline to see Jenny Owen Youngs. The photos on her page don't do her justice, so I'll put one of my own here and more on Flickr, but in person she looks like what would happen if our lovely and fun friend Lindsay Mac had babies with the uber-talented Kaki King:Since Meg couldn't come with me, I promised her a setlist, complete with jokes. Unfortunately Miss JOY was a bit sick, so the set was a little shortened, and there's a bit of rambling, but she's an amazingly talented singer. There weren't a ton of people there, so I got to be up front, and weirdly a lot of them had only heard one song of hers (more on that in a bit).
1. Coyote
Jenny asks everyone to set their ring tones to g-sharp, the key of the next song.
2. Lightning Rod
Someone's phone rings, but in the wrong key. A new verse for the song is written - "I thought we talked about the ring tones."
3. A new song, I think, which I'm calling Dissolve
4. Drinking Song
Here, the English cold medicines begin to take effect on Jenny. She finishes the second chorus, then can't remember whether or not she's played the second verse. Since hardly anyone in the audience knows the music, no one can say for sure. She begins again with the second verse. Someone shouts "We've heard that bit." The third verse begins.

Dave House is in the house. He joins Jenny on stage. They play "the one with the cursing":
5. F**k was I
Jenny asks if we've brought our feeleings. Someone in the audience says, "We're English, we don't do feelings." Jenny says, oh right, you live in this country that's cold, rainy, and full of ennui.
6. Porchrail
Dave leaves before the song is even over.
7. P.S.
8. Woodcut
Now, we find out that Jenny loves the English "beans on toast," which makes their poor excuse for coffee almost tolerable.
9. From Here
Dave returns.
10. Keys Out Lights On
Jenny promises she'll put on an evening gown later, since that's what we've all come for: "If I were a crack dealer, these songs would be my pancake store. Do you have pancakes here?" An American in the audience laments the lack of Aunt Jemima to go with pancakes. We also learn that Jenny ordered flapjacks once, and got a "horrible excuse for a granola bar," and warns us all not to go to America and order flapjacks and expect that.
11. Voice on Tape
Dave leaves again. He hasn't said a single word all night.
12. A song I'm calling Avalanche, by someone who I think is called Garinne Hawk
13. A new song I'm calling The English Language
14. Another new song I'm calling I Couldn't Want You
15. Her cover of Hot in Here, which turns out to be why everone came to the show. For the first time all night, they're singing along! Too bad the show is over now.

Uncivil liberties

We received the letter below in the mail (er, post) yesterday. The places I blacked out are where they gave the exact address of the residence in question.



There was a copy of this letter for each apartment (er, flat) in our building. Nothing like a little public shame to discourage drug use (just one activity in the list of Anti-Social Behaviours, which places the need to shut down crack houses only slightly above the requirement to cut down your high hedges).

Welcome to the 21st century

It's been very interesting to me to see so many sites from "history." Coming from California, a comparatively young state in terms of the stuff you learn about in school, I was fascinated when I moved to Chicago, then New York, to finally be able to get a visual idea of what it might have been like for George Washington crossing the Delaware. So to come here, and walk across Tower Bridge to the Traitor's Gate, has been really interesting.

It does have its downsides, though. Some things are strangely antiquated. We light our stove with matches. One of the bedrooms has a coal fireplace.

Case in point: we're trying to get our internet connection at home set up. This requires a phone line to be rented from BT, which can't be done until you have a bank account with direct debit. Then it takes 2 days for them to magically throw the switch for your phone line to be turned on. Then you wait 5 days for the internet company to see your new phone line. Then you can call them, and they will send you something in the mail which you can use to turn your internet on. Sometimes you just wish for AOL to send you an unrequested CD in the mail!

The best, though, was this morning. Our electricity inexplicably wen't off around 3am. When we went to speak with our neighbors (we had no idea who to call), she suggested that to get ready for work, we "boil a cauldron of water" and asked if we needed to borrow matches. Maybe it's just the time of year, but I'm suddenly more concerned for our safety...

Things that are different

Here are some things we've noticed that strike us as funny examples of the differences in culture:

• Cough medication. They have medicines for every possible variation in cough. Chesty cough? Tickly cough? Dry cough? Perhaps you've got a cough and a sore throat.
• Television. Both more highbrow and more lowbrow (if that's possible) than US TV. And sometimes, somehow, both.
  
• Lunch break and other examples of work-life balance. Our colleagues (well, mine - see Meg's last post) nearly always go out for lunch. At the very least, they take a half hour to walk to a sandwich shop a half mile away. I bring my lunch from Tesco, because if I don't I won't eat. Sad, and yet an unchangeable habit.
  
• And on that note, drinking at lunch. And again in the pub at 5pm after work. Needless to say, I have not yet fully adopted these habits.
  
• Politeness. They even tell you which way to look before you cross the street.
  
• The mail gets delivered 4 times a day. Mostly, unless they're on strike.
  
• And finally, the pub on Knightrider Court. Even once visited by David Hasselhoff.
  

Sports in the UK

One of our first outings here in the UK was attending the England v. Wales rugby match, in preparation for the upcoming Rugby World Cup in France. England dominated the Welsh 62-5 at Twickenham, the home of England Rugby. Since it was a blow-out, the match stopped being interesting fairly early. However, we really enjoyed the atmosphere at the stadium, which basically turns into a huge beer garden for the day of a match. Needless to say, we partook in numerous delicious beers, and even tried a famed Pimm’s Cup (the traditional English summertime cocktail, we aren’t big fans). I think we’ll visit the stadium again, perhaps to catch the Barbarians play South Africa later this year.

Being huge rugby fans (most of you probably know that we met playing rugby for Chicago North Shore), the ability to catch test matches in person is an incredible luxury, and almost makes up for the total lack of baseball in this country. The only baseball we get to see is on espn.com or the occasional game that we get to watch on TV. Sky Sports gets the ESPN feed for the Sunday and Wednesday night games. However, since we’re 5 hours ahead of the East Coast and 8 hours ahead of the West, we rarely get to catch them, unless we’re fighting a battle with insomnia. Needless to say, we are terribly missing the Cubs attempt at making the playoffs… LET’S GO CUBBIES!!!