Citrus County Pride
Okay I suppose it's time for my bimonthly self analysis!
So now it's 2011 and so far I'm accomplished vegetarianism and fulfilling my sexual desires (well, some of them, but that's a story for next time). I'm just thinking about how many THINGS and SHIT I could accomplish this year. What seems like a very, very long time ago, I made a promise to myself that I would change Citrus County. In some way or another. I decided to address - and/or challenge - the issue of homosexuality in Inverness, and the county. I wanted to have a pride parade. What better way to challenge it? It won't change anyone's mind, but it will at least let the friendly folke of Inverness know that homosexuality is LEGAL. Sometimes I feel like I'm in south Georgia when I'm in Citrus County for long periods of time.
Anyway. The pride parade hasn't happened yet. The event date is set for mid-April. It is now mid-January. I must have planned all this pride love in about... before March at least. I met Karen in March. Yeah. It's been a while. I went to the right people, jumped their loopholes, went through the correct chain of command. Signed shit. Paid the $25 event fee for Citrus County. Not too bad, I guess. But a little more help would have been awesome. I suppose I'm feeling feelings (whoa) of... betrayal. Clynt started the whole thing. I don't mean that to sound negative. What he did was brave, he started the petition to get a GSA established at our very Christian high school. I helped. From then on, together, we sought out a teacher to sponsor this very risky organization. It was like selling shaved, flavorless ice in Alaska. No one was interested. No one had to be. They were all raised very differently from us. They were raised by children of Jehovah's witnesses, or slave owners. I haven't done my research for this blog, as you can probably tell.
But after we talked to just about EVERY staff member on the fucking campus, we still couldn't find an Eskimo that was hot. I asked the teachers that declined the request to write in my composition book why exactly they had declined it. Nearly all of the teachers we asked wrote something like "too contradictory." Or they were too busy, or they were the sponsor for the cheerleading squad on campus, or that they just "couldn't."
Just a few months after this we decide to establish the club off campus (after it being suggested by the principal of the school, so that the community can get used to the newly discovered, strange homosexual tribe that took up residence in the area.) It grows very quickly, and I'm amazed to see the number of people that start Liking our Facebook group page. We're meeting at the local library which is less than 20 minutes walk from the high school. I grow confident and excited about the things we could achieve in the county. A few months after, we discuss having a pride parade, in downtown Inverness. Eventually after much debate and discussion over who to talk to and where to go and which papers to get and rules and regulations... I talk to a woman by the name of Pati Smith, who is I believe the director of parks and recreation in Inverness. It's a long process but at the end I have to get insurance for the event since it's going to be so big (hopefully), and fill out a very lengthy packet, and pay the $25, which the GSA contributes to but my dad ends up paying the rest. So... I really feel like I should have had more help with that. Nothing was organized. People came, but not many people seemed genuinely interested and the love of power was all too strong when it came to the club politics. Overall, I felt sort of powerless. And now, as I said, it is Mid-January and the pride parade is SUPPOSED to be mid-April. As far as I know (no one has told me otherwise), they haven't done anything to get the parade going. And as far as I know, they are still meeting at the library. I know my dad would let me know if they weren't. I'm getting tired of things falling apart after I initiate them. I can't be the president forever. I'll always be the founder but not always the president. That, apparently, is Dakota's job. We both know we hate each other. We maintain civility when it comes to the GSA. Other than that, there is no reason to communicate with her. Way too much drama. And her mom is more or less insane.
Anyway. I wrote far too much, and I only wanted to say one thing. But, as always, I felt the need to tell the story in its entirety, and THEN getting to the point. I want to do something to help them. It's not that I feel obligated, but I love them all (as GSA members), and I want them to succeed with this. But they need to stand up and take the initiative themselves. I can't do everything anymore. So... as for now, I'm stuck. But I'm going home on the 17th, so I'll be able to go to the GSA meeting on the 18th. They better still be having them. I feel like a mother who still feels as if she must have control over their 30-year-old kid.
So now it's 2011 and so far I'm accomplished vegetarianism and fulfilling my sexual desires (well, some of them, but that's a story for next time). I'm just thinking about how many THINGS and SHIT I could accomplish this year. What seems like a very, very long time ago, I made a promise to myself that I would change Citrus County. In some way or another. I decided to address - and/or challenge - the issue of homosexuality in Inverness, and the county. I wanted to have a pride parade. What better way to challenge it? It won't change anyone's mind, but it will at least let the friendly folke of Inverness know that homosexuality is LEGAL. Sometimes I feel like I'm in south Georgia when I'm in Citrus County for long periods of time.
Anyway. The pride parade hasn't happened yet. The event date is set for mid-April. It is now mid-January. I must have planned all this pride love in about... before March at least. I met Karen in March. Yeah. It's been a while. I went to the right people, jumped their loopholes, went through the correct chain of command. Signed shit. Paid the $25 event fee for Citrus County. Not too bad, I guess. But a little more help would have been awesome. I suppose I'm feeling feelings (whoa) of... betrayal. Clynt started the whole thing. I don't mean that to sound negative. What he did was brave, he started the petition to get a GSA established at our very Christian high school. I helped. From then on, together, we sought out a teacher to sponsor this very risky organization. It was like selling shaved, flavorless ice in Alaska. No one was interested. No one had to be. They were all raised very differently from us. They were raised by children of Jehovah's witnesses, or slave owners. I haven't done my research for this blog, as you can probably tell.
But after we talked to just about EVERY staff member on the fucking campus, we still couldn't find an Eskimo that was hot. I asked the teachers that declined the request to write in my composition book why exactly they had declined it. Nearly all of the teachers we asked wrote something like "too contradictory." Or they were too busy, or they were the sponsor for the cheerleading squad on campus, or that they just "couldn't."
Just a few months after this we decide to establish the club off campus (after it being suggested by the principal of the school, so that the community can get used to the newly discovered, strange homosexual tribe that took up residence in the area.) It grows very quickly, and I'm amazed to see the number of people that start Liking our Facebook group page. We're meeting at the local library which is less than 20 minutes walk from the high school. I grow confident and excited about the things we could achieve in the county. A few months after, we discuss having a pride parade, in downtown Inverness. Eventually after much debate and discussion over who to talk to and where to go and which papers to get and rules and regulations... I talk to a woman by the name of Pati Smith, who is I believe the director of parks and recreation in Inverness. It's a long process but at the end I have to get insurance for the event since it's going to be so big (hopefully), and fill out a very lengthy packet, and pay the $25, which the GSA contributes to but my dad ends up paying the rest. So... I really feel like I should have had more help with that. Nothing was organized. People came, but not many people seemed genuinely interested and the love of power was all too strong when it came to the club politics. Overall, I felt sort of powerless. And now, as I said, it is Mid-January and the pride parade is SUPPOSED to be mid-April. As far as I know (no one has told me otherwise), they haven't done anything to get the parade going. And as far as I know, they are still meeting at the library. I know my dad would let me know if they weren't. I'm getting tired of things falling apart after I initiate them. I can't be the president forever. I'll always be the founder but not always the president. That, apparently, is Dakota's job. We both know we hate each other. We maintain civility when it comes to the GSA. Other than that, there is no reason to communicate with her. Way too much drama. And her mom is more or less insane.
Anyway. I wrote far too much, and I only wanted to say one thing. But, as always, I felt the need to tell the story in its entirety, and THEN getting to the point. I want to do something to help them. It's not that I feel obligated, but I love them all (as GSA members), and I want them to succeed with this. But they need to stand up and take the initiative themselves. I can't do everything anymore. So... as for now, I'm stuck. But I'm going home on the 17th, so I'll be able to go to the GSA meeting on the 18th. They better still be having them. I feel like a mother who still feels as if she must have control over their 30-year-old kid.