Howdy, friends! I’m sorry about the extended blog silence–apparently, several of you have noticed the absence of posts here over the past few weeks, and are maybe a little concerned. Some of you have gingerly emailed me links and ideas for other posts–thanks! But my reasons for not-posting are even more trivial than being out of ideas: too much travel and too many RL command performances = too little time, energy, and/or reliable internet access for me to blog at all. (And then there’s my day job, after all.)
Other bloggers are on the ball. If you’re interested in intelligent commentary on marriage, civil unions, and the circus last week at the U.S. Supreme Court, then go see what Madwoman with a Laptop has to say about her visit to the famous marble steps last week, complete with photos and other interesting links. See also Tenured Radical‘s inaugural post post-Spring Break and her discussion about the economic and cultural privilege it takes for her and her partner to resist marriage while ensuring that they’re economically and legally protected otherwise. Smart stuff.
In any case: I’ll be back on the high plains real soon, and will resume regular posting post-haste. In the meantime: did you see this schadenfreudelicious op-ed by Ross Douthat in yesterday’s New York Times? Shorter version: we conservatives lost but don’t rub it in. Douthat’s column makes me want to repeat the wisdom in that old bumper-sticker from the 1990s in response to Focus on the Family’s efforts to curb abortion and gay rights: focus on your own damn family! Straights have a lot of marital and family housecleaning and maintenance to do before they can credibly advise gays about their families, don’t’cha think? (All of the screwed-up adults I know were raised in nominally straight families. Gay families have a lot of catching up to do before we can complain about them.)
Historiann 
Hey, Historiann, us old-timers and everybody else I think perfectly understands why fallow time has to happen in creative fora. We loves us this blog, but we loves you more, so post when ready, and not before…
The Supreme Court is being like a lot of our students, beginning the home stretch in April by submitting a lot of work that was due earlier. So much so that the NYT has had to out-source coverage, perhaps revealing in the process who might step up to the beat when Adam Liptak (like everyone from Linda Greenhouse back to Anthony Lewis) inevitably burns out. None of this would happen if the Court put in air conditioning and worked all year, but then we’d be the only ones to take summers “off,” which would not be a great place to be.
LikeLike
*waves*
I’m glad that it’s just term-time busy-ness. I know that’s biting me in the butt these past months. That and the dad-blammed snowbanks that are still hanging around up here.
LikeLike
Hey there,
Second what Indyanna says! I choked on my matzo over Douthat’s whiny, ridiculous essay. He can’t get close to proving that gay marriage damages straight marriage, but he just knows it’s true! The logic seems to follow the property values argument: if gays get marries then straights won’t want to. Makes one sorry for Douthat’s wife.
Have fun in the land of Wolverines!
LikeLike
Really missed your posts. Even started to scream at the lady prof adjacent to my office.
Seriously, we were in South America all that time. Thanks for the consideration.
LikeLike
At this time of year everyone gets a pass. Who knows, maybe H’Ann is heading up to the pass?
Anyway, we’ll all be ready to hear from your worldly wisdom and wit when it is ready! And I felt like saying to Douthat, there’s this saying about “Do unto others…” and while I will try not to be smug, if the Supremes knock DOMA down, I will be HAPPY! Why should I hide it. And if Douthat’s marriage is so fragile that letting two women marry undermines it, that tells me all I need to know!
LikeLike
Hey, I just assumed you were on holiday! I’m glad you’re back, though.
LikeLike
Good for you.
All people need rest, especially writers.
LikeLike
TR and Madwoman’s posts are both great, thanks for linking them.
I agree with TR in this: “under current conditions, gay and lesbian people who marry signal a commitment to things as they are, not as they could be.” I would add, however, that straight people who choose to marry under current conditions signal the same thing. Perhaps what I’d like is a world in which everybody has the right to choose not to marry whomever they choose.
LikeLike