My Oyster

Here is where I am at on the morning of November 4th...

For me the No on 1 campaign was never really just about marriage equality.  It was always about broader acceptance of me by the state I have always loved.  The one that I escaped as soon as I could in 1983 but that I have always returned to and that remains my real home.  Maine and I continue to have a passionate and complicated relationship.

 

So this is what I am feeling early this morning…

 

Content.  I did everything I could and I had an amazing experience.  I can’t really ask for more.  Well, sure – a win would have been nice.  But life is about the journey and this was a deeply personal and moving time for me and I loved every minute.

 

Optimistic.  We are going to get this done.  I know that from the conversations with yes voters I have had over the past several days.  My favorite was last night 15 minutes before the polls closed.  I was in the rain, in the dark, and in a trailer park on Sand Hill (the ultra catholic, Franco-American area of Augusta) talking to my last 2 voters.  They were a couple – probably in their late 50s, working class.  She had already voted No.  He had already voted Yes.  He was apologetic and warm and kept inviting me inside to visit with them.  He is already with us.  He just doesn’t know it yet.  He will one day.  There are many more of him. 

 

Proud.  Of our work.  Of my family and friends.  I know my mother has been more nervous about this than I have been.  That’s what mother’s do.  I know my brother is more upset today than I am.  Big brothers are protective .  My nieces and nephews and their innate sense of fairness is amazing.  The support and encouragement I have received from friends far and wide, old and new has been incredible.

 

Disappointed.  I am not gonna lie.  This sucks.  I really hate that my rights and my humanity are put to public vote and majority rule every year.  It’s demeaning in a way that most people probably cannot really understand.  Thankfully. 

 

Blessed.  Not because I have to fight for basic protections and rights, but because I live in a place and time when I can. 

 

Resolved.  We will continue to move onward and upward.  I am resilient and so is every other gay man and lesbian that I know.  We have been pushed down before (and I don’t mean just figuratively) and we know how to get back up with dignity and keep pushing forward.  That is also in our DNA.

 

I am not sure what is next, but it will be good.

Thanks.

James

"Not knowing when the dawn will come I open every door"

Weathered Doors, originally uploaded by Bella Seven.

Well, I knock on every door.

I like the optimism of that quote by Emily Dickinson. It is very appropriate for where we are right now with the No on 1 campaign. Everything is possible - if you just keep knocking on doors.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon knocking on doors and talking to people about their thoughts on gay marriage. I went door to door in Augusta in some of the same neighborhoods where I hung out while growing up.

I really enjoyed it. I like the face-to-face campaigning. I like meeting people and hearing what they think. I like the encouragement from our supporters and their real desire to help make history on Tuesday.

As much as I enjoy the door to door campaigning, it's not all so fun. I got called a "fag' and was accused of "doing the devil's work" by one guy - who also happened to be working with an ax at the time. I thanked him and wished him a nice day. Then walked briskly to the next house.

I also got accosted for driving up a (very long, creepy) private road to one house set way back in the woods. I mean way back - this is Maine, afterall. Some guy sped after me (I was with a colleague -always in pairs), pinned my car with his huge truck, and berated me for being on his property. The good news - we confirmed that his wife would vote no before we left.

But those were just two sketchy bits in an overall great experience. I am enjoying reconnecting with the people of central Maine.

Hopefully, I will be doing some more canvassing tomorrow on election day.

36 hours and lots to do.

34 - 17,211 - 60...

NO ON 1, originally uploaded by sfPhotocraft.

That is not my locker combination. But they are three very important numbers. And when you are this close to election day, it is all about the numbers.

If you haven't been following, the fight to save our right to marry here in Maine is very tight. So the numbers...

34 is the number of times that gay marriage has been on a ballot somewhere in the US in the past few years. It is also the number of times that marriage equality has lost when put to popular vote. 0-34. Not a great track record. But Maine is poised to change that and put us on a diferent path. Things here are different. It is a pretty special place tucked away in the northeast corner of the country. There is a real commitment to individual rights and fairness.

17,211 is our canvassing goal in central Maine. Over the last few days before the election on Tuesday we want to knock on that many doors in Kennebec and Androscoggin counties. We need to make sure our supporters actually VOTE. Moral support just isn't going to cut it this time. It is an off-year election with no major offices on the ballot, so motivating people to vote is tough. It really is all about turnout. Vote. It matters.

60 is the number of hours we have left to make some history. Not much time. Lots to do.

OK, I am off for a run, breakfast with the ladies (Pat, Betty, Dianne), then a full day & night at the campaign office.

Hello, is 'INSERT NAME' home? I am calling from the No on 1 campaign...

Maine is a pretty amazing place.

It was a great place to grow up and go to school and for me it has always been where I go to relax, find comfort, and return to my roots. So when the state legislature passed a gay marriage law that the Governor signed, I was both kinda shocked and very excited. And very, very proud of my neighbors across the state.

So now I am up here for a few days to help stop a people's veto to repeal the law on November 3rd. I came up to Maine for a long weekend with my parents and the UMaine Homecoming - but also to volunteer on the No on 1 campaign.

Yesterday I did a few hours of phone bank work - calling people in Westbrook to make sure that they A)understood the ballot question (NO = support gay marriage) and B)would vote early if they are a supporter.

Convincing my parents to support the campaign was not very hard work. The picture above is us with their yard sign. OK, so there is not a lot of traffic on their pretty rural road - only two houses beyond theirs - but every potential vote counts. They also put a bumper sticker on their car - which I think is a pretty strong statement in this neck of the woods (quite literally).

The pic below is at my brother's house. Also a strong supporter. In fact, I think he and my sister are probably stronger gay advocates than I have been throughout our adulthood. I have always appreciated that.

If you are reading this in Maine - please vote early by going here. 

"The college of our hearts always..."

Everyone should feel that way about their Alma Mater.  I really do.  And that line is part of the University of Maine's school song - the Maine Stein Song.

I transfered to the University of Maine halfway through my sophmore year.  I had started out at American University in Washington, DC - where I now live.  I was not really looking forward to going back to my state university - but it was probably one of the best things I have ever done.

The University of Maine really is a family affair for us.  My parents both got degrees there.  All of my siblings did, except my brother (who went to the U of Maine in Farmington) and now the next generation of our family is up there.

So this morning we headed north to Orono to meet up with Chris and Sarah.  We started with a tour of their apartments.  Chris' pad looked a bit more...masculine...

And Sarah's looked a little more...livable (Sorry Chris)...

We had breakfast at a UMaine mainstay - the Governors...

As kids we used to love going there when my father was getting his Masters.  It's still good eats and cheap eats - just what a college town needs.  Here we are...

We finally made it to campus.  We skipped the football game...

and went to the Field House for the big craft fair instead...

Then I got a personal campus tour from Sarah...

Me in front of my dorm - where my father had also lived...

Little Hall - where I had my german and french classes...

Stevens Hall - where I had my international relations and poly sci classes...

The library (and the birthday girl)...

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And finally - the Maine Black Bear...

Time Travel to the Windsor Fair...

Or if you are from Maine, the Windsah Fayah.

It hasn't changed much in the 30 or more years since I last went.  It really was like stepping back in time.

There are still all the key ingredients for a rural, country fair.

Farm animals - including this boy with his 1st place cow...

Some big veggies - Jean posing with some huge pumpkins...

And even better, lots of Fried food - Sarah with some dough...

Midway Rides - where the real excitement comes from not being sure of just how safe the thing really is...

And here are Sarah, Jean and I on that same ride an hour later...

And some fun Carney Games - Suz and Jean shooting at some targets...

And more pics at my Flickr account.

Two Great Rivals and One Great Cause...

The Cony-Gardiner rivalry is one of the longest high school rivalries in the country. 

I went to Cony.  My mother and her sister, Ann, went to Gardiner (about 7 miles downstream).

My Aunt Maureen also went to Gardiner and has been their field hockey coach for many years. 

Tonight we went to see the two field hockey teams play.  It was a nice crisp New England autumn evening.  Perfect for watching a good game and for catching up with old friends.

The game was particularly meaningful for our family because it was also a charity event for the Harold Alfond Cancer Center - which is where my mother gets her care up here in Maine.    

Summer Theater in Maine...

Maine has a great tradition of summer theater to cater to all the tourists who flock here fo the good life (from June to September).

Today Jean and I joined my parents, brother, and his wife for a performance of The Drowsy Chaperone at the Maine State Music Theater in Brunswick.  That is Jean and I attempting to mimic the show poster outside the theater.  Me with a bit more enthusiasm.

I wasn't actually sure about the show as I had never even heard of it.  Not that I am an expert on musicals.  But I loved it.  We all did.  It was a lot of fun and I loved the theme of how a musical, or really the arts in general, can transport a person from anywhere to anywhere.  We all had big smiles when we left the theater.

Before the show we had ice creams and sat by the statue of Joshua Chamberlain - Maine governor, civil war hero, educator.  Here we are...

"I know every book of mine by its smell, and I have but to put my nose between the pages to be reminded of all sorts of things."

It's true.  George Robert Gissing got it right.  Books have smells and they stick with you.

I have been reading a lot this trip to Maine.  The smell of the book I am reading transports me to another place and time almost as much as the story itself does.

I am reading an older printing of The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway.  I have actually caught myself more than once sticking my nose in the book and taking a big whiff.  It has a kind of musty smell.  A good musty. 

I found the book here at the camp we are renting on Sheepscot Lake.  I think there is something about an old book that lives near the water.

The smell of the book and the sound of the wind through the trees and the birds on the lake really does take me back to the summers when I was in college and grad school. 

During the summers we lived in a small camp on Lower Narrows Pond in Winthrop, Maine.  I did a lot of reading back then.  My favorite books were often Modern Library Classics that I had found at lawn sales on the weekends (I collect them). 

I would stick my nose, literally, in those books too. 

Our Own "Golden Pond"...

That has been one of my favorite movies since it came out.  The true story actually took place on a lake not far from where I grew up and for much of my life, we lived on a lake.

This week I feel like we are living a "golden pond" existence again.  The pic above was the lake with sea smoke this morning during my kayak ride.  I think lakes in the early morning are the most beautiful.  Very still.  Very quiet.  Just the animals and a few fishermen and kayakers. 

Ma is enjoying the serenity of our own little golden pond this week too.  Here she is relaxing in the sun on her porch.

The lake life is also about loved ones and today we had a really nice visit from Ann, Christine, and Ellen.  With blueberry cake.  Yum.