Saturday, James and I went to celebrate Mabon (fall equinox to those of you who are non-Pagans) at an Open Circle. Very nice spending time with the other folks from the coven. I haven't been as active with Pagan stuff for a while, but it felt good to connect. The High Priestess read a guided visualization and we later shared what we thought we had gotten from it. Later, some of us had dinner together and were generally fun/silly.
Getting the newsletter done was a slight bear as we had more pages than normal, and the PDF balked when it got to the print shop. Between that a getting up to see a friend off who had crashed en route to going to an SCA event, I think I had minimal sleep on Saturday AM.
So, sitting here now, hoping that folks show up to help collate. Then the usual monthly mad dash to do distribution. In a weird way, I really enjoy that last past, even though I end up feeling like I have downed a gallon of Jolt Cola. (And those who know me are aware I normally tend to talk like a Yorkshire Terrier on speed under the best of circumstances.)
I took the day off to finish newsletter stuff (print envelopes, export/format the HTML files, enter stuff into the database that generates the dynamic pages, etc.) Then I dashed off to the State Human Relations Commission that was at the Avalon Hotel. I chatted with Abbey Atkinson, who was recovering from having been the main organizer for Pride Weekend. She is a really good-hearted person and the absolute salt of the earth. Maureen was there from PFLAG with another PFLAG memeber in tow. Maureen is also a real sweetheart.
Interesting development when Bill McCarthy, the chairman of the Erie County Human Relations Commission, was speaking to the State HRC and also the observers. The Erie HRC had lowered the request from the county in an attempt to get by down to $25,000. Bill mentioned having just seen (as in that day( a press release from James Terrill that included text from County Executive Rick Schenker mentioning about funding $15,000 for the HRC.
Really odd was that Bill hadn't gotten this info directly, and County Councilmember Joy Greco was also unaware of it and seemed taken aback. Joy spoke in favor off the HRC, and I really think of her as a genuinely good human being. When she announced her support for the inclusion of sexual orientation/gneder identity during the amendment process, I was really impressed by her intellectual honesty and genuine good will.
Conversely, the $15,000 press release thing felt like Schenker realized that he might be too open about apparently not caring about justice and civil rights violations and feebly covering his butt. I don't have all the facts, so I could be wrong. It did feel like a doofy misstep on his part. Look, if someone is accused of something, it costs more money to go to (already overburdened) Pittsburgh then settling it quickly locally. Erie Mayor Rick Filippi stated that he saw the HRC as an economic development strength. No other municipality that anyone is aware of is trying to balance their budget by cutting this kind of vital service. How freaking hard is this???
And now some quick lemon chicken before (hopefully!) folks show up.
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