If I Live on The Compound Do I Have to/Get to Drink the Koolaid?

It is official. I am moving from 1518 to my own place at about 12th East and 28th South (No I am not going to let any of you know my exact address). This decision has been made after much drama (which I will not get into here). I hate to leave my roommates, but sometimes you have to leave the nest. Plus as anyone who has roommates knows, I both love and hate my roommates, and I am sure the feeling is mutual.

This should be quite the interesting journey. This will be my first time living alone. I have almost no furniture so I am going to have to buy an entire house worth. On the more exciting side, I will be living in what we lovingly call The Compound, as the entire area is surrounded by my friends and their families. It is like the Kennedy compound, but with much less money and slightly less drinking (the koolaid tastes like Voddy). It should be great fun being surrounded by people I love, yet at the same time being on my own. That reminds me, I need to remind them all to never come over without calling and giving me a 5 minute head start… I’m not kidding.

It's Like America's on a Treadmill - We've Gone So Far, Yet Stayed in the Same Place

Okay, this has begun to bug me more and more as we get closer to Election Day (and as more and more people take a stance on Facebook), but I think I finally have to say something to clear it out of my system so I can focus on other things.

The issue we have for this rant is Prop 8 in California and Prop 102 in Arizona. Both seek to define marriage as strictly being between a man and a woman, aka no homo marriage. These props are pissing me off, but it’s not even because I think we should let anyone who actually wants to get married to do so, or even that I am so appalled by such conservative thinking. While all of those things do anger me, at this point it is just the stupidity of the semantics of the whole thing, and the fact that as a society we are still at this point that is causing my rage.

Conservative and “traditional” thought is what it is, but the stance of Democrats like Barack really kills me. “I believe in civil unions, but not in marriage.” What the fuck is that? Seriously on the governmental level, what’s the difference? Let’s set aside religious ceremonies as the government should not be involved in that and could not legislate what different religious groups need to allow anyway. My friend Jenni wants to be married to her future husband by a justice of the peace, with no religious aspects, a strictly civil ceremony. Would people say she is any less married? More importantly, it is interesting that in the eyes of the law even if you have a religious ceremony, you are actually not legally married until you and your witnesses sign the civil document.

It is sad that the world has come so far, but is still so afraid. When people like Barack and Joe say, “I believe in civil unions for gay couples, and not marriage,” they are really saying, “I believe in gay marriage, but I can’t say that for fear of backlash from the ridiculous undercurrent of religion and ignorance that flows through this puritanical country, so if I say I just believe in civil unions, I can also still say I don’t believe in gay marriage, even though they are pretty much the same thing. Thank God the Americans that would be involved in the backlash are also mostly too stupid to know I am saying the same thing.” Seriously, give me a break. It also shows that for all of those people that support different lifestyles, the majority of America does not, hence the political suicide.

As someone that is apart of a minority group, it kills me when I still see modern day prejudice that is deemed okay by a large portion of society. Haven’t we learned that all of that generally goes away over time, and we look back in horror at how simple-minded we were? We do the same thing to people who are overweight. Seriously if someone is not harming someone, we should probably leave them alone. Instead we chant about the destroying of the sanctity of marriage (yet you still go to Vegas), express shock about how early in primetime they are showing a dude on dude lip lock (yet cheer on the skanks making out at the bar), and use the word gay as a pejorative to describe something in meetings at work (I witnessed this one twice). Now if someone thought that an interracial couple marrying was destroying the sanctity of marriage, or worse, the Aryan race, that a kiss between that couple before 9pm on network television was unseemly, and said that a bad decision from a client was totally niggerish, that person would be looked at by most of society very differently.

The worst part is that people are wasting time and money on both sides campaigning for and against these propositions. How about we let anyone who dares to make a lifetime commitment to one another do so, and we can use the campaign money to fund a social program, perform cancer research, or feed starving children in a conflict torn area of Africa. Anything else that instead of consisting of judging and limiting people, builds them up and expands possibilities. Honestly, I can’t believe I have to even writing something like this. When we are “okay with the gays” what will be the next thing that we will move on to despise. I am constantly surprised by humanity’s lack of ability to love, and infinite ability to hate.

Social Media is Taking Over My Life

Social Media has taken over the advertising world. Everyone is looking to capitalize on the success of blogs, MySpace, Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, and their ilk.

At first I was very skeptical. I had to be dragged in to every social network that I have been apart of. I do love my blogs, but I think it is more that I just need an outlet for myself, rather than me being interested in blogs in general. I guess my greatest issue from an advertising perspective, is the return that you get from such efforts is dwarfed by the amount of of time spent.

However, I went to a luncheon on social marketing a couple of months back and my opinion, while not completely changed, has been altered a bit. I think that the answer lies more in that more people within an organization should be allocating a little bit of time to these efforts so that the time commitment does not seem so great, but you are still utilizing this new channel.

On a personal level, I love my blog, it is here to stay, and I am going to make more use of it as a social media tool (hence this blog and the newly installed google analytics code, aka I am watching you). As for the social networks, I have been dragged into them (to see the shmack my friends were saying about me), but I have found a place in my heart for them.

Linked In is kind of worthless. It's fine for what it is, an online resume, but it ain't that much. I have not fully immersed myself in Twitter, but I'm not that excited. I do think that it has some implications for businesses that are interesting.

Now for the biggies. MySpace was my first love. My page is freaking awesome, and it is beautiful. I do have to say though, it is much more of an outlet for me creatively, and I get little about my friends at this point.

Facebook was something that I joined reluctantly after the luncheon because the info for an event that I was going to was only on there. At first I hated it. Everyone's page looks pretty much the same, and really I am not that interested in the comings and goings of everyone in the universe. However I have began to fall in love. At the very least I know what is going on with people. I have learned so much about old friends in such a short amount of time. Recently my number of friends on Facebook has eclipsed that of MySpace, and after only about a month. I guess I had to add my Facebook link to the top of my blog. Plus I suggested that Richter develop a group page and a blog of their own, which they are doing.

I guess my point is that social networks and media have their place, but it doesn't need to take over our lives. Do as much as you want, either way. I do think that we need to be open to more forms of communication instead of writing them off as impersonal, or too technical. Try it out, and you just might like it.

If you want to visit my MySpace or Facebook page, follow the tabs at the top of the blog. You know the way to my blog obviously, but here are some of the blogs that I follow:

Richter7 Interactive Blog - See some the fantastic work that we put out here at R7.

Richter7 Social Media Blog - Slowly But Surely

Update... and Making My Mascara Run

Just to start this off, if any of you saw my sucky test game that I posted for awhile for a work thing I was doing, I apologize.

Moving on. I haven't written in awhile. Partially because I have been busy and partially because I don't have anything to say. I went to a wedding in Boston, which was fantastic. I will post some pics when they come. I really loved the ceremony as it was my first in the Jewish tradition. It was great, so was the Harvard Club, and so was Boston. I won't post the party details on my blog, but you can ask me if you like ;) . I did spend much more at H&M than I planned, but as Lindsey said, "How often are you in a city with an H&M?" The real question is when are they going to get an online store, or better yet, one in Utah.

When I got back, I got sick and locked myself away. Me and my bed are great friends now, and I still need to deep clean it. This past weekend I knew of two more weddings, and am going to another this weekend. I am sensing a theme.

It has got me thinking a lot about planning for the future (surprise). I am in advertising (let me mention that again), and lately I have been painfully aware that I check the 25-34 box. Friday my coworkers pointed this out as I was in the prime suicide demographic :). Luckily I'm Black and that moves me out of the demo as we are apparently full of ourselves... and would rather kill someone else (I'm so just kidding, but I couldn't resist).

I am in no rush to get married or anything like that, but it does have me thinking about goals and the direction of my life (oh God let's get the razor blades and Kleenex ready). Eventually I hope that does include marriage (during the 35-44 box timeline), but there are more immediate things. Let's get the old ones out of the way: House, gym, couches, car, job success, relationship... I'm always chasing the physical and emotional big ticket items which we all know.

I went to a Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Utah 30 year anniversary luncheon today, and it made me think about some other things. As I looked around seeing the bishop and my childhood priest, the mayor, local "celebs", and me and my coworkers at a sponsors table, I realized that one way or another I have found myself on the path if an existence that is (or should be) so much more than myself. I have always thought I had so much potential, and I do. At some point that will be wasted if my goals concern only myself. I should be doing some sort of volunteering. I would love to do some community service and be on the board of some organization(s). I also want to have some actual hobbies. I really don't have any true consistent interests other than trashy television. I know they are there, but I need to actually commit some time.

In short, today I realized that I have been a bit two dimensional lately and I want to be more well rounded. The shocker was that I didn't even know I had been neglecting my third dimension. It always seems like I have more time when I have too much to do, because I am much more scheduled. I think it's time I get off my ass... and for someone other than myself... and it will benefit me... and I need to create another label for this emo self-reflective crap. God that blog developed out of nowhere.