A Homecoming (Drag) Queen? 2009? or 1967?

George Mason University elects a Homecoming (Drag) Queen. Sign of the times? Evidence of a new acceptance of diversity, as the new queen says?

Well, harken back to 1967 when TCU students elected a homecoming queen named Mason Dixon. A male homecoming queen. 1967? Texas! Christian! University!

Ryan Allen, who performs as drag queen Reann Ballslee in DC area clubs, is making headlines and being featured on news shows across America this week. I say more power to both Ryan and Reann.

I wasn't at TCU in 1967 so I don't know the details. And okay, maybe a man didn't win. Maybe he was just a candidate. But don't spoil my story with facts. What I know is that his name was Mason Dixon. He caused a stir and became legendary.

By the way, George Mason? Mason Dixon Line? Mason Dixon, Queen? Two degrees -- or lines -- of separation.

And I wouldn't have remembered the year, but I Googled it and sure enough it was a trivia question in The TCU Magazine's Winter 2008 issue.

If you're really bored, you can see the full quiz here. I'm betting on mouse (aka kimy) and her mousemate (aka f) to know some of the answers. But here are a few of my favorite questions in the quiz: (the answers are here)

The TCU You May Not Know Quiz
By The TCU Magazine staff

1.Which former TCU gridiron star played the lead role of Ranger Tom King in a serial Western titled "King of the Texas Rangers?"
a) Davey O'Brien
b) Jim Swink
c) Sammy Baugh
d) Bob Lilly

9. When early TCU officials were searching for an appropriate mascot back in the late 1890s, the runner-up to the Horned Frog was what?
a) Prairie dog
b) Cactus
c) Fire ant
d) Bullfrog

15. In 1949, TCU became the first university in the nation to offer a four-year degree in:
a) Physical Therapy
b) Ballet
c) Astrophysics
d) Photojournalism

21. What TCU football legend went on to a career in the FBI?
a) Davey O'Brien
b) Jim Swink
c) Sam Baugh
d) Rags Matthews

Libraries, Erasmus, and Gutenberg

Speaking of the wonderment of libraries, as many are today, I remember one of my favorite quotations:

When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.
--Desiderius Erasmus, 1466-1536

And remember, when he said this books were as new and revolutionary as the Internet is to us today.

So today especially, let us salute Johannes Gutenberg who made all these books possible by inventing movable type and the printing press. (Wikipedia's entry on Gutenberg gives a brief, fascinating look at his life and his influence on the Renaissance, in the context of that amazing time.)

On the other hand, his inventions probably cost the jobs of many scribes who had been painstakingly copying every book by hand until then. I wonder if their guild transitioned them into making movable type and running the new printing presses.

Gutenberg. The first union buster?

Aerosmith, Rep. Cantor, Hookers, and Hypocrisy

After Rep. Eric Cantor, the House Republican Whip, released an ad touting the Republican "victory" over the Democrats in the battle over the stimulus legislation, Aerosmith sent Cantor the following letter thanking him for promoting "Back in the Saddle," their song about hookers in a saloon town:

Dear Rep. Cantor,

Thanks for promoting our song about the hooker Sukie Jones. You and Sukie are made for each other. You've moved up from being the Chief Deputy Whip to Republican Whip in the 111th Congress. And her speciality is whipping bad boys like you.

Yeah, you and your Republican friends outflanked the Democrats in the stimulus battle. You showed them what a real stimulus plan should be about, didn't you, Mr. Republican Whip? Hookers, right?

I'm back
I'm back in the saddle again
Ridin' into town alone
By the light of the moon
I'm looking for ole' Sukie Jones
She crazy horse saloon
Barkeep gimme a drink

You left no doubt where your mind is when you picked our song. Maybe your constituents can't hear the words. But we know you like any song about a saddle-sore cowpoke riding into a saloon town of soakin' wet girls to get some time in the rack with his four-bit hooker.

Umm...come easy, go easy
Alright 'til the rising sun
I'm calling all the shots tonight
I'm like a loaded gun
Peelin' off my boots and chaps
I'm saddle sore
Four bits gets you time in the racks
I scream for more

Fools' gold out of their mines
The girls are soaking wet
No tongue's drier than mine
I'll come when I get back

And, we bet we're not the only ones who thought it was funny when your staff sent out the old AFSCME ad with the bogus sound track full of obscenities. Pretty funny. You, the bastion of conservatism who always defends America against swear words. I bet your constituents in the Bible Belt got the joke.

Hope you don't bleep all the good parts in our song when you find out what we're singing about. But, hey, you won't. That was your point, right?

I'm back in the saddle again
I'm riding, I'm loading up my pistol
I'm riding, I really got a fistful
I'm riding, I'm shining up my saddle
I'm riding, this snake is gonna rattle

Of course, we almost forgot. Your friend, Sen. David Vitter, has probably introduced you to ol' Sukie. He knows all the hookers from New Orleans to Washington.

And just imagine what you and Vitter get into on your foreign junkets. (Junkets? Where do you guys come up with these words?) I bet the taxpayers are glad to pay for all that. You guys need a break now and then.

You're known for going on the House floor to rail against swear words and how they're destroying America. But with Sukie, you can say all the bleeped words from the ads you and your staff promote. She'll spank your skinny butt every time you yell one. She'll even dress like your mother if you like that better than her leather boots and metal-studded pants suit. Or ... is that what your mom wore, too?

So, get back in the saddle again, Mr. Whip. And beg Sukie to whip you. Harder. Make it hurt. You're a bad boy, Eric.

Your buddies,
Aerosmith

Princess of Hearts

This Valentine's Day art is by Kylie Shea, who is five years old and in her kindergarten year of a fellowship at the Beall Elementary School, College of Fine Arts. This piece and her earlier work are currently on exhibit in a one-woman show at the Great Falls Gallery in Rockville, Maryland, under the curatorship of Brad and Julie Parker. For future exhibition dates or to request a personal viewing, please contact her agent, Don Parker.

Only in Hawai'i - a Red Tornado

It's rare to see a tornado in Hawai'i. I lived there twice and never saw one, but I saw many in my years in Texas.

But you have to hand it to Hawai'i. When they have one, it's a beauty. Only in Hawai'i do they have red tornadoes. (Or is it tornados? Does anyone have Dan Quayle's phone number? Or Louis Armstrong's? "You like potato and I like potahto, You like tomato and I like tomahto. Potato, potahto, Tomato, tomahto, Let's call the whole thing off.)

Watch this for a minute or so and it gets redder. And there's a second one behind it and to the left.



And here's a rougher, but closer, view:

Please Don't Divorce Our Families

If you can watch this video with dry eyes, you're tougher than me. It has beautiful music and lots of beautiful people who just want to stay married and keep their families despite the hate-mongering of Ken Starr and Proposition 8.

Courage Campaign | Watch "Fidelity" and sign the letter to the state Supreme Court

Source: www.couragecampaign.org

We, the undersigned, share President Barack Obama's view that "for too long, issues of LGBT rights have been exploited by those seeking to divide us. It's time to move beyond polarization and live ...

Comcast's Snarky Assessment of Sully and the Flight 1549 Crew

Here's how Comcast describes the Letterman show tonight, word for word. Personally, I could do without their snarky, judgmental assessment of these fine people at the end of the listing. (And they misspelled Sully's first name.)

"Late Show With David Letterman
Tue, Feb 10, 11:35p - 12:37a
029 WUSA
New, (2009) Capt. Chelsey Sullenberger, pilot of U.S. Airways Flight 1549, which landed safely in the Hudson River. Also: copilot Jeffrey Skiles and flight attendants Sheila Dail, Donna Dent and Doreen Welsh; Heartless Bastards. (Talk)"