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Don't Rain On My Parade
Jun. 26th, 2004 01:12 pmIt's raining AGAIN. we've had a week of this stuff, and it's threatening tonight's Pride Parade.
Houston's Pride is tonight at 8:30 and the word is that the parade will go on, rain or shine, unless we have thunder and lightning - which is entirely possible.
Kip (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
scarabbear) has asked me to be on the Houston Big Men's float...and I'm taking him up on it. I'm a little concerned that since I don't belong to the group, that it may not be right for me to be on their float. Still I haven't been doing much with the Houston Area Bears either, so if I didn't ride in the Parade, I would probably just be watching alone. How fun is that?
So I have to figure out where to park, since the star point is more than a mile from the finish, and I wonder if I can bring a umbrella to the float. These are the things that are going through my head...oh, and occasionally the fact that I will actually be in the parade.
First, although it's for a different cause, I've been in a ton of parades before, so that's not a big deal. Of course I usually had some sort of musical instrument on me and I really didn't have much of a vested interest in what the parade was about. Happy Thanksgiving, hooray for the university football team, happy carnivale/mardi gras, those kinds of things.
I'm actually conflicted, the parade serves a purpose, but I was already kind of feeling like I was going to go for the sort of obligation, more than to actually get something out of it, I suppose, but perhaps by being in the parade, I can make a difference for someone else. I don't know, am I going in for the wrong reason? Am I going in just to satisfy my Leo need to grab attention, or am I standing up for my community? It's not like I'm going to get dressed up in some weird outfit and try to scare the straights, I'm just going to be in because I can.
Hell, it's better than watching more of that damn Real World marathon. What is this, season 12? Don't you think that not one of these characters is "real" anymore? It's a bunch of whiney kids who think they have it hard living on MTV's dole for 6 months. Bah!
Alright, I got off the subject. I went back to an opinion on Pride written by Eric (ericdabear) where he's frustrated by the commercialism that's creeped into Atlanta's Pride celebrations. In fact, he said that some pride celebrations actually charge for admission. I'd hope that they would at least make the parades and such free, since I do feel it's important for those curious, and those questioning have somewhere to go without having something demanded of them. Those on the edge see and admission fee and they'll believe it isn't worth the sacrifice. Pride should be free.
So maybe I'm a little scared of being in the parade. Not scared of being seen, or being out, but scared that I might not be in the full spirit of the thing. I've already taken my stands, publicly, so I don't know if this is another big deal, or not. Hopefully it will be fun, but I'm afraid the rain will keep people away.
Hmm. so am I community minded, or just selfish right now? I don't know. I might be doing this just because it beats watching it alone, or maybe I am doing it to be out in proud. Maybe both. Maybe I won't know until I get there.
Life's about the journey, right?
Houston's Pride is tonight at 8:30 and the word is that the parade will go on, rain or shine, unless we have thunder and lightning - which is entirely possible.
Kip (
scarabbear) has asked me to be on the Houston Big Men's float...and I'm taking him up on it. I'm a little concerned that since I don't belong to the group, that it may not be right for me to be on their float. Still I haven't been doing much with the Houston Area Bears either, so if I didn't ride in the Parade, I would probably just be watching alone. How fun is that?So I have to figure out where to park, since the star point is more than a mile from the finish, and I wonder if I can bring a umbrella to the float. These are the things that are going through my head...oh, and occasionally the fact that I will actually be in the parade.
First, although it's for a different cause, I've been in a ton of parades before, so that's not a big deal. Of course I usually had some sort of musical instrument on me and I really didn't have much of a vested interest in what the parade was about. Happy Thanksgiving, hooray for the university football team, happy carnivale/mardi gras, those kinds of things.
I'm actually conflicted, the parade serves a purpose, but I was already kind of feeling like I was going to go for the sort of obligation, more than to actually get something out of it, I suppose, but perhaps by being in the parade, I can make a difference for someone else. I don't know, am I going in for the wrong reason? Am I going in just to satisfy my Leo need to grab attention, or am I standing up for my community? It's not like I'm going to get dressed up in some weird outfit and try to scare the straights, I'm just going to be in because I can.
Hell, it's better than watching more of that damn Real World marathon. What is this, season 12? Don't you think that not one of these characters is "real" anymore? It's a bunch of whiney kids who think they have it hard living on MTV's dole for 6 months. Bah!
Alright, I got off the subject. I went back to an opinion on Pride written by Eric (
ericdabear) where he's frustrated by the commercialism that's creeped into Atlanta's Pride celebrations. In fact, he said that some pride celebrations actually charge for admission. I'd hope that they would at least make the parades and such free, since I do feel it's important for those curious, and those questioning have somewhere to go without having something demanded of them. Those on the edge see and admission fee and they'll believe it isn't worth the sacrifice. Pride should be free.So maybe I'm a little scared of being in the parade. Not scared of being seen, or being out, but scared that I might not be in the full spirit of the thing. I've already taken my stands, publicly, so I don't know if this is another big deal, or not. Hopefully it will be fun, but I'm afraid the rain will keep people away.
Hmm. so am I community minded, or just selfish right now? I don't know. I might be doing this just because it beats watching it alone, or maybe I am doing it to be out in proud. Maybe both. Maybe I won't know until I get there.
Life's about the journey, right?
