Various Updates

So, it's looking like I've finally got a place in Chicago, which is what I've been spending the past few days concentrating on. I have had a few blog topics in mind that I want to get to, although the longer I wait to write them the more they slip away from my memory. I'll get to them soon, hopefully. Anyway, I'm headed to Chicago approximately a week from now. I can, and can't, wait--can because of work, can't because of the fun I hope to have...although there are some aspects of work I'm looking forward to, such as the fact that they are actually having us visit Playboy Enterprises!

I know that might sound weird coming from me, but that is seriously the thing I'm most excited about. Yes, I think what those women (and men) do is degrading, but my excitement has little or nothing to do with them. I think I'm more excited because it is legendary, it's a break from boring legal work/seminars/forced schmoozing and...I'll just say it, a possibility to make some connections. Back when I was interested in entertainment law, an entertainment lawyer advised me that I look into working for them because they are great about hiring women for powerful positions and allow women to advance in the corporation, which, from what I've seen, is definitely true.

It seems I'm already getting the opportunity to make some important connections. I have no idea why, but the people who hired me decided to give me a special award that they only give to one person they hire each year. I get to meet with the lawyer whom the award is named after and whom it seems has done a lot of the kind of work I want to do. And I think there might be a ceremony, but I'm not sure. When I told Nikki about it, she was probably more excited than I was. I'm just bewildered. She thinks I'm being modest. No, I'm bewildered. Seriously, why me out of all the people hired by the organization this summer? It's incredible. But it's exciting. And it seems my resume is really shaping up to be impressive, although most of the impressive items on it, I have no idea why I've gotten those opportunities...things such as being published, my undergrad school, the law school I attend and the scholarship they gave me, and now this. Would actually asking the people who chose me for this (who, by the way, are mainly lawyers at pretty major law firms...and, nope, I'm not bragging, because these same law firms totally didn't want to hire me) why I was chosen be a bad idea? Because I seriously want to ask.

As far as classes, I did finally get into the class about queers of color. The hunt for a class about Asians and/or Latinos has not been going well. It seems I need two more classes, not one, which seems like too much to me. I've seen several interesting courses, but the times are not good or the classes are closed. In the meantime, AfterEllen writer Malinda Lo has been providing me with some education about Asian lesbians via her blog posts on the site (and I say "Asian" rather than "Asian American" because I hate "Anything American"--Asian American, black American, African American, Latino American--when we're all allegedly just American...plus, as I read from someone yesterday or so, nobody thinks "people of color" are American anyway...why add it to our racial/ethnic identification?). It has been fascinating, and I'm hoping that the queers of color class will do something similar, although one reason I was looking for another class about Asians and Latinos was because I am looking for more than just information about Asian and Latino gays.

Malinda Lo has listed several powerful Asian lesbians and Asian films involving queer storylines, and so now what I want to do is research these people some more and check out some of these films. What I find sad about the whole thing is, apparently, it almost always takes someone from a particular background to bring non-white issues/storylines/works/etc to the forefront, i.e. Asians gays bringing Asian gay people and works to everyone's attention. On one hand, she is giving me somewhere to begin with my interest in finding out about other races, as well as my interest in learning more about gays. On the other hand, there's no Latina on AE doing the same thing...so if I want to learn about that, I have to do the digging...which I'm not complaining about, nor do I think one person should have the burden of bringing up issues or bringing attention to a group of people. I should have to do some work, and more of us should do some work, to learn about others who are not like ourselves (at least not facially, because so many times when I read what an Asian has to say, that person expresses similar ideas/feelings as blacks do).

The good thing about it being summer is maybe now I will actually have some time to do this work. I already started looking up some of the people Lo wrote about on her top 5 Asian lesbians list, most of whom I'd never even heard of even though they've done major things...which I found ridiculous.

I think I had some other updates I wanted to mention...if I remember any, I will likely update this post, so check back.