hello, gang!

so, first, i was having dinner last night with one of my closest friends in the world, and we were discussing my last blog entry. she said she read my blog, and she liked it but of course, disagreed with my opinion about ole miss. of course, i’m co-dependent, so i had to know what she thought, and i’m glad i asked because she had a perspective i hadn’t considered.

the idea of colonel rebel doesn’t attract a super diverse student body… that was her thought.. and i hadn’t considered that. so, i wanted to acknowledge that perspective before moving on here.

i wanted to blog quickly about my upcoming show in jackson, ms. i have the honor of playing OUToberfest on Oct. 23, supporting and encouraging UNITY in mississippi and across the board. i know this is a popular theme this month as is the fight against breast cancer- lots of passion and pink everywhere. it’s very exciting i think!!! this video might be offensive to you, but i think it’s really funny. just be advised- if you watch, you might be offended.

http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=http%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D0TMTrpugT0E%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded

as i was thinking about playing this gig in jackson, i remembered the last time i did this event. it was at hal and mal’s, and it was pretty packed. my family came, which in retrospect is a very cool thing, and i remember that a couple of my cousin’s friends wanted to come, but their parents wouldn’t let them because of all “the gays” that would be there. gosh, that’s so sad. imagine how cool it would be if tons of people who love my music and the music of some of the other bands that will be participating came down and just hung out and enjoyed themselves. enjoyed being outside and in the company of new people, people who are different but the same. i really hope that’s what happens.

i hope there aren’t a bunch of people holding mean signs. i hope there are a bunch of people smiling and ready to rock their faces off. 

anyway, here’s the facebook link from the unity folks for the event. please feel free to spread the word and to join us!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=157118127649096&ref=ts

i’m happy to be supporting my home state in an effort to build some bridges and help us all understand each other a little better.

love,

garrison

hello, gang.

welcome to my second blog.

it was brought to my attention that the title of my blog could be offensive to some, which made me want to keep the title all the more, honestly, but i digress.

i had a dog when i was a kid- her name was crackers. i loved that little puppy. she was so cute!! a little terrier mix with that cute little terrier face. she was a mutt. poodle and a peek-a-poo i think. she was sort of all dark gray. anyway, when she was about 9 or 10, she was attacked by this asshole dog in our neighborhood- he was a bully- and she was too old to repair. she didn’t have enough muscle left to stitch together, poor girl, so my dad had to put her down.

i was telling crackers’ story to my friend cherie in nyc, and she said something about “getting justice for crackers” and we laughed our asses off. that’s where the name came from, just in case you’re wanting to get all up in arms or if you even care.

i’ve just never been one of those people who cares that much about being politically correct. perhaps it’s because i grew up in mississippi, perhaps i just like to stir the pot. it irritates me, though, when everything becomes an issue. you can’t police life.

for instance, ole miss is having to change the mascot from colonel rebel to some stupid thing that makes no sense to appease people who feel it’s racist. is it racist? i don’t think that’s the case now. who knows if it was ever meant to offend anybody. perhaps it was an african american who came up with the name. look, i could give two shits about the ole miss rebels and what they call their mascot and who gives a shit. but my point is are we gonna go rename the washington redskins or the atlanta braves? i mean, everybody could find something wrong with everything if that’s what they want.

let me think- perhaps i would be offended if there was a sports team called the dykes. well, not really. i don’t know if there’s ever a danger of that happening.

anyway, i say lighten up.

greetings, fellow human beings. i’m writing from the tour bus out here with mary chapin carpenter… getting ready to do some dates in north carolina and florida over the weekend. i love me some MCC. what an amazing artist and person. i feel so blessed.

i’ve been planning to start a blog for awhile now because i have a lot to say and i hear people like to listen to my stories and my rants. i’m sure just as many people don’t, but i don’t really care about them. i’m mainly doing this for myself.

i think what motivated me today was the suicide of the college student at rutgers university recently. according to ellen degeneres, the boy was outed on the internet and then killed himself. she had some very moving things to say on her show… check it out here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B-hVWQnjjM

i’m sweating as i write this blog. for you, that means i’m really pissed. whenever i start to get really worked up, i start sweating profusely. (i also sweat profusely when i’m hot.)

here are a couple of comments from people who watched the video i mentioned above:

“@Blairtim69 Flapping your gums on the internet is as good as nothing, you limp-dick queen. Some of us do more than that and walk the walk in the real world. You are a gutless coward.”

“@Blairtim69 Mincy little faggot balls don’t count, princess. You need a man’s set like mine to fight the good fight. I bet you would kneel before mine and polish them to a high sheen. Sorry, I don’t let fem queens near my yarbles. Specially canadian queens like you.”

“ If being gay entices one to commit suicide, y don’t they try to not be gay?” (i would like to add here that i think anybody who uses those stupid texty abbreviations is a total douche to start with, but i digress)

now, these are just a few comments. there are a lot more. some overly positive, some truly hateful like the ones posted here. take their information. go give them an internet dick-slapping. what the fuck is going on here? where in the world does this hatred come from? i mean, come on. is it really that important to people to spend the majority of your God-given energy on judging and verbally crucifying people who believe differently than you do? it’s no wonder a lot of gay people (including myself) don’t go to church. most christians at church don’t want us there. if they do, they just want to preach at us until we change. i will go ahead and reiterate here that THIS HAS BEEN MY EXPERIENCE. IN MY OPINION. IN MY LIFE. and i do know a good many christian who i am friends with who are amazing and so the opposite of these other blowhards who make these sweeping, robotic, hateful blanket statements and continue to regurgitate the same bible verses in a GPS voice that just makes you wanna throw up and go to sleep at the same time. and punch your fist through a wall.

nobody wants to feel like people are nice to you because they pity you or see you as a ministry guinea pig. i’m sorry for the bad language if you read this and are offended. but i’m full on tired of this shit.

i had a dream last night that i was back in college. i overheard a girl behind me say something about a girl she knew having had an abortion and how that girl should burn in hell. “unless it was a gay baby”. now, “it’s only a dream” you say, but honestly, there is somebody- probably more than one asshole out there- who believes that to be true. in their hearts. in that sacred place that love and soul were created. where, for christians, the very essence of love and soul, compassion and generosity, grace and mercy, lives. jesus christ, right? the reason for everything? sorry, man, but some of y’all need to break out your bibles and refresh. because anybody who can’t feel for the young man who took his own life out of shame and fear, and the family and friends who now grieve, possibly forever, for the loss of this human being, this life they cherished and loved, needs to be strung up by their toenails to get the blood flowing again. this is a person. a life. a kid. who hated himself because he never felt safe. this could have been me. for some of you, it could also have been you.

i don’t know if i’m a christian or not. honestly, i never learned as a child to think for myself in this area- i was never given that freedom. i’m a late bloomer in so many ways, especially when it comes to my self-esteem, and i carry a lot of shame around to this day. but i do have a relationship with God. and i do pray. i do seek God’s will in my life. the jury is out on the whole “jesus in my heart is the only way to heaven” deal. again- i’m burned out on people’s conversations about christ. i wanna have some conversations with jesus myself. feel that presence and truth for myself. and the more people shove it in my face, the more i just wanna go the other way. sorry, but i’d like to see some more loving conversation between people with different, passionate views. i’d like to see us sit down with each other and open up about our feelings. work on understanding where we come from. maybe it’s too much to ask.

now, i have no desire to be murdered because of my sexuality, but i’ll tell you this. i’m not afraid of you, whoever you are, and i’m not going to deny my feelings because of your insecurity.

i really want to encourage you to get a life and then start living it. if you wanna talk, i’ll be here.