harpy fortnight: being out, being home, being wrong

Sandra (Rachel Griffiths) in Blow Dry (2001)

It's been more than a fortnight since I last did a round-up of posts from Harpyness, but I gave myself permission not to post there during our vacation, so there isn't actually that much of a backlog!

Incidentally, if you haven't seen Blow Dry (2001) it's totally time you did. Stop reading this post right now and go order it on Netflix. Then come back and start again.

So, what have I been writing about over at Harpyness?

• Most recently, I published a post in response to sex columnist Jeannie Greeley's admission that she and her family are keeping her same-sex relationships a secret from her grandparents and her siblings' children. In Full Disclosure I talk a little bit about my own decisions vis a vis being open about my relationship with Hanna, and why I think hiding loving relationships from kids (or elders!) for fear that they "won't understand" is belittling for all concerned.
• On Taking My Partner Home is a meditation on what it was like to bring Hanna back to my childhood home for the first time, after being with her for three years -- and living in Boston for going on four. While she and my parents have met previously, it was a whole new level of satisfaction to introduce her to the people and places where I grew up.
• On May 19, I hosted a two-part "virtual tour" for the book  Hey Shorty! A Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment and Violence in Public Schools and On The Streets (New York: Feminist Press, 2010), authored by staff and youth interns from the organization Girls for Gender Equality, based in Brooklyn, New York. Part One was a review of the book. Part Two was an interview with two of the authors.
• I offered a Friday Fun Thread asking "who are your automatic buys?" as in: which authors, musicians, film-makers do you trust so wholly that you will purchase their latest sight-unseen? There were a delightful variety of responses in comments.
• Earlier in May, the MBTA (Boston's local mass transit network) featured ads by FamilyRadio, the religious organization that predicted the Rapture would fall on May 21. Some folks protested the willingness of the MBTA to sell ad space to people who bigoted against queer folks. I wrote a post about why it's important to treat all advertisers equally, even if you disagree with what they are selling. There was a lively debate in comments about what constituted hate speech and protected speech in this context.
• And just in case any of you missed it, I re-posted the wonderful short film Validation. Even if you've already seen it, it's never to early to watch it again!

Obviously I'm not the only one who's been blogging at Harpyness. Other writers have contributed posts on the topic of Mother's Day,  the movie Bridesmaids, Madame Ophelia DeVore-Mitchell, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, on the latest publicized case of parents trying to raise a child without assigning the child's gender, the anniversary of Dr. Tiller's murder, the threat of romance novels, and  we featured a guest post by writer Oh Hells Nah on sex work.

Hop on over to The Pursuit of Harpyness for all this and more!