BuggBlog

Past imperfect

To steal from my favorite movie, we might be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us.

That's what I was thinking as I edited this week's Metro Weekly cover story on Butch Merritt, a self-described spy on the D.C. gay community back in the early '70s days of the Gay Liberation Front and Gay Activists Alliance. It's tempting to read these historical pieces and think only of how much worse it was for gays and lesbians just a few short decades ago, and how much better we have it today. Back then people had to worry about the government spying on them, tapping their phones, turning friends and acquaintances into government informants....

And then we're full circle back to these heady days of the Bush/Cheney surveillance nation and the hydra-headed war on drugs.

Not to worry, I'm not about to spend 1,000 words on another libertarianish rant -- yet -- but I do think it's important to read a story like this with an eye on the present. It's too easy to decry the past transgressions of government as paranoid and overreaching while dismissing the current transgressions as necessary evils.

A little bit of Buggery for you

If you've been around here for a while, you probably already know that I buy more books than I'll probably ever be able to read. They're just so pretty and shiny and they feel so good when you pick them up and they smell really nice. They also, you know, contain some information you can absorb if you open them up. This week's Buggery column at Metro Weekly tries to explain my passion for the printed page and, as a bonus, make up a new word,"arboranity." I have a  feeling it won't be the new word of 2008.

I've also got a new Gears up on the 2008 Mini Cooper S. In short, there's a lot to love about the Mini, and the new enhancements, mostly stylistic, don't do anything to change that. The new Mini Clubman -- a larger version of the car that should address some of the Cooper's problems with storage area and back seat passengers (it doesn't have any and it doesn't hold any) -- is out soon and I'm awaiting my chance at the wheel. Given the interest in the car, though, I don't expect to get a crack at it until mid-summer at the earliest.

Because I've been sort of slacking on the one hand and obsessing about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the other, I totally forgot to highlight a couple other recent pieces. First, I have a quick overview of my video game obsession, Rock Band -- although I'm not playing it around the clock at the moment, as I'm in the midst of working my way through Lost Odyssey and leveling up some characters in World of Warcraft -- more on those later. Second, I had my first Food article for Domestic Partner, with suggestions for putting together an easy but impressive Valentine's Day dinner.

I do like to keep my interests broad.