• Send us Mail
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Join our Facebook Group
  • Subscribe to our RSS Feed
  • Search Site

Polari Magazine

  • Home
  • Up Front
    • Editorial
    • Clementine: The Living Fashion Doll
    • Polari Safari
    • WTF? Friday
    • Bulletin Board
    • Polari Facts
  • Features
    • Interviews
    • Features
    • Gallery
    • Opinion
    • Heroes & Villains
  • Community
    • Oral Histories
    • Coming Out Stories
    • Relationships
    • IDAHO
    • LGBT History Month
    • Blogs
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Film and Television
    • Music
    • Stage
    • Visual Arts
    • Classics: Books
    • Classics: Film and Television
    • Classics: Music
  • About
    • About Polari Magazine
    • Contributors
    • Contact

You are here: Polari Magazine / Blogs / Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Change is Good

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Change is Good

16 Feb 2009 / Comments Off / in Blogs/by Marc Harshbarger

Author’s note: I recommend that this blog be read while listening to The Zombies’ “Time of the Season” and David Bowie’s “Changes”.

Asked to write on the themes of “time” and “change”, I, of course, immediately thought about our new President, Barack Obama, and his amazing journey to the White House.  “The Change We Need” was the popular slogan of his campaign, and after eight years of the Dubya and Dick Show, I was quite ready to jump on the Obama bandwagon. Whether Obama is actually capable of achieving this is a whole other can of worms, but come on, let’s give the fella a chance to settle in first before we start demanding the moon and the stars.  But I have faith in him. What alternative did we have? The McCain/Palin combo?

I confess that I don’t understand Republicans.  Frankly, I don’t think I want to understand them because they kind of scare me – especially after Caribou Barbie (my favorite nickname for her) began holding those hate rallies across our fair nation.  I found most of those folks who attended them to be rather frightening – but at least it provided Saturday Night Live’s Kristen Wiig with some ripe comic fodder for her hysterical performance as the Crazy McCain Rally Lady. These Republicans weren’t the same old white ones standing behind John McCain in his pre-Palin days.  No, these people were scary monsters, who I’m sure made surprise appearances in many Democrats’ worst nightmares leading up to Election Day.  They represented everything that was – and still is – wrong in America.  And they probably helped confirm in many minds that it was definitely time for a change in the White House.

But “time for a change” doesn’t just bring back memories of the recent political season for me.  I’m ecstatic about Obama, Joe, Hillary and the whole gang running this country for the next four years (and hopefully beyond), and I’m thrilled that we have a First Lady who isn’t afraid to wear bright colors and make a fashion statement.  However, a new year always makes me think about personal goals for the future – well, at least for the next 12 months.  So, with this in mind, 2009 will be a “time of change” for me as well.

I lost seven pounds in January.  I think that’s a pretty good start in my mission to lose weight and get in better physical shape this year.  No more fried foods (goodbye, french fries) or soda pop (so long, Sprite, it was nice knowing you) – and hello to exercise and a more well-balanced diet (I’ve discovered that I actually enjoy eating pineapple by itself).  I’ve still got a long way to go before I achieve total fitness, but I feel I’ve taken a small step in the right direction.  Wish me luck.

Besides changing my body into one of manly perfection, I’ve also made a few new friends in the first month of our new year.  I do have to thank that miracle of modern technology, Facebook, for this.  I began noticing after I turned 30 that it was becoming increasingly difficult to meet people and make new friends – not that I was tired of my old pals, but you know what I mean.  And after I entered my 40s, forget about it.  I was now a middle-aged gay man who was perfectly content to stay home and cook dinner for his partner and watch old Cary Grant or Thin Man movies on DVD.  Oh sure, we occasionally invited a few friends over for Movie Nights and chili, but that was about as exciting as we got.  In the last five weeks, however, we’ve gone out for cocktails and dinner with Facebook friends from San Francisco, Brooklyn and Chicago – and we even went to a party hosted by one of them.  It’s been fun.  And I hope it continues.

Now just because my partner and I have begun to carouse around town like social butterflies doesn’t mean we’ve given up television. But even my viewing habits have recently changed as I’ve discovered a few new favorite shows:

Glenn Close is fabulous in the second season of Damages.  Add in her Big Chill co-star, William Hurt (has it really been over 25 years since that film came out?), Marcia Gay Harden, the sexy Timothy Olyphant, and a first-rate story of intrigue and suspense and you’ve got yourself an addictive hour of television.  Then there’s the handsome Kyle Chandler (whom you may remember from past shows such as Homefront and Early Edition) in Friday Night Lights.  He’s just as compelling an actor as he ever was—and for a 43-year-old, he’s still lookin’ mighty fine.  And his TV series is a well-written slice of small-town life set in Texas, where football is simply the catalyst for deep human emotions among the fascinating cast of characters.  As with Damages, I’m late to the game (no pun intended) as Lights is now in its third season – but better late than never.  I highly recommend both dramas for those of you who might be looking for something more intelligent to watch than that Jim Belushi sitcom, which has been on the air for eight seasons.  However, I just read that that show has finally been cancelled.  I guess eight years is about as long as Americans can put up with a blathering idiot.

I’ve never been a big fan of “change.”  I’ve always wanted good things to continue – like family traditions.  After my grandmother died many years ago, our holiday family gatherings changed as aunts and uncles and cousins all went their separate ways.  I hated it.  So I always considered “change” a bad word – that is until Barack Obama came strolling along – and now I’m learning to embrace it.  Whether it’s politics and the future of our country or a desire to lose weight and make new friends – both in real life and on television – I think I’m finally ready for change.  It’s time.

Marc Harshbarger is the author of two “trashy” novels, Deep Dish and Deeper Dish.
He lives in Chicago with his partner and “two spoiled cats”, Shubert and Mr. Grant.
http://marcharshbarger.blogspot.com/

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
Tags: facebook, glenn close, kristen wiig, kyle chandler

Related Posts

Did you like this entry?
Here are a few more posts that might be interesting for you.
Related Posts
In This Shirt • The Irrepressibles

Search Polari

Latest Posts

  • Polari Magazine 2008-2014December 3, 2014 - 6:16 pm
  • Tearing Up Their Map: An Interview with LambDecember 2, 2014 - 2:45 pm
  • Future Islands • GigDecember 2, 2014 - 1:41 pm
  • Puppets with Attitude (at Christmas)December 1, 2014 - 6:30 pm
  • The Aesthetic of Voyeurism: Interview with Antonio Da SilvaDecember 1, 2014 - 1:25 pm
  • Broke With Expensive Taste • Azealia BanksNovember 28, 2014 - 3:59 pm
  • Royalty Strutting on an American College Stage: Miss and Mr. Gay ISU 2014November 27, 2014 - 2:59 pm
  • Bright Light Bright Light: Everything I Ever WantedNovember 26, 2014 - 11:15 am
  • Jaime Nanci And The Blueboys: ‘Toy’ TalkNovember 25, 2014 - 4:09 pm

About Polari Magazine

Polari Magazine is an LGBT arts and culture magazine that explores the subculture by looking at what is important to the people who are in it. It’s about the lives we lead, not the lifestyles we’re supposed to lead.

Its content is informed & insightful, and features a diverse range of writers from every section of the community. Its intent is to help LGBT readers learn about their own heritage and to sustain a link between the present and the past.

Polari is designed to nurture the idea of community, whether that be social and political, or artistic and creative. It is your magazine, whether you want to read it, or whether you want to get involved in it, if you're gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, or queer.

Polari Magazine is all these: it's a gay online magazine; it's a gay and lesbian online magazine; it's an LGBT arts and culture magazine. Ultimately, it is a queer magazine.

Latest Posts

  • Polari Magazine 2008-2014December 3, 2014 - 6:16 pm
  • Tearing Up Their Map: An Interview with LambDecember 2, 2014 - 2:45 pm
  • Future Islands • GigDecember 2, 2014 - 1:41 pm
  • Puppets with Attitude (at Christmas)December 1, 2014 - 6:30 pm
  • The Aesthetic of Voyeurism: Interview with Antonio Da SilvaDecember 1, 2014 - 1:25 pm
  • Broke With Expensive Taste • Azealia BanksNovember 28, 2014 - 3:59 pm
  • Royalty Strutting on an American College Stage: Miss and Mr. Gay ISU 2014November 27, 2014 - 2:59 pm
  • Bright Light Bright Light: Everything I Ever WantedNovember 26, 2014 - 11:15 am
  • Jaime Nanci And The Blueboys: ‘Toy’ TalkNovember 25, 2014 - 4:09 pm

Twitter

Tweets by @PolariMagazine

Archive

  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • July 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • May 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
© Copyright - Polari Magazine - Wordpress Theme by Kriesi.at
  • scroll to top
  • Send us Mail
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Join our Facebook Group
  • Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Website Privacy & Cookies