Newsletter #1
March 5, 2000
A lifetime of thinking will get you nowhere. The river keeps moving and you'll never cross it twice. So, get moving, before it rises too high. You don't want to find yourself trapped on the lowside. Wallowing in misery. Gotta eye some of that higher ground, and offer a helping hand to someone.Sure can't wait for an invitation. All you've got to do is take a look around. The time is here. Start making some real noise or keep quiet. No complainers allowed. No whining. Do something, anything, GO VOTE! And do it now. Deserts turning to oceans. Let them make their stand, they'll trip up sooner or later. And by the looks of things, it's looking pretty imminent. And something new is beginning to shine on all us happy fools. We all feel it. Some just turn away. And the water continues to rise.
Crash. Boom. Bang.
T'ain't no big thang...Asleep near the stars. With silence talking to your curled-up dog. Walking on moondust, crying on some set of familiar shoulders. What sweet soul stood out the previous day? Could you find them again? If you tried.
A look from across a busy street. Piercing. A train platform stare. Were those halos in your hair? Or a glitter makeup blur? If I approached, how long would it take before you told me your first lie? Sure do like the way that necklace falls against your skin. Approaching now in your dreams, whispering a promise into your ear, brushing against your arm, laying waste to the day's failures. A perfect match... a connection, an instant spark, a flame ignited, illuminating a darkness -- long enough to get your bearing -- and a sudden dying.
Digging out. Running from cover. Taking time... by the horns. Climbing aboard the constellation and bucking across the horizon. A shooting star.
Make a wish.
Make it come true.
Get thrown. For a loop. Dust yourself off. Take the next train.
Wake up. A new day is waiting... on the other side of the river's banks, just over the hill.
Okay girls, ladies, or ahem... scuz me, I should say Rainbow Women. Welcome to the very first newsletter for our Rainbow Women out there. This is my first ever attempt at a newsletter, so please bear with me. You're probably wondering what was all that gibberish up above. Well it is my theme this week what with the changes we have the chance to make in the next week. Between Prop 22 & this Dr. Laura bitch, we can really make our voices be heard. I remember a few years ago when there was an anti gay ordinance trying to get passed in Concord, CA. It lost by 36 votes. I talked to almost that many gay friends that night at a party and asked them if they voted. Sadly almost all said, 'no'. Make a difference on March 7th. Watch the movie If These Walls Could Talk 2 on March 5th and see if you want something like this to happen to you in your later years. I have only watched a promo tape that was about 15 minutes long and it made me cry my head off. We have the chance this election day to make a difference. Sad that's it's defensive instead of something offensive. Nevertheless we must take a stand.
"In Germany they first came for the communists and I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't
speak up because I wasn't a Jew.... Then they came for the Catholics, and
I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me - and
by that time no one was left to speak up."- Pastor Martin Niemoller -
Now let me get off my political high horse and back to the newsletter. We have one volunteer so far for the newsletter. Thank you Lisa! I realy enjoy writing, however I just don't think I can maintain the web site, my over full-time job right now and keep up a newsletter at the same time. I just wanted to get this first one sent because it has some very important reminders.March 5th - First on the list, DO NOT miss If These Walls Could Talk 2. I am telling you ladies this is one to be sure and not miss. I have seen a promo tape for this and it looks to be a well thought out lesbian movie. A first of it's kind for HBO if you ask me.
March 7th - Next on the list and very important. VOTE NO ON 22! Ladies if you have never voted in your life this is the time to get out and make our voices heard. If this passes it will undermine everything that gays have been fighting for so long and finally making some progress. Even if ever so slightly.
March 16th & 18th - Now last but most certainly not least. My 15 minutes of fame and one of the most exciting nights of my life. Second only to the first time I met Janet Jackson. Thursday at 10pm, March 16 & 18 KFOG Private Concert with Melissa Etheridge Sit in on an intimate acoustic set with Melissa Etheridge. I was sitting right in front of her microphone and she even gave me a pick before she left. If you would like to read a chopped down edited version of my review of the show click here. Mine is the second one after Kathy's review. I plan on posting my complete review along with the souvenirs I got that night at the Rainbow Women site whenever I can find the time. So much to do, so little time. Any webmaster's out there? :)
Another thing. I don't know if all of you have heard about UPN's plan on airing Dr. Laura's TV show, well if you haven't I'm here to tell you. Make your voices heard on this matter as well. If we all don't fight for gay rights who will? I have emailed them numerous times and called executives and will continue to do so until I hear them say they are pulling the plug on her show. Here's an article Rachel sent to me:
Subject: THE LIST: StopDrLaura.Com gets 373,345 hits!!!
THE LIST
Gay Politics: Online & With an Edge
March 2, 2000STOPDRLAURA.COM GETS 373,345 HITS IN FIRST DAY
Phone Calls Force Paramount to Change Executive's Phone Number
Additional action steps suggested below:Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Folks, I cannot begin to tell you how successful was today's launch of the StopDrLaura.com Web site. You guys came through like gangbusters, and then some. In the first 24 hours of the site’s operation we got 373,345 hits - and it's only a 6-page site! For you laymen, that means the site got an unheard of number of visitors. By comparison, my Matthew Shepard Online Resources site that was so popular during the time of Matt's death only got at its peak 120,000 hits per day.Now, let's talk about Paramount. As you know, the Web site asks you to call and email Paramount Television, which is launching Dr. Laura's TV show next fall. Paramount would never hire a talk show host who had called African-Americans or Jews 'biological errors’? But when Dr. Laura says this about gays, Paramount turns the other cheek. Well, your calls today blew them out of the water. A Paramount employee, when asked by us by phone today if the company was getting a lot of calls, laughed and responded "Oh yes, it's a lot” He went on to explain that some email was flying around the Web (that would be ours) getting people to call them, and that today he didn't know WHAT had happened to generate so many calls. Well, I know what happened, you people overwhelmed those guys. Even better, Paramount had to change the phone number today of one of their senior executives whom we targeted on our site
- Frank Kelly. Now when you dial his number you automatically get connected to some poor low-level guy working the studio lot!A quick update on media. Salon did a great piece on StopDrLaura.com, it's still online at:
http://www.salon.com/tech/log/2000/03/01/drlaura/index.html Datalounge also wrote a nice piece at: http://www.datalounge.com/datalounge/news/record.html?record=5712 We also did interviews today with the BBC and with CNet, and we expect articles in Thursday's San Francisco Chronicle and USA Today, among other publications.Now, the next steps. Now that we have Paramount on the run, we really need you to do more. Please read through this checklist, do what you can to help, then send this email update to 10 friends.
1. Call Paramount Chairman Kerry McCluggage in Los Angeles at 323-956-5076, and ask your friends to call too! This is the DIRECT LINE to his office and they can't change the number without losing all his business contacts. If they try passing you call to a voice mail or another person, don't let them - demand that they take a message for you. Tell them that you are outraged about Paramount's plan to launch the Dr. Laura TV show and demand that they treat the glbt community with respect. We need to ensure that his staff is busy ALL DAY LONG taking complaints. (Does anyone have other phone numbers for McCluggage or his fax number?)
2. Email Paramount Chairman McCluggage. We found his direct personal email address - send lots of email to: mailto:kerry_mccluggage@paramount.com - and send this email address to all of your friends! Put something that sounds business- like - like: "phone call's" or "update on script" in the subject line to confuse them - otherwise they might filter the emails out if the computer sees "Dr. Laura" in the subject line. [PF Note: I object to this kind of manipulation, but do as you see fit]
While you're at it, send a second email to McCluggage that doesn't even mention Dr. Laura at all. Why? Because Paramount's computer people will try to set up an automatic filter that looks for messages that include the words "Dr. Laura" or "biological error." So, instead of making their job easy, send them a ton of emails about your favorite baseball team, the weather, or what you had for dinner last night. There's NO WAY they can filter out emails if they aren't even about Dr. Laura - and the more emails you send, even about unrelated topics, the harder it is for Paramount's leadership to find the real emails they need, and continue business as usual.
3. Help us get contact info for Paramount and Viacom (Paramount's parent company). Are you in Los Angeles or New York City? Do you have friends there? Please ask around and see if you can find a staff listing for either company (preferably with phone, fax and/or email addresses) and please forward it to us. We need to find the direct phone lines, direct fax numbers, and personal email accounts of any and all senior staff so we can target different people each week ALL YEAR LONG. And if anyone knows their home phones, addresses or favorite restaurants and hang-outs in LA or NYC, please let us know so that we can ensure that we local activists on the ground give them an earful about their unholy union with Dr. Laura.
As a final note, from all of us at StopDrLaura.com, I just have to say thank you so much, gang. People sometimes say that no one is ever willing to stand up and defend our rights, but you guys really made us proud today. I don't mean that to sound condescending at all, it's just so cool when the community unites together to do something good :-)
Thanks.
Now in closing the very first newsletter, I would like to know if there is anybody else who would like to help Lisa put together a newsletter once a month or once a week depending on what we come up with? I may write a little something as well for each one. This is all brand new for me ladies, so right now I'm just winging it. Any suggestions or ideas would be very much appreciated. My dream is to really see this Rainbow Women group grow. We already have ladies from all different states and we would like to have you exchange messages at our myevents.com Rainbow Women site. You can chat, post to the calendar, and upload files and numerous other things. We have around 16 members now and there are over 20 outstanding invitations waiting to be answered. More have signed up at the club; I just have to send out the invitations. We can also do a mailing list if we get enough people. Where you post messages and it goes out to all the members. We are asking for your help and involvement. Send me your ideas. Let me know what you think. As Rachel said: "A place where we might go to get advice from each other and to form a bond of sorts. Where we can go to find someone with the same problems possible, and to find someone who understands. And to have a much needed laugh or two also. Or a place to just bitch at how society is these days. I think we all have those days!"Coming soon: Chat room will be coming to the main web site soon. You will be able to type or talk (if you have a microphone) to anyone who is at the site when you are. Save on phone bills and meet new friends at Rainbow Women. I already have the chat button where visitors can chat with me. So click on the online chat button and say hello when you're there. It might be gone soon. Unfortunately there just isn't enough time in the day for me do add all the things I want to do to the site. Patience, patience I guess. :)
Until the next time....
Your Webmaster Vicky
www.vickstix.comhttp://www.geocites.com/rainbowwomen.geo
rainbowwomen.net
rainbowwomen@hotmail.com