Stay in Office, Eliot Spitzer

Marcxh 11, 2008  I just emailed this to the governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer’s, office.  Dear Mr. Spitzer,Please do not resign. I am begging you. Hang in there, be resolute. What happened to you is an affront to all mature people; I completely understand the situation you’ve been in, and support you so much that it is hard to put it into words. Finally NY has a governor who is more than a mediocre mouth piece for a party machine, who can inspire real love, loyalty, and genuine honor. And you are that. The sheer, revolting, vulgar hypocrisy of what has been done to you is so disgusting to me, but please don’t feel that the majority of thinking people in this state don’t support you. We do, and love you. And we want you to stay governor. I do with all my heart. Just realize this, and know how much we care for you and want you to remain in office. Sincerely, Perry Brass, What has happened to Eliot Spitzer is such an exercise in the hypocrisy of this period, when we expect public people to be public people 24/7, when there is no shield of basic human privacy for them, either officially or unofficially, ever.  There has not been a single, great, inventive, intelligent male (and I can’t account for females in this) yet who has not had some side of themselves in need of a place of privacy: and we are now destroying that. Or should I say, “they” have. I am not in this act, never have been, and never will be. At this point, the moral guardians of the Public Sphere, who will use any means at their disposal to invade the Private one (wire tapping, email surveillance, mail tampering—you name it), would have destroyed the lives and careers of  Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Bill Clinton, and half of everyone else they could drag in. They will make running for public office into an exercise in mediocrity, cowardice, and shallowness; if it is not that already. We will be stuck with the next “morally pure” Hitler. What happened yesterday to Eliot Spitzer—when he was “exposed” by the New York Times and the news media machine,  is among the dumber things I’ve seen in my lifetime, but, hey, we’re in the period of the dumbing of everything, so why shouldn’t a brilliant man like Spitzer be the victim of it?Well, I just hope he gets to listen to the smart people of New York who want him to stay. I mean are begging him to stay. Don’t get caught up in the sheer bullshit of the moment, the tabloids in New York City out for your scalp and skull; the Republicans who are making money and careers out of eating you alive; and the rest of the media onslaught that is doing what it always does: selling ad space at your expense. It’s you today, Britney tomorrow, and then whomever else they can grind up and reduce to newsprint pulp or a moment of digital titilation. Don’t be fooled, Governor. We still want you. And I mean that. Perry Brasswww.perrybrass.com  

2 Great Do’s and 2 Great Don’ts to Start Your Day

Two Do’s and Two Don’ts to Begin Your Day
from the classic queer survival manual:
How to Survive Your

Own

Gay Life
(Belhue Press, 1999)
by Perry Brass

The Do’s

1) Realize that only you can change things for yourself. Some change may consist of just opening yourself up to what is already inside you. Your therapist can’t do it—in fact, some therapists have an interest in keeping you unchanged (it’s called their hourly fee!). In the long run, your lover, your family, or your friends cannot bring about changes, either, although having their help along the way can be very important.

2) Realize that there are things about you that may not need changing, that may be authentically right for you. That the warm, loving, tender feelings you have inside are natural and beautiful. Those of us who remember the fabled 60s “love generation” now feel as if we are living through a bitter reaction to it: a period of open, even encouraged hostility and hatred. Even though these are the “cutting-edge” emotions that much of our commercialized culture (“gay culture” as well) spits back at us, that does not mean we have to buy this venom at market value.

The Don’ts

1) Don’t make up rules that you can’t follow: “In my next relationship, I’m going to be monogamous.” “When I fall in love, it shall be forever!” “Any relationship after thirty has to be a serious relationship!” “I’ll never trust you or anyone else ever again.” These are the sort of rules that were thrust on you as a kid. You don’t need them.

2) Don’t allow other people to label or define you: “You can always tell gay people by the way they dress (or, that they like opera, love disco, or are flaky and have no integrity, etc.).” “You’re too old to feel that way!” “You’re too old (or young) for that kind of idea.” Tell all the labelers and definers to go do something ingenious with a rear part of their body.

Perry Brass’s newest book is Carnal Sacraments, A Historical Novel of the Future (Belhue Press), available for $16.95. It is available at LambdaRising.com, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other fine book outlets. He can be reached through www.perrybrass.com, or his email address: belhuepress@earthlink.net

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