Small Town Boycott Needs Our Support, Political Quiz, American Smokeout, Captured Cuties

Hey Blogger Buddies and readers, it's Thursday and I have to get ready for my drive with Adrienne Barbeau and Dee Wallace Stone. So much to do, gotta change the oil, vacuum the inside, armor all the leather, and it's raining here in NE Ohio this morning, so a car wash is out of the question, let's hear it for Mama and Papa Guru's garage, since I dont have one.


I want to try to activate the Guru Blog Wonder Powers again, and tell you of a story I read about over at Gaywired and Bratboy School. It seems that Teri Yale, the owner of an alternative record shop in Mason, Michigan, next door to my exiled state of Ohio, has been the subject of labeling, accusations, police visits, and even a boycott. What has aroused all of this outpouring of emotion? Has she bribed public officials, had a sordid sexual scandal, or terrorizing neighborhood puppies?? Nope, Teri Yale had the nerve, the audacity, to use her one year old business to sponsor a float in the city's high school homecoming parade. Whose float did she sponsor you ask? The high school's gay/straight student alliance that her eldest daughter began at the school, several years earlier. According to Ms. Yale's daughter, “Ever since the parade, the record store's business has been non-existent.” “Several of our regular customers, who previously ignored the fact that we carry gay pride stickers and other (similar) items, now have informed us that they will do everything in their power to boycott and hurt our business. We are now known amongst the town as the store that publicly ‘promotes queers.’ These ignorant people have been spreading vicious rumors about our store and a mass-scale boycott has come into effect, courtesy of these parade-goers. " Blogger friends, boycott's are effective ways to get notice against stores like Walmart, etc, but a boycott to a rural, family business can be devastating. I would like to direct you to the store's website, Davey's Basement. How about you my wonderful fellow bloggers and readers go visit Teri Yale and offer her a quick note of support. Better yet, she carries awesome concert t-shirts, incense, stickers, and more and you can buy yourself something, or some early gifts for the upcoming holidays. They are not all shown on the website, but I am sure you can write her with what you are looking for and she will find it for you. Gay/Straight Student Alliances in high schools, are one of our best defenses in curing homophobia where it starts, in peer-pressure ridden high school. Someone who supports this effort should be praised, not called names and boycotted against. If we can boycott a landscaper that wont cater to our community, as in Austin Texas, we should sure be able to "reverse" a boycott, to a gay friendly shop owner in Michigan. Go to the website, offer your support and tell them the Gay Guru sent you. Thanx blogger friends and readers, Wonder Guru Powers, De-activate!!



The election season is over, (except for all the newly launching presidential exploratory committee's, jeeeesh,) and hopefully next month we will get a workable proposal from Jim Baker's group, for how to change course in Iraq. For those of you who accuse me of being ultra-liberal, a badge I grudgingly sometimes concurr with, I took a fun little quiz today, to let me know where I stand on the political spectrum. Much to my surprise, I am just left of center with a score of 15, proudly equal with President Clinton's liberalometer, LOL. Want to know where you might be sitting politically?? Go on over and try the quiz, it's fun and informative if not entirely "UN"scientific. I enjoyed it.



Did you know that today was The Great American Smoke Out?? You can click on that link to find some great stop smoking hints and helps. Having never been a smoker, I cant speak to the addictiveness of smoking, I am just able to watch the bi-products of it from growing up and around smokers. Papa Guru smokes an easy pack a day, and that's AFTER having 2 heart attacks and a stroke!! I guess they must be pretty addicting eh? Mama Guru smoked for 37 years and quit cold turkey about 12 years ago. I have been very proud of her. Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer at this time for both males and females. The Gay Guru is not here to preach, just to advise and offer commentary. I hope my smoking blogger friends and readers will weigh the health risks and the cost, (dem sticks are damn spensive!), and decide what they want to do. I would like to urge and challenge you all, just for 24 hours of reading this post, prove to yourself that you are strong enough to quit smoking if you want to. Good luck with it, it will be hard, but I hope you try, just to know you can.



And finally, for a little eye amusement, here are todays captured cuties, brought to us by my blogger friend over at One Third Basketi. Have a great day, and wish me luck with my airport run this evening. I will tell you all about it tomorrow....GG