Travel hopefully in life.

So, y'all may or may not be aware of the fact that professional sports in general suffer some fairly homophobic cultural mores. The NHL in particular hasn't seen any out LGBTQ+ players, current or retired, though they're making efforts to change the culture to allow that to happen. A lot of those efforts are thanks to a young man named Brendan Burke, who died in a car accident before he could see any of his efforts come to fruition. CBC's The Fifth Estate put out a really great, if slightly painful, documentary about Brendan and queer players in the NHL that's very good, if you've got 45 minutes to spare. Tumblr user camwarden was kind enough to upload a non geoblocked version to YouTube, and you can watch it here:

Watch on YouTube

It's a really great, painful look at the treatment of homosexuality in pro sports in general and the NHL in specific, and makes some really good points about a lot of aspects of that issue, including addressing (if briefly) the differences between pressures that male and female pro athletes face to stay in the closet.

We had a lovely little Zoom meeting for the members of my Spiritual Nonfiction class this afternoon. It was nice to see everyone face-to-face and establish some voices and tones and personalities through visuals.

The class itself has been fun so far, though we're still just getting into the rhythm of discussion. There are two essays due over the course of the class and I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to write about and no idea of how to figure that out. Presumably something about the intersection of faith practices and queer identity, but I can't imagine what I could possibly say that would add to that dialogue. Anyway, suggestions for how to determine personal essay/narrative essay topics welcome.

I hung my autographed Conor Garland jersey up in my living room today, after like 4 1/2 months of living in this apartment. It's feeling way more like home now.

I'm still conflicted about the proposed NHL return and the delayed Stanley Cup playoffs. On the one hand, I miss hockey, on the other, it seems like a pretty callous disregard for the health and well-being of both the communities where the athletes will play and the athletes themselves, not to mention a flagrant disregard of money and medical access to ensure regular testing for athletes when there are many, many communities who still can't get it.

Outside of pandemic concerns and as an entirely petty hockey fan, I'm irritated that Vegas and L.A. are still on the list as "hub cities." The Kings are right down there with the Bruins for least favored teams and I just straight up don't enjoy Las Vegas (or the Golden Knights, really), having been twice for work now.

Dog #2 is halfway through the "wet medicine" course the vet gave her for giardia. We only have two syringes left, but it's gotten progressively more difficult to get her to sit still and take the medication, so we'll see how that goes. My goal is to get through it without having to drag her in to the vet just to have them administer it to her. My dogs are always really excited to be at the vet, to the point where we get comments on it from the staff, who are unused to having animals be that stoked to be there, and I would really hate to do anything that changes her perception of the experience. At least the "dry meds" are going down easy—cheese flavored Pill Pockets are a godsend.

Have started venturing outside of the apartment complex with the dogs while on walks to take advantage of the beautifully manicured grounds of housing developments and other apartment buildings in the neighborhood, and it's been hot enough that they're fairly well pooped when we get back and spend most of the day sleeping, which is nice. Especially now that I'm back at work during the week.

I've started getting some messages from confirmed bidders in the equalityauction, laying out their fanart requests, which is exciting. It'll be fun to get back into the practice of drawing...well, technically still for money, but at least drawing subject matter that I enjoy more than what I get to do in my day to day work practice.

All in all things are going well, though I could stand to figure out an at-home exercise regimen that challenges me even half as much as kickboxing classes do. Maybe I'll start running again, even if it sucks at first.

Hope everyone is well! <3

We won again despite a rocky third period and I learned that Conor Garland’s team nickname is apparently “Gar.” Also took my autographed jersey in to get it framed. What a good good sports day it has been~