monday morning

Jack Cafferty is babbling in the background, griping (what else does he do?) about how little homework kids do these days. He says it's one of the reasons why our schools are failing. Perhaps, but did he catch the documentary about schools on his own network last night? Devastating. High Stakes: The Battle to Save Our Schools. (It's airing again next Saturday, by the way.) The gist of the piece (what I saw of it) was that Leave No Child Behind is doing just that, as schools rally to achieve high test scores. Students are being kept back, encouraged to drop out, helped to cheat and turned into basket cases from all of the stress.

On another topic . . .

Not sure if you are old enough to remember this, but between 1979 and 1981 there were a string of murders of children in Atlanta -- 29 in all. I remember it because I was a kid at the time and was frightened by the thought that someone could kill me too. When Wayne Williams was arrested and dubbed the "Atlanta Child Killer", I was confused. He didn't look like the monster in my dreams. With his big 'fro and square glasses, he looked like Arthur Ashe -- all he needed were tennis whites. Anyway, the story this weekend was that -- almost 25 years later -- Wayne Williams may not have been responsible for the murders and the case is being reopened. I had forgotten how frightened I was at the time, but it came back in a rush when I saw the story. It's not unlikely that this same fear -- felt around Atlanta -- might have compelled the authorities to point the finger and say they got their man before they really did. There are theories that the Klan may have been behind some of the murders and Williams was apparently convicted on flimsy circumstantial evidence.

Speaking about childhood fear . . . please don't let Bush piss off Putin. Hasn't he seen The Day After?

For the star f*cker in all of us, Arianna Huffington (star f*cker extraordinaire) has launched her new blog today. Thank G-d for Arianna, because she's giving celebrities the rare opportunity to have a forum to voice their views. I have a star f*cker story about Arianna, involving her Brentwood pad, Warren Beatty, a conference call and a Mexican maid, but I'm trying to learn to abstain. (Bush has finally gotten to me.)

Watched Garden State over the weekend. This means that a) I bought the soundtrack, b) I bought the latest Shins CD, c) the crush that I developed on Zach Braff when he played the tweaked out 'mo in The Broken Hearts Club is back in full force.

Can anyone tell me what else the actor who played the guy who lived in the ark has been in?

Check out the article about Larry Kramer on the front page of the Post's Style section. The man is frustrated. He's old, he's tired and he's disappointed with where the gay rights movement is today. Not enough has been achieved and, according to the Post, Kramer is angry that gay men are "confus(ing) sexual freedom with sexual promiscuity". Personnally, I am a fan of Kramer's impatience and bored with people who spend their time patting themselves on the back for their accomplishments when there is always more to do. The book that he's pitching in the story through his reading at Dupont Circle's Lambda Rising, is a speech that he made just days after the November elections. You can buy the book if you want, but you can also read the speech online for free. I haven't read it yet, but I'll get back to you when I have.