  |
||||||||||||||||
|
I was conversing with my friend Lewis tonight about politics. He mentioned how much some people frustrate him. This simple conversation made me think of a house down the street. I pass it all the time. I dread that house. I try to avoid looking at it. There is a mini-van that is often in the driveway. It has one of those “Marriage=Man+Woman” bumper stickers that were so popular during the 2004 elections. Even though 4 long years have passed, this person still maintains that sticker on the back of the vehicle. It’s a statement of hatred. It’s an ever so subtle way of saying “I don’t like you”. It reminds me that the bullies who picked on me at the playground have now grown up into bullying adults. I feel fairly certain the driver of this vehicle is a woman. There is a car in the driveway, probably her husband’s. Isn’t it funny how much you can assume about strangers? There have been many times I wanted to knock on the door and just say “Hey lady, what happened in your life that made you hate me so much that you’d ride around with an anti-gay sticker for 4 years?” Well today I noticed that she (or they) had put a McCain/Palin sign in their yard. Whoa, what a shocker. I could have never seen that one coming. I felt even more compelled to stop by, knock on the door, and just look into the eyes of the person. I wanted to see who they were, and try to get a feel for their spirit. But I didn’t, and probably never will. It’s their home, their yard, their car. They can do what they want. I just wish they felt I deserved to do what I want too. It’s strange how you can build a whole story around a bumper sticker and a sign, isn’t it?
If you go to vote in Tennessee, you cannot wear anything with campaign slogans, logos, or names on it. This includes shirts, hats, buttons, stickers, jackets, or anything else with a political agenda. In fact, there are posted rules that say you can’t even talk about politics while waiting in line. Other states are enforcing similar restrictions. Some voters are angry about this, saying this violates their rights. But personally, I think it’s a very good rule. When Rodney and I went to vote today, it was a peaceful experience. Every one in line was very quiet and respectful of each other. There was no controversy, no agendas. I really appreciated it. I lived in North Carolina when I voted in 2004. I remember waiting in line and actually having local politicians come up to me and try to get me to vote for them. It was so offensive and invasive. I felt uncomfortable as they went to each person down the line and tried to carry on a conversation. Can’t I just vote in peace? So when it comes to restrictions like this, I think it’s a good thing. As long as it’s enforced across the board, of course. It wouldn’t be fair if McCain supporters got away with it but Obama supporters didn’t, or vice versa. But as long as everyone is treated fairly, I think it’s a very good thing to keep a calm and neutral environment at the voting booth.
Rodney and I cast our vote today for Barack Obama. Voting is such an exciting thing. I’m really glad to have the privilege and it’s something I don’t take for granted.
I’ve found over the years that foreskin can be a controversial topic no matter who you ask - men, women, gay, straight. I do find that gay men in general are more accepting of it, perhaps because foreskin is considered a fetish in our community. Even with that being said, I’ve come across many gay men who won’t go anywhere near a foreskin. I was surprised to find that it’s a topic almost as sensitive as religion or politics. When you find someone who dislikes foreskins, he or she will go off on a very passionate speech about how disgusting foreskins are and how they should be cut right off as soon as a baby boy enters the world. I even remember an episode of Sex and the City where a man with a foreskin was part of the storyline. The women responded with offense, wanting nothing to do with the situation. I could say a lot about how all the myths of foreskins are untrue. I could go into great detail about how foreskins allow men to experience more pleasure, more sensitivity, and overall more satisfaction with their penis and their sex life. I could even point out the numerous statistics of men whose penises have been permanently damaged by having their foreskins cut off. Ugly scarring, dried up skin on the head of the penis, decreased sensitivity and problems achieving orgasm because of lost sensation. Need I even mention the men who had too much skin cut off, and erections are painful as a result? Regardless of whether or not you like foreskins, there is one thing I hope all people can agree on— every man deserves to make a decision about his foreskin when he is an adult. Our current practice of lopping off the body part of a newborn child is insane. I think the person who is going to be attached to the penis for the rest of his life should be the one to make that choice. If he decides he’d like to be circumcised, I think that’s just fine. That’s his choice to make.
I have a lot to say about this topic and this is just the beginning. When I was born, my parents had me circumcised, and I resent their decision. It’s my body, and I should have been given the choice myself. In 2000, I first heard about the concept of foreskin restoration. There are dozens of ways to accomplish it, but the end result is the same — you can regrow your own foreskin without surgery. The penis has extra loose skin on it. This allows it to stretch and expand when you have erections. This extra loose skin can be pulled forward easily and without pain. I think of it as a stretching exercise. When you stretch the skin out, you expand the skin cells. New cells have to recoup and fill up the stretched space. By doing this continuously over time, more skin is grown until you finally have enough to cover your penis. (I hope I explained that correctly. This is my understanding of it anyway.) I have considered restoring my foreskin many times over the past 8 years. The main reason I wimped out was because I was afraid of all the myths I’d heard, like that foreskin is smelly and hard to keep clean. The logical part of me knows that’s not true. If you don’t clean your armpits, they stink. If you don’t clean your foreskin, it stinks too. But you wouldn’t cut out your armpits just because you had to keep them clean, now would you? I finally decided to get serious about this process at the beginning of October. I started gently pulling the skin outward as far as I could without hurting myself. I did it a few times a day. 2 weeks later (last Friday) was the first time I really started noticing results because there was extra skin on my penis. It wasn’t anything dramatic, but I know my penis pretty well. There was definitely more skin and the outer layer was stretchier. People say that the stretching method (often referred to as “tugging”) can take years. But that’s okay, I’m still going to be around, so I might as well grow a foreskin while I’m at it. I must admit the results are very exciting! I noticed today that the skin is even more stretchy, and I can pull it out further without any pain. The proof is real, I’m growing a foreskin! There are also products you can buy that apply continuous weight on the skin throughout the day. All of them work, and most of them have forums filled with success stories and photos of satisfied customers. When I have enough skin, I may consider buying one of them to help me along. Right now, I actually really enjoy stretching the skin myself. It’s clearly working since I have noticed results in just a few weeks. I will continue to report my progress on this. I realize photos of the progress would be helpful, but I don’t feel comfortable posting nude pics. I also can’t post before/after photos of other men, because I feel like that violates their privacy. But if you’re interested, just do a search and you’ll find plenty. If you’re interesting in restoring your foreskin too, I recommend doing your research first. It’s important to do the process correctly and be gentle about it. If you pull too hard, you can damage the nerves.
It’s long been a dream of mine to have some type of rescue haven for cats. It’s not something I plan to do today, or tomorrow, or any time in the near future. But it’s definitely something in my “someday” category. I believe I have a unique and special ability to make my dreams materialize. Anything that I’ve really wanted in life has presented itself. Sometimes it was as easy as snapping my fingers, other times it takes some work. But my dreams come true. Tonight I stumbled across the story of Lynea Lattanzio, a woman who is doing exactly what I dream of. She has a 12 acre sanctuary for cats. Since it started in 1992, 16 thousand cats have passed through! She is currently filled to her maximum capacity of 600 cats, although that doesn’t stop people from throwing cats over the fence in the middle of the night. Poor kitties. I can’t imagine throwing any animal over a fence and leaving it. I also think she has a very unique way of finding homes for the cats. She bargains with shelters. For example, she’ll give them 5 litters of kittens (which are the easiest to find homes for) and in exchange she’ll take one feral cat off the hands from the shelter (these are usually the first to be put down). So by saving one cat’s life, she finds homes for 5 litters of kittens! Pretty smart. There is one major difference between my dream and hers. I have no intention of living with the cats. As much as I love cats (and I really do), I don’t think I’d want live with 600 of anything! I feel like cats are an amazing and healing gift to the world. I look forward to the day I can embark on a dream like this too. And as I sat here writing this, one of our cats (Prissy) walked up to me, sneezed on my leg, and then walked away. It’s just what cats do.
A lot of people aren’t clear on whether or not they are required to fill out all sections when voting. I have to admit, I wasn’t clear either. Like many people, I believed I had to fill out all sections in order for my ballot to count. So I’ve done some research in hopes that I can help other confused voters. The Verdict: You are not required to fill out all sections in order for the ballot to count. If you just want to choose your pick for President, your vote will still be counted. So vote with confidence, and if you aren’t familiar with the names in a particular category, you can leave them blank. If you do want to educate yourself on your local candidates, go to http://vote-usa.org/ to find out who is going to be on the ballot in your area. You can click their names to learn more about them and where they stand on issues that are important to you. Many states are already offering early voting. So get out there and vote!
I’m completely fascinated by this guy’s collection of out-of-print Disney movies, not to mention the fierce Shirley Temple marathon going on near the bottom row. In this fast paced technological world, I realize people don’t have time to pay attention to minor things like e-mail etiquette or privacy. But there is one extremely valuable feature that is built into all e-mail programs which I think we should be aware of: the BCC field. BCC stands for “Blind Carbon Copy” and this handy little box enables you to send e-mail to everyone in your address book while hiding their identity and e-mail address. As a general rule, people don’t like mass forwarded e-mails anyway. Let’s establish that right now. They should be sent sparingly and only when you have something so important that it must go out immediately to everyone. So when you do decide a topic warrants a mass e-mail, please for the love of God use your BCC field. Your friends will appreciate not having their e-mail harvested out in a message that may be recycled hundreds or thousands of times, each time with their address in it. The only exception to this rule are work related e-mails that go out to a small team, in which case obviously their addresses should be shown so everyone knows who is in the loop. This public service announcement has been brought to you by Nathan Exposed.
Scholastic has been doing a poll with children across America for who will be the next President. They have been correct every time for the past 40 years! That’s pretty impressive. The results are in for the 2008 elections: Barack Obama is the winner! You have to watch this interview with these two children. It’s adorable how sophisticated and informed they are:
 ©2005-2008 Nathan Exposed . All Rights Reserved Meet the Cast
Recent Posts
Filing Cabinet
RSS Subscribe
Archives
Buddy List
|
2 Comments
This is part two of my discussion on foreskin. You can 
I love cats. If you’re truly a cat lover, you understand that special bond. They are an incredible species of animal.
