The Probulator

By now you’ve heard the “news”.  The late Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts was gay.  Naturally, the revelation of the sexuality of a fictional character has sparked a gamut of emotion from disgust and outrage on the ridiculous right to praise and pride on the loony left and everything in between.

postmodernbarney.com calls Rowling craven for this after the fact tidbit.  Time magazine states a similar line of thought, albeit less strongly worded.  Comments on the more matter-of-fact CNN article are very diverse being both supportive and derisive.  From these comments you can discern the fact that many, many Christian people are buying and reading these books despite the book burnings call for by the Dobson-like right-wing drones/clones.

First, a comment on the possible “satanic” nature of Harry Potter.  There isn’t any.  Wizardry in this fictional universe isn’t accomplished by calling on outside powers.  It appears to be an innate ability of the magic users.  This would seem to make wizards and witches a subspecies of humanity rather than ordinary humans selling their soul to defy the laws of the universe.  Rowling’s universe contains no other dimensions, worlds, realms, etc…  It’s merely differently talented people getting along in a world where they are outnumbered by the less powerful masses.

Second, is Rowling craven or an attention whore for her post-completion news?  I don’t think so.  First, the stories are told from the point of view of Harry Potter and his friends, not Dumbledore, the muggles, the ministry of magic or any of the Hogwarts faculty.  Harry Potter has a lot of issues and is kept busy by the fact that someone is attempting to kill him.  This would preclude him from noticing or attempting to discern the sexuality of his teacher; a man who is supposed to be approximately 110 years old.  I know that in school, I really didn’t care who my teachers slept with, especially if they were old enough to collect social security, and I didn’t have anyone on my tail trying to blast me into atoms.  I also speculate that Dumbledore wasn’t fully formed in the first couple of books and this may not have yet been a fact.  Rowling started writing the first book in 1990 when Fraulein Thatcher was still in charge of the UK and Bush I was still infecting the US.  Not exactly an ideal time to insert a gay character into a story aimed at children.  This probably came about during the third or fourth book when Dumbledore’s role become much more prominent.  Apparently clues are slipped in at this time, but my rather quick reading of the books a couple of years ago caused me to miss them.  However, a coworker of mine says she kinda knew all along.  I never claimed to have perfect gaydar.

Whatever you think of this, the fact remains that Dumbledore’s sexuality isn’t mentioned in the books and has no effect on the stories.  For those on the right that are now calling the books garbage, enjoy them and do what you do best.  Keep your children in ignorance of this fact.  For those on the left claiming Rowling a coward, lighten up.  It’s just a story.

Tags: Authors, British, Entertainment, Literature, gay by Dean
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A few posts ago I wrote about polygamy and the TV “Big Love”.  It brought up memories of a rather remarkable man named William Marston (1893-1947).  Doctor Marston was a psychology professor, an inventor and a writer.  It is the last two occupations that would have a lasting effect on society.

Doctor Marston’s most famous invention was a systolic blood pressure test.  It wasn’t used for health purposes but was developed into an early form of a lie detector test.  Doctor Marston’s other invention, under the pen name Charles Moulton, was an iconic media character known as Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman herself was a remarkable invention.  In the middle of a World War, during a very conservative period of America absent many of the civil liberties we currently take for granted, comes a self-confident, supremely strong, scantily clad woman, resident of an island inhabited only by women.  Marston made sure to point out these differences from the “modern” woman of the time who was still expected to clean the house, cook dinner and raise the children.   When Wonder Woman first arrives in America and decides to stay awhile, she looks in a shop window and despairs that the clothes have “so much material” while some locals have an astonished reaction to her outfit which is basically a one piece bathing suit and hooker boots.  In a subsequent story where her eternally suffering boyfriend, Steve Trevor, gains greater strength then her in his attempt to make her go truly ga-ga over him, she thinks: Isn’t it more fun to make the man obey.

So what does that make her creator, who wrote for the strip until about two weeks before he died?  One of the first modern feminists.   Doctor Marston believed the female to be superior to the male and that when women finally took over, things like war, greed, poverty, etc… would vanish from the face of the earth.  Doctor Marston’s ideas weren’t the only thing that were unusual.  His personal life was as well.  While in college, Marston met Elizabeth Halloway and eventually the two were married.  Later, while teaching, a student of his, Olive Byrne moved in with the pair.  The relationship was more than friendship.  Marston had children by both women.  The unusual polyamorous arrangement was never a secret, the women were friends to the point that the ladies named their children after each other and Mr. and Mrs. formally adopted Ms. Byrne’s children.  Olive’s son pointed out that: “It was an arrangement where they lived together fairly harmoniously.”

Now to the point of this whole thing.  When people think of polygamy, they conjure images of arranged marriages and assigned child brides.  While, they never called it a marriage, it is an example of a successful polyamorous relationship.  This relationship developed naturally.  In fact, after Marston’s death from lung cancer in 1947, Elizabeth and Olive continued to live together until Olive’s death in the 1980’s.  Elizabeth died fairly recently in 1999 at the age of 100.  It seems fitting considering both women were inspirations for Wonder Woman.  Elizabeth provided the spunky personality while Olive, with her dark hair, blue eyes and large silver bracelets provided the physical model.  Basically, it shows that this type of a relationship can work and perhaps work better than the “traditional family structure”.

There are two unfortunate things here.  First is the early death of Doctor Marston.  In just a few years after his death, Frederic Wertham released his work Seduction of the Innocent accusing comics of causing all sorts of social ills such as juvenile delinquency and homosexuality.  Things went so far as Congressional hearings.  I believe Marston’s defense of comic books in general, an art form he loved, and his own creation specifically would have been fascinating.  Second, there is no decent biography of Doctor Marston available.

Portions of this entry are derived from Les Daniels’ “Wonder Woman, The Complete History” (Chronicle Books, 2000) and Nick Gillespie’s  “William Marston’s Secret Identity” (Reason Magazine, May 2001)

Tags: Authors, Comic Books, Entertainment, Polygamy by Dean
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Wow, four days without posting.  I have a bit to make up for, so here a few things on my mind.

Torchwood - The Saturday debut was BBC America’s highest rated show ever.  Good going.  Next up is “Day One”.  This will be Gwen’s first adventure with the Torchwood team and they square off against a creature lovingly named “The Sex Gas”.  It’s an alien that feeds off the energy of male orgasms (straight or gay) and kills the “donor” in the process.  This is what I meant about the more controversial aspects of the show.  While there’s no outright graphic sex (simulated or otherwise) you see a good deal of bare butts.  Now Rhys (Kai Owen), Gwen’s boyfriend may be more Average Joe than muscle god, but he’s got a cute ass and has no problem showing it!  Back to the point, while BBC America didn’t significantly censor the first episode, now that we get more into the nitty gritty, I hope that remains the case.

Madeleine L’Engle - This great author inspired me to read some of her works again.  I ordered nice new hardcover copies of “A Wrinkle In Time”, “A Wind In the Door” and “A Swiftly Tilting Planet” and they arrived yesterday.  Afterward, I’ll listen to the same read by the author.  I was also inspired to concoct a way to spread the works of Madame L’Engle and increase the readership and commenting here (hopefully) by bribing the audience with a contest.  Look for it in early October.  Right before that is the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week.  “A Wrinkle In Time” is consistently in the top 25 of banned and challenged books.  Read it!

The News - Senator Toilet “I have a wide stance” Tryst has decided to try and have his guilty plea withdrawn.  Something tells me he’ll be successful.  Since it’s four days before the date he promises to resign, he may just stay on till the end of his term.  My only disappointment is that he won’t be running for re-election.  It certainly would have been the most entertaining contest of 2008.  The attacks from his fellow republicans would have been both more vicious and more original than any the democrats could think up.

Now another prostitute has come forward to denounce Senator Vitter.  Still, his fellow party members either ignore the incidents or spring to his defense.  Here is a man of God who, unlike his counterpart from Idaho whose proof of a crime is tenuous at best, has admitted to breaking a secular law (it’s only legal to pay for sex in certain parts of Nevada after all) numerous times and breaking a commandment.  Somehow he believes God has forgiven him.  Is there a crash course to cure someone of adultery like there is to cure someone of homosexuality?  And if so, who supervised him?

Former senator, crappy actor and presidential candidate running on the heels of the late Ronald Reagan, Fred Thompson first can’t remember the details of the Terry Schiavo affair.   Then, after being reminded of the details, he says it should be left up to the locals to decide who lives or dies.  If it takes him many hours to remember something that happened a mere two years ago and was significant enough for buffoon in chief George Bush to drag Congress back into session, maybe he has more in common with Reagan’s less desirable characteristics than he cares to admit.  Maybe we should ask Oliver North.

Is it possible to get too close of a shot in a porn movie?  Check out this article on high-definition porn.  Apparently producers are having some issues with the high definition image revealing too much.  Now all those “perfect” bodies have cellulite, wrinkles and razor burn.  This should a be a boon to the California plastic surgery and fitness industries.  It will probably push the envelope on software technology to cover up these imperfections because it’s unacceptable for a porn actor to look like a person.  No wonder Barbie remains popular and Slutz Bratz are even more so.

Worldwide scam network, Exodus, is releasing a report today that reparative therapy for gays ain’t so bad.  Of course, it’s being released by a publisher noted for its dedication to Christian ideology.  Also, it’s unknown if the report was actually peer reviewed.  If nothing else, it should be a funny read.

We’re still in Iraq with no end in sight.  And buffoon in chief still believes this is going well and we should stay even though we can’t even successfully train a security force over four and a half years.  Obviously this is the wait until it’s someone else’s problem strategy.

Keep reading.  It can only get better.

Tags: Authors, British, Entertainment, GOP Hypocrites, Literature, News, Politics, Repbulican Senators, Science Fiction, Television by Dean
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Unfortunately, the world lost one of it’s greatest literary lights on Thursday. The great Madeleine L’Engle passed away at the age of 88. She died of natural causes. Ms. L’Engle wrote over 60 books both fiction and autobiographical.

Although she had already published a number of works, in 1962 she released what is probably her most well known work, “A Wrinkle in Time“. My fourth grade teacher introduced this work to me in the 70s. I was instantly captivated by the unique and original imagery. Once my teacher had finished with it, I made my mother bring me to the library and took out the well worn copy they had there. A read it numerous times over the three weeks I was allowed to borrow it. Later on I discovered the follow-up “A Wind in the Door” and eventually, when looking through a bookstore I came across the newly released “A Swiftly Tilting Planet“.

At this point, I must confess that these are the only three books by Ms. L’Engle that I’ve read so far. Still, meeting Meg, Charles (with whom I identified), Calvin, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Witch was pure delight. It took a number of re-readings over a number of years to realize what a masterpiece I had in my hands. Here we have a tale of science fiction written to look like magic, but we know everything has an explanation underneath. Through it all is woven a subtle spirituality. It’s not forced and it certainly doesn’t try to clobber you over the head. Even today it seems fresh and ahead of its time.

My favorite book was actually the second of the series. “A Wind in the Door” is less fantastic and more scientific that its predecessor. With over a decade between the two, Ms. L’Engle had grown as a writer. The tale is darker and evil is less obvious that in Wrinkle. There is no “IT”. There are a collection of beings that simply wish to wipe us all out and they are doing it from within Charles Wallace Murry. To demonstrate how everything is relative, the battle to save everything takes place inside a single cell.

Ms. L’Engle was thought to be working on one final book to end her “kairos” story line. Unfortunately we will never read it. Rest In Peace, Ms. L’Engle, knowing the world is brighter for your time here.

Tags: Authors, Literature by Dean
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