Times change

The racial aspect of Michael Jackson's persona was long alien to me; I was very young when he was already hugely popular; I imagine that it's the way a child of three or four years old today would grow up to see a black presidency, i.e. as 'is that a big deal?' I was in grad school before I ever heard anyone talk about what Michael Jackson meant to black kids at the time, and it's unclear to me whether the anyone in that case--my friend Tomika--felt that way because she was a few years older, or black, or a combination of both. By the time I was in kindergarten, Michael Jackson was a post-racial phenomenon, and not because of anything going on with his skin. All friends wanted for their birthdays were his tapes.

A lot has been written in recent days about how far we've come from Stonewall and how sexual preference or whatever you want to call it is less and less of an issue every day. Frank Rich's column is the best and most comprehensive, and also most mindful of what hasn't changed. As for the others, some ask, which came first, acceptance or Will and Grace? Which begot the other?

Do times need to change more before we're a nation of fewer hate crimes and a more equitable legal system? Or will a more equitable legal system, and stronger anti-hate-crimes legislation bring about a cultural paradigm shift? Or do we need both to feed off each other?

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Yesterday I (kind of) wrote about how adulthood has made me tiresome. In my twenties, would I have been above talking about homeownership and a sluggish metabolism? According to Russ Douthat, I'd be even more boring were I not single, i.e. part of a "consumption partnership.”