Scrumptious Multiple Orgasmic Experience

I have been feeling rather nostalgic lately. So when it came to picking this month’s recipe from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I picked one that reminded me of my childhood. Gigot Pré-Salé, Roti (Roast leg of lamb) is a dish that reminds me of many celebratory dinners, friends and family enjoying each other’s company and a comforting sense of homeliness. Having cooked this dish 100’s of times before I was a tad curious as to how Julia’s recipe would differ from mine and also slightly nervous about Julia’s take on my interpretation of it.

You see roast leg of lamb is one of my all time favorite dishes and if I had to choose one last meal this would be it. Over the years I have perfected my recipe and it is now, I’m proud to say, completely fool proof. Stuffed with garlic and rosemary and served with golden and crispy oven baked potatoes, rich dark gravy and any vegetable as long as it’s green I have achieved many culinary standing ovations. So when I approached Julia’s recipe, I did so comfortably smug not believing that Julia could add anything that could better my already perfected dish. Boy was I wrong!

The devil is in the details, and details Julia provides plenty off. My recipe is quite simple. You take a roast leg of lamb (with the bone in), make small incisions all around and then insert peeled garlic cloves and rosemary, salt and pepper to taste and then place in a casserole dish. Add one unpeeled and halved onion, two carrots, a couple of unpeeled garlic cloves, rosemary, 250ml red wine, 250ml lamb stock, two bay leaves, 4 cloves, a dollop of salted butter, cover with foil, place lid on in stick in the oven at 90’C for 8-10 hours. The lamb is done when you can pull the bone clean out. But when it comes to Julia’s recipe a few extra steps are required.

Firstly, Julia’s recipe requires the lamb to be seared and this is not done in a frying pan, no… it’s done in the oven and it takes a good 20 minutes. Secondly, the lamb must be trussed before searing, something I completely forgot to do and only realized after the meat was already seared. All I could do at that point was to take a sip of red wine, shrug my shoulders and say “It’s not the end of the world now is it Julia?” The remainder of the recipe and the ingredients was pretty much similar to mine apart from the total cooking time and recommended oven setting. This was the one area I was not willing to compromise and I stuck to mine.

At 10pm I placed my roast leg of lamb in the oven to slowly cook and I set my alarm for 8am and went to bed. There’s nothing that says home and peace to me quite like the smell roast leg of lamb early in the morning. As I lay in bed breathing in the aroma of heaven I was whisked away by happy memories of Sunday lunches, Christmas dinners and my mother and grandmother when they were still alive and cooked this dish for me. It’s amazing how a single smell can take you back 5, 10, 20 years.

At 7am curiosity got the better of me and I rushed to the kitchen and took a peak at my lamb. It was cooked perfectly. Being way too early for lunch I decided to let the meat rest and I did too. Nearer to lunch time I commenced with the preparation of the butter parsley potatoes, string beans with bacon and onion and the spectacular gravy made from the liquids in the casserole dish in which the lamb had been bathing overnight.

With the lamb carved, potatoes, string beans and gravy prepared it was time to dish up. It was time to find out if Julia indeed bettered my signature dish. Laborie Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 was selected to be served with the lamb and with both our glasses filled we got stuck in. With my first mouthful I thought I had died and gone to heaven, the lamb melted in my mouth and the subtleties of flavor had my taste buds exploding with pleasure. I know this will be the second time I have said this about a Julia Child’s dish but it was an orgasm on a plate – it really was!

Julia Child’s Gigot Pré-Salé, Roti combined with my now updated recipe for Roast Leg of Lamb was a scrumptious multiple orgasmic experience that will see me in the gym at least 3 times this week. I can’t believe I doubted Julia to bring that extra magic to my signature dish. I will never doubt Julia Child ever again!

Till next time.

Julia Child and Lobster!

South Africa: Democracy At Risk

South Africa's democracy is at risk -- a draconian and unconstitutional new secrecy Bill is in Parliament and a Media Tribunal could be endorsed by the ANC Council this week, muzzling the media and letting the security agencies operate without accountability.

The secrecy measures in the "Protection of Information" Bill and the "Media Appeals Tribunal" proposal threaten press freedom enshrined in the Constitution and will block the media acting in the public interest to expose corruption and abuse of power.

Only massive pressure from citizens across South Africa can stir the ANC to reverse these proposals and preserve hard-won freedoms. Let's make the citizen's outcry too loud to ignore. Sign the urgent petition, and then forward this message to everyone. The petition will be delivered to the ANC Council meeting.

CLICK HERE to sign the petition.

Lady Gaga's Meat Dress South African Style

Need I say more?

@PigSpotter Hero or Villian?

There’s nothing worse than getting a speeding fine and I have received my fair share. Traffic Cops seemed to have passed prostitution as the oldest profession in the world because it says in Genesis 3:4 "... and I saw an evil spirit standing behind a bush..." So imagine my relief when a saviour came my way via the Intrawebs. A saviour on Twitter that goes by the name of @PigSpotter (Cliff). In the last few weeks @PigSpotter have caused quite a stir in South Africa and now the police is trying to hunt him down. Here’s a guy that warns motorist of speed traps, corrupt police officials and roadblocks and now they want him arrested. This led me to wonder, should @PigSpotter be praised as a hero or condemned as villain.

I have been following this diligent tweeter for some time now and he has saved me from many potential money draining fines. It’s not like I am a speedster (well not anymore) but I do admit that there are times that I view speed limits as a recommendation only and not as mandatory. You know what I am talking about, those days that you are late for work, about to miss your flight or curious about just how fast your rental car can really go. But after roughly 14 fines in the last 6 years, many of which I couldn’t talk my way out off, I have made a concerted effort to try and limit my speeding only to special circumstance. Trying to explain to a traffic cop that you were speeding because you were running late for your hair appointment with them then looking at you as if you come from Uranus, just didn’t seem worth the effort anymore.

So when I discovered @PigSpotter I found some piece of mind. You see now before I drive I check Twitter to see where potential evil spirits will be hiding that day and what traffic is like on my route. I don’t do this because I plan to speed, I don’t obsessively check my speedometer while I’m driving and every so often I do go over the speed limit accidentally; after all none of us plan to break the speed limit on purpose and without reason. So when the bomb dropped on a popular radio station and my secret speed trap informant was exposed, I was shocked!

You see @PigSpotter referred to traffic cops as pigs, pork chops, bacon rashes, amongst other enduring terms, and the cops didn’t take kindly to this. Now he faces charges of crimen injuria, defeating the ends of justice and defamation of character. Apparently the traffic cops have been emotionally hurt by his tweets and as such are unable to perform their duties effectively due to emotional distress. I find this queer as they never took notice of the emotional distress they caused me when they pulled me over. According to the head swine the tweeter is also enabling criminals to evade capture by tweeting locations of road blocks and not to mention the countless drunk drivers that now also can avoid driving into an ambush.

Honestly, what murderer, rapist or robber checks their twitter account after committing a heinous crime? Standing in a pool of blood, he reaches for his Blackberry, opens up Twitter and frantically searches for @PigSpotter and plans his escape route. Not to mention the drunk driver who can barely stay upright, with one eye closed to get better focus trying to open up Twitter and after several failed attempts and 20 minutes later finally tries to read @PigSpotter’s updates.

During the last few days the police have been searching for @PigSpotter. They have set up road blocks and are illegally searching people’s phones. God forbid you have a Black Berry and your Twitter account is open when they pull you over! To be fair I do understand where the traffic cops are coming from, it must be disheartening to have your job satisfaction hampered by a maverick social networking evil genius with a sharp sense of humour. The one thing I think they have failed to comprehend is that @PigSpotter might be one person’s account but there are at least, at the moment, 18 110 Pig Spotters out there of which I am one. How do they think the tweeter gets his information? Are they going to arrest us all? Should I and my Blackberry (which I’m only getting next month) go into hiding?

Clearly I am biased when it comes to my friend @PigSpotter, he is my hero! @PigSpotter stopped tweeting about road blocks as I am sure he would not want to assist criminals in getting away and he has stopped calling traffic cops pigs, pork chops and bacon rashes. But he is still tweeting about speed traps, where cops are taking bribes, traffic jams and the illegal searches that are being conducted in an effort to track him down. What he is doing might be illegal but is his actions damaging? Of this I am not sure, I’ll leave it for you to decide – one man’s villain is another man’s hero!

Till next time.

Do you think @PigSpotter should be arrested Yes or No, take the poll by CLICKING HERE!

Lady Gaga: The Prime Rib of America

Declaring that "Equality Is The Prime Rib of America,"  Lady Gaga urged Maine's two U.S. senators to help break a Republican filibuster on legislation that includes a repeal of the military's ban on openly homosexual service members.

Part 1

Part 2

The Bitch Lies!

There’s nothing like the smell of jet fuel in the morning in a bustling airport filled with strangers all huddled together preparing to depart to different destinations. Last week I was fortunate enough to go on yet another short business trip. Something I have done quite frequently the last few years. As I was making my way to the airport I had no idea of the misadventure I was about to embark on.

I’m not a morning person and whenever I have to get up when it’s still dark out it feels like cruel and unusual punishment ussually resulting in me being grumpy and bitchy. So when I had to get up at 5am on Thursday morning I wasn’t impressed. My flight was scheduled for 8am and after fighting my way through traffic I arrived at the airport a bit agitated and almost late.

I was the last person to board the plane and as I was stepping onto the aircraft a cabin crew member stopped me and took by suitcase. “What the hell is up with this airline and my damn luggage?” I thought. Then the Cabin Crew Luggage Nazi explained, in the gayest accent I have heard in years, that my suitcase was 1.8Kg over weight and it could not be stowed in the over head compartment, but assured me that he would take good care of it. Not having been in the mood to be difficult (which is unlike me when it comes to my hand luggage) I decided to let the issue go.

Getting a good seat on a plane is important and the middle seat is not a good seat. This is what I got and this was my punishment for being late. I was trapped between two fairly large men both hogging the arm rests. Being the nice person I am I greeted them and would soon find out this was a mistake. You see the guy to my right turned out to be a chatterbox. Brian the monster truck parts salesman loves his work, is passionate about truck gear boxes, gets excited about brake pads and once you get him started on alternators there just is no stopping him. At one point I wanted to scream “Dude I don’t care! I’m not interested in trucks! Shut the fuck up!!!” But I didn’t, he continued talking and it turned out to be a very long and “informative” 45 minute flight!

Arriving at King Shaka International Airport I was relieved to finally get away from Brian who in the mean time slipped me his business card that was quickly disposed off. As I was walking to the conveyor belt where my hijacked suitcase would reappear I couldn’t help but notice that the airport smelled like drying cement. I knew the airport was new, but didn’t know it was that new! As the luggage on the conveyor belt got snatched up by eager passengers my bag wasn’t coming out.

Eventually it wasn’t spitting out anymore luggage and a sense of horror flowed over me. They lost my damn luggage! Tantrum queen made his way to baggage claims and trying not to let the pitch of my voice reach breaking glass level I was spewing fire. Twenty five minutes later my bag was found. Fairy Luggage Nazi placed my bag with the cabin crew’s stuff and it slipped his mind to give my bag to me on departure. “Honestly queen, it slipped your mind, really?”

Luggage in hand I made my way to collect my rental car. I was pleasantly surprised that my rental only had a few kilometres on the clock and it was brand spanking new and it even had that brand new cars smell. Quite chuffed I switch on my GPS on my phone and made my way onto the highway. “At least this part of the trip is going well” I thought. Then 20 minutes into my journey and approximately 15 minutes away from my destination Mrs Helen (the voice on my GPS) started acting weird.

“Turn right” Helen instructs. “What? Helen I can’t there’s no off ramp!” A minute pass then “Make a u-turn!” Helen demands. “What???? Helen have you been drinking? I’m on the highway for Christ sake!!!!” Shortly followed by “Continue on the motorway for a while then make a u-turn” and from there it was a complete and utter fuck up! I spent the next hour driving in Helen’s drunken circles and eventually came to the conclusion to never put all your faith in your GPS – the bitch lies! So I resorted to good old Google maps!

Arriving at the guest house all I wanted to do is have a nice cup of tea, catch my breath and unpack before heading to my meetings. As I was sipping my red bush tea I deleted Helen off my phone and contemplated how I was going to redistribute the excess 1.8 kg of my suitcase for my trip back home. After my meetings and a nice supper, I returned to the guest house tired. I poured myself a glass of wine and switch on the television only to find that the satellite service was down.

Gravely concerned that I would miss an episode of Brothers & Sisters I made my way to guest house’s office and reported this. The response shocked me. “Due to the recession we decided to discontinue our satellite contract” the man said. “Excuse me, on your website you advertise prominently satellite TV in every room, this is false advertisement!” I said. “I’m sorry you are going to have to watch regular TV” he responded and with that the conversation was over.

Pissed off I made my way back to my room settling in for one long and boring evening with nothing to watch and nothing to do. So naturally I started going through the bedside table draws and guess what I found? 3 Bibles and a Step-by-Step Biblical Guide. Needles to say I wasn’t jumping with joy because of my discovery; instead I looked at my bed sheets with some serious concern. What does it say about the type of people that frequent this guest house if they felt the need to leave not one, not two but three bibles and a biblical guide in my room? Are the patrons of this establishment so sinful and in desperate need of repentance? Needles to say I slept uneasy that night as all the imagined sinful acts that could have happened in my room spun through my head.

The next morning at 5:30am I was woken up by some loud noises as the manager of the guest house and the staff sounded like they were having a staff meeting outside my bedroom door. I wanted to bang on the wall and shout for them to shut the hell up, but instead decided to get up and start packing. At 7am I had breakfast and made my way to the airport where I had to wait a good 3 hours for my flight. The flight back home was uneventful apart from the fact that some cricket team surrounded me in economy class. Luckily I secured a window seat this time and managed to drown them out with soothing music from my IPod.

Between my luggage being lost and found, my GPS being a lying bitch and the not so pleasant guest house I managed to successfully complete my business trip. Next time I will do my homework and be better prepared! Next time the bitch who took my bag, the bitch on the GPS and the bitch’s guest house with no satellite TV won’t lie – I hope!

Till Next Time.

SHERRY VINE in 'SUPERSIZER'

Don't Ask Don't Tell

Don't Ask Don't Tell Discriminates!  Watch Lady Gaga's message to the US Senate.  I think it's time the USA abolishes DADT.

Pope Benedict XVI

It is no secret, I don’t have much respect or time for Pope Benedict XVI. The ex-Nazi who with his visit to Auschwitz during June 2006 confirmed his anti-Jewish stance and denial of German responsibility of what happened there could be seen as a trend of his now ungodly career. Denial seems to come very easy to this Pope even in the midst of sex abuse scandals that have been plaguing the Catholic Church of late. This Pope is ignorant, a homophobe, sexist, pedophile protector and has no business heading the Catholic Church. This why his current state funded papal visit to the United Kingdom appalls me. What does this say about the United Kingdom? Is the UK implicitly endorsing papal policy by funding this visit? I hope not! Here are 4 reasons I condemn Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the UK.

Firstly, Pope Benedict XVI is ignorant on the issue of HIV and Aids. In 2009 the Pope stated “[AIDS in Africa is] a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems”. When I heard this I was shocked. Does the Pontiff not care that three quarters of global death by AIDS is occurring in his ideological playground? Or is the fact that Africa is not contributing enough to the Vatican’s coffers the reason why it’s better to let Africans contract HIV instead of preventing it by distributing condoms and advocating safe sex?

Secondly, Pope Benedict XVI is a homophobe. In 2004 in an instruction ordered by him, the church reiterates its medieval policy on practiced homosexuality: “Regarding [homosexual] acts, it [the Catechism of the Catholic Church] teaches that Sacred Scripture presents them as grave sins. The Tradition has constantly considered them as intrinsically immoral and contrary to the natural law. Consequently, under no circumstance can they be approved.” Not only does the Pope condemn gay folk to hell he also does not afford homosexuals equal rights in the Catholic Church. Love the sinner but hate the sin does not seem to resonate with this Pope. I guess God did not create all of his children in his image after all.

Thirdly, Pope Benedict XVI is a sexist. There is and will never be equal opportunities for women in the Catholic Church as was categorically stated this month. No women will ever be ordained into clergy because that is the realm of men and women will never be good enough. So shame on all Catholic women with successful careers, how could you! I suspect the Pope prefer women to be pregnant and barefoot in the kitchen and his nuns submissive and obedient.

Lastly, Pope Benedict XVI is a pedophile protector and this has started as early as 1985: While occupying a senior position in the Vatican, the now Pope is alleged to have urged no action be taken against a priest who had been convicted of molesting a girl of six, lest it damaged further the reputation of the Church. He has also been accused by victims of failing to act on information about a priest who had abused more than 200 children, and of supporting a system where suspect priests were quietly moved to new parishes rather than be challenged. Now this just makes me sick to my stomach.

Pope Benedict XVI visit to the United Kingdom and the fact that the UK has funded this papal visit is shocking. I hope that the Pope is not planning to set foot in South Africa. With everything that he has done, stood for and covered up it’s understandable that he has to be displayed to the public behind bullet proof glass.

Till next time.

Lady Gaga - Alejandro (I thought it appropriate!)

Lady Gaga the Steak Tartar Goddess

Lady Gaga sure knows how to make a statement.  Her meat outfit turned a few heads at Sundays VMA’s and had others gagging.  Looking at the images of the walking tartar goddess I couldn’t help but wonder whether the ensemble was indeed real meat or not.  One thing is for certain, Gaga’s outfit designed by Franc Fernandez will be talked about for months to come.  Forget about Cher here comes Gaga!

Clench those gluteal muscles!

Fabulous, I survived my first week back at the gym or as I like to call it “the torture place where we punish ourselves for eating too much”. I took exactly one year’s hiatus from meaningful exercise and frankly I can’t recall why I did it. But now I am back trying to get into shape and from what I experienced last week it is going to take some time and it’s going to be hell.

A couple of weeks ago I had the misfortune of stumbling across a photo of me on Facebook. The photo was taken at a party hubby and I attended. There are many photos of me floating around on the intrawebs and normally most of these photos have been taken from my good side (any side that makes me look thin) and those that were not most definitely are photoshopped. But this photo was different, it wasn’t my good side nor was it electronically altered – it horrified me!

You see in the last 12 months the lack of exercise and abundance of all things that’s normally bad for me took its toll. I gained a few pounds and I didn’t notice seeing as weight gain is an evil gradual process and I was convinced my washing machine was faulty and shrinking my clothes. Then I saw that fucking photo! I once use to have one chin, but in that photo I had two and to exacerbate the horror I looked 3 months pregnant!!! After almost passing out from hyperventilating, I went to the bathroom looked at my chubby self in the mirror and decided to go back to gym.

It took a lot of mental preparation for me to walk into the gym last week. Firstly, I was scared that due to my current fitness level being zero I was either going to pass out and split my head open in one of the classes or have a heart attack. Secondly, I was secretly praying that all the people in my group class would be morbidly obese or at least fatter than me, which of course they weren’t. Armed with a prayer, a towel, a water bottle and a cute outfit that hid my blubber I walked into the gym on Tuesday, focused, determined and slightly terrified.

Trying to appear confident I took a strategic position in the back of the class. From the back no one could watch me or point and laugh and if I had enough I could just sneak out. As all the ladies and two gentleman came dripping into the studio and zero hour was vast approaching I fought the urge to take my stuff and flee. Then the instructor arrived and closed the door behind him and with a firm voice becoming of a drill sergeant he said “Welcome to Boxing, I will be working you out for the next 60 minutes” and with that there was no backing out.

I’m no fucking Rocky and floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee clearly wasn’t in my repertoire but I suffered my way through. As I got into my car after the class I was soaking wet, relieved and kind of proud of myself. The next day I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn’t stiff or sore, but the surprise was short-lived. Thursday came and I was in a world of pain. Walking and breathing and even holding a pen was painful and to make matters worse - I was to attend another class that evening and I was petrified!

Shuffling my way into Studio 1 Thursday afternoon I was having a protracted conversation with myself in my head. “Why do you punish yourself like this? Surely there are easier ways to lose weight?” After ten minutes of negotiating and rationalizing with myself I eventually made peace with the fact that I am at the gym and I am there for a reason.

The second Nazi instructor pitched all excited and energetic but his enthusiasm wasn’t contagious. As the class started my muscles warmed up and the excruciating pain subsided. He worked us hard and paid particular attention to our asses. At one point he screamed “Clench those gluteal muscles!” and I wanted to scream back “If I clench any harder I will pop a vein!” Sixty minutes later it was over and I made my way to my car finished! I could barely drive away as my legs were shaking that much, but it felt good.

I survived my first week back at the gym and I am honestly not looking forward to this – my second week. But with all things in life we sometimes have to commit ourselves to things we don’t find appealing. I will go back tomorrow and suffer some more. Hopefully as the weeks pass and my pregnant belly and my second chin melts away I will start enjoying this weekly excursion to the torture palace. Who knows I might even get addicted to exercise, now wouldn’t that be a hoot!

Till next time.

Jackie Beat - Beaver (Not for the easily offended)

Pop My Cork

Few things in life get me as excited as winning stuff, I am fiercely competitive after all – it’s a gay thing!

The 2010 SA Blog Awards is no different. Even though I probably don’t stand a chance in hell of winning seeing as the god of blogging, who have been dominating the awards since forever, is also nominated in my category. But with that being said his blog is as controversial as a cat coughing up a fur ball. And I wouldn’t mind dominating and wiping his ass (figuratively that is, I don’t want to get censored) in this year’s awards.

Please help me achieve victory so I can pop my cork and shed my bubbly by voting for my blog every day until Friday. What’s in it for you I hear you ask yourselves? Well, if I win I promise to recreate Lady Gaga’s September Japan Vogue photo shoot. You know you want to see me naked!

SO CLICK HERE AND VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!

Fabulous Queen of the Month Award

This month's winner is Björn Czepan

In a single photograph Björn Czepan and Mark Dean Brown became unwitting symbols for tolerance and gay rights at the predominantly Afrikaner, Rugby-Playing Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

Sadly, Czepan died and Brown is critically injured in hospital after a car crash that occurred this week.

I commend your brave stance for gay rights, I wish Mark Dean Brown a speedy recovery and my condolences go to Björn Czepan's family. Björn was and is an inspiration to us all!

In Tribute of Björn Czepan - This is to all the Homophobes out there (I'm sure Björn would have sang along)

The Naked Truth Served Rare

Lady Gaga in a bikini of "tortured animals" as Peta so eloquently put it.  Funny, the meat seems pretty dead to me.  Fresh but dead none the less.  Trust our Queen Gaga to take steak and make it look sexy and all this for a good cause!  This is the September cover of Vogue Hommes Japan.

The Day Jesus Came

Last week was hell. Hell I tell you! I barely made it through the week and 90% of the time I was shrouded in a pharmaceutical haze. Floating through the week, praying for death to come or spring to pass, which ever would be first, I eventually survived and made it to Friday. After a horrendous week I arrived home on Friday afternoon to be met by a man, a man I have never met before, a man that freaked me out, a man that had me question our society’s social empathy.

Every day I drive past droves of beggars on my way to work. I don’t like them and they are like a parasitic infection in society for which there currently is no cure. The majority of them are just too damn lazy to work and is on the street by choice and not by circumstance. Some fake disabilities and others wittingly prey on our kindness trying to make us feel guilty. Very few of these beggars are actually in dire straits as they would like us to believe. Drawing a distinction between them is also almost impossible because who has the time to screen all the beggars on your daily route to determine who should be helped and who not.

In the past few years my empathy for beggars has dwindled. You see I use to be naive and often times wondered what went wrong in these people’s lives. What culmination of circumstances could cause a person to end up on the street. After an experience with one particular beggar my view changed. You see being berated by a beggar is not the way I like to start my day. On this specific Tuesday a twenty something year old beggar decided to take out his inner rage on me. He walked up to my slightly opened window and started screaming “Fuck you faggot, you son of a bitch!” Being quite shocked that he apparently knew my mother and could tell I was gay I rolled up my window and flipped him the finger. I still drive past him every day, but now we just look at each other with the contempt we both believe the other deserves.

Carrying cardboard signs that read “I’d rather beg than steal” also doesn’t contribute much towards me giving the carrier money. Firstly, I don’t like being indirectly threatened that if I don’t give you cash you’d resort to crime – isn’t that called extortion and in itself a crime anyway? Some even have the audacity to write that they are willing to “work” for food and clothes when in actual fact they have no intention of doing any work -  they just want your money!  After all why should he toil for hours like the rest of us if he could make more money standing at one spot having people bring cash to him?

We all unfortunately have to deal with beggars and these days it’s very difficult to avoid them. Lately they have even made their way into our neighbourhoods and the deceptions they use are becoming more sophisticated. Just a couple of weeks ago a desperate sounding man rang our door bell. My husband spoke to him over the intercom system and he expressed genuine concern for the poor guy’s well being. Unfortunately, these days you can’t let just anybody onto your property and with this hubby send the guy away. Only to learn last week that this guy has been going around the neighbourhood and that his story was a complete fabrication.

So imagine my surprise when I arrived home on Friday, still reeling from hay-fever to find a well dressed man in his late sixties standing in front of my garage door. As I parked my car I closed the automated door hoping the guy would leave. He didn’t! After several calls from him I eventually decided to go outside. He seemed quite frail and wasn’t threatening. As I opened the door the old man began to explain to me his despairing situation. He and his wife came from a small rural town to the city to look for work. A month has passed and still they were unemployed and now they decided to return home and needed money. As I attentively listened to his story I couldn’t help but wonder whether he was the same con artist that have been harassing our neighbourhood. He seemed sincere and he seemed genuinely desperate. I truly felt sorry for him, but I sent him away empty handed.

I remember a lesson from Sunday school where the teacher once asked us if Jesus were to come to us as a beggar would we sent him away. Naturally all of us in class said “No, we’d help him”. I wonder how many of my class mates, who are grown up now, can still say that. I most certainly can’t because had it been Jesus that came to my house I did send him away. We live in a society where we have become desensitised to the plight and suffering of our fellow man. Too many people out there are exploiting the generosity of everyday people and in doing so the truly worthy and suffering are ignored. Beggars and their deceptions have made us immune to feeling empathy as these days it’s hard to tell the difference between a professional beggar and a person in distress. Today it's far easier to simply try and ignore them, avoid all eye contact and pretend they don't exist.  It's just a pity that due to this, people that really needs our help now also fades into the distance.

Till next time.

Whoopi Goldberg - "Back to Broadway"

Top 15 Queers on Twitter

Here are the Top 15 most followed Queer Celebrities on Twitter (as on 2 September 2010), courtesy http://www.advocate.com/

282 970 follower

308 900 followers

527 314 followers

563 293 followers

635 930 followers

777 462 followers

1 060 245 followers

1 091 073 followers

1 123 498 followers

1 549 607 followers

1 564 457 followers

1 679 131 followers

1 746 386 followers

2 237 242 followers

5 151 765 followers