A guest submission with news!

OK, I know it's been too long since I've posted when my partner writes a guest post about major news in our lives. That said, this was seriously adorable and although I don't think she really meant me to post it for real for real, here it is. :) -Max

Guest post by Jess, 7 February 2008

Since last writing, our hero has taken a shocking--but positive, we promise--step: he's decided to get married. We know, "marriage" is not a word you ever thought you'd hear associated with his name. But it's subversive and transgressive in so many ways, honest--and plus it won't involve the state (except whatever office you go to register domestic partnerships in the District of Columbia, plus the notary who will have to witness all the contracts our hero and his partner will have to sign in order to get a tiny semblance of all the rights that straight couples get just by showing up with two witnesses. But you know all about that.)

Plus, more important, we really think it's going to make him happy. His partner is sometimes short-tempered and just a little overly concerned with details, and she often struggles to keep up with our hero's analysis of the world and his braveness in taking it on to make it better. She's not used to cohabitation (not that he is either) and lots of things about their relationship are new to her. Her last "serious boyfriend" was religious, conservative, and not particularly interested in radical equality or breaking down gender binaries - she has no doubts that this is way better.

However, she loves our hero in a way she has never felt before--he lights up her heart, frees her up from all kinds of mental and emotional traps she had felt stuck in, and makes her weak in the knees. She is excited to learn from him and support him however she can - and sometimes she even reads the books he recommends and follows his suggestions about the best way to go about things practical and political. She is learning that cooking and cleaning can be part of a creative, equal partnership, not of domestic servitude. She likes his friends (even if she's sometimes intimidated by their brilliance, intensity, and depth of experience... in many things...) and is thrilled when he likes hers.

We know that even all this love doesn't guarantee that she will make our hero happy, and we'd hesitate to speak for him on his own blog. But our hero himself has said that some of that gushy lovey weak-in-the-knees stuff goes for him too, that the learning goes in both directions, that their approach to domestic affairs and life can be complementary in many ways, and that he appreciates her follow-through and doggedness when she's trying to learn something (from him or others) or to make something happen.

So we hope that they are off to a life that incorporates both fighting racism and long bike rides through the woods, both working for the rights of workers and trans people and dancing to problematic [while rhythmically fabulous -ed.] music, both reading key books on radical theory and laughing so hard they can barely breathe. Plus, of course, living both on the East coast and the West...not to mention a few places beyond either coast. We hope you feel the same way.