civil unions

Since I'm in the midst of moving, most of my *real* thought centers are turned off. Hence, I'm not doing much by way of comment, just wanted to make sure and note the current discussion around civil unions (in MA). I did hear some people protesting in favor of the ban and I have to wonder why it seems to be so important to them that marriage be defined as male/female. Personally, I couldn't care less. Marriage itself is just a made up thing that we've used to shackle ourselves together, I often wonder what true benefits it even offers?

Also, here are a couple of interesting things I heard on NPR recently:

Today's Fresh Air featured Pulitzer-Prize Winning Journalist David Shipler. His new book is The Working Poor: Invisible in America. Shipler is a former reporter for The New York Times. He's also written for The New Yorker, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times. He's the author of the three books. His book Arab and Jews: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land won the Pulitzer Prize. NOTE: I found him interesting and informative - I'll definitely be getting his book. If you're interested, NPR lists all the books mentioned during talk shows.

The Feb 10th edition of Charlotte Talks (on WFAE featured Henry Louis Gates, Jr. This man was an excellent and fascinating speaker. I'm looking forward to reading some of his work.