Badlands

I got this postcard from a Capital Pride Festival in Washington D.C. more than 10 years ago, showing Badlands that was located near the Dupont Circle and first opened in 1983. Once billed as Washington D.C.’s most progressive and longest running gay dance club, it later changed its name to Apex and was abruptly shutdown on July 5, 2011 after 28 years. The space, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Codman Carriage House and Stable, is now occupied by Phase One of Dupont, a 21+ lesbian venue.

Today, for the first time in the Annual Capital Pride Parade's 39-year history, the U.S. Armed Forces color guards marched along with the rainbow flag. An eight-member color guard team from the U.S. Army Military District of Washington led off the parade, started at 4:30 pm on June 7, 2014. It is the same team that presents the flags at congressional and White House events. The Department of Defense authorized the participation. Celebrations continue tomorrow at the Capital Pride Festival from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm on June 8, 2014.

Same-sex Marriages Started in Wisconsin

U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb declared the gay marriage ban in Wisconsin unconstitutional Friday, June 6, 2014. Same-sex couples began getting married in Madison and Milwaukee shortly after the ruling, in spite of confusion over the effect of the ruling. Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's vowed to appeal the ruling and to seek an emergency order in federal court to stop the wedding.

Wisconsin is the latest of the 15 consecutive lower court cases won for the same-sex marriages since a landmark Supreme Court ruling in June, 2013, although many of those rulings are still being appealed.

Postcard US-2576413 shows the Wisconsin State Capitol Building in Madison.

Chocolate World Opens at New York-New York

Hershey’s Chocolate World opened at New York-New York on Tuesday, June 3, 2014. The 13,000 square foot, two-story flagship store features an 11-foot, 800-pound replica of the Statue of Liberty that was hand carved from milk chocolates. There is also a replica of the Empire State Building, made out of 1,800 Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars. Customers can mix and buy their favorite Hershey’s candies, customize their candy bar wraps, and purchase a large selection of accessories such as T-shirts, stuffed animals, mugs and key chains.

On an unrelated note, one year ago, Edward Snowden revealed highly-classified National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance documents through Glenn Greenwald's report in the Guardian on June 5, 2013, sending a shockwave throughout the world. It is important for us to continue the debate so that the freedom and liberty can be preserved, and Lady Liberty wouldn't end up just being a prop.

Postcard US-2236311 to Ukraine and US-2566020 to Italy shows a half-sized replica of the Statue of Liberty in front of New York-New York Casino and Hotel. In 2011, The U.S. Postal Service issued a Statue of Liberty stamp, accidentally based on this replica in Las Vegas rather than the original in New York City.

25th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Protest

I mailed myself a card today to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Protest in 1989. It is slightly different from the one I made last year. It was a big disappointment that there had been no redress so far after 25 years. However, there is no doubt that who is on the right side of the history. I am confident that it will not take another 25 years to properly honor the memories of innocent people who lost their lives in and around Tiananmen Square.

Update: the card was received next day

Fun With Hummingbirds

Postcard US-2738805 to Ireland shows a Immature Anna's Hummingbird from a Flickr photo Fun With Hummingbirds Today by Linda Tanner under a Creative Common 2.0 license with attribution. The photo was taken on January 23, 2011.

It had a 34-cent Hummingbird stamp from USPS on the front, and was sent to Hummingbird Stamp
Cancellation Services, 8300 NE Underground Drive, Pillar 210, Kansas City, MO 64144-0001 for a first-day-of-issue postmark.

Yellow Crane Tower

Postcard CN-988823 from China shows a night view of the Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼), a historic tower first built in 223 A.D., overlooking the Yangtze River from the Snake Hill in Wuhan, Hubei, China.

Hubei (湖北), a province in the easternmost part of central China, covers the territory of the ancient state Chu (楚) during the Warring States period of the Zhou Dynasty, where its minister and poet Qu Yuan (circa 340–278 B.C.) called home. Once served in high offices, Qu Yuan was banished for his opposition to the alliance with the powerful state of Qin, and accused of treason. Qu Yuan was very productive and wrote a lot of poetry during his exile. Twenty-eight years later since his exile, Qin captured Ying (郢), the capitol of Chu. With his early prediction validated, Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River (汨罗江), a branch to the Dongting Lake in the Yangtze River watershed, in protest by suicide.

The legend says that local people, who admired him, raced out in their boats to save him, which became the origin of dragon boat races. In despair, they also dropped sticky rice balls into the river to distract fish so that those fish would not bite Qu Yuan's flesh. Those rice balls thus became the origin of zongzi. The date of his death has been commemorated as Duanwu Fesitival or Dragon Boat Festival to celebrate Qu Yuan's patriotism, which occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month of the traditional lunar calendar. The date varies from year to year on the Gregorian calendar. In 2014, it falls on June 2.

If Not Now, Then When?

June is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, as declared in a proclamation by President Barack Obama on May 30, 2014, calling on Americans to eliminate prejudice “everywhere it exists.”

Presented by Human Rights Campaign, UNLV Spectrum, LGBT Bar Association and Freedom Nevada, a special preview screening of the HBO Documentary "The Case Against 8" was held at the Student Union Theater, University of Nevada, Las Vegas at 2 p.m. today. The film offered a behind-the-scenes look inside the historic case to overturn California Proposition 8 that bans same-sex marriage in the state. It highlights that "battles are won because they are fought!" The documentary will premiere in theaters on June 6, 2014 and debuts on HBO on June 23, 2014.

The postcard to Taiwan, one of several from the Cirque du Soilei show Zumanity, depicts a scene where "the lovers dance a tumultuous tango. Through their fierce choreography, a passionate story of love and anger unfolds. Again and again they attract and repel in intense conflict until the magnetic energy between them becomes more than they can bear."