Vote For DERATANY!

Missing Billy Dose

Bill Dose's memorial was last night at the Cliffdwellers. Sandra Shea-Bogan was marvelous. Leslie Hindman was perfect as always. Freddie and Dee were angels. It was nice to meet Ani, and to see Bill Haddad. I can't believe I missed Keith Dukavicius - he was in the coat room when I was leaving (Keith are you out there? Write me please, I have all your CDs). I'm in deep denial regarding Billy and it's working perfectly. The house is silent, too serene, all the windows frosted over. A car passes on the street, a breath of wind. Bill is not gone, but he is missing. All we have is now.

Honky Please.

Obama For President. :P

Next Stop: Big Schmapple

I'm off to Manhattan on the 25th with Bruce Vilanch, who's hosting this year's Nightlife Awards. We'll be staying at Kitty Fontaine's Midtown Piet a Terre, and seeing a few old friends like Wendy Dondero, Stacey Spain, Esq., Nathan Lane, and DJRainDog. Stop the presses: Sandy Shea-Bogan is coming with me! Big Schmapple here we come...

A Man, A Plan

I'm headed through the Panama Canal this March. Has anyone been there? Tips and Tricks? Aruba; Cartagena, Colombia; Cristobal, Panama; Limon, Costa Rica; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Fort Lauderdale. So excited to set foot on the South American continent!

The Color Of Illusion

Perhaps sociologists need to grapple with the world in terms of race. Politicians certainly do (as do all propagandists), but I, thankfully, am a scientist. I get the immense pleasure of knowing the facts. Race is an illusion; a biological parlor trick; a genetic shell game. We know from mitochondrial DNA that someone with my skin color can be more closely related to someone Oprah's color than someone Jaylo's color. Most of what people consider racial traits are only cultural traits. I'm so glad I'm a scientist, because my knowledge of biology makes it impossible for me to be racist. My belief system relegates race to the phony, nebulous world of astrology and crystal healing. Attributing psychological characteristics to a human being based on the date they were born is as ludicrous as attributing same to a person based on the color of their skin or the shape of their eyes. When was the last time you heard of a lynching at a geneticist convention? Show me a KKK member with a college degree, and I'll show you a graduate of Oral Roberts University. Some simple infant-switching experiments should demonstrate my point perfectly: take a white baby from a doctor in Boston and switch it with a brown baby in Nigeria. Guess which baby would end up at Harvard? I grapple with race only because our culture forces me to, and most often for comedic effect. The truth, I'm happy to report, is that race is a lie. Skin a chimpanzee and it would take a zoologist to distinguish it from a Baptist minister, but it's still a chimpanzee. Skin a human of any color, and it's still a human, because race is a fraud, and a human is a human is a human is a human.

Official Chicago Tribune Obituary

William S. Dose, 53, of Glenview, died in the early hours of Dec. 10 in Skokie, the result of an auto accident.

Mr. Dose was born March 20, 1954 in Evanston. He was a graduate of Northwestern University in psychology and theater and did graduate work at University of South California's Film school. A talented artist, he ran an agency specializing in work for art galleries, as well as promotional work for many organizations, including the English Speaking Union, the Alliance Française, the Illinois Film Institute, Wagner Farm, the Village of Glenview, as well as restaurants and civic and public organizations, said his brother, Frederick P. Dose, Jr. of Highland Park.

His brother said that he was a gentle-man and generous; he loved people as much as he loved helping them. He helped his parents through their last difficult years with intensity and loving conviction, he said. In lieu of a large family, he enjoyed a large family of friends, some recent, some for half his life, others longer: They became his family. Ani Afshar, Eileen Blackwell, Dr. William G. Cole, Filippo and Annette del Prete, Leslie Hindman, Spencer Lord, and Sandra Shea-Bogan were among those dearest to him, Frederick Dose said, adding he will be sorely missed.

Also surviving him is his sister-in-law, Dee , of Highland Park.

Services will be private. Memorial donations may be made to pawschicago.org or Wagner Farm Rescue, P.O. Box 2815, Glenview IL 60025.

Happiest New Year I've Ever Had

History was made yesterday when a black candidate won the primary balloting process in Iowa for the first time in history. I cannot express the breadth and depth of my joy at this development. He's my Senator. He's University of Chicago. He's black. He's gorgeous. He's so fucking delicious. What a perfect fix for that shitty xmas. Take a good look at this face - it's going to rule the world. WHOOHOO! Obama for President!