Goosebumps

Let's kick off the weekend with something uplifting, shall we?

I see it as my personal duty to ensure that everyone I know has seen this.

I had seen bits and pieces of this on the news early this week, and I thought it was a great story. But it wasn't until I watched the full thing while eating my cereal on Wednesday morning that I came to fully appreciate it.

I sat there and watched in awe as Susan Boyle was instantly judged by the show's judges and its audience, based solely on her appearance and her age. I was actually kind of disgusted over the looks that were shown on people's faces.

And then she began to sing.

Instant tears welled up in my eyes, and I got goosebumps all up and down my arms. Even the little hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Amazing.

By the time she was done, I was full of pride for this woman. Not only had she just gone out there and done a bang-up job singing one of my favorite Les Mis songs, but I was so happy that she had proved everyone wrong. Sweet, sweet victory from this "ugly duckling" who no one ever expected to be wowed by. But she did it, and she did it amazingly well.

Frankly, I was proud of the judges for owning up to their first impressions of her, and apologizing for it. Well, except for Simon Cowell. I don't watch American Idol, so I don't have a lot of experience with him, but from what I've seen... you can't expect much from him. I think his reaction to Susan's singing was about as nice as he gets. So, whatever.

I hope Susan continues to tear up the stage for the rest of her competition. Beyond that, I hope all of her dreams come true. Go get 'em, Susan!

Now I'm going to make a complete 180 and talk about politics. It's related to this post because to me, it's a second piece of really good news that came out of this week.

I'm excited that yesterday, Governor David Paterson introduced legislation to legalize gay marriage here in New York State. There is a loooong way to go with this, but at least he got the ball rolling. Governor Paterson is throwing his weight and influence behind it, and I hope that he's able to get the State Senate to see that there really is no debate. It's not a question of should they or shouldn't they, it's a question of right or wrong, and so far, New York (and most of the rest of the country) has been wrong. MAKE IT RIGHT.

I'm appalled that we are still dealing with issues of equal rights in 2009. Really, I am. I'm sad that it took several other states to get New York to start this process. We're New York, for crying out loud! (Although I look at California, a state I also have high expectations of, and I remember Prop 8. I still can't believe it happened.) But right now, I don't care how or why Paterson made his decision to do this; I'm just glad he did. COME ON, NEW YORK. Don't let me down.