With Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby looming on nearly every channel, audiences are being transfixed and transported by Lana Del Rey’s penned “Young And Beautiful”. Conversely, whether you’re reading Rolling Stone, watching MTV, or listening to any radio station that plays Top 40 hits, you’re likely to run into rapper/yodeler/rock/electropop star Ke$ha. The differences in music style between these two women are so obvious that it’s essentially implied. Del Rey would be considered Vueve while Ke$ha is Korbel (or worse!). However, if this were the second women’s UFC fight, Ke$ha would win with a TKO. Here are ten reasons how Del Rey is being out shined by rainbow glitter, unicorn necklaces, and animals. 

1. Ke$ha has released three EP’s, each containing new songs and has yet to re-release the same CD with a scrawny number of new tracks. Del Rey released four EP’s where 3 contained repetitive songs. What an opportunity to have purchased “Born to Die” three separate times!

2. When Ke$ha sings about driving a gold trans am, it is somehow more relatable than Del Rey’s Jaguar endorsement. 

3. Ke$ha has been approved by Andre 3000, Snoop Lion, and Wiz Khalifa as a certified rapper. Breaking into new audiences and giving her street credibility. 

4. Lana Del Rey does not own a glitter cannon.

5. Ke$ha was first to sport a gold tooth cap. Del Rey soon followed. Originality always wins.

6. Ke$ha’s performance at the New Now Next Awards vs. Lana Del Rey’s SNL performance.

7. Lana Del Rey was born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant aka Lana Del Ray aka Lana Rey Del Mar aka Lizzy Grant aka May Jailer aka Sparkle Jump Rope Queen. Born Kesha Rose Sebert aka Ke$ha.

8. Ke$ha’s music actually sounds different on each track.

9. Instruments by Ke$ha: vocals, piano, guitar, cowbell, vocorder, keyboard, laser harp, theremin, accordion, drums, keytar, (accordion is worth mentioning twice!). Instruments by Lana: vocals, guitar. 

10. WTF is “sadcore”? or worse, “Hollwood sadcore”?

I don’t know why the federal government fought against #gaymarriage for so long or why it fights against #marijuana when states like #Alabama outlaws federal gun laws and #NorthDakota essentially bans women’s rights. Where @BarackObama at?

I’ve tried to be hard and I’ve tried to be soft but very few things get to me like being honest. I’ve tried really hard. I know that I’m a good person, an honest person, a sensitive person, but when put on the spot, I’m insensitive. Honest, but insensitive : / 

When I think about what I want, oh my God, how daunting.
When I think about what I deserve, my back becomes reserved.
When I think about what I’ll accept, I grimace.
When I think about what I expect, I feel a fool.
When I was a child, my teachers thought I could be mute.
My shell is only a place where my mind, heart, and soul dwell.
Tear me apart and I’ll figure out how I became broke.
If only there was glue!
The fattest pomegranate with the best seeds.
The best artichoke with the biggest heart.
The smallest gold fish in the largest pond. 
The most intriguing homosexual in the city. 

In the LGBT community there are various sub cultures or sub categories that classify or label many homosexuals. For example, there are: drag queens, lipstick lesbians, tweeners, twinks, bears, muscle bears, daddies, bois, otters, fems, butch, flamingos, dikes, jocks, hipster gays, bean stalks, fashion queens, tweekers, hunks, papis, trannys, muscle daddies, lumberjacks, etc. These are some classifications for people based on appearances and interests, not on sexual preferences or interests i.e. tops, bottoms, leather, BDSM, etc. Many people within the community can and will classify their ‘gay identity’, if you will, while some are labeled by others. Additionally, many of us have a preference when it comes to dating and will not cross the rainbow shaded lines. If you take a look at “dating” apps and websites (grindr, okcupid, etc.) there are often clear preferences. “I want beefy, straight acting, hwp, hairy, 5’10’ and above, < 30” aka a cub. This is particularly the case anytime “front of the line” is used to let audiences know a persons “dating” preferences. In fact, many clubs hold nights where particular niches are featured so that the people within these in groups can enjoy themselves among their peers and admirers.

What happens when someone does not seem to fall into, nor identify with, any of these categories? Create a new one? Ignore the social structure that their minority has created and fostered? All I can speak on regarding these questions are my own experiences. There was a time where I was classified as a twink, and then I moved on to a vodka-soda, long island iced tea, narcotics loving party boi trying to navigate my way into self respect. Settling into a new, more mature identity that I’m currently in, my body and personality limit my classification. While I am still enjoying sporadic (instead of nightly) outings to get my 90’s TLC dance on, I find myself standing alone at bars and clubs because I am very shy and clique-less; I don’t fit into a particular “look”. Feeling like a minority in a minority in a minority is very isolating. I am hopeful that our community, having faced much adversity already, breaks down many of these barriers so we can interact beyond our self imposed gay social structures. 

This week has been hallmarked by several tragic events that are slowly becoming ways to characterize the United States. The crude bombings at the Boston marathon and the successful filibuster of the gun reform bill that was brought forth to the Senate. Terrorism and the success of wealthy special interest groups (political terrorism). What an ill conceived war that Bush declared, something that could never be won. Conservatives have a chronic erection for ill planned ideals, my father being one of them. Why do those people have such animosity towards things they don’t understand? It’s frustrating and not really fathomable. The fact that they represent citizens of this nation is disturbing and why democracy is becoming irrelevant and a failure. The nation is moving towards a politics of capitalism. The intolerance of those in power, and the idiocy of the right are destroying the common sense human rights that many of the wealthy forget about. It’s easy to disregard (a la Mitt Romney) the hungry, poor, homeless, jobless, disabled, uneducated, the OTHER, because you have been engulfed in a rich, hollandaise environment your entire life when you’re part of the “superior”, less humane class (a la Bush Jr.). The United States has never been a country to accept differences (that would require a lot of maturity, intelligence, and understanding) so we, as human beings and citizens, must do it for ourselves and the politics can follow. Everything I am saying is exemplified by the sequester which was designed to be so utterly ridiculous that the federal government would avoid it. There has still yet to be a fiscal resolution. There has been a redefined colonization where politics and economics conjoin to fight “the savages.” This time, however, there are more natives and we have already lost most of our land.

I see what is meant to be through eyes that reach far beyond the sky. 
I love further within my heart.
I think beyond the scope of sanity.
The view from the top is no view at all, just a form of restless superiority.
Let go tonight, don’t hold back.
This game you play loses its appeal
the more you go, the less I feel.
Start all over, as if we’re meeting for the first time,
because then I should know your deck of cards.
My Queen of hearts.

I was raised in an upper/middle class area of the San Gabriel Valley, which is a suburb of Los Angeles. The area is very suburban for L.A. and while some parts are nice, others are questionable. The one thing that is very evident in my suburb is its diversity. Not only in culture, race, and religion, but also an economic diversity that existed in very short distances from one another. There are multi-million dollar homes and mansions in the hills of Glendora, Monrovia, Arcadia, Covina, and West Covina. There are more modest, older homes (like the one I grew up in) that look like track homes made for the veterans of World War 2. There are homes with smaller yards, that do not have side walks, which results in high tenancy. Then there are the congested condominium complex’s, overcrowded apartment buildings, and scattered mobile home parks. For the most part, the people here are working class individuals (many immigrants) who own businesses, work in administration, commute to the city, are Doctors, Lawyers, Dentists, and Accountants. Having the desire to stand on my own two feet in the very near future, I am finding myself at a crossroad worrying about where my socioeconomic status might one day lie. I strive for the hills, but am afraid I don’t have the tenacity or focus to make it there. I enjoy nice things, food, and vacations which are on one end of the spectrum. While at the other end, I am pulled towards the vices of drugs, alcohol, and sex which may prevent me from making it. I know I have to leave this place and I will have to leave soon. It was always a frustratingly unattainable goal until recently but I am nervous my path may not lead to the hills, wherever they may be, but rather an environment where I probably should not be. These worries, among many many many more, have just made me realize how nervous I am about leaving the familiar environment that I am accustomed to for something potentially greater, or fearfully worse. Regardless, considering that I am now able to identify myself as an adult (which requires an advancement in maturity), I do know that once I leave, I will not be coming back and that is terrifying, exciting, and a little sad. 

Dear Rachel Maddow,

     My name is Michael Luevanos and I am an unemployed, gay, 26 year old Mexican American living in the Los Angeles area. I will admit that I have only recently been a viewer of your program and feel that I have missed out on so much since August 2008. Your show was particularly interesting to me this week as current events were so personally effecting. Growing up in a very strict, conservative, Catholic household, there was not much room for me to be an individual, and I was very much aware of that. I lived in anxiety, fear, shame, embarrassment, and resentment for expressing any degree of autonomy. As you can imagine, it was very sad. There was no room for me to have a hero. I didn’t think about individuals to be doing anything profound for myself. I held on to this until recently when I became engulfed in The Rachel Maddow Show and ultimately, you. With assurance and gratitude, I think of you as my hero. For your views, your education, your clarity, your rationale, kindness, spirit, intelligence, humility, bravery, and boldness. It’s quite inspiring. Being gay, as you know, there are depictions of who we are in the mass media. To break those stereotypes, while finding success, is the ultimate “it gets better” promise. I wanted to write you so that you continue what you are doing, knowing that it’s appreciated. This world can be relentlessly negative so I think it’s nice to make the effort of showing gratitude. Continue being yourself because we are listening.

     Sincerely,

              Michael Luevanos

meek shall inherit.

rich and corrupt will take rest. 

matthew 5:5. oops