That's why Mike Pence isn't on the stage

My Sunday movie was Coming To You, a 2021 documentary of two Korean mothers, one who learns her child is transgender, the other learns son son is gay. Hankyeol is the transgender child who presents as male though is nonbinary. Their mother is Nabi, who is in the leadership at a fire station. Puberty was hard on Hankyeol as breasts grew and they eventually asked mom for a double mastectomy. Mom took a long time to agree as the child became more depressed. Hankyeol takes hormones both for the bodily changes and as a preventative to depression. A year later Hankyeol can’t get full time work because their ID shows them as female and they are clearly not that. So child and Mom start the process of applying for an Identity change. There is a lot of paperwork, including approval from Mom, even though the person applying is a legal adult. Approval should also come Dad, but he hasn’t been around for years. The court denied the request, saying Hankyeol didn’t have male genitalia. But they weren’t interested in that surgery, couldn’t afford it, and wouldn’t have gotten Dad’s permission. Child and mother tried again in Mom’s home city. This time they judge was favorable. A year later the requirements for identity change were loosened. Yejoon came out to his mother, Vivian, as gay in a letter, afraid of what his parents would think. They took time to come around. As soon as Yejoon could he moved from Korea to Toronto. He faced a choice between living out of the closet in a strange Western culture that didn’t really accept him because he was Asian or living closeted near friends and family. In one trip back in Korea he fell in love and soon moved home. Then there was the hazard of meeting his boyfriend’s parents. Both mothers realized they did not know their children. Both joined PFLAG, the organization of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. Through the support they got through those meetings they were able to come to terms with who their child is. Soon, they were also involved in activism. Vivian visited her son and took part in Toronto Pride. But at a queer culture festival in Korea she experienced a lot of ugly protesting. She saw what her son had to go through. Yejoon and his boyfriend said they didn’t need to get married. Soon Vivian was involved in marriage rights efforts. As of 2021 marriage equality hadn’t come to Korea. I finished the book The Folded Leaf by William Maxwell. It was published in 1945 and the story is set in the 1920s. The title refers to a leaf, as it emerges from a bud, is folded. That story begins in 1923 when Lymon “Lymie” Peters Jr. meets Charles “Spud” Latham when both are high school sophomores in Chicago. Spud and his family had just moved from what sounds like small town Wisconsin. He is described as the perfect specimen of an adolescent male and great at sports. Lymie is definitely not that. He’s scrawny and no good at sports. Lymie lives with his father and is instructed that if dad isn’t home by 7:30 he’s to go to the restaurant and start his supper alone. So when Spud invites Lymie over for a home cooked meal with a real family Lymie is overwhelmed by what he experiences there. The two boys become nearly constant companions. Shift to 1927 and Spud and Lymie are in their sophomore year at university (somewhere in Indiana and never named). They are roommates at a rooming house just off campus. I was a bit surprised that the room they share is where they study and where they keep their clothes. But that’s not where they sleep. All dozen boys in the house have beds in the dormitory in the top floor of the house. Here Spud and Lymie sleep in the same bed (emphasis on sleep). At the start of that sophomore year Lymie becomes friends with Sally and Hope. They invite Lymie and Spud to a sorority dance, where Sally and Spud fall in love. And the friendship between Lymie and Spud begins to fray. Now to the important question: What got me interested in this book? I discovered it while perusing a Barnes & Noble list of historical LGBTQ fiction. This list wasn’t modern authors using a historical setting, but authors of the past writing about their time or shortly before their time. The description got me thinking it would portray two lads with an intense friendship that used a lot of coded language to hide what was really going on. But that’s not this story. Spud is definitely straight. Lymie might be gay – he does spend time admiring Spud’s body, especially when Spud is in the gym training in boxing, and Lymie is good friends with Sally and Hope without showing a lot of romantic interest in them. But Lymie never acts on his attraction to Spud beyond being a constant friend. So did I or someone else mischaracterize this as an LGBTQ novel? Even so, it was a good read. There was a debate last night between Walz and the guy wanting to be the vice nasty. I didn’t watch or listen. This morning on Daily Kos there were several short articles,, most with video, highlighting a good point one or the other said. I’ll only highlight a few of them. Oliver Willis included a clip of Vance being asked about his previous comments that he would have helped try to subvert the election results. Of course, he lied. He seemed to have done a lot of that during the debate. Walter Einenkel reported Walz had a good line about the nasty guy’s frequent dismissal of experts:

Economists can't be trusted. Scientists can't be trusted. National security folks can't be trusted. Look, if you're going to be president, you don't have all the answers—Donald Trump believes he does. My pro tip of the day is this: If you need heart surgery, listen to the people at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, not Donald Trump.

Einenkel reported on Walz’ one comment that got a lot of pundits talking and cartoonists drawing came at the end. Walz, talking about the Capitol attack, then directly asking Vance:

This was a threat to our democracy in a way that we had not seen, and it manifested itself because of Donald Trump's inability to say. He is still saying he didn't lose the election. Did he lose the 2020 election?

Vance:

Tim, I'm focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation—

Walz:

That is a damning, that is a damning non-answer.

Kos of Kos summarized the debate with a list of observations. In general:

It was a debate that changed zero minds, no home runs were hit, and no flubs were made. ... If this debate has any impact on the race, it won’t be because of those watching it to the end (political junkies), or an increasingly ridiculous punditry. It will be because of the meme war. And as such, I’m guessing the Zoomers will have a lot more material to mock Vance than Walz.

In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin included a tweet from Kyle Griffin that appears to follow that last quote from Walz:

Gov. Walz: "He lost the election. This is not a debate. It's not anything anywhere other than in Donald Trump's world. Because look, when Mike Pence made that decision to certify that election, that's why Mike Pence isn't on the stage."

William Kristol and Andrew Eggars of The Bulwark discussed why we should pay close and serious attention to Vance as the VP candidate. Given the age, health, and mental decline of the nasty guy there is a strong chance Vance could take the Oval Office, where he could be exceptionally powerful. At the top of the comments is a cartoon by Dave Whamond that must have been drawn and posted immediately after the debate. Is shows teacher Mr. Walz giving a final exam to a sweating student. He says:

This question is for 100 percent of your final mark... “Who won the 2020 election?” J.D.? Hello?