Archive for February, 2006

Drives to Ban Gay Adoption Heats up in 16 states
by Andrea Stone, USA TODAY

Efforts to ban gays and lesbians from adopting children are emerging across the USA as a second front in the culture wars that began during the 2004 elections over same-sex marriage.

Republicans are hoping gay adoption will draw voters to polls the way gay marriage did in 2004, say analysts.

Steps to pass laws or secure November ballot initiatives are underway in at least 16 states, adoption, gay rights and conservative groups say. Some � such as Ohio, Georgia and Kentucky � approved constitutional amendments in 2004 banning gay marriage.

“Now that we’ve defined what marriage is, we need to take that further and say children deserve to be in that relationship,” says Greg Quinlan of Ohio’s Pro-Family Network, a conservative Christian group.

This is why you must attend Out at the Movies on Tuesday night. All profits will go to Out Front to support their fight against laws like this. You can’t get tickets at the cafe…that was an error in Lavender, you must contact Out Front.

OUT at the Movies featuring the Twin Cities premiere of Adam & Steve
Tuesday, February 28 � Doors open: 6PM � Movie: 7PM

Heights Theatre3951 Central Ave. NE � Columbia HeightsTickets: $10 in advance � $12 at the door

Tickets available through OutFront Minnesota 612-822-0127 Ext. 611 � www.outfront.org
(Pre-movie entertainment provided by the Mighty Heights Wurlitzer Organ)

This weekend Dean and I are off on our honeymoon cruise with RSVP. We are very excited because we have never been on a cruise. So, keep an eye on the cafe for us.

Check it Out: http://rsvp1.web.eschelon.com/gay-lesbian-vacations-cruise-1.htm

The Guthrie has asked me to be on their Business Council. Hopefully we will be able to offer some more deals on tickets, but for now here is the exciting information I got from the last meeting:

• Hamlet is the final production at the Guthrie Theater on Vineland and it will open on March 10th
• The Great Gatsby will open the season at the new Guthrie in summer 2006.

As a small business owners we need to make decisions that might not always make everyone happy. All we can do is hope we are doing the right thing. Of course we want everyone to feel welcome at the cafe that is GLBTA friendly.

We do NOT want any group to feel that they are not welcome at the cafe. What we would like to change is what people do at the cafe: socialize, eat, drink, read a book or newspaper, have a business meeting, enjoy company in a GLBTA friendly environment.

OK. I guess Amanda doesn’t like the photo of herself that I posted this week. So, here is a new one of her looking “chic” with our Chef Jason and frequent WRC customer Jamal. Tonight is her final night.

This is what the Wilde Roast Cafe is in the process of doing. What does this mean: To be food focused? It started with looking back to the original mission of the cafe: To be a gathering place for the GLBT community and Allies, with quality in every area: space, decor, service, food, and drinks. So, after two years we realized that we were happy with what we had made, but we were not looking at what we set out to become. We are not making changes to make people mad at us, just trying to focus on what we set out trying to achieve.

To become FOOD FOCUSED Dean and I are pushing our chefs to do some changes to the food to bring it up to a higher level, look for new specials. We are also looking into taking our wine and coffee to a higher level by introducing wine flights and press coffee. We are excited about our changes and refocusing: moving from coffeehouse to restaurant level food and drink.

I remember back about ten years when the owner of Cafe Weird did the FOOD FOCUS and became Cafe Barbette. I was not happy; “What is she doing to my favorite hang-out?” I loved taking my young Oliver (my boxer who just died) to Weird and meeting new people. Well, we are not changing to that extreme, just becoming a little more restaurant and a little less coffeehouse.

I am sorry if we can’t be a study place/coffeehouse, but it just was not our mission and we found out we can’t stay in business with that model. Just because all of the tables are filled doesn’t mean we are making a profit. Please try to understand or talk to me in the cafe.

Stay tuned!

This is my niece Amanda, she has worked at the Wilde Roast Cafe for almost 2 years. She has only one week left; school and other things are too demanding right now. So, when you see her this week let her know she will be missed…AND tip her well! Thanks Amanda!

The Winter Blues. Yes, Minnesota is bleak this time of year; if it is going to be cold at least let it be white out! Well, last night Dean and I did something to warm us up. We went to THE f WORD Senior Fashion Show. It was a U of M version of Project Runway.

Annie (one of our baristias) was one of the designers showing off her senior line of outfits. It was fun seeing how each designer picked a vision for their clothing line, picked models to show them off, and got music to tie it all together. Way to go Annie…Girls Do Just Want To Have Fun! Hey, where were the boy designers?

We have 2 other things to help you over the winter blues.

1) This week you can enter to win tickets to PENUMBRA THEATRE’s American Premiere of Sex Diary of an Infidel. The play looks into limits of the cultural and carnal boundary in the world of sex trade. The show opened this weekend and runs until March 5th.
www.penumbratheatre.org

2) Next Week you can enter to win tickets to ILLUSION THEATER’s production of A NUMBER by Caryl Churchill. The play poses the question “How do we really define ourselves?” Are we a sum of our genetic components? The tickets will be good for any performance from Feb. 17 to March 11th.
www.illusiontheater.org

Today was a big day for me, a letter I sent to Entertainment Weekly was published in the OSCAR (Feb. 10th) issue. It was titled RISK FACTORS….here it is:

I can’t think of one B-list actor losing their career over playing a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender character, but I can think of many winning Oscars and moving up to the A-list for playing GLBT: Tom Hanks, Hilary Swank, and Charlize Theron, to name a few. So, please, Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, save the magic of Brokeback Mountain and stop telling us how risky it was to play gay.

You never hear quality actors like Philip Seymour Hoffman saying how hard it was to play gay, and Capote was flawless.