My Birthday Wishes

Meryl is making me a cake!

Today is my birthday.  I don't really celebrate my birthday for a variety of reasons, some of which are illustrated here and others of which we'll just to keep to me.  As a result of this, I have one birthday tradition I love (my annual list of birthday goals) and one that I've started doing on the blog here, which is a list of birthday wishes.  This year we'll arbitrarily include 31 things (for no reason in particular) that I wish would be true about the world in the next year:

1. People begin to take climate change seriously, particularly politicians and business-leaders in the United States, China, Russia, the EU, and South America.

2. Every poacher of endangered species on the planet would either have a change-of-heart or be eaten by a crocodile.

3. We would get true gun control so that schools would go back to being a place of learning, theaters would be a place of entertainment, and churches/mosques/synagogues a place of worship and fellowship, not places to be feared.

4. Spend serious amounts of money on scientific research particularly toward medical research, energy reform, and space travel.  There's no reason we still use coal/oil/natural gas, haven't licked AIDS/cancer, and started that long journey into living on another planet.

5. Realize that solving racism isn't just about taking a flag down (though it's a start), but addressing systemic inequities in education, housing, and the criminal justice system.

6. Find a way to take the money the Right is planning on for tax cuts to the wealthy and use it to both put middle/lower income families back to work and solve a major national crisis by fixing the infrastructure gap.

7. Find a way to restructure unemployment so that it makes more sense for someone to have a part-time job than no job at all.

8. Stop sexism.  Seriously, just stop it.

9.  Make sure everyone knows that gay marriage is only the tip of the iceberg, and we need to pass ENDA and ensure that gay adoption is legal in all fifty states next.

10. For everyone to realize that Voter ID laws are not meant to guard the voting process, but instead to disenfranchise minorities.

11. For the Veterans Affairs department to get its act together and find ways to give our military veterans the physical and mental health benefits they need and deserve.

12. For teachers' salaries to stop being made the target of every attack on education.  For the culture wars to stop waging in schools (climate change and evolution are real people, get over it).

13. For young people to actually put at least 5% of their paychecks into a retirement account so they aren't complaining in thirty years about how unfair retirement ages are.

14. For Vladimir Putin to realize history is watching and realize the good he could do for his country if he stopped being a militant dictator and instead was someone who brings Russia back from decay.

15. For Broadway to invest more money into new and iconic creations and not just derivative musicals based on films from the 1980's/90's.

16. For the Academy to finally realize the random number of Best Pictures list is a mistake and to either stick to five or ten.

17. For the Oscars to figure out a better way to honor the Governors' Awards recipients during the actual telecast.

18. For people to actually read books, perhaps even a classic and not just literary garbage like Fifty Shades of Grey.

19. For someone to take one of the terrible shows they watch on television and replace it with one of the awesome new ones that are on the cusp of being cancelled.

20. For people to actually go to a movie in theaters that studios haven't spent $100 million trying to force you to see, but instead because you actually saw a random trailer or advertisement online and you thought it might be fun to see an art house movie instead.

21. For more Boyhoods and Spys and Clouds of Sils Marias...less Jurassic Worlds.

22. For YouTube content to be more about creative output and less about shameless plugs and constant product placement (we all know none of you actually use Audible.com, so stop shoving it down our throats).

23. For everyone to go to a quiet afternoon in a used bookstore or a park or an outdoor theater or an art museum or a lovely lake...because I love these spots and I want them to continue to exist.

24. For guys on dating websites to be upfront and honest if they're married...and to also realize that if you're using Tinder I can see your mutual friends and I will ask them if you're married, so get prepared for an awkward look at your next barbeque if you are cheating.

25. For guys on dating websites to be honest, particularly with themselves, and not just want a boyfriend for the night to make yourself feel less lonely.  It's a bit like eating White Castle-you're just going to feel worse after a few moments of joy.

26. For studios/publishers to realize that we need to protect our artistic heritage and to invest more into getting movies, television, and books out into the public eye, and not the other way around.

27. For Jon Snow to somehow be alive.

28. For me to find a loving boyfriend, because I know literally everyone in my life is sick to death of me talking about being single, single life, and single people's rights (that last one's not going away though-I'm a lifelong advocate).

29. For health, happiness, and joy for everyone I love, and for everyone who deserves it.

30. Purpose for those who feel they have no purpose, or for those who feel lost and don't see a light at the end of the tunnel.

31. For my next date to look like this: