So I’m entering my screenplay in a contest. It’s the One-in-Ten Screenplay Competition. “A requirement of the competition is that at least one of the primary characters in the screenplay be gay or lesbian, and that gay and lesbian characters must be portrayed positively.” Seems a little dogmatic to me, not to mention P.C., but what the hell.

Anyway, the working title of my first draft was “Creation Myth,” but by the time I finished, that title seemed too obscure. So I changed the name to “Dreaming of Rainbows.” It’s a name that sort of makes me want to throw up, but it was apt and it worked.

Except then I noticed that among the winners from years past are screenplays entitled “Over the Rainbow” and “Rainbow Haven.”

My screenplay is now called “Dreaming of Nick.”

I hope I win something.

Millions of Americans got the impression that George W. Bush wanted to be a “healer, not a divider”, a president devoted first and foremost to “honor and integrity.” Yet far from uniting the people, the president’s ideologically narrow agenda has seriously divided America. His most partisan supporters have launched a kind of ‘civil cold war’ against those with whom they disagree.

For eight years, the Clinton-Gore Administration gave this nation honest budget numbers; an economic plan with integrity that rescued the nation from debt and stagnation; honest advocacy for the environment; real compassion for the poor; a strengthening of our military — as recently proven — and a foreign policy whose purposes were elevated, candidly presented and courageously pursued, in the face of scorched-earth tactics by the opposition. That is also a form of honor and integrity, and not every administration in recent memory has displayed it.

From Al Gore’s speech at NYU yesterday.
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