As a loyal reader has reminded me, today is my six-year blogiversary. Not many blogs, percentage-wise, have been around for at least six years. Not that I’m one to talk – to some people, I’m probably still an uppity blogger-come-lately.

Here’s one of the articles that started it all for me. Ahh, the good old days…

I’ve been neglecting this blog way too much lately. I really should vow to write more often.

Matt and I have been enjoying “Brothers & Sisters” on Sunday nights after “Desperate Housewives.” If you haven’t seen it, it’s a one-hour drama about four adult siblings and their mother and uncle who all live in California and run a family business together, a food company. The executive producers are Jon Robin Baitz, Greg Berlanti, and Ken Olin. The show is well written and funny, and in addition to a great cast – Sally Field, three “Alias” alumni (including Ron Rifkin), Calista Flockhart, and Rob Lowe, it features one of the more realistic portrayals of a gay character I’ve seen on TV – Kevin Walker, one of the siblings, played by Matthew Rhys.

Matthew Rhys neither overplays nor underplays the character’s gayness; he’s neither a mincing queen like Jack McFarland or a sexless priss like Will Truman. And while he doesn’t play to stereotype, he does queen out every once in a while like many gay men would. You can imagine that straight people wouldn’t guess that Kevin was gay but that he might set off a gay man’s gaydar. I like it.

Kevin is out and confident and he has a sexual appetite. He gets an interesting romantic life just like the other characters do. Every so often, there’s a gay kiss on the show – and what’s remarkable is that it’s not a big deal. Ten years ago it would have been. The same-sex kisses on “Roseanne” and “Ally McBeal” were hyped beyond belief because they were considered so controversial; today, two men kiss romantically on network TV and nobody bats an eye or even hears about it.

Granted, it’s a 10 p.m. show, but still… we’ve come a long way, baby.

Here’s my favorite letter from yesterday’s New York Times:

To the Editor:

Re “Democrats Plan Symbolic Votes Against Bush’s Iraq Troop Plan” (front page, Jan. 10):

So the Democrats are planning symbolic votes against more troops for Iraq.

Actually, when I and many other Americans cast our votes against this war, even before the prospect of escalation, they were for real.

Daniel England

Fairfield, Conn., Jan. 10, 2007

The Democrats won Congress and they still have no spine.