Quirkyalone

Although the QA movement is not founded on political ideals, it is hard to imagine a more odious prospect than Bush’s new marriage proposal. As reported by the New York Times, “Under the president’s proposal, federal money could be used for specific activities like advertising campaigns to publicize the value of marriage, instruction in marriage skills and mentoring programs that use married couples as role models.” As every QA knows, marriage isn’t the only path to fulfillment, and a traditional marriage doesn’t guarantee economic stability or success. Now might be a good time to mention two recently published books which put forth different ideas on love and family: Against Love by Laura Kipnis, a blunt look at the mythology of love, focusing on the pitfalls of marriage and Urban Tribes by SF author Ethan Watters, which shows how city-dwellers are putting off conventional coupling to create closely-knit communities of friends.

And what business does this government have putting federal money towards marriage advertising? Isn’t reality television enough?

In a welcome respite from federally-mandated monogamy, PBS featured a thoughtful essay on friendship . Positing friendship as a defining relationship wouldn’t appear to be such a revolutionary act, unless, of course, our current president wasn’t working so hard to keep “American” values firmly anchored to an oppressive past.

Related posts:

1. Taking the Tyranny of Coupledom Down a Notch
2. Quirkyalone Optioned!
3. Quirkyalone (and SingleEdition) in the New York Times!
4. The State of Our Unions