The Boys Are "Calling in Gay" Today! / Plus, Campus Art, Local Hedgehog News, and Richard's Hipster Pick of the Day!

People across the nation are "calling in gay" today (skipping work to show support for same-sex marriage). Here's the story from the AP:

"Some same-sex marriage supporters are urging people to "call in gay" Wednesday to show how much the country relies on gays and lesbians...Organizers of "Day Without a Gay" — scheduled to coincide with International Human Rights Day and modeled after similar work stoppages by Latino immigrants — also are encouraging people to perform volunteer work and refrain from spending money."

Chip: "I'm unclear as to whether I actually have to sleep with a man if I take off work?"

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One doesn't always have to visit downtown galleries to get a taste of local art. Today, KU Senior Shannon Sullivan dumped 15 bags of painted leaves on campus as her final project in a "public art" class, explaining: "People might not think of it as art, but I want to shock and intrigue people" (UDK).

Chip: "I'm pretty sure most people have seen colorful leaves before. It's called autumn. I'd give her a D."

Richard: "Her work forces us to question seasonal expectations and, by extension, the nature of time itself. I'd say A- (because a few of the leaves blew away before they could be properly graded).

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Last week's City Commission meeting centered, once again, around urban chicken ownership legislation...as well as a new, vitally important issue of "domesticated hedgehog" ownership. But what exactly goes on at such a meeting? Luckily, the UDK provides an account of part of the proceedings:

"Judson King, 11, presented his case in defense of domesticated hedgehogs. He presented each of the commission members with a bound 10-page booklet of information on the animal, and included photos of himself with his own pet hedgehogs."

Richard: "This kid sounds exceedingly professional and I hope he runs for Mayor next year."

Chip: "A hedgehog may indeed appear to be domesticated, but in reality it is lying in wait to bite you in the face. I hope the commission was wise enough to rule against allowing these beasts within city limits."

Sorry, Chip: "After an hour of debate, city commission members voted to direct city staff to redraft and clarify the city ordinances in favor of letting people keep chickens and hedgehogs within the city..." (UDK).

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Local hipsters may remember one of the first major SSION sightings in Lawrence a few years back, when they opened for the Yeah Yeahs Yeahs on Karen O's first visit to the Granada.

Richard: "I was at that show and saw SSION and didn't understand a single thing they were doing. But it was noisy and colorful and it felt important. And the first rule of hipsterism is "If you don't understand something, it must be important." I expect a major turnout for their headlining show tonight."

Lawrence.com describes the SSION experience as follows: "Toss pop, punk, disco and a whole lot of Astroglide into a Cuisinart, repeatedly press "Pulse," then dump on top of a mustache orgy -- now you've got the recipe for Ssion. The infectious music from this Kansas City art-school crew (pronounced "shun") comes complete with a multimedia carnival of the queer, combining conceptual punk with cartoonish costumes and videos in a stage show that would've left Fellini slack-jawed. The group is building up a head of steam on the heels of a tour with CSS and high praise from Pitchfork Media, but that's all gravy when the main course is having fun."

Richard: "The second rule of hipsterism is, 'If Pitchfork loves it, you must love it too.' "

Chip: " 'Mustache orgy?' 'Carnival of the queer?' 'Gravy?' I think I speak for the non-hipster crowd here when I say: What the fuck?"