As F6 approaches its 200th post in the next two weeks....We need to review and do some updates.

It is time to do some tidying up around here, clean up some loose ends, get the three blogs that technically make up F6 streamlined a little better. Some of that has been going on behind the scenes over the last couple of weeks and plans have been in the works since May. However as anybody who operates a venue that serves a broad segment of the population across the electronic two lane highway is aware, sometimes you just have to stop for a couple of days to a week and do a full sweep. In order to get both the full priorities of this forum in place and functioning which will assure that the next few hundred posts are less painful then the last two hundred, I will not be actively posting until next Saturday although I do have the post for Wednesday already written out, sort of.

So what is different so far?

Font and Text Colours: The Font unless GOOGLE screws something up will always be Georgia. While I have been playing with the colour scheme of the blog we are pretty much settled on a basic format. From the Sunday after Easter to the Eve of All All Saints/Samhain the blog background will be the beige that you see today. From All Saints to Easter it will be that dismal Grey that you originally saw last year.

The basic colours of the blog are Orange, Hunter Green, and Navy Blue. Orange is primarily for links, it stands out. Hunter Green is for My Direct Editorial or Commentary and Navy Blue is for articles and sub headers within the blog. Now occasionally Hunter Green and Navy Blue will interchange within a given field of text to make a particular point stand out, but that is the only time. I have tried to be consistent on that recently but even I get a little sidetracked on which colours go where, when dealing with older posts or something I am really passionate about, pardon me for that.

Comments are no longer on moderation: One of the primary reasons F6's Comments were on moderation is so that I could see them. Judging by my site meter almost all of my traffic comes well after the fact of me publishing a particular post, because I have a tendency to publish ahead of the popular culture curve. So in order to keep up with who posted what to where, it was easier to track by simply putting the comments on moderation. Under the sixth links section to the left entitled "What y'all bitch at me for? Keep doing it please!" You will find the five most recent comments on F6.

F6's Links Page and Feeds or Jump Page: Are so far cleaned up and have been streamlined... I still need to clean up the colours on the Feeds and Jump Page. The Links Page has been cleaned up with the links on the left side now having their own separate posts, though still with the pictures as links for now, until readers have time to get used to the change.

Some of the new Links include: Throwing A Party Across Three Rivers and Pedalling Your Paws Across Three Rivers and these can always be directly accessed either by going to the LINKS PAGE and clicking on the Category Fort Wayne, Indiana or by going down the left side of this main page to the tenth links section under the "Room For Dreams" banner and picking which particular set of links you want to view.

So what is going to be new?

Cleaning up of the old posts: First of all, I am going to have to go back and sift all of the last hundred and ninety eight posts. As the blog has transitioned I want to go back and make sure that there is uniformity while I still have a feasible chance to do so. Second there are at least three posts that could be deleted under the Administration of the Blog because they no longer apply to the application and operation of F6. I am still wrestling with that one though, I don't like the idea of destroying part of the blogs history and development but the post themselves will never again be applicable to the blog. However if I did remove those three posts and two others it would postpone by a week the two hundred mark that precipitated this review process initially.

What are your thoughts on that?
Please leave your comments below.

New Content; New Contributors: I have asked a local political cartoonist Christopher Bennett to step back into his once infamous role as the author of Topher Time. He has agreed to provide F6 with two (sometimes multiple panel) cartoons a month. Needless to say this will be interesting, as always I will not edit his work for space or content. Y'all are in for an adventure as he puts pencil to paper once again. I am currently in conversation with three other local authors who wish to contribute content occasionally and one international author whom is originally from the Fort Wayne area who wants to share his memories of Gay Fort Wayne with you all.

Over all I think that is pretty fucking cool that over the last eleven months that F6 version 2.0 has become an internationally reviewed source of local queer social and political perspective!

Anyway that is enough for now I have two major awesome updates:

A week ago I posted regarding FORT WAYNE PRIDE FEST; which will happen @ Head Waters Park East the last weekend of this month. Recently there was another post on the FWPC MySpace regarding the PRIDE IDOL karaoke contest for those under the legal drinking age. The under twenty one portion of the PRIDE IDOL contest will happen @ The Pint & Slice on Calhoun at the 14th of July 7p.m. sharp. The Committee is still in need of volunteers and you can fill out an application (pdf) online or contact Nikki via email nikki@fortwaynepride.org. As previously mentioned in the last post, the Mr. Pride Pageant is on the 12th of July and the adult PRIDE IDOL contest is on 9th of July. Both events start around 10 p.m. @ After Dark Night Club on South Harrison Street five blocks south of The Grand Wayne Center past Powers and under the viaduct.

I also have a three part post on Gays In The Military which I was going to break it up between Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but I decided that was just a little annoying, even for me. So I am going to take care of the one update part of that post series here and save the rest for the post two Saturdays from now, as originally scheduled.

Brazilian soldier released after arrest for coming out
22 June 2008 Gay News Watch

The Brazilian Army has released a soldier arrested on the set of a nationwide TV show just before going on-air with his military boyfriend. Sgt. Fernando de Alcantara Figueiredo spent eight days in an Army prison in Brasilia after appearing on the cover of the magazine Epoca, going public about being gay and his relationship with Laci Marino de Araujo. Army officials claimed Figueiredo was arrested for desertion after he traveled to Sao Paulo to appear on a program for Rede TV! hosted by an ex-girlfriend of Rolling Stones rocker Mick Jagger. They also said he violated Army regulations about appearing in public with an altered military uniform; the magazine cover pictured both men in uniform. Figueiredo claimed his trip was on his own time and was needed to receive medical treatment. His release followed high profile criticism of the arrest from human rights groups and gay activists inside and outside Latin America's largest country.

F6 EDITOR'S COURTESY: 3 days later this story was updated again via MADE IN BRAZIL:

Gay ex-sergeant sues Brazilian military over arrest

A Brazilian Army sergeant who came out last month on the cover of nationwide magazine filed a lawsuit yesterday against the military command in the southeast of the country. Former Sgt. Fernando Alcântara de Figueiredo wants to prove that his arrest and that of his partner by the Army were a result of homophobia, that they were physically and verbally abused, and that the Army denied proper medical health to his partner. According to Figueiredo, the lawsuit was filed in the state of São Paulo because that is where he and his partner were arrested. The Army will be tried based on law 10.948/2001, the first law against homophobia in the state which was used as a precedent back in 2003 when two gay men sued Frei Caneca Mall for discrimination after kissing in public. Figueiredo left the Army on June 27, after being arrested twice. His partner Laci Marinho de Araújo is still in jail.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The above articles are in conclusion towards two previous post covering the story about particular Gays In The Military which can be found here and here. F6 also has an extensive LINKS PAGE regarding this topic and many others for your perusal.

I will see you all next Saturday ..... Blessings Along The Journey!