The Chris Moeller Archives

I liked the Chick-Fil-A restaurant chain a lot better when their anti-gay agenda was kind of hidden. Now it's not. Dan Cathy, president of the Georgia-based fast food company, tells the Baptist Press that they're "guilty as charged" for supporting "the biblical definition of the family unit." This means no queers.

Cathy added, "We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives." He neglected to elaborate upon why he chooses to have only one wife when Bible stars like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Solomon each took on several at the same time.

I haven't decided if I'm going to stop eating at Chick-Fil-A, but you ladies might want to think twice about frequenting a business that supports biblical definitions of family. If you get raped in the parking lot, you'll have to marry the guy.

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I now only listen to two music radio stations in Des Moines, in this order-- K-Jam 89.3, "The Heart & Soul of the City," and KIOA Oldies 93.3. This is a new personal policy: I will not listen to a station unless there's a chance that the next song played will be "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire.

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This afternoon at the library, I saw a biography of former Mets and Reds pitcher Tom Seaver, entitled "The Last Icon." I did not bother to thumb through the book, but I left the library still thinking about it, even as I had three other books tucked beneath my arm. I am officially stumped: In what Earthly context could Tom Seaver be considered "The Last Icon"?

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The 2011 work of fiction, "The Art of Fielding," is so, so damn good. It's authored by first-time novelist Chad Harbach, and it landed last year on the New York Times' list of the ten best fiction books of the year. In one of the story threads, the author seems to place the St. Louis Cardinals professional baseball organization, and a character inspired by their great shortstop Ozzie Smith, on a sort of pedestal of idealism, and that portrayal permeates throughout. Chad Harbach should be invited to Busch Stadium and given the Stan Musial treatment on the field before a game, but alas, this will not happen, probably because one of the other main story lines of the book involves a consensual homosexual relationship between a college president and a 22-year-old student.

The last paragraph of the book, incidentally, is my favorite last paragraph of any book, but also alas, you will have to read the entire book before the last paragraph to appreciate its context.

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