Same sex sad

It's 4:05am on Good Friday morning and even though I'm not doing the show this morning I wake up as if I am. And my mind starts racing to topics I could talk about and what technology I'll work on after the show and how we can sell all the crap that we do to advertisers so we can can keep the local radio machine rolling.

I'll do two of those three things today. I'll work on our VPN and on setting a couple of proxy servers correctly and I'll tweak the mic levels in the main studio and edit a few podcasts. Believe it or not, that's stuff as local radio guy that I like to do. If you're a true local radio geek and you embrace all of the changes that are here and coming, then every day you fiddle with the technology you're amazed and confused. Which isn't a bad place to be. It's like being in love.

The second thing I'll do is to start thinking about a marketing department. Yes, you're reading that correctly....

We don't really go out and sell radio time, or digital advertising, or sponsorships, or adjacencies, or endorsements... or anything, really. Somehow, in a world in which bacon and eggs are no longer good for you, we have been able to make it for years without really actively marketing our product. And I'm kinda tired of it.

We've been able to make it by providing a hyper-local quality product that people have been loyal to for generations. And by keeping our costs low. Part of the reason that it works is that Alexis and I put in a zillion hours and carry it the radio on our backs with the aid a few loyal as hell employees and supporters. It's exhausting as it is satisfying. 

.... Enough. The gay rights vs. religious freedom debate rages on in Indiana... and it's spread to places like Arkansas and Georgia. Every night you can turn on CNN or Fox and watch people talk about Governor Pence's actions in Indianapolis and Memories Pizza in Walkerton. Amy Sandler does not come up, although she is certainly at the heart of the debate.

Amy and Niki Quasney came to light when they tried to get the family discount for their membership at Fitness Pointe right here in Munster. First, us local media got ahold of the story and then statewide and pretty soon Amy and Niki were at the heart of a court case that got national attention.

It didn't start out that way. In the beginning I interviewed Amy several times, and Niki a couple times too, and I asked why they didn't get involved in more activist kind of way. They couldn't believe the relative non-acceptance in Indiana of their same-sex marriage in another state, but they had two little kids and Niki was fighting cancer and you get the picture. They just didn't have time.

But then it got serious. Niki's cancer raged and they wanted to be married in Indiana if Niki died, and it certainly looked as if that was about to happen.

So Niki and Amy changed their minds and took Indiana to court. You may have followed it. Ultimately, a court ruled that since Niki was so sick that they could be married temporarily in Indiana until things got all sorted out. It was a big ruling. But Niki died anyhows, leaving behind a pretty sad Amy and a couple of pretty sad kids too.

How do I know this? Had a little conversation with Amy this week. She follows the debate but I get the feeling she's settled back into being really busy trying to support and care for two kids. 

So what do you call a woman who's left after her same-sex spouse dies?

Sad.