This is My Brother

. . . and I'm proud of him. 

Read this Willamette Week article about my brother's boycott of the Alibi, a Portland karaoke bar.  A few weeks ago, he was asked to leave (for then unspecified reasons) and since then he's protested in front of the bar daily to end the bar's policy of discrimination in public accommodations. 

The article mentions the fact that my brother is in recovery from Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, "a condition that blisters skin and organ coverings."  What it doesn't explain is that this syndrome (caused by an antibiotic allergy) makes a person's skin slough off in sheets (like a burn victim) and the cells on all of your organs slough off as well.  My brother was in the hospital for months because of this -- we didn't know whether he would survive.  Amazingly, he did.  And he's approached his life with a new vigor since: he's had to deal with many illnesses through the years but he's determined to make the most of his life.  That means going out, meeting people--being among people.  I applaud that.

I hope you'll read the article and leave a sensible and sensitive comment.  His protest and his desire (indeed his insistence) to live out loud is no joke!