Gay Place

BURNING FOR CHANGE With a big, cleansing sigh of relief, we approach 2009, and it has the fresh-as-a-daisy feel of clean undies and socks. No more Bush as of this Tuesday! Jan. 20 is more than an Obama-rama, it's a chance at real dignity for all folks in this crazy united batch of states we call home. (And not "homeland," you freaking fascists.) Our own Gay Place blogger Dacia Saenz will be live-blogging from the inauguration in D.C., and we have a few more tricks up our blog sleeve this week, so please do check in regularly at austinchronicle.com/gayplaceblog. Lezzie comedian Kate Clinton will be "saging" the White House after Shrub takes his leave. And it will be the first in a long time since that place has seen "sage" anything. You can e-mail her at kate@kateclinton.com to get on a special mailing list to see the festivities virtually. We'll also have a blog post up about it this week. Welcome to a new day, friends.