just saw the movie “milk.” as in “harvey milk,” the first openly gay man elected to public office.

now THAT is a movie that not only makes a girl realize that she has done NOTHING with her life, but also makes her realize that it’s not too late.

small spoilers coming after the jump.

seriously folks. last chance to look away before reading the spoilers.

ok. first things first, my new plan is to meet a nice young man at 11:15 p.m. at a subway station. i mean harvey did it, and it all seemed to work out fine. as far as i can figure the boy he met at the subway station ended up being the only boyfriend harvey ever had who didn’t attempt or successfully execute suicide, so i think that’s a plus.

also, the guy was super cute.

secondly, im pretty sure obama must have seen an early screening of the movie, because holy politico does Harvey use the word “hope” a lot. and im not sure if i just got immune to it when obama was running, or if the meaning was just never explained well by obama, but for some reason, this movie’s hope theme stuck me ten times more than obama’s.

im thinking it’s because i’ve been losing hope so much lately.

losing hope that newspapers will not end up with tombstones where their offices used to be. losing hope that I’ll even meet someone i’d like to marry or for that matter someone i’d enjoy spending a sunday with. losing hope that my family members will ever, finally, pull themselves out of the bad situations that seem to envelop them like a room full of wet gum. losing hope that health care will ever finally be accessible by everyone. losing hope in the prospect of equal rights, and equal opportunity.

but harvey milk. he doesn’t lose hope. he loses like five elections, a boyfriend and his ponytail, but yet he just keeps chugging along full of hope. maybe that’s because he was 40 when he finally decided to go out and take on the world. so he only had to hope that it would let him win a few rounds. or maybe, as the movie would have you believe, he had a feeling he was going to die young. that he wouldn’t live much longer, so he had to do what he could this instant. this. very. second. he had to stand up and say “im taking you on world” immediately. and he just couldn’t bring himself to do it without hope.

so here’s to hope. hope that newspapers will reinvent themselves to be better, stronger, faster. hope that the love of my life is sitting across from me the next time i go to a coffee shop. hope that my family members will have the strength to say “screw this. i deserve better.” hope that everyone will one day go to the hospital for free. hope that equal opportunity won’t just be a catch phrase.

hope that things CAN change. and that they CAN get better.

in fact. i think i see a little glimmer of it right now. over there. next to the moon.

yep. there it is. glimmering, shiny hope.