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[05 Nov 2009|10:52pm] http://www.campuspride.org/hotlist2009.asp i'm a hot rising star. i'm going to chicago and then to LA. let's hang out please? i'm in need of the following: -jibaritos. -ppl who would like to cook with/for me. -laughter laughter. -tacos & horchata until i feel sick. -gay dancing. -some late night tea. -cheap thai food. -perhaps a potluck. -perhaps a game of pool or some bowling. ruckus

[31 Aug 2009|06:02pm] mmhmm that's right. i've been writing a lot, just not the usual poems or letters. havea  look! if you have any recipes youw anna share, i wuold love to collaborate, interview, and post your culinary dopeness on my blog. more artists/organizers/educators/people of justice contributing, the better! http://recipesforthepeople.blogspot.com/ if you have any questions or an idea you want to share, email me: kaybarrett@gmail.com 1 struggle ||| ruckus

[22 Jul 2009|10:45am] how does one feel less like static and more like earth? 1 struggle ||| ruckus

[19 Apr 2009|05:28pm] a Pin@y LGBTQ take on the events, ideas, and happenings of a shifting universe. hosted by poet, performer, educator and martial artist kay ulanday barrett. brown/out APRIL 2009 episode: if you are Asian/Pacific Islander Amerikan, identify as LGBTQGNC, this is for you. also, i am looking for people to come in as guests, so please contact me info@kaybarrett.net if you are interested. (p.s. i am not in anyway a video or film maker, so expect this project to shift and grow!) 3 struggles ||| ruckus

[14 Apr 2009|04:59pm] this weekend. stop by peoples! a dope spirit, DJ Kuttin Kandi is in NYC. if y'all don't know this, you don't know hip-hop! [FRIDAY, APRIL 17 2009] DJ Kuttin Kandi visits New York City! *6:00pm - 9:45pm *Nightingales Lounge 213 Second Avenue New York, NY Join Kandi and her friends as they celebrate her visit back to New York City and debut her newly formed band The Heart! It's a free show! *Live Performances by: Allison Joy & Kay Ulanday Barrett Deep Foundation (NYC/NJ) Bambu (LA) Queen Godis Anomolies Kuttin Kandi and The Heart on the 1 and 2'z - DJ Boo Host: Taiyo Na and many other guests to be announced soon!! *21 and over sorry! PLEASE RSVP BY April 16, 2009! [SUNDAY April 18, 2009] Sulu Series @ Bowery Poetry Club! *Featuring: kay barrett, GAD, Antonius Wiriadjaja, Ali Wong, Sophia Moon, Danny Katz, Judy Tan, & more! CURATED BY- Good Asian Drivers! *Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, New York City, NY. *8pm doors | 8:30-11pm show *$8 & $5 for students ruckus

[13 Apr 2009|02:05pm] tired of racist and misconstrued understandings of communities of color or third world. regarding piracy and somali people, please seek to understand the nuances of colonial oppression imposed on somalia(and it's resources + people). the 20 second soundbytes about the boogie men on cnn isn't cutting it. it's the same script used on muslims in southern philippines, people in palestine protecting their right to life and not be occupied. the formula is a colonial western one that negates people's lives and minimizes them to "terrorists." there's a deeper conversation that you deserve. not this sugary puffed up fake interpretation. come correct..thanks: 1 struggle ||| ruckus

[09 Apr 2009|12:56am] you should come! i made these: 6 struggles ||| ruckus

[04 Apr 2009|01:07am] [for allisonjoy / for nat'l poetry month] 1st draft Mind you, I never said I was squeaky clean, shoveling her calves' curve for breakfast and my lust on a computer screen as a chaser. she is an instrument that screams ocean, the fury and the fold of it. I intend to let us loose, let Les Nubian and Sade give us daps for this kind of benediction. cuz beds are obsolete and there is nothing formulaic about our skins, our muscles as taut as powerlines bout’ ready to snap and spark. I didn’t know myself, until she showed my unbuckled synthesis as her one hand on the shoulder, a tongue on the elbow, as tooth scratch dancing a rapture that is this close to blood. birds are curled outside of our building, wondering what could make such noises. we are not here for perch after all, but for sprawling, for contours that upstage the solar system with our iridescence. beloved, as I am an inheritance of windsong and luggage dragged from rust and sand by way of San Fabian and small town parades, you are a garden of brown skin and calcium singin’ hooks to just keep your homegirls at bay we are the obvious answers upturned, a sing-song of mistakes, we were always on our way to this. we stake schematics on bed bones, harvest our dirt and are impressed with the roots we’ve grown, make orgasms more multiple than the prayers both our mothers have mumbled combined. rewind: when mutual friends watched our bodies leaning like cursive you wanted to look away and said nah we’re just friends. isn't that right? even we were in denial about our rumble. who knew such a quake could exist the way we do? how friendly we have become, forgetting the roses on valentines day, or the cordial pecks ushered with the morning paper, we were never built for these plans so we plot protests and candlit vigil as street lamps dim, raided by the teeth of this world, we have cracked open the jaws, and we are out of breath you’ve asked me to fetch the icecream before sunrise, a regular request, and I ruffle the sheets to let the room go profuse with our parable. we rebels are loving in the war years, were born to agitate, and we deserve some solace however it delivers. here is your icecream and a glass of water for our rasp and here to another lifetime, where we've done this already this love has bent the clock’s arms to an enthralled mercy. as the sun slants eyes upon us as we loop our legs and sew our toes as we form hip hinges to an unsullied clasp the clouds flock to the window sill and say, we have never seen such shapes, not like this. 3 struggles ||| ruckus

[26 Mar 2009|12:33pm] homies, comrades, & kindreds-- here is an offering. hardly anyone has heard/read this aside from my editors. very rarely do i attempt prose/fiction even autobiographical. here is an excerpt from my latest published piece in Kicked Out by HomoFactus Press called: ( the hayop ka! chronicles: a queer pin@y OUTcasted & in the streets ) please let me know what you think. will update soon soon. sending spring seedlings and homemade meals your way. 8 struggles ||| ruckus

[01 Mar 2009|02:54am] the yay: - interview that boosted my spirit and seemed to love me. they asked for a 2nd interview immediately! - audre lorde project's "we got next!" event. good ppl, good food, talking about obama and LGBTQTSTGNC people of color. - homemade popcorn. - collabo w/ peoples. - show at bowery & sulu series. - listening & supporting people who i consider kindred. - no more spoiled bratty puppy. - dancing dancing. - rent! - a.joy's recent communication skills. - having audacity to apply to kundiman. the nay: - feeling financially stressed. - feeling artistically restless. - feeling lonely. - feeling guarded. - canceling things. - being skeptical of my kundiman application. - wack ass murders in east nyc of more queer people of color. fuck the passive and abusive police! what i am focused on: what i listen to: my distraction: latest crush: what i did this weekend: 3 struggles ||| ruckus

[09 Feb 2009|07:43pm] 1.) been asked to tour, to feature in a couple places, including a mango tribe feature at brooklyn museum! also, keep a look out for me out in boston for boston progress, and a performance for audre lorde project this FEB 28th! am trying to re-focus and center where my powers should be invested. i feel too restless and try to write, try to edit. please send me strength that i get some vision and get a one kay show script in 5 months. come on spring, revitalize me. 1.5) didn't get the ALP transjustice organizer position. part of me is disappointed, but the other part of me is excited to see what universe is gonna offer me. sarwat has been really supportive in the kind words, got a call from my homie prerna that was uplifting, and allisonjoy is thick with buttering me up. 2.) everyone also--- please oh please send allisonjoy energy because she has been asked for a phone interview at third wave foundation. as a a partner team, we've been calling out some abundance and she truly wants this job. luckily, she has amounts of development, administrative, program management, and women's social justice work experience. she's also done plenty of coalition work with orgs locally & nationally. my transition since moving to the east coast, missing my ma, and y'know the rest, has hit our family hard. we're hoping this will be the fit for her and that they'll offer her a position. 3.) had a homie date with kit yan yesterday and our lives are so different. he is scattered, hardly home in his new apt. in brooklyn. he is a solo tranny guy, his career and then his career and then some. i'm so different as my home, my partner, my pamilya, my organizations/collectives, and my students have been such a wonderful part of my art. i couldn't imagine my work without any of them. performing poetry has never been enough for me. 4.) going to a puppy/dog open house at the training center. have to: -design a flier. -design a newsletter. -design fly's flier for her 'one woman show' in may. 5.) i am in painful need of a booking assistant/manager. anyone? anyone know anyone? anyone know anyone who isn't transphobic and not racist, ha?! 6.) if you are in chicago, please see my friend ching-in chen. her work as a chinese queer woman is madly gifted and i've had the honor to co-host and tour with her on mangoes w/ chili. on page her words are stunning. i have learned so much from her writing and her craft. Friday, February 13, 2009 at 3:00pm Saturday, February 14, 2009 at 11:30am Hilton Chicago 720 South Michigan Avenue Come hang out with Ching-In Chen while she signs copies of her new book, The Heart's Traffic at the Red Hen Press table (522-526) :-) she'll be there Fri, Feb. 13, 3-4pm & Sat, Feb. 14, 10:30-11:30am. * NOTE that Saturday the bookfair is open & free to the public! ruckus

[28 Jan 2009|04:32am] thanks sham! for below-- Riots as Indian slum dwellers object to Slumdog Millionaire Protesters clashed with police in India on Tuesday as they objected to the word "dog" in the award-winning film In Bihar state's capital, Patna, protesters tore down posters and ransacked a movie theatre showing the rags-to-riches tale of a Mumbai slum dweller, which won the top prize at the Screen Actors Guild awards at the weekend. The film has also received 10 Oscar nominations. Hundreds of protesters, mainly slum dwellers, shouted slogans saying the film's title was humiliating and must be changed for protests to end. "Referring to people living in slums as dogs is a violation of human rights," Tateshwar Vishwakarma, a social activist said. Police said they have deployed armed police outside theatres in the state to thwart any further attacks. Last week, Vishwakarma filed a case against an actor, the music director and two other people associated with "Slumdog" in a local court. The case will be heard in a Patna court on Feb 5, police said. Meanwhile, on Monday the parents of child actors Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail accused the film's producers of exploiting and underpaying the eight-year-olds, disclosing that both face uncertain futures in one of Mumbai's most squalid slums. Rubina was paid £500 for a year's work while Azharuddin received £1,700, according to the children's parents. However a spokesman for the film's American distributors, Fox Searchlight, disputed this saying the fees were more than three times the average annual salary an adult in their neighbourhood would receive. They would not disclose the actual sum. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/4359316/Riots-as-Indian-slum-dwellers-object-to-Slumdog-Millionaire.html 2 struggles ||| ruckus

[21 Jan 2009|11:33pm] Obama's Change? A talk on US politics, given in India January 10, 2009 By David Barsamian Thank you very much. Namaskaram. It's wonderful to be in Kerala, I wish I could speak Malayalam, I know some Indian languages but unfortunately they are north Indian and not from south India. It's an honor to remember the memory of a great intellectual who left you, I believe in August of this year, TK and the little that I know of him seems reminds me very much of Noam Chomsky who incidentally celebrated his 80th birthday on the 7th of December just a few days ago. And Chomsky represents the best in American political dissent and academic discourse. He has always spoken truths to the powerful, even when those truths were very difficult for people to hear. He has told the American people over and over again that the United States is an imperialist country, and that it is doing great damage around the world. And he possesses one of the hallmarks of intellectuals I am sure TK also exemplified - consistency. You know not just changing with the weather or the wind blows in a different direction. You know some intellectuals they change their mind because they can enrich themselves. In America and it's probably true in India also, if you cooperate with state power and corporations you will be richly rewarded, you will earn much money. You will be invited to functions, to dinners and you will have a very successful career. But I believe it's the responsibility of intellectuals everywhere to speak for those who cannot to be a voice for the voiceless, and to represent not the oppressors but the oppressed, and this is something that Chomsky and others, TK here in Kerala, I think represented. That is a very important tradition and we should not diminish TK's memory and Chomsky's living memory by compromising, by collaborating. You may know the wonderful writer from Martinique Dr. Franz Fanon. In "Wretched Of The Earth" he really describes the end of traditional colonialism and the development of a new kind of colonialism, the neo-colonial world in one of his chapters. He says that the imperialist powers cannot exist and function without collaborators. That is to say people in the countries become the representatives of, for in this instance, Washington and so there is compromises being made and there is collaboration where the interests of the home country, let us say India are subordinated or surrendered to the interests of Washington by a small clique, by a small group of individuals who study at Harvard, Yale, and other elite universities in America. They may get jobs with the World Bank and in the United Nations. Then they become kind of agents for Washington, and promoting the interests and the agenda of Washington. Now I am sure you have all heard that on November 4th the United States had a regime change with the election of Barak Hussain Obama. This is the front page of our most important newspaper. It's the New York Times and it just says Obama. It's enough. Racial barrier falls in election. And I was just in Pakistan a few weeks ago and there is Obama on the cover of an Urdu magazine and the question at the bottom is, is American policy really going to change? Just asking the question. And then here in India, in Living India ‘Barak Obama creates history.' Now the election of Barak Obama is full of symbolism, I am old enough to remember when African Americans could not sit in the same hall, or stay in the same hotel, or go to the same school, or ride on the same bus as white people. So this is a historically very significant and symbolic election and has been greeted with great enthusiasm. Christian Amanpour, who is a journalist, so-called journalist I will say, on CNN, she said this election will change the world. I have to ask the question, will it really change the world? Will it improve the lives of almost 2 lakh farmers in India who have committed suicide? Will it improve the situation in Pakistan which is falling apart, is a bankrupt country? Will it help the average Afghan who has known virtually nothing but war for the last 30 years? Will it help the ordinary Iraqi? Today news from Iraq 45 people killed in one attack. So we have to ask these questions in an honest way not with propaganda or based on hope. This was the campaign slogan of Barak Obama. Hope is a wonderful word. I don't know what it is in Malayalam. In Hindi its Asha , in Urdu its Umeed, in some north Indian dialects it is Aash. It's a wonderful word, we all want to hope, but hope must be rooted in reality, you know, not in fantasies, not in magical thinking. And what is the record so far of Mr. Obama, soon to be president Obama? What has he said and what has he done? And we have to examine these things impartially and not be a fervent supporter of a new regime. One of the reasons the election brought people into the streets in America dancing, I have never seen this, has to do with the regime that we have lived under in the last 8 years. That is the regime of George Bush and Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld, arguably the most criminal regime in American history. Warlords who have committed many, many crimes against humanity. Violations of international law, the UN charter, the United States Constitution, the Geneva conventions, the Hague convention, many, many examples of criminality. One of the things I am very disappointed in Barak Obama is that he has not wanted to charge these criminals with any offences. Apparently they are going to retire and then go off and write a book and earn, you know 3 crore dollars for writing a book and then go on a lecture tour and speak in colleges and universities and earn lakhs and lakhs of dollars. Now you remember that Barak Obama said he will close Guantanamo. This is a good thing, but it is not enough not only should he close Guantanamo but he should return it to the Cuban people from whom it was stolen 100 years ago. He should bring to book, bring to account all of those American officials who were responsible for the torture and the abuse of in many instances of totally innocent people. So that would be the good thing Obama could do. He could also close the torture chambers in Afghanistan at Bagram and there are also other facilities like that around the world. Obama has also failed to understand the true meaning of the Iraq war, which is a major criminal act. His criticism, like the criticism of most of the liberals in America has been that it was a mistake. That it was mismanaged it was not planned properly. The Bush's regime did not understand many things, it did not allow for what was going to happen. This in my view is unacceptable. The invasion and occupation of Iraq is a major war crime and should be the propitiators of that war crime and that is Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and all the rest should be brought to the International Criminal Court in The Hague and tried for war crimes. Incidentally my country that is dedicated to democracy and freedom and liberation refuses to join the International Criminal Court. It does not recognize its jurisdiction. There you see the arrogance of empire. There you see when America ignores the Kyoto protocol on global warming, you see the arrogance. Now what has Obama said about Iraq, it was a mistake and there is a bad joke in America we are saying you know Obama has figured out an exit strategy from Iraq. He is going to take the troops from Iraq and send them to Afghanistan to fight yet another war on the border. I just came from Pakistan and I have been there 3 times in the last 11 months. The United States is regularly bombing Pakistan almost every day. Every other day there is some kind of attack, and this is destabilizing Pakistan. It's causing tremendous hatred of the Zardari regime in Islamabad and also tremendous hatred toward the United States. And Obama has said that Afghanistan and Pakistan is the central front in the so-called war on terror. I say so called because it's really a war of terror. Terror has expanded tremendously since 11th of September 2001, primarily because of the reckless and criminal actions of the Bush regime in Washington. Invading and occupying Afghanistan and Iraq, threatening Iran and Syria, bombing Somalia, and basically behaving as a rogue regime. This term rogue the US always applies it to designated enemies. But the US itself is breaking as I mentioned international law, so Obama says we need more troops in Afghanistan as quickly as possible, we have got to deal with Pakistan, we cannot have a nuclear Iran it would be a great game changer and then he says Iran is a rogue regime. Well perhaps Mr. Obama could point to the fact that Israel which is a great ally of the United States and now apparently your country India has nuclear weapons, and Israel is not signatory to the non- proliferation treaty. Iran happens to be a signatory and it is being held to the higher standards of the non-proliferation treaty. There is a word for this in English it's called hypocrisy. You have once set of rules for our friends and another set of rules for your enemies and I think if you look honestly the record you will find that this is a pattern of behavior of all imperial powers. You can remember the British some of you might be old enough to know the kind of hypocrisy and double standards that they conducted when they were ruling India. Another reason we cannot have a nuclear Iran is that which set of an arms race in the Middle East. Now you have to wonder what universe Obama is living in, there is already an arms race in the Middle East. In fact United States is the number one arms trafficker in the world. The US accounts for almost 50% of all of the weapons sales, and I know that Washington is looking New Delhi with you know open eyes. This is a new market to sell weapons and to bring India into a kind of alliance with the United States. The United States spends 1 trillion dollars a year on weapons on the military. I don't know how many crores that is but the United States spends more money on the military than all of the countries in the world combined, that is France, India, Russia, Pakistan, Japan, China, UK, Italy all of the countries in the world combined do not spend as much as United States on the military. Is Barak Obama going to dismantle the American empire, probably not? You can hope that he will but as I said hope is a feeling and we as journalists, as intellectuals we have to examine evidence what is he saying and who is he appointing in his cabinet around him. For example he has appointed as his chief of staff, his first appointment someone named Rahn Emmanuel who has very close ties with Israel, is a hawk in terms of military policy, and is a fervent advocate of globalization, which is another code word for US economic domination. Then Obama appointed Hillary Clinton as the foreign minister, what we call secretary of state. Now Hillary Clinton's record should be well known to you as a devoted supporter of Israel, as a dedicated supporter of American imperialism. By the way the term American imperialism is never used in the United States in polite discourse, you know in New York Times, in Time magazine, and Wall Street Journal, it's only we on the Left that use this term. But I think the term is accurate and describes a system of relations in which the United States is dominant and rest of the world, all the countries are subordinate or in a secondary position. They are there to supply raw material resources and labor. Now I have said that it may be that the charismatic and eloquent Obama will change this system. But it is lightly unlikely because in United States we have a military-industrial-media-education complex that dominates the policy. So no matter who is the president whether it is Jimmy Carter or Ronald Wagon or Bill Clinton, George Bush or now Barak Obama there is very little that these Presidents can do to make radical subjective change. Their ability to change the policy is confined it into a very narrow area and on foreign policy it's even more narrow. On domestic policy for example we expect Barak Obama to be a major improvement over George W Bush. But that is not saying much you have to remember this has been as I said earlier perhaps the worst regime in American history. On foreign affairs it's unlikely that Obama will be anything more than an articulate manager of American empire. He will speak very clearly, but he will not change the basic thrust of US imperialism and incidentally this has been noted by rightwing neo-cons. Already people like Cheney who is one of the architects of the Iraq war. Has said in public we were very worried when Obama was elected, we thought there was going to be some radical departure in US foreign policy, but now that we see the appointments that he is making and the statements that he has been giving to press we feel more confident. So imagine that these neo-cons are feeling comfortable with Obama. Now, he was you know, elected with about 53% of the vote in the United States and John McCain got 47%. But all the public opinion polls show that the American people want to end the war in Iraq, want to end the war in Afghanistan, want to have money being spend on the empire and militarism devoted to human needs such as education, healthcare, transportation and improving the environment. We are on the edge of a major environmental moment in human history. These are dangerous times, but the environmental crisis in particular global warming is something that is going to have catastrophic consequences if not addressed, and you living in a coastal state will be very much affected by continuingly rising levels of the Oceans. This is a very serious problem I know it's not, it does not have the excitement or the glamour of seeing the Taj hotel in Mumbai being attacked and all of the media coverage which has continued you know almost continually since then. But the environment must be addressed and for that we need bold leadership and we need collective leadership this must be done with all the nations in the world combined and I hope that here I am saying, I hope that the new government of Barak Obama will address this very critical issue because time is not on our side and another issue connected to this is storage of water particularly drinking water. There are large parts of your country, which don't have sufficient water, in Pakistan also, in other parts of the world there is a shortage of water. I was recently, in April I went to Gangotri in Uttarakhand. It is a beautiful place. There is a famous temple built there at the site of the glacier now about may be 80years or a 100 years. That glacier now is 22 kms away from the temple. So all of that snow in the glacier has disappeared. What does that mean? It means there is less water going in to the Ganga, there is less water downstream. In villages in Uttarakhand like Tehri, people don't have drinking water. They have pump, wells. They have driven the wells into the ground 40 feet, 60 feet, 100 feet until they have reached levels were the water is toxic. Arsenic is present. So this is a situation that exists all along the Himalayas all of the great mountains and glaciers are melting that means the Brahmaputra, Ravi, Sutlej, Chenab all the great rivers coming out from the Himalayas including the Mekong which goes into Cambodia and Vietnam, Irawaddy into Burma including rivers going into China, they will have significantly less water because of this phenomenon. Less water means less agriculture less irrigation for crops, less crops means food storages. Populations are increasing so you can see pretty clearly you don't have to be a genius, you don't have to be doctor from some prestigious university like JNU in Delhi or some other place like that, it's just common sense that these issues needs to be addressed and addressed urgently. So we will keep an eye on Barak Obama. Again we hope that he will be and represent genuine change for US and end American imperialism. As I said earlier today we have many great things in America, I think some of you have been to America so you know some of the very positive things. You know someone like Chomsky and Zinn, me and others, we can work there freely and enjoy our lives and do many, many things without any interference from the government. But I would like to see the United States be a champion of Justice in the world. A military super power that you know put itself in everywhere. Look how much worse the situation in Iraq is now. Just the other day, this criminal president George Bush, he said Iraq was a success. Can you imagine this? That the word he used, Iraq is a success! Let us measure what kind of a success Iraq is under his regime. It is a country of 25 million people, only 2.5 crores. It's smaller than Kerala in population. 1.2 million Iraqis are dead, 4 million are refugees, 3 million are wounded and 4 million are starving. So what does that mean? One in every two Iraqis is dead, wounded, a refugee, or starving. And this criminal president has the gumption, the arrogance to say that Iraq is a success and that Afghanistan also would be a success story. Barak Obama needs to change these policies and we and the American left we will be putting pressure on him to change the way business is done. We cannot keep doing business as usual. Business as usual has led to financial meltdown, an economic collapse. Business as usual has lead to the destruction in Afghanistan, destabilization in Pakistan, destruction in Iraq, threatening other countries as well. So I think, I am sure that you have many questions and comments and I will be happy to hear what you have to say. (T K Ramachandran memorial lecture delivered at Nalanda auditorium, Kozhikode, Kerala, India on Dec 12, 2008 - organised by Bankmen's Club and Secular Collective) 1 struggle ||| ruckus

[13 Jan 2009|05:52pm] 1. may i just take the time to say that this time this year is much better than last? no mouse infestation, no angry landlord, no queer/transphobic boss, no screaming queer nasty epithets at my door. there is promise and salve and less acute pain. i am getting job interviews. there is hope as far as the abundance area is concerned and for some reason goddess has been looking out for me. i'm holding myself to a promise of generosity and humor, even in my politiks. let's see how this goes, eh? 2. already we've gotten into some obstacles though, including a car accident that is making a.joy's car look all jacked up. it's operable... we think. due to the collision, we missed movie night the second time in a row with homies in midtown. however, just as well because we went on a spur of the moment date at serendipity that only resulted becoming a hilarious story to tell for years to come. despite jacked up car fiasco 2009, a.joy was trying to keep hilarity about the whole night. we met up with elakshi, m, sunu, etc. for chinese food. again, i am reminded how much i love anything with eggplant. eggplant made my saturday. i met a new person who writes about feminisms in india and also about animal studies, who adored listening to us talk about cornbread the super dog. no doubt, i have a friend crush blooming here. this was saturday. 2.6 this goes without saying, but i am in love with my partner. we snort in front of each other and walk about in big pajamas and she makes good omlettes. we're coming off as an old grumpy pair of brown people and i secretly love it. as mentioned, this is another aspect of my life that has improved from last year. we're growing up and disassembling the tired stone stoney butch stoneness that encourages head nod communication and obsessively painful silence (this behavior no longer scored high on my sexy scale by age 23). ok, so i might be exaggerating, but point being is that we are finding creative ways to love and talk and write to one another. consequently, i love waking upto this person in the morning, which doesn't hurt either. 2.7 watch out rural middle amerika michigan. it's been far too long and i am doing my homework. i am getting a lawyer to bust your ass and claim what is mine! (insert intimidating knuckle cracking here) 2.9 i made this: if you would like a copy, just let me know. i would love to share. i'm a share-er. 3. thanks sham for this: picking through the garbage. 3.3 (excerpt) some must die because they are the vicinity some must die because it was written no army does not apologize has never apologized authority chases paper assembly occupation settles deeper a great miracle here the living are dying and the dying living a festival of lights a strip a land a blaze the sea a mirror of fire a casting of lead upon children their heads roll off their shoulders into streets their tops spin in hands an army feasting on epiphany driving future into history carrying torches into bellies of women... --gaza, suheir hammad 4. Never Again: Demand civilian oversight of BART police. 5 struggles ||| ruckus

[29 Dec 2008|09:50pm] a post from Alexis Pauline Gumbs: Do Not Forget ************************************************** my rage is inarticulate today. i cannot believe this is happening again, not because it is not predictable, but because the Israeli state's insistence on perpetuating genocide in my generation threatens my belief in humanity. i take this personally. i am grateful that i hold someone in my heart whose rage is articulate. i ask that as we hold everyone in Gaza in our hearts we remember this poem by June Jordan: Apologies to All the People in Lebanon by June Jordan Dedicated to the 60,000 Palestinian men, women and children who lived in Lebanon from 1948-1983 I didn't know and nobody told me and what could I do or say, anyway? They said you shot the London Ambassador and when that wasn't true they said so what They said you shelled their northern villages and when U.N. forces reported that was not ture because your side of the cease-fire was holding since more than a year before they said so what They said they wanted simply to carve a 25 mile buffer zone and then they ravaged your water supplies your electricity your hospitals your schools your highways and byways all the way north to Beirut because they said this was their quest for peace They blew up your homes and demolished the grocery stores and blocked the Red Cross and took away doctors to jail and they cluster-bombed girls and boys whose bodies swelled purple and black into twice the original size and tore the buttocks from a four month old baby and then they said this was brilliant military accomplishment and this was done they said in the name of self-defense they said that is the noblest concept of mankind isn't that obvious? They said something about never again and then they made close to on million human beings homeless in less than three weeks and they killed or maimed 40,000 of your men and your women and your children But I didn't know and nobody told me and what could I do or say, anyway? They said they were victims. They said you were Arabs. They called your apartments and gardens guerilla strongholds. They called the screaming devastation that they created the rubble. Then they told you to leave, didn't they? Didn't you read the leaflets that they dropped from their hotshot fighter jets? They told you to go. One hundred and thirty-five thousand Palestinians in Beirut and why didn't you take the hint? Go! There was Mediterranean: You could walk into the water and stay there. What was the problem? I didn't know and noboby told me and what could I do or say, anyway? Yes, I did know it was the money I earned as a poet that paid for the bombs and the planes and the tanks that they used to massacre your family But I am not an evil person The people of my country aren't so bad You can expect but so much from those of us who have to pay taxes and watch American TV You see my point; I'm sorry. I really am sorry. ********************************************************* Throughout her career June Jordan was punished by the US publishing establishment for her refusal to be silent about Isreali aggression against Palestinians and the anti-Arab dehumanization that characterized US foreign engagement with the Middle East. People said she was alienating herself by taking this issue so personally. I take it personally. Modelling the form of transnational feminist solidarity that we must aspire towards, June Jordan famously said "I was born a black woman, but now i become Palestinian." I take it personally that CNN says that Isreal is at war with Hamas, both because it uses the name of an organization to obscure the fact that this attack is launched against the Palestinian people. CNN, like the Israeli state, refuses again and again to even admit that there is such a people as the Palestinian people, that there is such a place as occupied Palestine. This is how genocide works, and I take it personally. I take it personally that in this age a "war" is no longer defined as a military engagement between two nation-states, that we can use the word "war" to describe what an occupying force, in the form of an apartheid state does to the people it has captured in a concentration camp. I am outraged that the only thing we can call for is a cease-fire, as if there is balance. As if these two entities have ever been equal. As if the United States has not been sending most of it's (our) international aid to buy weapons and build walls for the aggressor, the Israeli State. As if the more than 300 Palestinian people killed were equal to the one Israeli person caught by a missile that Hamas launched AFTER 30 missiles hit Gaza. Would our strategy be to ask for a cease fire between the MOVE organization and the Philadelphia police? Would our strategy be to ask for a cease fire between the Black Panther Party and co-intel pro. "Cease-fire" is a belated and non-sensical term when the resources, the forms of weapons, have already been alloted so disproportionately. I have a slingshot. When they come for me with a tank will you ask for a cease-fire, ask both sides to calm down? I am taking this personally. I am not going to calm down. All you have to do is remember that Palestinians are people like any other people, full of love and hope and beauty and brilliance who can be hurt, even while surviving occupation, racism, attacks against every one of their institutions and the unjust loss over and over again of the lives of their loved ones, of the homes of their skins, of the disrespect of being called out of your name and exiled in your own land again and again. All you have to do it remember that Palestinians are people and the absurdity and tragedy of this situation will fall on your heart and crush it, like mind is crushed today. But the mass media is asking you to forget, with every word choice transmitted over here about what is going on in occupied Palestine right now. Asking you to forget that simple truth that even without a state (i would say ESPECIALLY without a state) people are people: full of love and priceless. June Jordan's incisive repetition of "They said/they said so/what" in her poem is an illustration of what we are still being told today. The words of the Israeli state get credit (like the massive amounts of weapon-buying aid that we send them...on credit that they will never have to repay) and when their weak arguments for self defense against a group of people that they have forced into a cage prove to be lies, our media turns away. All we have to do it to remember that there is no justification for genocide and we will see clearly what justice is. But our media is asking us to forget. Our 60th Anniversary of the State of Israel attending President and our "hail the great state of Israel" President-elect are asking us to forget. Do not forget. 3 struggles ||| ruckus

[28 Dec 2008|11:31pm] you should come. i think you'd have a good time: bring food, joy, and some good 2008 stories as we celebrate 2009 in a queer-positive, chill, food delicious, dance-fabulous, dog-wise, no-drama space. RSVP please reply to this flier -email allisonjoy4freedom@yahoo.com -text/call 646.721.0539 bring dessert, savory foods, non-alcoholic beverages, and your amazing self! (invite only!) ruckus

[15 Dec 2008|12:21pm] this is bread-head after his celebration. he's all exhausted! ha: 2 struggles ||| ruckus

[05 Dec 2008|04:47pm] i am a young puppy/dog parent who is currently in a dog training apprenticeship for fun. it is showing me a new kind of discipline that shows me to observe more, be patient more, and also teaching me to really see dogs for what they are. they aren't as emotionally driven as humans are, something that is entirely refreshing since my career is based on emotions-- political, poetic, and performative. i have learned a lot as an observer and in trying to attend more classes when i have the financial privilege so that my dog remains well-socialized, challenged, supported, and healthy. one day as i was out with my family plus my dog, i noticed a dude using a prong collar on his pitbull puppy. he yanked the leash/chain and the puppy alerted by his "correction" yelped and screeched in pain. the puppy only continued to whimper. it hurt my spirit. i quickly said to him in my calmest, yet not so calm voice-- "is that really that necessary? what's your problem?" of course the man proceeded to cuss and say rude things. his dog proceeded to whine and cower in fear. let me be very clear. i think choke and prong collars are weak patriarchal, white, heteronormative, ways to take dominance over a dog, any dog. you heard right. would you like spikes going into your jugular and esophagus? how about you take that choke/prong collar and press it up against your own neck or throat. now move 1/8th of an inch. how pleasant is that for you? the use of this contraption on rottweilers, pit bulls, bulldogs, doberman pinschers. even if you don't "use it as harshly or pull hard" you are still using techniques that are inhumane and uncritical on your beloved pets. i understand people of color and low income folks have very little resources for health care or critical education, so dog awareness and training is not at the top of the list. this is why i think it's important to circulate the politically empowering information when we do have it. if you cannot learn to walk a dog/ask it do something or be obedient or kind in public/in your home properly without harming or coercing it, than i suggest you seek resources that could be of help to you. my own dog can jump through hoops, weave through legs, find my cell phone, not eat food dropped on the floor by accident, have a sit stay for over 4 minutes, all without me scaring her or harming her whatsoever. this is because s/he trusts me and the people in her life and knows that when we ask something it usually means a good reward in exchange for her good work-- piece of dried turkey, chicken, stinky cheese, etc. additionally, at dog parks i am starting to get ill listening to people talking about how wonderful cesar millan is. as much as i wanna be down with a latino man doing his thing and being connected with animals, i have to say he is painfully vague and uses adversives or old school dominance/control to scare the shit outta the dogs he works with. face it, his methods are outdated and have been known as "medieval training." this only perpetuates aggression from dogs and does very little to be of support, safety, and growth for the dogs or their owners. as i know most of you work for social change and community empowerment, for liberation, and as a result are skeptical of mainstream media, i see dog training and it's representations in the media as no different. we know that something adopted as great entertainment and with good ratings is not something to trust when it comes to coverage regarding war, military, our food and nutrition, where our clothes are being made, where our tax dollars go, etc. we must remain hungry for information about what is healthiest, most empowering, most uplifting for our communities and this includes our pets. please see this list of helpful resources organized by my dog trainer eleasha gall, who has over 20 years of experience in clicker training/positive reinforcement dog training. her rottweiler gunnar, is the sweetest and most obedient dog imaginable. he can attest to how powerful, efficient, and effective this training method works. also please read the article below! sit.stay.play! resources *to bold & to solidarity k. ------------ A Message from The San Francisco SPCA Talk Softly and Carry a Carrot or a Big Stick? By Jean Donaldson, Director of The SF/SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers Dog training is a divided profession. We are not like plumbers, orthodontists or termite exterminators who, if you put six in a room, will pretty much agree on how to do their jobs. Dog training camps are more like Republicans and Democrats, all agreeing that the job needs to be done but wildly differing on how to do it. The big watershed in dog training is whether or not to include pain and fear as means of motivation. In the last twenty years the pendulum swing has been toward methods that use minimal pain, fear or intimidation - or none at all. The force-free movement has been partly driven by improved communication from the top. Applied behaviorists, those with advanced degrees in behavior, and veterinary behaviorists, veterinarians who have completed residencies specializing in behavior problems are in greater abundance than in previous decades, and there is much more collaboration between these fields and trainers on the front lines. These two professions are quite unified on the point that the use of physical confrontation and pain is unnecessary, often detrimental and, importantly, unsafe. The big watershed in dog training is whether or not to include pain and fear as a means of motivation. On a more grassroots level, trainers have found more benign and sophisticated tools by boning up on applied behavior science themselves. Seminal books like marine mammal trainer Karen Pryor's Don't Shoot the Dog made the case that training and behavior modification can be achieved without any force whatsoever. But dog training is currently an unregulated profession: there are no laws governing practices. Prosecutions under general anti-cruelty statutes are occasionally successful but greatly hampered by the absence of legal standards pertaining specifically to training practices. Provided it's in the name of training, someone with no formal education or certification can strangle your dog quite literally to death and conceivably get off scot-free. It's not a complete wilderness: three sets of dog training guidelines exist, one in the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) Mission Statement, one published by the Delta Society and one by the American Humane Association (AHA). All state that less invasive (i.e. without pain or force) techniques must be competently tried and exhausted before more invasive techniques attempted. Such guidelines are not yet mandatory but they're a start. DOG TRAINERS, EXPERTS CONCUR: Cesar Millan's philosophy is not ours. • SF/SPCA Dog Training Philosophy • American Humane Association • Andrew Luescher, DVM, Veterinary Behaviorist, Animal Behavior Clinic, Purdue University • Review of "Cesar's Way" from Pat Miller of The Bark Magazine • New York Times "Pack of Lies" • Esquire Magazine "Misguided Expert of the Year" • Newsday.com And so the current professional climate is one laden with some remaining fierce debate. There's an ever-expanding group of trainers that train force-free (ad. literature will be some variation on the theme of "dog-friendly" or "pain-free"), trainers that still train primarily with force (ad literature: "no-nonsense" or "common sense") and trainers that employ liberal use of both force and rewards (ad literature: "balanced" or "eclectic"). From a consumer's standpoint, the choice in methods is wide. You can hire a professional to train your dog pretty much any way that suits your fancy and it's all legal. The force-free movement gains momentum every year and a sure sign of this is that many trainers in the other camps resort to murkier and murkier euphemisms to disguise their more violent practices and retain their market share. Stressed dogs aren't "shut down," they're "calm." It's not strangling, it's "leading." As a committed devotee of the "dog-friendly" camp, I am therefore, along with my colleagues here at The San Francisco SPCA, somewhat agog at the stunning success of "The Dog Whisperer". This is pretty ferocious stuff by anybody's standards. The National Geographic Channel even runs a disclaimer banner at the bottom of the screen admonishing people to "not try this at home," a warning notably absent on home improvement shows or "Nanny 911". Many have suggested that the cloaking of corporal punishments and hazing in mystical language, promise of instant results, high octane telegenicity of Cesar Millan and lucky connections with Los Angeles celebrity clients are sufficient explanation for the Dog Whisperer phenomenon. The one with the best buzz words wins. But I don't know. Janis Bradley, my colleague here at The SPCA, sagely points out that the positive reinforcement trend has become a big enough juggernaut to warrant a backlash and Milan represents exactly that. Like the frazzled Los Angelinos in the film "Crash" (which, notably, took Best Picture honors at The Academy Awards last year), people are fed up with having to be politically correct in a chronically frustrating and disconnected world. Couldn't we just "get real" and stop being kind and tolerant all the time? And here we positive-reinforcement oriented dog trainers are now telling everyone they have to be nice and politically correct to the dog? Well, yes. Jean Donaldson's article was first published in The Woofer Times, September 2006 2 struggles ||| ruckus

[20 Nov 2008|09:47pm] 2008 Transgender Day of Remembrance this is the stuff we don't talk about on the news. this is just a known list of people and i am in mourning. any of them could be me or one of my friends. trans folks are doing good things in this world and we are also like so many communities, just trying to survive, word? January 8th - Patrick Murphy, Age 39 - Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States - Shot multiple times in the head. January 22nd, in her 20s - Fedra - Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia - Found dead in a pool of blood. January 23rd - Adolphus Simmons, Age 18 - North Charleston, South Carolina, United States - Shot to death while taking out the trash. February 4th - Ashley Sweeney - Detroit, Michigan, United States - Found dead in Detroit's East Side, shot in the head. February 10th - Shanesha Stewart, age 25 - The Bronx, New York, United States - Stabbed to death. February 12th - Lawrence King, age 15 - Oxnard, California, United States - Killed by a fellow student after being asked to be Lawrence's valentine. February 15th - Cameron McWilliams, age 10 - South Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom - Suicide by hanging. February 22nd - Simmie Williams, Jr, Age 17 - Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States - Killed by two gunmen. March 15th - Luna, Age 42 - Lisbon, Portugal - Beaten to death, and thrown in a dumpster. May 26th - Felicia Melton-Smyth - Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Stabbed. July 1st - Ebony Whitaker, Age 20 - Memphis, Tennessee - Shot to death. July 11th - Rosa Pazos - Sevilla, Spain - Stabbed in the throat in her apartment. July 17th - Angie Zapata, Age 17 - Greeley, Colorado, United States - Beaten to death. July 29th - Samantha Rangel Brandau, Age 30 - Milan, Italy - Beaten, raped and stabbed. September 21st - Ruby Molina, Age 22 - Sacramento, California, United States - Found floating in the American River. November 3rd - Aimee Wilcoxson, Age 34 - Aurora, Colorado, United States - Found dead in her bed. November 9th - Duanna Johnson, Age 42 - Memphis, Tennessee, United States - Found shot and left on a street. November 11th - Dilek Ince - Ankara, Turkey - Shot in the back of the head. November 14th - Teish Cannon, Age 22 - Syracuse, New York, United States - Shot Ali - Iraq - Executed Unknown - Iraq - Executed Unknown - Iraq - Executed If you have information regarding any of these cases, please contact your local Police Department. Updates and corrections to any of the entries on this page should be EMailed to Jenn Dolari, Ethan St. Pierre or Gwendolyn Ann Smith. Names are from the Transgender Day of Remembrance website at http://www.transgenderdor.org/ ruckus

[13 Nov 2008|01:12pm] thanks sukaynah: the dreadful genius of the obama moment. ruckus

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