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Tuesday, December 28, 2010
this too shall pass
Monday, December 27, 2010
سلام: If you live consciously, if you try to bring consciousness to every...
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via 道 on 12/26/10
سلام: If you live consciously, if you try to bring consciousness to every...:
If you live consciously, if you try to bring consciousness to every act that you go through, you will be living in a silent, blissful state, in serenity, in joy, in love. Your life will have the flavour of a festival. That is the meaning of heaven: your life will have many flowers in it, much fragrance will be released through you. You will have an aura of delight. Your life will be a song of life-affirmation, it will be a sacred yes to all that existence is. You will be in communion with existence — in communion with stars, with the trees, with the rivers, with the mountains, with people, with animals. This whole life and this whole existence will have a totally different meaning for you. From every nook and corner, rivers of bliss will be flowing towards you. Heaven is just a name for that state of mind. Hell means you are living so unconsciously, so absurdly, in such contradiction, that you go on creating more and more misery for yourself.
— Osho
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Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Polyphonic Feminisms: Acting in concert
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via Liquor&Spice on 12/21/10
Polyphonic Feminisms: Acting in concert: As the editors highlight in their introduction, Ella Shohat's call for colloquy without the muting of one voice over another is brightly reflected here. In a panoply of sound, sight, and text, Polyphonic Feminisms: Acting in Concert does not demand unity or agreement, but rather allows for a flourishing of ruminations on what feminism is, where it has been, and what paths it might travel forward. Imagining a world remade by many feminisms, Polyphonic Feminisms calls out for new ways of acting in concert.
I really don't even know what to do with myself right now. Just looking at the damn layout makes me weak in the knees! Geometric shapes. Clear, solid, contrasting colors. Linky links EVERYWHERE! And all the content laid out where I can see and keep track of it and not wander around confused clicking on vague headings! My brain loves this!
It's like all my favorite nerd things all in one place! Music metaphors and discord and fragmentation and no need for whole linear anything plus words by MY FAVORITE WRITER PEOPLE OF THE INTERNET?!?!?!
Everything is winning in marginalized nerd land, you guys. Everything.
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Monday, December 20, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
lessons learned in 2010 to be carried into the future
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via guerrilla mama medicine by mama on 12/16/10
–dont compare yourself to others. if you are going to compare, compare who you truly are to who you are pretending to be
–age aint nothin but a number (getting down aint nothin but a thang?)
–haters gonna hate
–no really. haters. gonna. hate.
–we are living in a miracle
–sometimes taking pharmies is exactly what you need to get yourself back on track
–no one can make you angry, happy, sad. you do that to yourself.
–to be a good writer, read good writers, to be a better writer, read better writers
–abstract expressionism lives
–karma is a bitch
–internet activism can be just as relevant as any other form of activism. the question is how far outside of your comfort zone are you willing to go for freedom?
–if it aint about freedom and love, it aint about me.
–dont give a damn about your bad (or good) reputation
–dont dim your light, cause other people around you are insecure. they wont get more secure, just because you are less bright.
–no one will love you more than you love yourself
–whip your hair
–to be happy, give happiness
–just breathe
–look for the details, always.
–follow your inspiration
–never be ashamed to be a revolutionary
–the world's shit is not your fault
–actually, my poems, my lines, my images, are at the same time free and welcome to benefit all and are sacred and i own them…dont use them in a way that i did not intend out of respect for my time and energy and talent and willingness to be that open to the multiverse….
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Saturday, December 11, 2010
Brother-Pat Parker
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via 道 on 12/10/10
Brother
I don't want to hear
about
how my real enemy
is the system.
i'm no genius,
but i do know
that system
you hit me with
is called
a fist.
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Sunday, December 05, 2010
A true soul mate...
"A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave. A soul mate's purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, and make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life."
| — | Elizabeth Gilbert (via thehumorlessfeminist) |
Monday, November 29, 2010
blackacrylic:26.11.10
All Day!!!
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Tuesday, November 23, 2010
I don't like calling anyone a "bad person" buuuuut...
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via Liquor&Spice on 11/22/10
It's true that people who repeatedly, shamelessly hurt and manipulate others are people I should stay away from. Even when I want to understand, give the benefit of the doubt, or rationalize the hurt they cause others. And me.
'Forgive' and 'accept' don't have to mean 'be around' and 'emotionally invest in'
::nods decisively::
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Saturday, November 20, 2010
"The worst thing to call somebody is ‘crazy.’ It’s dismissive. I don’t under...
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via Liquor&Spice on 11/20/10
"The worst thing to call somebody is 'crazy.' It's dismissive. I don't understand this person, so they're crazy. That's bullshit because people are not crazy. They're strong people. Maybe the environment is a little sick."- Dave Chappelle (via mohandaskgandhi)
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Tuesday, November 16, 2010
"We can smile, breathe, walk, and eat our meals in a way that allows us to b...
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via maia medicine on 11/16/10
"We can smile, breathe, walk, and eat our meals in a way that allows us to be in touch with the abundance of happiness that is available. We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive."- Thich Nhat Hanh (via whatwillsuffice)
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Sunday, November 14, 2010
"The ability to think and act for the benefit of one’s self—without malice t...
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via maia medicine on 11/14/10
"The ability to think and act for the benefit of one's self—without malice towards others—requires intelligence, not hostility; courage, not shame. And it's not as small or limiting a performance as "acting like a man"; it's as large and freeing as being human and humane. It insists upon following the example of peace, where gender is immaterial. It requires something vastly different from dominance, abject wealth and superficial displays: It requires integrity; it requires love.
Love is where you find it. And you won't find it anywhere until you've found it within.
"-
Son of Baldwin
http://sonofbaldwin.blogspot.com/2010/11/love-is-where-you-find-it.html
(via dancingonembers)
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Sunday, November 07, 2010
ancestryinprogress:seesawnights:love of my lifeyou are. my...
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This woman RADIATES light!(via fuckyeaherykahbadu)
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Friday, October 15, 2010
"Realize however, that at some point you have to actually take the plunge in...
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via TheRedTree on 10/15/10
"Realize however, that at some point you have to actually take the plunge into the pool. Trying to analyze how water moves and how you can swim effectively by staring at the ripples in the water as you sit on the sidelines will have its limits. The time is rapidly approaching to simply jump in. Once in the water, you will know instinctively where you want to swim to next. You may think you do while you are on the bench, but hypothetical thinking is not reality. Sometimes you simply can't know for sure until you are in the situation. We learn about life by experiencing life, not by analyzing life on the periphery."- —Susan Miller.
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tkoed: loudminority: oliveinthunderland: rememberg: (via...
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Are you free?
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via maia medicine on 10/15/10
The minute you stop caring what other people think; the minute you stop trying to control outcomes; the minute you decide to adhere to your core beliefs; the minute that other folks' constructs have no bearing on your life; the minute you realize that you are the prize…is the minute that you are free. Are you free?
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Thursday, October 14, 2010
On ‘The Mean Girls of Morehouse’
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via The Crunk Feminist Collective » On ‘The Mean Girls of Morehouse’ by moyazb on 10/14/10
Having gone to Morehouse's (unofficial) sister school I feel compelled to comment on this Vibe Mean Girls article and subsequent fallout. In fact it feels kind of good to once again put this "audacity of parenting" thing on the back burner. Y'all ain't ready :)
If you haven't heard, Vibe acknowledged the fact that there are queer black folks in the world (more than CNN could do), let alone at the elite single sex HBCU, Morehouse College. The article profiles queer students who actively blur the binary line of gender and look damn good doing it. They wear their fierce so loud, proud and unapologetically they were dubbed "the plastics" by an ostensibly straight Morehouse brother of theirs.
The article title, while again evocative of a favorite literary device of mine, is sensational. It conflates the appropriated "plastics" moniker to girl identity which none of the students interviewed do themselves. They articulate a reveling in androgyny and gender bending that makes a lot of "straight" dudes uncomfortable, even administrators, hence the infamous dress code barring students from wearing women's clothing (Read my thoughts on the dress code here). One student is interviewed while shopping in a women's boutique in Atlanta and a store employee makes her shock regarding his attire known, providing a little more drama for an article already doing a lot by acknowledging the realities for these students. What we don't learn is how they are treated in the classroom or how daily jabs impact their ability to concentrate on their school work. A lot of them leave. Despite President Franklin's claim of a Morehouse that accepts all identities, students that too obviously flout gender conventions have a nearly impossible time of making it on campus.
Looking at the comments section made me swear off them for good as it was filled with the most hateful language and threats. I attended school when Gregory Love was attacked in the shower with a baseball bat for supposedly looking at another student. My then ally identified self went 30 deep with other feminist and queer sisters and brothers to a panel at Morehouse that disintegrated into violence when folks tried to discuss the issue. This reaction is not unique to black people but the costs of homophobia in groups that are multiply marginalized are so much higher. If we can't be at institutions that are on some level supposed to be for us, where do we go?
Morehouse may tout itself as a single sex institution but it is not a single gender one, as much as it may want to be. If female-assigned-at-birth students in the AUC can take classes there, hang out there, spend the night there (covertly :) ) etc. why can't male-assigned-at-birth students do the same in the same heels and make up? If any group should understand the fallacies of looking a certain way to be treated humanely its black people. And ye, black folks are determined to traffic in a politics of respectability that does little but make some of us tokens for a power structure that not all of us can access. People wonder why King's beloved community has given way as we increasingly limit the criteria for admittance. If the people who decide who has access are middle class, straight, Christian, black folks, that leaves a lot of people out in the cold.
That said, I get the nihilism and "do you" mentality of so many black folks excluded from "proper" blackness. When you know that people think and treat you as though you are less than human why continually try to convince them otherwise? Why not just go for self?
The cycles of violence created in the name of "uplift" never cease to amaze me. If we truly want a different world it's going to take seeing people for who they are not what you want them to be. Morehouse has a unique opportunity to engage students around questions of blackness and gender identity, to craft new black men and more, poised to create a better reality for many communities. We can't afford to hold on to antiquated notions of gender and blackness. The future is fierce.
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Tuesday, October 05, 2010
For T
I saw you seeing me.
I saw you dark skinned black girl across the room of white and light.
Flash of a smile that held more then we could say
not there, not then
thought I’d get around to talking to you later
thought we’d shoot the shit
discuss our teenage love of white boys that didn’t love us back
our slip into the sensual sumptuous embrace of our queer selves and lovers
see each other at parties and share the same secret smiles of understanding
But you are gone
were gone before i could make good on the “later” I’d resigned our talking to
i think about you though.
we weren’t close but you are remembered.
not just by your (white) friends
but by a reflection.
I see you, still, in the mirror
i hope we can still talk, much much later than i had planned.
I saw you dark skinned black girl across the room of white and light.
Flash of a smile that held more then we could say
not there, not then
thought I’d get around to talking to you later
thought we’d shoot the shit
discuss our teenage love of white boys that didn’t love us back
our slip into the sensual sumptuous embrace of our queer selves and lovers
see each other at parties and share the same secret smiles of understanding
But you are gone
were gone before i could make good on the “later” I’d resigned our talking to
i think about you though.
we weren’t close but you are remembered.
not just by your (white) friends
but by a reflection.
I see you, still, in the mirror
i hope we can still talk, much much later than i had planned.
Friday, October 01, 2010
On Eddie Long and #NWNW
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via The Crunk Feminist Collective by moyazb on 9/30/10
So I'm trying to write a dissertation and support some really amazing disability justice activist friends of mine so I really don't have time to be messin' around with this Eddie Long/#NWNW business but…
Here I go.
This will be real quick though. Promise. Point by point even.
- Abusing children ≠ "gay" – I am all for us critiquing and thinking about Eddie Long's desires for men but the truth is (yes, I think he did it) he abused his power and at least four vulnerable boys, as their age defines them in the "courts of justice." There are plenty of people who embrace their same sex desire and incorporate that into their identity or choose to keep that part of themselves to themselves. But they don't abuse children. That's what we should be talking about with Eddie Long, lest we equate repressed same sex desire with gay identity and subsequent child sexual abuse. LGBQ people choose to love each other and enter relationships; they don't coerce vulnerable children with much needed affection and affirmation and prey on them.
- "No one man should have all that power." -The power of the pulpit co-creates these situations with ample collateral damage. Did you know that absolutely awesome phrase that "absolute power corrupts absolutely" was written about papal power in the Catholic Church? We can all see how relevant it continues to be in that religious context and beyond. When Eddie Long stepped up to the pulpit and put his glasses on to the roar of his congregation I couldn't help but think of that line from Malcolm X (h/t to Tobias). It didn't matter what Long said (and he didn't say he was innocent), the congregation "supports its pastor, period." The inherent hierarchy of the church exacerbates abuses of power and the fact that we've seen iterations of these abuses over and over again doesn't seem to change the way folks feel about their "prophets." Regardless of their desire for adult men or lack of desire for adult women, preachers/priests/pastors and self proclaimed bishops' unfettered access to vulnerable children and the immense amount of power we grant them, should give us pause (no homo).
- No Wedding No Womb- I'll give you that you just picked the title b/c you liked the alliteration (it's a favorite literary device of mine too), that your inadvertent and untimely use of the word "wedding" amidst the fallout of the prop 8 black people controversy and ongoing debates surrounding same sex marriage is more an issue of semantics than out right heterosexism. Okay. But to act as though a commitment between two people is the solution to men— wait, I take your pass on heterosexism back—dipping out on parental responsibility seems to completely misrepresent what actually is a crisis in infrastructure, resources, and cause to question our reliance on a nuclear model of parenting in the first place. People need community, love, dough (both kinds) to raise kids. Married or partnered parents are not better than other parents.
- Solutions – #NWNW has critiqued dissenters for not offering solutions (though I feel like we've been offering them) so I'll be explicit here.
- Let men be queer- I mean let men express emotions that are typically gendered "woman", like sadness, love, happiness, etc. without saying they are less of a man because of it. Allow men to shed hypermasculine notions of being in terms of how they dress, behave, etc. How dope would it be if men could shed their cold detached unfeeling personas? This has the effect of allowing men to be emotional beyond the confines of nuclear family and be more loving to other children and women in their lives, regardless of whether or not they're related. It has the added effect of destigmatizing traits that are read as feminine in men, which in turn might reduce some of the homophobia that energizes the Eddie Long situation and these recent tragic "suicide" deaths of young people. Homophobia Kills.
- Demand more infrastructure to support parents- The government owes its people and its children more than its giving. It passes the buck to individual households to do the heavy lifting. The classism and ableism at the heart of the nuclear family has got to be unpacked. Even in married two parent homes there's not always enough to go around. The assumption that people should be able to do it on their own as a single family unit perpetuates the myth of independence. We all need help to get through life and most of the time we act like we don't because that supports a capitalistic ethic of individualism.
- It takes a village- We see the fallout of thinking that children are the individual responsibility of their parents in #NWNW own posts. In the greatest of ironies, the founder said the crisis of black fatherlessness was responsible for Eddie Long's indiscretions as opposed to reading his marriage and patriarchal power as an enabler of his behavior and the reason that people thought he was safe. Surely a married, wealthy, pastor with kids who does good things in the community can't hurt these boys. We remain attached to the myth of the predator "out there" as opposed to examining the conditions that create the power imbalances that cultivate abuse. How might this situation have played out differently if everyone thought of those boys as their "spiritual sons?" What would it mean for all adults to feel accountable to all children in their community? Would individual fathers who weren't present matter? As is evident in cultures around the world, the primacy of biological parents is not a given. There are a myriad of traditions of child rearing that don't center biological/nuclear parenting and the kids are more than all right. Two people, man and woman, even with rings need resources to raise children and to ignore that as well as the accompanying hypermasculine gender expectations for black men in those structures is to miss the issue all together. Perhaps black folks' ambivalence about marriage signals problems with the institution itself and not with black people.
Check tweets by @shelbygoodwin, @dopegirlfresh, @aliciasanchez and @crunkfeminists for more on #NWNW.
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