woman, artist, thinker, knitter, friend, lover, mother (not of children-just other people+cats), student, worker, chef, dancer, gardener, optimist, c.o.d.a. (child of a deaf adult), sister, daughter, and many more. and believe it or not, i HATE labels.
What does it mean when a blog has gone silent for 12 years and suddenly comes back to life? It probably means an academic is trying to work through some writing and projects. I'm trying my hardest to not hide the older posts - I just finished grad school for the first time and trying to use writing to parse through all of the new things I was learning about.
I'm hoping to use this space for a few projects, the main one will most likely be cultural commentary - specifically through the lens of intersectional feminism with a strong anti-racist leaning. I'm all over the place with my interests currently. I'll probably cover topics like pop culture, politics, environmental racism and climate change, and maybe some reviews or reflections of books I'm currently reading. I don't know where this will go or if I'll be able to maintain it, but here we go!
i don't know too many people who deny that climate change is happening. but i do know some who either don't care, or don't think it is happening very much. either way, these people are the ones who seem to question why we should put much effort into really changing our habits, social norms, and perhaps even our economic structure. the list below answers most of those questions. i quoted the list directly from no impact man. so pop on over there if you want to read some more of what i so generously quoted from!
I am glad we created 5 million or more new jobs here in the United States in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable generation. I am glad we created a culture that relies less on foreign oil, so that our children can live secure lives, knowing that the energy rug can't be pulled out from under them. I am glad we have found a way to save people and industry billions upon billions of dollars by making the use of energy more efficient. I am glad the millions of children who suffer from asthma can now breathe easier thanks to the fact that we aren't pumping the air full of toxins from our exhaust pipes and smokestacks. I am glad that, by no longer burning oil and coal into our air, we've put an end to acid rain and the devastation of our aquatic life. I am glad that we created good, reliable, fun-to-use public transportation system so that families no longer have to raid their budgets to pay for cars and gas. I am glad we've stopped building suburbs, which make people unhappy and [thanks to the happy suburbanites who wrote in] are designed for cars not people, and instead build villages where people can have strong community bonds that help make life fulfilling. I am glad we now have fuel-efficient automobiles. I am glad that we've learned as a culture to get off the work-more-to-spend-more treadmill which gobbles up resources and leaves us unfulfilled and instead turned to a way of live full of meaning and purpose. I am glad we developed local, fresh food systems that care not just about filling bellies but what we put in those bellies. I am glad that we have rejected the philosophies of survival of the fittest and competition for resources as driving philosophies and have instead embraced a philosophy of compassion and justice. I am glad that we have understood that a sustainable society cannot work without supporting all of its people and that we looked for and found ways to improve the lives of everyone. I'm glad that we've come to see people rather than things as our most valuable resource and that, in embracing the respectful and loving principles of not wasting, we have learned not to waste youth in prisons but instead to get them help for their drug addictions and alcoholism. I am glad that, in realizing our resources are limited, we have come to use them to do what is important and to help each other rather than compete with each other. I am glad that we have come to see education as the ultimate in sustainable industries. I am glad that we have developed distributed, renewable energy technologies that allow kids in all parts of the world to have electric light so they can learn how to read. The list goes on and on, but in short, I am glad that we have embraced the opportunities presented by the crisis of climate change in order to improve our society in ways we should have done anyway. And now, to turn the question back on those who say that either there is no climate change or that it is not a serious problem:
What would they feel if we did nothing about climate change and they turned out to be wrong?
What would they feel if we buried our heads in the sand, ignored the problem, and then irreversibly damaged the planetary habitat that we depend upon for our health, happiness and security?
although some of my "green" habits are initially cumbersome, time consuming, or difficult to adjust to, i firmly believe they are beneficial to my well being and the planet's as well. i know that just one person doesn't make a huge difference but if enough individuals change than that really can make an impact.
I just wanted to sincerely congratulate the next President of the United States of America, Mr. Barack Obama. I am so proud of our country right now. I know that the country will not become perfect over night but I do think we are moving in the right direction with electing Obama president. Thank you to everyone who went out and voted.
In October 2007 people all over the United States gathered physically and in spirit to speak out against violence against women of color. Some of us wore red all day and explained that we were reclaiming and reframing our bodies as a challenge to the widespread acceptance of violence against women of color. Some of us wrote powerful essays about why we were wearing red and posted them on the internet. Some of us gathered with bold and like-minded folks and took pictures, shared poetry and expressed solidarity.
This year, on the first anniversary of the Be Bold Be Red Campaign, we invite you to make your bold stance against the violence enacted on women and girls of color in our society visible. In D.C., Chicago, Durham, Atlanta and Detroit women of color will be gathering to renew our commitment to creating a world free from racialized and gendered violence, and this time, we’ll be using a new technology called CyberQuilting to connect all of these gatherings in real time. To learn more about CyberQuilting, which is a women of color led project to stitch movements together using new web technologies and old traditions of love and nurturing, visit www.cyberquilt.wordpress.com.
This letter is an invitation for you and yours to participate in a gathering in your city on Thursday, October 30th that will be webcast to similar gatherings in other cities. We are calling on you because we recognize and appreciate the work that you and the organizations you work with are doing everyday to make this a more loving and less violent world for women and girls in oppressed communities. Please join us on October 30th so that other warriors in this struggle can be strengthened and affirmed by the energy of our collective ferocity!If you are not located in D.C., Chicago, Durham, Atlanta and Detroit for the webcast, you can still participate by wearing Red on October 30, 2008 and send us your pictures to beboldbered@gmail.com
Also we are asking once again that people wear Red on October 30, 2008 and send us your pictures to beboldbered@gmail.com
As we receive them we will upload your pictures under “Red Pictures Today.”
Also, as well as to share your stories of Red on this website under “Why are you wearing Red on October 30, 2008.”
i dont know how others will feel about this but i really think these debates are pretty lame. im pretty sure this second debate is just a remix of the first one. and why is the audience so white??? and bald?? is this supposed to be a random sampling of undecideds? because are white people really the only ones who are undecided?? mccain talks like war with russia is a matter of luck. maybe these debates are better for those undecideds than those of us that are VERY decided. and on that note:
i just feel the need to talk about this sarah palin deal. i cannot comprehend how anyone thinks this person is fit to be VP let alone be a heart beat away from being the Prez. sexism and feminism is finally being talked about, but, sadly i would rather distance myself from the way these things are being defined. palin is NOT a feminist, not by the original definition. she has done NOTHING to forward women's rights, she consistently defines herself as a woman/mother/even sex object as opposed to being a politician. she has done NOTHING to prove that she is qualified for office, it seems that while mayor and later governor she abused her powers, ran the city government into debt, and thought it was a good idea to charge rape victims for their rape kits at the hospital. i know that her family is her own personal business, but how can you not believe in age appropriate sex education and family planning and then have a pregnant teenage daughter? palin wants to teach creationism in schools and doesn't seem to believe global warming could have been caused by humans (although she might have actually changed her stance on this). although i am not completely against hunting, i dont think people should hunt unless this is truly your source of food.
i am absolutely horrified at the thought of any woman who initially planned on voting for clinton, deciding it makes any sense to instead vote for mccain/palin. i have decided (for my own sanity) that this segment of voting women must be made up. or else these are women who secretly were always going to vote republican and are now just finally admitting to it. what is the point of electing a woman to such a high post? just because she is a woman? especially when that woman is a pandering weakling when compared to the woman that could have been in office. i am fully for obama, although it was admittedly tough for to swallow that there would be no woman in office. part of the reason that obama was a difficult choice is not because he is a man though; his ideas are slightly different than mine. he supports coal much more strongly than i do, i cringe at how much he feels the need to show his spirituality (which i think should be none for a political office) and im not sure if i agree with his war views, although anything is better than the bush doctrine (whats that? :P)
a few people already know this, and maybe i shouldnt even write this horrible possibility in full, but, IF (and thats a huge if) obama some how doesnt get elected, i really dont want to be a part of this country. a country that will likely overturn roe vs. wade, a country that denies and belittles science, and a country that prizes a killing mentality- whether its kill a wild animal for fun, kill your neighbor, or preemptively kill a whole population because faulty information tells you you should. i wish i could just take the whole portion of republicans in the US and just shake them, and say "REALLY?? these two people??" i am so flabbergasted.
"while i traverse the city street alone i am subject to pestering by strange men who lewdly congratulate me on aspects of my anatomy while ordering me to smile." anna c. chave "new encounters with les demoiselles d'avignon"
what people really mean by returning to an "american ideal"- a return to "the 'ante-bellum esthetic position,' when men were men and men were white, when scholar-critics were white men and when women and people of color were voiceless, faceless servants, and laborers, pouring teas and filling brandy snifters in the boardrooms of old boys' clubs." - henry louis gates jr.
