I AM NOT AN ALTRUIST. Nor am I here to convince you that I’m a Nice Guy. Nor to claim I am a champion of immigrants. If it needs to be made clearer to aid in expectation or understanding, the story and reasons behind my particular hand en la lucha are far simpler.
MAPA: “WE ARE TAKING THE BRUNT of the attacks and suffering the immediate consequences of this misguided policy, therefore, our call is urgent to take to the streets on September 5th, the Labor Day weekend, and October 12th, not to ask but demand that President Obama stop the attacks on immigrants and that he fulfill his promise of immigration reform, that which we heard during the presidential campaign, but has recently been forgotten.”
TAMARA: FIRST, FIGURE OUT WAYS in which whiteness needs to die as a social structure and as an identity in which you organize your anti-racist work. What this looks like in practice may not be so clear but I will attempt to give some suggestions here.
WHEN THE ILLUSION of unrelated cause and effect is maintained, a People will make no progress, but remain mired in a foggy landscape where isolated individuals and incidents can only be chased as they arise; shot at, locked up or kept behind a fence in lieu of understanding.
O,
how hard it is to see you
as brightly veneered your face
as quickly as you leach
the color from the very walls of time and space
AUNQUE DIGAN QUE SOY
un bandolero donde voy
le doy gracias a dios
por hoy estar donde estoy
HOME FROM PITTSBURGH, after another multi-day, exhausting, energy-packed, hotel and airport stuffed trip has come to a close. Here I sit with memories of Chicken Santorini, Hula hoops, elevator assaults, dirty rivers, high priced liquor…and what did you expect?
ON MONDAY, President Obama met with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderón. Following the meeting, Obama made it clear that he doesn’t expect immigration reform to pass until 2010. Even if drafted this year, healthcare reform demands attention first.
HERE IN PITTSBURGH for a day or so, now. I’ve spent time around the convention center, walking around and scoping out the area (the Allegheny River offers many gorgeous moments throughout the day), collecting paper-thin, suede-soft birch bark for art purposes, talking to various people throughout the day, having spontaneous mini cerveza-conventions, thinking, and all [...]
OFF WE GO AGAIN into the wild blue yonder. It’s time to travel once more, and as most of these conventions so far are on the East Coast, that means a coast to coast trip for yours truly. Wish me well, and maybe I’ll see some of you out there.
WHILE IT MAY SEEM that Google is the electronic God-Eye in the sky (and in your phone, and Calendars and Groups and Docs and Mail and Maps and Search), there is—finally—a way to escape the ever-tightening web of surveillance. You can begin the process with only one click.
THERE IS A LARGER PICTURE undeniably drawing itself in clotty bright blood across the imaginary maplines of this world. There is a cause and effect of which the US is ignorant, as is México, as is Canada. That is giving them the benefit of the doubt. One could assume far worse.
BACK ONLINE and styling in the full nine, let’s get our Unapologetic Roundup on. Today we have news of Brad Will’s murder and the ongoing coverup, a brief regrettable whiff of the Anus of Fascism, Dream teaming and recording scenes in the desert, the real criminals at the border, and a little bit of NAFTA-dancing.
FOR A SHORT, SUNNY, MOMENT when talk this year turned toward recession (and even while documenting signs of it in my own area), I hoped I might be insulated from the effects. At least to the extent that I could continue my way of living: writing and doing artwork for money and having enough time in all of that to stay sane. I thought to myself that my clientele is an upper-middle class, well-educated, tech-savvy group and that people always need art and website graphics for their business, even in a recession. Even as business began to drop off, I reasoned that it was fine.
A WELL-RENOWNED FUTURIST cannot see beyond the veil of his own psychic cataract, offering a possible future where disgruntled “Hispanics” start a race war. How sad that those so trusted to spot the flaws in our social fabric remain blind to what is before their own eyes.
House of Nezua
the XOLAGRAFIK theater!
