AFTER THIRTY YEARS, Lou Dobbs is pushed off CNN. “Strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country,” he says on his last night, “affecting all of us.” Adios, Lou.
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS approaches, and it’s almost like Christmas. How I do love to see all the art and celebration that comes along this time of year. So does a certain chica, though she is not happy to simply soak it up. She’s more the Participant kind.
THEY WILL THROW DOWN their sandbags at the foot of a tidal flow that is fed by the nourishing delta-heart of creation, and thus can never be denied. Tears of hatred, tears of Vicks, scowls carved to appeal to the Working Middle Class, nails buffed and polished to protect their fine linens and thin skins…
THE SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION (SAMHSA) is alerting medical professionals, substance abuse treatment centers and other public health authorities about the risk that substantial levels of cocaine may be adulterated with levamisole – a veterinary anti-parasitic drug.
I CARRY THE HARD DARK WEIGHT of that day with me still. But it does not poison me, as the air of NYC did, sending me retching down the street with lungs seizing to expel the tainted air. Nor does it rest, or will it settle into muck, or septic sediment within my soul. That blast of toxin and heat has, instead, lit me on fire and blooms within like a tree of lightning.
I THOUGHT FOR LABOR DAY, I’d take a trip back through the jobs I’ve held and some of the memories around those jobs. It’s a long path, and long story, and a long post! Save it for when you’ve got a little while, and a cup of tea. Or a beer. Or a Chai. You know what? Let’s not get caught up in what you like to drink. Why does this always have to be about you? Jeez!
AH, ONE DAY you’ll kick back on the porch and tell your great grandchildren how back in the day, music was encoded on huge black vinyl discs that spun around in one place, sodas cost only a buck, and “Snoop” was the Doggfather’s name.
I AND I BUILD THE CABIN
I and I plant the corn
Didn’t my people before me
Slave for this country?
Now you look me with that scorn
And you eat up all my corn…
I DO NOT FIGHT PIGMENT! I spread it over and through my brushes, or across my cheekbones, or I crush it in my palms, drag it across the cement, spray it on a canvas, splash it over a wall. But my beef is not with color, and certainly not the color of skin. An introduction, and the long-awaited second edition of the Nez-Patented Wite-Magik Attax.
ONE MINUTE AND THIRTY SECONDS of vinyl and video to bring a little excellence and positive energy into your day. In fact, I think Vinyl Reminders will be a regular feature going forward. There is just something so soothing about a turntable, about a record needle. Takes me back to the earliest days I can remember.
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.
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.
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
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 [...]
House of Nezua
the XOLAGRAFIK theater!
