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CommunityFriday, February 01, 2008 Journey to Black Mexico - A Photographic Discourse by Nanette
This looks like it will be an excellent event, and I should have had its information up days ago (when Joan Kelly, who has a blog now, yay! told me about it) but circumstances intervened. Here is part of what Joan says:
“I first (and so far have only) heard about Black Mexico from Professor Wilkins, when he was describing some of the work he does in public schools around the L.A. area, much like the workshop mentioned in the flyer. He impressed upon me the role that suppression/erasure of history plays in disenfranchising populations of people. All of the histories that Professor Wilkins brings to light are important and beautiful on their own, and especially the issue of what he calls a Black-Brown alliance is relevant to Angelenos with some of our recent violence between Black and Brown residents.” The workshop is being put on by the 2nd City Council Art Gallery and Performance space, on Alamitos Ave. in Long Beach, CA and runs from January 26 thru February 28 (so there is still time, even if I am late with the info!) You can get more information by calling (562) 901-0997. Drop in, if you’re in the area. And bring back stories and pictures!
Posted by Nanette on 02/01 at 11:06 PM
Coalitions • Community • (2) Comments • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend
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Monday, December 31, 2007 by Nanette
Gone tomorrow. And not a moment too soon. Don’t know why - nothing drastic has happened to me personally, or anything, but this is one year I’ll be glad to be done with. Glancing around, I see I’m not the only one. Here’s wishing everyone the best for the next year and for many more after that.
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Monday, December 17, 2007 This’n That - Newsy Bits In No Particular Order by Nanette
Just things I've come across over the past few days but have not written about, and might never do so. Still, some are interesting or informative or even, sometimes, important. Hopefully, the beginning of a trend. New Jersey abolishes the death penalty: TRENTON — Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed into law a measure repealing New Jersey’s death penalty on Monday, making the state the first in a generation to abolish capital punishment. Mr. Corzine also issued an order commuting the sentences of the eight men on New Jersey’ death row to life in prison with no possibility of parole, ensuring that they will stay behind bars for the rest of their lives. In an extended and often passionate speech from his office at the state capitol, Mr. Corzine declared an end to what he called “state-endorsed killing,” and said that New Jersey could serve as a model for other states. “Today New Jersey is truly evolving,” he said. “I believe society first must determine if its endorsement of violence begets violence, and if violence undermines our commitment to the sanctity of life. To these questions, I answer yes.” New Jersey has not executed anyone since 1963, when Ralph Hudson was put to death in the electric chair for stabbing of his estranged wife. It's the states that kill the most people who will be the last ones to end this barbaric practice, I'm pretty sure. The stench of racism emanating from the Clinton campaign has not gone unnoticed: Hillary Clinton can kiss my Black vote goodbye
Bill Clinton on Charlie Rose about Obama - ' Who does he think he is?'
I don't actually agree with the poster on some stuff, related to Hillary Clinton's experience, and so on. Such as the intimation that her entire professional life is due to who she is married to. This may be true of her political life (although, no matter how or why first elected, she has definitely worked hard in her Senate career), but not her professional one. A roundup of a few roundups: Sylvia has a couple: Clever Title (For a News Round-Up) And Kai: Roundup — A Global Racket Demands A Global Justice Movement Also via Kai: Having been made aware of my own privilege, due to this comment at feministe, I will now attempt to describe the youtube video! But the Story of Stuff site also gives much written information. Basically... who pays for the stuff we buy? It's not us - the prices we pay for many items barely cover the rent of the shelf space they are on, let alone all the other costs (salaries, so on). So, who does wind up paying for our (Western, I guess) cheap goods? Er... The Story of Stuff. added - I almost forgot Free Rice! Excellent game where you can waste time and help feed the world all at once! I played it daily for a bit, but then got bored - it got too easy to make it to 50 and stay there (repetition will do that for you). I've been playing it every couple of days again now, though, just so I can donate some rice. I wish someone would do this for bicycles and other things as well. Try it, it's fun!
Posted by Nanette on 12/17 at 07:07 PM
Civil Rights • Coalitions • Feminism • Community • Racism • (1) Comments • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend
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Saturday, November 03, 2007 Almost The Entire City Is Under Water - Tabasco, Mexico by Nanette
“We need help,” one woman told Reuters Television after being rescued by helicopter from the roof of a school. “There are a lot of people up there, there are pregnant women, children. They didn’t want to leave their homes but there’s now no other option. We’ve lost everything.” Thousands perched on rooftops in Mexico floods
I’ll try and get information about relief agencies but I imagine all the usual suspects (International Red Cross, CARE, UN, etc) will be there.
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Wednesday, July 04, 2007 Stray Thoughts and Confessions by Nanette
Notes on life. Stray thoughts will be added as they occur. Just assume. I have lived all my life in the US and have never owned an American flag. Or any other country’s, for that matter. Although they sometimes may come in handy. Oh say, can you see…
My friend Geoff thinks we should all have national flowers, instead. “Rally ‘round the bouquet, boys!” doesn’t have quite the same militaristic ring to it… I read too much and write too little. I do not much like Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, but if either is the nominee for the US presidency, I will probably vote for them. For both, but definitely for Obama, I would also drag along my family, especially bringing the small persons in to watch. And, if the nominee wins, spend the rest of my life explaining to the small people that even though I voted for the first Black man or White woman because it was an historic election, I would have to live with my complicity in whatever godawful thing they decided to do as president. I lack the patience of my younger years, when I would spend hours facilitating discussion between various people and helping to explain diverse people to one another. Now I just want to smack everyone involved. Non-violently, of course It infuriates me when people try to blame the ills of society on black babies. Or brown ones or yellow or red or white ones, for that matter. The babies aren’t the problem.
Posted by Nanette on 07/04 at 03:00 PM
Civil Rights • Coalitions • Community • Just Life • Index Card • Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish • (2) Comments • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend
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Tuesday, June 19, 2007 When I Should Be Working, Here’s Why I’m Not by Nanette
I am in the middle of writing up something about the origins and goals of Human Beams, which will be done soonish, but in the meantime - and to remove pressure from myself to “fill in this space”, here are some of the things I’ve been reading around the internets:
Only a few links, I know, but dense ones! I think these are enough to keep one busy for good amount of time, for sure.
Posted by Nanette on 06/19 at 09:44 AM
Coalitions • Feminism • Community • Whosoutthere • (4) Comments • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend
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Thursday, June 14, 2007 So, What’s In Store For Human Beams? by Nanette
Here’s a general idea. A couple of months ago I wrote my ”I’m a Little Teapot” post, in which I told of my impending mid-life crisis and dissatisfaction with the way Human Beams was going -and my plans to think about taking it in a new direction. By the time I got done writing that piece I had the beginnings of an idea of just what changes I wanted to make and what I wanted the site, and myself, to accomplish with and for everyone involved. I was (and am) quite excited about the changes, but still there was the thought of whether this was something I was really ready to commit to again - or if we both were past our time. Obviously, since I am here, the verdict was… No Way! We’ve only just begun ;) There will be lots to do, but first will come quite a bit of planning, tracking down arin (who’s the one that makes things “go” on the site) and Matthew, talking to people, encouraging (or begging) participation and the laying of the groundwork before things are built. My normal tendency is to think of something one day and want to have it completely done the next, without worrying about - or even noticing - pesky little things like details. Until later. Not this time, though! Really. For sure. So, over the next few days, or probably even the next few weeks, I’ll be laying out different aspects of the site/organization and seeking input and commentary and so on. We’ve always been a fairly open source sort of place, relying volunteers and interns and that is likely to continue… although one major aspect of the new plan is to get us - if not profitable, at least self supporting, so I’ll get into that as well. Oh, and our regular, Human Beams specific columnists that some of you have been following for years will still be here, so no worries there. Comments are welcome, or if you like you can email me at nanette twirlythingy humanbeams dot com (I don’t know why I am masking my email address… all the spammers already seem to know where I live, but still).
.... In the meantime, I’ll probably also start looking for a decent server/host, and just get the rest of my money back from this one we’re on. My best and most gracious suggestion for whatever machine this site is on is to throw it over a cliff.
Posted by Nanette on 06/14 at 06:15 PM
Coalitions • Community • Spotlight • (4) Comments • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend
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Tuesday, June 12, 2007 by Nanette
Seeking light in a murky world I have a quote on the sidebar, attributed to I.F. Stone, which I keep there because I sometimes need reminding. You’ve probably glanced at it from time to time yourself. It goes like this:
There you go. The action plan. While it may not always prove true - and how would one know if it did or didn’t, a 100 years hence? - there is some comfort in the thought that many of the ongoing battles of today were begun 100 or more years past, so maybe it’s their time to be won. Well, comforting as long as one doesn’t think too much about those past and future decades, otherwise it can be depressing. (Obviously I am still working on the “for the sheer fun and joy of it” bit.) And that’s what’s been missing, isn’t it?
And then there’s nothing left but to gather up the hope, the joy, the sheer fun of fighting the battles that’ll most likely be lost… at least for today.. and step out, once again, to continue stalking the sunlight.
Posted by Nanette on 06/12 at 03:27 PM
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Thursday, May 03, 2007 It Never Had a Soul. Now the LAPD Has Lost its Mind, Too by Nanette
Chief Bill Bratton was one of Rudy Guiliani's thugs in NYC, responsible for introducing the "zero tolerance" and "broken windows" policies to that city. Well, and normalizing excessive force, police brutality, unjustified shootings and leading to efficient polices practices like shoving broken broomsticks up people's rectums. I don't live in NY, and didn't then, but if you ask most any black or brown New Yorker about those times (or now), you'll get an earful. Why bring that up? Well, because now Bill Bratton is the LAPD Chief of police. Oh joy.
For me, that certainly brings a bit of understanding to the recent May Day immigrant march fiasco, where small children, old men and women and everyone in between (including the media) - the vast majority either just milling around talking, or peacefully protesting or walking away because the event was over - were suddenly confronted by a line of police in riot gear who were shooting rubber bullets, tear gas, hitting people who didn't move out of the way fast enough with batons or shoving them to the ground, and more. This was not some misunderstanding of orders or dereliction of duty, this was policy. Unlike the former mayor of New York, however, the mayor of LA (Antonio Villaraigosa) is not a deranged, narcissistic authoritarian (a far as I know) so .. who knows. Maybe he'll step up. Sadly, I haven't a clue how to embed YouTube yet, but to get the full flavor of normalcy turned to terror (which cannot be adequately shown on a short news broadcast), go here to Nezua's place and look at the first video (and read the excellent post itself, while you're at it. He makes some much needed points about the right to assemble... well, what we have left of it, and the far ramifications of these happenings). I'd only caught snippets of even what was shown on the news, and also still pictures... but they do not do the events justice. People were rightfully angry and at the same time terrified - which was, of course, the point. No doubt a mass of people peacefully protesting for their rights constitutes a really BIG broken window in LAPD philosophy now. It's easy for them to get away with it, of course... less so in the age of YouTube, but still... the populace has been well trained. Any large gathering of darker hued folks (from grandmas to infants) is "a riot". You know how it goes... a gathering of investors, a group of surfers, a mass of protesters and a riot of brown folks. And, of course (goes the mainstream thought), the police should be invested with the power to do whatever is necessary to quell a "riot". Simple, no?
Last year's protests were humongous, powerful, memorable, effective... and no doubt deeply frightening to some of those in power. In the time since then, raids by ICE have been stepped up dramatically, with men and women being arrested while at work, in many cases, and carted off who knows where (sometimes in "detention centers" thousands of miles away), leaving their children - some of them nursing infants - to pretty much fend for themselves and/or depend on the largess of strangers. It's no doubt those raids and other events that the marches were not nearly as well attended this year, as many who are undocumented may have been frightened out of coming. And, I imagine, next year some will look back at the LAPD's police terrorizing tactics and think twice about putting themselves and their families in harms way. Mission Accomplished. Or so they think.
Posted by Nanette on 05/03 at 06:25 PM
Civil Rights • Coalitions • Community • FreedomofthePress • HumanRights • Immigration • (0) Comments • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend
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Sunday, April 08, 2007 by Nanette
The first in a series of posts about this book and the overall topics of human rights and related issues. For a time I was afraid that I had lost it forever. I moved soon after I got it to review a year or so ago, and even after unpacking didn't find it again until recently. I'll have to think about why that happened. Still, I have the book now, even if a little late. Almost everything about it says "This is a Serious Book". One glance at the cover - stark white hardcover, with bold, all caps black writing - and you know that someone feels they have something important to say, that they want to be noticed. Well, and then there is the thickness of the book - it's fairly heavy, in weight... over 700 pages, some of them fold outs. Many of them photos, though, which could detract from the impression of seriousness, but no. Not these photos. I say "almost" everything about it because, besides the pictures, when you look at the closed book from the side there is a rainbow effect, each section of the book having its own color - mostly pastels. Oh, and a bright red ribbon for keeping your place in the book as you read, should you decide to start from the beginning, go on to the end and then stop, as the saying goes. I've not yet been able to do that, but maybe soon.
That's only half the story, though, isn't it? Or maybe a quarter of it. For every action there is a reaction, and all that. Plenty of room in this book for the rest of the story, or at least a fair portion of it, and the authors/editors (Walter Kälin, Lars Müller and Judith Whyttenbach) do their best to provide that. I steeled myself to just open the book at random and write about the first picture I saw... which just happened to be a HUGE platter (not plate, platter) containing a slab of ham in the middle that covers fully half of the platter, a pile of hashbrowns so big part of it is hanging off the edge, with three fried eggs barely contained at the other edge of the platter. This is a single serving, in a Los Angeles diner. Just as a guess, I think this chapter might have something to do with food security. There are a few more related pictures of people who definitely have that - in abundance. Including one of a woman preparing to dig into a massive ice cream float. The woman is, of course, fat, but the people in the other photos full of Westerners gorging on food are not. With my next random page try, a couple of hundred pages away, I landed on a swirl of colors - a Tibetan monk captured in the process of sweeping away a mandala in a ceremony. Quite a juxtaposition, that. There is probably much to say about temporal things - which both food and mandalas are - ceremonies and contrasts, but not just yet. I find it far to easy to just traipse off after stray philosophical thoughts and ignore more substantive things so, even though this is not actually the review yet, I'll save those thoughts for another time. There is far too much in this book to cover even in one long post, so I will be taking it a piece at a time and will try to give as much of the full flavor of the book, including its various contrasts between... well, what seem like extremes when put in context, but which (as a Westerner) would in other circumstances feel like "normal, everyday life". Much to think about. I will also scan in some pictures. Here is how the chapters are broken up in the book: Foreword and intro - What are human rights? 1. Human existence - The Right to Life I'll take them in some sort of order, but probably not as listed.
Posted by Nanette on 04/08 at 07:00 PM
Civil Rights • Coalitions • Community • Society • ShameOnUs • Humanity • HumanRights • Politics • (0) Comments • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend
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Wednesday, January 31, 2007 by Nanette
I’m stealing her official blog policy, as it’s mine too.
There is more there of the policy, that is well worth reading (as well as the entire blog, of course).
Posted by Nanette on 01/31 at 09:30 PM
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Sunday, December 10, 2006 Koufax Awards Soon - What Wampum Needs to Host Them by Nanette
The lefty blogosphere Koufax Awards event, put on by Wampum each year, usually at their own expense. How you can help. Just a quick, mostly cut and paste post. From MB:
There are Paypal buttons at the site.
Posted by Nanette on 12/10 at 07:53 PM
Coalitions • Community • (2) Comments • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend
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Sunday, November 19, 2006 by Nanette
In the previous sentence I was going to indicate that I meant that the US does these things, but I consciously stopped myself… while I do live in the US and thus am greatly concerned about what the US government does, I think it’s very easy to become too US specific and let other things slip by. As we are an international site, and as the sites we are building will be as well, I’ll just leave that as is… because countries in Europe, Asia, the Pacific Rim, Africa, the Middle East and so on also know quite a bit about torture (using or condoning it), about repression of civil liberties and human rights, and support for wars and occupations. No one gets a pass. I’ve had the “after-election” blahs a bit - although that is not why the site has not been updated. We (meaning arin) are doing quite a bit of behind the scenes reorganizing, restructuring and streamlining of things. When we first got this software, we hadn’t a clue how to work it but even so we pretty much went from html pages to this from one issue to the next, and in meantime did an entire huge other site as well, which I will talk about here. We wound up pulling that down, for the most part, and will rebuild it step by step. Anyway, that left quite a few loose ends and stray articles and other things so, before we expand, we thought this would be a good time to get all that in order. New stuff will be up soon. Beyond that, however, there is much to be done. And, as the title implies, it’s a time (for me) to focus. I’m very good at imagining, great at planning, but horrible at implementation. Thankfully, arin is really great taking an idea I have and figuring out how to make it work on the pages, even if I just send her a graphic mockup and say “I want this to do this or that”. Still, even with that, it seems my brain lacks some crucial element - I can see the beginning of a project and the end result of it, but not how to get from “here” to “there” - or it does until I just give up avoiding it and hoping someone else will figure it out and just focus. Then, of course, it comes to me in a flash! You take this block, and set it upon that block, and then another on top of that until… well, you get the picture. Boring, but necessary. So, some things I will be focusing on (yet again!): The Progressive Focus Center - which is the site we pretty much pulled down completely, except for a small blog in an empty space. I thought starting with a blank page would makeit easier (it hasn’t, but still). There is lots to do there, and I actually think it will be easier to do it now that Democrats are in charge… even though it doesn’t actually have much of anything to do with politics or elections. I was wondering why I felt that way, today, and the best I can come up with is… with the Republicans in Congress (and the White House, and the Courts) there was such a feeling of urgency, and also of despair at being able to affect change - we couldn’t stop a war, have to live with the fact that we are now a nation that openly condones and practices torture, and that compromises lives and civil liberties in the name of security. In the previous sentence I was going to indicate that I meant that the US does these things, but I consciously stopped myself from doing that… while I do live in the US and thus am greatly concerned about what the US government does, I think it’s very easy to become too US specific and let other things slip by. As we are an international site, and as the sites we are building will be as well, I’ll just leave that as is… because countries in Europe, Asia, the Pacific Rim, Africa, the Middle East and so on also know quite a bit about torture (using or condoning it), about repression of civil liberties and human rights, and support for wars and occupations. No one gets a pass. That actually will be one of the goals of The Progressive Focus Center - to be a space where there are no borders, and where we share knowledge, opinions, skills and more. And focus… for building a more just society. Anyway, back to why I think it’ll be easier with the Democrats at least in charge of one House in Congress (I don’t trust Lieberman not to jump, but we’ll see). I sort of explained it on Kai’s site, Zuky, in the comments of one of his posts. I was sick and feeling really rotten at the time though, and probably wasn’t the cheeriest person, but it still explains my feeling a bit.
I am actually quite grateful for that umbrella. We can look around now and at least start to repair the boat. I am not much into politics and political horseraces or anything, myself, but it’s my belief that in order to get true progressive/liberal/leftish people into office - people who will actually work for their constituents instead of for corporations and who will stand up to horrific politicians and policies… we have to do a lot of work on the ground, preparing the way. The more ideas people come up with for doing that, the better. Anyway, on to my focus list. Making HB more interactive and activist. I’ve had plans for that for a long time but, well… plans. Implementation. East and West. Still, I blunder on… it’ll get done, maybe little by little. Speaking of Zuky, that’s a great blog and lately I’ve been finding really wonderful, smart, knowledgeable, funny and other blogs around and so I’m going to start doing blog review type things. I don’t have a blogroll and so that will function as one. We have that area almost completely set up now, so it’ll be going live when we do the updating. Oh, and we’ll be moving servers too (hopefully to one that doesn’t take ages to load the site). If this one works well, I’ll let everyone know as I know it’s difficult to find good (and not too expensives) servers to host php/drupal etc type software well. One thing the tiny umbrella seems to have fixed is I can write again now. I don’t mean writing great and wonderful essays (which is sort of like that “Will I be able to play the piano, Doc?” joke) but just putting words to paper at all. Such a struggle, it was. Heh, now it seems like I’ll never shut up. Which is a good thing, for now, as I have more focus lists, for another time.
Posted by Nanette on 11/19 at 06:26 PM
General • Civil Rights • Coalitions • Community • HumanRights • Index Card • Society • Humanity • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend
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Saturday, July 08, 2006 by Nanette
This is what I and others have been wondering lately. Discussions that even lightly touch on certain subjects, difficult no matter how presented - race, white privilege, American Exceptionalism, war and responsibility, just to name a few - are like dropping a match into a tinderbox when they are initiated by… well, what in my mind I call the Inconvenient or Unacceptable Other. This is what I and others have been wondering lately. Discussions that even lightly touch on certain subjects, difficult no matter how presented - race, white privilege, American Exceptionalism, war and responsibility, just to name a few - are like dropping a match into a tinderbox when they are initiated by… well, what in my mind I call the Inconvenient or Unacceptable Other. (Not all “Others”, born or self-othered, fall into this category). It appears that the tension has racheted up these past few weeks, on these issues, spanning a number of blogs of various degrees of left ideology and it would be interesting to know why. In one discussion, on dove’s blog (where I tend to yap a lot), I expressed the opinion that, counter-intuitive as it may seem, I think one of the reasons for this is Katrina. I’ve taken that comment and edited it a bit, in order to explain why I think that, and here it is. I remember reading an article a couple of weeks or so after 9/11, by a British journalist who was over in the US visiting. He’d been here a few times before - I think had even lived here for a time, had friends in various parts of the country and, in general, thought he was familiar with the US and Americans. He wrote, in his article, about his New York friends, and how l(understandably)depressed they were, and his desire to get a bit of other perspective on things… so he called friends in California, and they were also depressed. And he thought, surely the entire country couldn’t be depressed over what, after all, was one incident on one coast. He then called friends in a small town in some middle state (Wisconsin, I think it was)… and sure enough, they were depressed too. So he came to the conclusion that yes, even in a country the size of the US, everyone can be depressed at the same time, over the same event. We may be big enough for 10 nations, and have many disparate regions thousands of miles apart that mostly have nothing at all in common with each other, but we do have a national psyche. And Katrina shattered that a bit. That tragedy left people with feelings of shock, shame, horror… and distaste. This last very carefully manufactured, I think, because people were beginning to look too closely at themselves and at policies, and think too hard about the hidden poor and our responsibilities and privileges. So, instead of victims, the people of Katrina were almost immediately turned into thugs and criminals, the trenchant poor that no one could do anything with, people too poor (or too stupid) to leave, those unable to care for themselves or each other, those unable to keep a packed football stadium clean and fresh smelling and full of light and wonder for days because they preferred to live in filth and were used to it and so on and on and on. With the aid of a sensation seeking media, and a credulous public, it was possible to almost totally remove their humanity from them… from the disabled that there was no provision made for, from the teachers and business owners that stayed for this or that reason and the many others that were there, including the very poor. This reducing of everyone to the lowest common denominator is why, in my opinion, Bush and company have (in reality) paid very little price for Katrina, and won’t in the future either, if it happens again. It’s also why, 10 months later, there is little or no outcry at the fact that many of the affected people are still unable to return home, that many of the properties are still piles of sticks and concrete and that a US city (or at least certain parts of it) is, for all intents and purposes, being erased from our consciences. This stuff is very worrisome, as is the rhetoric regarding undocumented immigrants… it really, really bothers me, this stuff about “well, if we don’t let them in, who will clean your toilet, and who will wash the dishes” and all that. Why don’t we, especially on the left, ask… who can we train who will be the next doctor in the poor village they left, or the next teacher that will help the children to thrive, and so on? Even on the left we are sucked into the language of a sort of servant class type thing, and by using that language we set expectations for both the latino immigrants and the poor black workers - as if there is no place else for either to go. Hmmm… well I’ve gone far off from my original point, whatever that was, but it all relates… the language of exclusion and of… “none of this is your fault, it’s all their own faults, aren’t you tired of being blamed for it?” is very insidious and I think it has a wide ranging and lasting effect. (also posted at Man Eegee)
Posted by Nanette on 07/08 at 08:08 AM
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I see it all around, most definitely in myself… the sheer fun and joy of the fight itself, of standing on the path that someone long ago carved out and stomping a stone of your own into the ground for some later person to step on as they forge ahead is sometimes lost under the detritus of immediate disappointments. When you’re on top of your newly laid stone looking out at the dark and endless landscape of work still to be done, sometimes all you know is that you are hot and sweaty, tired and angry, your bones ache and your feet hurt. One might be forgiven for thinking that the thrill was definitely long gone. For a short time, anyway.
