Dear Diary

oh the irony

newbie — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:53:29 GMT

went to a really cool community health fair today where i got....sick. yup, after shaking hands with a million ppl i think i've caught something. i love community outreach! i love setting up the table, telling folks about what our awesome nonprofit does (work with ppl with disABILITIES). i like setting out the fall flowers and creating the ambience to draw ppl into our little charitable world. i love educating ppl about all the free services that are available. like today i helped a mom whose 7 month old baby has never gotten to come home from the hospital and just cuz they are poor and latina the hospital is threatening to institutionalize their disabled child. so my agency came to the rescue and she's already gotten some good info to help her advocate for her family's rights. yay! and i like all the cool ppl i meet; so many do-gooders who really are caring activists! social workers get a bad rap and have such low pay and no prestige. but they work their butts off and do awesome things for the community. i hate being sick. ah, well. a little zinc and ecinachea and napping and soon i'll be back to health, surely. tomorrow's my birthday and i'm planning on attending a pagan feminist ritual with a women's group i've been active with here in the mountains. yay! and my bff has been here from nashville and we've had the awesomest hikes at tahoe and on the yuba. really beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!! i love her sooooo much. she's a total geek (that's a huge compliment!) and really into scifi and horror and fantasy. she's an amazing photojournalist who's just got the kindest heart. i miss her already; she just left this am. i already got several big pckgs for my bday in the mail; can't wait to open them tomorrow.

i end up in the strangest places...

newbie — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:59:08 GMT

online that is... since i've moved up to the mts for a while, most of my naughtiness is online instead of in RL. (god, i miss SF! but i do feel myself getting spiritually grounded which is what i came up for.) sooo, i was actually looking for a feminist review of cougartown, courteney cox's new show.* i feel certain i shouldn't enjoy it due to the hideously outdated stereotypes and the only-rich-white-beautiful-people casting. but unfortch, my heart doesn't always match my head or my ethics. so despite its racism and sexism i find myself laughing out loud and recognizing myself in many of the scenes. (not the racist/sexist ones, mind you!) so i googled feminist review and got sent here: http://feministreview.blogspot.com/ and was attracted to their ad for this: (i almost NEVER click through on ads but hey, it had sex in the title.) http://www.edenfantasys.com/sexis/adult-humor/bloggess-weird-links-100191/ so that is it. i ended up watching many very strange vids. including an animated one of two gay (?) men making their bodies into all kinds of racing transportation devices. wow, that sounds boring. but it's like gay-porn-meets-the-transformers. or fucks its ass. just watch the vid. it's way better and far, far weirder than i can describe. *haven't had a tv in years but i watch the daily show on hulu. and other stuff...

Homo A Go Go

newbie — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:00:43 GMT

Homo A Go Go: Queer Music, Film, Art, Performance & Activism Festival Th 8/13- Sun 8/16 Homo A Go Go's first year in SF is sure to be memorable! This year features over 40 bands, 15 writers, 60+ films, 30 visual artists, 10 workshops, a 3-day craft fair, after parties and a fashion show! Featured artists include Girl in a Coma, Glass Candy, Mirah, Erase Errata, Hunx & His Punx, Young Lovers, RCHRD OH?!, Honey Sound System, Peaches Christ, Michelle Tea and celebrated queer films "Maggots and Men" and "Forever's Gonna Start Tonight"! For info, full schedule, complete artist listing and ticketing, visit www.homoagogo.com

what the folk???!!!!

newbie — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 18:14:19 GMT

bwahaha! Sickest Buddhist vid... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0omO-qbZeX8 thanks to sulevay!

the what when where is up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

newbie — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 02:56:43 GMT

http://playaevents.burningman.com/ photog credit: Aaron Logan http://perifericbiennial.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/burning-man/

small town charms

newbie — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 02:46:15 GMT

ok, small town life is nothing to compare with the excitement of living in sf. but i'm settling in, making friends and loving the small town activities. this weekend, i'm having friends over for a swim, eating an organic sunday brunch with neighbors, and going to book swap/author talk and a clothing swap! last night, ate dinner on a lovely patio behind a gorgeous 19th century stone building with a bunch of sustainability activists. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcUneyYGZdQ&feature=channel_page maybe small town but thoroughly charming!

swimming

newbie — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 06:17:36 GMT

i'm swimming 30 minutes of laps a day and loving it! i'm getting brown as a little nut even with 45 slathered on me. and my arms and thighs are getting all fit and firm. i get all zen after a few minutes in the water. yay! art credit: richard nowitz

animals are bisexual....?

newbie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:59:37 GMT

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fg%2Fa%2F2009%2F07%2F01%2Fnotes070109.DTL this article had me howling!

Sexual energy

newbie — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:11:21 GMT

"...Sexual energy cannot be neatly separated from the rest of the energy spectrum that activates and animates us all. ...The expression of sexual energy manifests the deepest and most powerful urge to merge ourselves with another. "While most of us think of it as just physical, ... sexual conjoining involves all three basic dimensions: matter/energy, subtle energies, and consciousness. In the orgasmic release we open ourselves completely to the other, but also give ourselves to the other. In its fullness, this is the most profound recognition of our connectedness not only with the one other, but to all others. In the momentary weakening of our own defenses we simultaneously sense the fullness of our own power. "That is why western cultures and religions fear sexual energy and try to repress it. They do not want humans to know about and realize the extent of their own powerfulness. By keeping sexual energy boxed up it can be redirected to violence of all kinds or to mindless work. "People who are sexually alive cannot not be suppressed and manipulated as others. Being truly sexually satisfied makes possible the use of the rest of the energy spectrum for its most visionary and creative work. Such a use of the mind threatens the hierarchical powers of religion, governments, corporations, and other institutions designed for control of the masses by the few." -- Paul Von Ward

#IranElection

newbie — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 03:52:50 GMT

The Revolution will be Twittered. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kase-wickman/the-iranian-revolution-wi_b_216448.html i drove back down to SF after a wonderful week with my daughter up near tahoe, to be with my persian lover. he grew up in iran and this is breakng his heart. he predicted this last week. i spent last friday night with him and he was watching the election news all day. i'm back in his arms this weekend here in berkeley. we have been watching twitter and youtube all day and he's been crying in my arms over the innocent people shot in the streets in tehran. if it weren't for twitter, this news wouldn't have gotten out. the trad media was not covering this. this is the power of user generated content on social media. it can spark and document revolution.

Queer Women of Color Film Festival today was sooooooooooo amazing!

newbie — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:14:25 GMT

http://www.qwocmap.org/festival.html

Bible based marriage video

newbie — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:05:21 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFkeKKszXTw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.examiner.com%2Fexaminer%2Fx-4107-Gay--Lesbian-Issues-Examiner~y2009m6d2-Betty-Bowers-explains-traditional-marriage&feature=player_embedded

Changing Obama's Mindset - Howard Zinn

newbie — Sun, 31 May 2009 02:55:37 GMT

(Reposting with thanks to Nasheed for this post!) Changing Obama's Mindset From: http://www.progressive.org/zinn0509.html By Howard Zinn May 2009 Issue of The Progressive We are citizens, and Obama is a politician. You might not like that word. But the fact is he’s a politician. He’s other things, too—he’s a very sensitive and intelligent and thoughtful and promising person. But he’s a politician. If you’re a citizen, you have to know the difference between them and you—the difference between what they have to do and what you have to do. And there are things they don’t have to do, if you make it clear to them they don’t have to do it. From the beginning, I liked Obama. But the first time it suddenly struck me that he was a politician was early on, when Joe Lieberman was running for the Democratic nomination for his Senate seat in 2006. Lieberman—who, as you know, was and is a war lover—was running for the Democratic nomination, and his opponent was a man named Ned Lamont, who was the peace candidate. And Obama went to Connecticut to support Lieberman against Lamont. It took me aback. I say that to indicate that, yes, Obama was and is a politician. So we must not be swept away into an unthinking and unquestioning acceptance of what Obama does. Our job is not to give him a blank check or simply be cheerleaders. It was good that we were cheerleaders while he was running for office, but it’s not good to be cheerleaders now. Because we want the country to go beyond where it has been in the past. We want to make a clean break from what it has been in the past. I had a teacher at Columbia University named Richard Hofstadter, who wrote a book called The American Political Tradition, and in it, he examined presidents from the Founding Fathers down through Franklin Roosevelt. There were liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats. And there were differences between them. But he found that the so-called liberals were not as liberal as people thought—and that the difference between the liberals and the conservatives, and between Republicans and Democrats, was not a polar difference. There was a common thread that ran through all American history, and all of the presidents—Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative—followed this thread. The thread consisted of two elements: one, nationalism; and two, capitalism. And Obama is not yet free of that powerful double heritage. We can see it in the policies that have been enunciated so far, even though he’s been in office only a short time. Some people might say, “Well, what do you expect?” And the answer is that we expect a lot. People say, “What, are you a dreamer?” And the answer is, yes, we’re dreamers. We want it all. We want a peaceful world. We want an egalitarian world. We don’t want war. We don’t want capitalism. We want a decent society. We better hold on to that dream—because if we don’t, we’ll sink closer and closer to this reality that we have, and that we don’t want. Be wary when you hear about the glories of the market system. The market system is what we’ve had. Let the market decide, they say. The government mustn’t give people free health care; let the market decide. Which is what the market has been doing—and that’s why we have forty-eight million people without health care. The market has decided that. Leave things to the market, and there are two million people homeless. Leave things to the market, and there are millions and millions of people who can’t pay their rent. Leave things to the market, and there are thirty-five million people who go hungry. You can’t leave it to the market. If you’re facing an economic crisis like we’re facing now, you can’t do what was done in the past. You can’t pour money into the upper levels of the country—and into the banks and corporations—and hope that it somehow trickles down. What was one of the first things that happened when the Bush Administration saw that the economy was in trouble? A $700 billion bailout, and who did we give the $700 billion to? To the financial institutions that caused this crisis. This was when the Presidential campaign was still going on, and it pained me to see Obama standing there, endorsing this huge bailout to the corporations. What Obama should have been saying was: Hey, wait a while. The banks aren’t poverty stricken. The CEOs aren’t poverty stricken. But there are people who are out of work. There are people who can’t pay their mortgages. Let’s take $700 billion and give it directly to the people who need it. Let’s take $1 trillion, let’s take $2 trillion. Let’s take this money and give it directly to the people who need it. Give it to the people who have to pay their mortgages. Nobody should be evicted. Nobody should be left with their belongings out on the street. Obama wants to spend perhaps a trillion more on the banks. Like Bush, he’s not giving it directly to homeowners. Unlike the Republicans, Obama also wants to spend $800 billion for his economic stimulus plan. Which is good—the idea of a stimulus is good. But if you look closely at the plan, too much of it goes through the market, through corporations. It gives tax breaks to businesses, hoping that they’ll hire people. No—if people need jobs, you don’t give money to the corporations, hoping that maybe jobs will be created. You give people work immediately. A lot of people don’t know the history of the New Deal of the 1930s. The New Deal didn’t go far enough, but it had some very good ideas. And the reason the New Deal came to these good ideas was because there was huge agitation in this country, and Roosevelt had to react. So what did he do? He took billions of dollars and said the government was going to hire people. You’re out of work? The government has a job for you. As a result of this, lots of very wonderful work was done all over the country. Several million young people were put into the Civilian Conservation Corps. They went around the country, building bridges and roads and playgrounds, and doing remarkable things. The government created a federal arts program. It wasn’t going to wait for the markets to decide that. The government set up a program and hired thousands of unemployed artists: playwrights, actors, musicians, painters, sculptors, writers. What was the result? The result was the production of 200,000 pieces of art. Today, around the country, there are thousands of murals painted by people in the WPA (Works Progress Administration) program. Plays were put on all over the country at very cheap prices, so that people who had never seen a play in their lives were able to afford to go. And that’s just a glimmer of what could be done. The government has to represent the people’s needs. The government can’t give the job of representing the people’s needs to corporations and the banks, because they don’t care about the people’s needs. They only care about profit. In the course of his campaign, Obama said something that struck me as very wise—and when people say something very wise, you have to remember it, because they may not hold to it. You may have to remind them of that wise thing they said. Obama was talking about the war in Iraq, and he said, “It’s not just that we have to get out of Iraq.” He said “get out of Iraq,” and we mustn’t forget it. We must keep reminding him: Out of Iraq, out of Iraq, out of Iraq—not next year, not two years from now, but out of Iraq now. But listen to the second part, too. His whole sentence was: “It’s not enough to get out of Iraq; we have to get out of the mindset that led us into Iraq.” What is the mindset that got us into Iraq? It’s the mindset that says force will do the trick. Violence, war, bombers—that they will bring democracy and liberty to the people. It’s the mindset that says America has some God-given right to invade other countries for their own benefit. We will bring civilization to the Mexicans in 1846. We will bring freedom to the Cubans in 1898. We will bring democracy to the Filipinos in 1900. You know how successful we’ve been at bringing democracy all over the world. Obama has not gotten out of this militaristic missionary mindset. He talks about sending tens of thousands of more troops to Afghanistan. Obama is a very smart guy, and surely he must know some of the history. You don’t have to know a lot to know the history of Afghanistan has been decades and decades and decades and decades of Western powers trying to impose their will on Afghanistan by force: the English, the Russians, and now the Americans. What has been the result? The result has been a ruined country. This is the mindset that sends 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan, and that says, as Obama has, that we’ve got to have a bigger military. My heart sank when Obama said that. Why do we need a bigger military? We have an enormous military budget. Has Obama talked about cutting the military budget in half or some fraction? No. We have military bases in more than a hundred countries. We have fourteen military bases on Okinawa alone. Who wants us there? The governments. They get benefits. But the people don’t really want us there. There have been huge demonstrations in Italy against the establishment of a U.S. military base. There have been big demonstrations in South Korea and on Okinawa. One of the first acts of the Obama Administration was to send Predator missiles to bomb Pakistan. People died. The claim is, “Oh, we’re very precise with our weapons. We have the latest equipment. We can target anywhere and hit just what we want.” This is the mindset of technological infatuation. Yes, they can actually decide that they’re going to bomb this one house. But there’s one problem: They don’t know who’s in the house. They can hit one car with a rocket from a great distance. Do they know who’s in the car? No. And later—after the bodies have been taken out of the car, after the bodies have been taken out of the house—they tell you, “Well, there were three suspected terrorists in that house, and yes, there’s seven other people killed, including two children, but we got the suspected terrorists.” But notice that the word is “suspected.” The truth is they don’t know who the terrorists are. So, yes, we have to get out of the mindset that got us into Iraq, but we’ve got to identify that mindset. And Obama has to be pulled by the people who elected him, by the people who are enthusiastic about him, to renounce that mindset. We’re the ones who have to tell him, “No, you’re on the wrong course with this militaristic idea of using force to accomplish things in the world. We won’t accomplish anything that way, and we’ll remain a hated country in the world.” Obama has talked about a vision for this country. You have to have a vision, and now I want to tell Obama what his vision should be. The vision should be of a nation that becomes liked all over the world. I won’t even say loved—it’ll take a while to build up to that. A nation that is not feared, not disliked, not hated, as too often we are, but a nation that is looked upon as peaceful, because we’ve withdrawn our military bases from all these countries. We don’t need to spend the hundreds of billions of dollars on the military budget. Take all the money allocated to military bases and the military budget, and—this is part of the emancipation—you can use that money to give everybody free health care, to guarantee jobs to everybody who doesn’t have a job, guaranteed payment of rent to everybody who can’t pay their rent, build child care centers. Let’s use the money to help other people around the world, not to send bombers over there. When disasters take place, they need helicopters to transport people out of the floods and out of devastated areas. They need helicopters to save people’s lives, and the helicopters are over in the Middle East, bombing and strafing people. What’s required is a total turnaround. We want a country that uses its resources, its wealth, and its power to help people, not to hurt them. That’s what we need. This is a vision we have to keep alive. We shouldn’t be easily satisfied and say, “Oh well, give him a break. Obama deserves respect.” But you don’t respect somebody when you give them a blank check. You respect somebody when you treat them as an equal to you, and as somebody you can talk to and somebody who will listen to you. Not only is Obama a politician. Worse, he’s surrounded by politicians. And some of them he picked himself. He picked Hillary Clinton, he picked Lawrence Summers, he picked people who show no sign of breaking from the past. We are citizens. We must not put ourselves in the position of looking at the world from their eyes and say, “Well, we have to compromise, we have to do this for political reasons.” No, we have to speak our minds. This is the position that the abolitionists were in before the Civil War, and people said, “Well, you have to look at it from Lincoln’s point of view.” Lincoln didn’t believe that his first priority was abolishing slavery. But the anti-slavery movement did, and the abolitionists said, “We’re not going to put ourselves in Lincoln’s position. We are going to express our own position, and we are going to express it so powerfully that Lincoln will have to listen to us.” And the anti-slavery movement grew large enough and powerful enough that Lincoln had to listen. That’s how we got the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth and Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. That’s been the story of this country. Where progress has been made, wherever any kind of injustice has been overturned, it’s been because people acted as citizens, and not as politicians. They didn’t just moan. They worked, they acted, they organized, they rioted if necessary to bring their situation to the attention of people in power. And that’s what we have to do today. --Howard Zinn is the author of “A People’s History of the United States,” “Voices of a People’s History” (with Anthony Arnove), and “A Power Governments Cannot Suppress.” Thanks to Alex Read and Matt Korn for transcribing Zinn’s talk on February 2 at the Busboys and Poets restaurant in Washington, DC, from which this is adapted

headed to baker beach - getting nekkid in the sun

newbie — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:24:58 GMT

so happy to be back in SF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm having so much fun catching up on kinky sex after being celibate by choice for 3 months. oooooh, it feels sooooooooooooo good to indulge my body. i'm staying with my lover in his new apt off solano in albany about 2 blocks from berkeley. went hiking at inspiration point all by myself (by choice) yesterday even in the blustery cold. i love nature and i welcome her wildness blowing through me. it's end of may, almost june, and i had 5 layers on including a jacket and winter hat and was still cold!!!! too much fog to see the gg bridge from there - usually there are spectacular views of the bay but i did see a sliver of the water and the barest outline of mt. tam. and the trees there are simply gorgeous. plus i got to eat a tiny handful of almost ripe blackberries which were growing alongside the path. mmmmmmmmmm the taste of summer coming. we are having the best best time! i was afraid of conflict and of getting bored or annoyed with each other but we are both really grown up. and we speak our needs and try to own our own shit. i don't usually stay with him 24/7 when i'm in the bay area so we are just trying this out. and so far so good. when i want to be alone, he's supportive. he knows i'm very independent and the best way to keep me is to let me go. and today we are going to the beach. yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we laid in bed yesterday (and again today) after coming and coming in the morning. goddamn that man can sex me up sooooooooooooo good! he'd bought a package of persian pickles at trader joes. of course, i'm so kinky i immediately saw the possibilities. and i told him i wanted 2 persians inside me - his cock and the pickle - dp. i love dp. never tried it with 2 men so that remains a fantasy but have done it with him and a toy. he's got such a sexy little body. he's all tight from his years of aikido and feldenkrais, and he's 10 years younger than me and loves my body. he just worships at my yoni. he can eat pussy all damn day. i've never known anyone who could lick pussy and enjoy himself at it so long. sometimes, i just can't believe how lucky i am to have found a lover with this much passion. i've learned to absolutely love my middle aged body. i made it my goal as a feminist not to put down my aging body, to embrace every change and be proud. and it's so great to have a lover who appreciates me for that and simply adores my curves. me so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hot damn, just thinking about all the things we've been doing in bed makes me wet again. more later. i've got to go journal my innermost feelings and read my buddhist meditation book like i do every morning. was too busy fucking to do it this am but will do it now, before i leave for the beach. ah, life is soooooo good!

back in SF!!!!! yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

newbie — Mon, 25 May 2009 02:00:03 GMT

looking for a 3rd for our threesome. we're so kinky! bananas, whipped cream, chocolate, feathers, blindfolds, sensation play claws -check!

former political prisoner Angela Davis in Oakland

newbie — Thu, 07 May 2009 08:08:05 GMT

http://www.zmag.org/zvideo/3128 with special thanks to torrid wind for the link. we met on the human rights tribe years ago and he's one of the most informed bloggers around here!

happy earth day!

newbie — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 05:19:51 GMT

had a great earth day volunteering in my small mountain town. ate a delicious ayurvedic lunch at a local ashram with new friends. it's near the yuba river and they hosted their first earth day event. then i headed over the other main earth day event, hosted by a local UU organizer. we danced to the drum circle and had so much fun! best part about living in a small town is you are constantly running into people you know. i love that! my yoga partner from a few weeks ago (we'd touched soles during partner yoga) led the drumming group. he's one of those kinds of guys you can only find in california. he's gotta be over 65 and he's still so effing hot! tan, fit, centered, effortlessly hip. he travels back and forth to maui and leads retreats there. he can do anything with his body since he's done yoga for so long! and another new friend of mine from the UU society is an awesome drum maker. his drums are just works of art!!!!! he brought them and shared with every one in the drum circle. i danced like my best friend from back home taught me: like no one's watching! i danced from my deepest heart and did a little homage to the sun and trees and pond around me. i hugged a huge old redwood. yay! happy earth day to everyone!

a woman can't be a woman unless she's fulfilled

newbie — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 07:15:07 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7gCtCWxTYo&feature=related "it's not losing you that's got me down so low, i just can't find another man to take your place, there's no one can." linda is my first love. i fell in love with her at the same time i fell in love with my favorite high school boyfriend. he'd buy me her albums for birthdays and christmas all through the seventies. i still love her voice. she's so brave! speaking out against trash talk radio's racism and sexism even when it's unpopular: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8Sx--0zatI&feature=related speaking out against war and bush's fascist regime when many other artists were too scared to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJc1skRfsbY&feature=related singing whatever the hell she wanted and staying true to her roots: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8Sx--0zatI&feature=related it's such a vivid example of sexism that she has not been inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/712139/rock_and_roll_hall_of_fame_shame_no.html http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2008/09/sexism-and-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame.html (i don't agree with these bloggers' assessments of other rockers but they makes lots of good points about the "cock rock hall of fame.") bless you, linda. you helped me celebrate young love. you got me through some tough times and you still do. you soothed me during painful breakups. you gave me the guts to be myself and to sing bel canto style - naturally, not artificially. you taught me the beauty of collaboration. i loved you then and i love you now! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Ronstadt and if anyone knows of footage of linda covering "at the dark end of the street" i'd love to have it! here's james carr's inimitable version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YnHmaYaJpo

abundance versus scarcity

newbie — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:50:12 GMT

this is the awesomest magazine! http://communities.ic.org/ the last issue had tons of articles on rethinking our financial crisis. should we give in to fear of scarcity? or should we reframe our existence and focus on abundance? i loved each and every article. they are written by people living in community from all around the globe, ecovillages in mexico, spiritual sites in costa rico, urban housing in seattle. very cool! i choose abundance, not scare-city! and this current issue has articles on rainbow gathering and burning man!!!!!!!

Southern Comfort

newbie — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 04:47:15 GMT

NO BAKE CHOCOLATE OATMEAL COOKIES 1 stick butter 1/4 c. cocoa 1/2 c. milk 2 c. sugar 1 tbsp. vanilla 1/2 c. peanut butter 3 c. oats Boil butter, cocoa, milk, sugar, vanilla and peanut butter for 1 minute. Add oats and mix well. Spoon out onto wax paper. mmmmmmmm i made these tonight.

music i'm loving lately

newbie — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 07:27:24 GMT

i have a new fave deejay on my mountain community radio whom i adore. she introduces me to all kinds of shit i knew nothing about. like tune-yards http://www.myspace.com/tuneyards today she played 2 hours of bhangra. it was so amazing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfISmYYXi8w http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJ_Rekha http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmo-gqSlWN8 and i always love to find new selections in the putamayo series. tonight i'm dancing to north african groove. http://www.putumayo.com/en/catalog_item.php?album_id=200 and finding new reggae makes me happy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP7ktZWSvx0&feature=related

favorite inaugural day moments (and "we are one" concert moments too)

newbie — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:45:20 GMT

what are your favorite memories of inauguration day? here are a few of mine: seeing this quote on my local mexican bakery "Rosa sat so that Martin could walk . . . Martin walked so that Obama could run . . . Obama ran so that our children could fly!" right alongside a picture of a cesar chaves' led grape pickers march. pete seeger's hat on the "we are one" concert; "this land is your land," which he sang with bruce springsteen, if you read all the verses, is a radical song about affordable housing and equal rights!!!!! the choir backing up "the boss" of rock and roll while he sang the song: the rising. watching with an integrated, multicultural crowd in berkeley! a "nuclear free zone." obama signs on businesses and neighbor's houses. my yoga teacher playing inauguration music for us during our class. and telling us that when we emerged up from cobra after downward dog pose, we should "lead with our hearts" like obama does. finshing our meditation while, aretha, queen of much more than just soul, sang out about r-e-s-p-e-c-t and "say[ing] a little prayer for you!" the teacher said she's watched the inauguration with her child's kindergarten class and the adults had tears in their eyes. my daughter's facebook status reading; "Yay Obama!" cooking dinner at an inaugural party with my friends; we made dishes from each of obama's home places: coconut rice from hawaii, tamarind bean soup from indonesia, kansas city "ice water," (which has no water but quite a bit of triple sec!) - his momma was a kansan. curried cauliflower from kenya, and deep dish pizza from chicago. beyonce's sweet voice on "america, the beautiful." (she's from houston, where my kids were born.) collectively booing "president" bush with the integrated crowd who shouted "don't let the door hit your ass on your way out!" everyone clapping when he got on the helicopter to finally leave our capitol to those who deserve it! some of us broke into the song "nananana; hey hey, goodbye!" hahaha! being impressed with obama's public delivery of a speech. (when was the last time you didn't cringe when our president spoke?) great to have eloquence and an understanding of policy as virtues again! hearing the crowds chant "O-BA-MA!" watching my low income neighbors of color celebrating with BBQ in the parking lot of their public housing apts. hearing the tears in one of my best friend's voice; he was born and raised in tehran, fled his homeland for freedom, and came to america. and he has joyfully anticipated obama's commitment to true democracy more than anyone i know. bono singing about MLK backed up by The Edge's killer guitar. gay men in the choir backing up the inaugural singers, and women in the military march! gender and sexual orientation barriers being broken right alongside racial barriers! and finally, barack and michelle and sasha and malia. what a beautiful family! how fabulous to finally have a family of COLOR in the formerly-all-white house.

Gene Robinson, the gay activist and Episcopal priest, prays at the "We Are One" Inaugural Event

newbie — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 06:50:28 GMT

A Prayer for the Nation and Our Next President, Barack Obama Jan 18, 2009 By The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire Opening Inaugural Event Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC January 18, 2009 "Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president. O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will… Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS. Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future. Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah. Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world. Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger. Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world. And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States. Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people. Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times. Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead. Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States. Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims. Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods. And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace. AMEN." http://www.nhepiscopal.org/ well, it doesn't make up for inviting that homophobic asshole, rick warren. but still, it's a victory for the LGBTIQQ movement!

yoga and MLK

newbie — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 03:54:59 GMT

my yoga instructor today, read us MLK quotes while we did our poses. it was quite powerful. "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." "I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."

virtual shoe throw on 1/20 - BLOG IT!!!!!!!!!!!

newbie — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 06:04:30 GMT

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/01/15/virtual-shoe-throw-on-120/ http://freewayblogger.com/