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[26 Oct 2009|06:25pm] |
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handing in a social theory essay is not radical political action, wtf
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| This Life // Grace Paley |
[18 Sep 2009|02:29pm] |
My friend tells me
a man in my house jumped off the roof
the roof is the eighth floor of this building
the roof door was locked how did he manage?
his girlfriend had said goodbye I'm leaving
he was 22
his mother and father were hurrying
at that very moment
from upstate to help him move out of Brooklyn
they had heard about the girl
the people who usually look up
and call jump jump did not see him
the life savers who creep around the back staircases
and reach the roof's edge just in time
never got their chance he meant it he wanted
only one person to know
did he imagine that she would grieve
all her young life away tell everyone
this boy I kind of lived with last year
he died on account of me
my friend was not interested he said you're always
inventing stuff what I want to know how could he throw
his life away how do these guys do it
just like that and here I am fighting this
ferocious insane vindictive virus day and
night day and night and for what? for only
one thing this life this life
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| to the young who want to die//gwendolyn brooks |
[29 Jun 2009|04:28pm] |
Sit down. Inhale. Exhale.
The gun will wait. The lake will wait.
The tall gall in the small seductive vial
will wait will wait:
will wait a week: will wait through April.
You do not have to die this certain day.
Death will abide, will pamper your postponement.
I assure you death will wait. Death has
a lot of time. Death can
attend to you tomorrow. Or next week. Death is
just down the street; is most obliging neighbor;
can meet you any moment.
You need not die today.
Stay here--through pout or pain or peskyness.
Stay here. See what the news is going to be tomorrow.
Graves grow no green that you can use.
Remember, green's your color. You are Spring.
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| Larry Levis, "In A Country" |
[12 Jan 2008|02:12am] |
My love and I are inventing a country, which we
can already see taking shape, as if wheels were
passing through yellow mud. But there is a prob-
lem: if we put a river in the country, it will thaw
and begin flooding. If we put the river on the bor-
der, there will be trouble. If we forget about the
river, there will be no way out. There is already a
sky over that country, waiting for clouds or smoke.
Birds have flown into it, too. Each evening more
trees fill with their eyes, and what they see we can
never erase.
One day it was snowing heavily, and again we were
lying in bed, watching our country: we could
make out the wide river for the first time, blue and
moving. We seemed to be getting closer; we saw
our wheel tracks leading into it and curving out
of sight behind us. It looked like the land we had
left, some smoke in the distance, but I wasn't sure.
There were birds calling. The creaking of our
wheels. And as we entered that country, it felt as if
someone was touching our bare shoulders, lightly,
for the last time.
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| ntozake shange, "sorry" |
[09 Jan 2008|11:49pm] |
one thing i don't need
is any more apologies
i got sorry greetin me at my front door
you can keep yrs
i don't know what to do wit em
they dont open doors
or bring the sun back
they dont make me happy
or get a mornin paper
didnt nobody stop usin my tears to wash cars
cuz a sorry
i am simply tired
of collectin
i didnt know
i was so important toyou
i'm gonna haveta throw some away
i cant get to the clothes in my closet
for alla the sorries
i'm gonna tack a sign to my door
leave a message by the phone
'if you called
to say yr sorry
call somebody
else
i dont use em anymore'
i let sorry/ didnt meanta/ & how cd i know abt that
take a walk down a dark & musty street in brooklyn
i'm gonna do exactly what i want to
& i wont be sorry for none of it
letta sorry soothe yr soul/ i'm gonna soothe mine
you were always inconsistent
doin somethin & then bein sorry
beatin my heart to death
talkin bout you sorry
well
i will not call
i'm not goin to be nice
i will raise my voice
& scream & holler
& break things & race the engine
& tell all yr secrets bout yrself to yr face
& i will list in detail everyone of my wonderful lovers
& their ways
i will play oliver lake
loud
& i wont be sorry for none of it
i loved you on purpose
i was open on purpose
i still crave vulnerability & close talk
& i'm not even sorry bout you bein sorry
you can carry all the guilt & grime ya wanna
just dont give it to me
i cant use another sorry
next time
you should admit
you're mean/ low-down/ triflin/ & no count straight out
steada bein sorry alla the time
enjoy bein yrself
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| Hidden -- Naomi Shihab Nye |
[21 Nov 2007|08:47pm] |
If you place a fern
under a stone
the next day it will be
nearly invisible
as if the stone has
swallowed it.
If you tuck the name of a loved one
under your tongue too long
without speaking it
it becomes blood
sigh
the little sucked-in breath of air
hiding everywhere
beneath your words.
No one sees
the fuel that feeds you.
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| the interstitial library |
[10 Nov 2007|08:35pm] |
"In the late twenty-first century, memorials to wars and national disasters had become both so huge and so numerous in major cities as to force occupants into increasingly distant suburbs, turning the cities into giant funeral parks, though only a few mourners and flower vendors actually ventured into the barren, windy avenues and plazas. A rogue terrorist attack levelled one of these abandoned, funereal cities, killing only pigeons; the ingenious mayor, rather than rebuilding the memorials, or raising a memorial to the memorials, issued instructions for the citizens to construct private memorials out of breath. These proved popular. Meanwhile, the leveled city was rebuilt, using the materials of bygone memorials, and resettled. One might find a name engraved in the wall behind the tub, or use the bronze hand of a general to hook an oven mitt on. Remembrance became a more private affair as people discovered they could create memorials of their own design, just by talking to each other. "
neat.
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[19 Oct 2007|11:18am] |
So Reclaim the Night is fast approaching! Here are the latest details; please forward onto to friends, family, pets and pot plants...
Reclaim the Night (RTN) is an annual feminist event, held globally on the last Friday of October, and represents a claim for women's basic human right to live in freedom from discrimination and fear of violence. Reclaim the Night marches and rallies have traditionally been organised by collectives of unpaid women who have worked together in their communities to organise peaceful protests against sexual violence towards women and children, and to promote women's strength and survival.
Broadly, the aims of RTN are:
1. For women to gather to protest sexual violence and abuse towards women
2. To encourage a wider community response to violence against women
3. To promote women's strength and survival
4. To work towards a society which can be a safer environment for women and children
This year, RTN in Melbourne will be held on Friday, 26th October, starting off with a rally at 6pm on the steps of Parliament House, an autonomous* march through the CBD, and a small community fair with food, music and stalls in the Grand Ballroom, Trades Hall.
The RTN 2007 organising collective would like to acknowledge that RTN and its organising have taken place on stolen Indigenous land. This land always has and always will belong to the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respects to their elders, past and present.
* Reclaim the Night is, ideally, a safer space, free of sexism, racism, homophobia and transphobia. We welcome womyn and children (incl. male children under 12), trans and genderqueer-identifying people at the autonomous march. Men are welcome at the rally and at the fair.
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[10 Jun 2007|05:53am] |
I am frequently made to feel unsafe in public places. I don't just mean "I feel unsafe in public spaces" although that would be bad enough and I think in itself worthly of investigation. I mean that I am frequently harassed, usually sexually, often to the point where it's verging on assault. if I don't smile on command I run the risk of being yelled at about what a fucking bitch I am and how I need to be taught how to be more polite. if I do smile on command the same thing will probably happen shortly afterwards, only this time the guy will feel justified in following me. and it is always a man.
I'm usually alone when I'm approached. If I'm with a friend they're almost always female. Often I'm visibly upset. Sometimes I'm crying.
I get hit on a lot when I'm crying.
I actually prefer it when they start off vulgar and aggressive. I can just ignore that and quicken my pace. but there is a kind of false ingenousness in the friendly overture. it is something you are obliged to return or risk being seen as rude. if you are seen as rude you can be punished for it. but if you return the smile then you have formed a relationship which you cannot break off without being seen as rude.
if you are a stranger, especially a male stranger, and you approach me in public, I will only respond out of obligation and possibly fear. you might be totally harmless -- but I can't know that. I have to respond as I do. and if you don't understand or care that I'll react like this, and approach me anyway, you're kind of an arsehole anyway. a lot of people seem to care more about their right not to be judged or to attempt their loving-up-the-world projects than my right not to fear for my safety.
in other words, I don't want a free hug, now fuck off.
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[18 May 2007|12:44pm] |
really interesting article here about eco-feminism & the discourse around sustainable living. basically it's about how the emphasis on responsible citizenship & consumption actually a) shifts responsibility from government and business to the individual (thus obscuring the social and economic conditions that force people to act in environmentally unsustainable ways in the first place) and b) always seems to involve increasing the time & labour spent on the kind of private-sphere unpaid labour (cooking, shopping, cleaning) that's traditionally done by women.
i think that in some green circles there is a lot of misplaced nostalgia for a time before washing machines. the kind of labour required to maintain a household at anywhere near the standard of living we experience today without today's labour-saving devices (such as supermarkets, processed food, cleaning products, electricity, etc) is fucking backbreaking -- and pretty much precludes any kind of political involvement.
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[29 Apr 2007|09:49pm] |
1. the other day while cleaning the fridge I dropped a bowl and accidently kicked through the shards. this just after recovering from the horrifying side-effects (ie slight tenderness) of a broken nail. i think my right foot is suicidal.
2. also I discovered a celery leaf encased in a block of ice. it was the most delicate and translucent and lovely thing.
3. on the sydney morning herald online's list of most emailed articles --
#7 Internet eroding child porn taboo
#8 Itty bitty babe Nicole plays hard to get
:/
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[13 Jan 2007|05:40pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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 depressed |
] |
"I can sum it all up in three words: Evolution is a lie."
"I appreciate your recommendation, and it is intriguing, but as a pro-lifer, I cannot support an organization that is opposed to the death penalty."
"[On homosexuality being a condition one is born with]...Just because you are born a certain way doesn't meant that is the way you have to be. Some people are born Asian, but through surgeries and counseling they can change."
"LOL, I think that I am the one that is missing something. Because I fail to see how "glyphosate" resistant weeds is an arguement FOR evolution. I do not even know what glyphosate is so how can that be evidence for anything. Maybe for you it is evidence, for me it is just a word that I do not know the meaning of."
"If u have sex before marriage then in Gods eyes u are married to that person if a man rapes a woman in Gods eyes they are married it sucks for the girl but what can we do lol"
Source: Fundies Say The Darndest Things.
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| cleaning out the cesspool of the ages |
[23 Nov 2006|02:19pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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 suitably discontent |
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shit's fucked up. i suppose it's possible to avoid this knowledge, but it must be pretty difficult. and once you learn this, you can't unlearn it. you can deny it pretty thoroughly, of course. there's plenty of distractions. plenty of entertainment. bread and circuses. you can pursue happiness as aggressively as you please. it won't work. you'll know. and you will know you're not doing anything to try and change it. if you think of yourself as a moral person, or think you ought to be a moral person, eventually the cognitive dissonance will become unbearable. so you are required to act, even if your action proves utterly ineffectual. it's hard, but we don't have a choice.
besides, the harder you look for happiness, the less likely you are to find it. paradox of hedonism, and all that. even if this were a perfect world, we'd need something to work for, something justified by more than our desires.
and look, all the old communities have disintegrated. we broke down the villages and the extended families into nuclear families, portable economic units. then people stopped going to church, divorced their partners, left home before marriage, left their unions, whatever. we just seem to be breaking down further and further. which is cool in some ways; independence is nice, social pressure can be crushing. but ultimately i think we're not meant to be alone. there's the idea that friends are the new family and maybe that's true for some. but i think that we need more than fun times with people; we need to live and work with and for them before...i don't know. before we know we're not alone? before we can be truly human?
really if we are not to die inside, we need people and we need something to work for and we need to live according to our principles. our principles dictate that we work towards unfucking the world, and we need to join with others, pull ourselves out of isolation, to do that. it usually feels like you are screaming into the void. it's hard. it's so hard. but it's even harder not to.
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| anger is the appropriate response to most situations; or, why i'm such a bitch. |
[13 Nov 2006|08:19pm] |
generally, people are free to express the most offensive ideas possible provided they pick their language carefully -- that is, provided they use the language of the ruling classes. an angry response strips away only the respondent's credibility, particularly if the anger takes a form that is considered unacceptable. however, acceptable expressions of rage such as shunning, eloquent rhetoric or legal action are generally inaccessible to those lacking power, education or money (ie, those lacking social or economic privilege). also, the emotional distance required for a polite and articulate rebuttal is difficult to muster if you are directly affected by the subject under discussion, or if you are exhausted by constantly fighting the same battles.
in other words, any opposition to hegemony is easily construed as fueled by irrational, dangerous and unacceptable rage, and therefore able to be dismissed without that pesky listening. hence the stereotype of the violent black nationalist, shrill feminist, etc.
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