what gives you hope?

Last night we were asking the usual year-end questions—what brings you joy? What gives you hope?—and I had no answer for the latter question (truthfully, I think I just fell asleep before I could answer). Now in the bored light of day, I wonder: Is it indictments handed down to Republicans? The mainstream exposure of Bush administration illegalities? Protestors in Montreal and Hong Kong? (mmm, all minimal—I think evil is more tenacious). Perhaps just the simple expectation, given the law of averages, that it can't get worse than 2005?

But I have a handful of regular blog readers who might want to offer up their inspirations. What gives you hope?

what to do with all your extra money

Lend it to people in Africa who can really use it. This is a brilliant idea.
Check this out:


http://alternet.org/story/29345/
http://www.kiva.org/

need i say more?

(thanks to the brilliant Rich and his fabulous site)

Now if we only had a TV...

"like Nan Goldin without the fucking"

is how she's been described (click title above). Can I love her any more?

another day, another reason to be ashamed of this country

Though it's hardly a surprise, the governor of California denied clemency to Stanley Williams, so he'll be murdered tonight at San Quentin prison.

Check out Professor Kim's posts (these are just two but there are many on her blog):

http://professorkim.blogspot.com/2005/12/tookies-departure.html

http://professorkim.blogspot.com/2005/12/more-states-consider-death-penalty.html

i want one

The t-shirt, that is. Thanks, Adrienne!

I've come to realize this blog should have more photos.

um?

So, this message was posted to a listserv I'm on. It's so wacko you gotta love it. It's too bad I feel compelled to protect the privacy of the poster, because her name made it all the more good...

hello lovely womyn,

i have a question, but first i wanted to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart, for the welcoming light, open spirit and great resources you sent me on bay area potlucks. your kindness and generosity has filled me with great joy and gratitude.

ok, now a question. can someone point me to a local lesbian-friendly gun club? or if the goddess does not have that in my cards, then perhaps one of you knows of a nonprofit that works toward putting the power back in people's hands, where it should be.

yours in magick,

what the?

(and here I thought it might be nice to go to Venice)

"Dirty negro" insult not always racist?

By Gavin Jones
Tue Dec 6,10:35 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051206/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_life_italy_racism_1

Calling a foreigner a "dirty negro" in Italian is not necessarily a racist insult, Italy's highest court has ruled.

The verdict, relating to a case where a group of Italian men punched and insulted some women from Colombia, caused deep unease at a time when Italy is struggling to contain racism.

The court on Monday ruled in favor of one of the men, who argued he was not being racist when he launched the assault with the words: "Sporche negre -- cosa ci fanno queste negre qua?" ("Dirty negroes -- what are these negroes doing here?") Most Italians would have no doubt that calling someone a "dirty negro" was a racist insult. The term is seldom heard and is considered no more acceptable in Italy than it would be in Britain or the United States.

However, an insult should be judged racist "only if it is motivated by real hatred," or is likely to cause racial hatred in others or lead to "discriminatory behavior for reasons of race, ethnicity, nationality or religion," the court ruled.

On the other hand, the crime of racism is not constituted by expressions of "generic dislike, intolerance or rejection based on race, ethnicity or religion," which appeared to fit the case in question, the court said.

Politicians across the political spectrum criticized the ruling and said it could not have come at a worse time.

RACIST SOCCER CHANTS

Soccer matches around Italy began late on Sunday as players unfurled banners saying "No To Racism" in response to an episode on November 27 when Marc Zoro, Ivory Coast defender for Messina in Serie A, the top division, threatened to walk off the pitch because of racist chants from Inter Milan fans.

"This judicial interpretation is astonishing," said Green Party lawmaker Paolo Cento.
Luigi Bobbio, of the conservative National Alliance party, said the verdict was the result of "a subtle poison (that) has seeped into our jurisprudence: originality at all costs."
The supreme court is no stranger to controversial judgments.

In recent years it has ruled that "an isolated and impulsive" pat on a woman's bottom at work did not constitute sexual harassment, and returned a verdict that a woman could not have been raped because she was wearing skin-tight jeans.

Carlo Fucci, the vice president of Italy's national association of magistrates, warned that the court's ruling "could blunt the weapons that can be used against racism."

As part of the campaign against racism, all but one of the parties on Milan's city council this week appealed to the mayor to grant Zoro Milan's most prestigious award, a golden statue of its patron saint, Ambrogio.

The populist Northern League party, which is often accused of racism, dissociated itself from the appeal.

my own word verification is failing me

Yeah. Can't even respond to a post on my own friggin' blog. What gives?

So, once again I got my spirit crushed with regard to the world of art last night. Nothing intentional, right? Just cluelessness, right? But it ruined my whole night, and morning. It doesn't take much, nor does it help to balance it all by taming my hair, dressing up and coming to work and being made to feel like an incompetent idiot. Does everything conspire to get you down at once? 24 hours ago, I felt totally fine. In these moments I deeply, profoundly know why seemingly sane folks just give up. Just give up. It's amazing how quickly and totally I can go from doing alright and fantasizing about what it would cost to buy my own printing equipment for the publishing company I want to start and imagining that sum coming to me, to utter despair and wanting to shut down my website, sell my books, and live a normal, happy, art-free life.

Isn't this kind of thing supposed to get better with age? Isn't there some wisdom and peace and ability to say "fuck it" that's supposed to come with turning 40? How hard it is to talk to students, like I've been doing this semester, and encourage them to continue at something about which I myself am so ambiguous? No, not even ambiguous—bitter. But I do my duty, toe the party line, behave. Say, you can't give up while I'm thinking give up now while you have your youth and sanity. Little makes me sadder than seeing some bright young person choose art as their path/future. (Well, truthfully, a lot makes me sadder but you know what I mean.)

But tomorrow is another day, right? Deirdre says she won't let me shut down the site, friends are sharing their clothes with me (and as soon as I have enough time to reduce the images I'll put them on the site) and, frankly, I got nothing better to do.

please bear with me

I'm currently updating the photo pages on my site so the links are currently non-functioning. Duh. That was stupid. But I'll get them up and running this week.

assholes

I mean, what else can you say? Click the title link above.

deborah davis, civic hero

and John Gilmore, and Dudley Hiibel...considering my sister was just placed on TSA's watchlist for no apparent reason and was told it could be because her name is similar to someone else's (Ya think? It's WILLIAMS)...watch your backs.

late freight

I finally finished watching all the episodes of "Being Bobby Brown" this evening. Am I the only one who thinks Bobby and Whitney are a normal, well-adjusted couple? I really came to think by the end that they were a lot like folks you know, you know? A little bit crazy, tacky, make mistakes, but undeniably in love (and yes, I do know so-called reality TV is scripted). Although Whitney, what were you doing defending George Bush???

My new favorite saying that I learned from celeb blogs? H.A.M. (hot ass, or azz, mess) and its derivation, H.A.M. sammich. If you know me, be prepared for me trying to work it into conversation even when only marginally appropriate, as in, today up at work I looked a straight H.A.M. You don't want to know.

I've become very interested in this notion of dress and appearance since starting my corporate gig and actually having to leave the house dressed each morning. I grew up in a family of seamstresses, so clothing and adornment has always been very important in my life, even when I was consciously choosing to subvert/deny its importance. Suddenly I've found myself spending a lot of time buying and making clothing, trying to figure out what coordinates, what's age-appropriate, and what suits my sense of style and individualism in a world that does not recognize me as an artist or writer, which is how I define myself professionally. Wanting to integrate the way I've been spending much of my time with my interest in women, history, and self-portraiture, I asked women close to me—family, friends, partner—to lend me an article of clothing or outfit which I don and in which I have been photographing myself, allowing the dictates of the garment—how it feels, how it moves—and my knowledge of the owner to determine how I present myself in it. Unlike earlier work, I intentionally subvert my particular identity. One woman sent this statement along with her clothing, which perhaps best articulates the way in which we conceptualize clothing:

Since I moved here I wear every day a blackout curtain of black stretchy material to make my body disappear. Then I wear a colorful scarf to further distract with accessories. That's my uniform. No one here has ever seen me in anything different. They think it's me.