Hey, my cousin called. He was in Hammond, LA. Anyway, he's OK, but is hungry.

This post is a good introduction to the clue train for most of us. I sometimes am annoyed at Debra Dickerson(we don't care if random white men want to fuck you) but sometimes she shows good sense. Of course this sort of education is hard going not because so many people refuse to avail themselves of it, although that is true- but the fact that to many people it doesn't matter what actually happened just so long as they don't have to take responsibility to help anyone or fix anything. Humans are depressing.

The whole world has sympathy for our plight. In other news, stupid assholes embarrass themselves on the internet.

More on the racist media. Why do people point this out? Well, biased media is one of the ways whites cut themselves off from reality. (No, lynching somebody and calling somebody a cracker are not equally bad) By pointing out that not every media representation of blacks is accurate, we hope to teach everyone to question things, to look at the reality on the ground and to compare it to what is represented, and then say hmmm...

In other news, saying that this doesn't matter isn't fooling anyone.

From wikipedia, more ways to conserve energy. I keep the lights off in my dorm room during the day and open the blinds to let sunlight in. I reuse packing materials for my business. Also, plastic grocery bags end up as bathroom trashbags. You can use a freecycle group to keep things from ending up in landfills. You could also join a rideshare group or carpool with friends or coworkers. I would recommend southerners use blankets and layers this winter, but I have no advice for northerners. It's fucking cold up there.


Also, in certain cities, you can use a zipcar service to rent a car for a little bit. I wish they had this in atlanta.

Here is a board for information exchange, offers of shelter, and relocation information for the victims of Katrina. While I fear the ones who need it most may not be able to get internet access, hearts are in the right places.

It seems that the superdome will be evacuated. I had been worried about the thousands of people left behind in the flooding. I think we need to do a better job in emergencies like this. For example, to evacuate we are depending on private cars and having enough money to stay in hotels for weeks. There needs to be a better way, as this leaves the destitute high and dry. Think of how many deaths we could have prevented with a better system to get people out. There were traffic jams trapping people on the roads, which exposed people to more danger, even if they had a private car.

I've been trying to get the book Status Anxiety for a year. It was always checked out from my school library. Someone for some reason had had that book for over a year. I couldn't exactly recall it because I didn't need it for a class or anything. Yesterday, finally, I looked it up, and it was in. So today I went to the library. At first I wondered if there was even a HM821, all I could see was HM251s. Then I stumbled upon the fact that the call numbers skipped several hundred, and finally found the 821s. Then I had to drill down to the letters. I could see the Cs, and the Es, but there wasn't a D. I looked again and again, dragged a stool so that I could look a bit higher, but the book was simply missing. As I nearly resigned myself to actually buying a copy, I looked hopelessly at the overflow shelf. All the social psych books nearly in a row...and there it was. I had finally found it.

I think this story says something about my character, and I worry it's not very flattering.

Finally, some non hurricane news. I advise everyone to take one for the team, and either bike or walk to places that are near by, and try to take public transportation as much as you can. Not only do you save gas money, you also save gas and help the environment. Also, it can help you lose weight if you are having difficultly. Biking a few miles a day is good for the heart.


Also, turn off lights when you're not using them, use efficient light bulbs, don't leave your computer on when you're not using it. Seriously people, if you download more stuff than you can ever watch in your lifetime, what's the use?

In more hurricane news, Amanda from Pandagon worries about blaming the victim. On fark, I have already seen some posts saying that the people who were stuck were just too stupid to get out. Hopefully those were just trolls, but it is much easier to say "personal responsibility" than actually take some yourself. In another post, she laughs at people who thinks the storm looked like a fetus, and thus it was punishment for all us whores who had abortions at Mardi Gras or whatever.

Blackfolk are on the attack. Color coded Katrina coverage leaves some hopping mad. This annoys me personally. It's just like a whole city just got destroyed, can't you give your racial bias a rest? And I don't care if they meant it or not. When this sort of crap comes out of you when you're not thinking about it, well, to me, that's more indicative of what you really think than what you say when you think you are being watched.

Another blogger writes an eloquent post on why black people are so damn 'sensitive'. It's not just this one thing that makes me mad- it's the everydayness of the bullshit. I'd not mind if like white people worked hard to fix the results of past racism and weren't racist, and then, one day, some guy bust out with the n word, and then they said sorry, and went back to their former hard working ways. But when you are just lazy all the time, and then do something like that, you're in for some serious rage. Speaking of that, here's the follow up post to the other post I cited. I like how she noted that you don't have to ignore the obvious to have a good discussion on racism. That's in fact why I say 'white people' as I'm well aware that if I divide whites into the good moral majority(in my experience the majority of whites are not actively fighting racism, in fact many of them seem to be actively helping it along) and the bad evil racists, everyone is going to think they are one of the good ones, even if they burned a cross on someone's lawn yesterday.

Wargles, I think it's time to freak out now. I think I'm going on a news fast starting tomorrow. It's just too worrying. I'll just keep waiting for that call when my mom finally gets some news of how my cousin is holding up.

But in good news, you can always donate to Americares. I donated to them during the Tsunami disaster, them and Architecture for Humanity. and Doctors Without Borders.

In more international aid news, Russia pitches in. Also, FEMA explains how to best help when disaster strikes. Wanting to help is admirable, but the victims of this hurricane do not need your ratty winter coats, people.

Fund raising and blood drive for Katrina for people in the DC area. Looting and bad sanitation reported.

International aid is on the way to the victims of Hurricane Katrina thanks to Chavez of Venezuela. It's good to see other countries care about our tragedies.

This news video is a bit blurry, but you can get a glimpse of the destruction. Also, here is a interview with the mayor of New Orleans, who explains how much has been destroyed. I can't imagine dealing with a city where the electricity might be out for 6 weeks and there's no drinkable water.

I'd like to remind everyone to donate to the Salvation Army as well. This hurricane could take millions of dollars in aid.

Tragic hurricane video. I nearly cried just watching it. Even the reporter looked like she was going to burst into tears any second.

Well, it seems that several cities in the US are under water, and there are lots of dead and homeless, and the devastation will cost billions and take months and months to recover, so hey, look, there's a contest for the best egl male! At this time of national disaster, we can always see which man looks best in a dress.

Donate to the Red Cross.

A maid service for dorm rooms. The mind boggles.

The oreos community comes in for mocking. Yea, I took AP classes, dated a white boy, watch anime, and listen to 'white' music. Still don't make me a special negro who is soooo much better than the rest of the black folks, oh, how can I deal with being sooooo special? If it does, well, I know a lot of folks who didn't get the memo.

I don't get this doctor. Does he think his pateint is a moron- "Oh, doctor, I was totally unaware that some men don't like fat women. I was gaining weight to get some hot cock, oh thank you for warning me" I mean really, whatever happened to the good old "I'm worried about your health, here's the number of a good nutritionist"? I just don't get people these days.

This is fucked up.

In this discussion of race dynamics, the platinum rule (treat others as they would like to be treated) is introduced. I agree- just because you wouldn't mind being called cracker doesn't give you leeway to call me the n word.

A new study about traffic stops of minority motorists shows that minorities are more likely to be threatened with force or searched. One question you sometimes hear is why do we study whether minorities are more likely to be harassed. Isn't that just divisive to try to study things by race? I don't think it is so. It is not enough to just say we have made racial progress- we need to study and find empirically that our attempts at creating racial justice are working. If we do not find this, we need to see if maybe our methods are not doing the job. Yes, some people will say it is divisive, but instead of throwing out looking for the truth, maybe we should ask those people to adjust their attitudes, and start being more fact based.

*Drool* I'm saving up now for this baby. I'm glad I'm getting back into games. There's nothing better than anticipating a new release.

This post is inspired by this pandagon post. Many people on the conservative side of the aisle may wonder why liberals question their motives. The thing you have to realize is that when your stated intent is very far away from what effect your actions can reasonably be expected to have, people start thinking that your stated intent is not your actual intent. For example, let's say I say to you "I'm going to become a doctor." but I never sign up for pre med classes or go to any of the other classes I am in. In fact, all I do is play Harvest Moon. Would you think I really wanted to be a doctor? It's the same thing when we see conservatives saying they aren't for punishing women, but putting the kibosh on programs to inform women about their bodies and to improve their reproductive health. Not to mention my pet peeve the whole getting rid of racism by saying my grand pappy didn't own slaves. You have to try to do things that would be reasonably expected to produce the result you claim you want before people will believe that you are honest.

Posts like this make me envious of sewers, but I never seem to be able to be calm enough about making a lot of tangible mistakes to really learn, which is odd, because I do make jewelry which is tangible, but then again it's a lot less easy to mess up.

The pathological right wing culture of victimology has overrun our country. Yesterday, I was in Memphis, the Elvis worshiping megacenter of megachurches, with congregants fainting in the aisles every Sunday. I decided to sit in for Sunday brunch with a couple of the locals. Jim Bob and Bubba were quick to blame their shitty meth infested lives on black tricktonology. I asked them why they didn't have jobs, and they said that the evil n word menace had stolen all their jobs, raped their women, and peed all over the graves of the noble upholders of the Lost Cause. I note that their so called leaders tell them that the only way they can get ahead is to depend on handouts like legacy admissions, hundreds of years of free labor, and most radical of all, a national qualifications exam for all jobs and colleges that lowers standards to only one question- "are you or are you not white?".

Most terrible of all is the fact that whenever a white person bravely goes against the group think that has been inbred from ineffective leader to ineffective leader, he is called a race traitor or accused of acting black. For example, my half niece's gardener's third cousin's dog walker's ex high school teacher's great aunt's beautician's son got made fun of for being a 'four eyed nerd' in SCHOOL. The anti intellectualism of the white establishment will be its downfall. How they can survive with this pathological culture is beyond me.

More at the fine liberal blog, Ariadne's Labyrinth

*So how did I do? What conservative troupes did I use?

I'm really enjoying Peach Girl. It is full of delectably wonderful misunderstandings, and unlike some anime, where the chracters just decide to run to the let's jump to conculsions mat for no apparent reason, it works because of the chracter of Sae, arch manipulator. Yes, Momo(our main chracter) knows she is being manipulated, and tries to struggle against Sae's plans, but Sae is very clever. That's another element that makes it worse- it'd be crazy if Momo never suspected her friend that seems to NEVER be honest. Of course some elements are hard for me to assimilate. For example, I never understand the anime troupe of OMG, KISSING!!!! I mean, I understand that younger girls watch the cartoon, even if the original manga does tend to darker themes(I want more of the manga, but that would cost money, and I'm saving up), but at 15 or so(the chracters seem to be in high school), kissing should be passe, you know? Also, part of the premise is hard to understand. Momo has light hair and tanned skin, thus making people think she dyes her hair and goes to tanning salons, and plays around with guys, but in the US, we don't have this cultural type at all. In the manga, Tokoypop tries to make it easier for us by saying people think she's a 'beach bunny', but of course, fansubs aren't really going to try to adapt it for us.

Naturists show their photos of freedom. (warning: the nudity is non sexual, but they are still not wearing clothes) I think it's important to note that there are many different types of human body shapes. Nothing annoys me more than when a person acts shocked or appalled that there are *gasp* non hot women out there. And they don't all wear burqas to spare you the horror of seeing their flesh! I'm a bit geeky, and one thing that annoys me is the big OMG!!!!!!!! BOOTH BABES!!!!! crap that I sometimes see floating around. Note that IGN has a whole babes section. What the crap does that have to do with games? Not only do not just guys play video games, even if a hobby is dominated by one sex that doesn't mean they have to push scantly clad members of the opposite sex into everything. I mean, mainly women bead, but on beading websites, you don't see a hunks section. Bead and Button doesn't have Mr Bead and Button complete with speedo contest. If a man joins a female dominated hobby, it's like "cool, a man", but if a woman joins a male dominated hobby, it's all "well, is she hot?" As if it's not your interest or dedication, but whether you have enhanced tatas. I think the whole booth babes phenomena underlines this- the women being celebrated on gaming sites are not women who program games, review them or win tournaments, but some random women who fit a certain beauty standard. It makes the regular women who actually care about games seem invisible. And that's just sad.

In other news, whiny whites: people think you are stupid.

I heart these dresses. For any tourists going to Japan, here's a rogue's gallery of asshat places who want to go out of business for being stupid, and thinking that some people's yen isn't good enough for them. We need a gallery in the US of places where they don't want your money. Hint people: it's the same money no matter what color you are.

From the Citizens for Progressive Transit Yahoo Group, Myths about MARTA:

5) My cousin's neighbor's lawnman's uncle's son's coach's daughter
once took MARTA and blah blah blah happened

Ah, memories. I remember this girl being like "But my friend got stranded on the MARTA and GASP she saw a guy with GOLD TEETH".

Gold teeth?! My uncle has gold teeth. For fuck's sake, girl, fill your head with brains, not your mouth with cock. I've never gotten stranded on the MARTA- you know why? I know how to read a fucking schedule.

Woo! Lolita Snap will stay open.

Let us applaud the crazy girls in Tokyo wearing demented maid costumes and late 18th century lace contraptions, for they have pulled off the greatest media coup in Japanese history! These are girls from the lowest-rung on the high school ladder - even beneath the college-bound bookworms - and they've convinced the world that their nerdy deviance is what's cool in Japan! And how could someone not want to visit a country so ridiculous that the young women dress up in doll clothes and Broadway makeup in the depths of summer!

Meanwhile, society's prom queens and sorority sisters - the Can Cam girls - silently rule the school and win new recruits to their female order by the minute. They are the everyday office lady, the big sister, the bank teller off at five-thirty, the good girl who likes to go bad on the weekends - long, slightly-curled brown hair extending four inches beyond the shoulders, white pants or denim skirt, Louis Vuitton or Gucci bags or at least a LV dayplanner, high-heeled sandals, painted nails, shiny lips, immaculate. They are, for all practical purposes, the real Japan.


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Uh, neomarxy, everyone knows that prom queens and sorority sisters aren't 'cool'. New fashions always start on the 'lower rungs of the high school ladder' and then blossom and are accepted. Do you think that the prom queens of say, 1984 were wearing hip hop gear? But now they are all wearing it. Many other fashions from pseudo punk to boho have come from marginalized subcultures, and up into the mainstream. Of course, in America, you can't follow fashion from magazines- usually by the time it gets into one- it's pretty much over.

Shades of the old south here. Read Radio Free Dixie for more about fights over public pools in the south.

Here's a NWS site all about a person's sexual fixtation on shaved pussy with large inner labia. This person gets really overexcited, but I point this out just to say that women's inner labia protrude often, and this is just a fine variation in the human body. However, note this is just one person's sexual fixtation, you don't have to shave or...god forbid...tan your pussy.

It's time to beg for money from people on the internet! It's back to school time, so on my website, I am having a clearance sale. Up to 75% off. All proceeds go to my WTF, college fund! And you get to wear jewelry that is handmade! Also, my buttons and magnets have quirky slogans on them. Cool,eh?

To everyone who has ever said that people at the gym are too concerned about thier own workout to care about yours- fuck you.

It's time for gangster loli. Also, zipper scans. The fun part of looking at foreign fashion magazines is that you can't read the mind numbing pink think.

In other news, best comic strip ever.

I can't wait til these west African entrees hit Atlanta. I do make a lot of microwave food because when I'm in Atlanta, I live in a dorm with only a microwave in my room, but I am always curious about new flavors.

In LJ news, debunking white now has a more readable layout.

On Steve Gillard's blog, people are shocked, shocked, that he feels anger and would *gasp* curse people out about defending PETA's stupid ad campaign. This is a huge gap in the conversation. That whites can't understand that seeing a black man murdered brutally by racists creates a viseral pain in black folk. In fact, when we hear about people who have murdered and raped black folks, we do not think of them as heroes, but as murderers and rapists. This is the cause of a great argument in Memphis. Many of the white citizens don't understand why dedicating parks to murderers and rapists makes some black people angry. Even though the man's own black descendants(KKK men being notorious hypocrites) note that he was a terrible person.

The fact that we have to explain why we feel angry about the deaths of black people points to a great deficit in the humanity of the people who need the explanation. That's one example of how racism hurts everyone- it leaves some people so dead inside that they can't feel another's pain if they are a different color.

Truly talented fashion design.

In more cheery news, there's a LJ group for people who want to know when a new Lolita Snap website will be up.

Segregated bathrooms in this day and age. Shame on Tyson Foods.

PETA are asshats. I can understand not wanting animals to be tortured and killed, but do they have to be such a white male organization? It's like their concern for animals has blinded them to the suffering and pain of their fellow humans. There are plenty of ways of getting the suffering of animals across without cheapening the concept of oppression past and present. Not to mention, perpetuating present oppression. Remember the "look, naked chicks! don't eat meat!" campaigns? There's a lot of ways to tell people to not eat meat other than upholding the beauty myth people. The amount of blindness and stupidity on their part is astounding, and I am glad that someone protested.

I'm glad vagina pagina is here for this woman, but I wonder about the rural young women who don't have the internet. We should have centers for free or low cost prenatal care even in small towns- not just centers for scaring young girls into adopting out their babies. Our shameful lack really shows what we think about women.

It seems that Lolita Snap will be shut down.

Abercrombie and Fitch's stupid attempt to make up for their overpriced racist ass selves is mocked on blackfolk. The problem is that they are still thinking in a white way. They are still stuck in the 60s- yes, in the 60s, it might have worked to 'partner' with the United Negro College fund and put a light skinned black person in an ad. That's because any little thing was progress at that time. But now, it's the 00's. It's time to go further. It's time to take a real risk. In the fucking 00s, it shouldn't take a court case for them to hire some fucking people of color. We want real change, and we want it now. No more excuses.

I love this photo shoot. This woman does makeup tutorials.

Possible Gothic Lolita con in the works. I'm too broke to go to dragon con this year, but I might try for AWA.

Woo hoo, finally a makeup tips community for people of color. I'm glad because I never did learn how to do makeup because all the pink think in magazines always made me sick.

I think that the reason why minority conservatives tend to be mocked is quite simple. It's like an Irish Catholic joining the Know Nothings. A conservative platform is implicitly, and often explicitly, anti minority. Who is screaming about English only? When you hear someone stretching their mouth about how the 'real oppressed people' are white males who have to be polite and act like decent people, what part of the political spectrum are they from? Who screams and cries about how we need to waste time with ineffective racial profiling just to satisfy their lust for racial harrassment? Who makes excuses when a black person is shot in the street? Who acts like having Toni Morrison taught in school is the same as destroying western civilization? The conservative perspective implicitly sees white as superior- that's why all the call for "assimilate" and "don't make a fuss" i.e. be like whites, don't assert your right to personal dignity irrespective of attempts to be white.

Yes, you can hustle and make money off the fears of whites, but you lose respect in your community. How many of these sell outs are being elected to office? Mostly they are appointed, or shills(like Malkin herself). They can't have it both ways- either they can be part of their group or they can be individuals with no loyalty to anyone but themselves. They can't trade off group status if they want to align themselves against their group interest. The attempt is what gets them mocked.

It's time for....white liberal bingo!

In a great blow for common sense everywhere, the elegant gothic lolita community has banned the discussion of skin lightening products. In the deleted thread, I noted that I had been on a research team about skin bleaching in Africa, and noted the possible dangers(such as hyper pigmentation and nerve damage) of skin lightening creams. But, more importantly, it's stupid to try to match your body to a fashion. I like pretty dresses and petticoats as much as anyone else, but I'm not going to lighten my skin because some Japanese girls in a magazine are light to a woman. In Japan, they have their aesthetic, but we're in the West- we have our own standards, and more importantly, why should we be trying for a standard in the first place?

To me, the whole point of gothic lolita fashion is of decontextualized femininity. Have fun, wear a petticoat, without all the baggage of the patriarchy. However, if we start saying "but a lolita has to be short, thin, and light skinned", it takes the fun out of the fashion, instead of being a preserve of fashion that is just fun, it starts being another oppression- another standard to reach, another way to exclude women instead of celebrating them. If so, what's the point of having a separate subculture in the first place?

I've never seen a DVD of the month club before.

In other news, anti gay nut jobs are now protesting military funerals. What more can I say than what the fuck?

Dr. Bitch, a white feminist, makes note of the intersections of race, class, and gender. Do check the post and thread for book suggestions.

Also, a photo project for transwomen. Parts of it are in french, probably not sfw.

As a slender person(5 feet 104 pounds), I wish to apologize to the fat people of the world for the behavior of my sisters in skinniness. Yes, I know that some bitch has started whining about how someone called her anorexic(probably because she doesn't eat) just because you said be proud of your curves everybody. Yes, I am fully aware of skinny women who act like one asshole is the same as the systemic discrimination against fat people. I hope you realize that not all skinny people are complete and total idiots.

It's really hard for me to let some people in my mental feminist community. One group is anti choicers for obvious reasons. Another group is women who think that skinny people are just as oppressed over their weight as fat people, white women who think that whites are just oppressed as blacks, and plain anyone who can't tell the difference between a systemic problem in society, and one asshole.

Luckily, the feminist ragers get a clue.

In this post from Pandagon, commenters note that there is a resonance between the stories of women raped and blamed for it in such countries as Pakistan and Venezula and college sexual violence. When I read this, I remembered a story from Getting a Life: The Everyday Uses of Autobiography, at a certain college, women got fed up with the kangaroo courts, and started to write the names of rapists on the bathroom wall, even when their writings were erased, they kept naming them. It must have been hard to do that, when others encouraged them to shut up. It took bravery and courage. That's what it means to be brave- to fight against injustice. It doesn't mean going to war and killing other people who did nothing to you.

I'd love to see any of those "I hate everybody equally" people contribute to a thread like this. (warning: in this thread people of all races join together in harmony to make fun of white people).

I love me some Octavia Butler. However, this line from this post about her books gives me pause: This novel, in which a young middle-class black woman finds herself shuttled between 1976 California and antebellum Maryland, has become a classic of SF&F and required reading in both women's and African-American studies. But don't be fooled - while Butler's fiction appeals to feminist and minority demographics, it's not propped up by that appeal. To read Octavia Butler is to read good literature - period.


Oh yea, because only white male literature can be just plain good literature? I'm sick and tired of people acting like white males are the universal, and the rest of us, our experience is particular. I am reading and loving Middlesex. Now, I have never been a Greek immigrant, or intersexed(I learned about the specific condition he talks about in some psych class, but the people were from the Dominican Republic (warning: nudity) but do I say "Well, it seems like it might be aimed at the Greek-American or intersex demographic, but it's just good literature? Ok, one more time- WHITENESS(AND MALENESS) IS NOT UNIVERSAL. IT IS ALSO ONLY INVISIBLE TO WHITES AND MALES. White male literature does not speak for everyone. It's just one perspective. Yes, in the hands of a master like Eugenides, it can be a very good perspective, a very enlightening perspective, but that does not diminish masters of other sexes or races. It doesn't make his perspective the standard, and ours only limited to our communities. You can read Invisible Man and relate to his not being seen for who he really is, no matter what your race. You can cry over the plight of Pecola in The Bluest Eye, no matter what your race. If you can't feel empathy for someone else's experience, just because they have a different life than you, a different color than you, what is wrong with you? The lack is not in the literature. It is in you.

And black folks, and other people of color, don't perpetuate this fallacy. Don't think that others can't read Pearl Cleage, or bell hooks or Maya Angelou or apologize for reading literature that sees you or act like it's not important. In stories we learn to see ourselves differently. Our stories have to be told, and we have to see that our varied stories are important. To build a bridge of empathy, we first must be willing to listen stories, whether they are our own or others.

Fashion Gallery. I never understand why designers, no matter how small, need to have extreme makeup on their models.

Woo hoo, lace. Even though I can't sew(I'll show pictures of my new project once it's finished but it won't be pretty) it's always good to find good sources of trims.