I think the whole blowup against breastfeeding icons as the default is a bit out of proportion. I mean dang, don't have them as your default and then use a few more clicks to bust out those babies every chance you get, you know? But unlike how our concern trolls have been nattering on, I'm not like hey, white women, put on your aprons and start popping out the babies or talking about how women really don't like sex and how we must keep bestial men from raping us by wearing proper length skirts. You know why? I can disagree with how some particular women interpret feminism, without saying 'man, feminism sucks'. Heck, I disagree with many feminists on issues like "sex work- healthy and fun as it is, or in need of serious change to get off my shit list" or "race- how does it fit in under the matrix of oppression" i.e. much bigger issues than whether it makes sense to make a big stink over ljay icons. But you see, if you actually give a fuck about the ideology, you don't go off crying because someone didn't cater to you every ten seconds or because a few women mobilize around an issue you don't care about, much less if they blog about it.

That's why concern trolls often get a trouncing because anyone who had any sincere interest in feminism at all would not in fact run off because of a few uppity women. I mean really, only anti feminists would care that much, because people who are interested in moving women forward know that pushing ahead does not mean that women will continue to act docile and be little ladies eating tea sandwiches and saying "Oh, it is so sad about those poor Muslim women" but instead be willing to stand up. Maybe first to small things like people calling women bitches but later kicking more and more ass.

I can't go and 'save' the Muslim women over there(who don't need any saving in the first place) but yea, my petty arguments about whether I can get my birth control or why certain ads are demeaning to women can get some lightbulbs going off over some heads, way better than if I waited forever to get an issue that anti feminists could pretend to care about.

From sex and race:

Well, here's the fallout from all that. Where are the white women now?

Oglala Sioux Tribe bans abortion, suspends prez
Wednesday, May 31, 2006

The Oglala Sioux Tribe council banned all abortions on the Pine Ridge Reservation and suspended President Cecelia Fire Thunder because she spoke out against South Dakota's abortion ban.

The council accused Fire Thunder of soliciting donations for a women's clinic without the tribe's consent. Although she never asked for money, women and women's groups sent her donations after she criticized the state law, the most restrictive in the nation.

Fire Thunder called the suspension an "ambush" and said the people who sought her suspension are motivated by politics since she is the first woman to lead the tribe. She said people were passing out flyers that read "Wilma Mankiller - Cecelia Babykiller," a reference to Wilma Mankiller, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.

Hey, it's Pam Noles and her post of awesome. Here's a tiny piece of the amazingness.

I'm responding to this not to pick on Glacierdust, but because variations of the thought she shared in that post and in a comments below it, have landed in my email. In this thread she happened to combine two of the common responses I've gotten from some white folks: reverse discrimination and the belief that skin color is a superficial aside when it comes to how the world engages with you.

This type of response has come ONLY from white people. I know this because each of them have told me they are white. Which is helpful, though frankly I figured that out anyway as my people tend not to construct apologias, present their Down With The Cause Creds, or indicate a basic ignorance of fundamental understanding about real-world racial realities when we're talking Die Whitey stuff like this to each other. (Granted, me and mine might not always AGREE about how those racial realities are interpreted or made manifest - re: Chief Justice Clarence Tomas just to pick one at random - but our baseline understanding from which we START our intraargument is the same.)

A lot of white people - within the wide world and the narrow closet of genre - think that validation of Ethnic Self means exclusion or disparagement of Ethnic Other. They think that if you stand up for Blackitude, you are de facto beating down the Caucasians. This is because, as Le Guin herself said - not to mention a whole bunch of academics and anyone else generally paying attention as they move through life in this world - THEY HAVE THE LUXURY OF DOING SO. For a lot of white people, even those who Mean Well and Their Hearts Are In The Right Place And All That, the mere fact of QUESTIONING the default setting of this world of racial inequity is percieved as an attack.

Please show to everyone you know. A good parody of shitty dating 'systems' huckstering stupid men. Nubian's bold post.

Halle Berry talks on racism in movies. Brownfemi continues to be awesome. I post on universality and comics. I was amused at an ad on that blog for this local business. I had always wondered what was inside, but never got time to check it out.

(inspired by this post)I have a strange problem. You see, if some lady on the internet thinks that shaving ones legs is less feminist than not shaving or if some lady is like makeup is the tool of the patriarchy, I have to admit that this is not a burning concern on my mind. So during the argument about BDSM on twisty's blog I was really confused because it's not like we're going to go into one's bedroom and look and see if you're doing BDSM in the properly feminist way. Really, it's an ideology, not a club. I guess the confusion comes from like the whole society is like "look! makeup! You must wear it!"(I have to admit I don't often put on much because it is too expensive and takes too much time to find flattering makeup) and "yea, show your tits" so I don't see how a few women on the internet speaking against the standard is going to really affect your life at all. It's not like the feminist police comes to my house and says "Ah! She is not indeed naturally hairless as her mother! She shaves!" and kicks me out of the movement while I'm forced to join the IWF and talk about how we all should be baking cookies(except for me, who is charged with the important task of telling you all to bake cookies).

I guess my confusion is from basically, why even perpetuate these stereotypes at all? Like, the amount of hairy makeupless feminists who are running around yelling at women for owning push up bras well, there aren't that many of them. And that applies to sex pos feminists as well. Like, you know what? Once I showed a man sexualized pictures of myself. Antiporn feminists did not break down my door and tongue lash me about how I was letting down the cause. (I'm not very fond of porn either actually). Heck, have your BDSM scenes(I'm more comfortable with that than porn as I tend to assume that everyone has discussed what they want beforehand). I think the problem is that people are assuming that analyzing or disagreeing with someone else's choices means that they mean that you're a bad feminist if you do X.

For example, I think that most strippers are not in fact working on their dissertation on sex roles, and that it's not exactly the most pleasant job in the world. However, you could strip in a feminist way(it'd probably involve having say, fair labor practices and many different body shapes and sizes,etc), but I simply don't think that stripping without critical reflection is likely to be feminist. That doesn't mean that being a stripper means you're kicked out of the movement. Oh, it's hard to explain, but what I'm getting at is that yea, maybe those strappy shoes that I wanted to buy are not 'feminist', but you know what? It's not really a big deal if people don't think my choice in footwear is feminist. Yea, my footwear can be analyzed in how it shows that women often are stuck with footwear that they can barely walk in, but when people say that they don't mean I'm a bad person or that my shoes are inherently evil.

It's not about you, it's not about the shoes, it's about the patriarchy is what I mean I think.

I know I blog too much, but OMG, these are such cute pictures! Also, an awesome lj icon from this thread.

Old people can be amazing. The amazing vegankid is injured, and in need of help. Rage can be beautiful.

I've just watched episode 6 of Ginban Kaleidoscope, which I think would be much better if they dropped the supernatural angle. I understand everything needs to have a twist, but I'm not really interested in Peter Pumps or his relationship to Tazusa. An pre-Olympic figure skater who has a bad personality, rivals out the wazoo, all better than her. and a bad relationship to the media should be excitement enough, you know? So why shoehorn in romance? I guess I should be glad that at least the other characters think she is crazy instead of being like "Oh, so you're possessed by a Canadian ghost? That's perfectly normal". There are some cute figure skating outfits, such as Tazusa's figure skating kimono, although the waitress outfit is a bit moe fetish to me. At least she isn't the type for fetishers to dedicate their character shrines to.

A random unrelated note: The Ivy Chronicles' British cover is cuter than the American one I think. (*is reading the British version*)

Was ginmar...clueful? But I guess she really hasn't reformed, has she?

I'm not much of an activist. If community building, street marching and real social change are your bag, I'm not in it. I'm more of a dilettante. Now, I'll flyer for the beltline(a proposed loop of rails and greenspace supposed to encircle Atlanta) or maybe plant a tree or mentor a kid, but I'm not the most consistent person you'll ever meet. Freshman year, I was totally into tree planting and kid tutoring. Sophomore year, I think I protested the war. Junior year I helped with ESL speakers. Senior year was mentoring children. I don't do the nuts and bolts of politics because politics are the realm of the charismatic and the convincing- people with a lot of energy. You have to go to the meeting in a bar which you can't figure out how to get to on the bus, or talk to a bunch of people you don't know- all while assignments pile up, your room gets more disgusting, and often times you don't have the energy to type a coherent sentence let alone talk to the dumb.

This is why I mostly complain on the internet, because to go anywhere would take energy, and I can do it between bouts of all consuming schoolwork. I think the problem which is scaring many people away from political action is the idea that you have to be a traditional activist who spends 100s of hours a week working for the cause. Now, those people are amazing, and we're all glad to have them. But if say, a few people write letters to the editor or editorials for the school newspaper, noting that actual racism is important, if another person tutors a child, if another person gives 20 bucks to a scholarship fund, etc, it's better than if we all sat on our asses and watched American Idol.

Now, I'm not saying that if the whole of your activism is the fact that you bought some organic soy milk or that you showed your crotch to a zillion people(nice crotch though) I will cheer or anything, but it's better than the old "Oh, we can't change anything" crap I always hear. If people can die for rights, we can at least read a book once in a while,ok? I may not have been out for every march, but if my work allowed a mother to breathe freely while she was at work, I call that activism.

I feel better about being too much of a wussy to call the committee yesterday. It passed! (my phone phobia waxes and wanes, although I am always to some extent frightened to talk on the phone. So calling Frist's office and saying that his bill wasn't enforceable is the same as a normal person say, landing on the moon, or at least running 10 miles)

In other news, a man writing for Salon takes the brave step of condemning the Women's team. Well, maybe condemn is too strong, but it's good to see somebody say something. My idea is that we should all send letters of praise to people who step up against rape because they probably recieve a lot of bad letters calling them all sorts of names.

Angry Shannon is confused. How come men never get tips like "Don't be alone with a drunk woman, she might think you raped her" or "Never hire strippers for a house party"? Where women get tips that probably don't work like "Don't walk alone at night"(all well and good, but what if your male escort rapes you?) I don't get why the woman is always suspected of lying about rape either. Like what the fuck? Where do they think women get lacrarations on their genitals from? We generally don't do this ourselves! I don't get why the man is always assumed innocent. Like, what does he lose if he is falsely accused of rape? Even people who did rape somebody go off free. I had to yell at a guy once. I was like it's sad that this baby was raped(parents were the main suspects as they were with the baby most of the time). But what does the guy sympathize with? The parents, who were anoymous. Seriously, how would having a little sympathy for the baby hurt people?

For fuck's sake, in this society, sometimes I think being accused of rape could get you a fucking parade. Or if he didn't, he'd still be surrounded with tons of enablers who won't report it, or treat the girl like shit,etc. I can't think of anything more to say, but rage! argh! fuck our society!

I have to admit that I'm annoyed more because people seem to have flipped their shit. It's like, they put who on the border? and they said WHAT?! about black people and they are going to make women all go where? I have no idea why, but I get the impression that our country has gone fucking nuts. It's like pure insanity. I don't know what triggered it. It's like someone opened a box and all the base instincts of the people leapt out.

I saw X3. Spoilers afterwards. Well, the theater was packed, and the 9:00 show was sold out. I had to admit that Storm was less annoying, even though she had a huge part, and was like the leader of the mutants for a long time. I loved Magneto's rainbow coalition of mutants- the good guys had to fill in too many 'known' spots to make their number really interesting. I am not sure if I liked Grey's transformation or not. That weird hint of sexual vampirism made me uneasy. But the special effects were right on, and the sound was good, although what I may have thought of as really bone crushing smashes may have just been thunder from the storm that stopped the movie twice near the end. Although it is titled the Last Stand, there are odd bits near the end. Like why did Magneto's metal chess piece move? And who is that woman saying Charles after the credits? Good try all in all, I say, although with some loose ends,etc. Would buy on DVD.

A weird thing I thought about was how I was talking on another blog and someone asserted that parents wouldn't appreciate Katy Keene's short skirt, but I see all sorts of kids up in X3(and X2 and X1). I'm sorry to say that these movies are full of cursing, skimpy outfits, violence, and heck, X3 has a naked woman in it. It's very entertaining cursing and violence,etc, but I can't really see parents today not buying a book because a character is wearing a fairly modest outfit. This reminded me of when I was 13, and I wore short shorts to the fair, and my mom had been scolding me. But one look at what grown women had on and my mom apologized. Because seriously, when it's hot, we're going to wear skimpy clothing nowadays. It's American culture, and unless you're like my date(who is always trying to save my soul), you'll deal with it

I've finally watched all of Sailor Moon. I have to admit I think the real draw of the show is how they manage to write a show like a teenager would write a story. I mean, let's take the final season. The plot is that the strongest Sailor Soldier, a long time ago, sealed Chaos within her body, and thus she becomes evil and starts to collect the eternal star seeds(it's a macguffin) of all the Sailor soldiers in the galaxy. She destroyed a planet and only three people escaped. They look for their princess disguised as idol singers. There's a long fight and most of the Sailor Soldiers on earth die, but Sailor Moon manages to use the light of hope, the star seed of the strongest Sailor Soldier in the galaxy, which incarnated inside a little girl, and also, her own love and kindness to heal that soldier and release Chaos back into the minds of the people, along with the light of hope.

Basically, there's a far reaching complicated story line with a large cast, so that everyone has a character they like, and also, the story is always amped up for maximum emotional drama. There's friendship, love and betrayal- all that good stuff. I tend to always cry at the end because there's always some really dramatic plot twist. You know, Sailor Moon is going to win, but...OH NO, the evil witch queen tossed SM's child from the future off a floating asteroid from hundreds of miles up!!! And yea, most of the episodes are fillers, but those can be fun too, as the happy lalala, Minako tries out to be an idol, oh no, there is a monster stuff is why you get upset when Minako dies, you know? Also, those stories are good when you're sick and don't want to follow the plot. So here is my listing of Series in order of favorite. Sailor Moon S, Sailor Moon Stars, Sailor Moon SuperS, Sailor Moon Classic, and Sailor Moon R. Although I like them all. When I was in college, us girls could spend hours talking about Sailor Moon. Once we made the boys watch it, and had fun explaining the plot.

I also like how they didn't make the show totally half assed just because it is a children's show. While sometimes the fillers are kinda lazy, it still seems that the creators put a lot of time and effort into creating interesting imagery. Also, one of my favorite parts of Stars was how they used the familiar Sailor Moon music in different scenarios. I like how they play on that familiarity. I'm not always fond of how the macguffin finding must be shoehorned into every episode, but that goes with the territory. I usually like the villains as well. They try to lean away from "I'm evil...Because!" and try to make the villains have better character development. The best villains were in S, I say. I'm ambivalent about the "villains could have won if only they had worked together" trope. I understand the show is supposed to help kids learn about how teamwork is good, but come on, guys. Don't take the stupid pill.

On Feministing, there is a discussion of sorostitute syndrome as it applies to the D*ke Women's L*cr*sse Team. Basically, sorostitue syndrome is when you stand by a man, any man, because if you actually had a conscience, you wouldn't be popular with the booooys. I can't stand people who don't understand that sheltering a rapist makes it more likely for you to be raped. It just waves a big flag- do whatever the fuck you want boys! We'll stand by you regardless. Not to mention, when you say "well, she's a liar' who the fuck you think is going to believe you when you're in trouble,dumbass? Intellectually, I understand, white folks won't align against their oppression, but for their privilege, but dang. And school, you could have handled it better. The way you have it, it looks like it's cool to gang rape somebody. Just don't report it, because we'll all be against you, you know?

belledame has a good post, but one thing I don't like is conflating porn with sex. In porn, the girls are actors(and the men too), and it's all staged. So yea, maybe that porn star is pretending to like facials and double penetration, but that has nothing to do with what real women like. Not to mention, in real life, we all have different preferences, but in porn, all women, like everything. Basically, people talking like somebody actually likes a sexual act because you see it in porn is like me saying that blacks are all wisecracking sidekicks because you saw it in a movie. And yea, people really do believe the images of blacks they see in the movies, and yea, some men actually do think that you should try the acts in porn or that porn inspired beauty standards are actually going to make sense in the real world. But they are dumbasses, and we shouldn't encourage it.

More on semen in these comments, better expressed,

Creepy geeks with a bizarre sense of entitlement in today's Megatokyo Not sure why that is in the 'obsessed with comics' blog, but hey. I finally made a good stirfry, even if I burned the seasame seeds and used white rice instead of brown..

Oh noes, craziness. One Fruits post and another. My fashion is so sad lately.

LOL Also, class issues are discussed.

Nothing is worse in the entire world than calling people. Ugh, the pure existential dread of it is enough to put me off food. First, you have to call the right person. Knowing how this is can be pretty difficult, especially if you're dealing with a place so old fashioned you need to get on the phone in the first place. I hate talking on the phone because you have to interpret the person's tone without any helpful body language. Not to mention, if anyone is saying anything with a between the lines implication, I'll totally miss it. Not to mention, with the wages they pay people nowadays, you can't get a polite person for your phone at all. I hate petty bureaucrats of all types, because somehow their jobs make even a pleasant person the monster at the gate of actually getting some information.

I work hard to like people better but it doesn't come naturally.

I knew this story would break my heart, but I looked anyway.

David Neiwert fights stupidity, and I have a bizarre question. This is very rude. So yesterday I had graduation party, and this white girl that I met when I was 12 was there and she and her mother talked about how they were going to put this girl's younger brother in private school, and you know what? I associate private school with being rich. I'm well off, but not so well off I could go to private school for high school(or even be able to be home schooled, which is a huge luxury item) I also don't get how white people get the money to always be moving around into different neighborhoods all the time. Selling your house yea, but doesn't the price of housing increase when a bunch of people flood an area? So how do white people who are constantly complaining about how poor they are and how they can't deal with racism because they are so poor(the amazing kactus somehow manages despite the fact that her internet is being cut off) manage to get these high faluting luxury items?

Also, Amp and high infant mortality rates.

Irrational Point and the folks at Ally Work work hard to stop the stupid, but I have no hope that it'll ever reach the stupid

I just realized that I'll never be a feminine woman. I'm just too old. You know, I've been old for a long time too. I think heels are ridiculous and wearing shoes that are too small- especially with how poorly made women's shoes are is dumb. I am against beauty standards for vaginas, because I was 8 when I got pubic hair and 18 when that stupidity was first introduced, thus the idea that having a natural vagina is 'poor hygiene' seems crazy, not to mention I wouldn't believe the obvious idiocy of guys who are insecure because the girl he bangs doesn't look like she is a pornstitute. I'm not trying for straight hair either- I just get scabs in my head and my hair looks bad too. Of course, I'll never be thin, as the rules of thinness always count your hips and never your breasts, and so the snakehipped will always win. And don't let me get started on makeup. It's expensive and I don't actually look any better either.

Being able to realize that something is dumb and not do it is the criteria of being old and grumpy.

Before the graduation party(happy, happy!) I read a bit of Cleage's Baby Brother's Blues, and I have to say that Cleage should have left Baby Brother a cipher, because she totally can't get inside his head. I guess it's because he is an urban legend come to life: "Wesley 'Baby Brother' Jameson had made an art form of avoiding responsibility. The sorry state of his life, to hear him tell it, was the result of racism, his father, his mother, his sister, his teachers, preachers, counselors, confidants and co conspirators of all kinds who spent their time making sure brother couldn't catch a break" You know I've never met a black person who had been like "Yea, I can't catch a break because of X, Y and Z" and totally abdicated all responsibility ever. Now, I've seen some people be a bit discouraged. Heck, I've been discouraged too. Any black person who has a momentary acquaintance with reality gets discouraged sometimes. People aren't less racist to me, just because I have my degree and try to mostly have a job when I can.

Now, later on, Cleage tries to emphasize more with the character and show a bit more of the situation, and all that, but it's still kind of clunky. She deals better with other characters who do wrong, such as Brandi, the stripper or Captain Kilgore, the cocaine selling policewoman, so it really stands out that Baby Brother is written so badly. It is strange because she usually writes so well. Then again, she seems to have written a lot, so it's not that every single book can hit the mark.

It is very hot and I am annoyed because I need DVDs of black shows. I am compensating by complaining to my 'friend' about how if he had cable, he could go and watch shows about white people all day. I'm just in a shitty mood.

Episode 181 was a very good episode of Stars. I must ask my ambiguous friend where he downloaded them for me from. I always love the episode where the new characters find out that Usagi is Sailor Moon. And a new kid from the future next episode? double fun. I feel really self indulgent today, as even though I promised to do better and even washed some clothing and put away the dishes. I went to sleep for 3 hours and am now watching cartoons.

In which the gay rights movement and the civil rights movement are contrasted. Can they get more black shows on DVD at least? We have money.

Some people really really don't like transracial (especially international) adoptions. And more on that too. Secret Asian Man has a strip on this.

Unrelated, but hella yeah.

A vague comic appeared in my occasional comic space.

Another theorist talks about Bill Cosby. Now, black folks will criticize themselves to death. Girls are too 'fast'. Boys listen to that 'rap' stuff. Why don't black people read less of that 'Zane' stuff and more James Joyce. And on and on and on. I think it's a yin yang thing. Black people need to learn to say "Hey, we kinda rock. We all rock(women and gays included)" and white people need to learn to say "maybe instead of being good because one is born, one becomes good through working". Or maybe I'm just a weirdo

Carl Brandon Society Winners! Congrats to all. Time to go to the library!

I felt vaguely that made we should give more sincere appreciation so that everyone is less hungry. I have to admit that I worry that I will never get what I need. Let's not only appreciate the talented, the beautiful and the smart. The rest of us are feeling left out here

Am I a bad person if I think that the next time someone says X oppression will go away once Y oppression is solved, I'm going to throw things. Nubian talks to some lady who said some stupid crap and I have to admit that I feel like going back to bed

A very special graduation meme:

List up to ten (10) things you want to say to ten (10) different people. Do not state who these people are. Do not confirm or deny any 'comment speculation'. Note, your 10 people do not have to be LJ friends.

1)Well, I got into graduate school in psychology, and I got 4 As and 1 B on my final college grade report. So, you know, fuck you!

2)I love you, even if I don't like all this uncertainty. I really wish your penis worked though. Go to the damn doctor.

3)I'm back, and there's gonna be trouble! Get away from your abstinence only bubble!

4)Don't eat so much dessert! It's bad for your health, what if you die? Then the whole family would be in disarray.Stop smoking too- your first husband died a horrible death because of that, Also, stop picking up random sunglasses off the street- bougie people like me are mortified by that.

5)Well, I'm totally successful now, and am going to grad school, so fuck you, with your AA whining ass. And guys hit on me tons now, I hope you're all alone, still chasing after some unattainable girl.

6)I hope your store goes bust, you pervert. Also, you can go fuck yourself.

7)I hope you enjoy your life, and talk to me sometime. I'll miss you.

8)Hahaha, I totally graduated, so fuck your preconceptions about what I can do and what I can be.

9)I love you, now chill out and stop worrying.

10)Stop with the sarcasm, it drives me nuts. Mucho love anyway.

I think I still hate everybody, and will go to bed. Man, everyone sucks.

I graduated yesterday.

I'm against assimilation. Yesterday I went to a Modupe Dayo celebration(cultural appropiation aside here) and we all enjoyed being able to take pictures in our stoles and to talk to the other graduates and we had an especially stirring speech by a now medical researcher, who had a 2.5 GPA at the end of the year, and I felt really encouraged as I had been down on my self about my grades(above a 3.0 but not setting the world on fire) and generally everyone cried, the African students yelled out the countries their friends were from, and we had a great drum and dance team entertain us. Now, if we were all happy shiny rainbow people who didn't cause separation or whatever(although an Indian girl who was one of the students honored in the celebration was like, what, it's for blacks?) we wouldn't have been able to have the ceremony with the libation or with us singing Lift Every Voice and Sing- to assimilate means that you can't have your own culture, you have to become white. And to tell the truth- I just want to be treated well like a white person. I don't want to give up my own culture, especially for nothing in return.

I notice that when people of color try to appease white people, it never really works. They still aren't treated the same, and whites still don't change their minds. So it seems a waste of time to take away a source of strength for oneself. Not to mention, we can fix our own problems with group unity, but if appeasing whites is the goal, we can't say, help black youth, because you know, we're not being shiny happy rainbow people.

Irrational Point, whose words are in bold, tries to poke at the heart of whiteness on Ally Work(Do scroll up for context). I am of course not compassionate or patient enough to work with whites, as their culture is just so bizarre to me. If you put resources into people, they can make you more resources, so why hog all the resources for yourself, especially if you're not using them or just wasting them.

Douglass:
But, from a position of naked self-interest, you won’t catch me losing power for the sake of a culture that wants to destroy mine, or to benefit a person that wants to rob me in the name of equality.
Who is trying to destroy your culture. Who wants to rob you in the name of equality?

You seem to be trying to defend your position by claiming that any other position would put you at risk somehow, or that you are in danger of being systematically oppressed if you try to make society more equal. How are you at risk? On what basis do you regard yourself as being in danger of oppression, and from whom?

And you seem to think that “weak” and “strong” are the only possibilities — why do you regard true equality as impossible?

–IP

I bet the DNA found in Duke rape case story spreads slower than the defense version.

Started a people of color comics collective

I feel conflicted by this blog post. On one hand, I'm glad that some white people might vaguely care about dying black babies. But it seems too few. If you told 90% of white people about this, they would say you were a liar or that that you're exaggerating, or that we really should direct attention to the more important problem of white people having their feelings hurt. Even good hearted whites would maybe feel bad for two seconds and then go back to whatever. I'm really frustrated. If only we could get people good nutrition and prenatal care, and not living in neighborhoods full of poison, but as white feminist Echinde notes we don't have the political will to do it.

positively, a white woman tries to be an ally, but negatively, I'm not hoping for a widespread acceptance of the fact that just because you are poor it doesn't mean that it's ok to be as racist as you like or because there are poor white people, we all have to wait in line til the 12th of never. For all you fake ass allies who say, well, maybe after we help the Africans or after we help the white poor, see how Jay does it. He says hey, trans people AND women in Zimbwawe need help. Let me lend support. But I guess since being trans is a real oppressed group(the oppression olympics is useful for one thing- to stall those who would think their complaints drown out our cries for justice- so white men, especially you ones who only care about oppression as a means to hurt people of color, fuck you, I hope you die horrible deaths. If your oppression only comes up when you want to ignore people of color, it can't be that bad) that he can see how they link together.

I was surfing the interweb, and I noted that blackperson used these images on this thread, and that it was all good. Do credit blackperson(it's weird, but that's her nickname)





Note: Half the kids under 5 are ethnic minorities. Urelated, but interesting

Learned that Lance Tooks has several new GNs out. I am back to the land of the living!

It's late and I don't wanna sleep.

Paper turned in. Back pain persistant.

14.25 Pizza stolen, burger late. At least I have my new(well, old, I had read his K Chronicles before) hero.

A non profit working for women of color in the arts. I finally read the 4th carnival of women of color. Why comics is doomed and I'm becoming a black separatist. The reactions of a few comic book geeks in this thread have me saying yes, we're doomed. My dream is to have a women of color comics collective. Of course, we can count on this reaction.

13.5 pages on black lit. African final complete.

9.26 on black lit and certainly more than 4 on african final. A beautiful post about rape and denial.

Black babies die: White Americans Still Believe the Biggest Race Problem in the US Is Blacks Going to College. Sometimes I feel like we're all screaming, screaming as loud as we can, but we're in a well and nobody can hear and it's just terrible. Or even worse that we're on a crowded street, and everybody uis ignoring our cries for help. They say somebody else has it worse. Well, that somebody's not here,and you're not doing shit for them anyway, so what's the point of even bringing it up?

8 pages on black lit and more than 2 on my african history final. I got all blanked out, so I came back home.

Xeric Grants Awarded. I think July 31 '06 is the next deadline for you budding comics artists. And keep an eye out for Lea Hernandez' grants. Draw comics, kick ass.

Amazing Hot Gimmick Icons I finished my black gay paper today, with a works cited which was like 3 pages long. Then I was too tired to do anything before dashing off to my black lit final. Man and it's so late now, too. Yea, I feel like just surfing around, so I found this amazing post, and classism warning right here! I was reminded of the annoying rhetoric there is around poverty, like because some poor people have TV sets(maybe I'm crazy, but aren't some of those $30 now? And plus, there are various sources for TV sets such as gifts) that we shouldn't do anything more to help the poor. And one of the things that annoys my class priv'd self is also, the idea that poor folks can't have nothing. Like if a poor person doesn't buy what's on the mentally approved list of foods, it's OMG stealing, but when I use my federal ass work study money to buy the same food, it's ok, wtf? Just because I'm not poor it's ok? It's the same money.

Also, scroll down a bit to see the video I Am Not My Hair

A black mother deals with racism in the classroom. Whites buy the most rap music. Let's shut up about rap, and let's deal with real issues. And no, the real issue is not that blacks are bad people.

We had a black lit review session in which everyone argued loudly. So much better than our usual class where everyone stares blankly at our teacher. Although, it's a story about the human experience, not the AA experience is a phrase that is on my watch list. You may mean well, but come on, nobody says that Shakespeare is about the human experience not the white British guy who lived hundreds of years ago experience. Unpack! Unpack your ideas!

My black lit is painfully slow at 5 pages. Black gay paper edited and slightly fleshed out to 9.86 pages.

Editing, hiding in my room because I am scared of the thunder. This VG Cats comic is amazing. I hate racist commercials like that. Thank you, stupid commercials and annoying black people who always put down black people(ok, these guys are the most trouble), for destroying our children's self esteem about their race(see addicted to race #18)

3.78 pages on my black lit. Linux OS Tans. Free finals laundry. I put my disgusting comforter that hasn't been washed for the whole semester in the wash. Cultural Appropiation. Middle school math challenges.

2.86....urgggh... Kind starngers heal souls. Love and Rockets readers can get a $5 off $10 purchase or $10 off $50 purchase coupon for answering this survey. I will use mine to get more Love and Rockets.

It's free comics day. I'm not celebrating since I need 3 or possibly 4 more pages to fill quota for the day.

Part of a Hyphen Magazine article:

This new research is little known outside of the academic community and critics have ignored it as they describe campus life today to reflect their own political agendas. Critics of both affirmative action and campus diversity programs are skeptical about the educational benefits of campus diversity; they allege that racial and ethnic self-segregation among students is widespread and that it undermines the educational promise of a genuinely multicultural college community. In addition, some critics suggest that campus diversity programs themselves, including African American and Ethnic Studies programs, racial/ethnic student groups, theme houses and dorms, encourage separation rather than community and undermine intergroup contact and the learning that can result from it.


Now I understand the weird spate of editorials* and the bizarre obsession with self segregation(even in reporting a black student event as being mostly about an issue that whites have made up to take attention away from the fact that they are racists. Seriously, the biggest problem with integrating black people is that whites are so rude and racist). I can see how effective it has been among white students, because truly, do white people want to grow up and actually say, hey, let's go to events created by students of color, let's listen to students of color? No. So they stay in their all white groups, and blame us. I don't get why whites are against diversity on university campuses so much. It seems like they are still fighting the battles of their fathers to keep people of color out of university. They say the past doesn't matter, but how can that be true when they base their lives around a golden past that doesn't exist?

*Before that article came out, an Asian American student tried to spread knowledge. Of course, he was ignored.

Go black people. Also, go team comix. You all must use the comics slurper. If you don't know what any of these comics are, use the random button and go through until you find one you like, then subscribe + next random.

9 pages, 9 pages by god. Keith Boykin saved me from suffering with long quotes and insights. But omg, like, no pages for black lit. I have like half a page

Instead of doing my work, I've been obsessing about comics. I think everybody should obsess about comics. There's something beautiful and pristine about the fact that well, everyone can direct their own movie(well, ok, if they can draw). Comics can of course involve a lot of people, but I think they are at their best, when one person is telling one story. I love comics because they are a visual way of telling stories from that time you dated that girl, and then you broke up, to stories about lesbian fairies. I can't draw, but I have a secret dream of doing autobio comics, or any sort of comics at all. While comics is time consuming, all you really need is a pencil, some paper, and optionally a pen or brush to ink with, so they should be a democratic form of media. I love how no matter how much you keep up with the industry, there will always be some grubby kid with a pen, making some comic you have never heard of. It's bigger in the web, too. There are so many crazy comics you can't look at them all- I follow at least 20 daily, and that's just .000001% of all the quality comics and a much smaller percentage of the nonquality ones. I have to admit when I was a kid, I had a horrible webcomic. It wasn't much to look at, but I was creating, and that's all you can do. Geh, I can't write today,even after resting. In closing, I say, go team comix! (Note: if you're frigging amazing, get your pens ready! When are Lea Hernandez' wonderful women in comics grants gonna drop? June.

(Also, fantagraphics,oni press, top shelf, and of course, tokyopop and viz. Not all the comix companies. But the first ones that popped into my head.)

My radical fun post is the one below this one. Here I will rant. The whole comics groping story annoys me because I have to admit I hate people who act like talking about a guy for touching a woman(ok, he admitted to some shirt lifting, but that's still not appropiate at all) gives the guy the death penalty. We should not accuse or listen to accusers, because what if an innocent man gets punished? Well, innocent women are being punished every day. Really, it's not like they are going to put dude in jail for touching a woman's tit, and really, I'd like to admonish dirty old men to control their actions. Really, we can't complain if women don't want to work in comics if when a woman talks about sexual harassment, we act like she's just doing it for fun. I swear, with some of these people, he could have raped her up the ass in front of ten perfect witnesses and some people would say she's just trying to advance(because sexual harassment claims get you your own creator owned book at Marvel). I don't like it, because even if the guy is innocent, that means that guys who are not so innocent will think "Oh, everyone will let me get away with sexual harassment" and that's not cool.

So before, I get some work done, I'd like to say if you want to talk about sexism in the black community, don't reference rap videos from ten years ago. It's tired, and takes energy away from fighting actual sexism in our community. For example, complaining about black frat party invites that are all about women stripping down makes sense, because that comes out of our community, and we can stop it, but if all the white people are buying the booty shaking shake your titays rap, we'll still see these images, even if none of us buy music that degrades women(which I still encourage people to do, even if the music doesn't stop being produced, you don't have to hear that mess). And yea, to fight sexism, men need to step up, and be real men, I say. Mentor a kid, with your punk ass.

So today, I'm taking a break, with only light work being done. So from my work place, here's a special edition of racialicious conversations. Ok, So I'm shredding papers, and stuff, and this woman of color is stapling and this white guy is scanning, and they are talking about some lady who is out of the office, and this guy's like, so are you guys related? And the woman is like, well, she was born in Puerto Rico, and I'm from Arizona. So the guy is like you both have the same butterscotch skin tone, and the girl is like, I'm brown, and it goes on like that for several minutes like that, and ends with the girl chiding her about not taking compliments(I'm not seeing how this is a complement.) So yea, I think some people are dicks. And that's how not to act in the work place.

Ten pages due. Not 15. *passes out* Must..clean..fridge..

Ok, Fridge cleaned. Microwave turny thing broken. Today I saw my teacher's name on two essays in a book about black gay men, one on Rupaul and one on something or other. The Rupaul was from some thing called In Search of the Black Penis. Yea, so the whole class we wasted while he talked about his paper on Michael Jackson was not an anamoly? I am shocked. I'm tempted to ask, but that is totally not polite?

Starting on my African history final, a week before it is due, I read this post, my soul is healed.

Since I had time to read this beautiful post by Jenn, I'm hanging it up. White folk need to shut up thier whining, btw. Really, I'm not seeing how the fact that some chinese girl you don't even know doesn't think it's cool and amazing how you know all about her culture, because you watched the Joy Luck Club once or whatever, is such a big problem you need to bother her about it. Suck it up

6.5 and a feeling of moral superiority over those who use ADD drugs to stay up all night and study.

3.4. I totally give up. I'm just not making any progress. I think I'll turn in in 30 minutes. Nubian has something important to say about mental illness. Don't miss it.

The slog continues. More research than writing, so I don't have a dramatic update. However, Locas is in the NY Times. Woah am I out of it. I didn't even know about my hero Chris Ware either. And I spotted a new Gilbert Hernandez book too.

2.4 on my black gay paper. My goal is five pages a day for 3 days.

I'm taking a break. Tomorrow I'll start on the 30 pages of doom. But today, I'll talk about how I read this post on disablism. I say people with disabilities will be on the rise as more conditions are recognized as disabilities. For example, the inability to do calculus used to not really matter very much at all. Now everyone needs to go over to the disability center because they can't do calculus. I'm horrible at socializing. Now, as I'm a middle class person, doctors enjoy giving me random diagnoses instead of helping the disabled, so I have Asperger's syndrome. Of course, none of this helps the people with physical disabilities who are being discriminated against, or people with mental disabilities suffering to make it through the day and actually get medication, instead of lectures about how everyone else singlehandly saved a baby's life, so don't lay in bed all day,etc, but do you come to this blog to be enlightened?

The point I was attempting to make was if we weren't all such butts about everything, a whole lot of people wouldn't be disabled at all, they'd just be different. Like we all know that most of us can't run the Boston marathon- that's an ability we don't have, but it's not like everything is set up so you have to run 26 miles between everything. Oh well, this post sucks and is incoherent, and probably is full of able bodied priv and stupdity, but you should go to the writings by the people blogging against disablism. They have good prose, good ideas, and good spelling. I especially took a shine to this post.Although learning not to be an idiot is a long journey as most are thinking through this post

10 pages community psych paper, islamism paper turned in. I am in accidental solidarity with the immigrants, as I skipped work today.