London’s Burning and Why it Shouldn’t Be
I know I haven’t updated in ages. I’ve been really busy with personal matters. However, I think it’s important to make a comment about what some people are doing in the name of anarchy which is the exact opposite of what anarchy is.
I am an anarcha-feminist (anarchist with a feminist slant) as well as a pacifist. According to my understanding of anarchy meaning “without law” is almost an utopia state of human affairs were no one would harm another sentient being because they are fully conscious, compassionate human being. With that said, violence done is never anarchy as it breaks universal law of doing no harm.
Violence doesn’t change the system because it doesn’t change the people. People are the system – you and me. To change the system, there needs to be education since no one is born knowing how to be human. It’s something we are taught from mimicking others and watching.
With that said, what does it say about our society that people are so ill educated that they resort to violence since they can’t articulate words? It’s a very sad state of affairs. I think we should not place blame – as we’re all at fault – but rather work together to change how we educate our youth and members of our community so they will display their rage in a peaceful matter that people might actually listen to instead of making scenarios that people run from when even their actions no longer speak of the original intent.
METTA returns and other updates. The villagers rejoice. :)
I started a recording project about two or three years ago by the name of Metta – meaning “loving kindness.” It didn’t get very far as I felt my lack of knowledge of music hindered the project. I’ve been taking guitar lessons on and off for the past few years now and I am ready to resume the project.
I am trying to decide what to work on first. I should have something to soonish. Some noise for your ears.
I’ve been coping with personal issues? Not to give out too much information, about a month ago, my medication stopped working and I had a mental holiday from reality so I’ve been healing from that. It’s no different than having a broken arm but it’s a more invisible wound. It’s not easy.
For the past few months, I’ve been a hermit, really. I’ve been regrouping. I’ve been figuring myself out and what’s important. By that, I mean, how to cope with being so “extreme” in a less committed world. Most people aren’t as driven as me to be so dedicated to their beliefs and I had to learn to be more accepting of other people’s…. indecisive nature. I believe I am progressing. I “tolerate” being around meat now but I am not sure if it’s more of indifference that I can’t do anything to change. It’s being mature and accepting that *my* choice is the only choice I have to control. That even comes to things I disagree with. I’ve just been figuring out how to be *me* and stay true to myself without missing opportunities to get to know people who are a little bit different. I am trying not to be judgmental even of things I despise. People are define by what they do – not what they do if that makes sense and I am figuring that out.
Other projects on the table: I am also thinking of resuming a project to catalog the queercore and punk rock I have to introduce folks to new-old bands. I am really, really bad at writing reviews. I can’t tell a guitar riff from a bass line or drum patterns. Does anyone know where I can learn to listen to music? I am learning slowly with learning to play the guitar so I figured I can try to fake it until I make it.
I started working on a novel before my break – I am going to resume it. It’s going to be a straightedge approach to the occult about dipping into the left and right but ultimately walking a neutral path with a splash of a
Beautiful Mind with a queer touch.
I also have my business – Breathe. Resist. that’s going well. Going to work on some new designs for that. I added making malas – Buddhist prayer beads to the inventory. They are pretty rad for keeping counts of chants. To answer the unanswered question, I don’t believe in “god” as an atheist – however, I do believe our intentions manifest themselves so I try to put out positive vibes with everything and even bless my food. Which is why I sell prayer beads for Buddhism/Taoism, it’s not so much a prayer to a deity like with other paths but a wish for compassion, kindness, love, happiness, and peace for all sentient beings. Plus, I tend to follow eastern philosophies at heart. It’s about kindness and love. That’s that.
So, I’ve been coming up with new ideas and talking the ears off of people who know me to the point they are like, “Enough, Jess! Write more!” so I just might do that. Some topics to be covered in more in-depth in the near future: The Dharmaparadox (aka Jess’ theory of reality), more about living/being mentally ill, and how to stop hatin’ and start lovin’: how to cope with oppression.
How to Make The Holidays Good For Everyone – No Joke. Pass It On.
IT IS TIME TO MAKE THE HOLIDAY SEASON GOOD FOR EVERYONE
This has been a real hard year for almost everyone, and we just had a chance to celebrate Thanksgiving and express our thankfulness for what we have with our family and friends.
With the holiday season upon us, we have a real chance to share the joy of this season with those who are less fortunate than we are. It is often said, that the joy of a gift is not receiving one, but giving one.
My daughter has reminded me of how many people are hungry each and every day, we are reading about how many people are seeking food from food shelters, and such shelters are running out of food. We discussed this and she came up with a wonderful idea for the holiday.
If each of us decided to tell just one person not to give us a gift, but to buy a gift card to a food store (say in the amount of $25) which we gave to a food shelter, we could make a difference in the lives of many people.
Please ask someone to give you a gift card, please send it to a food shelter, please truly be part of this holiday season, no matter your religion or belief, this act will help those less fortunate then we are.
Pass this e-mail onto 10 friends, if you do, there is no promise of any riches, but there is a promise that you will feel better and you may help save a life.
I’m voting…
I’ve had my absentee ballot on my desk for weeks. It wasn’t until now that I finally decided I will vote. I don’t believe in the system or voting. I feel if voting ever changed anything it would be illegal. I feel that it doesn’t matter who is in office – Republicans or Democrats – that they are just two hands – right and left – attached to the same “man.”
For awhile, I was toying with voting for Mickey Mouse for Governor. He’s just as valid as a candidate as Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman – he’s the epiphany of corporate representation. What I know of Jerry Brown is from the first time he was governor in a little song by the Dead Kennedys called “California Uber Alles” and it goes something like this:
“I am Governor Jerry Brown
My aura smiles
And never frowns
Soon I will be president…Carter Power will soon go away
I will be Fuhrer one day
I will command all of you
Your kids will meditate in school
Your kids will meditate in school!”
So, I am not exactly running to the polls to vote for Jerry Brown. I am not really sure if having Jerry Brown in office will be better than being greeted by a Meg Whitman on television at home. But, after much thought, and being really upset at the way things are: That if I vote my voice isn’t heard – if I don’t vote my voice isn’t heard. Really, what is an anarchist to do living in a Republic society? But, I have decided to bite the bullet and vote for Mr. Brown. I know I am going to regret voting in the first place. However, one issue is drawing me out of my hole.
It is kind of funny to say this – that being a straightedge (no drugs, no alcohol, no smoking) vegan – but the issue I really care to vote on is to legalize marijuana. No, I don’t want to toke. I never have and never will. But, it isn’t my right to decide how others should live their life so I am voting Yes on Prop 19.
Will California turn into a state of stoners? I don’t really care. It is up to the people to decide what they want with their life. One of my biggest problems with marijuana asides from that fact it makes people more moronic – but that the drug trafficking is so drench in blood. There’s no regulations – you could have pot cut with rat poisoning for fillers – you don’t know. It is a hazard to the users. It also makes the need for gangs. If pot was legalized, there would be no reason for gangs to fight over pot routes. It’d help lessen crime. California is so neck deep in debt – but if the state could tax pot the debt would disappear. It really upsets me when marijuana users are like it’s cool to smoke but they don’t think about the real cost of their smoking. Which is why, it needs to be legal to stop crime and blood from flowing.
So, I am probably going to vote Democrat since it’s a little better than Republican. I am, however, voting for a little more peace in this world for people to live their life as they please as long as they aren’t hurting anyone else.
Oh, to people who say you can’t be an anarchist and vote: That’s just dumb. There is violence in being silent even if it isn’t my voice to begin with – but we got to work in something called “reality” and this is what is real – this messed up system I don’t believe in – but until we get a better setup – I’m doing my part to not make the world more messed up by inaction.
Here, There, and Back Again.
Hello blog! I haven’t written in quite sometime. I’ve been busy. My lecture on speciesism went well. I need to polish it some then I’ll post it on the blog. My business has been doing okay. Life has been good.
This Saturday I went to a matchmaking service. A gay matchmaking service, yep. It was okay. They don’t know if they’ll have anyone as a match for me. Specifically, because I am a “butch” that likes “butches.” We’re really rare, they said. I knew this. I don’t know what to do if the matchmaking service finds me too difficult to take on. Maybe hire a private detective? I have no idea. I don’t know who else to go to if the professional matchmakers don’t have a clue who to fix me up with. Having no dating pool and being too radical for “norms” and too “norm” for radicals is problematic. What is a vanilla monogamous straightedge vegan queer punk to do?
I’ve been struggling with something too. I have come realize I have no romantic interest in men. None. They are fine to be buddies with but I don’t want a male partner. It’s kind of hard too, because, I like to think race is as important as gender – meaning it doesn’t matter at all, but I have no romantic inclinations to male bodied persons. I thought it didn’t matter but no interest is there at all. I kind of realized this about a year ago when I was at art school and there was a pretty boy. I appreciated his beauty but it was more like admiring a nice sunset than anything erotic. I have been told that perhaps I am a mythical six on the Kinsley scale. I would like to think not but it seems to be the case. Which is odd, because I am for -equality- completely in everything but yet my sex preference is there. I guess I can’t help who I am.
I need to finish reading “Watership Down” and write a review about it. I also need to finish reading “The Dispossessed” by Ursula K. Le Guin. Getting back into the book “Contact” is also on my list of things to do. I have some things on my mind and I’ll start writing again later this week. Thanks for your patience.
Studs, Lecture, and Oil.
I’ve been busy working on a handful of projects. One of which has been studding/patching a denim vest. Apparently, studs are now becoming fashionable as Burberry is releasing their own line of studded biker jackets for the Spring. No joke. They do have one sweet coat, that I like the design called Warrior Biker Jacket which looks super expensive and out of some science fiction movie. Plus, it’s leather which isn’t vegan. I tried to get into riveting before my own clothing – so I found a cheap rivet gun that came with “all sizes” of rivets. Sounded like a good deal. Turns out, there’s special rivets for clothing and I got a wood riveting gun. I thought I could use rivets of any sorts to rivet but these were so long. Now, I can rivet a boat but that’s not what I wanted to do. I haven’t looked back into it since. DIY mishaps, right?
I am almost done studding the vest – debating if I’ll post pictures of it. It looks pretty awesome. I also started working again on my crust pants. This isn’t an overnight project. I’ve spent 10 hours on them so far (started out of necessity because I wore a hole in my legs by my crotch) and no where near being close to done. Mine are going to be different then those pictured because I am sewing on every single patch – around the patch with white dental floss. Which means, they’ll be as tough as nails and not fall apart but the trade-off is that it’d take forever. But, I’ll also be able to wash them.
Apart from that, I am working on putting together a lecture so I need to read a couple of books for that about oppression. There’s more to it then that, but it’s a secret. I am planning on turning the lecture into a zine and have it available online so other people can make their own presentation. More on that later.
Oh, remember that big oil spill that I wrote about a couple of months ago? The oil leak has finally stopped. We’ll see if it holds. It’s the biggest oil spill in United States history.
As if to state the obvious, I’ll be posting less as I get my lecture together plus finish up these paintings I’m doing. I’ll have an epic post once the lecture is completed though. I am also halfway done reading “Watership Down” and I’ll be writing a book review soon. I also need to get my paintings done if I’ll have them together in time to make a calendar so I have a bit on my plate right now. I’ll write again sometime. Blog isn’t forgotten – just on hold right now. 🙂
We Might Be Heading Towards an Ice Age in 2015! =O
Kaucylia Brooke’s Piece “Tit for Twat” Censored Plus Upcoming Artist Talk in LA
I originally wrote this piece for The New Gay but their website is down so I am posting it here so it can be read.
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Kaucylia Brooke’s artwork; entitled “Tit for Twat”, was censored at the Bucharest Biennale 2010. It was meant to be the centerpiece of the show but ended up not being shown at all. The piece has gay and lesbian themes. It is an ongoing project and not meant to finish. “Tit for Twat” is meant to be a master narrative about the origin of everything we know. It addresses the questions, “How do we know what we know?” and “How we decide what we know?” The piece was started in 1992.
“Tit for Twat” uses photography to explore the origin of everything we know. Instead of using photography to objectify the subject, Brooke gives the images a voice by using words. The idea is to turn the images from objects into speaking subjects to counter the idea of what they are just by looking at them.
“Tit for Twat” was inspired by talk shows in the early 1990’s. Back then, talk shows were big and trashy. I interviewed Brooke and she claimed that in order to get on a talk show that all you had to be was queer. She states that first the talk shows had the theme “These people are gay,” next it was “these are gay men who want to have children,” and finally it evolved to “femmes who like femmes.” Brooke’s said that Oprah claimed, “I don’t really understand it… I guess it’s like a four leaf clover. Once in a while, you find a special one – that’s what a gay person is like.”
The talk shows had a specific idea about having controversy which Brooke’s imitated in her piece. Controversy was made by having two people with opposing ideas. Someone would be planted in the audience from the religious right and someone on stage who represented something the religious right didn’t like. Thus born the tit for tat idea: for gay and against gay or the idea of “Tit for Twat.”
In Brooke’s piece is about the Garden of Eden and what goes on in it. She claims there are lots of things going on in the garden and they don’t all match up. There are two sets of characters in the garden. There’s Madame and Eve. There’s also Adam and Steve.
Madame and Eve’s world has nothing to do with Adam and Steve. When Madame and Eve were on the talk show, they boldly state, “Never mind Adam,” as to be a radical comment stating that’s not their world. In Brooke’s piece, the garden is bigger than what’s going on in the original narrative.
Why was such a playful piece censored? It is mind boggling that in this day and age that naked Greek statues are okay but two naked women holding hands aren’t. One idea that Brooke’s offered for possible reason behind the censorship was Romanian cultural politics. However, at the modern art museum in Bucharest there were paintings by local regional artists who used nudity and sexuality in their paintings. So, I don’t think that is it considering in eastern Europe that pornography is pretty common – as Brooke’s pointed out that pictures of people having sex is more the norm than not.
There was the claim by the director of the Geology Museum, where the piece was to be displayed, that the artwork was inappropriate for children. That in itself is a complicated thing, as to what is and isn’t appropriate for children. The other sexual charged paintings existed in the modern art museum – why not the photos at the art exhibit? Brooke’s thought it might be because photographs get different reactions then paintings. She also pointed out the figures in her photography aren’t pictures of “Angelina Jolie” – they’re not whatever contemporary culture considers to be a perfectly pluck body. They weren’t images the general population would look at or want to look at.
Brooke was willing to make compromises to show pieces of the work to just get it seen but she was told no. She was disappointed because she just wanted people to see the work.
To have an opportunity to see Brooke’s piece, “Tit for Twat” check out her web page or you can see Brooke’s giving an artist talk on June 24, 2010 at Big City Forum in Los Angeles. Brooke will be discussing ”Tit for Twat” as well as her project ”The Boy Mechanic” which documents lesbian bars.
Some days, The Most You Can Do Is Sew On Patches To Show Discontent.
Breathe. Resist.
That’s the best you can do to stay alive and not become one of the living dead. Some days, the most you can do is sew patches to show discontent with society. Discontent is the catalyst for change in men and nations (so said a fortune cookie I got!). I get people who get upset at me sometimes. I mean really upset and confused. “How can you be the way you are? You can’t change the world!” I believe I can. I can change myself. I can change the world. Sometimes that change requires patches being sewn on a vest or a pair of pants.
“A change of perception turns emotion into action. The search for a solution will end in revolution.” sings Abandon XVX in their song “To Defy” and it’s true. Unlike how we’re conditioned to be in school to be passive observers of life with the fable of news being something bigger than yourself – the truth is the revolution lies within you. Unlike some Doomsday theorists, I don’t believe that a violent revolution will change anything. Without the proper education – even if the state was overthrown, people would just set up the same system all over again because it’s all they know. In Spain, when there were the anarchist nations during the civil war was a result of anarchist material being in circulation and widely available for 75 years running. “It doesn’t have an affect if you don’t recognize the cause,” says Crass in the song Big A, Little A – which is very true.
My goal is to make a media empire to rival that of Rupert Murdoch. Might as well aim for the stars, if you miss, you’ll hit the moon.
Seriously, I came up with two ideas how to see the change I want to occur and to achieve them realistically. The first one would be to become president and turn the military into the biggest humanitarian aid effort the world has ever seen. Use force against those who force needs to use force (fascist, violent people) and completely revolutionize how food distribution is handled to end world hunger. Put a focus on renewable energy and listen to the experts about the environment. I am not personally sure if global warming is being caused by humans but I do know a mass extinction of the planet is going on and it is being caused by humans. That needs to be stopped. Money needs to be put into education to produce the next thinkers of the world – not merely dumb down next generation of workers. Studies have shown money is more efficient being spent on preventing not the result. Like, I was reading in The Real Cost of Prisons – that in some areas in NYC there are blocks that a million a dollars a year are spent on keeping the citizens incarcerated. If that money was spent on making the neighborhoods safe, food programs, and after school events – it would keep the people out of prison to begin with. It’s a money making institution that needs to be reformed. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. That is pretty ridiculous for a land marketed as, “the land of the free.” I would put more regulations on animal testing and find out truly how relevant it is to test things on another species. I would put an end to factory farming and antibiotic abuse. I would want to give the people the right to decide the president – not the electoral college. I want to get rid of ridiculous pork barreling. I want to change so many things. Yes, I am an anarchist but I can’t live in an anarchist bubble and pretend the state doesn’t exist. I need to work with what I got. An option of mine is to run for president.
The other option is to become a big media giant. “Don’t hate the media: become the media.” is a famous punk saying. Then I can keep people inform about what’s really going on. No more having to read a dozen different news stories to try to get an idea what’s going on. I’d have news relevant to the community so that people can take action. A pet peeve of mine is when people are like, “They control things.” “They make it happen.” The reality of the situation is that there is no mysterious “they” but only we. The thing is we’re conditioned to believe that there is some mysterious entity out there that controls us but really we control them. It’s time to take the power back to the people.
The rich are getting richer at the expense of the poor. People deserve their dues for their hard work but really, how many yachts does a person need? Things need to change. The entire institution needs reform. The only way to change the institution is to educate the people. Voting hasn’t really changed anything because the rich with their own agenda control the media and pay off whoever needs to pay off to keep themselves comfortable.
My agenda is for freedom. Not corporate enslavement. Capitalism needs to be abolished. So many people are fighting the branches but we need to get down to the root. We need a non-violent revolution from within the system – destroying the system to create the next evolution in the progress of mankind. If we keep walking the path we’re walking, by 2050, life as we know on this planet will be extinct.
As long as we have a system on have’s and have not’s there will always be the poor. Global wealth creates global poverty. I want everyone to have food to eat, a roof over their head, and clothes on their back. I want to put the power in the hands of the people were it belongs – not in the hands of the rich. The rich are shaking in their boots because people are starting to get the idea to revolt like in Greece. However, I don’t agree with Chris Hedge that the Greeks get it. They have the idea and are willing to fight because they don’t have food – but they don’t have the whole idea.
Instead of spontaneously revolution, what if we learned to put aside our differences for a half a second and address the fact we are all human and all have needs? What if we acknowledged that our current system is killing us and we need to stop. What if we just stopped and started building a world of friendship, community, and mutual respect? I don’t expect everyone to like each other – I don’t like everyone – but I respect everyone and our differences.
As Aus Rotten said, “What good is money when there’s nothing left to buy?” Under current regime, that is exactly what is going to happen. The only way to change things is to work together and build a better tomorrow. Who’s with me?
Cat Wars: Elder cat wins. Little cat goes home.
Tick-tock and Uni had some confrontation. Uni wanted to play with Tick Tock and Tick Tock didn’t want to play. Tick Tock swatted at Uni and Uni became scared of her. Tick Tock was defending her territory. However, there was never an outright fight. Tick Tock was annoyed by Uni was in her space but learned to accept her presence and tolerate her. I wish humans could do the same.
