Handsome and Frolicking

What do we do with a drunken sailor?

How soon is now?

Make him read about the life and times of an artsy-fartsy queer little gothic DJ therapist tribal belly dancer professor from hell.

Jun. 10th, 2020 @ 03:58 pm (no subject)

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For personal and professional reasons, most entries in this journal are friends-only. Not the way I'd prefer to do things, but that seems to be the way of things these days.

Jul. 3rd, 2008 @ 11:25 am (no subject)

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So I won a bet on Making Light, and was PayPaled $20 as a result.

$20 is cool to have, and I could buy a couple of books with it. But my school is running a book drive to help stock the public library at the Tukombo Girl's School in the Nkhata Bay District Malawi. So I figured I'd put in another $20 of my own, and with the help of some bargain shopping and my Amazon Prime shipping, see how far I could stretch it.

The literacy rate is just under 80% for men in Malawi but just below 50% for women. English is the first language and that all students are taught in English. In the villages those 40 and above are less likely to speak English but have family who do. The library is available to the whole community.

The project is in partnership with KUDO, and includes students from the Holistics program traveling to Malawi to work with women there on writing first-person narratives about their lives.

They're asking for "textbooks, fiction, biographies, children's books, and reference materials." Any suggestions on books (preferably paperback for weight, preferably affordable) that might be worth sharing and relevant for folks in Malawi? I've already dropped in my spare copy of "Ain't I a Woman" in the bin.

I'll gladly take offers of help padding the donation further. I figure I did nothing but make a salient point to someone on a forum, so I may as well pass something along.

Jul. 1st, 2008 @ 02:33 am Justice for Maria Vazquez?

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So, how's that contacting Trader Joe's going?

Seems they're attempting to take the weasel road, not that this should surprise anyone.

Anybody but me write to Bronco Wines?

Because I got a... very interesting response.

So, I heard back from my letter to Bronco Wine.

Here's the full text:

Dear Dr. [redacted],

Your indictment is without merit nor is it based on fact.

Why don't you wait until the truth is determined? In our part of America, you are innocent until proven guilty.

I am surprised that someone with your education is not able to have more "Common Sense." [sic]

Cordially yours,

Fred T. Franzia

And because I faxed the letter from work (my home fax was down), even though I used my own name and personal mailing address on the letter, Mr. Franzia mailed his response to my work, and cc'ed my Dean, who was rather upset when he assumed that I had used my university stationery to send the letter.

This blatant attempt at personal retaliation pretty much says it all, I think.

Jun. 18th, 2008 @ 03:41 am (no subject)

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There have been some good posts lately in the fatosphere about some of the OMG OBESITY implications of WALL-E.

Well, as I posted in response to

stitchtowhere's post,I saw a screening tonight. I would say the character concept has changed from the October reference (and talking with the friend at Pixar who got me in, that is indeed the case - "we had some problems with the humans" in the initial concept, he said.)

Humans, at least the ones of 2700, are not the villains, and obesity is not the cause of the Earth's demise (the people shown fleeing Earth in the past are all depicted as slim). It is consumption, and the trash produced by an endless array of consumable goods, that destroys the earth. While I wouldn't say the portrayal that made it to screen is size-positive, the year 2700 humans are pretty friendly and supportive of WALL-E. There is even a brief scene with a newly-formed couple frolicking (fatly) in the pool, which is pretty flirtatious in a way I thought was charming.

My Pixar friend said that essentially, the idea is that humanity was supposed to spend just 5 years on the luxury spaceship, but got trapped for 700 years, and because of the super-artificial situation (it was meant to be a total vacation to recruit people into going), got dependent in an artificial way. Originally they were apparently designed to be rather more gross and creepy, and had no intelligible lines; both of those were changed by the team working on the movie because of concerns about what it would suggest about fat people.

Now, the equation of sloth + fast food = fatties is still at the heart of this, and is undeniably problematic. There is a bit where one of the humans is knocked out of his floating chair and can't get up without help, so he just flops around on the floor like a turtle on its back or a huge infant. That really sucks.

But I would say that I liked the film much more than I'd expected based on reading the warnings about it. And I am impressed that Pixar-owned-by-Disney can take what sounds like it was undoubtedly a totally offensive initial character concept, re-work it based on concerns about size-ism, and make an improvement, even if it's not ultimately ideal. The friend whom I talked to is a fellow of size himself, and it was clear that he felt loyal to the film but also understood it could still have issues. I'm just glad to know the conversation is even happening inside a media company of this stature.

Jun. 18th, 2008 @ 01:53 am (no subject)

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enthralled

Happy gay marriage day in California!

This photo gallery brought me to tears over and over again, in a way I remember from back in 2004. Only this time it seems likely that the participants really will get to be "spouses for life"! (The Day 1 gallery is smaller but has great pics from Oakland and other counties who did more weddings on Monday.)

Just look at these profiles! And the videos... the "Scenes of a Historic Day" one killed me.

Jun. 13th, 2008 @ 03:44 pm (no subject)

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Jun 13th, 2008 | FRESNO, Calif. -- State officials are shutting down a San Joaquin Valley farm labor contractor that hired a pregnant teen who died while pruning grapes last month.

Authorities suspect 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez died because Merced Farm Labor denied her proper access to shade and water even as she worked in 100-degree heat.

The Department of Industrial Relations issued the stop work order Thursday.

Labor officials say a follow-up investigation showed the company still wasn't complying with heat illness regulations.

Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet is also in the process of revoking the contractor's license.

Merced Farm Labor's attorney did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

ProfBW gives some updates on the situation, and warns that Merced is basically getting a wrist slap - as soon as they prove they've changed their practices (and to whose satisfaction?) they're in business again. And meanwhile they're blaming Maria's family.

She suggests writing California state legislators, and donating to the UFW who are really the main force agitating for workers' rights in the fields. You can also still send your condolences to Maria's family.

I haven't yet had a response to my fax to Bronco. My letter to TJ's should just be getting to HQ now.

Jun. 11th, 2008 @ 04:46 pm Worked to death, follow-up.

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To follow up on my post yesterday, here is the letter I sent Trader Joe's HQ. The letter to Bronco Wine Company is here. You can also go to ProfBW's blog here to send condolences to Maria's family, and donate to help with her funeral expenses if you choose.

Trader Joe’s
800 S. Shamrock Ave.
Monrovia, CA 91016

To Whom It May Concern:

Enclosed please find a letter to the Safety Director and CEO of
Bronco Wine Company. Bronco owns West Coast Grape Farming, who in
turn provides grapes used in making Charles Shaw brand wines, sold
exclusively by Trader Joe’s.

Due to the heat-related death of Maria Vasquez Jimenez, who was not
provided with shade or water in violation of state law while she
labored for West Coast Grape Farming on a 95 degree day, I am
refusing to buy Charles Shaw brand wines until and unless Bronco
Wine Company takes the actions outlined in my enclosed letter. I am
encouraging others to do the same. I purchase about 3 bottles of
wine a week, more for the summer party/picnic season, and often
bought Charles Shaw in bulk for entertaining. I frequent the TJ’s
locations in Oakland and Emeryville.

I would like to ask that Trader Joe’s use its purchasing power and
corporate might to insist that Bronco Wine take the steps outlined
in my letter, in order that workers’ rights, health, and safety be
protected in the future; that Maria Vasquez’s family be helped with
her funeral; and that the company officials responsible for worker
safety be held accountable. I would particularly like to see TJ’s
pull Charles Shaw wine from your shelves until this situation is
resolved.

Sincerely,

Jun. 9th, 2008 @ 04:01 pm Trader Joe's shoppers:

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Contact your local Trader Joe's and ask them to ask management to pull "Two Buck Chuck" (Charles Shaw) wines from their shelves until West Coast Grape Farming addresses the illegal labor practices that killed Maria Vazquez. A link to your local store(s) is availble in the comments to the blog post.

Jun. 4th, 2008 @ 04:57 pm (no subject)

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Oh hey look. Seal Press took my suggestion of doing anti-racism training with Stir Fry Seminars.

Pity they're not making it mandatory for employees, just "encouraging" them to attend. I guess the Fab Four at Seal are going; I'm not holding my breath for them to get better about listening to women of color. Maybe they'll get a little less tone deaf to racism though. Lee Mun Wah and his crew are pretty devastatingly amazing on that count.

(Hmm, note to self, work "The Color of Fear" into one of the Advanced Family Therapy classes sometime in the next year.)

May. 13th, 2008 @ 05:37 pm "How do I find a therapist?"

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I have answered this question a number of times in various places, and decided to make it a public post that people can save to memories and I can refer back to as needed.

The following is my opinion, and is meant to be taken as such. For those who might get linked to this who don't know me, I have an MA and PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy, am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Colorado and am working on getting California to license me as well, and teach graduate students in an MA Counseling Psychology program that leads to licensure. I have been doing clinical work for nearly 11 years at the time of this post, and have been a client in therapy multiple times as a child and adult. I've participated in accreditation of graduate programs, and have published book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed journals.

So the best way to find a therapist is to talk to someone who has a therapist they like, who works with concerns similar to yours. Word-of-mouth is far better than starting with a directory. But that's not always possible.

In the absence of ideas from others in the area, I suggest you have a look in your zip code at http://www.therapistlocator.net - it's the website for Clinical Members of my professional association. Many therapists have "expanded listings" available there which can give you some ideas about their practice. Yes, I am biased toward Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists. It's the only profession whose clinical training I know enough about to be moderately comfortable recommending in a general way, and yet there are plenty of mediocre people in my field just like there are in the others (Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Licensed Professional Counselor, Licensed Psychologist, etc.)

There are hundreds of online resources for finding therapists; however you should realize that most of them are "pay for play," or fee-based directories. Therapists are required to abide by the laws regarding advertising set by their state, which may determine whether they need a license to practice, and what titles they can use for themselves, but these laws vary widely. National groups in addition to AAMFT (my national) that I know to be reputable include the American Psychological Association, the American Counseling Association, and the National Association of Social Workers. If they have directories, I'd tend to trust them.

I strongly encourage you to ask as many questions as you need over the phone, in order to get a feel for their personality. I personally didn't offer a "free consultation" because I found that people tended to no-show for them at a high enough rate that it wasn't worth the time I was taking out of my schedule. I had one or two potential clients taka a lot of exception to that, and I've seen people talk as though it's somehow shady for a therapist to not offer it. Obviously my opinion differs. My way of allowing people to check me out was to take time with them on the phone.

If you are someone who wants to research your therapist before meeting with them, as well as get a feel for them personally, I generally suggest asking things like:

- how long they've been in the field

- what their degree is, and what it's in (good: MA or PhD or PsyD in something like counseling psychology, counseling social work, marriage and family therapy, psychology, etc. Bad: bachelor's degree or some pseudo-degree with its own acronym, fields that sound dubious or woo-woo. "Sexology" is one of my personal buzzwords.)

- what their license is (good: LMFT, LPC, LCSW, licensed psychologist. Also fine: "I'm being supervised toward licensure as _____." Bad: not licensed, not working toward licensure. Some states allow this, but it is the category of practitioners most likely to have a grievance filed against them. Do with that info what you will.)

- tell them a bit about your situation. See what kind of questions they ask - do they seem able to summarize your concerns in a way you agree with? Do they seem to get intrusive or try to treat you over the phone? How do you feel when you're telling them your reasons for wanting therapy? Do you like them? Do they annoy you?

- ask them if they frequently see clients with similar concerns.

- ask them if they have a specific theory or methodology they use, and if it's not familiar to you, ask if they can briefly tell you about it in a way a layperson can understand. I call Quackwatch on some of the currently trendy pseudo-therapies like Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Thought Field Therapy, Emotional Freedom Technique (not to be conused with Emotionally Focused Therapy which is VERY well researched and a great approach), and (my opinion) EMDR. I am generally willing to try to answer questions about therapeutic approaches to the best of my ability, though as an MFT, my speciality is in family systems therapies, not in individual/psychodynamic therapies. Wikipedia pretty much sucks in this regard - most of the theories with good-sized entries have been written by promoters of said theories, and tend to be the new shiny quacky ones.

- you should ask about anything that would be a special concern for you. Do you want a therapist who is a feminist, or who understands social justice? Do you need access accomodation due to a disability? Do you want someone who understands queer people in general, or specifically transmen? Do you want a queer person or a person of color as your therapist, or would it be OK to see a straight or white person who has experienced working with marginalized people? Do you want someone who understands and supports Health At Every Size? Do you want someone of the same religion as you, or no religion at all?

- ask them how therapy with them typically looks. Do they normally see clients every week, every other week, or let the clients set the pace? Do they meet for 45 minutes, 50 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes? What's the typical length of treatment for someone with your concerns? (my personal preference is to run screaming from anyone who says they do Brief/Brief Solution-Focused therapy or says they can treat people in fewer than 12-16 sessions, but that's me. My personal experience is that my clients typically came weekly for 3-4 months if they were very distressed to start, then bi-weekly for another 3-5 months, but it varied a lot.) What's their cancellation policy, and is it one that will work for your life? Do you need someone who's on your insurance? Someone who can see you in the evenings or on weekends?

- are they experienced with working with couples and/or families? I'm biased as an MFT myself, but I often found couple work to be helpful in treating many of the "individual" problems people called about, and the efficacy research supports use of couple/family therapy for many problems. You may not care about this point, but I'm including it because I wish more people would ask it!

And then you get to go with your gut. :)

Remember, you're the consumer here - it's your money and time you're investing. You have the right to ask for your questions to get answered or to move on.

I have rejected potential therapists for a variety of reasons. I excluded one therapist from consideration when I was shopping around because she acted really frustrated when I said I wanted every-other-week sessions - she really only met with people weekly. I ruled out another guy who had an MA in MFT but a PhD in neuropsychology, because he had no coherent answer when I asked him how his PhD work (in a very hard science field) impacted his understanding of his MA work (in a very systemic field that was born out of rejecting the medical model.) I ruled out a woman who said she was straight but "really liked working with gays and lesbians" because something about her answer made me feel like a science project (and besides, I had just said to her that I identify as bisexual.) I ruled out a guy who asked me a million questions when I called about services, then tried to schedule an appointment without giving me a chance to ask him any (I'm the customer here, bub.)

You're the customer. You have the right to find a therapist you can work with.

Yes, you can link to this. No, you don't need to ask me.

Also: this post is not intended as a stimulus for people to tell me about why I'm wrong about (insert field or approach here). You're welcome to have a different opinion than me. I've based my opinions on a lot of research and experience in the field, and I keep up on new developments pretty well. If you want to defend a particular therapy, please post about it in your own journal.

May. 12th, 2008 @ 02:40 pm Yogurt: not a woman's best friend

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"Yogurt: What else could a woman possibly need?"

Like Kate, I have sworn off low-fat yogurt forever. I do not eat it. It is the worst kind of diet food, guaranteed to leave me STARVING in about ten minutes as the simple sugars smash through my insulin reserves and then cause an ~~Earth-shattering kaboom~~ incredible plummeting of my blood glucose that makes me nauseated and shaky.

I eat Brown Cow cream-top, and TJ's flavored Greek-style yogurts (I happen to like the honey and fig flavors best), because they are full of calories and fat, things that keep me functional if I'm eating first thing in the morning. And also? NO ADVERTISING. No one is trying to convince me that my yogurt is just as good as a slice of pie, or a candy bar, or a rare steak, or any other damn thing. It's just yogurt, being good for what yogurt is good for: being creamy and tangy and full of calcium and good for ye olde gut flora, plus easy to cope with when one is not a huge fan of breakfast but does not want to be ravenous by lunchtime.

Yogurt ads fill me with rage.

Apr. 25th, 2008 @ 01:50 am (no subject)

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cynical

Why is simplicity so appealing?

On the one hand, the Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Program is really fierce and I respect it and even believe in what it advocates. I think the author has tapped into a really deep vein of awesome and struck something that resonates quite deeply.

On the other hand, as a project it has some serious problems when it comes to looking beyond straightforward gender analysis and start to think about things from the angles of race... class... queer theory....

Hasn't there been enough bullshit go down in the past few ~~weeks~~ ~~months~~ ~~years~~ civilizations that maybe we could learn the power of "yes, and..."?

I have physically put myself on the line for friends, both male and female. I have jumped up and thrown myself between a Creepy Guy (tm) who didn't appreciate me pushing him out of my personal space on the dance floor and came over to pick a fight with my guy friends. I have gone up to women and men and said "if you need me to be your girlfriend tonight because that person is bothering you, say the word." I have called out people leaning on service workers and skeeving on women I don't know and touching people's hair. I believe in direct action and in creating a culture of accountability to one another, of disrupting the shitty status quo by trying to create a better one.

But can we please go beyond just taking things one dimension at a time? $100 says one of the women who's "taking the pledge" will, sometime in the next 6 months, freak out and report a transwoman or butch dyke for "going in the wrong bathroom" and accuse them of perving on women. $100 says some black man is going to ask a white woman for the time at a bar and some other white girl is going to flip. $100 says some of these women are going to blithely stand by while a woman of color makes all the gestures of discomfort and aren't even going to see it because white people tend to look right through people of color unless they're bothering us with their presence. $100 says that a guy in a t-shirt and sneakers is gonna get jerked up short by security while some dude in a suit leches all over a woman in the very same room.

It's been made abundantly clear this week that a whole bunch of women are not to be trusted to have the analytical tools God gave my cats. I don't know how to hand people tools and not immediately flinch at thinking who they'll be turned on. But you don't have to beat the plowshares back into swords to bash someone's head in with them.

Apr. 25th, 2008 @ 12:32 am (no subject)

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pissed off

In re: this Further Adventures of Stupid White Women, I just have this to say:

God damn it, you fucking jerks, get out of my movement before I lobotomize you with a grapefruit spoon so you can't keep fucking up on a daily basis.

Apr. 25th, 2008 @ 12:18 am Saturday April 26th, Benefit for Burlesque!

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Sparkly Devil and Little Minsky's Present: A Benefit for Burlesque
Legends and Exotic World!
Saturday, April 26
Club Deluxe, 1511 Haight, San Francisco, CA
9pm, $10

The shining stars of San Francisco burlesque have come together to
raise funds for three venerable living legends of burlesque: Holiday
O'Hara (San Francisco), Lottie the Body (Detroit), and Toni Elling
(Detroit)!

The Exotic World Burlesque Museum is a nonprofit organization and the
ONLY burlesque museum on the planet! Every June, hundreds of burlesque
performers - from living legends to budding beauties - converge upon
Las Vegas for the annual Exotic World Pageant, to shimmy, shake, and
overtake Sin City!

Lottie, Toni and Holiday were all burlesque performers in the 1960s
and will be among the Living Legends attending this year's event in
Las Vegas. 100% of the proceeds for this benefit show will go towards
their travel costs, and the remaining amount will be donated directly
to Exotic World.

Please help us get these amazing women out to Las Vegas so they can
share some authentic burlesque history with today's current
performers!

Check out this star-studded lineup!

Miss Indigo Blue of the Atomic Bombshells (Seattle)
Pa-Ooh-la the Swedish Housewife (Seattle)
Kitten on the Keys
Mariel a la Mode
Reigning King & Queen of Carnaval, Kellita & Everett
Tit 4 Tat
Coco Noir
Lady Satan
Dottie Lux
Bella Trixx
Professor Shimmy *That's me!
Delilah
Gia Haad
Sparkly Devil
Plus more special guests TBA!
Pick up artist: Lady Monster
And everybody's favorite drunk MCs, Kingfish & Eddie!

Plus, a fabulous raffle featuring special gifts and goodies -
including two all-inclusive passes to Exotic World weekend, worth over
$300!!

Cover is $10 and donations are appreciated! Club Deluxe is 21+, and
the show starts at 10pm.

Add us on MySpace! www.myspace.com/sfbenefit

Professor Shimmy teaches a lesson!

Apr. 23rd, 2008 @ 01:31 pm What is appropriation? a brief meditation.

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cranky

Appropriation means you can take what you want, from whomever you want, without too many consequences, whether they give it to you or not.

Appropriation means you can take women's bodies and turn them into your therapy, you can take something that was allegedly about women liberating their own bodies and turn them into a call for public adulation of you, and you can explicitly reject the notion that you should be the one owning your desires and waiting for women to approach you because it would be "shaming" and you wouldn't get enough takers. You also get to tell women that you know what is healthy for them better than they do.

Appropriation means you can take others' ethnic and racial and spiritual identities, claim them as yours, decide you don't like how gender roles work in those cultures and that you will personally subvert them, glom bits of their rituals together along with cultural relics that you may well have no legal right to, and charge money for people to come watch, all in the service of working out your trauma issues. Even when people say they want you to stop.

Appropriation means you can take, take, take, take, and when you are called on it, you can retreat into your victimhood, and make it all about you. You, and your poor hurt feelings.

Appropriation means the consequences that are most important to you are the consequences to YOUR feelings when you get caught.

(thanks to

delux_vivens for keeping me in touch with all things Pretendian, among many many other things she brings to my life)

Apr. 22nd, 2008 @ 01:47 pm (no subject)

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enraged

Dudes (and women):

My boobs are not Magical Healing Bags that will solve your problems and soothe your wounded psyche that is So Fucking Oppressed Because Of Your Desires. I do not need you to grope them in order to tell me that it is OK for me to be sexual or my boobs are good enough to be sexualized.

I live in a world where I, and other women, are sexualized every single day whether we want to be or not, sexualized to a degree that men do not face and which, for the most part, they are free to opt out of with few if any repercussions. Shit like this "project" just rams that reality straight past my gag reflex without my consent.

I have suddenly realized why I cannot STAND group gropes in public spaces - because I do not want the space around me to be sexualized without my consent, and it happens more or less all the time anyway, but having every space made into a public grope zone just wears me the hell down and skeeves me out.

Anybody defending this to me gets one free trial of the Open-Source Swift Kick to the Balls Project or the Open Source Stupid Project, your choice. It's strictly opt-in after that, of course. But if you're obviously putting your stupid on display, well, you know.

Here's what this douchebag's thickheaded denial of his immense straight white male privilege, and his insistence that he couldn't possibly be making women uncomfortable and even if he was, why wouldn't anyone give him credit for liberating other women with his Big Amazing Magic ~~Penis~~ Brain makes me want to know:

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU FEARED/THOUGHT YOU MIGHT BE RAPED?

Even for a fleeting moment. Even if in the very next heartbeat, you said to yourself "oh, that's silly" or "stand down, brain stem, no red alert needed thanks!" Even if you realized that the footstep in the hall was your roommate or the shadow in the garage was a neighbor's cat, even if the person coming toward you on the street then smiled at you and wished you a good afternoon. Even if you had the thought and chose to walk home alone anyway, chose to park where it was convenient instead of where it was well-lit, even if you didn't let the thought change your behavior one iota. When was the last time your stomach knotted or your heart jumped sideways because your lizard brain thought "I could be raped"?

A month ago? A week ago? Yesterday? This morning?

Never?

I am not going to set up an LJ poll about this because they are too self-selecting to prove anything. But I am certain that the answers for men and for women would, in aggregate, turn out to be very different.

I do not need your douchebag project and your entitled, androcentric justification of it to do anything for me, Mr. Con Jackass, other than SHUT UP AND GO AWAY.

ETA: Thanks to tablesaw for jerking me right back out of my "OH JESUS FUCK I FUCKING HATE ALL MEN SOME DAYS BECAUSE THEY ARE DYING OF TESTOSTERONE POISIONING BUT NOT FAST ENOUGH!" initial response. Gentlemen: feminist men are hot. ~~Unfortunately, since apparently the OP DELETED ALL THE COMMENTS, I can't show you just *how* hot. Still, thanks dude.~~ The comments are back, but all frozen. At least the record is now complete, for the moment anyway, until this Big Internet Celeb decides he's ready to wipe the slate clean.

Apr. 16th, 2008 @ 01:06 am (no subject)

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The whole invisible (something) category of lolcats consistently cracks me up. Today

gordonzola independently hit on an idea that had been tossed around by me,

whittles,

rivetpepsquad, and

fightingwords a while back: use of lolcats to communicate ideas from Peggy McIntosh's Invisible Knapsack essay (.pdf file) on white privilege. I suppose he created a bit of a monster, as you can see below...

( click here if you dare )

Apr. 11th, 2008 @ 11:52 am (no subject)

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So I have been thinking about one interesting effect of the near-ubiquity of the Internet. The effect is this:

YOU WILL GET CAUGHT.

What I mean is, pre-interwebs, it was possible to be very very sloppy about providing proper attribution to the sources for your ideas (a benign re-frame of the concept of "flat out stealing"). In 1985, how many people were there in the world who have heard about, let alone were familiar with, some semi-obscure now-defunct East German art rock band, to know that some other semi-obscure Midwestern new wave band was lifting their lyrics?* Yes, at that point it's possible that some music nerd on Usenet might have started up a conversation that led to some other music nerd going "hey wait a minute..." but the sheer odds were in your favor if you really wanted to try and make a career out of plagiarizing other people's work, as long as you stayed in some fairly small and out-of-the-way corner of knowledge.

Now that there is so much information available online, so much social networking, so much connectivity, it is much harder to fly under the radar. Whether you are ripping off other people's t-shirt designs, lifting text for your trashy romance novel, or biting the ideas of a performance art group for your music video, you are subject to several orders of magnitude more public scrutiny than in the past. If you act like you're saying something new and different about the intersection of gender and race, when really you're just ripping off women of color, you're going to get called out and I sure as hell hope it bites you in the ass.

There is an entire blog devoted to making sure your pathetic inability to come up with your own visual/graphic ideas is publically mocked, and perhaps legally actioned. No source is too obscure, no interest too far to the right on the Long Tail that someone out there will not intimately know the person or entity you are jerking around.

Even if you're not plagiariszing per se, if you're making "visual reference" to other works, and those other works just happen to be incredibly racist, don't be shocked when you get called on the carpet for it.

I kind of love this about the Internet. Scrutiny does not completely undermine privilege - Todd Goldman still makes a jillion bucks. Amanda Marcotte still has a book out and will probably continue to get hired for political jobs. Annie Liebovitz will still be regarded as a great American photographer and will get covers on big magazines. But scrutiny, over time, begins to build a culture of accountability. The more that people get called out, the more validating critical mass there is behind the act of demanding that the powerful humble themselves when caught with a hand in the cookie jar. (Getting them to *stop raiding the damn cookie jar* is a longer-term cultural change, which I am not naïve enough to think is going to happen any time soon. )

I am all in favor of throwing more weight behind the right of authors and artists to defend their work. As an author, I'm very pleased to think that if someone rips off a big piece of my dissertation or a chapter I've written, someone else might spot it and say "hey, that's not cool." I'm glad that artists without gallery shows and authors without book deals are both informed and empowered by the community of the Internet to cry foul.

It's not a panacea. All of the mechanisms of oppression still apply to who gets the most support, who gets believed, and who gets told to "lighten up." Popular white dudes still get more support than "angry" women of color. It's no accident that Stephen Ambrose got to "apologize" but Ward Churchill was fired**. It's no accident that Jayson Blair's case was all over the news, and his subsequent work has been in advocating for the mentally ill, but Stephen Glass is applying to the New York Sate bar association, had a movie made about his life, and has even been hired to write journalism pieces again.

But I like that it is no longer nearly so easy to cover your tracks when stepping on the work of others.

* Example is hypothetical.

** Not that I'm a fan, but still.

Apr. 10th, 2008 @ 01:41 am (no subject)

What's she building in there?

1 difference made
What difference does it make?
Where you are

HUBBA HUBBA REVUE: CELLBLOCK DOUBLE-D!

Friday, April 18th, the DNA Lounge transforms into the Crossbar Hotel!
Our Guards, Jailbirds & Sexy Cellmates are ready to tease and tantalize you into a full confession!

Don’t spend this night in solitary, ’cuz there’s a Laugh Riot goin’ on!

Featuring:

Alotta Boutte’!
Rubenesque Burlesque!
Odessa Lil!
The Indra!
Kiss Que C’est Burlesque!
Honey Le Bang!
Sparkly Devil!
Roxy Shocks!
Lady Satan!
Siren Sapphire!
Penny Luck!
Sam Quentin!
Professor Shimmy! (that's me!)
Chi Chis del Fuego!
The Burlesqueteers!
Gorilla X!
Citty Rich!

... and The Kingfish & Eddie Dancers!

With your MC’s, Kingfish 176-617 and Eddie Dane 176-761!

Live, from the Prison Infirmary: DR. ABACUS!

PRISON SNITCH DISCOUNT! From 9PM to 10PM, only at the box office night-of-show, tickets are just $10!

FREE SOAP AT THE DOOR! (While supplies last!)

HUBBA HUBBA REVUE: CELL BLOCK DOUBLE-D!
Friday, April 18th, 9PM
DNA Lounge, 375 Eleventh St. SF

$15, 21 & Up w/valid I.D.
$12 advance tickets at http://www.dnalounge.com

See more at http://www.hubbahubbarevue.com and http://www.dnalounge.com

And don't forget the video reel on Youtube!

Apr. 4th, 2008 @ 04:46 pm SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY

What's she building in there?

3 differences made
What difference does it make?
Where you are

I am quoting

rivetpepsquad's text here, thanks J!

L-Boogie Day at Julie's Supper Club April 6th

There are a finite number of amazing people in the world. One of the finest people I know - the poet, activist and go go dancer Lauren Wheeler (aka

fightingwords, aka L-Boogie) has recently upped the ante on her awesome with both her political activism and some serious pure kindness caretaking for others. Well in light of this (and likely a few other less public things) her friends have decided to nominate her for sainthood.

In light of this new title we're throwing her a party. So please join us at the party to celebrate the amazing L-Boogie.

There will be bands, burlesque and a kickin silent auction to help fund the efforts of Saint L-Boogie to continue doing all of the good that she does in the world.

*Spread the Word*

Deeply rooted in political protest, L-Boogie is tangible proof that the written word, dance, and debauched drinking can be agents of change. Other influences on the development of L-Boogie also include disparate musical influences like Hip Hop, Electronica, R&B, Rock, Goth, Industrial and other earworms.

L-Boogie Day is a time-honored celebration of the passionate, sexy, funny, and scorching L-Boogie. L-Boogie aficionados rave about the catchy swing blues rhythm and refreshing perspective. Many have faith in L-Boogie as an art form for the forces of good and righteousness.

There is a movement afoot to make L Boogie Day a national holiday and there is stiff competition as it is also Tartan day in both the US and Canada. Come join the movement!

WHAT: A party to celebrate all that is fly and fabulous about Miss L-Boogie!
An evening of all things that swing and shuffle. A night of dancing the blues away.
Not only will there be hawt Burlesque and Standup, there will also be a Silent Auction. Oh, and dancing, lots of it.

WHERE: Julie's Supper Club, 1123 Folsom St, at 7th - across the street from Brainwash

WHEN: Sunday, April 6th from 7pm till Midnight, or they kick us out - whichever comes first!

WHO: You! Those fabulous folks in the know. Anybody who likes to get down and shake a tail feather. Be a do-gooder and have yourself a L-Boogielicious time.

HOW MUCH: $5-20 donation. No one turned away for lack of funds. All donations go to help the L-Boogie Day movement.

Can't come to the party but still want to contribute to the L-Boogie Day movement? Add to the pot here: http://tinyurl.com/yt8kt8

PERFORMING:

Walking the dirty streets of the big city and the farm towns, Vagabondage sings you tales of lonely alleyways, late night busrides and unfortunate incidents with spicy spicy food. Comprised of a poet, an actor, a storyteller, a ham, a vaudevillian, an accordion player, two guitar players, a kazoo player, and two singers, this duo will sing songs to make you laugh, cry, and raise your glass and sing along.

Sparkly Devil is a glittering collision of sass, class, ass, and over-the-top vaudevillian entertainment. She first cut her rhinestone-encrusted teeth in Detroit's gritty cultural underground some seven years ago - a whiplash combination of sultry sex-appeal, saucy attitude, and slapstick humor, she cites her primary influences as Sally Rand and Daffy Duck. With her Cheshire cat grin and knock-em-dead curves, you won't know which set of cheeks to pinch! For more Sparkly, visit her site.

People who know better refer to Kingfish as Jim Sweeney, a long-time San Francisco show-producer and entertainer who has been co-creator and M.C. to such Bay Area extravaganzas as "Spectacular! Spectacular!", "Creepshow Peepshow" and "Hubba Hubba Revue."

San Francisco-based Unwoman, also known as Erica Mulkey, creates darkly beautiful music. Her repertoire is a powerful collage of vocals, cello, and electronics. Matthew Heilman of Starvox.net writes, "Her style ranges from a kind of experimental trip hop to swirling darkwave atmosphere with just enough static and noise to give it that extra technical punch."

Marlo Gayle is a moody bastard who smiles all the time so he doesn't have to deal with you people asking what's wrong. He writes naughty short stories, takes pictures of the queer literary scene, and has been known to say and perform things just to fuck with people's heads

Cera Byer has been studying dance, music, and theater since the age of 4. She is trained in classical piano, musical theater, jazz, and blues vocals, and guitar. Her dance experience includes Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Afro-Haitian, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian, Kathak of India, Dunham Technique, Salsa, Samba, Tribal Bellydance, classical and contemporary Persian dance, and most recently, Flamenco. In addition to being the founder and Artistic Director of Damage Control Dance Theater, Cera has performed professionally with Shahrzad Dance Company (Classical and Contemporary Persian dance), PULSE Modern Dance Ensemble (Modern), Ultra Gypsy Dance Theater Company (Innovative Tribal Fusion Bellydance), Rara Tou Limen (San Francisco's only Carnaval contingent representing Haiti), as well as presenting her solo choreography in festivals, concert stages, lecture demonstrations, and private events across the Bay Area and beyond.

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I am donating a handmade dance/shopping bag and a pair of "tribal hair sticks" to the auction. I am not sure if I'll be there or not, just yet - being in class all day Friday and Saturday pushes everything I wanna/gotta do onto Sunday. But Bay Area folks: please go if you can?

Edited to add: Auction items listed here!

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