Amazing Photo

From this LA Times story.

News on the gays

President Obama prepares to extend healthcare benefits to same sex couples in order to swell growing criticism over his administration's dismissal to challenge the Defense of Marriage Act, Equality California finally decides to reach out to Los Angeles' Black community.

In a newsletter update sent yesterday, Executive Director Geoff Kors and Marriage Director Marc Soloman announced (note: emphasis are theirs):
""


The only problem?

The staff is overwhelmingly white. See for yourself.

In the words of one friend:

1) wow, we clearly lost in the election because of black people
and
2) we didn't give a damn about focusing any energy in any communities of color until now, even though we've been campaigning for years, but now we finally care. nevermind the fact that JRC has been a coalition partner for years and years and received no support...now we're going to (pretend to?) incorporate them into our campaign, mostly because we're trying to feign some kind of legitimacy.

...among other things (South LA is the heart of the black community, opening an office there rather than putting person power and $$ behind JRC, etc)...

Made in America -- War

"Pretty soon, that's gonna be the only thing made in America -- war." -- Dennis Kucinich, speaking against supplemental war funding.

Saturday Funnies, or things that made a bad week worth laughing at

At the risk of sounding hella cheesy and giving every day of the week a special title, here are some photos that made me laugh this week.

Everything funny via Brokey McPoverty.

Bad Idea of the Day:


(This must be before OJ went to jail for stealing his own shit, but seriously, dude? Just keep makin' us look bad...)

And more:

Fucked Up Fridays: On Being a Quiet Colored Girl

To kick off the first Fucked Up Friday, I chose a pretty predictable topic: quiet colored girls. I guess it's important to kick off the series with a little background, and try to open up dialogue about what we, as a society, consider to as strong, worthy and intelligent -- and where we learned to make those categorizations.

So I sat my awkward ass down with a local Quiet Colored Girl to get her thoughts on the matter.

1. What's the biggest misconception people have about quiet colored girls?

not sure what the biggest is, but the one that hurts me the most is that often i feel i'm understood as weak or passive. it's so ingrained in our culture to believe this that even in some activist-y circles i'm associated with, the form of protest or resistance or power is through being loud, being the person behind the megaphone or leading the rally. i don't wanna knock it tho. it's important to bring attention to issues and i'm sure it gives people personal power to voice their story or thoughts or ideas to a large crowd on a megaphone. but i think it's still important to think about why, even in "conscious" groups that are dedicated to undoing these kind of cultural norms, do we participate in affirming those same ideas of what it looks like to resist or create or protest?

also i think quietness is really simplified, people don't understand it. i'm quiet for a lot of reasons: sometimes i'm bored, sad, angry, depressed, pensive, amused or i'm thinking about the situation or interaction i'm having. i'm also not quiet all the time. i speak my mind, argue my points and defend myself. just because i'm quiet doesn't mean i'll let someone crush me or i won't go crazy on your ass if you fuck w/me.

these misconceptions -- quietness is passive, weak, static, irrational -- are cultural. it's a part of a culture that values efficiency, go-getters and outgoing, aggressive personalities who compete with each other for power, positions and resources. we've learned that the loudest person in the room is the one we're supposed to listen to, when we don't take the time to listen to ourselves or maybe the quiet one in the room whose silence is a sign of her wisdom and patience.

2. Worst thing someone has said to you about being quiet?

no one has said anything to my face about it, but i remember meeting a friend of a friend who didn't like me because i'm quiet. this friend i have kicks it w/a lot of flamboyant, extroverted, loud gay men of color (mostly Latinos) and this friend i met was just another one of them.

the whole time during our short conversation i was pretty quiet, nodding a couple of times and maybe asking one or two questions, but mostly quiet. i didn't want to participate in affirming his dominating form of masculinity. the way that he took up space in our conversation, talked endlessly about his one-night stands with strangers and other equally self-indulgent things totally tuned me off.

despite his judgments, my silence was my way of pointing out how obvious he was in basking in his male privilege, to be kinda academic about shit. i wasn't gonna sit there & entertain that shit...fuck that. so i stayed quiet.


3. Best thing about being quiet?
hm...i think i've learned a lot from being quiet at times. it's helped me to better listen to myself, appreciate things around me. i think in some ways it's my way of connecting to things deeper than myself. i think my quietness is a sign of my ability (although not perfect & still growing) to connect with things that are deeper and bigger than me.

but yea i'm still learning. i speak sometimes faster than i think and in those moments, i'm not "quiet." you know: thoughtful, compassionate, patient, understanding. that's the kind of quiet i think of or want to be. but i think overall, being quiet has helped me stay grounded in a way.


4. Who are your favorite quiet colored girls? (Authors, Grandmas, Fiction characters, etc)
my grandmas were quiet strong mujeres: Juanita Rodriguez  and Consuelo Payan Romero. i admire them for their power and strength and am honored that i share their blood, fire, sadness and silence.

5. What do you have to say to the quiet colored girl haters?
too bad, so sad. yall are missing out on some knowledge & good jokes.

6. Any song, video, or quote you wanna add for kicks?
rain check?

7. Why are you hella fly?
cuz i come from a long line of strong women who follow me around on my shoulders.