Near the Old Man of Storr, Scotland I took this in 2004

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Things to Ponder

Think about this...It was only 40 years ago, here in Canada that being lesbian, gay and I'm not sure what else would have been allowed under that banner, was decriminalized!!!

Yes, it was a crime, and in many countries still is, punishable by death.
I can't conceive of that, of being deemed a criminal for not being a hetero.
So, I guess I would've been jailed because I'm bi.



And only now is the province of Quebec beginning to throw off their catholic shackles and finally fucking consider queer folks as folks and create an anti-homophobia plan. Wow.

It was also 40 years ago that the Stonewall riots happened in NY, which started the queer movement as we know it today in the States and here at home.

We, who live in these vaguely forward thinking nations are lucky.

Here's a cool little article about the forward thinking Scandinavians
http://stason.org/TULARC/travel/nordic-scandinavia/2-7-2-Domestic-partnership-Same-sex-marriages.html

Versus the ass-backward hard-core misogynist extremist muslims.

I've added this link to both highlight the hate, as well as a victory in India!

http://www.mizozo.com/world/07/2009/02/india-decriminalizes-gay-sex.html

Apparently, Holland was the first country in the modern era that decriminalized homo acts in 1811.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_LGBT_history



So, here's to progress, and having the power to speak up and out!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Mos Def

"Mr. Nigga"
by Mos Def w. The Abstract Poetic, aka: Q-Tip


I add this here as reflective lesson in racism.

Check it out and listen

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Mr_Nigga_feat_Q_Tip_/21450015

"Say ho, everybody say ho
By the way yo
I said shake your soul like way back in the day-yo
By the way yo, everybody say ho
Everybody say hooooo- hooo
Everybody say ho

And check it out now
Who is the cat eatin out on the town
And make the whole dining room turn they head round
Mr Nigga, Nigga Nigga
He got the speakers in the trunk with the bass on crunk
Who be ridin up in the highrise elevator
Other tenants who be prayin they ain't the new neighbor
Mr Nigga, Nigga Nigga
They try to play him like a chump cause he got what they want

He under thirty years old but already he's a pro
Designer trousers slung low cause his pockets stay swoll'
Could afford to get up and be anywhere he go
V.I.P. at the club, backstage at the show
(Yes y'all) the best crib, the best clothes
Hottest whips on the road neck and wrists on froze (say word)
Checks with O's o-o-o-o-ohs
Straight all across the globe watch got three time-zones
Keep the digital phone up to his dome
Two assistants, two bank accounts, two homes
One problem; even with the O's on his check
The po-po stop him and show no respect
"Is there a problem officer?" Damn straight, it's called race
That motivate the jake (woo-woo) to give chase
Say they want you successful, but that ain't the case
You livin large, your skin is dark they flash a light in your face

Now, who is cat dining out on the town
Maitre'd wanna take a whole year to sit him down
Mr Nigga, Nigga Nigga
He got the speakers in the trunk with the bass on crunk
Now, who is the cat at Armani buyin wears
With the tourists who be askin him, do you work here?
Mr Nigga, Nigga Nigga
Nigga Nigga

Yo, the Abstract with the Mighty Mos Def
White folks got it muffled across beneath they breathe
"I didn't say it.."
But they'll say it out loud again
When they get with they close associates and friends
You know, sneak it in with they friends at the job
Happy hour at the bar while this song is in they car
And even if they've never said it, lips stay sealed
They actions reveal how their hearts really feel
Like, late night I'm on a first class flight
The only brother in sight the flight attendent catch fright
I sit down in my seat, 2C
She approach officially talkin about, "Excuse me"
Her lips curl up into a tight space
Cause she don't believe that I'm in the right place
Showed her my boarding pass, and then she sort of gasped
All embarrassed put an extra lime on my water glass
An hour later here she comes by walkin past
"I hate to be a pest but my son would love your autograph"
(Wowwww.. Mr. Nigga I love you, I have all your albums!..)
They stay on nigga patrol on american roads
And when you travel abroad they got world nigga law
Some folks get on a plane go as they please
But I go over seas and I get over-SEIZED
London Heathrow, me and my people
They think that illegal's a synonym for negro
Far away places, customs agents flagrant
They think the dark face is smuggle weight in they cases
Bags inspected, now we arrested
Attention directed to contents of our intestines
Urinalyis followed by X-rays
Interrogated and detained til damn near the next day
No evidence, no appology and no regard
Even for the big american rap star
For us especially, us most especially
A Mr Nigga VIP jail cell just for me
"If I knew you were coming I'd have baked a cake
Just got some shoe-polish, painted my face"
They say they want you successful, but then they make it stressful
You start keepin pace, they start changin up the tempo

Now, who is cat riding out on the town
State trooper wanna stop him in his ride, pat him down
Mr Nigga, Nigga Nigga
He got the speakers in the trunk with the bass on crunk
Now, who is the cat with the hundred dollar bill
They gotta send it to the back to make sure the shit is real
Mr Nigga, Nigga Nigga
Nigga Nigga.. Nigga

You can laugh and criticize Michael Jackson if you wanna
Woody Allen, molested and married his step-daughter
Same press kickin dirt on Michael's name
Show Woody and Soon-Yi at the playoff game, holdin hands
Sit back and just bug, think about that
Would he get that type of dap if his name was Woody Black?
O.J. found innocent by a jury of his peers
And they been fuckin with that nigga for last five years
Is it fair, is it equal, is it just, is it right?
Do you do the same shit when the defendent face is white?
If white boys doin it, well, it's success
When I start doin, well, it's suspect
Don't hate me, my folks is poor, I just got money
America's five centuries deep in cotton money
You see a lot of brothers caked up, yo straight up
It's new, y'all livin off of slave traders paper
But I'm a live though, yo I'm a live though
I'm puttin up the big swing for my kids yo
Got my mom the fat water-front crib yo
I'm a get her them pretty bay windows
I'm a cop a nice home to provide in
A safe environment for seeds to reside in
A fresh whip for my whole family to ride in
And if I'm still Mr Nigga, I won't find it suprisin"


An Amazing Victory!

Watch this video, it's pretty amazing stuff!

Kimberly-Clark has finally listened to the 5 years of protesting and will not log old growth forests anymore!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gvkCs_Tgns

Thursday, July 23, 2009

A wee question

So, I don't have a photo, which would be good for anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about but I want just to say how everywhere I've been here in good ol' Oz, one can find those horrible 'golliwog' dolls. You know the ones, don't you? The racist caricature from the Noddy books. No one here is even slightly put off by them.

I find them offensive, and disgusting.

What's your opinion?

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Just about animals ( no catchy title)

The beautiful lady is called Sophie. She's 14 and her best friend is a duck, whose name I didn't get. The duck curls up in Sophie's feet at night:)
Cute
And this baby lamby, will be saved from the evil fate of being someone's fucking dinner! When I walked past her she started to cry "maaaa' so I naturally had to give snuggles!

How come we can buy a pet or 'livestock'; a word I hate, because it implies that those beings those animals, are nothing more than things, objects, stock.

The concept of "breaking in" a horse is equally disturbing. As if they are here for our domain; oh wait, I forgot, we are the humans, and therefore have supreme reign,don't we?

Until we have abolished all pet stores, the word livestock, the concept of breaking in a horse, testing on animals of nay kind; and excusing it for scientific research, we will never evolve.

How can we, as a group, meaning humans, even begin to think we are improving, when we continue to look at animals a as unequal, as less than, as, most of the time 'things' that are there to please us, work for us, or feed us from their bodies.

Until we can all, collectively, recognize that animals are our teachers and guides and equals, we are going to continue to suffer for a very long time.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Hi ho Hi ho it's off to follow my heart I go

Mamma and baby!
Her name is Bella, she's a friend I made! She has arthritis and her human starting talking to me about whether or not her $1000 operation was worth it. I said simply, 'She's your family. You spend that money easily on other things.' And he said " You're right."

This is Tiger.
And this is Nessie. Some more friends I
made, just in passing, but aren't they beautiful?






A protest sign at the old parlaiment buildings in Canberra.

People tell me I have a beautiful heart, but it always seems so foolish. I love the way animals just watch you, and gather out of maybe fear and curiosity.

Cows and horses, for example remind me of children the way they shyly walk together to watch you, to see what you are doing, always keeping their distance.

Lately my heart doesn't feel beautiful but sad and overburdened.

I saw a cow, or a de-bulled bull crying, but it was quickly " explained' to me by my supposed bf that it was just the wind causing the tear-like action, right of course, how silly of me to feel that animals can display such deep emotions, like crying. When I was asked why I thought the cow could, in fact, be crying, I answered that it was because he knows what's in store for him; he knows that he's going to be slaughtered and eaten. To this the bf scoffed, naturally, at me and my 'silly', read: deeply feeling heart.

It's hard to stay true to my heart, but I persist.

I find this country, Australia so fucking racist, it's not something I was expecting to find; this much racism, everywhere. It's not something you hear about from all the travel guides you read,
or people who have been; they all seem to leave this major part out.

The part about white colonial rule,that still guides this country very firmly.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Racism: A Many Hated Thing!

" I looked in your eyes I saw the shame, y'all don't know that our greatness came before the chain."
Big up Talib Kweli


Wow!!! I have no idea what to say, rather how to say it, succinctly, so let me just begin, shall I ?
Here, where I have been staying, I was at the dinner table and the discussion turned to 'race'; now I need to mention that everyone here is WASP, and damn proud of it, that would be, everyone save for yours truly, I am neither WASP, nor would I be proud of it.

So, the topic turns to issues of ,well let's be blunt, colour. The father of this family told us all a story about how his grandfather used to work for a licorice company called 'n' word 'boy'.
I was both shocked and disgusted at hearing this word spoken so freely, but, what's worse, this man goes on to say, " I don't see what's wrong with that word." And what was even scarier, neither did anyone else at the table!!!
I did my fucking best to a) not fully lose it and b) put the fucker in his place, by saying how hateful the word is for the connotations of slavery it holds. Nothing. No one cared.

In fact, another member of the table -party told a story about how the people he works with call road signs the 'n'
word, sandwiched between the words black and boy. He said he refused to use that expression but he didn't seem to do much more about it.

I felt like I was in some fucking 1950's kkk meeting. It was sick.

Someone else piped up about how black people call themselves the "n" word, as if to justfy white ass fucks who also use it, and I said so- fucking- what, that we, as non-dark skinned people have absolutely no right EVER to use that hate-filled word. Like that needed to be said though!!!


What truly sickened me the most though is that no one batted an eye at the word being used, or at it's viciousness, or that no one even spoke on the subject of slavery, except me, of course.



And, the dog is still not welcome indoors. She always does come in though, and comes running to me, cuz she sees an ally, WHICH I AM. I get told that I spoil her, but if giving her love is called spoiling her, than I wonder truly what words one could use to describe how the little kid of this family is raised/treated?!!!

Peace