Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Stand Against Racism and Homophobia

So, back when I thought I was moving to Tucson, AZ to be with my then-partner, I signed up for the eWeekly news from Wingspan, Southern Arizon'a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center.

Everything I learned about Wingspan I really liked, and hoped that one day I could join their staff. (Working in an LGBT community center is about as much of dream job to me as getting a tenure-track faculty position upon graduation--but dreams do come true, right?)

In any case, even when it became apparent that I wouldn't be moving to Tucson (well, at least not to be with the now former partner), I liked Wingspan so much that I kept myself on their eWeekly news distribution list.

It's been uplifting to see all the programming they've created over the years, as well as to see all the other ways the center has developed and grown.

A recent eWeekly news bulletin contained the following statement, and I just felt compelled to pass it along here.

Read it here, or see it for yourself on Wingspan's own site.

Coalición de Derechos Humanos and Wingspan – Joint Statement Continued Stand Against Racism and Homophobia

Many people in the LGBT and allied community in
Arizona worked hard to defeat Proposition 107 – the
“Protect Marriage Arizona” on November 7th.
Though an important and hard-earned victory, the
defeat of Prop 107 must be contextualized in
relation to the broader setback for human rights and
social justice that the November 7 election
represents in the state of Arizona and
nationwide. While Arizonans are the first voters
to defeat a marriage amendment in the United States,
Arizonans overwhelming approved four racist and
xenophobic ballot measures. These measures do the
following:

1. Mandate English as the official language

2. Bar undocumented migrants from state-funded
education and child-care programs

3. Deny bail to undocumented migrants accused of
serious crimes

4. Prevent undocumented migrants from suing for
punitive damages or rewards

Before the election, Wingspan and Coalición
de Derechos Humanos stood together in opposition
to all of the racist, xenophobic, and homophobic
ballot initiatives because we acknowledge the
connectedness of the repressive scapegoating tactics
used against LGBT people, migrants, and LGBT migrants.

The results of November 7 further the need to
acknowledge that our issues cannot be faced in
isolation, for despite the narrow defeat of Prop
107; it remains true that those who hate us come
from similar and often intertwined ideological
foundations. Our opponents continue to use “divide
and conquer” tactics to carry out their racist,
homophobic agenda, and their efforts are evident in
the election results. Now more than ever, we must
stand together.

As the powerful human rights activist Audre
Lorde once said, “your silence will not protect
you.” We couldn’t agree more.

We ask LGBT people to speak out in favor of migrant
rights. We ask migrants to speak out on behalf of
LGBT rights. We ask you to continue to see the
connections between the treatment of LGBTs and
migrants in federal, state, and local policies. We
ask you to acknowledge that some people are both
migrant and LGBT and that community building must
focus on all facets of the community.

We offer some action steps for you to take in making
this stand:

1. Don’t refer to migrants as “illegal.” Human
beings are not illegal.

2. Research the unfair global economic
policies—often advocated by the U.S. government and
U.S. big business—that depress economies in places
like Mexico and lead to migration.

3. Research the good that migrants do for the U.S.
economy and culture.

4. Join one of the many local migrants’ rights
organizations, work for social justice, and learn
about the inhumanity caused by the militarization of
the U.S.-Mexico border.

5. Advocate for comprehensive immigration reform on
the federal level.

Though we cannot change the passage of the four
racist ballot measures, and we should be pleased
with the defeat of the marriage amendment, we
continue to ask you to take a pro-migrant, pro-LGBT,
pro-human rights stand.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Count 'em--4 of 5

Prior to the start of this season's Survivor: Cook Islands, there was a lot of hubaloo about the show's decision to form tribes along racial lines (white, black, asian, hispanic), most charging this organizational scheme to be inherently racist.

Before long, however, the four tribes which began with five members each were re-organized into two racially-mixed teams.

Last week's episode brought the total of survivors still in the game to 9--four whites, two asians, two blacks, and one hispanic.

While the original tribe of five whites were split 2 vs. 3 in the reorganization, two weeks ago, two of the remaining four whites decided to mutiny from their tribe and join the other (thereby consolidating all the remaining white survivors into this one tribe).

I haven't heard any more folks going on about the racial/racist dynamics at play in this season's Survivor though--not that I'm the least bit surprised.

The Fountains are Dry

Two weeks ago I awoke to an overcast, gray day. But as I walked the several city blocks to my parked car, I saw the most amazing site...the streets were lined with the yellowest autumn leaves that in their fallen state coated the ground like carpet, reflecting bright light from below--a kind of reverse sunshine.


Fall--it's one of the things I do really like about the east coast.

But, seems like Fall is fast on the move with Winter close behind...the fountains have all been drained dry--a sure sign of the freezing times to come!

Judging a letter based on its stamp



So there’s the adage that says that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I wonder...does the same apply to judging a letter by its stamps?

I think not.

Fabulous letters should have equally fabulous stamps.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

IDKE.8 - Get Your Politics Off Your T-Shirt

From the IDKE.8 (Austin, TX) website:
GET YOUR POLITICS OFF YOUR T-SHIRT: RADICALLY CHARGING PERFORMANCE (Room 3.128 - Sinclair), 2:00 – 3:00, Nicole Garneau

Are you a drag king who is pissed off about how things are running? Do you want to put your acts in the service of social or political change? What do you want your drag performances to SAY? Get your politics off your T-shirt and work on integrating deeper levels of content into your performances. As a form of performance that utilizes the human body, especially the gendered/genderqueer/queer body, drag kinging could be called inherently political artwork. But what are our messages? How do we use our performances as a strategy for creating the world we want to live in? How do we actually practice and perform that world on stage? Engage in lively discussion and participate in exercises designed to generate new performance material with politically charged content. This workshop is for anyone who is interested in using their performance to combat oppression and fight for liberation.

About the facilitator:
Nicole Garneau was born in Chicago, IL , in 1970. In 1993-94, Nicole worked as an actor in the Theatre of Moscow South-West, performing in Russian. Since returning to Chicago, she has built an interdisciplinary performance practice of site-specific, movement-based solo and collaborative performance art that often addresses a political issue; text-based works; percussive music, singing, and gender performance. In 2005, Nicole created HEAT:05, a durational art project in which she performed every day of the year in order to mark 10 years since the 1995 Chicago heat wave disaster. For 10 years, Nicole has worked closely with Insight Arts, an arts organization located in the East Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago that is dedicated to increasing access to cultural work that promotes social justice and defends human rights. Nicole's work is informed by feminism; struggle against white supremacy; the politics of the female body; sexuality; spirituality; violence against women and children; the prison-industrial complex; the death penalty; her experiences living and working in Moscow, Russia; and the 1995 Chicago heat wave disaster. She is interested in creating performance and visual artwork that is directly political, critically conscious, and community building. For more information, please visit www.nicolegarneau.com.

See the whole page of IDKE.8 Conference Sessions


I think that out of the four IDKEs that I've attended (including IDKE.8), theconferencee organized by the Austin dragsters is my overall favorite. (Maybe when I have more time later I'll post about some of the other session highlights from conferences past.)

Before I even got to the room the session was being held in, I admired its starting premise. Rather than starting with the debate about whether or not politics should be incorporated into drag, "Get Your Politics Off Your T-Shirt" begins instead by asking how can we better integrate our political messages into performance. (While I fully recognize that it is important to continue having conversations about the place of politics in performance--after all, on this point we certainly do not all agree--it was nice to also be able to have the kind of discussion Garneau facilitated which takes that conversation to another level.)

Despite having a room practically (if not in reality) filled to capacity, Garneau quickly got to business--we did a quick (okay, well so it wasn't all that quick since there were so many of us) go-around of introductions and what drew us to the session. After that Garneau offered us a quick introduction where she referenced someone and a theater/performance theory/concept of theirs, but I can't recall it at the moment and don't have my notes in front of me... (Hmm...I think she also offered to email something out to participants...I should double-check with her.)

In any case, she then asked the attendees to shout out some of the various political concerns that we currently have--I remember being slightly surprised at what was and wasn't mentioned through this call and response. (I think that there were three or four different issues that we tackled, but again I can't recall them all...but my group was assigned the topic of same-sex marriage.)

Once we had a sampling of political messages that we wanted to portray, we assembled into smaller groups and were charged with the task of creating atableaua vivant of sorts depicting our topic. We had about five minutes to discuss how we wanted to construct our tableau, to actually do it, and then to review the tableau created by our fellow group mates.

It all happened very fast, and while I'm sure that we could have easily taken more time to discuss the issue, to share how group members understood and felt about the issue, and to brainstorm possible ways of depicting it, it was also really amazing to not have that time and to still be able to create a scene with anembeddedd political message. Having to do such quick work showed me that timely inclusion of such political incorporation is possible.

The discussions that we had afterwards about what people saw in particular positions and gestures of our performance made for interesting and enlightening dialogue. I liked this aspect of being both audience and performer, and having the space to talk about ourselves in both roles.

It also felt especially good to use our bodies/move in the course of a conference session. Talk about audience participation and active involvement!

It would have been amazing to see what else we all would have come up with given more time...definitely the kind of conference session I hope to see again at future IDKEs.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

God-des and She

One of the things I like about being on a college campus are all the various FREE events constantly taking place. (Well, okay, so they're only free in the sense that whoever shows up for the event doesn't need to pay to attend, since we've all already paid through student fees...)

In any case, God-des and She descended upon College Park and the University of Maryland last night.

To be honest, I hadn't heard of God-des and She until I received a facebook invite to last night's event a couple of weeks ago. But then coincidence had it that my netflix queue brought me season 3 of the L-word just last week, which features God-des and She in the finale episode, singing their song "Lick It" at Shane's bachelor party.

If you haven't heard "Lick It," it's definitely worth checking out on iTunes. It's not at all the same style as Melissa Ferrick's "Drive," but I think just like "Drive" was for Ferrick, "Like It" will be an anthem for fans for a long time to come (pun intended).

Aside from the sex-positive queer lyrics of "Lick It" though, I really enjoyed God-des and She overall. They had great stage presence, and put on a good show (despite the small crowd that had gathered). I especially liked their mix of political songs--talking about horizontal hostility and how queers keep one another down--funny songs--complete with upbeat tempos, hilarious lyrics ("I Hate Your Ex-Girlfriend"), and crowd participation--and love songs.

Oh, and then there's the added bonus that God-des is just handsome, and She's voice is so beautiful that it made me want to cry...

Definitely not a bad way to spend a Tuesday night.

Check 'em out for yourself:

God-des and She homepage
God-des and She on myspace

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

IDKE.8 - Charleston Chu & Me




(photo of Charleston Chu taken without permission from his blog, "Charleston Chu woo woo woo!")





No less than four times during my recent trip to Austin, TX and IDKE.8 I was congratulated for my performance in the Saturday night Showcase. Folks were genuinely complimentary and very generous with their praise. The thing is, though, that *I* didn't perform in the showcase...it was a case of mistaken identity where I was being confused for Charleston Chu.

On one hand, I was reminded of the racist adage that "all Asians look alike." In U.S. History we've seen this tragically at play countless times...just think about Time magazine's "How to Tell Japs from the Chinese" 1941 article, or Vincent Chin more than forty years after.

Such cases of mistaken identity are not always malicious, nor manifested through physical violence, but that does not make them (in my eyes) necessarily harmless. Of course, I do try and keep a sense of humor about these things...just like the creator of the website All Look Same.

In these IDKE instances, I knew that there were no ill intentions meant, but rather the exact opposite. And, in all honesty, folks were really darn flattering--who would mind that?

Then again, not only did several different folks mistake me for Charleston Chu at this IDKE, but I was also mistaken for another king (Eddie de Los Angeles) at IDKE.5 in Minneapolis. Maybe I just have one of those faces that seem like so many others???

Or, maybe there's something about the way in which non-black kings of color get lumped together?

Don't get me wrong, it was a total compliment (to me) to be mistaken for Charleston Chu--over the weekend we talked ever so briefly about consciously choosing racialized/ethnic drag names, about contemplating the significance of the meanings of depicting particular racialized sexualized masculinities of color, about struggling with the lack of representations (as role models) overall, and about the desire to do politically explicit performance. I wish I could have spoken with him more, but even in our brief exchange, he showed me a lot to admire and respect. That others also loved his performance--his execution of his politics--speaks volumes of how well he melds art and activism (imho).

(More on Charleston Chu, his showcase performance, and the workshop "Get Your Politics Off Your T-Shirt" later...right now I've got to get to the polls and vote NO on Virginia's proposed amendment of the state Constitution to limit marriage to "one man and one woman")

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

All Saints' Day

In this past Sunday's liturgy, the Father mentioned the All Saints'Day mass that would be held, and it got me to thinking about the importance of remeberance and memorial--of both saints that have declared so officially by the Catholic Church, as well as those saints whose recognition may not be official, but whose effect on others has still been profound. (I was also thinking of this day as a precursor to the Transgender Day of Rememberance later this month.)

In any case, moved to pay tribute today, I decided to check out the Catholic mass held on my campus today. I was actually surprised at how many students made time in the middle of the day to hear mass--revealing just how much I underestimate the importance of religion to college students.

In this regard, it's been an interesting week, actually. In my "Introduction to LGBT Studies" course this is the week where we discuss religion and sexuality. After a slow start Tuesday's discussion took off--the hesitancy with which we approached the topic was clear, but then just as clear was how close and personal so many of us are connected to the issues at hand. Can't wait to see how tomorrow's discussion goes...

Oh, but back to today's mass...it went well enough...the Father was rather fast--the whole service only took 33 minutes! I did like the point in his liturgy when he stressed that what will be important when we face God after our deaths was how well we treated those around us (not our best friends, to whom being kind comes easy), but to those that we don't know. A nice message indeed, especially since I was feeling very conspicuously queer during mass. (In fact, when I went up to receive communion, I could have sworn that the eucharistic minister looked me up and down and hesitated before offering me the body of Christ, to the point where I wasn't sure she'd offer it at all. She did, though, so hopefully it was all just a figment of my internalized homophobic imagination. Not that internalized homophobia is good, but at least it is something I can work to change.)

Also wanted to share an excerpt from James Martin's article, "Saints That Weren't" in today's New York Times:
The church’s long history of “faithful dissent” offers both hope and perspective to Catholics in our time. It echoes the call of the Second Vatican Council, which, in 1964, declared that expressing opinions “on matters concerning the good of the church” is sometimes an obligation for the faithful. ...

All Saints’ Day is a good time to remember that while most saints led lives of quiet service, some led the life of the noisy prophet, speaking the truth to power — even when that power was within the church.

So close and yet so far

I was pleasantly surprised this weekend when a friend I've been out of contact with called to invite me out to join her and a few others to celebrate the Halloween weekend.

We gathered together in one of their DC apartments and spent some quality time hanging out there before heading out to bars in DC. When we did finally leave the apartment, we first headed to Mad Hatter and then later made our way to Garrett's.

Unlike the bars that I usually frequent, neither of these were queer bars. And, to be honest, I was quite intimidated going into both. None of the others I was with, however, seemed the least bit concerned about this (despite the lot of us being queer). In the end, my fear turned out to be wholly unfounded. The other patrons of the bars where in a festive enough mood, and we were all just trying to enjoy our Saturday night.

Sad to say, though, that before the night ended we were faced with a rather unpleasant incident. In fact, it was literally when we were half a block from getting back to the apartment where we started from, walking home from the metro, that a man in a car driving by made a homophobic comment aimed at us, referencing our costumes. I was dressed as an angel, and the other two I was with were the Saturday Night Live Spartan cheerleaders. Ironically, we spent the entire night with two other friends dressed as Saturday Nigh Lives' Ambiguously Gay Duo with no such incidents (there were in fact the biggest hit wherever we went).

Why mention any of this? Oh well, I guess because I'm still puzzled about the particular homophobic slur hurled at us--it was a specifically anti-gay male epithet (and none of us are gay males, nor did I think that we could be read as such). It just seems so sad to me that after a night out in "mainstream" culture without incident, that we'd be so close and yet so far from getting home unscathed.

Everything earlier in the night served to prove me and my distaste for straight mainstream culture wrong. I don't want these five seconds at the end of the night to erase the whole night, but I just can't seem to let it go, either.

Unfortunately, it was far from the first time I'd been on the receiving end of homophobic slurs (and in all honesty probably not the last time), which is why I'm stumped as to why it's been three days and I'm still thinking about it. Then again, I guess that's a good sign--when we accept too easily the hate aimed at us is when those that hate us have truly won.