where ive been

hey there

you may have wondered why i havent been posting as frequently lately. well, as i had stated before i was cocooning.

and in the interim i thought you might want to be alerted to some things going on in our lil world.

like:

#i have been guest blogging at flip flopping joy for the past week.  and will be doing so for at least another week or so.  so if you want to check out the posts…

messy but necessary

1. one of the things i have learned in community building is that communities are not monolithic.  now this may seem to be an obvious point.  but one of the principles of my community work has been that we must follow the leadership of the oppressed marginalized excluded.

and in theory.  on paper.  on screen.  that looks really ethical.

in practice.  on the ground.  off line.  these clear lines get much messier.

some posts about the iranian protests

non-violence, palestine, and land

after years of thought and work, i have stopped referring to myself as non-violent.  non-violence to me is a series of tactics that one uses in order to achieve a more just world.  non-violence is a tactic.  not a goal.  in the non-violent org i used to work for (the same one that joy worked for in palestine) we used to joke: non-violence is the answer.  non-violence is the answer.  non-violence is the answer.  now what was the question?

fluency and coalition

1. We as a society give so much more credit to a white person who is fluent in a third world or people of color language, cultural style and lifestyle than we give to a person of color or third world person who learns intimately a white person’s language and cultural style.

For the white person who masters the others language he or she is made into a ‘master’ of that language and culture. And of Language and Culture in general.

In a person of color such parallel mastery of white folks language or another poc or third world communities language is considered to be ‘par for the course’. In other words it is to be expected of a poc with any ambition to be able to mimic the language and cultural norms of white folks. I am not sure why this is exactly.

i am also also blogging at raven’s eye.  and have altered some what the format of the blog.  you can check it out here.

also i just posted an article here at vegans of color:

survival foods

swine flu and pork farms

cross posted from Raven’s Eye

h/t Angry Black Woman

excerpted from The Guardian

Early today the US owner of an industrial pig production facility around 12 miles from La Gloria said it had found no clinical signs or symptoms of swine flu in its herd or Mexican employees. The world’s biggest pig meat producer, Virginia-based Smithfield, said it is co-operating with the Mexican authorities’ attempts to locate the possible source of the outbreak and will submit samples from its herds at its Granjas Carroll subsidiary to the University of Mexico for tests.

“Based on available recent information, Smithfield has no reason to believe that the virus is in any way connected to its operations in Mexico,” it said in a statement. “The company also noted that its joint ventures in Mexico routinely administer influenza virus vaccination to their swine herds and conduct monthly tests for the presence of swine influenza.”

The statement came after Mexico’s national public health authority, the Mexican social security institute, raised concerns that waste from the Granjas Carrol facility may be responsible for the outbreak of illness, according to local media.

“According to state agents of the Mexican social security institute, the vector of this outbreak are the clouds of flies that come out of the hog barns, and the waste lagoons into which the Mexican-US company spews tons of excrement,” reported Mexico City newspaper La Jornada. Swine flu can be caught through contact with infected animals, but it is unclear if contact with flies or excrement has the same effect.

oh say what? Maybe just maybe this swine flu is due to factory farming? From a US factory farming company? A US company that regularly gives flu vaccines to pigs? So maybe swine flu is so potent because its a mutated viral form that evolved able to survive the flu vaccine administered to the herd? But of course the Guardian article does not show us a picture of the CEO of Smithfield but of a lil Mexican boy from Veracruz. Sigh.

Raven’s Eye

so yall know whats up?

Raven’s Eye!!!!!!!!

Beautiful, inspiring, amazing writing and art from us, women and genderqueer folk…

We have been organizing ourselves for years on the internet.  We have started blogs, and e-zines, social networking spaces, list serves, conferences, conversations, groups, websites, cd’s and more.  We are incredibly prolific, visionary, each of us coming to this space with individual and collective visions of self-expression, survival, sexuality, business, teaching, learning, community, organizing, solidarity,art, dreams, healing, and love.

Check it out.

Every day we will be posting more and more work by us, highlighting the diversity, the community, the changing landscape of our lives.

We are creating a space where our voices, work and lives are centered and celebrated.

Join us.  Become a writer with Raven’s Eye.  Participate in the conversations.  Tell every one you know.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us at: ravenseyeblog@gmail.com

feeling it

Raven’s Eye is coming to you! on Friday!

aaaaaahhhhh!

ok.

stuff i am feeling right now:

1. this is so so so beautiful.  little light from taking steps:

The first thing you need to understand is that masculinity, maleness, is inculcated and enforced with violence. It’s either actual violence, or the threat of violence, or the implied threat of violence. Constantly. It’s how men and boys are taught to train each other into maleness. This is true even at a very, very young age; go to a kindergarten playground, and you will see little boys shaping each others’ masculinity, according to the rules they’re taught by older boys and by grown men, with violence. It starts very early.

……………

third gendering fuck

ah fuck.

third-gendering

Let’s say you are talking about women, and want to be absolutely clear that you are including trans women in your statement.  You can say, “women, cis and trans.” Or “cis women and trans women.”  Or, “women, including trans women.”  Or even “female-identified people.”  What you should not say, is “women and trans” or “women and trans women,” as though trans women are never included in the category “women.”  Because “women” should always include women who happen to be trans.

i have been saying this for years.  women and trans folk.  dammit.  of course.  trans folk are not necessarily gender queer.  duh.

i mean that is the fucking subheading for raven’s eye: women and trans folk…when what i meant was, the bodies that i was really picturing were: women and gender queer.  so what is with me conflating transfolk and gender queer?  what is with me not listening to the tons of trans folk who have made it clear that they are women and men?

so this is my deep apology.

Language is fundamental to giving trans people the same respect that cis people take for granted.  It signals how the speaker sees trans people, and can shape the views of both speaker and audience.  The sex workers rights movement needs to respect people’s gender identities–whether cis or trans–and this means that everyone who identifies as a woman is a woman, and everyone who identifies as a man is a man.

so what do you guys think?  about changing the subheading of raven’s eye…

suggestions:

women and gender queer folk of color….

women of color…

women, cis and trans, of color…

and all of these suggestions still leave out trans men.  who live on the margins of gender.

i am still working out these issues.  and how i relate to my own gender and its multiplicity and fluidity.

and much thanks to jaded hippy for hipping me to this article in her list of links…

other places where i write

hey babes catch me at:

the divine survivors clinic

raven’s eye

quirky black girls

flip flopping joy

outlaw midwives

because we still are here

revolutionary motherhood

raven’s eye: structure, editorial slant, needs

again, you guys, this is all just a suggestion, a loose idea that i am putting out here to be critiqued, questioned, affirmed, knocked down, whateva…i just figure that if i put my ideas out there and then ask for feedback and for your ideas that i am much more likely to get concrete responses than if i just open the question: what do y’all think?

structure

1. at least 15-21 posts per week.

2. anyone who wants to write or post stuff to the blog can do so.  just tell the editors and we will put you on.  you can post as much or as little as you want.  you can cross post from your own blog, write original material, post up announcements of stuff happening, news items, reflections, discussion-led posts.  whatever. (in this way it mirrors the speak! blog)

3.  every month we will choose a new theme for the blog.  no one is required to write on that theme.  but if you do we will be very happy.  and we, as editors, will publish a series of posts on said theme to get the conversation started.  some ideas of themes: motherhood, food, growing up, ambition, community, sex, language, borders, etc. theme suggestions would be highly appreciated.  (in this way it kind of mirrors a carnival)

4.   we, as editors, will be reading blogs continuously (got to love delicious!) and looking for work to cross post.  new blogs that pop up in the internet-o-sphere by woc and invite them to write and join in (keeping the conversation open and growing).  we willl be focusing on work that we find to be unique, well-written, relevant, opens the conversation, thought-provoking, etc.   (in this way it mirrors some of the bigger blogs)

editorial slant:

1. i want this to be a conversation-driven blog.

2. i am just going to quote lisa who said it better than i could:

For me, this is not about inclusion, it’s about creating a new mode of knowledge, a fiercely vibrant school of thought that welcomes ALL but focuses on the perspectives and lives of WOC.

Women of color ISSUES has been done to death. I want women of color LIVES.

I’m looking into creating something that frames, centralizes, dissects, and celebrates women of color LIVES;
all in the ways that are fresh, joyful, fun, clever, deep, and inspiring.

It’s not about uplifting WOC past White oppression or showcasing the usual “oh what a strong WOC she is because…” I feel that to create something new, something fresh that *satisfies* us, it must be written, it must be built by WOC in a spirit of creativity and knowledge, not out of feeling left out of other blogs that target somewhat mainstream audiences.

3. and this was my response to lisa (slightly edited for clarity):

and i think that one of the ways that we show genuine support is by engaging in conversation with one another. with all of that entails.  i hope that in the conversation that we change and our views of each other change…
and i have to say that i think that we discover ourselves in the process, we discover our voices and visions, our similarities and differences in the process. so to think of this blog as an endpoint is not accurate, but as a process in and of itself…

what we need:

1. writers

2. editors

3. folks who can do promotion of the blog

4. bloggers who are willing to cross post

5. techie folk

6. critique

raven’s eye: some more thoughts and questions

these are all just brainstorming thoughts and suggestions…like, totally open to adjustment, change,  critique, and whatever else…

1. i definitely think that this lil blog dream feeds into speak! and the cyberquilting experiment.  what i envisioned  is like another patch.

2. a blog that posts daily (about 15-21 posts/ week) on women and transpeople of color news, analysis, reflections, announcements about events that are pertinent to us.

3. transpeople and women of color (who, to use andy smiths construction–identifies as of color 24/7/365) are welcome to contribute posts, news, etc.

4. i would be willing to act as editor.  and i would love to have someone else (s) also work with me as editor.  by editor i mean it would be in our responsibility to make sure that we are continually and consistently updating the blog.  someone (s) who would be willing to read blogs daily and cross post and write original content at times.

5. it would be pretty open if you wanted to write for the blog or cross post yourself…just contact one of the editors and we would put you on.

questions:

anyone would like to be editor?

anyone would like to be writer?

one commenter said that they and their partner had techie skills, but they didnt leave any contact info…so if dipperwell is reading this…how do i reach you?

what would yall like to see on this blog?  what am i missing?  what suggestions, concerns, brainstorms, ideas do you have?

for me, it is really important that this is a community project and not just some chica (me) farting in the wind…

peace and love y’all…

raven’s eye

so i have been dreaming about blogs.   the first dream was about a blog called: raven’s eye

and as i have been thinking deeply over the past few days about these dreams and visions, i felt compelled to say this:

we, as women of color, have been organizing ourselves for years on the internet.  we have started blogs, and e-zines, social networking spaces, list serves, conferences, conversations, groups, websites, cd’s and more.  we are incredibly prolific, visionary, each of us coming to this space with individual and collective visions of self-expression, survival, sexuality, business, teaching, learning, community, organizing, solidarity,art, dreams, healing, and love.

in my visions i kept seeing a women and transfolk of color blog.  one that was updated daily with our news, analysis, announcements, personal reflections, conversations, and more.  a location on the net where we, from our different perspectives and lives, are able to give voice to us.  where we agree and disagree, and stay in conversation.

i see this blog as a part of the ongoing organizing and expression that we do both on- and off-line so well in the midst of our crazy, blessed lives.

and so i am sending this out into the ether asking what you think.

are there others who are interested in building such a space for women and transfolk of color?

i can offer a chance to see if this experiment could work.  i have some free time to dedicate to the building of this site.  a certain amount of knowledge of software and a willingness to learn more.  a connection to some communities of color.  and a desire to build with you.

please distribute this where you think appropriate.

and if you are interested please leave a comment at guerrillamamamedicine.wordpress.com

all over the map

1. i have been photographing cairo.  (as you can probably tell)  i am happy that this blog has become much more visual.  and that i am gaining confidence to be able to show others my work.

2.  the past two nights i have had dreams about blogs.  the first night i had started a blog called: raven’s eye.  the second i just kept dreaming about blackamazon.

3. once a week i teach dance to the east african refugee kids here in cairo.  today we danced to unpretty by tlc with the tupac remix.

heres the thing: i picked unpretty by tlc because i love that song and the ‘message’ about self-acceptance and self-love.  but it had been a while that i had listened to the version that i downloaded.  and when i did i realized that tupac’s verse is…well…not about women practicing self-acceptance.  basically it is the ‘i fucked your wife biggie smalls!’ verse.  cute.

oh and in the top picture: check out the boys brushing their shoulders off.  too cute.