Tuesday, January 24, 2006, 05:41 PM - Friends, Books
My dear friend Eric Martin is reading Thursday, February 2nd at The Lab - he kicks things kick off at 7:00. He'll be reading from his book-in-progress Little Miss Zapata (or whatever he ends up calling it). I've heard him read from this one before, and it's delectable stuff. You may remember him from such wonderful novels as Luck (recently out in paperback) and Winners (for when you want to get your Foreign Cinema dot-com nostalgia on). He tells me: "I don't know what I'll read from yet but you might
get a glimpse at the lost tribes hiding out in 400-year old sewers, a teenage girl in drag chased through Mexico City's rock n' roll market, or a Texas cowboy fighting a peyote lord of the north."
Other folks reading include Juvenal Acosta (who just finished a book about the last Mexican vampire), Stephen Beachy (who broke the J.T. Leroy story), Marianna Cherry (whose name is never far from the word "erotica") and Charlie Girl Anders.
Monday, January 23, 2006, 06:13 PM - Politics, Friends
If you can stand it, take a look at the MSF list of some of the horrendous things going on in the world that are being ignored:list of the 10 most underreported humanitarian crises.. My friend Jane Coyne has been working with MSF for the last year or so, doing post-tsunami relief in Sri Lanka and working with malnourished children in a couple of places in Africa. I have huge respect for her work, and for this organization - they seem a little less strangled by bureaucracy than many aid groups, and their quick response to crises like the Pakistan/ Kashmir earthquake is impressive. Monday, January 23, 2006, 03:10 PM - Travels, Technology, Art
Despite my best efforts to begin transforming into a Silverlake post-urban LA denizen, the most interesting event I attended this weekend was a small Saturday night SF-proud SRL performance in the parking lot at the end of the row of Chinatown galleries. There's something about the immolation of a vomiting dragon/dinosaur head backed by the roar of an airhorn hovercraft that's just sublime. Makes me think that maybe I'll fit right in in LA, after all. Picture is taken from our latecomers' perch in the garage across the street- perhaps a lifetime of parking structure art spectation awaits me in the Southland?
Wednesday, January 18, 2006, 04:57 PM - Food
It's been a good week for home cooking. Sadly the moussaka portrait I took last night with my new birthday toy was too dark, but you'll have to trust me that it was delicious. I was the lucky first dinner guest at my little league-era friend Augi's new apartment downtown, and she and Nick went old country with a wonderful Greek dinner (and lecture on 20th-century Hellenic history for dessert). Monday night I was treated to Phoebe Weaver's red blood cell-restoring oxtail stew, which I very much appreciated. I'm a lucky lucky girl.Tuesday, January 17, 2006, 03:20 PM - Politics, Books
Larry Bogad (friend of Andrew Boyd's who I met last summer) wants to tell you why 38,000 fed-up Amsterdammers did, when given the option in 1970. He's reading from his new book Electoral Guerilla Theatre: Radical Ridicule and Social Movements on Wednesday evening at Modern Times (1/18) and Monday 1/30 at Black Oak in Berkeley, both at 7:30 PM. I'm going to go on Wednesday, but I'll probably be late. More on the book:
Across the globe, in liberal democracies where the right to vote is framed as both civil right and civic duty, disillusioned creative activists run for public office on sarcastic, ironic and outrageous platforms. With little intention of winning in the usual sense, they use drag, camp, and stand-up comedy to undermine the legitimacy of their opponents, and call into question the fairness of the electoral system itself. Bogad looks at satirical campaigns around the world, including the GNOMES, who won 5 seats on the Amsterdam City Council, much to their own surprise. then the real pranks began...
Buy the book here. And in case you were thinking that I'm an out-of-touch idealist, Thursday night it looks like I'm going to a book party for this: Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences. Don't ever try and tell me I'm not multifaceted. Good thing one of my academic friends recently sent me a hypergeek journal article on the futility of the search for individual fulfillment through consumption, so I'll be ready.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006, 02:17 PM - Politics, Friends
My friend Josh -with whom I worked with last summer on Leave My Child Alone- just got featured in a NYT story on Pentagon monitoring of campus anti-war activism.. Nice to know I'm helping shape the next generation of activists... also Jen Low from Code Pink is part of the fun - aren't they cute?
Tuesday, January 17, 2006, 12:30 PM - Politics
So please explain to me how the hyper-right faction of the Supreme Court (soon sadly to grow by one) sleeps at night when they ignore the central tenets of conservatism? Isn't the whole point of their legal theory to LIMIT the role of the feds in state affairs, regulation, etc. and to interpret legislation narrowly? Although I don't agree with that philosophy, I can understand it (I'm not completely immune to the charms of some libertarianist ideas). Thomas, Scalia, and Roberts dissented in the Oregon case, arguing that federal controlled substance law would allow for prosecution of MDs prescribing meds for assisted suicide. Apparently federal power is acceptable to regulate things that serve their agenda, but not things that don't? I guess after the 2004 election expecting methodological consistency from them is silly - but their determination to advance the conservative agenda certainly is stable. Thomas is the one I really don't get, since he dissented in the medical marijuana case, arguing (correctly, I think) that the interstate commerce clause didn't apply, and the feds had no standing - while the majority argued that the feds could prosecute medicinal pot users because of the commercial implications. Then again, I'm not perfectly consistent in my judicial philosphy, either- but I'm a shameless pragmatist in most things. Monday, January 16, 2006, 08:32 PM - Politics
I drove back from Tahoe this morning and was crying my eyes out listening to King speeches on part of the drive. (Who knew I was so emotional?) There was some horribly depressing stat on NPR about how most white people do nothing to acknowledge MLK day, but one hopeful note was the effort to have people think of the holiday as a day of service. Although millions of Americans volunteer on a regular basis, one more opportunity surely can't hurt. And it does seem like the best way to honor a Capricorn is to get some work done, after all. Of course, one could choose to see the coopting of the impressive King legacy of social transformation into insipid school-painting projects, but I think it's a better option than having people think of the 'holiday' as an excuse to go shopping. It was nice to have the drive to think about the huge changes he helped bring about in our society (which I far too often take for granted), and also to consider how a lack of focus on economic issues limited the reach of the major social movements of the second half of the 20th century. Saturday, January 14, 2006, 07:54 PM - Sex, Politics
It drives me batty that the most important image of women from either the Roberts or Alito hearings is Alito's wife crying. Is welling up the best way for me to influence the future of the Supreme Court?? When he's confirmed, and if he does help overturn Roe, I will certainly be crying my eyes out, given that I'd have to spend a huge chunk of my life dealing with state-level battles over the legality of abortion. If only my tears were so sympathy-provoking, and I could get them such good coverage. Just imagine what would have happened to his chances for confirmation had HE been the one crying. And maddeningly there's at least a chance that if I were being cross-examined in front of the world, I WOULD cry. Yet I think mine (and many women's) capacity to mix emotional and intellectual intensity is one of our strengths. I'm so curious as to whether her emotional display was deliberate - really a master stroke if it was. In personal relationships I can never quite be sure of how much my manifestation of gender is authentic and how much is strategic or performative in response to social norms (or for that matter how much I should enjoy and accept my undeniable response to the masculine- or be suspicious of it). Yesterday I went with the enjoyment option, and I can't say that I'm sad about it. I'll let you know when I quit my job to drive my daughter to swim practice, but don't hold your breath just yet.Thursday, January 12, 2006, 05:35 PM
So based on a friend's offhand comment the other night I traipsed down to the Laurel Heights UCSF blood drive vampire van yesterday, all ready to emerge feeling fulfilled and better than when I went in. Perhaps I was inspired by the draculeque vampires in Mike Kelley's work, or maybe I just wanted to do something unselfish after a few days of birthday self-indulgence (Korean spa, fancy dinner, etc. etc.). Not all went exactly as planned. Perhaps giving blood the day after one finishes menstruating is not the smartest idea.
Surprisingly, I seem to harbor a small remnant of victorian ladyness -I'm sure everyone thought I was drunk, since after giving up my precious hemoglobin I was listing from bench to wall to elevator (when do I ever take the elevator?) in a sad attempt to get back to my desk. I pretty much fainted, I think, I just managed to be lying down already when it happened. I was so weak I couldn't even fight off the nurse's intent to drape me with a paper lei. (January is Hawaiian-themed blood month! Sadly no poi as a restorative treat.) I'm sure you can imagine how unappealing the idea of wearing fake luau schwag is to my delicate aesthetic sense. Where were the smelling salts when I needed them???
But you should give blood. Instead of me.
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