catching up

hi kiddos.

lots going on, then a lull today, so time for some posting. friday night, jill and i went out for dinner with her friend cathy to this fusion place that was incredibly delicious. mmmm. food in the bay, it blows my mind again and again. then we went to see this romcom that i would totally recommend, two days in paris. smart, witty dialogue, complicated relationship, funny as shit. see it if you get a chance. my one hesitation was there was definitely some anti-semitism & racism going on, not with the main characters (they were challenging it and being generally outraged about it) but with the pariseans featured, and i couldn't figure out whether it was a political contextual thing about paris and the people who live there or what. a bit bizarre but perhaps just the context of another place i've never been. :)

saturday, i managed to get my ass to city college and to this transforming justice conference,--gender variant folks and the prison industrial complex. i was *so* impressed by the depth of analysis, the constant action/conversation about located those most affected at the center, the people who there, and the simultaneous translation (with those cool machines) that was happening for spanish-speakers. coming from seattle, i don't know if this is just standard, but i was blown away. FIERCE and TIP folks were facilitating among others.
the breakout groups were a little large for the depth of conversation and the topics we were exploring, and it was often hard to hear. but the activities they had us doing were super smart. making our own definition of the prison industrial complex, with an emphasis on "complex." breaking down examples of past attempts to reform the PIC and failure of action/analysis/vision. yum. saw alisa and lulu and simon there. simon and i hung for the rest of the night which was nice to relax with someone from home. went to the neighborhood dyke country western bar. the haircuts alone!

sunday, jill and i went to pick up a free tv from freecycle that i found in cole valley and then had clean/declutter day. delightful. i have a new art deco armoire in my room, there's an epic amount of free space in common areas, and i made apple walnut muffins! the day felt very fall--if i was at home it would be time to organize y'all to go apple picking definitely.

and then i spent the grand chunk of sunday night talking/strategizing/learning from sharon martinas, who founded the challenging white supremacy workshop, has been a revolutionary organizer/activist since the 1960s, and is so fucken smart and full of historical and current day reference. total wet dream. we talked a lot about seattle, and where it is at politically/movement wise. identity based organizing/the culture/different orgs/etc. she invited me to be part of a book group of this book called the price of privilege that just came out that sounds fantastic.

so all and all folks, i think i'm doing a lot of what i came here to do. making connections, putting myself in the movement places, etc. still applying for jobs. still feeling lonely socially and with too much time on my hands. but i'm moving along and working on the patience.

hearing from y'all *really* helps. so please keep on calling, emailing, blog commenting, etc.
xox.