take that, ward.

kinda cool to be in colorado this week. the first state to stop ward connerly, who has successfully introduced anti civil rights amendments in 5 other states. they've always passed, until now. amendment 46 went down. it was close, so we've got work to do folks, but it's still a victory.

we need this today.

i've been lucky. and if i hadn't been paying attention i might have missed it. how often do you realize that you're right where you should be. maybe not where you want to be, but you sure as fuck need to be right there-facing exactly what's staring at you.

the longer i'm here in this town that i swore i wouldn't stay in very long the bigger my heart seems to get. sweet and hard moments with people that know me. and there's work to do. do i sound cheesy today? yeah, but hey, i've fallen in love again with june jordan, so back off.

here she is.

trouble, trouble, everywhere.

National Priorities

this website will break your little heart.

the G8 proved that once again, profit trumps humanity.

read more.

hungry?

for those of you in denver, check out this new totally rad vegan food delivery collective called the underground carrot. finally, someone is on their way to real food with integrity-take that steve ells.

diaspora

check out one of the best offerings so far from the allied media conference. this documentary is truly an amazing creation about an emerging hip hop movement in palestine.

stonewall 1969: before corporations got a hold of PRIDE

superfund

see what got leadville colorado on this "site of the day" list.

igniting the revolution

a friend lent me this book before a recent trip to mexico city. i can't and don't want to put it down. read this introduction to the book and see what all the fuss is about.

tell me what you want, what you really really want.

lets keep building. there is work to do. hope, born out of disappointment, is what we have.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=tc_2f_2fvzkyUxZ54QXcUmMtxg_3d_3d

NACLA: report on the americas.

this journal does some amazing reporting on latin america. think=honest talk about the impact of neoliberalism and imperialism while highlighting resistance movements that work.

zines.

what brings together words + cool people talking about their lives + exquisite little books?

um. this.

food crisis or price crisis?

check out this article from grist magazine. it makes some important connections between animal rights, classism, and environmental justice.

austin.

"May this be your legacy: open a window, let endless laughter fill the whole of the room. Clouds fall down and wrap around your warm body. Hold someone close. Let your love rise in the darkness. Invisible forces are guiding the way. vaya con dios."

above.

Every serious liberation movement has had its historians, interpreters, scholars, and public representatives, and it is high time that these people emerge in support of animal and earth liberation movements. This was one of the core reasons that seven years ago I co-founded (with Tony Nocella) the Institute for Critical Animal Studies (ICAS) (http://www.criticalanimalstudies.org/). ICAS is the first and only scholarly center dedicated to philosophical research and dialogue on the principles and practices of animal liberation and how it relates to environmental and social justice struggles. Thus, we prefer to speak of “total” liberation (of humans, animals, and the earth) as it all hangs together. The Center promotes philosophical discussion of these issues through an online journal, research databases, a speaker’s bureau, and conferences on total liberation issues.

--dr. steven best.

the feast.

my reply is no. crying won't change things.

helene.

ps. 'what we carry likewise carries us.'

beautiful

Violations	Description	Points	Disposition
38-31	INTERFERENCE		NOT GUILTY
38-86	OBSTRUCTING PASSAGE		NOT GUILTY
38-87	DISRUPTING ASSEMBLY		NOT GUILTY

my parents didn't really do these things.

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2008/4/28statsky.html

anonymous.

you wake up each day

as new as anyone

there is no reason to assume

you would be supernaturally strong

there is no reason to test your strength

through daily disrespect and neglect

you don’t need to be strong

everyone supports you.

If you say ouch

we believe that you are hurt.

We wait to hear how we can help

To mend your pain.

You have chosen to be at a school,

At a workplace, in a community

That knows that you are priceless

That would never sacrifice your spirit

That knows it needs your brilliance to be whole.

Your very skin is sacred

And everything beyond it

Is a miracle that we revere

We mourn any violence that has ever been enacted against you.

We will do what it it takes to make sure that it doesn’t happen again

To anyone.

We you speak, we listen.

We are so glad that you are here, of all places.

Other women, even strangers, reach out to you when you seem afraid.

And they stay, until peace comes.

The sun, reminds everyone how much they love you.

People are interested in what you are wearing,

Simply because it tells them what paintings to make.

Everyone has always told you, you can stay a child, until you are ready to move on.

If you run across the street, naked at midnight, no one will think you are asking for anything.

You do so many things because it feels good to move; you have nothing to prove to anyone.

White people cannot harm you. They do not want to. They do not do it by accident.

Your smile makes people glad to be alive; your body is not a symbol of anything.

Everyone respects your work and makes sure you are safe while doing it.

No one will lie to you, scream at you, or demand anything.

When you change your mind, people will remember to change theirs.

Your children are safe. No one will use them against you.

The place where knowledge is has no walls.

Every song I’ve ever heard on the radio is in praise of you.

The way you speak is exactly right for wherever you happen to be.

There is no continent anywhere where life counts as nothing.

There is no house in your neighborhood where you hear screams every time you go past.

No camera waits to amplify your pain.

Nobody wonders whether you will make it-everybody believes in you.

No one hopes you will give up your neighborhood so they can buy it cheap.

Someone is thinking highly of you right now.

Being around you makes people want to be their kindest, most generous selves.

There is no law anywhere that depends on your silence.

Nobody bases their privilege on their ability to desecrate you.

Everyone will believe anything you say because they have been telling you the truth all along.

When you speak loudly, everyone is happy because they wondered what you were thinking.

3 in 3 women will fall in love with themselves during their lifetime.

Everyone believes that you should have all the resources that you need.

Any creases on your face are from laughter.

No one, anywhere, is locked in cage.

Every institution wants to know what you think, so they can find out what they should really be doing, or shut down.

You wake up…new as anyone.

remembering.

"in those days,
we finally chose to walk like giants
& hold the world
in arms grown strong with love.

& there may be many things we forget
in the days to come,
but this will not be one of them."

greed

http://www.makezine.org/greed.html

ungdomshuset

Ungdomshuset ('youth house') was a 4-story autonomous social center located in denmark. It was evicted and demolished in March 2007, provoking some of the most intense rioting Denmark has seen in generations.

Most European countries have at least one social center left from the heyday of the squatting movement in the 70's-80's. Slovenia has an entire occupied neighborhood called Metelkova.

Over the past few years, European governments have mounted new attacks on these places...Ungdomshuset is the first to be successfully evicted.

In the end though, after months of intense riots, marches, new squats & evictions, the police announced that they were totally overextended and exhausted. Not from any one conflict, but from maintaining a state of perpetual alert. And then the mayor offered to open negotiations about turning over another building to the squatting movement.

That is to say-even in one of the wealthiest capitalistic countries, a direct action -based social movement that plays its cards right can compel the state to literally cede territory.

matches.

it's really true.
all of it.

angst.

Anyway, things aren't the same anymore. Aren't you armed to the teeth, forewarned, sharp witted, capable of cruelty. Now you can open up, go out, begin again, forget the past, go forward without worrying, approach people more freely, more confidently, more lovingly. You can let yourself be carried away, much farther, much faster than before. You can look forward to the beauty awaiting you, the generosities of soul you can allow yourself. You go through your little fortified domain happy, with a light heart, a new point of view, you turn the corner and run.

--Hélène Cixous from Angst

trial 2.0

so, the third consolidated trial began today. with each verdict both sides get to try their bigger and better arguments since we're both learning from the jury before. i wanted to see more faces there today, yet i know that life has moved forward and taken us back to other things...just what the city wants, right? but we wanted this.

words.

hi.

i'll have somethin' up soon.