for fucking real.

so, it's confession time.
i have this friend.
and we've lost touch, you know?
but, i know that her man keeps a blog.
when i miss her- and i do miss her,
i check out his blog.
sometimes he posts pictures of her.
and i'm comforted by how she looks just like she did when we were tight,
drinking margaritas together,
running together with the sun coming up,
or that one year when it seems like all she did was pick up the pieces of me,
over and fucking over again.
tonight's one of those nights.
see, i'm coming off a 4-day bender when all i feel is misunderstood by the folks around me.
she'd know what to say tonight.
say, shit. really she'd just know how to look at me and it'd be alright.
she's there in his blog tonight.
but just like most of his posts, i have to dig deep to find her,
buried underneath all the references to new shit they've bought,
or the fucking 8 million pictures of their house remodel.
she's in the corner, right?, like he snapped the shot and said, fuck, jess. you're in the shot.
you're in the shot.
but, i'll take that.
the glimpse.
i don't like all the shit, though.
and it reminds me of why i worry about her.
cuz, what the fuck.
stuff together never equals a life together, but man, you two are trying real hard,
to make that formula work.
i wanna click on the blog one day and be real surprised.
i wanna see him seeing her. and her seeing him back.
and i want all that for her, and for me, and for fucking all of us. right?

submedia rocks.

this is some of the best sh*&%@t around.

take a look at it.

diana

ain't she cool?

cellophane

my grandpa died not too long ago. it had been over a year since i'd last seen him. about ten years ago he made videos for all of his kids and grandkids. we each got our own. they are these amazing compilations of old super8 video he'd shot of us as kids, but the best part is he taped himself looking at all my grandparents old photo albums of all of us. so, this video is narrated by him as he's looking at all these pictures of me and my mom, and other folks. and, like a lot of people i bet, hearing his voice on that tape as he talks about me being a cute kid and my mom being just a kid herself or talking about my gram with curlers in her hair...that stuff feels like gold to me now.

people ask if we were close when i tell them he died. i don't know how to answer that. he let my mom come back home when she was homeless and i was just a few months old. he adored me. when i grew up he didn't really understand me. it was enough for him to hear through my grandmother that i was ok through the years-we didn't need to talk much.

he mattered to me.

about two years ago, with the help of my friend daniel, i made this short movie about him-here it is.

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.