Basic thought of the day

marjorie says...

Last weekend I had an interesting conversation with some of my historian friends who made the claim that Fidel Castro was the most influential man of our era. I took exception to that statement immediately but their assertion that his shepherding of the Cuban socialist project deserves significant credit can’t be dismissed. It was a short conversation but maybe one of them will chime in here and elaborate. Essentially, the gist I got of their argument is that Cuba, as the only socialist project to survive into this century, had been enormously influential throughout the world by inspiring and supporting third world national and socialist liberation movements, and by successfully facing down the monolith that is the United States.

I can’t argue with these statements but I really don’t think he’s been the single most influential person. That’s a big statement. What immediately came to my mind when I thought of influence were those men who led non-violent liberation movements, such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King. The tactics employed by these movements have changed the world. Non-violent civil-disobedience isn’t a new concept to our time, but it is a form of protest that has been employed incredibly effectively during what has been arguably the most violent era in human history.

At my workplace, we have this quote by MLK hanging on the wall above the computer I use, in which he addresses violence:

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate...Returning violence for violence multiples violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that."

Any of us who really reflects on these words knows the truth of them. We know it from our history, from our own personal relationships, from the communities we live in, and from the results we can plainly see on the world stage when violence is used to obtain objectives.

Here are my questions:

How can we teach non-violent behavior to children on an interpersonal level when we model violent behavior, both emotionally and physically, to the people in our lives every day?

How can we teach it on a societal level when our solution to social problems is to lock up an entire sector of our population? Did you all know we have the largest prison population in the world?

And how can we condemn the use of force by young people to solve their problems when we tolerate a government that has constructed a global military and police infrastructure that makes war and employs torture to impose our will on others?

Many people will respond to me, probably not here, that I am a doom and gloom person when it comes to the U.S. The reaction will be, why can't you say something good for once. Ok, I will (although if you check your gut reaction you will recognize that I often do). Ready? Here goes:

We are better than this. We can be.

Why I all of a sudden like David Geffen

marjorie says...

"Amnesty International considers Leonard Peltier to be a political prisoner whose avenues of redress have long been exhausted.... Amnesty International recognizes that a retrial is no longer a feasible option and believes that Leonard Peltier should be immediately and unconditionally released."

-- Amnesty International, April 6, 1999

You can find the Leonard Peltier case here. The fact is that the federal government targeted the American Indian Movement as well as the Black Panthers, not to mention the anti-war movement and other left political formations, during the 60s and 70s...through a program called Cointelpro. These movements were infiltrated and disrupted from within, and harrassed, intimidated, and sometimes simply murdered from without. They were criminalized, many of their members ended up behind bars, and ultimately they were decimated to the point of extinction. Leonard Peltier is one such political prisoner in this country.

Who knew that David Geffen is a supporter of and an advocate for the release of Leonard Peltier from prison? I didn't. Apparently, one reason at least for his disaffection from the Clintons, and his financial support of Obama, is the failure of Bill Clinton to pardon Peltier in the final days of his presidency. Clinton could have easily done so, especially given the widespread support for Peltier's release among the core Democrat constituency.

From an interview with Maureen Dowd of the New York Times:

''Marc Rich getting pardoned? An oil-profiteer expatriate who left the country rather than pay taxes or face justice?'' Geffen told Times' columnist Maureen Dowd.

And then, referring to the Peltier case, Geffen continued, ''Yet another time when the Clintons were unwilling to stand for the things that they genuinely believe in.

"Everybody in politics lies, but they do it with such ease, it's troubling," Geffen said.

Yes, David, they do lie. And there are plenty of people who remember this particular disappointment right along with you. I remember it clearly.

Oh, Vilsack was in?

Maggie says:
I'm sure I'm not alone in being underwhelmed by this morning's news that former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack is bowing out of the 2008 race. Can't really miss a candidate I'd never seriously considered to start with... Yet I find myself strangely wistful about his snazzy campaign signs. Interesting graphic design on campaign propaganda? Talk about bringing something new to the field! Oh well.

See ya in Iowa, Tom.

The fish tacos won't tell

Maggie says:
Sometimes I'd love a transcript of M-time to post on the blog. Tonight at the Gold Street Caffé, over yummy food and wine (always wine!), M³ had its first official Election '08 discussion.

What's continually surprising to me about the three of us - and I think it's fairly evident here on m-pyre - is that although we agree about so much, we tend get to the same bottom lines for entirely different reasons and in entirely different ways. I love that about us, and it's absolutely apparent in our first talk about the crop of Democratic candidates for 2008. What strikes us all about this election is that it's going to be extremely interesting to watch, it's going to be a lot of fun to write about, and most importantly, it's still very far away. That said, I'm not naming names now - there's plenty of time for that. Instead (and since I'm in a playful mood, thanks mostly to the fabulous women's poetry performed tonight at Firestorm), I offer the following tantalizing teasers*:

• Which candidate do we all have gut reactions against, but for verrrry different reasons?
• Which candidate is bound to have some Slick Willie-style scandals saunter out of the shadows?
• Which candidate is peaking too soon?
• Which candidate is our gut reaction first choice?
• Which candidate do we feel compelled to applaud theoretically, but won't vote for?
• Which candidate would we like better if his/her house was smaller?
• Which candidate's résumé might offer the most compelling community experience?
• Which candidate is a bozo racist?
• Which candidate talks trade and poverty and actually gets it?

*As an extra tease, some of these just might be the same candidates. And some candidates aren't mentioned at all.

So what do we disagree on? All the twists on the path toward those answers, really. But in particular:

• The meaning and significance of family dynasties
• The significance of gender
• The value of hard-nosed critique from the left
• How much a happy marriage matters
  
• Whether we should road-trip to Durango or White Sands first
  

As for prizes for guessing the right answers (I'm looking at you, Rhys)... isn't the march toward '08 with the three of us prize enough?! (I said I was feeling playful, remember?)

PS: And introducing... Ta Da! The "Election '08" label! It's here to stay, folks. Guess we'd all better get used to it.

What Country Is This? What Year Is This??

Mikaela says:
I freely admit I have been out of it for years now. Nerdy, political, getting older all the time -- I've got my head buried firmly in internet news.

But I just stumbled on a dress code policy for a local middle school (6-8 grades, or 11-14 year olds roughly). As you read, think about what country this sounds like. What year.

Shirts: Polo shirts of a solid color. Polo shirts must have collars with no more than three buttons and sleeves of approximately 5 inches in length. Logos allowed in front only, no bigger than 2-inch square, and must conform to the Logo policy as stated below.

Flannel jackets/shirts (plaid) are not allowed.

Pants/Belts: Docker style pants of cotton or corduroy in any solid color and worn at waist level.

Pants that do not comply with our dress policy: Sweats, workout pants, nylon pants, jeans of any color, cargo, carpenter, skater, coveralls, overalls, baggy, and form fitting (extra tight) pants. Pants cannot have leg zippers, fasteners, metal objects, or pockets on leg of pants and must be worn at waist level.

Shorts, Skirts and Skorts: No shorter than fingertip length [above the knee] and worn at waist level.

Sweaters and Vests: Any solid color worn over a Polo shirt. Logos allowed in front only, no bigger than 2-inch square, and must conform to the Logo policy as stated below. Sweaters and vests may not have any form of writing other than allowed logos.

Jackets and Sweatshirts: Logos of any size allowed but must conform to the Logo policy as stated below. Hooded jackets and sweatshirts allowed but hoods may not to be worn indoors.

Accessories: No buckles, chains, metal objects, studs, sweatbands, spiked jewelry, sunglasses, hairnets, and bandanas. No more than two items of jewelry.

Hats and any form of headgear are not allowed on campus.

Reading this list, my mouth was literally hanging open in disbelief.

I remember all the hoopla about uniforms, and I remember them getting firmly put down as a good idea. Well, they're back. I'm totally SHOCKED that JEANS ARE NO LONGER ALLOWED. Really? Jeans? Are you kidding me? That's right. You've gotta wear solid-color dockers or corduroy. And polo shirts of a solid color. NO FLANNEL. Not that flannel was ever the BEST fashion choice, but ... harmful to an educational environment? Hard to believe. I'm guessing flannel is "gang-related" or something? This hardly seems reasonable to me.

What have we let happen? Were things really bad enough to warrant this? I'm imagining passing period looks like something straight out of Dr. Seuss! Where are kids buying all those polos?? Is that why polos have not died out as a style? What irony, that the polo is now the strait-jacket for APS kids. Good grief.

m stands for "moving"

Mikaela says:
I personally love it when life is moving too fast to get caught up in the immobility of rage at current events. There's plenty I'm fuming about (Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, New Orleans, Libby trial, executive orders, creeping fascism of the Bush administration that seems to go all-but unnoticed by the general public... whew, better stop there!), but for a little while, I've got too much on my plate here in the Q to worry myself into inaction about the rest of the world.

It's all about doing what you can where you can, right?

So this evening (starting around 7 pm), I'm taking part in an event for women: Firestorm, at the Winning Coffee Co. on Harvard & Central (m-pyre readers know all about how much we love Winning!), hosted by Maresa Thompson, organizer of the fabulous National Poetry Slam in 2005. I'm even going to read a poem during the open mic! Then, with my bestest m-friends, we'll cheer and support our fellow creative women, strong women w/ strong voices telling us all what we need to hear, even when we sometimes don't want to listen. Tonight's all about listening!

Thursday, if I didn't have a conflict, I'd be going to see "When the Levees Broke," Spike Lee's documentary on the Katrina disaster in New Orleans, being shown by the Albuquerque chapter of Planners Network, made up of UNM Community & Regional Planning students & community members, at Out Ch-Yonda in Barelas (4th & Santa Fe). 6 pm.

On Saturday, I'll be going to hear local poets read at the Main Library downtown. How cool is it that our urban library is opening its doors to a largely urban movement of spoken-word poetry. Totally cool. That's from 3-5 pm. Afterward, I'll join Lisa Gill @ 7 pm for a reading celebrating her 2007 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in UNM's Student Union Building (SUB) Acoma Room. Who else wins an award and throws a party for her community? Lisa rocks.

Friday, March 2, the NHCC, Harwood, ABQ Slams, & IPI are putting on Women Centerstage as part of the NHCC's Women & Creativity festival. We've gathered some of the coolest women poets around -- Lisa Gill, Esther Griego, Valerie Martinez, Demetria Martinez -- and paired them with Rah Goddess, who some of you may have heard and been electrified by on NPR's Bioneers show this summer. She's a hip-hop feminist poet and performance artist who coined the term "floetry" and spawned a whole generation of empowered and empowering women performers. Show starts at 7. Afterward, an all-women slam will choose the winner to represent Albuquerque at the World of Women (WoW) national poetry slam in Chicago this October. A hot night to be sure. Not to be missed.



Tuesday, March 6, 6 pm, the NHCC is hosting Women in Action, a panel discussion of local women activists, artists, and entrepreneurs, also as part of Women & Creativity. This one's near and dear to my little political heart. The panel includes:

• Dory Wegryzn, who was instrumental in forming the Sawmill Community Land Trust,
• Sandra Montes, who's fought tirelessly for the rights of Pajarito Mesa residents in Albuquerque's South Valley,
  
• Joann Bejar, who's done everything from being a filmaker, labor organizer, to mom,
  
• Naomi Natale, who created the Cradle Project -- an art project that calls attention to and raises funds for children orphaned by disease and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa,
• Myra Murphy-Jacob of Sustainable Global Leadership Alliance, which trains and sends leaders to other countries, where they help train others as leaders in sustainable, eco- and community-friendly business practices, and
  
• Margo Ganster of Green It!, a local company that helps other companies to incorporate ways to be "green," adding to the sustainability of our economy & our environment

In between all that, I'll be finishing an anthology of Voces students work for UNM Press and putting together an anthology of ABQ Slam poets w/ fellow IPI members Danny Solis, Susan McAllister, and Don McIver.

Oh, and planning a wedding.

Busy? Me? No.....

Lord help me the day I slow down long enough to really soak in the news from around the world. It's not looking good, but I'm trying to do what I can to support good things in my community. In the seconds between whirling from event to event, I wish peace for us all.

"Democratic" Iraq

Mikaela says:

Today from Democracy Now, we have this news:

Iraq to Expel Thousands, Spy on Iraqis in Baghdad Crackdown
The Iraqi government has announced a series of controversial new measures in its crackdown on Baghdad. Tens of thousands of displaced Iraqis have been told to leave homes Iraq says are being occupying illegally. The Iraqi government also says it will eavesdrop on phone calls and open mail at will. Military forces will be authorized to break into any homes and cars judged to be dangerous. Iraq also says it will close its borders with Iran and Syria, increase military checkpoints, and extend Baghdad’s military curfew.

I bet the Iraqis are more grateful than ever to have had Democracy thrust upon them. Makes you teary to see a fledgling Democracy in action, doesn't it? To see liberty take root?

Ah, we Liberators feel our hearts swell to overflowing at the terrible beauty we spread to the world. You're welcome!

Happy Valentine's Day, Iraq.

Yours truly, forever,

America

Happy V-Day to my girls

Maggie says:
On previous Valentine’s Days I’ve expounded upon how this holiday can be problematic, given that it makes too many people feel bad about themselves and promotes buying horrendously cheesy gifts (note to men: pink stuffed animals are only a good idea when you’re in middle school). But this Valentine’s Day, I’m feeling particularly uncynical – maybe it’s the snow outside, which is just incredibly beautiful right now. I can’t bear to be biting, so instead I’ll send a V-Day message to two women who should hear good things all day long, every day: my Ms.

• Happy Valentine’s Day to Marjorie, to her eyes full of flashing fierceness, to her gentleness that comes so full of wisdom you have to stop in order to soak it all in, to her abundant use of the term “lol” in e-mails, and to her quilt collection that brings a bit of home to a town where I sometimes desperately need it.

• Happy Valentine’s Day to Mikaela, to her never-ending search for the right answer, to her love of words and culture and truth and creativity and her commitment to all of them, for the way she can still show me New Mexico in a brand new way, and for that beautiful moment when she stops thinking and just starts to laugh.

We’ll be out and about tonight, but I’m not allowed to say where or when. Let’s just say that words are involved, and we’ll be in full-on cheerleading mode. (But sorry, not cheerleading uniforms…)

Have a great day full of love, everyone.

I *heart* Kid Ethnic

Maggie gushes:
My pal Saleem makes me as giddy as a kid on a sugar high sometimes. Or... just a "hot mama" high on wasabi rice crackers?

See for yourself why my crush endures.

Surfing the wave of spontaneous thought

marjorie says...

In his commentary on Counterpunch, jazz pianist George Duke laments what he calls the Europeanization of jazz music, claiming that as an art form contemporary musicians are moving jazz away from it African American roots. He makes the point that jazz is not about perfect execution, like a classical piece should be, but rather all about improvisation and attempting new ideas during performance. Here is an excerpt from the article:

“Now this is important, because many young jazz pianists sound like they have rehearsed everything down to the last sixteenth note. And even if they haven't, it feels that way. Most of the playing I've heard is virtually mistake free.

“But something is missing! I have to look hard to find that free expression of emotion, living on a tight rope, experimenting, trying difficult passages and maybe not totally executing it correctly but making the attempt.

“I've always felt that Miles Davis' blown notes were part of his musical canvas. If he played all the notes spot on, would his music have felt the same--I doubt it!

“And if that's true, then perfection must be overrated, at least as far as jazz is concerned.

“Yeah I know, I can hear it now--"the pursuit of perfection is a noble quest for any artist." That's true --but when technique becomes more important than telling a musical story or surfing the wave of spontaneous thought, then I believe it is a misguided quest.”

I love that last sentence. As I was reading this, I couldn’t help but think that perfection is overrated in terms of many things. In this sense, for instance, the classical music of political philosophy would be ideology. And to play it perfectly would lead to a bit of rigidity in ones thinking. I guess my preference is to think of political philosophy as being more akin to jazz…found everywhere, from our base communities all the way to up on high. I can think of more analogies as well. Something tells me this is going to be the theme of my Tuesday...

Comments down

...Sorry. Stay tuned.

Abusive parents and their so-called rights

marjorie says...

Imagine my surprise that my homestate of Texas, firmly controlled by Republicans, is the first to mandate that all young girls get innoculated with Gardasil, the cervical cancer vaccine. Republican Governor Rick Perry's executive order has ignited a fierce protest by Republicans in the state legislature who insist he doesn't have the authority to mandate the vaccination. The row is actually quite instructive for the schism in the Republican party...between those who pander to the evangelicals that want to boil every single decision down to the possibility that someone will have pre-marital sex, or simply fornicate, and those who form their decisions regarding public policy through a more broad based process that seriously considers public health and safety.

The argument against making the drug a requirement for young girls remains two fold: the right of parents to make all decisions for their children, and the charge that vaccinating young girls against cancer will lead them to have pre-marital sex. That last bit is so completely ridiculous not to mention asinine, not to mention grossly sexist, that I won't even address it. What I do want to address is the parental rights argument. Here is Governor Perry's response to his Republican naysayers:

"Never before have we had an opportunity to prevent cancer with a simple vaccine. While I understand the concerns expressed by some, I stand firmly on the side of protecting life. The HPV vaccine does not promote sex, it protects women's health. In the past, young women who have abstained from sex until marriage have contracted HPV from their husbands and faced the difficult task of defeating cervical cancer. This vaccine prevents that from happening.

"Providing the HPV vaccine doesn't promote sexual promiscuity anymore than providing the Hepatitis B vaccine promotes drug use. If the medical community developed a vaccine for lung cancer, would the same critics oppose it claiming it would encourage smoking?
Finally, parents need to know that they have the final decision about whether or not their daughter is vaccinated. I am a strong believer in protecting parental rights, which is why this executive order allows them to opt out."


I must say, I am very pleased to see a Republican take a principled stand on such matters, as I always am. And I'm also amused to watch him have to answer the completely ridiculous charges about premarital sex. The issue I have, though, is the opt-out provisions for parents. Why penalize some young girls for life just because they have ridiculous parents?

While I agree that parental rights are very important, the fact is that too many parents make wrong-headed and at times abusive decisions for their children...decisions that adversely affect their children's futures. I'd like to know why the rights of adults regarding their children are valued so highly at the expense of the future adult lives of their children. Human beings are subject to their parents for 16-17 years, then have another 3-4 times that many years to live as adults. As a society we already take some measures to protect children from their parents and other adults. For instance, child pornography, child labor, sexual acts with children...are all against the law. But I would suggest we don't go nearly far enough. As a society we provide very few safe havens for children who need to escape abusive parents. Many children grow up in abject fear of their parents but have no other place to go, other than the street of course. Why do we think this is ok?

Personally, given the capacity of our society to make sure all young girls are vaccinated with this drug that prevents cancer I would consider it abusive to not do so. If I were an eleven year old girl I would want society to trump my parents on this issue. And as an adult not too many years later I would be incredibly angry if I were one of those few who did not get the vaccination because of ridiculous parents and a society that didn't value my long life over my abusive parents so-called rights.

Self-indulgent label talk

Maggie says:
Reporting live from Adventures in Insomnia: Night Three!

Instead of getting beauty sleep or dreaming about my upcoming trip to Los Angeles, I started playing around with the new blogger labels tonight instead. (Why yes, just as fulfilling as sleeping! Thanks for asking!)

Secretly, I love the idea of cerebral organization of one's writing, of clean categorization followed by thoughtful analysis of writing patterns. Labeling all of m-pyre, it occurs to me, could become one of those mythic tasks - think John Cusack autobiographically reorganizing his record collection in High Fidelity.

So far, I've labeled 50 m-pyre posts. There are 929 total posts.

I am an Aries. Will I see this project through to completion? Doubtful. (Although if I don't start sleeping again soon, it's a possibility.)

Some interesting findings from labeling m-pyre:

• I'm not very creative with labels. I thought of all these cute, catchy phrases (actually, they were all sarcastic and insider in tone, but that's kind of m-pyre's version of cute and catchy), but I decided they would become annoying over time. So my labels are fairly basic, but I'm hoping the other Ms will spice things up a bit.

• In examining the last 50 m-pyre posts, it appears that I have only blogged ten times since November 11. I knew it was bad, but yikes. My post-election showing on the blog has been downright pathetic. Worse, of those ten measly posts in three months, the vast majority are only a paragraph long and either link to something else or say that I hope to be writing again soon. That brings us up to last week, when Molly kicked my lazy writer's ass back into shape. The moral here? I've been a very, very bad blogger since the '06 election. But the silver lining? I've personally been a very, very happy person since the '06 election. Not that they're related... But um, how lame is it to say that I hope to be writing again soon?

• I wanted to have a label called "Self-Indulgent," which is really the only thing to call certain posts. I briefly worried that M&M might get annoyed if I labeled one of their old posts self-indulgent, before realizing that only my stuff would get the label, anyway. Yet by that time, I'd moved on to the more community-minded, friendly "M-time" label to categorize our personal ramblings and random musings. That said, this post will be labeled "M-time," but we all know what it should really be called.

• 50 down, 879 to go. So many more posts to label and labels to invent, so... much time, apparently.

Sleep. I need sleep. Marjorie, Mikaela, save me from myself!

Weekend reading

Maggie says:
I find myself fairly uninterested in the Superbowl this weekend (despite the compelling coaching storyline), and am instead puttering around in typical un-American fashion. Such puttering affords me lots of time to read, go shoe-shopping, have the strongest margaritas on the planet with Marjorie's fam, and go hiking. So before I meet Mikaela to head over to the foothills, here's what's peaking my interest word-wise this weekend:

• More than good food and friendliness. Facing South, a fantastic blog produced by one of my fave organizations, compiled a list of its top-five books on Southern populist history. I have a couple of these, and the comments remind me that I'm still hanging on to a Loomis loaner that I need to return. This list is a great place to start diving into the rich promise that those who love the South know it very much holds. After you're primed with good 'ol Southern history, give this important Nation cover story a try before you start trash-talking about how we'll be safe ignoring the South in '08. Who knows... it just might influence your pick for the party.
  

• Biden: not just inarticulate. Joe Biden's recent gaffe is, as this Times article points out, not a gaffe at all, but the latest proof that most Americans are still surprised when non-whites sound smart. The word of attack here is "articulate," and with good insight this article points out the so-called compliments we're compelled to offer up for non-whites who sound... white. '"Al Sharpton is incredibly articulate,” said Tricia Rose, professor of Africana Studies at Brown University. “But because he speaks with a cadence and style that is firmly rooted in black rhetorical tradition you will rarely hear white people refer to him as articulate.”'

• Off to La-La Land. I'm heading to Los Angeles next week for a conference, and nothing has been amusing me in advance of the trip more than Curbed LA, a deliciously acerbic blog on planning and real estate in LA. More East Coast-oriented readers might enjoy the original NYC-based Curbed a little more. Same snarky real estate banter, only denser. Where else can I be pointed to the coolest Google image search result ever (for "urban planner") and news like this: "In order to make sure that Chinatown is catching up to the rest of downtown yuppie invasion, the City Council fast-tracked the approval of a new mixed-use development at 900 N. Broadway." Hee hee hee... Oh and!, see the sister blogs of Curbed for foodie talk: Eater and Eater LA. How much would I love to see a Curbed ABQ one day... Any takers?
  

• Local poets at it again. Yesterday I was lucky enough to get a preview of The Wellesley Poems, the forthcoming tome from local poet Adam Rubinstein. Adam's lastest poems are ruminations on growing up in the suburbs, the dangers of inventing - or ignoring - collective identity, and what "home" really means. Not to get ahead of myself, but I think this work is going to be my favorite of anything he's ever done. So while Adam's finishing this fantastic collection, go and peruse his other stuff to satiate your need for good words.

• Still loving 'Little Children'. I can't tell you how much I loved this movie, far and away my favorite of the year. I'll be cheering heartily for it to win Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars. Kate Winslet is her typical brilliantly glorious self, Jackie Earle Haley is a revelation, and the writing is the best I've seen on film in forever. I wish the downtown theater would bring it back in time for the Oscars, but this is ABQ, so I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, Google "Little Children" for a wealth of goodies, including interviews (don't miss anything featuring director Todd Fields), long think pieces on suburbia and infidelity, and more. Yum yum yum.