sundries

[rm]

The couple imprisoned in Malawi for 14 years for being gay have been pardoned by Malawi's president. But I want to make one thing very clear Monjeza and Chimbalanga, while certainly members of the LGBT community, are not a same-sex couple. Chimbalanga identifies as a woman and it has been an act of trans erasure by the western press, and, sadly, many parts of the gay community, to insist on making this case about the equal marriage rights battle in the US. Chimbalanga and Monjeza are expected to be released from prison on Monday. May they be happy and safe.

Operation Write Home is a collection of cardmakers who make handmade greeting cards and send them, along with notes of encouragement and thanks, to deployed service members. There aren't any Hallmark stores in the deserts of Afghanistan. via kathrynrose

Update on the female marines trying to connect to the women of Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, some self-described "libertarian and anti-feminist blogger" has a bizarre and APPALLING screed on how rape is the reasonable, justifiable and obvious way for men to achieve equality with those thieving women demanding their rights. pecunium has a write up.

The challenge of cooking out in the city.

If I hang out with you in RL and you are going to the vintage beach picnic tomorrow, get in touch. I've just been to Costco and there will be big cooking tonight. If you want to pitch in with a few bucks or other goodies, we are willing to include you in our food plans.. I've just found out we're not allowed to bring our own food and drinks, and because of my celiac disease I can't eat anything on the menu. I've left a comment about my frustration on the event's facebook page and Patty and I are currently planning a plan B. If you're interested, let us know.

DanceAfrica, what we went to at BAM last night, was THE BEST THING EVER and since it happens in many cities around the country, if you have a chance, you should go. We are so totally going every year now. Also, all the tributes to our ancestors stuff was seriously on point to my current work and was a huge bonus.

Like many of you who are about my age and remember Gary Coleman as someone other than a punchline, I find myself surprised at how sad I am at this passing.

I have just heard about Dennis Hopper's passing, and am gutted.

The BP oil spill terrifies me. I fear we won't be able to stop it. Ever. That it will keep going for however long it takes for all the oil to come out. That this is how it happens, how the earth winds up looking like every post-apocalyptic story or movie that I love(d). Even if we do stop it, I think this much is true: there is no going back from here.

Today I got mistaken for an alcoholic because someone on the street mistook the mini hand sanitizer bottle half sticking out of my pocket for booze.

Comments

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

That really sucks about the beach picnic. Very inconsiderate.

The oil spill is indeed a disaster of potentially apocalyptic proportions. I can't help but feel this may be the turning point in another way, that the the development of ecological and sustainable energy sources is where the economy is going to go, because of the BP has been (not) handling this travesty.
Maybe I'm a hopeless optimistic.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Count me in for the picnic. I can either bring a big bag of chips and homemade guacamole (without tomato), or throw in some cash -- let me know which you prefer.

I used to have a cartoon from one of the NY dailies pinned to my corkboard. The caption was "Mideast meets Midwest," and it showed a tall, freckled, gun-toting servicewoman and a woman in a burqa peering at each other curiously.

Back in junior high I used to bring a water bottle to school because what came out of the drinking fountains tasted terrible. I later found out that my homeroom teacher contacted my parents because she thought I was taking nips of vodka in class.

R.I.P., Gary Coleman.

[rm.livejournal.com]

No outside food is allowed at venue and I can't eat anything they sell there. We're probably not going to go now.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Where does it say you can't bring your own? *frowns at Facebook page*

[rm.livejournal.com]

If you go to the website for Water Taxi Beach, it's quickly clear that it's not a beach but an outdoor venue with sand. It says "no coolers" quite prominently and in the FAQ also specifies no outside food. To pay that much money to go somewhere that is neither safe nor comfortable for me because of the food and celiac disease issue... not happening. Currently, plan B is a picnic somewhere else; let us know if you want in.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Oooh, that's not good. There's no reference to that policy in any of the posts about the beach party. I foresee a lot of annoyed would-be picnickers.

Screw it, I'm totally smuggling in noshes, even if it's just granola bars and/or meal-replacement shakes.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I just left a snitty, snitty Facebook comment.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

I bought a ticket in advance, and I promised Voon I'd take part in the bathing beauties event, so I'm committed. Ah, well. Hopefully this will be a learning experience for the planners.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the heads-up on the Malawi couple - I did NOT know one of them identifies as a woman.

They seriously need to get out of Malawi. Yes, Malawi needs to change its laws and attitudes, but in the meantime these people are not safe there.

[weirdquark]

Thanks so much for the heads-up on the Malawi couple - I did NOT know one of them identifies as a woman.

Ditto. I wonder how much of the coverage is/was purposeful trans erasure and how much was people not doing enough research.

Because I can see some people saying that it's a same-sex marriage issue because the law says that same-sex relationships are illegal, and since the law does not recognize that Chimbalanga identifies as a woman, as far as the law is concerned, they're both men. And while it's true that the illegality of same-sex relationships is a problem that needs to be dealt with, it ignores the problem of people not recognizing Chimbalanga identifying as a woman. Possibly the trans erasure comes from people feeling that the trans issues would distract from the same-sex relationship issues. Which, whether or not that [people being distracted] is actually true, is a third problem.

I can also see first reports not recognizing Chimbalanga as a woman, referring to Monjeza and Chimbalanga as a same-sex couple, and then further reports just going with it because the journalists aren't talking to Monjeza and Chimbalanga or anyone who knows them for some reason, and so they don't know that there are trans issues involved.

[laufeyette.livejournal.com]

Dennis Hopper has also just passed, in case you wanted to add.

I can't even talk about the oil spill. I know it will impact everyone in the world, but as a Louisianan it is simply too close and horrifying to me. There is a BP protest in Jackson Square on Sunday that I will be attending, though.

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

A good friend of mine will be there. Wave a sign for me.

[laufeyette.livejournal.com]

Will do. :)

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

it has been an act of trans erasure by the western press, and, sadly, many parts of the gay community, to insist on making this case about the equal marriage rights battle in the US.

And a damned effective one. I had no idea. :-( Thank you for the heads up on this.

Like many of you who are about my age and remember Gary Coleman as someone other than a punchline, I find myself surprised at how sad I am at this passing.

Same here.

The BP oil spill terrifies me. I fear we won't be able to stop it.

I'm starting to be afraid of the same thing. And, yes, I do think there's no going back from here, regardless.

# Today I got mistaken for an alcoholic because someone on the street mistook the mini hand sanitizer bottle half sticking out of my pocket for booze.

Buh? What, they thought it was one of those little trial-size "nip" things? *boggles*

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting the OWH link.

I'm also sad about Gary coleman and Dennis Hopper.

It's hard to express how I feel about the spill. The way you love NY? That's how I love the bayous of Louisiana. I am sick and angry and very very sad.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Oh good grief. Way to fail on the logistics of the picnic from whoever set that up (plus the vendors of food at the beach for not even considering a gluten-free option!)- sounds like you took the best action under the circumstances. Would be interested in a guerrilla-picnic event.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Excellent. We'll drop you a line in a bit when we have a plan.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Dude, what's your email, I can't find it.

Update re: bringing food to Beach Party

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

FWIW, the Facebook page for the Dreamland Beach Party has been updated with the following:

"While Water Taxi Beach prohibits outside food and drink, we will not be strictly enforcing this rule, and of course, those with dietary restrictions are permitted to bring food on the premises."

Re: Update re: bringing food to Beach Party

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that they updated that. But already made other plans at this point and irritated how it was handled (did anyone send me a Facebook comment? no. they just deleted my polite comment about the situation on their wall; I would have never known had you not told me. It's left me feeling embarrassed for being disabled and speaking up for myself, basically. We'll be at Governor's Island).

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

As I'm sure you know, the intersection of being trans and marriage laws is complex and dreadful. Many laws assume that you are the gender that was originally put on your birth certificate when deciding if a marriage is legitimate, regardless of treating doctors' opinions, the trans person's self-identification, surgery status, the knowledge or lack of knowledge of the other spouse, etc. Until the gender of the parties is not part of what determines whether a law recognizes a marriage as valid, no trans-person's marriage will be free of potential pitfalls.

So long as marriage is seen as only a M-F pair, no trans relationship will be safe from someone claiming that they don't qualify to be married to whoever they're with.

So, although I agree wholeheartedly with you that it is unfortunate that Chimbalanga's identity as trans was missed or hidden by the press, I do not agree that her self-identification as female means this is not a pertinent example in the discussion of the need to recognize same-gender marriages.

On the contrary, I think every serious partnership that includes a trans person is an example of why we need to legally and socially recognize same-gender marriages.

[phaetonschariot.livejournal.com]

There are already fires that have been going for years and years - most recent one I read about was Centralia where there's a coal fire burning under the town, which is pretty much abandoned now because of the danger. I can easily believe that the oil spill could go in that direction too.

I don't understand how there are people who don't think we're ruining the planet.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Funnily enough I was recently reading about the Centralia mine fire - apparently the anniversary of its beginning (thanks to some ill-advised dumping in the local garbage pit in 1962) occurred in late May.

I don't understand how there are people who don't think we're ruining the planet.

Here's the thing. Short of fully nuking the planet and all its works, the damage we're creating can probably be routed around by the processes of changing ecosystems and whatnot: climate change is not unknown in Earth history. It's not so much that we're ruining the planet, it's that we're ruining the planet for ourselves. And yeah, one of the few reasons people aren't getting it is that the brunt of it is currently being borne by "other" people - the First and Second World poor, and the Third World.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

I remember seeing the news specials about Centralia when I was a kid (I'm from Delaware originally, so we were close enough for it to be of interest on the Philly news). I found it terrifying -- the town burning from beneath and the town slowly collapsing into the gaps left by the burned coal. It was nightmare fodder for many years.

[mamadar.livejournal.com]

I know how you feel about Gary Coleman. The poor man.

[lefaym.livejournal.com]

It's strange with the oil spill, because it's just there in the background. It's not the top news story anymore (not here, anyway), yet what it's doing to the planet is just filling me with this low level of terror.

[matthewwdaly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think that the spill would be the greatest disaster in world history even if the well were capped today (and it won't be). And NOAA is talking about how this is going to be a crazy active hurricane season. What's going to happen when that crap gets sucked into a hurricane and carried inland? It's going to be freaking Oobleck. This is something that we will never be able to forget, and if it doesn't wake us up to the perils of deregulation then we are incapable of being awoken.

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

Cripes. I had no idea about the trans-erasure re: Monjeza and Chimbalanga. This is the first time I've heard that Chimbilanga identifies as a woman. Damn. Now I'm all mad at the MSM...

[ravenskye8.livejournal.com]

I am now officially in the terrified boat with you because now that you wrote that, I know I'm not the only one having environmental apocalyptic kittens over the oil spill... *flail*

I'll get around to posting about my latest parade of mightmares after we're done with art fair work... In one, I woke up sobbing into my pillow because my dream self was desperately trying to save an oil-covered beached dolphin...

[nekosensei.livejournal.com]

Did you hear that BP announced this evening that top kill failed and that they have to move on to another plan? Frightening!

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah.