Rachel

Entries with anything resembling personal details tends to be friends-only.  Let me know if you'd like to be added to my LJ friends list (though please be aware that if we don't know each other IRL chances are I'm gonna be distrustful and politely decline).

A series of demonstrations known as Slut Walks have or will soon be held in many major cities. They started because of a statement made in January of this year by a representative of the Toronto Police that "women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized." While I find the original comment to be abhorrently indicative of victim-blaming, the walks themselves really don't resonate for me and I'm hoping that in writing about it I'll be able to put my finger on why.( Read more... )

Friday night I saw Ameriville, "An explosive fusion of storytelling and the infectious rhythms of jazz, Gospel, and hip-hop" that "puts the state of the Union under a microscope...through the lens of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath." My bias notwithstanding (I went largely to support a friend who was working tech), I genuinely think that technically-speaking it was extremely impressive.

Perhaps most strikingly, they used lighting and choreography to infuse the show with exquisite form, shadow, etc. in a way that was clearly deliberate but done so seamlessly it "felt" unconscious.

The show is very much experiential (no Brechtian acting here), taking the audience through a crisis of faith in the American dream particularly brought to the forefront by Hurricane Katrina. It's intense; though there are distinct "scenes," they aren't separated by blackouts or closed curtains like in "traditional" plays so the show flows continuously. That being said, they did a great job of varying more intense "scenes" with those that might be equally serious but have a more humorous approach. Similarly, they alternated "simpler" monologues and dialogues with montages that managed to be complex without feeling "busy."

Throughout the show, they used the device of repeating/riffing on snippets from well-known songs, and by doing so repeatedly and with an eclectic range of songs that paralleled the show's "embrace U.S. diversity" message turned the music into a unifying motif. Also, I'm now in lust with the actress's voice.

This great promotional video clip should give you a sense of what I'm talking about above.

Content-wise it was definitely thought-provoking for me, though I suspect not in the ways the creators/performers intended. ( Cut for spoilers )

One way or another, I'm really glad I went to see this show. It was thought-provoking, had a good message, and was beautifully executed. And tickets for people under 30 are available for only $10 :) (they only list it on the site's fine print, but are super nice when you call to get the tickets).



* The friend with whom I went to the show asked me to clarify this bit. From what I sent to her: "My issue was with comparing what I see more as xenophobia marginally tempered by a token nod to human rights (internment camps) to the deliberate fostering of an ideology that justifies the creation of a class of okay-to-kill people in order to avert class riots (by poor whites in North America or by poor Christian Germans and Poles in Europe)."

If you or anyone you know in the D.C. area is looking for a roommate starting anytime between now and late January and going indefinitely, please read the following.
( Read more... )

If this seems like a good fit, please email me at [my last name].[my first name].a@gmail.com (or hous-maje5-1973156063@craigslist.org).

My grandfather passed away in his sleep early Wednesday morning. Today was the funeral.
( What I said )
( A picture of him and my grandmother when they were young )

I seem to have inexplicably switched to primarily posting links on Facebook and a few days ago realized that doing so likely amounts to spamming people there so am trying to switch back to LJ where it's a bit easier for readers to opt in or out. ( Links, most shamelessly stolen from other people, (and some duplicates of things I posted to FB a couple of weeks ago) are sorted and labeled. )

Keith Olbermann Comments On Fiorina's Passover Gaffe. I actually think that the (non-Passover-related) part of the clip with her campaign ad is funnier - she showed her opponent as a skin walker (of sorts)! With red eyes!

The Arab Labor episode now infamous for containing an inappropriate "hard boiled eggs" joke (about 8 minutes into the clip) but also hilarious (and wrong) in so many other ways.

Colbert on the spread of U.S. holiday commercialism to Passover.

Top ten Passover pick-up lines (probably only funny for those who have been to a seder).

Funny tips for non-Jews at a seder (probably only funny for those who've been to a seder). I saw it posted with a comment that's the most hilarious suggestion of all: "Tell Catholics to leave the dang egg alone - the three times we've invited Catholics they've grabbed the egg off the seder plate and yelled 'found it.'"

Uncle Jay explains Passover (probably only really funny if you're Jewish.) My favorite part: "There is a way to make matzah taste better. If you put butter and salt on it, it tastes just like butter and salt."

Cute, if ridiculous, parodies of pop songs (probably only funny if you're familiar with traditional Jewish practice).

EDITED TO ADD: This one is just so wrong...I mean...aside from the objectification issue, and aside from the sacrilegious aspect of having the Egypt background/matzah-patterned belt/"Happy celebration of freedom" blended with sexual imagery, that particular magazine, if I'm remembering correctly, is funded by the advertisements it contains. Most of those advertisements are placed by pimps. The irony of exploiting women while wishing (the presumably mostly male clientele) a happy celebration of freedom (and escape from servitude) is...mind blowing.

L, G, B, and/or T people in Chicago (Thursday 2/25), NYC (Friday 2/26), and or San Francisco (Monday 3/1) can share experiences regarding housing discrimination with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

I love that enough positive queer news stories have come out recently for me to do a post with that theme (and science stories, 'cause I also have an accumulation of those). :)

Transgender New York State Workers Are Expected to Gain Bias Protection

Houston elected its first openly queer mayor in a run-off election (Though I am concerned as to whether "fiscal conservatism" actually means pushing for a balanced budget or just means cutting social services in order to give rich people lower taxes...) I enjoyed Jon Stewart's take on this election (the clip also includes his most recent quip about William and Mary).

D.C. Council approves same-sex marriage bill. Because everything D.C. does has to be approved by Congress, the question now is whether federal Democrats will (be big enough asshats to) pull a NY Senate...(This is an interesting, straight-focused take on the home rule issue.)

Lambda rising, DC's GLBT bookstore, is closing down. I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, that place (along with The Blade, which also closed down recently) has sentimental value for me as one of my first connections to Adult/Established Queer Community, and it's sad to see it shutting its doors. On the other hand, the founder was right (at least in the DC context) when he said, "When we set out to establish Lambda Rising in 1974, it was intended as a demonstration of the demand for gay and lesbian literature...Today, 35 years later, nearly every general bookstore carries GLBT books, often featuring them in special sections." I guess the bottom line, though, is that these guys should be able to retire.


And now the science links:
The Mediterranean could have filled in two years.
New research suggests that sex is based primarily on a single gene (rather than a whole chromosome).
The rats from The Princess Bride are for real (or at least there's a similar species)!
Researchers have used lab-grown cells to engineer fully-functioning rabbit penises. Really the main reason I'm posting this article is because of my amusement at the idea of a whole new meaning for the expression, "F___ing like bunnies" (though presumably were this technology to be adapted to humans they would also be using human, not rabbit, cells).

I've let a number of important days go by without comment, and while I don't have that much new to say, I want to at least (however belatedly) post some relevant links.

November 20th was the International Transgender Day of Remembrance.
November 25th was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
December 6 was the 20th anniversary of the L'école polytechnique de Montréal massacre in which the killer gunned down women, mostly engineering students, while yelling about how he was fighting back against feminism.
ETA: But apparently I did hit one day spot-on: Today is Human Rights Day.

As long as masculinity is established at the expense of a less privileged class, we're going to keep having these kinds of days.

An antigay conservative group with high-powered U.S. political allies has used its influence to support a proposed Ugandan law that would impose the death penalty on "repeat offenders" engaging in gay sex.
Apparently Canada thinks that arson at a place frequented almost exclusively by queers isn't a hate crime.
Principals and bus driver ignored pleas for help from high school student beaten with metal pipe for being gay.
A Florida teenager was told by a McDonald's manager, "We don't hire faggots...You lied to me [by expressing a gender not consistent with your assigned sex]."

How long are people going to persist in using force (physical and/or economic) to impose gendered behavior on others in a way that violates their sense of being? What if we did as much to prevent rape as we do H1N1?