AMC 09-thoughts- part one: discussions onsex trade

I am at the fabulous Allied Media Conference in Detroit, and are getting my brain bombarded by information, inspiration and getting a sense of all the amazing thing that people are doing around the country.
One of the workshops focused on sex trade, the history of $pread magazine and thoughts on selling sex. One of the shortcomings of [...]

scattered

i was looking for home today, in chicago. for a place that felt more familiar than all the unknown faces, or streets. so i went to little italy, which may be incredibly naive, but after visiting chinatown i had my hopes up. chinatown is bustling with chinese stores, and people, speaking chinese and english, hanging [...]

june, 2009

i keep on going because i cannot stop. there has been so much death in my life this year, and i am not sure what to do with it. so many people that have been part of my life, or were a big part of people very close to me have died in the past [...]

first days

empty rooms, unfamiliar smells and spaces. it brings back the animal in all of us. the need for stability and what is known. new city new streets and geographies, noises and routes. oona said it doesn’t feel real. home to her is bloomington, it’s what she has known as home most of her life.  i [...]

invasive and pervasive

a couple of days ago i went to oona and florence’s 3rd grade music performance of “how does the garden grow?”, expecting some awkward cuteness and cheesy music, and instead got some not so subtle racist doctrine.
the story began with a song about a thriving flower garden, sang by  (white) girls dressed like flowers. then the [...]

seeing in color

i have been thinking about race and history almost non stop for the past month, and feeling increasingly frustrated and confused. i have been in the united states for 7 years now, and i am still at the beginning of understanding and learning about the history of race in the U.S., and its impact on [...]

perpetuating rape myths, one child at the time

doing violence prevention work in middle and high school for over a year now, I have seen many scary, inaccurate stereotypes about sexual violence going around, but never like today I realized to what extent the schools are perpetuating false information about rape as part of the educational curriculum. During a break between two classes [...]

the move – part two: a place to call home

I spent the weekend in san Francisco, really trying to figure out if it could be a place to call home. I walked around for hours, spending time in different neighborhoods, trying to get clues about who the people inside each house could be, if they would be persons that I’d have any affinity with, [...]

kicked out

i kicked out someone of the classroom today for the first time ever.  i have always hated when teachers did that. it’s such a cope out. and here i am.
i wish i had more time to address his reaction, his discomfort, his prejudice, but i did not. i had 45 minutes to try to explain [...]

the move- part one: schools

after many years of living in bloomington, sort of accidentally, i am likely moving in a way that feels more intentional, albeit random in its own merit.  a strong candidate for the move is san francisco, because i have been accepted at a school there.
however it’s not so much my school i am concerned with, [...]