1) black face coloring on my nose & around my eyes (droopy)
2) twisted my hair into 2 balls on top
3) streaks of blood on my face
= ingredients of............ A BLOODY PANDA!
despicable!
(evolution of my costume)
- tiwala at 2:33 PM
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i have to keep telling myself this mantra:
to love being in love.
i get fearful sometimes, as u can tell.
anyway, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! no sign of rain (yet) in SF, just sun & clouds.
- tiwala at 11:49 AM
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so relationships are scary, blah blah blah.
i'm in love, fuck it. let go of tha issues. bite the bullet & take it... appreciate it.
the forecast said it might rain on halloween in frisko :(
- tiwala at 5:11 PM
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i wanted to wear ALL black, as in a ski mask too.
but i figure people might be a little too sensitive to the terrorist look.
- tiwala at 4:55 PM
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it's halloween week!
on friday, i'll be dressed all in black
& call myself an eyelash.
wear black lipstick too, says habibi.
- tiwala at 4:08 PM
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ramadan is not easy.
i think my boss is wonderin about my energy level these days.
- tiwala at 4:06 PM
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update on the so-cal BLAZIN FIRES:
- my bro & sis-in-law were able to move back in their house! their area seems to be safe... the house is surrounded by a lake (dope huh.)
- 10,000 firefighters up in the mix, from cali, arizona, & nevada
- currently burned down 3/4 size of rhode island
- bout 1,600 homes reduced to ash
mother nature's pissed!
- tiwala at 2:37 PM
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he said on saturday, "i love you"... plus other intense proclamations.
emotions are becoming HEAVILY reciprocated, & i'm scared. it's a long-distance relationship too: san francisco & LA. plus he might move to new york for liberal arts, & i might be in brazil next year for an extended period. what the heez did i get myself into?? i'm hella sprung already & it's too late to backtrack. stupid, stupid me.
- tiwala at 9:06 PM
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i've been lethargic for the past 2 days. the lover is muslim & encouraged me to fast for Ramadan. can't eat OR DRINK while the sun is up. i don't think i've ever done this sort of dieting before in my life... it's a spiritual commitment to purify.
as a Christian, i'm making this covenant to test my devotion to God. i find myself praying more often because i need strength... and physical strength is only a reflection of my spiritual strength as well. hunger pains & dizziness make me realize my priorities & is making me closer to those who suffer daily. at least i have a choice to eat... most don't. and when i do eat, it's soooo worth it. i never knew how much i take food for granted, let alone WATER. it's a great feeling, when you go without it for 12 hours every day. daayam.
i hope i can last the whole month. it's hecka hard... especially for me, i'm such a glutton.
- tiwala at 8:58 PM
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pray for my parents, family & friends in san diego.... insha'allah they don't get hurt.
it's raining ash, stinging eyes & throats, schools & freeways are closed. fires have already burned down the size of half of rhode island. my dog used to be white, now he's grey. my parent's house is layered with soot & ash. my brother & sister-in-law had to evacuate their house today, 30,000 more homes in danger. fuck.
i live in san francisco, my family's in san diego. my momma hit me up today @ work & was panicking over the phone. i want to go down there... for peace of mind purposes... but it's not a good idea to get closer to danger. what do u do in this situation... i mean if things get serious. just sit on my ass and hope & pray that the fire doesn't touch my family? sometimes i get these superhero moments where i just want it to stop... but it's nearly impossible to just hose it down myself. i hate feeling incapacitated, like i can't make things better.
blazing fires in so-cal
first arnold, now this? what's wrong california.
please don't tell me it's some apocalyptic shiz.
- tiwala at 8:36 PM
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"state of siege" by palestinian poet mahmoud darwish
jan. 2002 in ramallah, political capital of the palestinian national authority since 1994
"Here, where the hills slope before the sunset and the chasm of time
near gardens whose shades have been cast aside
we do what prisoners do
we do what the jobless do
we sow hope
In a land where the dawn sears
we have become more doltish
and we stare at the moments of victory
there is no starry night in our nights of explosions
our enemies stay up late, they switch on the lights
in the intense darkness of this tunnel
Here after the poems of Job, we wait no more
This siege will persist until we teach our enemies
models of our finest poetry
the sky is leaden during the day
and a fiery orange at night… but our hearts
are as neutral as the flowery emblems on a shield
here, not “I”
Here, Adam remembers the clay of which he was born
He says, on the verge of death, he says,
“I have no more earth to lose”
Free am I, close to my ultimate freedom, I hold my fortune in my own hands
In a few moments, I will begin my life
born free of father and mother
I will chose letters of sky blue for my name
Under siege, life is the moment between remembrance
of the first moment, and forgetfulness of the last
here, under the mountains of smoke, on the threshold of my home,
time has no measure
We do what those who give up the ghost do…
we forget our pain
Pain is when the housewife forsakes hanging up the clothes to dry and is content
that this flag of Palestine should be without stain
There is no Homeric echo here
Myths come knocking on our door when we need them
There is no Homeric echo here… only a general
looking through the rubble for the awakening state
concealed within the galloping horse from Troy
The soldiers measure the space between being and nothingness
with field-glasses behind a tank’s armoury
We measure the space between our bodies and the coming rockets
with our sixth sense alone
You there, by the threshold of our door
Come in, and sip with us our Arabic coffee
[you may even feel that you are human, just as we are]
you there, by the threshold of our door
take your rockets away from our mornings
we may then feel secure
[and almost human]
We may find time for relaxation and fine art
We may play cards, and read our newspapers
Catching up on the news of our wounded past
and we may look up our star signs in the year
two thousand and two, the camera smiles
to those born under the sign of the siege
Whenever yesterday comes to me, I say to her,
Now’s not the right time. Go
and come tomorrow!
I wrack my head, but uselessly.
What can someone like me think of, there,
on the tip of the hillside, for the past 3 thousand years,
and in this passing moment?
My thoughts slay me
my memory awakens me
When the helicopters disappear the doves fly back
white, very white, marking the cheeks of the horizon
with liberated wings. They revive their radiance and their ownership
of the sky, and of playfulness. Higher and higher they fly,
the doves, very white. ‘O that the sky
was real’ [a man passing between two bombs cried]
A sparkling sky, a vision, lightning!
all very similar….
soon I will know if this is indeed
a revelation
or my close friends will know that the poem
has gone, and yoked its poet
[to a critic]: Don’t interpret my words
as you stir the sugar in your cup, or munch your breast of chicken!
Words put me under siege in my sleep…
the words I did not utter.
They write me, then leave me searching for the remains of my sleep
The evergreen Cypresses behind the soldiers are minarets protecting
the sky from falling. Behind the barbed wire
are soldiers urinating- protected by a tank.
The Autumn day completes its golden stroll on the pavements of
a street as empty as a church after Sunday prayers
Tomorrow we will love life.
When tomorrow comes, life will be something to adore
just as it is, ordinary, or tricky
gray, or colourful…stripped of judgement day and purgatory…
and if joy is a necessity
let it be
light on the heart and the back
Once embittered by joy, twice shy
A satirical writer said to me:
If I knew the end of the story at the very beginning
there would be nothing to laugh about!
[To a killer:] If you reflected upon the face
of the victim you slew, you would have remembered your mother in the room
full of gas. You would have freed yourself
of the bullet’s wisdom,
and changed your mind: ‘I will never find myself thus.’
[To another killer:] If you left the foetus thirty days
in its mother’s womb, things would have been different.
The occupation would be over and this suckling infant
would forget the time of the siege
and grow up a healthy child
reading at school, with one of your daughters
the ancient history of Asia.
They might even fall in love
and give birth to a daughter [she would be Jewish by birth].
What, then, have you done now?
Your daughter is now a widow
and your granddaughter an orphan.
What have you done with your scattered family?
And how have you slain three doves in one story?
This verse was not
really necessary. Forget about the refrain
and forget about being economical with the pain.
It’s all superflous
like so much dross
The mist is darkness- a thick, white darkness
peeled by an orange, and a promising woman
The siege is lying in wait.
It is lying in wait on a tilted stairway
in the midst of a storm.
We are alone. We are alone to the point
of drunkenness with our own aloneness,
with the occasional rainbow visiting.
We have brothers and sisters overseas..
kind sisters, who love us..
who look our way and weep.
And secretly they say
“I wish that siege was here, so that I could…”
But they cannot finish the sentence.
Do not leave us alone. No.
Do not leave us alone.
Our losses are between two and eight a day.
And ten are wounded.
Twenty homes are gone.
Forty olive groves destroyed,
in addition to the structural damage
afflicting the veins of the poem, the play,
and the unfinished painting.
In the alleyway, lit by an exiled lantern,
I see a refugee camp at the crossroads of the winds.
The south rebels against the wind.
The east is a west turned religious.
The west is a murderous truce minting the coinage of peace.
As for the north, the distant north,
it is not a place or a geographical vicinity.
It is the conference of heavenly divinity.
A woman said to a cloud: cover my dear one,
for my clothes are wet with his blood.
If you are not rain, o dear one,
then be a tree,
fertile and verdant. Be a tree.
And if not a tree, o dear one
be a stone
laden with dew. Be a stone.
And if not a stone, o dear one,
be the moon itself
in the dreams of she who loves you. Be the moon itself.
[thus a woman said
to her son, in his funeral]
O you who are sleepless tonight, did you not tire
of following the light in our story
and the red blaze in our blood?
Did you not tire, you who are sleepless tonight?
Standing here. Sitting here. Always here. Eternally here,
we have one aim and one aim only: to continue to be.
Beyond that aim we differ in all.
We differ on the form of the national flag (we would have done well if we had chosen
o living heart of mine, the symbol of a simple mule).
We differ on the words of the new anthem
(we would have done well to choose a song on the marriage of doves).
We differ on the duties of women
(we would have done well to choose a woman to run the security services).
We differ on proportions, public and private.
We differ on everything. We have one aim: to continue to be.
After fulfilling this aim, we will have time for other choices.
He said to me, on his way to jail,
“When I am released I will know that praise of nation
is like pouring scorn on nation-
a trade like any other!
A little of the infinite blue
suffices
to reduce the burden of our times
and cleanse the mud from this place right now
The spirit needs to improvise
and walk upon its silken soles
by my side, as hand in hand, two old friends
we share a crust of bread
and an old flask of wine
walking the path together,
then our days fork off into two separate paths:
I to the unknown, and she
sits squatting upon a high rock
[to a poet] Whenever the sunset eludes you
you are ensnared in the solitude of the gods.
Be ‘the essence’ of your lost subject
and the subject of your lost essence. Be present in your absence
He finds time for sarcasm:
My telephone has stopped ringing.
My doorbell has also stopped ringing.
So how did you know
that I am not here?
He finds time for song:
Waiting for you, I cannot wait
I cannot read Dostoyevsky
nor listen to Umm Kalthum, Maria Callas or another.
Waiting for you, the hands of the watch go from right
to left
to a time without a place.
Waiting for you, I didn’t wait for you.
I waited for eternity.
He asks her, “What kind of flower is your favourite?”
She says, “The carnation. The black carnation.”
He asks her, “And where will you take me, with those black carnations?”
She says, “To the abyss of life within me.”
She says, “Further, further, further.”
This siege will endure until the besiegers feel, like
the besieged
that anger
is an emotion like any other.
“I don’t love you. I don’t hate you,”
The prisoner said to the interrogator. “My heart is full
of that which is of no concern to you. My heart is full of the aroma of sage.
My heart is innocent, radiant, brimming.
There is no time in the heart for tests. No.
I do not love you. Who are you that I may give my love to you?
Are you part of my being? Are you a coffee rendezvous?
Are you the wind of the flute, and a song, that I may love you?
I hate imprisonment. But I do not hate you.”
Thus a prisoner said to the investigator. “My feelings are not your concern.
My emotions are my own private night…
my night which moves from bed to bed free of rhyme
and of double meanings!
We sat far from our destinies, like birds
which build their nests in cracks in statues
or in chimneys, or in tents
erected on the prince’s path at the time of the hunt
On my ruins the shadows grow green
and the wolf sleeps on a hybernating poem,
dreaming, like me, and like a guardian angel,
that life is pure and free of label
Myths refuse to amend their patterns.
Perhaps they were struck by a crack in the hull;
perhaps their ships have been stranded on
a land without a people.
Thus the idealist was overcome by the realist.
But the ships will not change their mould.
Whenever an unpleasant reality crosses their path
they demolish it with a bulldozer.
The colour of their truth dictates the text: she is beautiful,
white, without blemish.
[to a semi-orientalist] Let’s say things are the way you think they are -
that I am stupid, stupid, stupid
and that I cannot play golf
or understand high technology
nor can fly a plane!
Is that why you have ransomed my life to create yours?
If you were another - if I were another
we would have been a couple of friends who confessed our need for folly
But the fool, like Shylock the merchant,
consists of heart, and bread, and two frightened eyes
Under siege, time becomes a location
solidified eternally
Under siege, place becomes a time
abandoned by past and future
This low, high land
this holy harlot…
we do not pay much attention to the magic of these words
a cavity may become a vacuum in space
a contour in geography
The dead besiege me with every new day
and ask me, “Where were you? Give back
to the lexicon all the words
you offered me
and let the sleepers sleep without phantoms in their dreams!
The dead teach me the lesson: there is no aesthetic beyond freedom
The dead point out to me: why search beyond the horizon
for the eternal virgins? We loved life
on earth, between the fig and the pine trees
but we couldn’t find our way even there. We searched
until we gave life all we owned: the purple blood in our veins
The dead besiege me. “Do not walk in the funeral
if you did not know me. I seek no compliments
from man nor beast
The dead warn me. “Do not believe their rejoicing.
Listen instead to my dad as he looks at my photo crying.
“How did you take my place, son, and jump ahead of me?
I should have gone first! I should have gone first!”
The dead besiege me. “I have only changed my place of abode and my furnishings.
The deer now walk on my bedroom’s roof
and the moon warms the ceiling from the pain
thus putting an end to my pain
to put an end to my wailing.”
and the moon warms the ceiling
to put an end to my wailing.”
This siege will endure until we are truly persuaded
into choosing a harmless slavery, but
in total freedom!
To resist: that means to ensure the health
of heart and testicles, and that your ancient disease
is still alive and well in you
a disease called hope
in the remains of the dawn I walk outside of my own body
in the remains of the night I hear the footsteps of my own being
I raise my cup to those who drink with me
to an awakening to the beauty of the butterfly
in the long tunnel of this dark night
I raise my cup to those who drink with me
in the thick darkness of a night overflowing with crippled souls
I raise my cup to the apparition in my being
[to a reader] Don’t trust the poem
She is the absentee daughter. She is neither an intuition
nor a surmise, but a sense of disaster
If love is crippled, I will heal it
with exercise and humour
and with separating the singer from the song
My friends are ever preparing a party for me-
a farewell party, and a comfortable grave in the shadow of the oak
together with a marble witness from the tombstone of time
But I seem to be first in attending their funerals.
Who has died today?
The siege is transforming me from a singer
to a sixth string on a five string violin
The deceased, daughter of
the deceased, who is herself daughter of the deceased, who is the deceased’s sister
The deceased resister’s sister is related by marriage to the mother of the deceased, who is grandaughter of the deceased’s grandfather
and neighbour to the deceased’s uncle (etc. ..etc.)
No news worries the developed world,
for the time of barbarism has passed
and the victim is Joe Bloggs. Nobody knows his name,
and the tragedy, like the truth, is relative (etc. ..etc.)
Quiet, quiet, for the soldiers need
at this hour to listen to the songs
which the dead resisters had listened to, and have remained
like the smell of coffee, in their blood, fresh
Truce, truce. A time to test the teachings: can helicopters be turned into ploughshares?
We said to them: truce, truce, to examine intentions.
The flavour of peace may be absorbed by the soul.
Then we may compete for the love of life using poetic images.
They replied, “Don’t you know that peace begins with oneself,
if you wish to open the door to our citadel of truth?
So we said, “And then?”
Writing is a small ant which bites extinction.
Writing is a bloodless wound.
Our cups of coffee, and the birds, and the green trees
with the blue shade, and the sun leaping from wall
to wall like a doe
and the waters in the skies of infinite shapes, in what is left to us
of sky…and other matters the memory of which has been put on hold
prove that this morning is strong and beautiful
and that we are guests of evermore"
- tiwala at 3:52 PM
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my co-worker says i have borderline turrets hahahahah
maybe i'm more upset than i thought.
i dunno about you but
when i feel like shit,
all i want to do is sleep.
i guess cuz i'm just dead for a while...
it's a nice escape from
the agony u endure in your waking state.
- tiwala at 9:22 AM
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compromise
vs. mutual desires
false assumptions
impatience
tha same ol' mufuckin cycle of different needs.
when people say they don't want any "labels,"
it's also a cop-out for not wanting responsibilities.
they can still play
they can still flirt
they don't have to be accountable if
commitment doesn't exist.
it's just somethin that people have to be "ready" for,
& if you're not ready to make the effort,
then it sucks to be your lover.
i feel bad.
i have this fat temper
& he is so fucking cryptic that i feel i can't help it sometimes
when things are so enigmatic / open to interpretation / static.
"nakaka-inis" means "it's frustrating" in Tagalog.
this shit makes me want to quit trying altogether but
i'm in it too deep to stop what we started.
how do you make something work when
the other person is worth it but recurring situtations are so discouraging?
answers, please?
- tiwala at 9:05 AM
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bought some old+new cds yestaday @ amoeba... old ones mostly on clearance, like 3 bucks!
des'ree
gang starr: decade
goapele
jaguar wright
jazzyfatnastees
jodeci
jungle brothers
maxwell
me'shell ndgecello
paris
shame the devil: hiphop tells truth about prisons
yea i know. sometimes i go crazy with music.
ps- I RECOMMEND GOAPELE'S "EVEN CLOSER" ALBUM. seriously now.
those jams make me mellllt.
goapele: bay area songstress
- tiwala at 9:08 AM
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TOMORROW!!!
OCTOBER 22ND COALITION
Stop Police Brutality, Repression, & the Criminalization of a Generation
Actions in your city HERE.
represent atlanta, anaheim, baltimore, chicago, cleveland, columbus, cornell univ, denver, detroit, el paso, fresno, greensboro, greenville, honolulu, houston, kansas city, lawrence, los angeles, louisville, univ. of maryland, new haven, new york, norwich, oklahoma city, phoenix, pittsburg, portland, redding, san bernardino, san diego, san francisco, san juan in puerto rico, seattle, smith college, st. louis, st. martinville, tampa, washington d.c.
In San Francisco:
3 pm- 24th & Mission rally
4 pm- March to City Hall
5:30 pm- Rally @ City Hall
http://www.october22.org/
- tiwala at 3:46 PM
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thAngs are goin hella good... i don't wanna jinx it.
- tiwala at 10:08 PM
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"cuz you can talk talk talk
but that don't mean shit" - dead prez
before it was questionable, but lately there's been effort.
he even said, "i want to be ready for love, for you." [gasp] we'll see.
i'm still uppin the defenses yafeelme...
altho i am on the sprung side. scurred to fall too hard.
- tiwala at 4:29 PM
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this shit is BEYOND making me pissed.
GHETTOS ARE NOT A GAME
Making Money Off of the Misery of Others
by Tim Wise
The Black Commentator
GHETTOPOLY promises hours of entertainment for people who, naturally, neither live in a ghetto nor have visited one.
Some things just aren't funny, and some ways of making money are pathetic. Both of these truisms apply to the entrepreneurial "humor" of David Chang, a Taiwanese immigrant who apparently gets his kicks making fun of poor folks in urban America in order to make a quick buck.
Chang's business, as it were, is producing patently offensive board games, which
deliberately traffic in racist and classist stereotypes. His first creation is
"GHETTOPOLY," wherein players try and "buy stolen properties, pimp hoes, build crack houses and projects," and avoid getting carjacked.
With more than a few references to Malt Liquor addiction, loansharking, and other things that Chang apparently believes typify "ghetto culture," GHETTOPOLY promises hours of entertainment for people who, naturally, neither live in a ghetto nor have ever visited one, but who can now get off making fun of something they know nothing about.
Only in America. Somehow I doubt that Chang's father left Taiwan so his son could
profit off the misery of people trapped in desperate poverty, but who knows?
Chang insists that his game, which is available both online and in not-so-fine stores
everywhere, is not meant to be degrading, but instead to "bring people together in laughter."
But which people is he speaking of? Certainly not those who live in the places he has decided to objectify. He surely knows that his game isn't likely to sell too well in public housing projects after all, though by glancing at the "feedback" section on his website, it does seem to be a big hit with college kids.
Nice: children of privilege having a laugh at the expense of those without--how utterly typical.
Chang claims, "If we can't laugh at ourselves and how we each utilize the various
stereotypes, then we'll continue to live in blame and bitterness." But of course he isn't challenging the absurdity of those stereotypes, and he isn't laughing at himself.
There is no anti-Asian humor here, after all. No plans for "Kung-FuOPOLY," or
FORTUNECOOKIEOPOLY, not that that would be any funnier. He is laughing at others, thus not only GHETTOPOLY, which involves almost exclusively negative references to blacks, or what Chang perceives to be black urban culture, but also the upcoming offerings, HOODOPOLY, HIPHOPOPOLY, THUGOPOLY, and REDNECKOPOLY.
That the last of these makes fun of whites – but only the poorest whites of course (since he wouldn't want to offend the suburban consumer demographic) – hardly redeems Chang's venture. It only indicates that bashing low income people, of whatever race, is considered fair game. Whereas the original MONOPOLY venerates the wealthy and encourages us to be like them, Chang's rip-offs (for which Hasbro/Milton Bradley should sue his happy ass with a quickness) do not actually encourage players to identify with people who live in ghettos, or trailer parks, or whatever.
Chang's bio notes that he graduated from one of the "most prestigious private high schools in the U.S." (there's a surprise), and received a degree from the University of Rochester, both of which naturally gave him a deep understanding of the subject matter covered in his games.
Whatever details Chang may have failed to learn about "the hood" in prep school he
made up for by - and these are his words, I am not making this up – "watching TV and studying the lyrics of rap and hip-hop music."
And if that proved insufficient for the purposes of research, Chang had a fallback source of wisdom. As he puts it in a press release: "Video games provided him insight into the culture of the ghetto."
That someone could graduate from a prestigious high school and a good college,
while believing that images on video games produced by people who do not live in the places depicted, could somehow provide cultural insight into those places is shocking. His alma maters should ask for their degrees back.
Actually if one wants to understand "the ghetto" and the people who live there one has to spend time in such places. Even then, one's understanding will remain limited
compared to those who actually live there every day, navigating the waters of the
communities that David Chang and others think it is alright to parody.
If one spends any amount of time at all in such places, one immediately notices that
although there are things about poor urban communities that fit the stereotypical imagery, there are also lots of things about the places and the people who live in "ghettos," which didn't make it into this game, but which are also typical and not the least bit funny.
Like mothers trying to work two jobs to support their kids, without child care, without adequate health care, having to choose between buying them clothes for school or paying a heating bill.
Like kids who persevere against all odds, going to schools to learn and finding not
enough textbooks, or buildings that are crumbling, and yet they still show up every day, hoping to fill their minds with knowledge.
Like elderly women in public housing who look out for everyone's children, whether or not they are their own, because they see them as a treasure and vital resource in the community.
Like ministers who run day care programs, and job training programs, and whose
churches are involved in rehabilitating housing for low income families.
Like families that still pray, despite an environment that would make the most devout wonder if there was a God at all, let alone one who still cared about us.
Chang's biggest offense is in reinforcing the notion of the ghetto as a free-standing entity, with an inherent culture, separate from the rest of the society. But in truth, the ghettos of this nation are the product of deliberate decisions made by political and economic elites. Whatever culture springs up in such places is not some intrinsic pathology unique to the urban poor, but largely the consequence of institutional racism and economic oppression.
Chang's game allows us to continue ignoring the most important issue: namely, how did the ghetto become the ghetto in the first place? Answers are easy to find, though apparently Chang wasn't interested in discovering them, seeing as how doing so might have cut into his video game playing and MTV viewing schedule.
Fact is, during the first "great migration" of blacks from the south, zoning laws (not to mention overt violence) tightly restricted where people of color were allowed to live. As a result of limitations on black residential mobility, families often had to double-up in small apartments, which were rarely taken care of by landlords who had little incentive to improve their properties, since they knew there was nowhere else for black tenants to turn.
Then in the 1930s, the government began offering low-interest, taxpayer-guaranteed loans through the Federal Housing Administration. Millions of families took part in the new program, and the American middle-class was born. Over a thirty-year period, over $100 billion in home equity was loaned through these initiatives, but it was almost exclusively a white middle-class created by these policies.
FHA lending guidelines made it clear that loans were off-limits to persons who lived in "declining" neighborhoods (and every black neighborhood was rated as declining), and that, "If a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social and racial classes."
In other words, there would be few if any loans for blacks seeking to move to mostly white areas either. So blacks were restricted to the urban core at the very time that the "American dream" was being subsidized for white families.
As if this wasn't bad enough, local governments then began the process of "urban renewal," which meant the elimination of low-and-moderate-income family housing,
to be replaced by office buildings, shopping centers and parking lots.
While hundreds of thousands of homes (one-fifth of all housing occupied at the time by people of color) were destroyed as part of this process, less than 10 percent of those displaced– three-fourths of whom were black – had new single-resident housing to go to afterwards, as cities rarely built new units to replace the old ones. Instead, displaced families often had to rely on crowded apartments, living with relatives, or living in run-down public housing projects.
Since then, most efforts to reduce crowding in public housing by spreading subsidized residences throughout working and middle-class neighborhoods have been blocked by those who didn't want persons from the "ghetto" living near them. So the ghetto has remained isolated, wracked by concentrated poverty and all the problems that come with it.
Those problems include higher crime rates, family dissolution, inferior health care facilities and thus, greater levels of illness, and now, apparently, the privilege of becoming the punch line in someone else's idea of a joke.
None of the above history will matter much to Chang, I'm sure, or others who think making fun of "crack whores" is the epitome of high comedy. But it should matter to us.
And so should David's phone number, which he gladly offers on his website. I think we should let him know what we think of his game, so by all means let's do so. Give him a ring at 866-444-3886, or drop him an email at davidchang@ghettopoly.com.
And then let Hasbro/Milton Bradley know about Chang's games too. You can reach them at 888-836-7025. Or e-mail Hasbro Media contact Stacey Roberts at
Sroberts@hasbro.com. Let her know that this detestable game, which rips off the concept of one of their products is out there, and that as a company whose own "diversity statement" claims a corporate commitment to "respect and inclusion, "surely they would want to weigh in on the use of that concept to
disrespect entire communities.
Since the layout, style and feel of GHETTOPOLY is more than a little similar to the original from which the OPOLY part of the name is taken, it shouldn't take a particularly brilliant patent and trademark lawyer to shut Mr. Chang's fun down for good.
Tim Wise is an antiracist essayist, activist and father. He can be reached at
timjwise@msn.com
- tiwala at 3:54 PM
-----
for yalls tryina impress---
tomorrow is "national boss day."
so kiss some ass! maybe something good will happen.
i'm out of that "rut" i was in earlier. depression is sometimes due to my monthly blood comin. (yea u really wanted to hear that) but it's true.
i was in a really shitty situation this past weekend-- had to tell my friend that her man was cheating on her! fucked up. i found out thru mutual folks... torn since i didn't want to be in the middle, but thought she deserved to know. she confronted him & he said he "couldn't deny it." asshole.
slimy slime men. wretched of the earth.
my friend is Farsi (persian) & their people have these 2 sayings when they're pissed:
[1] i wish you poo upon your head with no water.
[2] i wish upon you snake poison in your stomach.
sounds polite doesn't it. sounds even nicer when she says it in farsi because it's such a pretty language. but still... i was hella laughing, especially with the poo one.
- tiwala at 4:08 PM
-----
praise God for prop. 54's defeat.
but still gearin up for the november 4 elections... frisko heads:
YES ON PROP. H !!!!!!!!!!!!!
EVENT 1:
HIP-HOP FOR COP REFORM FUNDRAISER
Wed. Oct. 15
7 pm-midnight
EL RIO, 3158 mission & cesar chavez, SF
Donation $5-10, but no one turned away for lack of funds.
Come get your groove on to live Hip-Hop performers & DJ'S and help support Prop. H, The Police Reform Charter Amendment.
For more info, call the Yes on Proposition H Campaign at 415-293-6350 or visit: http://www.policereformnow.com.
San Franciscans for Police Reform & Oversight (SFPRO)
1663 Mission St., Suite 460, SF, CA 94103 FPPC#1256226
EVENT 2:
How can youth and parents hold the police ACCOUNTABLE?
A Community Forum on the Police Reform Measure Prop H
Thursday, October 16th
6:30-8pm at Coleman Advocates, 459 Vienna St. (Between Persia & Brazil in SF's Excelsior District.) Take bus #29 or 54 from Balboa BART.
* Even before last year's incident of police violence at Thurgood Marshall Academic High School, young people and youth advocates shared a longstanding concern about the lack of police accountability when young people are unfairly harassed, arrested or even killed by the police.
* Over the past few years, San Franciscans have witnessed a near total Breakdown in police accountability mechanisms. This November, police reform measure Prop H will be on the ballot to address this issue.
* At this forum we will hear more about Prop H and how it will impact young people in San Francisco. Hear from youth and parents impacted by these issues.
ALSO: Mobilize to Support Prop H - Special Youth & Parent Day:
Saturday October 18th 2-5pm.
Meet at ACLU, 1663 Mission St.
And every Saturday & Sunday at 10am.
Co-sponsored by Coleman Advocates, Youth Making a Change, Parent Advocates for Youth, Bay Area Police Watch, SF Bayview Newspaper, Idriss Stelley Foundation, & San Franciscans for Police Reform & Oversight (SFPRO).
Prop H is a police accountability measure on the November Ballot. For more info about Prop H, call 621-2493 or go to http://www.policereformnow.com. Contact Coleman at 239-0161.
- tiwala at 12:33 PM
-----
happy october!
- Pilipino-American History Month
- Black Panther History Month
- National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
- National Coming Out Month
- tiwala at 4:00 PM
-----
article 1:
adios columbus
article 2:
indigenous people's day
- tiwala at 1:33 PM
-----
rather melancholy
anticipating the Light
to come
when i myself remove the drape over this Lamp.
- tiwala at 11:23 PM
-----
distractions pervade the mundane
to fuel anticipation for the next day
yet when stripped & nihilism kicks
nothing left but wavering Faith.
displacement among the lost
who act found.
beware of quicksand &
gusty winds and
stick your flag of Truth deep
in the soil.
build your Home upon the
Rock
and resist
the seduction to applaud
fear.
- tiwala at 11:22 PM
-----
happy indigenous people's day!!!
columbus didn't discover SHIT. mass murderin demon.
- tiwala at 3:56 PM
-----
so..... i figure about 4 millions californians need to be exiled:
Arnold Schwarzenegger: 3,743,393 votes
Larry Flynt: 15,454
Gary Coleman: 12,683
Mary 'Mary Carey' Cook: 10,110
what pisses me off is that people fucking DIED to have the right to vote, & folks now take it for granted. although it seems to be our only "democratic" activity (and it's still not enough), it's still our responsibility to care & get off that lazy ass. at the very LEAST, please vote... yaafeeeelme.
complete results: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/elections2003/CA_RECALL_V.html
from jeanelle's blog:
"people are afraid of truth. how tragic. 'we can understand when children are afraid of darkness. the greatest tragedy in life is when men are afraid of the light.' --plato. i dont get it. i would die for such.
terminator. mr. freeze ('alright everyone...chill...chill' as he shoots everyone with his ice gun). junior. conan. red sonia. pullin that thing outta his nose in 'total recall.' kindergarten cop. pumping iron. governor of california.
really, what a lie, what a joke everything is now."
- tiwala at 1:16 PM
-----
oct. 7
[1] found out that arnold schwarzenegger won... what the fuck.
(i still refuse to call him MY governor)
[2] eve of full moon-- fight fight fight with the lover
oct. 8
[1] bombardment of arnold celebrations on tv & newspapers
[2] MY CAR WAS TOWED & i shelled out $171 bills... urrrrrgh.
I WAS OFFICIALLY LIVING IN A NIGHTMARE.
i'm a little over it now, but the schwarzenegger ordeal just won't go away!!! good thing we can try to recall him in 6 months, but after realizing he won by a damn landslide, i'm losing hope in the idea of common sense.
- tiwala at 1:08 PM
-----
thanks for the article will... i admit that i'm scared.
COUNTERPUNCH
October 9, 2003
President Schwarzenegger?
Movement Afoot to Amend Constitution for Arnold
By MARK HAND
Based on his win in Tuesday's California governor recall election, Arnold
Schwarzenegger must now be considered the frontrunner to win the presidency
in 2008. When his tenure in the White House ends in January 2009 after a
second term in office, George W. Bush will be barred by the Constitution
from running for a third term. That unfortunate predicament for George W.,
who's never been successful in any other job, will open the door to
Schwarzenegger, who by then will be the standard-bearer of the national
Republican Party, to assume the presidency.
There's just one little hitch in this plan. And it involves another section
of the Constitution, the part that prohibits anyone who is not a
"native-born citizen" from holding the position of president.
But why, you ask, wouldn't the Republicans just try to push through the
Republican-controlled U.S. Congress and the Republican-controlled state
houses a plan to get rid of the 22nd Amendment from the Constitution? That
strategy would allow George W. to remain in office for as long as the
American people would have him.
The answer is that it makes more political sense for the Republicans to
promote an immigrant-friendly movement for giving naturalized Americans the
right to realize the American dream of becoming president than to promote
the heavy-handed and authoritarian concept of a career president.
A movement to get Schwarzenegger installed in the White House in 2008 is
already afoot. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch in July introduced a bill that would
allow anyone who has lived in the United States for 20 years to be eligible
to hold the office of the president. Schwarzenegger has lived in the United
States since 1968. The bill, which would amend the Constitution, must be
ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures before becoming law.
Hatch, who introduced the resolution before Schwarzenegger announced his
candidacy for California governor, has said he was not necessarily thinking
of Schwarzenegger when he was drafting the constitutional amendment. But
Hatch has said he believes Schwarzenegger would make an excellent candidate
for president.
Hatch's "Equal Opportunity To Govern Amendment," or S.J. Res. 15, does not
have any co-sponsors in the Senate and is currently under consideration by
the Senate Judiciary Committee. A House version of the resolution, H.J. Res.
59, was submitted in June by Rep. Vic Snyder, a Democrat from Arkansas. His
constitutional amendment would require a foreign-born presidential candidate
to have been a citizen of the United States for at least 35 years. It
currently has six co-sponsors in the House and has been referred to the
House Subcommittee on the Constitution.
Since the assassination of John F. Kennedy almost 40 years ago, many in the
nation have yearned for another Kennedy to occupy the White House. They will
finally get their wish when Maria Shriver, daughter of JFK sister Eunice
Shriver, stands by her man Arnold as they enter the White House on
inauguration day in January 2009.
Mark Hand is editor of Press Action. He can be reached at mark@pressaction.
- tiwala at 12:44 PM
-----
i'll comment on the whole governor arnold thing later... even thinking about it drains me.
first, goooooood news: PROP. 54 DEFEATED!!!! (sigh of relief)
here are some stats:
>>Subject: CA Prop 54 vote: Exit poll results
>>
>>According to the Edison/Mitofsky California Exit Poll the Prop 54
>>vote
>>broke out as follows.
>>
>>By race/ethnicity:
>>
>>Whites - 58-42 No
>>Blacks - 79-21 No
>>Hispanics/Latinos - 70-30 No
>>
>>By education:
>>
>>High School Grad - 69-31 No
>>Some College - 59-41 No
>>College Grad - 59-41 No
>>Postgraduate Study - 64-36 No
>>
>>By region:
>>
>>L.A. County - 68-32 No
>>Southern California (Not L.A. County) - 52-48 No
>>Bay Area - 71-29 No
>>Coastal - 66-34 No
>>Inland/Valley - 54-46 No
>>
>>According to the latest numbers from the California Secretary of
>>State
>>"Yes" on Prop 54 received 36% of the vote statewide and only won in
>>4
>>Northern counties - Lassen, Placer, El Dorado and Sutter.
(comment: the 4 counties mentioned above need to be CUT OFF from california: PLEASE SECEDE NOW.)
- tiwala at 12:27 PM
-----
so this period of pain
is slowly coming to pass..........................
we fought on the eve of a full moon.
we forgave each other though, praise God.
i was [[thisclose]] to giving up.
lovey dovey again... as in "823 24/7."
gross isn't it.
- tiwala at 3:36 PM
-----
break up to make up that's all we do
first you love me then you hate me, it's a game for fools -stylistics
you got pissed cuz i called you names
my bad cuz i'm reactionary
im only human
angrily responding to your self-absorption.
the conversation started with you yelling,
"don't ever call me again, i need space"
and ended 2 hours later with,
"i wanna go to brazil with you"
"i don't want you to stop liking me"
"i'm trying to change"
"i need you to be patient."
i don't get it.
another song comes to mind:
"Darling you gotta let me know
Should i stay or should i go?
If you say that you are mine
I'll be here 'til the end of time
So you got to let know
Should i stay or should i go?
Always tease tease tease
Siempre - coqetiando y enganyando
You're happy when i'm on my knees
Me arrodilla y estas feliz
One day is fine, next is black
Un dias bien el otro negro
So if you want me off your back
Al rededar en tu espalda
Well come on and let me know
Me tienes que desir
Should i stay or should i go?
Me debo ir o que darme
Should i stay or should i go now?
Should i stay or should i go now?
If i go there will be trouble
An' if i stay it will be double
So come on and let me know
This indecision's bugging me
Esta undecision me molesta
If you don't want me, set me free
Si no me quieres, librame
Exactly who'm i'm supposed to be
Diga me que tengo ser
Don't you know which clothes even fit me?
¡§saves que robas me querda?
Come on and let me know
Me tienes que desir
Should i cool it or should i blow?
¡§me debo ir o quedarme?
Should i stay or should i go now?
¡§yo me frio o lo sophlo?
If i go there will be trouble
Si me voi - va ver peligro
And if i stay it will be double
Si me quedo es doble
So you gotta let me know
Me tienes que decir
Should i stay or should i go?
¡§yo me frio o lo sophlo?"
-the clash
- tiwala at 4:57 PM
-----
please excuse my rage... lately.
i've never been fucked with in this way. perdon.
"Cause I feel you cross my mind
In disarray, intoxicated ricochet"
-third eye blind, "good for you"
"I can't keep digging roses from your grave"
"We're all dead inside the future of a shattered past"
-smashing pumpkins, "behold! the nightmare"
- tiwala at 12:01 PM
-----
cali heads>> VOTE TODAY!!!! NO ON PROP 54!!!! NO ON ARNOLD, DEAR GOD!!!!!!
http://www.defeat54.org/
i swear, if arnold wins, i'm moving to canada.... eh.
- tiwala at 11:56 AM
-----
the ball is now in my court.
i finally stood up to you & it felt DAMN GOOD.
last night between 11 pm - 2 am,
i said i hated you for using me,
for being a condescending bitch and a half
"for making yourself feel better by making me feel never good enough"
for taking advantage of my vulnerable state
for enjoying being chased while i stumbled over my own heart
for being a sadistic freak
while i enjoyed being a masochistic idiot at your feet.
you're so fucking warped.
now that i don't want you anymore,
that's when i'm more "desirable?"
and NOW you want me because i'm harder to get?
now you have an urge to kiss me?
you're hella twisted.
u were testing me to see if i'd stand up for myself, & i passed.
i was testing you to see if you'd fall for my pure intentions, & you failed.
you only want tainted love.
schizo lover.
- tiwala at 11:55 AM
-----
some of them want to use you
some of them want to get used by you
some of them want to abuse you
some of them want to be abused
-eurythmics
- tiwala at 8:51 AM
-----
cryptic ghost
decoding black white & gray
i'll take back the power that i lost.
if asserting myself annoys you, then don't fucking sit there pretending to listen.
don't cut me off
don't silence my offerings
don't assume my intentions you flaky fuck.
your struggle is not greater than mine.
don't tell me to wait because i'm not that hopelessly devoted to you
but only to someone who isn't as reckless with their desires.
if it so happens that our paths cross, then that's how it goes.
but i don't count on it
i refuse to feed your ego with
my sincere endeavors
and pathetic results.
schizo lover
magnetic destroyer
intoxicating trap.
you can't fix this bad dish by adding more to the plate.
no spices can make this delicious
just clear off the bullshit from the platter.
i wonder how long it'll take you.
no sense of urgency
because the chemistry is weak isn't it.
i refuse to be strung along
your line of indecisions.
careless & carefree
my heart fell out of your pocket
in the course of your daily run
to and from
your living nightmares.
- tiwala at 4:52 PM
-----
you are my fucking enigma.
i'll never figga you out... even when u try to elucidate, i'm more confused.
- tiwala at 7:10 PM
-----
NO ON PROP 54!
Dear Family,
Ward Connerly has introduced Proposition 54, a deceptive and dangerous
initiative that will be on the OCTOBER 7 recall ballot. He calls it the
Racial Privacy Initiative and claims that such an initiative will help us
achieve a colorblind society. He says get rid of those little boxes that
put us in boxes, and let us all be treated as individuals.
PROBLEM:
We don't live in a colorblind society. Discrimination happens
every day based upon race, ethnicity, and national origin. Without those
little boxes (that are optional anyway), we have no way of tracking when
and where and how discrimination takes place. We would have no way of
factually knowing whether affirmative action is working, whether students
of color in urban schools and white students in suburban schools are
getting an equal education, or whether Asian Americans are at a higher risk
for Hepatitis B. This is going to take a devastating toll on education,
health and medicine, law enforcement, and employment.
PROBLEM:
Proposition 54 is being financed by a non-profit organization, the
American Civil Rights Coalition, that has raised nearly $2 million for this
campaign. Legally, they have to disclose the names of those who have
contributed over $100. Have they? No. Not only is that illegal, but
highly problematic- we have no idea who is funding this campaign or what
their agenda is. They are currently being sued by the Fair Political
Practices Commission.
PROBLEM:
The election is coming up quick. We need to do outreach to as
many people as possible so that this terrible and hurtful initiative does
not pass. Please spread the word.
OCTOBER 7: VOTE NO ON PROP 54!!!
To endorse or get involved, contact the Coalition for an Informed
California:
www.informedcalifornia.org
(415) 621-1490
-------------------------------------------------------
WHAT IS PROP 54?
Prop 54 (previously "Racial Privacy Initiative")
prohibits the "classification of race, ethnicity, color, and national
origin." It aims to ban racial checkboxes/classifications “in the
operation of public education, public contracting or public employment."
HOW WILL IT AFFECT ME?
If passed, this proposition would bar students,
educators, public healthcare providers, scientists, academic
researchers, and civil rights activists/organizations from access to
race statistics that are vital to:
EDUCATION:
•Equal Education
•Leadership/Outreach programs
•Academic Freedom
•Educators/Academic researchers and students, especially in
medical/social sciences
•California Public School Accountability Programs
CIVIL RIGHTS:
•Enforcement of Hate Crime Laws that protect people of
all ethnicities
•Monitoring and reporting discrimination and racial profiling
HEALTH CARE AND PREVENTATIVE PROGRAMS:
•Research, tracking, and preventing health conditions that affect
different races differently.
•Understanding disparities in health status, disease patterns, access
to/use of healthcare, and likeliness of exposure to environmental/health hazards.
*Note: The proposition does state that "classification of medical
research subjects and patients shall be exempt" from the ban, but this
does not include basic public health data systems, doctors, or health
experts.
Please forward this message to your family, friends, and associates who
will be voting Oct. 7th in California.
For more information please visit www.defeat54.org
- tiwala at 7:00 PM
-----
http://www.whiteprivilege.com/
white privilege, a social relation
1. a. A right, advantage, or immunity granted to or enjoyed by white persons beyond the common advantage of all others; an exemption in many particular cases from certain burdens or liabilities.
b. A special advantage or benefit of white persons; with reference to divine dispensations, natural advantages, gifts of fortune, genetic endowments, social relations, etc.
2. A privileged position; the possession of an advantage white persons enjoy over non-white persons.
3. a. The special right or immunity attaching to white persons as a social relation; prerogative.
b. display of white privilege, a social expression of a white person or persons demanding to be treated as a member or members of the socially privileged class.
4. a. To invest white persons with a privilege or privileges; to grant to white persons a particular right or immunity; to benefit or favor specially white persons; to invest white persons with special honorable distinctions.
b. To avail oneself of a privilege owing to one as a white person.
5. To authorize or license of white person or persons what is forbidden or wrong for non-whites; to justify, excuse.
6. To give to white persons special freedom or immunity from some liability or burden to which non-white persons are subject; to exempt.
Read more about this definition of "white privilege"
- tiwala at 6:51 PM
-----
[[[FREE PALESTINE]]]
-------------------------------
| Powered by TagBoard Message Board |
:: presentense ::
fri_112003_12:05 pm PST.
jam:"full clip" -gang starr.
appreciate:FULLBLOWN CRAZY IN LOVE.
lookin fwd to:santa cruz weekend.
detest:off the hook phone bill - fuck!
dread:losin tha magic, changin mind.
partake:black tea w/honey.
line:"you are my destiny."
-------------------------------
:: calendario ::
nov. 13- chevy's w/bridge
nov. 14- rainbow @ louden nelson, 8 pm
nov. 17- HABIBI IN THE BAY!!!!!
nov. 21- leslie's bday
nov. 21- santa cruz w/habibi!!!
nov. 25- (EID) AL FITR
nov. 24-26- 8:45am - 5:45pm schedule
nov. 25- dinner w/lilli?
nov. 27- SUNRISE CEREMONY @ alcatraz
nov. 27-30- san diego
dec. 1- habibi back in LA...
RAMADAN KAREEM!
-------------------------------
