Archive for July, 2007
Monday, July 30th, 2007
[1]
Death comes but once for us. With the notable exception of those folks deemed special enough to cheat death (though are they cheating death, really?), death comes for us as surely as we need oxygen to breath.
But I always forget this fact. And those little deaths that Buddhists refer to that are as common as exhalation, I miss. Last Thursday was the last night of practice of the yoga studio I had been practicing at for two and a half years. People change. So do circumstances. A little death occured. I wanted the end to be different. I didn't want it to be the end. Endings suck.
Yet there it was, as we all bowed and said our last namaste together. "The only constant is change," said our teacher. "We have few of the cells we were born with."
And so it is that I spend most of my life energy denying that change is happening. So I miss the gift of gratitude that endings bring and I miss the gift that everything, all of it, can go away in an instant and to therefore take joy in this moment.
[1] http://jaysennett.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/death-doesnt-come-for-me.JPG
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Thursday, July 26th, 2007
From Kyle, in the comments, here [1]:
I can argue for both sides…however being a Jotter for quite sometime…Jott has the winning side. Because with Jott, you ARE emailing yourself, but killing a few steps needed to get to that point. AND you can also kill 2 or 3( or more at that ) birds with one stone being that Jott sends voice transcriptions to both cell phones with optoins to hear the audio, AND to both email addresses with links to hear the audio. BUT GTD is only one way of using jott. For me I don’t using it much for GTD…but more so on the artsy side. I use it to remember my music ideas when I’m not around my guitar. It works! So yeah….give jott a jingle.
[1] http://jaysennett.com/2007/07/24/reminding-yourself-of-stuff-via-the-phone/
Posted in Anti Assclownery | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 25th, 2007
I love crime fiction. When I'm not reading manuscripts for Homofactus Press, I'm reading all kinds of mysteries. Frankly, I'm rather loose with my tastes as I will read any author once, particulary one is called the Queen of Norwegian Crime Fiction.
Karin Fossum is well-known in crime fiction circles in the U.S., as several of her books have been translated into American English. So it was with excitement that I opened the pages of Don't Look Back [1], her second novel and first to be translated into American English.
I got to page thirty or so and read the main character's stream of consciousness claim, "things are not always what they seem...." Right then I knew that don't look back should have been an exhortation for me to pass over Ms. Fossum's works in my local library and choose another author.
Much crime fiction just plain sucks. Ms. Fossum suffers from an attention to detail that does nothing to advance the story. Florid descriptions of gardens in a small town nestled in a fjord tells me what? And then we have the theme of dark secrets in a small town, as in, you know, things aren't what they seem. Whatever.
I'll take Henning Mankill [2] any day, even with his labored middle sections of his novels. Good crime fiction is very, very difficult to write well. Great crime fiction even harder. What irks me whenever I read boring fiction ~ and that is my opinion of Fossum's book (I attempted to read a second book of hers and found it even worse "when you see the self you become when the devil holds the candle" zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz) ~ is that I will never get that time back again.
As my brother likes to say, "Man, that's two hours I'll never get back again." Don't look back!
[1] http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Look-Back-Karin-Fossum/dp/0156031361/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-8577390-3246837?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185367140&sr=1-1
[2] http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=pd_sc_1/105-8577390-3246837?ie=UTF8&search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=henning%20mankell
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, July 24th, 2007
We've all been places, doing things, when we remember something of vital importance...only to find we don't have a pen and paper to write it down, or, maybe we just can't write it down.
But most of us have our trusty cell phones with us.
As such is the case for me, I've discovered the joys of Daily Jott [1]. Just call their 800 number (actually it is 877), tell Jott who you want to contact (yourself, your blog, your mom), leave the voice message. Then, voila! Daily Jott emails said message to your desired contact or uploads it to your blog.
I use Daily Jott in conjunction with Vitalist [2]. It helps keep the stuff of my life moving to their appropriate to-do lists, etc. Another tool to reduce personal assclownery ("I forgot!" "I'm too busy to get organized.").
[1] http://www.jott.com/WhyJott.aspx
[2] http://vitalist.com/
Posted in Anti Assclownery | 6 Comments »
Monday, July 23rd, 2007
Celebrating our bodies, we participate in a liberatory struggle that frees mind and heart
bell hooks
Of the many shoulds I have in my life, exercising ranks as one of the top three. Much of my self-understanding of myself as a man has come through adverts about perfect white male bodies. You know the kind I'm talking about ~ six pack abs; 4% body fat, etc.
With this unrealistic goal I also balance the very real thrill I do get, and have gotten, from exercise. But the act of going to the gym creates the sheer inertia of boredom within me. Then there are the total assclowns prancing around the weight room with spindly legs and overbulked biceps coupled with the women on the cardio machines who look like the last time they ate was when they got baby formula at six weeks of age to wither any desire to participate in gym life. Add to these bummerfactors m-e-m-b-e-r-s-h-i-p fees, the exercise plans where you have to work out 20 hours a day, and I'm really done.
So I've been on the hunt for a home-based practice that costs nothing. I turned to the inimitable Krista Scott-Dixon [1] of Toronto, Canada. She is my go to feminist for all things weight and exercise related. (Quare Dewd recommended her last year.) Krista did not let me down!
Among her descriptions of her own home gym [2], she listed owning a sledgehammer for the shovelglove [3] routine. Based on the idea that compound movements using a weighted object bring the greatest strength to the core area, you take a sledgehammer, wrap it a sweater to protect possessions and animals, then mimic strenous work activities like shoveling [4], chopping wood [5], or churning butter [6], holding the 8- or 12-pound sledgehammer. For 14 minutes only. Why? According to shovelglove originator Reinhard Engles [7],
You guessed it, 14 is a significant number. Why? Because it's one minute less than the smallest unit of schedulistically significant time. No calendar has a finer granularity than 15 minutes. No one ever has a meeting that starts at 5 or 10 or 14 minutes before or after the hour. You have no excuse not to do this. Time-wise, it doesn't even register.
I'm still sore today, and I've only done it for two days. My stomach, quads and hamstrings are all sore, which tells me that my core muscles, all the ones that hold me upright, protect my back, etc, are being worked. This is such a great anti-assclown work out! It's cheap, easy, simple and will kick your arse. While I can't say for sure, I think the shovelglove movements can be modified for folks using chairs and scooters, too.
This exercise thing is very important to me, since I am have alot of fears about aging in America. I also think one of the most liberatory acts in the face of systemic oppression is a healthy body. Getting a healthy body includes exercise and sensible nutrition (just drive by Taco Bell, okay?). One of the the things I dig most about both Reinhard Engels and Krista Scott-Dixon is their no-frills, no-BS, anti-assclownery approach to achieving a healthy body. Let me know if you decide to try the shovelglove. If the cost of a sledgehammer is too expensive or your house/apt/room is too small, no excuses! Bryce Lance [8] has an entire workout using only your body. After trying his workouts, the shovelglove seems like a cake walk.
[1] http://www.stumptuous.com/
[2] http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/displayarticle.php?aid=47
[3] http://www.shovelglove.com/
[4] http://www.shovelglove.com/movements/shovel/
[5] http://www.shovelglove.com/movements/churn_butter/
[6] http://www.shovelglove.com/movements/chop_wood/
[7] http://www.shovelglove.com/
[8] http://www.weighttrainersunited.com/getinshape.html
Posted in Anti Assclownery | 5 Comments »
Friday, July 20th, 2007
I have been tagged by both A Delicate Boy [1] and vegankid, punk! [2] for the eight things meme, and I am not one to ignore two of the best queer minds in the blogosphere.
THE RULES
We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
The 8 things:
I was arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience for protesting the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia. I just can't get with my tax dollars supporting murdering kids, and old people, and nuns.
I played basketball on the only undefeated team in the State of New Jersey for the 1980-1981 season.
I have five tattoos and am considering a sixth.
My primary and most favorite reading material is a good mystery. Most american mystery writers do not fall into this category.
I've completed two feature length screen plays.
I've lived in Hong Kong, Japan (Kobe and Tokyo) and Taiwan.
I'm now driving my dream car, a convertible!
I've studied various martial arts in my life, including judo, aikido and tai chi.
The 8 Tagged
SS at Q Stop [3]
Ravenmn at Fly by Night [4]
Jack at Angry Brown Butch [5]
Jen at A Life Less Convenient [6]
Peterson at Amusing [7]
Shannon at Egostitical Whining [8]
Sokari at Blacklooks [9]
Jamie at Not THAT Different [10]
[1] http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/highberg/blog/
[2] http://vegankid.solidaritydesign.net/
[3] http://www.qstop.blogspot.com/
[4] http://ravenmn.blogspot.com/2007/07/envy-me-i-had-wonderful-evening-monday.html
[5] http://www.angrybrownbutch.com/
[6] http://www.alifelessconvenient.com
[7] http://a_musing.blogspot.com/
[8] http://animeg.blogspot.com/
[9] http://www.blacklooks.org
[10] http://jamiward.blogspot.com/
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 19th, 2007
[1]
[Note: One man in this cartoon says "Your dick is nice" to a man. The man responds, "Thanks, my wife made it."]
I recently came across this version of the myth of Isis and Osiris as told by Dr. Bob Brier, of Long Island University.
Isis, the devoted wife, sets out on a journey to recover the body of her husband, Osiris. She eventually finds out where Osiris is, gets a job as a handmaiden in the palace, and explains to the queen of Byblos, "My husband is in this pillar in the palace." The queen is sympathetic; the pillar is cut down. A chest is taken out and Osiris is inside, dead. Isis brings the body back to Egypt for proper burial.
Seth, the brother of Osiris and Isis, finds the properly buried body of Osiris and hacks it into 13 pieces, and scatters them up and down the Nile. Isis, still wanting to give her husband yet another proper burial, finds all the pieces save one, Osiris' penis/phallus. Seth threw the family jewels into the Nile where it was devoured by fish.
Isis reassembles her brother/husband and fashions an artificial phallus, so Osiris is complete. She takes the form of a bird, hovers over Osiris, says mystical things to him and breathes life into him whereupon he is resurrected.....
Devoted wife, hot 70s TV show queen [2], first sex toy maker....Shazam!
[1] http://jaysennett.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/my-wife-made-my-dick.JPG
[2] http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/isis/home.html
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 18th, 2007
Sile Singleton, the editor of King Guise, Homofactus Press' forthcoming Drag King of Color anthology, has just posted a breathtaking blog entry at HfP on some of the barriers to success she is experiencing. A good reminder that often the most difficult work we will ever do in our lives is the work of getting out of our own way.
Like -- we connect and talk constantly about not being seen --about the gaps-- am I so overwhelmed by it that when the opportunity arises to have a visible experience -- I freeze -- 'we' self detonate? -- I am sooo fuckin' (sorry granny) wideopen and scared -- I have been trying to claw my way out --of my doubt, but I just realized that what I have been experiencing is much like -- have you ever found yourself thrashing around in knee/stomach deep water? For at least 5 seconds of the experience it crossed your mind that you were lost..not sure where the surface was...thinking for sure there was a real possibility of drowning? Then your heel bumped the bottem and you stood up? And whether you laughed it off or admitted your fear -- it doesn't change the terror you experienced? And I think I am stuck there -- afraid I might not be so lucky, again. And for me there is this sticky residue in this space --it stops me short of breath and so doggedly tired -- in my tracks -- yah know?
more here [1]
[1] http://www.homofactuspress.com/archives/109
Posted in Anti Assclownery | 1 Comment »
Saturday, July 14th, 2007
Via Sokari [1]. Please repost. North American queers, especially.
Last Sunday two more South African lesbians were brutally raped and murdered in Medowlands, Soweto. Sizakele Sigasa, lesbian activist and outreach worker with the Positive Women’s Network (PWN), and her friend, Salome Masooa, were first tortured and then murdered.
Sizakele was found with her hands tied together by her underpants and her ankles tied together by her shoelaces, with three bullet holes in her head and three in her collarbone.
Their rape and murders are part of a continuing and growing epidemic of hate crimes against lesbians. In June, Simangele Nhlapho , a member of a support group for women living with HIV run by PWN, was, along with her two year old daughter, raped and murdered. Her daughter’s legs were also broken. In April this year, 16 year-old Madoe Mafubedu, was raped and repeatedly stabbed until she died. There have been no arrests for any of these crimes and other sexual assault cases, all documented, against lesbians particularly Black lesbians in the townships. These hate crimes are part of the endemic misogyny and homophobia as well as the stigma attached to HIV and AIDS in South Africa that is destroying lives. Women comprise 58% of those living with HIV. The cause are many and complex….
gender discrimination often leaves them unable to negotiate condom use or disclose their status to their families and partners (who are often infected as well). Many women today are still afraid to be tested, and women receiving antiretroviral treatment have been known to hide their medicines under their beds for fear of bearing the brunt of physical abuse and alienation. Every six hours in South Africa a woman is killed by a male partner; every 26 minutes a woman is raped.
The Joint Working Group has issued a Press Statement demanding justice for these rapes and killings.
Lesbian Killing: We Demand Justice!
(July 9, 2007) The South African lesbian and gay communities through the Joint Working Group* and partner organisations STRONGLY CONDEMN the killing of Sizakele Sigasa (34) and Salome Masooa (23) from a township in Johannesburg. They were found (Sunday 8th July) murdered, execution style, in a nearby field in Meadowlands; a shocking image that is not so new in South Africa in the light of the recent increasein violence and rape against women either identified as, suspected of or supporting lesbian and gay rights.
Gays and lesbians are men and women, human beings who deserve equal rights and treatment not to be ridiculed or called names, beaten, tortured, raped or killed. These gross human rights violations are not just inhuman and barbaric - they must not be tolerated! Sizakele and Salomes killers, like everyone else, HAD NO RIGHT TO THREATEN OR KILL THEM!!
Violence against lesbians and gays is unSouth African. Here, oppression and discrimination have no place, still there are parents who reject or kick children out to the streets; siblings, friends and communities who hurt, beat, rape, torture and even kill lesbians and gays. If they survive all this, they face further victimisation at in the hands of the police and even the courts THIS IS NOT JUSTICE AT ALL. People who inflict harm upon and even kill lesbians and gays (or anyone else) do not belong in South Africa. Leaders and communities that do not oppose violence against gays, lesbians, women, children, rape survivors and HIV+ people do not belong here.
1) We call on the Meadowlands Police Services to investigate this matter efficiently and rigorously;
2) We call on other state bodies and communities to support the families by working with the Police and the Prosecuting Authorities towards ensuring that the killers are brought to book.
We express our deepest condolences to the bereaved families and friends. We offer our support to the colleagues and comrades as they mourn the death of these two precious women.
MEMORIAL SERVICE: Thursday 12 July 2007, 12h00-15h00 (Epelegeng Centre)
FUNERAL: Saturday, 14 July 2007, 12h00 (Meadowlands Community Centre)
(Contact: Busi Kheswa, Gay and Lesbian Memory In Action, 011-717/4239/1963
Prudence Mabele, Positive Womens Network, 078 383 9529
[1] http://www.blacklooks.org/2007/07/a_time_of_hurt_lesbians_raped_tortured_and_murdered.html
Posted in Features | No Comments »
Thursday, July 12th, 2007
As some of you may know, I characterize behaviours such as racism or sexism as assclownery [1]. People tend to respond quickly, after they've said something racist, for example, you call them an assclown. Call them racist and they deny it. Try it sometime. You'll see what I mean. (The same thing happens when you say to a man, "oh, I'm sorry about the size of your penis...")
I am in constant quest to dismantle my inner assclown. Disorganized, oriented to victimhood, whiney, dissociative, my inner assclown has caused me nothing but t-r-o-u-b-l-e.
For unfathomable reasons my trip to Minneapolis [2] awoke in me a single-minded focus to get really, really organized. Not my strong suit for sure. So I revisited Patrick Rhone's site, where he has written, and updated a comprehensive white paper [3] on his own lo/hi-fi system for Getting Things Done [4]. Through Patrick's site I found Leo of Zenhabits [5].
One of the principles of Getting Things Done is the habit of ubiquitous capture [6]. What this means is that you use pen/paper, cell phone, microcassette, chalkboard, whatever, to capture everything you have to do, follow-up on, answer, find, fix, send to grandma, etc. The David, originator of GTD, has declared that if it's in your head it's causing you trouble.
So I've revamped my ubiquitous capture to Vitalist [7] for my hi-fi use and Levenger's pocket briefcase [8] and the awesome Fisher space pen [9] (Futura gun metal) for lo-fi use. Previously I had been using GTDInbox [10], a Firefox app that worked through gmail and any old piece of paper for lo fi. While I was initially very enamored with GTDInbox, I found the biggest problem was always working from the inbox. Never far away was I from email, which became a time waster for me. Plus Vitalist works through my cell phone, which gtdinbox never did. The big problem with any old piece of paper is that I needed an additional system to keep track of the post-it notes, scarp pieces of paper, gum wrappers, envelopes, airline ticket stubs, receipts and any other dead tree I used to write something down.
I have dedicated myself to carrying my lofi system with me at all times, including my robe in the morning. When I'm at the computer I have my vitalist account open at all times to jot down things to do. In three days I've downloaded a 7 double-sided 3 x 5 cards worth of to-dos from my brain. Already I feel more relaxed , have needed increasingly less sleep but feel more energized.
Ubiquitous capture has proven to be an antidote to internalized assclownery. I also think ubiquitous capture makes me more effective in my social justice work. Why we on the left have decided that productivity and money are not to be discussed as strategies for improved outcomes in social transformation I've yet to understand. Stay tuned for updates.
[1] http://jaysennett.com/category/assclownery/
[2] http://jaysennett.com/2007/07/05/just-returned-from-minneapolis/
[3] http://patrickrhone.com/journal/archives/2006/05/175.html
[4] http://www.davidco.com/
[5] http://zenhabits.net/
[6] http://zenhabits.net/2007/02/tips-for-gtds-ubiquitous-capture/
[7] http://www.vitalist.com
[8] http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/PRODUCT/Product.asp?Params=Category=15-765|Level=2-3|pageid=2398|Link=Img
[9] http://www.spacepen.com/Public/Products/SpecializedPen/FuturaSeries/index.cfm?productID=165
[10] http://www.gtdgmail.com/
Posted in Anti Assclownery | 2 Comments »
Monday, July 9th, 2007
As a cat devotee, I spend innumerable seconds pondering
What does Mr. Jack do all day?
What does he see when he watches the birdies?
What does the world look like when you zoom up the stairs a billion miles a second?
The answer, though from Mr. Lee (via B.L. Ochman's [1] newsletter):
But now a man in Germany, pondering the mystery of the cat's mind, has rigged a small digital camera that goes off at regular intervals to the collar of his cat, Mr. Lee, to see what he does all day. See the world's first Cat Blog by a cat here [2].
[1] http://www.whatsnextblog.com/
[2] http://www.mr-lee-catcam.de/
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Monday, July 9th, 2007
My ferverant hope, my Christman wish if you will, is that Americans realize that Africa is not a country. It is a continent.
Bono could help with these efforts. I suspect, though, that it is easier to sell us [1] on "Africa" rather than, say, oh, Malawi or Zaire. And while I try to not get cynical when it comes to Bono and the Red Campaign [2] and Gwyneth Paltrow's faking like she's somehow in solidarity with these mythical Africans, I do. Get cynical that is.
So, as a start, I'm no longer going to refer to Africa alone. I will say things like "countries in Africa" or simply name those countries without referencing the continent. We do not, for example, reference our continent when we speak of the U.S. ("Oh those North American countries of Canada and the U.S."). And I'm also going to correct everyone who blathers on about Africa like it's all the same. I suspect they do this because they don't really know the difference between Mali or South Africa or South Africa and Zaire or Angola.
Transformation occurs in specific places at specifics times with specific people. Everything else is a PR campaign.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_Red
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_Red
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Friday, July 6th, 2007
[1]
[Image description: A person asks "Cause of death"? A blue monster called American Health Insurers responds, "wrong e.r."]
Saw Sicko last night.
Final conclusions:
America hates the poor and everyone who can't afford the most comprehensive healthcare.
Making money off healthcare is immoral.
People in America don't fight for their rights because we afraid (no job. no healthcare.) and demoralized (imagine being 60 and having to move in with your kids because medical payments wiped you out OR let's dump your ass in front of a homeless shelter with multiple stitches, broken ribs because you can't pay for your visit to the E.R.).
The middle-class and wealthy people in this country do not know how to act in solidarity with the poor, or even why we should.
My question to middle- and upper-middle-class people: how long can we continue to witness this brutality, do nothing, before our soul rots?
[1] http://jaysennett.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/wrong-er.JPG
Posted in Cartoons | 4 Comments »
Thursday, July 5th, 2007
[1]
Mnpls - or so they locals write - was amazing for so many reasons.
I had two opportunities to read from Self-Organizing Men. Both times I read an excerpt from each contributor. The second time, at Amazon Books (the original!) - I read many more of my cartoons. We returned to Ypsi having sold 23 books.
And we're not yet a year old.
We had dinner with friends we met at Forge Forward and breakfast with some new friends, too. As Ms. H. said one night at dinner, "I didn't realize how much I missed having a community of friends until our visit." I felt like everyone I met this past weekend is someone I would definitely hang with in the future.
Which leads me to the realization that Ann Arbor is so transient, with little emphasis on community building. I also realized that my blogging will begin to shift, too, to what is on my mind of late, which is no more whining, money, organization and generating options for the poor.
More on those later. But I want to give a huge thank you to Drs. Rhys Preston and Alex Lanning of Kinetic Health, LLC, who are FtM Chiropractors dedicated to assisting trans folks throughout our lifespan. Dr. Preston is very skilled and compassionate. He adjusted both me and Ms. H. My back and her elbow haven't felt this groovy in years.
I also want to thank A.S. for her attention and support as well as S.B., who literally got on the phone with Amazon books and got me a reading date! She also assisted Max Gries - a dedicated and thoughtful trans activist - to getting the word out about my readings. I'd also like to thank Owen Marciano at the UM for helping me during my visit. And a special shout out to Ravenmn [2]!
Books get sold because of relationships. That's my big business takeaway from Mnpls.
[1] http://jaysennett.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/more-than-enough-love.JPG
[2] http://ravenmn.blogspot.com/2007/07/envy-me-i-had-wonderful-evening-monday.html
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
