Inspiration Rediscovered

It’s been a month since my last post and I thought I’d explain my absence. It’s a confluence of a couple of factors, planning the immediate future has taken a lot of my time and energy, RaceFail ’09 has made me bitter, angry and apathetic and finally my second semester of Grad School is kicking my ass so hard I had to drop a class. I tried to write a post over the last month but I couldn’t think of anything to write: 

Writing? Before last week I hadn’t written any new fiction since the end of January

Oppression? RaceFail ’09 made me so angry I could not write about privilege and power dynamics without literally feeling sick to my stomach

SF/F? See my answer to Oppression and there hasn’t been a SF/F show that’s pulled me in in ages and until the beginning of March I hadn’t red for the pure pleasure of reading for a long time.

Music? School? Work? Miscellania? Apathy x 10

But this is not a whiny I’m leaving the internetz post. This is saying that thanks to my spring break  (which I’m still currently on) and my vow to step away from all but the most dire of my resposibilities during the week; getting to see/talk to a bunch of great folks like my HLB Allison, Tempest, Nora, etc.; immersing myself in some writing (mine and other peoples) and trips to a few museums I am actually feeling inspired and excited more so than I have in a long time. It may not last but I’m gonna try and hold onto the feeling so forecast for more frequent posts looks good…once I’m back from spring break of course.

Late 90′s/Early 00′s Music Vid Post

So my iPod is currently being fixed so I’ve had to fall back onto a cd player and my 500 strong CD collection. So the snag if I haven’t actually bought a physical CD in about three or four years so I’m listening to stuff that are flashbacks to younger days and my musical tastes of way back when. So I wanted to put a few of the songs out there in remembrance for a time when I loved them and felt so connected to these songs. But as a sidenote? Being without an iPod sucks! Not only do I not have a lot of the more recent music I’ve been listening to but I also have a smaller pool of songs to choose from (although come to think of it this would be a good time to weed out some music from my iPod that I never listen to) its a little scary how addicted we become to things that add convenience to our lives, I mean can you remember life without a cell phone?
*shiver of fear*
On that chilling note, here are some of the songs I’ve rediscovered over the last three days without my Ipod.

Regine Velasquez – You’ve Made Me Stronger

Mya – Case of the Ex
 

Joydrop – Sometimes Wanna Die

Keith Sweat – Twisted

Beth Hart – LA Song

Bright Eyes – A Perfect Sonnet

Fiona Apple – The First Taste

Heather Nova – London Rain

3 Links for Tuesday

Some things of interest on this Tuesday afternoon:

1. My latest Stargate Atlantis column is up at Fantasy Magazine – Crossing Lines: Stargate Atlantis — There’s No “I” In Team. Check it out, it’s full of snark and bitterness. If this weren’t the last season of the show I’d be breaking up with it. Now another thing you might notice over there is that I’m now listed as staff. I am officially the Co-Reviews Manager, this is one of the reasons I’ve been busy lately but I didn’t want to say anything until I’d been doing it for a while, y’know that whole not jinxing it thing.

2. K. Tempest Bradford’s awesome story Until Forgiveness Comes is up at Strange Horizons. The narrative is written in the form of a newspaper article on the anniversary of an immense tragedy. I don’t want to spoil any of it so I’ll keep mum about the other aspects but the world she creates is so intriguing I can’t help but wish for more stories in the universe. Definitely head over and read it.

3. Finally the Phillipine Speculative Fiction Sampler, this was just pointed out to me today so I haven’t had time to check it out yet but I’m excited to see speculative fiction coming out of other countries. The speculative fiction community is so focused on the U.S. and England (and to a lesser degree Canada) and ignores the fact that there are people writing this genre all over the world. As it says in the introduction:

However, as prolific or talented Filipino writers might be, one of my concerns is that their work doesn’t get read outside of the Philippines, or even Metro Manila for that matter. And in this day and age of the Internet, it’s not an impossible hurdle to overcome. That’s not to say Filipino writers aren’t being published abroad or online. They’re even being acknowledged in anthologies like The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. In case of the former though, that only accounts for a small percentage of our output and in the case of the latter, prospective readers don’t really have convenient methods of reading the said work.

This is what we won’t forget.

When you look at old school movements and social organization when a particular proposition or push failed within a community the reaction was to go into the community and forge alliances and find out exactly why these groups voted this way.

The mainstream LGBT community has gone straight to hate. Pam’s House Blend, Rod 2.0 and Jasmyne Cannick all have  testimonials of African-Americans who went to the big No on 8 rally in L.A. with signs and to support the movement or were just in West Hollywood and were showered with egregious racist abuse.

Just one example:

Geoffrey, a student at UCLA and regular Rod 2.0 reader, joined the massive protest outside the Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Westwood. Geoffrey was called the n-word at least twice.

It was like being at a klan rally except the klansmen were wearing Abercrombie polos and Birkenstocks. YOU NIGGER, one man shouted at men. If your people want to call me a FAGGOT, I will call you a nigger. Someone else said same thing to me on the next block near the temple…me and my friend were walking, he is also gay but Korean, and a young WeHo clone said after last night the niggers better not come to West Hollywood if they knew what was BEST for them.

oh and another:

To date, I have received several phone calls from Blacks, both gay and straight, who were caught up in Westwood around the time of that march. From being called “niggers” to being accosted in their cars and told that it was because of “you people gays don’t have equal rights and you better watch your back,” these gays have lost their damn minds.

The mainstream LGBT community has always acted as if there are no People of Color who are LGBT or tried to have us pick one identity over the other. It’s time that we face facts – the mainstream LGBT movement has always been a supremely white movement, not because there aren’t POC who are out, like they try to claim but because we have NEVER been a priority for them. Many would argue that this is only the actions of a few individuals but you know what? The fact that none of the big organizations to my knowledge – HRC, GLAAD, Equality California, etc. – have said nothing about this racist speech. That says a hell of a lot about them. And don’t tell me they’re not aware of it because at least one group, Truth Wins Out, has spoken out.

So here’s the thing the mainstream LGBT movement needs too know : When your racism once again sinks back under too hide under that facade of liberalism it will be way too late because we’ve seen your true colors know and beyond anything else this is what we’ll remember. That your reaction was to scapecoat black people with no reliable basis for such and then you went straight to racist abuse. And when you finally settle down and realize that you ran a crappy campaign with slim to no outreach while the Religious Right got in bed with people they never ever would have spoken with otherwise, the evangelicals made ties with the Catholics and the Mormons – do you know how big a deal that is? But you just expected to win. So when you realize that you need coalition and you need outreach and you need to actually go in and talk to and campaign in Communities of Color?

We will always remember that you called us niggers.

Extra Link: Bilerco Project – check out all the other groups that voted overwhelmingly in favor of Prop. 8 and again I ask, why are you blaming the black people?

“Prop. 8 It Passed ‘Cause of Black People!” …. Yeeeeeeah, no.

So the new screed for the No on Prop. 8 people is that it’s the fault of black people that the proposition passed. So let’s break the numbers down, black people make up 6.7% of California and 52% of people voted yes on Prop. 8! Even if every black person in CA voted Yes on Prop. 8 it does not equal even remotely the number of white people who voted for it, so how is it our fault again? Why is the focus all on us?

Is there queerism within communities of color? Yes abso-fucking-lutely, but that’s present within all communities and we all need to do that work. I don’t mean to diminish that queerism at all but I also do not want it elevated because it’s occurring within a community of color which is the M.O. of a lot of the focus around the intersections of POC communities and queerism. Rarely if ever when queerism within POC communities is discussed do queer POC get a chance to speak on their experiences at the intersection of those two or more identities.

The whole campaign for ‘No on 8′ was fucked from the jump.

As my friend Jackie said – “The Yes on 8 people were smart, they campaigned heavily in People of Color communities from the beginning and their commercials included People of Color (POC)”.

The No on 8 people came into communities of color late and they came soft, the whole push for No. on 8 was soft. In so many ways the current push for gay rights is predicated on assimilating into the mainstream and yet somehow trying to keep enough status to call on People of Color communities and say, “We’re just like you! We’re allies!” But here’s the thing we’re only allies when you need something. When initiatives for/about POC have come up the gay community has mostly been completely silent. For more on this read LadyJax’s post Something told me this was going to happen. Where she talks about gentrification, coalition building and reciprocity. Like she says the No on 8 folks needed to come hard and say ‘Bottom line our rights are being taken away. We are a minority who is having our rights stripped and if it happens to us it can happen to you.’

Do two wrongs make a right? No absolutely not (and that’s not what LadyJax is saying either).

What is being said is that you can’t act just like any other cog in the oppressive system one second and then try to play on some invisible connection to POC the next when you’ve done nothing to nurture any kind of bond or relationship there. In so many ways the big GLBT organizations – HRC, GLAAD seem to ignore POC as much as possible you just have to look at the amount of praise that shows like The L Word & Queer As Folk receive as opposed the silence that shows that feature queer POC like Noah’s Arc are greeted with. They would like to ignore the fact that there are in fact queer POC. Communities of Color, our issues and problems are completely ignored and a lot of that has to do with the fact that rich gay white men, the focus and funding of GLAAD and HRC profit off of not remembering that – especially in regards to gentrification and the way that POC get treated in our own neighborhoods when gentrification begins. Because they would prefer to ignore us the outreach that happens is minimal if there at all. Is it any wonder that when we’re approached a couple of weeks before the election with comparisons to segregation and civil rights that we’re more likely to scoff than join hands and sing a round of kumbaya?

In so many ways liberals just expect the support of minorities just for being liberal but guess what it doesn’t work that way. We’re just like every other group of people, there are going to be some who are queer, some who aren’t, some who support Prop. 8 and some who don’t and you need to do the work, to do the outreach and to build communities not just come to us when you need something.

The bottom line is if the support of communities of color is sought then coalitions need to be built, we need to be acknowledged as a constituency that have power and pull and treated like any other. I mean the NAACP of California came out against Prop. 8 but was that mentioned anywhere that you saw? I only learned it this morning and that’s something that should have been explicitly brought up in their ads and literature.

I went a bit off point there but the fact is that not only is the assertion that it’s black people’s fault that Prop. 8 passed racist as all get out for spotlighting the their support for Prop. 8 as the deciding factor as opposed to the majority of white people that voted for it but it’s also exactly the kind of attitude that DOES NOT lead to coalition and relationship building. You want to win next time, you want POC support next time? Then you go into the community, you speak to people, you communicate, you build relationships. You don’t wag a blaming finger in the face of black folks and say ”Oh it’s all your fault how could you?!” because that? Won’t get you any kind of positive reaction next time around.

For more posts from POC check out rydra_wong’s awesome linkspam.

Newest Crossing Lines

My latest column is up over at Fantasy Magazine as of today – Crossing Lines: Deconstructing Black Superheroes. Check it out and elt me know what you think.

Terminology – Metrosexual

I heard someone called a metrosexual on the street yesterday, in a joking laughing matter and remembered why I hate the term so much. Metrosexual is a supremely gendered term that just goes to reinforce gender roles.

A “metrosexual” is what exactly?

You might be “metrosexual” if:
1. You just can’t walk past a Banana Republic store without making a purchase.
2. You own 20 pairs of shoes, half a dozen pairs of sunglasses, just as many watches and you carry a man-purse.
3. You see a stylist instead of a barber, because barbers don’t do highlights.
4. You can make her lamb shanks and risotto for dinner and Eggs Benedict for breakfast… all from scratch.
5. You only wear Calvin Klein boxer-briefs.
6. You shave more than just your face. You also exfoliate and moisturize.
7. You would never, ever own a pickup truck.
8. You can’t imagine a day without hair styling products.
9. You’d rather drink wine than beer… but you’ll find out what estate and vintage first.
10. Despite being flattered (even proud) that gay guys hit on you, you still find the thought of actually getting intimate with another man truly repulsive.
“Some people think he’s gay, but he’s actually metrosexual.”
-via Urban Dictionary.com

Okay let’s unpack this a little bit. It’s a vile mix of enforcing gender roles, sexism and queerism. And a lot of this ties into the fact that for a lot of men the term metrosexual has taken the form of an attack on their masculinity.

Metrosexuals care about their looks, care about style, have taste and are refined in a general sense. These are trait societally expectedof women. I have many a female friend who can tell you of the horrible interactions they’ve had because they don’t practice hair removal or prefer Pabst to white wine or dress in a casual style all the time. The contempt for men who do these things not only reveals the contempt for these practices in general, practices more associated with women but also attempts to reinforce gender roles by strictly defining certain acts as “womanly” and “manly”. So there’s that. 

The contempt for metrosexuals and use of the term as an insult is a large scale version of schoolyard bullying. “These are things that men don’t do! If you do them you’re weird, not normal.”  The term itself is problematic because it exists at all, it’s main purpose seems to be to create a division between metrosexuals and “real men” who would never think of doing any of that “girly shit”. In addition to this it also acts as a form of protection for metrosexuals. It’s a defense mechanism that can be called in when they are accused of homosexuality, because any deviation from the strict male gender roles obviously must be a symptom of homosexuality but metrosexuality is still better than homosexuality. You can see this clearly in the definition above (#10). In fact almost all the definitions of Metrosexuality at Urban Dictionary contain a reference to homosexuality, usually an insult.

The discussion becomes even more complex when you bring race into it and point out that I’ve never seen anyone not white termed metrosexual, no matter how dressed up, refined or dapper they were. Because on the rare occasions we do get to see a Man of Color dressed up in any way 99.99% of times what is his role? He’s a mobster/gangster/defendant/crooked businessman/yakuza/drug dealer/pimp…you get the point.

So… in one term we have a confusing and intersecting web of misogyny, strict gender roles, queerism and racism. Is it any wonder I hate the term?

Int’l Blog Against Racism Week 3 is This Week!

By way of oyceter:

For 2008, IBARW will take place between August 4 through August 10.

If you would like to participate, here’s what to do:

1. Announce the week in your blog.

2. If you use a blogging system that allows post icons/pictures, switch your default icon to either an official IBARW icon, or one which you feel is appropriate. To get an official IBARW icon, you may modify one of yours yourself or ask someone to do so. Here’s a round up of IBARW icons.

3. Post about race and/or racism: in media, in life, in the news, personal experiences, writing characters of color, portrayals of race in fiction, review a book on the subject, etc. (Linking back here is highly appreciated!) The optional theme this year is intersectionality.

more at IBARW3 livejournal post here 

I don’t know what I’m writing yet but there will be something for IBARW3 going up this week.

Media Friday! 7-18-2008

Thank Jebus it’s Friday y’all, ’cause this week has been the longest ever. It felt like a month. I suspect some sort of warp in the fabric of space-time. So I’m thinking of making my Friday posts all about the media where I post videos or pictures or whatever.

Now many here may not now it but there are certain reality shows that I love (only a few! I can’t help it). At the top of my list is So You Think You Can Dance. My two favorite dances from this week:

Twitch & Comfort – HipHop

Will & Katee – Pas de Deux

And for all you genre fans out there, here’s the trailer for the upcoming adaptation of the graphic novel Watchmen. For those who don’t know Watchman is a 12 issue mini-series comic, released in the U.K. in 1986/1987 largely thought to be one of the best graphic novels ever. I have major issues with the comic to the point that I have never re-read the story after that first time. These issues have to do with blatant sexism, queerism and racism that thread through the work. I don’t want to spoil anyone but it’s a seriously problematic book. The thing that saves it is the crazy ass political leanings of the characters and the way everything plays out. Moore does fuckedupedness well I just wish the comics weren’t so damn problematic and traumitizing!  

That being said many American comic writers/artists decided to break with the comics code and do their own think after seeing the dark, gritty, real world of Watchmen. It truly made a lot of the “adult” comics I love today possible.

It’ll be interesting to see if the adaptation gets as dark as the comic, which is pretty damn dark. The movie’s not out until March 2009.

One of the things…

I’ve been busy with was an interview with the wonderful, funny, talented, award-winning Nancy Kress which is now up at Feminist SF – The Blog! Check it out!