Can't Think of a Pithy Title

I'm tired. This moving business has me exhausted quite frankly. The minute I get home I start organizing until my partner makes me sit down. It's just so hard for me to relax when our home is still in disarray. But I got the bathroom organized!

Tonight I met the coolest guy. He's a sports writer who's very aware & his latest book looks at the intersection of sports & politics. Anyway he wrote an awesome article on the bridge collapse there & how it intersected with the groundbreaking of an undesired (by the majority of Minnesotans) new dome. He brought up a great point tonight about how so many in MN are enraged because certain rich beasts care more about making money off domes than caring about citizens safety. Katrina is more than a hurricane!

Anywho another interesting thing this evening was what I like to call an uncomfortable moment. Since I wish to not get into any potential trouble by talking about stuff at work too much I'll leave out a few details but hopefully convey the gist of the event. So I have a co-worker I'll call Jerry. Jerry draws & such. I asked Jerry why in most of his drawings where people are depicted there were so few if any people of color. I was simply curious & asked in a very casual way. He responded by saying "not everything is about race." Which I admit is true, however it didn't answer my question. So I told him that I was just wondering because it seemed like there were no folks of color in his pieces & wanted to know if he ever thought about it.

I got the same response back with an added "some folks just need the attention by making everything about race." And I said... well I had no response because were at work & my partner may or may not have to work with this dude sometimes & his response was clearly his way of saying he wished to not explore this topic with me.

But you know it's all good because some folks are scared to ask these questions. Why are there so few POC in certain things like television, baseball and art? And yes I know not everything is about race & perhaps it is simply my need for attention that makes me want to see faces in the places I work, the streets I live, the art I encounter & the activities I pursue, that are brown like mine (not the same exact shade mind you, any color of brown is good!). I mean it's nice when I see folks who may look like me represented in things that don't require them picking up after white folks in some way, shape & form.

Hmmm. Well I don't know what more to say about anything other than that I

Tragedy

As some of you may know I'm from Minneapolis. My partner called me while I was packing to tell me about the bridge collapse on Tuesday. Needless to say I hung up from our conversation & called my mom. All the circuits were busy. I tried over & over again between my mom's home phone, cell phone & my grandmothers for an hour before I was able to actuall get through my mom's home # & leave a message. She called just a couple hours later saying she was okay (she works in St. Paul & lives in Minneapolis & the bridge connects the two cities) and that we thinks the rest of the family was too.

The event reminded me a bit of September 11th when a dear friend had gone to NYC on holiday & would up stuck there for days I did'nt know if she was okay. That friend was that day. However a couple years later she took her own life in an overdose. I still miss her.


Anyway I feel so sad for the tragedy back home. Divers are still pulling people out of the Mississippi River. Living in a Bridge Town I have reason to be concerned about Portland's safety. For today though I my prayers go to the family & friends of those who died so tragically.
~F

Hi from MPLS!

Well I made it here via Denver with ease. The Denver airport was calm and I landed in Minneapolis 10 minutes early. I didn't think I'd have a chance to update this here blog for a week so if you are a bloglines subscriber please add my bloggie to your subscriptions and you'll get updates whenever the heck I update this thing!

Anyway...

I arrived x-mas eve. at almost 10pm here. When my ma & I got to her place I was pretty tired and discovered my face wash had leaked all over her x-mas present. A book called Breathing Out by Peggy Lipton. So mom had to wash off all the goo from her book while I had to wash out parts of my suitcase. Funny. That has been the only mishap (LITERALLY KNOCKING ON WOOD). The next day we got up & had x-mas lunch with my beloved grandma. Then we went to my uncle Rog's & opened some gifts from my aunt Jan. Then back to grandma's where I stayed overnight. She is 93 and her health is not so good. She's struggled with depression this last year after discovering a hairline fracture in her hip. Pain is depressing. Well anyway it was so wonderful to spend time with her & I was nearly in tears as I left her this afternoon.


Here is an example of how my granny is. We were walking in the lobby of her building which is independent living for the elderly. We passed by a table that notifies the resident of who recently died. Grandma as we walked by "oh I wonder if I know whoever just kicked the bucket." So funny. Then late last night she shows me a x-mas picture card folks send to show how annoyingly happy & heterosexual they are, and she says pointing at different folks in the pic "oh here's Bob and here's Evelyn and here's a retarded boy, he's Bob's retarded brother." Oh God she cracks me up.


Mom & I went to visit my great aunt Rose (my granny's sis) whose 91 years old. She's doing worse than grandma & I think it's in part because her one child is never really around to take care of her. Loneliness sucks! So after seeing here I landed here, got settled in and then went walking. I walked up & down Nicolette mall, which for you Portlanders is much like 5th & 6th avenues downtown Portland. I went to a queer store called Rainbow Road a block off Nicolette mall on Grant Street. It opened up a couple years before I moved to Portland & was glad to see it still there. I lived 1&1/2 blocks from there so I saw my old apartment building too.


So much has changed downtown. Many things I don't recognize but it was funny because at one point I was walking around & my eyes looked at a neon sign on a building that has been there since I can remember & I realized I never see that sign anymore and I suddenly realized I'm indeed no longer a Minnesotan.


Tomorrow Heather & I go to breakfast & then who knows where the day will go. The next day it's my mom's birthday & I just pray I can hold my tongue. My mom is really rude & emotional and wants everything her way and all the attention all the time. It's really exasperating in every sense of the word. But I just try to have the attitude that she is walking theater & I'm getting a free show. And despite it all she is funny and wild & sometimes really fun. I love her and know she's loves me with all her crazy heart. That's what is important.


You must be wondering if it's cold here. Well yes but it's just like Portland right now. Only there is still leftover crusty snow all over. It's great. I love that it's not totally freezing. Well here's a pic I took tonight oh the IDS tower. Enjoy!