The War & That Not so Fresh Feeling + Friday Literary Links + Heartbeats

Yesterday I has breakfast with my sweetheart at Jam, a restaurant that is consistently great for breakfast. While waiting for scrambled eggs, hash browns and a ricotta lemon pancake, I noticed on a wall a sign about a soldier from Portland currently in Iraq. His name is JD and in the picture next to a sign detailing his experiences at war I noticed he was quite handsome in his uniform and thought he seemed like he would probably make a good military officer. The poster sized sign described how cold it is in Iraq, how they rarely get letters for various reasons and that in order for these folks over there to even be able to talk on the phone to loved ones, they must have an AT&T calling card and wait in line for 2 hours. I felt heartbroken all over again for those in Iraq fighting and surviving and living & feeling and being in Iraq. It's been 5 years y'all! And quite frankly I'm getting that not-so-fresh-feeling!

It's been long e-fuckin'-nough. 5 years. 5 friggin' years! It's gone on too long. And what breaks my heart even more is that our troops when they do come home, are left without enough medical coverage, enough money or enough concern. If you have time next Saturday and are in Portland, please join me at a rally and action camp next weekend on March 15th. It's being called: March 15 World Without War: A Day of Resistance and Hope. I hope to see you there!

Okay I better switch topics before I go into a depression. So March, besides being Women's History Month is also Small Press Month. And none other than Walter Mosely is the poster dude for the celebration. For suggestions on titles to read for this go here. I'm happy to say I've read a number of the books listed but would also like to read Lonely Ware wolf Girl and also The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte.

Critical Mass the blog of the national book critics circle has the scoop the NBCC winners. I'm personally very excited to see that Medical Apartheid by Harriet Washington won for general nonfiction. It's no surprise that The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz won for fiction because it's well...wonderful. Anyway congrats to the winners!

My pal Kevin Sampsell gave me an interesting book the other day titled: Sex for America: Politically Inspired Erotica. And it's a hoot. The very first story is a man's encounter with Dick Cheney in the back of a gun shop. Since were in election mode I think there is no better book to get us in the mood... for sex and politics. So check it out. Speaking of sex and writing there is a new award for sex positive journalism aptly called the Sexies. Submissions are being taken until the 23rd of this month so if you have done some sex positive journalism find out more here.

Well I need to go home and feed the animals now. I think I'll be getting a laptop soon cuz this blogging at work off the clock thing is starting to get really old. In the meantime here are two awesome videos of the same song. It's worth listening to them both because one is the studio version and the other is live & sometimes music can be great in the studio & suck live, the this group called The Knife, has done a great job in both genres! The song is called Heartbeats. Enjoy y'all. Much love!
~F

Margaret B. Jones You Did Some Bad Bitty!

From Trans World:

Margaret B. Jones admitted that she lied in her memoir "Love and Consequences: A Memoir for Hope and Survival" and that the basis of her novel was a hoax.

Jones, whose real name is Margaret Smeltzer, said in her book that she was a half-White, half-Native American girl who suffered child abuse while being brought up by foster parents in gritty south-central Los Angeles. She claimed to have kept herself alive by running drugs for members of the Bloods, a notorious street gang in L.A.

So umm yeah. What is funny about all this is Library Journal raved about this faux memoir yet gave James McBrides excellent novel a shitty review. So the lesson here is don't trust Library Journal's reviews! Bad bitty!

More here.

Hello! It's Been a While. Did You Miss Me?

Golly gosh February was busy! But I'm happy to say I made it through one heck of a full month. Didn't get to do some of the things I wanted to do on this blog though like any Black History stuff. Nor did I post my friggin' interview with the ED of Brother to Brother, which in now called the Unity Project or Oregon. But sometimes one has to cut themselves some slack & I'm okay with that. There were many firsts in February including creating & giving a workshop, being on a panel to discuss a film and writing my first published article. My heart is happy to have done work that truly made me feel like a person creating effective change in this world. Being an instrument of my higher power may not bring power & prestige, but at the end of the day I feel grateful for the opportunity to be of service.

All of these wonderful opportunities came because of this here blog. Though I may not have the readership of say Perez Hilton or icanhascheezburger.com I'm grateful to the readers who have found me one way or another and have read my rants, raves, essay's and various ideas on life. If it were not for this blog and my commitment to keep writing for it even when I'd go weeks without a reader comment, I'm not sure I'd be who I'm becoming. So a huge thank you to all of you who read this and link to me. You are silent but shiny stars in my life!

Some other things are around the corner in terms projects. I'm working on another article for Just Out and have been asked to soon become a board member of an organization I really care for and want to be committed to. More updates on all that soon!

Anyway I wanted to note a few links since I didn't get to my Friday Link Lovin'.

Hysterical website if you love any kind of purebred animal in your life. It's called Obey the Purebreed. You can order some crazy ass tee shirts that are in a propaganda style. Good gawd it's tha shit! Here's my favorite!

If your looking for a news website that has something other than a white white white focus, go visit the great website New America Media whose tag line is: Expanding the news lens Through Ethic Media. It's a collaboration of ethnic media organizations & well worth your time!

One last thing. I'm reading a fantastic novel by James McBride called Song Yet Sung. I don't have time to get into it now, but go get a copy cuz it's good. More on the book later!

Tootles!
~F

Susie Bright Has Nice Legs

One of the perks of my job is getting to meet authors. Some of the authors I like & others I don't. Now I never discuss on this here bloggie the ones I don't care for because I have heard of Dooce. So tonight I'm sharing about one writer/editor/sexpert/mom/feminist I was glad to meet and that is none other than Susie Bright. Sadly for her a minute or two into our chatting I began to grill her on why the Best American Erotica series only had white folks on the covers. I mean hey, out of 15 years one would think at least one cover would have a POC on it. She was truthful about how she felt about the covers and what the deal was with them & her answer satisfied me. Then I asked about how she was this famous lesbian but is now partnered with a dude. Gosh I hope I didn't overwhelm her.

Anyhow it was lovely to meet an author whose work I actually own & respect. And too boot she has awesome legs! It was hard for me not to stare at them during the reading tonight. So later, after the reading was over & her fans dwindled I asked if she'd take a picture with me. She suggested a pic of our legs and honestly I was thrilled! So without further ado, a view from my camera phone of my & Susie Bright's legs. Enjoy!

Peace!

Summa Books

It's been a decent summer for books. I spent most of my time with a young adult series by Stephanie Meyer. There was Twilight then New Moon and finally last night I finished Eclipse. They were easy and totally fun books. With the exception of a couple weird comments by the protagonist like "she was beautiful in an exotic sort of way." Hate that. Anywho I also read another great young adult book by Sherman Alexie called The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian . It was very very good & I recommend it to adults as well as teens.

After seeing Mr. Alexie in person this last Wednesday I thought it would be good to read some of his other stuff. So I'm already 24 pages into The Lone Ranger & Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. It's a little fantastical which isn't usually my thing but I'm sure it's worth it.

Don't Play in the Sun by Marita Golden was a good book although it took my a while to read it. It's about colorism & was an important read.

And I re-read Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris because that book is funnier than shit. Oh & one I almost forgot despite that it was fun was Dead Connection by Alafair Burke. It was a murder mystery from an author who used to live in good 'ol PDX.

Let's hope for some good fall reading! Feel free to note your favorite books that you read this summer! Peace!
~F