A year ago, if you told me that my 14 weekly party companions would break apart into party sects and disassociate with one another I would have laughed. Sure enough, a year later, my crew is down to only three key members and we as a foursome seem to party hearty. It's a little strange to think that a group of 15 20-somethings would drift into such different social circles in such a short period of time. I guess I always knew my core would be this group, though. I knew when Sue, Carla & I would go to Cantina & Micky's without anyone else and meet random people. Or we would hang out with Austen. We would laugh and joke and enjoy ourselves without the insane clamor of our complete entourage. Somewhere in there Vicki joined, and we became a recipe for trouble and adventure. In the end, I think we are satisfied with our group. It's just interesting how time changes people and perceptions.
2.29.2008
2.21.2008
Black History and What Have You
It's three weeks into February and in case you did not know, February is Black History Month. I have worked very hard over the past three weeks to ignore it, not because I don't think it is important, but because I feel like it is trivialized and taken for granted. As we make our way through grade school, we are taught all of the great accomplishments African Americans have made to American culture, about acceptable Black people who changed the face of history, meaning we get Booker T. Washington, Harriet Tubman, George Washington Carver, Frederick Douglas, and Dr. King. We get the good, suffering, struggling to overcome while not too intimidating Black Americans in the history books. On the outskirts of history come the revolutionaries, the people who made it possible for the recognizable names in the history books (some of the following are also mentioned in history books, but as villainous foils to the prior group of Black History saints): Nat Turner, Malcolm X, W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, and Huey P. Newton. The thing about Black history, something I never really understood, is that it is American history, but for the purposes of rainbow hugging baby boomer legislatures who want to prove how far we've come from our days as oppressors, there is a month dedicated just to Black America.
Do you want to know what happens during this month? The Color Purple plays every night on BET; Roots will be played on PBS; In Living Color Marathon on Comedy Central; and HBO has a list of Black films on Demand. What used to be a period of time to reflect on Americans who were faced with greater adversity because of what they were born rather than who they are-- a time in which we bridge the gap of racial inequality and take responsibility as a nation for the travesty that was enslavement and second class citizenship (not just with African Americans)--is now a month of superfluous apathy guised as social understanding. I am thoroughly sick of it.
I want to get into all of the issues I have with the Black community, and I want to discuss in depth my loathing of White guilt and cultural appropriation. I want to be able to tell you all of the things that swim in my mind about what being Black and being American mean, but there really are not enough words and is no where near enough time for me to lay it all out for you in detail other than to say that Black history is American history and there are things that we have to own up to as Americans and not brush under the rug. We have a responsibility to ourselves, to our ancestors, and to our progeny to tell the story honestly and offer them options for the future.
I think I am over Black History Month forever, but I will never turn away from Black history... or any history for that matter. I learn something new every day about different cultures withn America. Our stories are told as fragments when we see them intertwine and tangle everyday.
American Black History recap:
Declaration of Independence defines the patriots as not being slaves -> American Constitution is ratified after compromise met on slaves counting as three-fifths a human being in order for the South to obtain more seats in Congress-> Slave trade outlawed-> Missouri Compromise-> Frederick Douglas-> Dredd Scott sues for his freedom and loses on the grounds that he is not a citizen of the United States and has no right to use the federal courts ->American Civil War breaks out-> Lincoln frees slaves in already free states-> Confederacy loses the war-> XIII & XIV Amendments passed making the newly freed slaves citizens and granting suffrage to Black men-> Reconstruction-> KKK rises in the South-> backlash to recontruction-> Plessy v. Ferguson-> Southern sharecroppers migrate to industrialized cities in search of jobs-> unions refuse to allow African Americans in and industrialists begin to use them as scabs-> Booker T. Washington & W.E.B. DuBois begin a debate that would last years on the correct path for Blacks in America-> Marcus Garvey & Pan African Movement-> National Association for the Advancement of Colored People-> Franklin D Roosevelt refuses to pass an anti-lynching law-> Jackie Robinson-> Brown v. Board of Education-> Emmett Till-> Rosa Parks & Montgomery Bus Boycott-> Little Rock 9-> Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. & Malcolm X pick up where Washington & DuBois ended their debate-> Ballot or the Bullet-> I Have A Dream & March on Washington-> Passing of Civil Rights Bill-> Assassination of JFK-> LBJ appoints Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court-> Malcolm X assassinated-> Dr. King assassinated-> Bobby Kennedy assassinated-> Black Panther Party-> Black Liberation Army-> Assata Shakur imprisoned-> Huey P Newton imprisoned-> Angela Davis imprisoned-> systematic murders of members of black parties by the police and FBI-> Vietnam war ends-> Rainbow Coalition-> Jesse Jackson runs for president-> Colin Powell becomes Secretary of State-> Condoleeza Rice becomes Secretary of State-> Barack Obama leads in polls to become Democratic Nominee for President of the United States
Do you want to know what happens during this month? The Color Purple plays every night on BET; Roots will be played on PBS; In Living Color Marathon on Comedy Central; and HBO has a list of Black films on Demand. What used to be a period of time to reflect on Americans who were faced with greater adversity because of what they were born rather than who they are-- a time in which we bridge the gap of racial inequality and take responsibility as a nation for the travesty that was enslavement and second class citizenship (not just with African Americans)--is now a month of superfluous apathy guised as social understanding. I am thoroughly sick of it.
I want to get into all of the issues I have with the Black community, and I want to discuss in depth my loathing of White guilt and cultural appropriation. I want to be able to tell you all of the things that swim in my mind about what being Black and being American mean, but there really are not enough words and is no where near enough time for me to lay it all out for you in detail other than to say that Black history is American history and there are things that we have to own up to as Americans and not brush under the rug. We have a responsibility to ourselves, to our ancestors, and to our progeny to tell the story honestly and offer them options for the future.
I think I am over Black History Month forever, but I will never turn away from Black history... or any history for that matter. I learn something new every day about different cultures withn America. Our stories are told as fragments when we see them intertwine and tangle everyday.
American Black History recap:
Declaration of Independence defines the patriots as not being slaves -> American Constitution is ratified after compromise met on slaves counting as three-fifths a human being in order for the South to obtain more seats in Congress-> Slave trade outlawed-> Missouri Compromise-> Frederick Douglas-> Dredd Scott sues for his freedom and loses on the grounds that he is not a citizen of the United States and has no right to use the federal courts ->American Civil War breaks out-> Lincoln frees slaves in already free states-> Confederacy loses the war-> XIII & XIV Amendments passed making the newly freed slaves citizens and granting suffrage to Black men-> Reconstruction-> KKK rises in the South-> backlash to recontruction-> Plessy v. Ferguson-> Southern sharecroppers migrate to industrialized cities in search of jobs-> unions refuse to allow African Americans in and industrialists begin to use them as scabs-> Booker T. Washington & W.E.B. DuBois begin a debate that would last years on the correct path for Blacks in America-> Marcus Garvey & Pan African Movement-> National Association for the Advancement of Colored People-> Franklin D Roosevelt refuses to pass an anti-lynching law-> Jackie Robinson-> Brown v. Board of Education-> Emmett Till-> Rosa Parks & Montgomery Bus Boycott-> Little Rock 9-> Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. & Malcolm X pick up where Washington & DuBois ended their debate-> Ballot or the Bullet-> I Have A Dream & March on Washington-> Passing of Civil Rights Bill-> Assassination of JFK-> LBJ appoints Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court-> Malcolm X assassinated-> Dr. King assassinated-> Bobby Kennedy assassinated-> Black Panther Party-> Black Liberation Army-> Assata Shakur imprisoned-> Huey P Newton imprisoned-> Angela Davis imprisoned-> systematic murders of members of black parties by the police and FBI-> Vietnam war ends-> Rainbow Coalition-> Jesse Jackson runs for president-> Colin Powell becomes Secretary of State-> Condoleeza Rice becomes Secretary of State-> Barack Obama leads in polls to become Democratic Nominee for President of the United States
2.15.2008
V-Day Recap: Warhol, Wrestling and Writhing
cowboy-glitter
Originally uploaded by Unruly Julie
Let me set the scene. It takes place inside the Mayan, a beautiful venue when you want a theme of hedonistic pleasure. Palm trees in the corners of the lobby provide real life jungle temple experience (::thumbs up w/cheap grin::) while the faux carved stone walls are washed with red, purple and green lights. I walked in and became nostalgic for Legends of the Hidden Temple (but I sure was happy not to run into any temple guards because I left my pendants of life at home). My friend and I find seats upstairs and once people show up that she knows I kinda disappear for a while (figuratively speaking). I take this time to reflect on everything and I realize one very important thing: I don't belong at this event.
I looked around and saw Greasers, Scenesters, Avant Garde artist types. I look up the steps behind me and standing there is a chunky Andy Warhol (green hair instead of platinum blonde) with a crew of misfit neo-hipsters. To my right, a few seats over is this Rockabilly girl with full Betty Paige vamp but as a tough girl. Down below in the ringside seats is a costumed group which includes Marie Antoinette. There's also the hardcore Lucha Libre fans with masks on of their favorite wrestlers. Then there's me, watching in silence with a giant siren going off in my head saying I don't belong here. I didn't. I'm no artist, no scenester, no out of the ordinary searcher for fringe culture. I'm a Barney's Beanery kind of girl who just wants to see cool stuff, talk to interesting people, and on occasion get plastered with my friends. This is the heartbreaking part: since I realize that I don't fit into this world (my best friend who invited me there thus being my only real connection to it) I also have to come to terms that I don't fit into my friend's life either.
It basically broke down to her outgrowing me (eventhough I am sure she doesn't realize it yet) and me not matching her growth and I understand it. She's become an adult and I'm not there yet. To be perfectly candid, I don't know if I ever will be. We're opposites in a lot of ways that seemed far less important when we became friends in high school because we had similar backstories. Ten years later, those common foundations are not as important. She's always been artsy and flighty and free spirited and me not so much. We go to Lucha and it's like walking into her world and I do not feel any connection to anything. I'm not uncomfortable, I'm just noticeably out of place. It just stinks that on a day dedicated to "love" I find out that the best relationship I have had with anyone is falling apart and there is no way to fix it because we're not broken. We still talk and hang out and laugh, but there is just something missing, some sort of divide appeared and there's no bridge across it at this time. So, I end up breaking my own heart on Valentine's Day.
The lights go down, the show begins and everything is beautiful. The crowd laughs and cheers and dances. The luchadores flip and fly across the ring. The VaVoom aspect of the evening was my favorite, although Lil' Chicken and The Human Tornado made the night unforgettable. The night ends and I drive my friend home while we laugh into the darkness. Today is a new day, but my heart is still a bit bruised.
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