a bit of home in NYC

having my favorite HP residents visit me in nyc meant i got 1 bolillo and some pan dulce (thanks Munchies!) and cacahuates that I never requested (no thanks to Pati!). more importantly, i got a bit of home while in the 212, which was refreshing and muy fun. here are a few quotes from this past week:

Me: What did you do to Paty? Did you eat her?
Baby Horse: Yes. I figured she ate ribs the other day so she might taste like ribs, too.
Me: Well, did she taste like ribs?
Baby Horse: No

Pati: Pose, estupida!

Random guy @ naco to Pati: Ya te vi...que andas de traviesa

Pati to Marcelo: We came from LA to see you!

Chilanga @ Splash: Soy Chilanga! Interpretalo como insulto si quieres

Pati's last words before she fell on her arse near NYU...."livia como...ayyyyy!"

Pati: Obama is black.
Me: I know he's black, I'm not saying he's not. But he's also half white. You know the campaign would have been a lot different if he were darker skinned.
Pati: No if you're black, you're black.
Me: Oh so there's no difference. Just like there's difference in how light skinned Mexicans are treated versus dark skinned Mexicans?
Pati: Oh well that's different.

and the classic: me amarron como PUERRRCO!

Horrified doesn't begin to describe what I feel

Because everyone else around me can't stop talking about it because its beyond infuriating that this woman might be, should McCain be elected and then die, President of the United States, I felt compelled to share Mark's two cents. He is a gifted writer, indeed.

gchat rocks because....

gchat buddy: i like the way she talks
her clothes are weird, but she's got style

No Hablo Girl

After watching the McCain/Obama discussion on "service" along with thousands of other Columbia students, I came across this article on the NYT about gender, psychology and the ever favorite reference to Facebook.

Colonialism Pays Off?

As if imperalism were dead (of course not!), I thought that former metropoles could not get more ridiculous in their perception of the satellites. Oh, how wrong I was. Franz Fanon, where are you?

POC's unite to form majority

Demographic projections from just a few years ago predicted that communities of color would constitute the majority population in the United States around 2050. However, recent projections now look at 2042, attributing the numbers to recent birthrates among immigrants.

National Past time: le drinking

Rafayna: do you like baseball
Me: no but i like alcohol

Burning Bridges

Sounds good! I love your burning bridges letters!
-Baby Horse

and the training facilitator said...

If you're looking for the Iraq experience without going overseas, this is NOT it

Is that a stretch or a question?

If someone is laid out with track marks, and they say "No" to drug use, mark no. Remember, this is self-reporting.

If you're doing tricks, that's work off the books.

Facilitator: Just cash benefits, not food stamps or WACK.
Trainee: You mean, WIC?

People never ask about my Bangladeshi heritage, and I'm very sensitive about that!

They can sense I'm illegal in my heart.

Precious

"Sobriety is for poor people"

Signed,
A Social Worker from Kentucky

La Flaca

because i heart her and she doesnt charge me $150 per session, here are few quotes from la baby horse:

paula loves butter. you love paula. by transitive property: you love butter!

mubre!

when did we STOP talking about you?

HELLO MY DARLINGS! (ok not baby horse's but only she appreciates it until the inevitable meeting in november!)

i'm in walnut creek!

me: its a stupid voicemail
BH: arent they all? lol jk jk

me: i cooked!
BH: WOW amazing! congrats!

bestia in the sky!

i am gonna try the fish tacos but not the ones your people like

single file line boys!

the term is QUEER, rafay'na

Rafayna: sigh
me: and i stil dont know why [we had mackenzie for so long]
Rafayna: (dreamy sigh)
and don't you dare say anything about denise
me: i just dont see it
Rafayna: she was my favorite
me: i heart her!
Rafayna: you're a lesbian!
me: LOL
Rafayna: boys are not your specialty
/men
boys aren't my specialty either :( yikes!

Sexuality is fluid? Thank you, Dr. Chivers!

Because there isn't enough research on sexuality, the New York Times featured this piece earlier this summer. HOW DID I MISS THIS?! Shit happens. Broke shit happens, too. Irregardless (engrish.com), all you need to know is this:

"Heterosexual women, Dr. Chivers and her colleagues found, were no more excited by athletic naked men doing yoga or tossing stones into the ocean than they were by the control footage: long pans of the snowcapped Himalayas. When straight women viewed a video of a naked woman doing calisthenics, on the other hand, their blood flow increased significantly."

Obvs!

Livia lives in Canada? Say what?

While perusing a celeb site, I came across this little number about a Canadian woman by the name of Livia Ionce that has 17 children, I mean 18. Are you, like me, curious to know what a typical day in the life of said woman is like? Yeah, its certainly not the second shift. More like the second times nine.

!@#$%^&*

Here's Moz to counter all that is wrong with the above paragraph. UGH!

Adopt a highway

Despite being the largest community of color in the United States, there are some things that Raza let happen for a variety of reasons. For instance, the Minutemen of San Diego adopted a highway at the San Clemente Border Checkpoint. How strategic of them. A federal judge ruled that the sign does not pose a danger to the public. OK. But, the sign does pose other elements: xenophobia, territorial demarcation, nativism, and racism. We happen to live in country built on democratic ideals such as freedom of expression so where do you draw the line? When we don't know how to resolve these situations, we turn to the rule of law. Because the courts are beyond all forms of identity/oppressive markers. Right? Right? We agree to disagree. Unless its hateful. But what is hate? Who defines hate? In the hierarchy of oppression, because one most certainly exists, there's so much built around the historical trauma/narrative of slavery that the Black community would be all over this situation had it been the KKK. Who else would be on this? The mainstream media, on the other hand, not necessarily. Key power players/allies? Maybe. I'm certain that the immigrants rights community of San Diego didn't let this happen without making a sound, but it is altogether frustrating and upsetting that people will drive past that sign.

The miseducation of Luis

Me: What do you think of bisexuals?
Luis: Bisexuals are fun

while waiting for julieta venegas to perform at central park, a friend sitting next to luis and me brought her amiga, who brought her friend, a book.
Luis: Why is she reading?
Me: She's a law student, they're hardcore nerds

Hours later
Me: She's still reading

Seeing an available cab a block away, Me bolted to get the cab. As I got close to the cab, someone got into the car. Naturally, I pumped my fist in the air and cursed, without stopping. Luckily, another free cab was behind the first one.
Luis (once inside the cab): Why did you hit the cab with your fist?
Me: What? I pumped my fist in the air!
Luis: Oh, its funnier if we say you hit the cab.

Me: (mumbling something about a band while on the rooftop of studio b)
Jo-Cee: What?
Me: I'm not going to repeat what I just said

Luis to Me: You're the dominant female
Me: How?! I'm NEVER the dominant female!

Me: (answer phone with groggy voice)
Luis: Are you horizontal still?

Estelle Getty 1923-2008

The Golden Girls, though a hit from the 1980's, still resonates with me. I identified with some of the characters and enjoyed seeing my mom if she were a Sicilian immigrant rather than Mexican: a short, spirited woman with a sharp sense of humor. In loving memory of the talented Estelle Getty that played Sophia, here are a few quotes that capture the silliness, charm and honesty the character embodies.

Rose: Dorothy, you're the smart one, and Blanche, you're the sexy one, and Sophia, you're the old one, and I'm the nice one. Everybody always likes me.
Sophia: The old one isn't so crazy about you.

Sophia: There's just something I don't like about him. I can't put my finger on it, but if I did, I'd have to wash it.

Sophia: When I feel bad, I have to take my mind off it. There's only one thing that does that to me.
Dorothy: Cooking a big meal...
Sophia: No, making love in a closet.

Rose: Dorothy, a man called for you while you were out.
Sophia: Finally. Now we can break out that bottle of champagne we've been saving.
Dorothy: Ma-a...
Sophia: Come on, Dorothy, we might not get another chance.
Dorothy: Oh sure we will. We can just serve it at... the wake.

And one of the catchiest TV sitcom theme songs

what about mamma mia!?

"Abba made some of the most highly polished, tightly engineered pop junk ever."

taken from http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/movies/18mamm.html?8dpc

music, the art of hailing cabs and the state of puebla

The Latin Alternative Music Conference started last week and ended this weekend. I got to see a lot of artists/bands I had never seen nor will I ever PAY to see again. I, did, however fall for a few bands, namely Kumbia Queers and Davila 666. During the weekend, there were many quotes, visuals and then some to be immortalized via Tres Marias y Un Buga.

VISUALS
4 feet tall mexicans standing at the front of summerstage concert for plastina mosh & julieta vengeas.
me wearing shades

More to come....me lazy

and in july they says...

Adult: Omygoodness! Look at you! You're so tan!
Me: Really? I don't think so.
Adult: Yes you are!
Me (looks at arms): Well, maybe its all the dirt on my arms for some reason. How did I get dirty?
Adult: Where were you?
Me: The Bronx
Adult: Oh that's wrong.
Me: No joke! I really went to the Bronx Courthouse just now.

(while cruising through the main campus, two little boys, no older than 6, were wrestling on the grass.)
boy on the bottom says to the top: wanna kiss?
the top, giggles: no
me: DAMN IT!

me to an elderly woman on the bus: where do i catch the 4 train?
elderly woman: lexington, i'll show you. just follow me when we get off. a donde tu vas?
me: al bronx

vane: i found a vegan mexican restaurant in l.a. i'm gonna go!
livia: you have to try vegan chocolate chake!!!
vane: what?!

new therapist: my regular fee is $150
me: huh interesting

JULY!

Oh what a June! Unemployment, boredom, humidity, sticky pants, sticky underwears, and sticky thoughts. Not much has changed in July in the city except for the unemployment bit.

The queerest month of all (le June) is over. NYC Pride came and went. I went, did not come. Not even close. East Coast phenomena: lack of baricades/no official parade route for Pride, very stop and go unlike the well organized Pride parades in California. What a difference good weather and better produce make.

Lastly, I'm excited about the Gavin exploring the idea of running for Governor of California. It is about bloody time someone with critical thinking skills considers leading Califas. I think my summer is half over? :(

But on a fun gayelle note, here's Ellen and her lady friend in Italy. Que cute!

Decibel Maria

Maria Sharapova goes noisily on the way out
By Jim Peltz, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 28, 2008
She goes noisily on way out

Second-ranked Maria Sharapova might have been bounced out of Wimbledon by long shot Alla Kudryavtseva, but Sharapova did not go quietly.

The shrieks, yelps and grunts let out by Sharapova during her second-round loss at times reached decibel levels louder than a motorcycle or lawn mower, Britain's Daily Telegraph claimed.

The paper said it used a digital sound-level meter to measure the piercing sounds from Sharapova, whom it said "is known as the noisiest player on the circuit."

While normal conversation is between 60 and 70 decibels, Sharapova's top reading Thursday was 103.2 decibels, the paper said.

"Last year, Sharapova broke her previous record of 102.7 -- equivalent to an ambulance siren -- by yelling at 103.7, greater than the noise of a small aircraft landing," according to the Telegraph.

and they said...

I am compassion fatigued! -Stephen Colbert

[While professor a throws left over food away, professor b noticed]
Professor B: There are so many people that need food
Professor A: Oh please don't give me that world hunger

I heart Professor A!

and he said

"don't let me say shit like that"

"i like concrete"

"you look like a professor, livia"

"you should have called rosa first" [slap]

Your Vitriol That Offends

While reading the comments in the NYT piece on Obama's personal check of $2,300 for the Hillary for President Committee, one person wrote in response to another reader's comment:

"peace4world, your spelling errors are the least of your or anyone else’s worries. It is your vitriol that offends."

[chuckle chuckle]

Best Line from The L-Word Season 5

“Were I receptive to such a proposition, it would first require a full booty check. (pause) And were you to pass muster, baby I'd give it to you family style." -Peggy Peabody

In the name of pride

I thought I would list the hotties that make me uh er um yeah you know (in no particular order except for 1 and 2):

1. Tina Fey
2. Sara Ramirez
3. Penelope Cruz
4. Mary-Louise Parker
5. Rachel Weisz
6. Alicia Keys
7. Jennifer Beals
8. Mia Kirshner & Leisha Hailey (yeah a tie!)
9. Yolanda Andrade & Montserrat Oliver
10.Emily Blunt
11. Zooey Deschanel & Emily Deschanel
12. Rachel McAdams
13. Maura Tierney
14. Rachel Griffiths
15. Ana Ivanovic

About time CA followed suit

As a big 'mo/ma, I find marriage equality to be a momentous step in mainstream lgbt rights. The LA Times provides a map illustrating how counties are approaching marriage licenses for all interested parties. Congrats to those that have married and an early congrats to those that will do the same from this point forward! Nothing but warm wishes :D

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-marriagesmap,0,6124834.htmlstory

City Quotes 1.0

A compiliation of quotes from pride in filas and a weekend in NYC:

"You know when worlds collide..."

"OMG! I saw his face!"

"Lesbians own it!"

"When I try to talk to her, she doesn't pay attention because she's so immersed in her reading. She's six years old."

"My hair looks good wet. Yours doesn't." -Moi to Luis

Gigglefest at Central Park when it pours rain. Not a quote but giggles are funny.

When in Davos, Switzerland...

In a recent interview with some magazine journalist, Angelina Jolie talked about her partner's tattoo:

"I drew that. We went to Davos. It's not that we were bored at the World Economic Forum, but one night we didn't have anything to do, so I was drawing on his back."

Can she draw something on my back with her finger? Thanks!

Women's Colleges and the Middle East

International recruitment efforts, eh?

Da Upcoming Films

Nouveu Blair Witch? Yeah, I always associate scary films set in the forest with Blair Witch. Damn project:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/baghead/trailer/

Toni Collette in a new film? Delish! Brill! Swell...ing of the vlips. Seriously, the movie has a LOT goings on.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/warner_independent_pictures/towelhead/trailer/

Burn After Reading filmed in NYC (yes, Brad Pitt was just blocks away from me last fall while shooting the film). How does he eternally look youthful? I can tell he's aging quite rapidly -thanks to fatherhood among other do-gooder roles he has take on of late. The trailer is on the apple website. I'm too lazy to copy and paste the link.

Oh, and whatever films involve Colin Firth (Mamma Mia! & Then She Found Me) of course appeal to my het side.

But the film I'm most excited about watching? The Fall. Why do I like kids with accents? My ESL bias, I guerss.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/thefall/trailer/

Clinton, Gender, & Politics

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
Clinton’s Next Campaign
The New York Times

By ANNA HOLMES
Published: June 1, 2008

RACISM. Sexism. Say what you will about the Democratic primaries, they have at the very least provoked a national dialogue about those two shameful scourges of American society. Just as the furor over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright drove Senator Barack Obama to make a widely admired speech on race, the growing outrage on the part of her supporters offers an opportunity for Senator Hillary Clinton to speak out on sexism in American life.

The idea of such a speech has been brought up and then shot down by unimaginative pundits as merely playing the gender card, an assertion both patronizing and offensive. But with her campaign apparently on the cusp of defeat, Senator Clinton is now free to speak with courage and conviction, two qualities not ascribed to her lately.

Watching Barack Obama speak in Philadelphia in March, I was uncomfortable (race is a sticky subject, to say the least) but exultant because, as a woman of color, I saw a man from a similar multiracial background speak openly and honestly about race in a way that was inclusive and enlightening, that gave credit to the intelligence of his audience. He avoided trotting out a laundry list of affronts.

But from my vantage as the daughter of a ’70s feminist who grew up in a house littered with Ms. magazines, E.R.A. buttons and other detritus of gender activism, I see many of my feminist forebears focusing too much on the cataloguing of slights, and not enough on solving the problem. Of course there’s been sexism throughout this campaign. (Remember “Iron my shirt”?) But at this point, keeping track of every tone-deaf criticism matters less than delivering an active, impassioned response.

Senator Clinton is the one woman in America right now who has the perspective, and the responsibility, to give that response. And history shows that she is more than capable of speaking definitively and honestly about the issue: Take the passion of her 1995 address at the United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing; or the personal touch of her tableside chat with voters in New Hampshire in early January; or the intelligence and wisdom she displayed in her 1969 commencement speech at Wellesley College. A gender speech combining these elements would be revelatory, historic and, yes, humanizing.

The question is when, and how, she could do it. The when: after she bows out of the presidential race, so that it couldn’t be painted as a last-ditch effort to win. The where: a public university, or perhaps a private women’s college like her alma mater, would be fitting. The how: she could speak from a place of pride and passion, pride for how far she and other women have come; passion for how far we have to go, including the sad fact that sexism is so pervasive as to be almost invisible and so accepted that to mention it is to risk being accused of hypersensitivity.

She could talk openly about the tug of war between the personal and the political, between the armor women wear in public and what they expose in private. Lastly, she could recognize the occasion for what it is: an opportunity to heal the rifts between women in the Democratic Party and to bring new female voters into the fold.

Addressing as broad an audience as possible is key, because as much as Senator Clinton serves as a symbol of the quintessential career woman, she has been preaching mainly to a choir of like-minded baby boomers, most of whom have markedly different experiences and interpretations of the world than their younger, poorer or darker-skinned sisters. The gender discrimination experienced by a first lady and the first viable female presidential candidate (or even, say, a corporation’s first female executive) is not the same as the gender discrimination experienced by a single mother in Wichita or a high school student in Watts.

She also needs to be honest in a way that she hasn’t been lately: about the uncommon privileges she has been given and, more important, the much more common struggles, disappointments and frustrations she has weathered despite those opportunities.

After all, if she can’t break the country’s highest glass ceiling this election season, the least she can do is take a good hard crack at other, no less important ones: the ones we all construct ourselves. As she said during that speech in Beijing 13 years ago, “For too long, the history of women has been a history of silence.” It’s time for Senator Clinton to start making some noise already.

Anna Holmes is the managing editor of the blog Jezebel.

Tracy Ullman is Genius

We're both Californians so...

why wouldn't we get married?

What It Do?

The last time a woman was 244 delegates short of securing the nomination for President of the United States...oh, wait there has never been a "last time."

Legalize This!

On May 16, 2008, the California Supreme Court overturned the ban on gay marriage. California will begin to issue marriage licenses to queer couples on June 17, 2008.

callie speaks the vagina monologue after all!

callie denies speaking the vagina monologues

cali tour in may 2008

"oh my god. you finally look like a girl in this picture" -pitufas

"we almost died in the parking lot of a mcdonald's cuz paty be thug like that" -me

"i love lakewood!" -me

"bestia in the sky!" -baby horse

"excuse me gentlemen, can i pose for a picture with you?" -random male drunk at bay to breakers to me and baby horse

"hey, lucille #3! high five!" -random female drunk at bay to breakers to me

"for sherious is the most creative thing i've heard in california!" -colorado man lost in SF speaking to me

"i would run into the love of my high school life and an ex coworker on the one day I'm in San Francisco" -me

"i can't pee in the bushes! i need toilet paper and running water" -me to baby horse at bay to breakers

yeah yeah yeah

"express your feelings, yang"
"i dont speak girl" -yang

"i take walks on the beach in l.a., i'm very zen, but i really want to kick your ass, meredith" -addison

and because i'm getting rid of cell and need some place to turn to when i need a quick pick me upper:

"hija de puta" -rafayna

"where you at, homes?" emma

"you cannot become a lesbian because you don't want to lose weight" -weeds writer(s)

slimming swimwear

http://www.wholesomewear.com/page-4.html

family ties

and they're off again and again

April 2008 Quotes

"Why did I end up fighting with some social work kids last night? Such a mess..." -gg at queer social

"OMG...the smoke alarm keeps going off...puro taca taca..." -gg at another queer social

"I am having flashbacks from last night. I will never be the same." -meshell the day after prom

"I really don't care about this assignment" -research partner after we got a C on the latest paper

"Oh dear. Oh dear." -research partner before submitting the paper she didn't really car about

Tranny/Hot Mess/Barnard -el luis

social work prom 2008

at 7.45 p.:
"where's michelle?"
"she's just leaving brooklyn"

michelle to cab driver: "do you go to brooklyn?"
[silence]

michelle to moi: "you're an ass"

munchies: "bucha, you left me 3 voice mails in the span of 7 minutes!"

moi: "omg i'm so drunk right now" [3 minutes later] "i feel so much better, munchies!"

moi:"how many drinks have you had so far, marsh?"
marcia [smiling]: "i dont know!"

random sw students to me: "is your friend ok?"
me: "yeah she just had to puke. she's good now"

meshell: "my head is spinning"

from le mignott

you're a tard

you're an ass

gotta love brooklyn

Tina Fey, Amy Poehler in LAT

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-feypoehler20apr20,0,6866701.story

cultural competence & social work

"i love racism" -anonymous

"mexican gangstas are suave" -anonymous

"what does that even mean? are you naked in the city" -baby horse

"Sorry I haven't called you back. I've been working like a day laborer. No joke" -pitufas

oh feelings!

while on gchat...

rafayna: who's rogerio?

me: my advocacy professor. i have a crush on him.

rafayna: oh, well i hope he has gmail.

Social Worky Recruitment Effort?

New admitted student to a first year: "How did you like your first year in the program"

"I have no regrets, I always wanted to live in New York City."

Same student asked me the same question. My response? "I had an interesting experience..."

Gender, Sexuality and Prom

"Well, who does he live with? Drug dealers? Two lesbian women?" -anonymous man speaking to another man outside of the Brooklyn courthouse

R: "Are you going to the gala?"

L: "Of course! I have a date.  I might go in drag and she might, too"

R: "So you would wear make-up?"

L: "Uh, no I would a wear a suit. Oh wait, make-up would be drag for me!"

R: "Yeah!"

"Those tacos are obscenely large! I don't know how people put things so big in their mouths!" -me

"You're going to be working at 'A Woman's Place'?" -me to Emma

Loyal Quotes

"I didn't know you were such a big deal!" -Alice to Jodie

"Hi guys!" -Max 

"You look familiar..." Kit to the only real dyke on the show 

"It's your human right to be happy" -Shane

"We have a major distributor people!" -Adele

"I didn't give you anything. You stole it" -Jenny to Adele as she walks up to take the mic away from Adele. 

"They think its too gay" -Tina

"I'm telling you that its the Man that does all this shit" -Kit

"Its the ultimate betrayal. You broke my heart" -Jenny 

CBT and Social Work interns

(Student during practice class sitting across the room from asks the professor): "What if I have a client...ok, not a client, a friend, can I..."

Professor: "No you may not use CBT with a friend. That's crossing boundaries."

(Student sitting next to me): "That's not a friend she's talking about, its her."

Amour estilo Brasil

Me: It's official! Pinto loves me!

Vane: Why, cuz he liked your hair?

Me: That was the final proof of evidence!  He's always touching me!

Vane: Really? Maybe cuz he thinks you're queer?

Me: Oh, he knows! I said so in my mid-term.

Vane: I love him but he doesn't love me back! Maybe I should tell him I'm queer?

KC & Elka Quotes

KC: Do you think Sand is gay?  

E: Yes. 

KC: Which is gayer? Sand, gravel or concrete?

E: Brick is SO gay.

KC: Brick IS so gay. It's the gayest. If you have a red brick drive way, that means you're gay, especially if you have a yellow house. 

-----

Elka: Sometimes you gotta draw her a map...away from your vagina. 

-----

KC: Kids are assholes. 

-----

KC: I'm over stressed. Alright, I'm not over worked at all, but that can be stressful!

"Your mother is a body of text" -luis

"Eye of the tiger" -Persepolis

March Quotes

"Marian turned in a process recording of 1.5 pages. That's gangsta. After that, I told her she could move to Crown Heights." -mignott

"Thank you man in the wheelchair for delaying my lunch further!" -el munch

"Are you busy this weekend?" -stalker

"She totally ignored your bye!!! LMAO" -mignott

"Lesbian soccer" -mignott

"OMG -barely [alive]! Who was that guy I was making out with last night?" -lalo

Quotes of 2008 (thus far)

January 

"Gurrrl, are you okay?  You were all sorts of crunk last night." -af

"Como amanecio la borrachita?" -gl

"Why did I meet your twin yesterday?  no joke! she looked, dressed and WAS a bucha, too!!" -pa

February

"Where's the party tonight?  In my pants, of course!" -af

"OMG!!! Walk of Shame, are you alive?" -gg

"Gay bitch i love you" -af

"My new barrio is so T!  Someone threw a potted plant on my car last night" -rk