Existential Punk

Lessons In Evandalism Tour

Pete Rollins is returning to the USA for his upcoming tour entitled 'Lessons In Evandalism', which will include a visit to Richmond, VA the end of February. He describes the tour as:

The current religious landscape is cluttered with various expressions of faith that claim to rethink Christianity at the dawn of a new cultural epoch. However such groups often accomplish little more than the repackaging and redistribution of faith as we currently understand it. A repackaging that involves flashing lights, video projectors and ‘culturally sensitive’ leaders who can talk about the latest mediocre pop sensation.

Throughout his Spring 09 tour Peter will be arguing that, in the midst of this arid landscape, there exist small but fertile sites of resistance. Groups who offer a way of thinking that not only challenges the way we express faith but fundamentally ruptures the way we understand it. He will argue that these pockets of resistance represent a growing, organic movement that are proclaiming the death of God, church and religion as we know them in preparation for their resurrection in a radically different form.

Through a mix of parables, philosophy and discussion Peter will be exploring the theoretical kernel of this emerging movement and addressing its dangerous, revolutionary and transformative potential.

For more, read here.

Richmond Into Sustainability? Yea, Right!

  After living in Los Angeles, California for 5.5 years and Sacramento, CA for a few months, i grew to see how EASY recycling was. i was a HUGE recycler at Xavier University in Cincinnati during the early '90's but fell away until my move to Los Angeles in 1997, where recycling was just a smidgeon effort. When Katryna and i first met she was living in Sacramento and I in Richmond, Virginia. She was a BIG recycler and i had begun using my WMA recycle bins. Sacramento's Waste Management is SUPER progressive in that it takes MOST recycleable materials. Central Virgina's, which includes Richmond, Waste Management, on the other hand, is a real joke in recycling and sustainability!

CVWMA has limited things it chooses to recycle versus Sacramento's things it recycles. Sacramento has information here, here and here. Richmod ONLY recycles yard waste by you loading it up in YOUR car and taking it YOURSELF to a location to be determined by calling them. How asinine and inconvenient is that?! VERY in my opinion. We found out that if we put our Christmas tree out on the road for pickup that they will pick it up, but put it in a LANDFILL rather than recycle it! If we want to recycle it WE have to load it up and take it to a designated location, which is on the other side of town. So, we have to decide which hurts the environment less, a tree in a landfill or driving the car to take the tree to the other side of town. i really do not know the answer is but we are putting the tree out at the curb.

We pay taxes and i think Richmond and other places like it need to join the rest of us in the 21st Century and upgrade its recycling facilities and STOP being so picky in what and how they recycle. When i moved into my home in 2005, one of the trash bins had a yellow sticker saying "YARD WASTE ONLY" but my neighbors kindly informed me that program had been discontinued and to use the bin for trash now. That is going backwards and ass backwards at that!

Each year they have two pickups for leaf removal if we put them at our curbs. Once in November and once in January. Their communication SUCKS on when those dates are and which neighborhoods. i called last year and told them my address and neighborhood, and of course, they told me the wrong date. Luckily we got the leaves out in time. This year though, they extended the pick up date and reduced it to one pickup, which will be sometime in January.

Shit like this does not encourage people to recycle. When recycling is limited and made into too much work, then people are LESS LIKELY to take the time and energy to recycle.

What do you think? What is recycling like in your area where you reside?

Skaters Relish In Foreclosures

HT to fellow Richmond Blogger Chewy Lives for this lovely commentary on the state of home foreclosures in the good Ol' US of A! This is funny but at the same time very sad. Another commentary on EMPEROR BUSH'S running failures, so affectionately called by Keith Olberman, 'BUSHED!'. What's next, squatter's, graffiti artists, and free storage units in the foreclosed  homes? Hmm!

 

JOIN THE IMPACT RICHMOND

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! CALLING ALL QUEERS AND QUEER ALLIES! i just received this email from JOIN THE IMPACT RICHMOND news from Brandon advocating more ways to keep the momentum going:

Hey gang,

Just wanted to remind/notify you all about upcoming activism opportunities, as posted to Join the Impact >> The Next 3 Months

Project Postcard .  Keep sending out your postcards!  This is now more important than ever as Barack Obama's people just announced that he plans on delaying the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell.  Let's remind President Elect Barack Obama of the promises that he made to our community and remind him that we are citizens of the United States of America too!

Nov. 28th - Dec. 20th: The National LGBTQ Food Drive  - Through this event, we will work to reach out not only to those who have worked alongside us, but to organizations and individuals that fear us and oppose our cause.  Our efforts to alleviate the hunger America is facing in this difficult time will be indiscriminate with regards to creed or political philosophy.  These are gaps we can and must bridge if we are going to achieve equality in this country. Read more . . .

December 5th: MILK Movement: Let's honor the memory of Harvey Milk and get everyone out to the theater for the national release of the national release of this film by Gus Van Sant.  Gaining equality requires visibility.  This world needs to know that we exist and that our numbers are huge.  So many people don't understand just how many US Citizens are denied equal rights.  Let's make MILK one of the top 3 grossing movies for the weekend of December 5th.  And let's do it by going to the theaters that support our community.  Please keep checking back for a list of pro-LGBTQ theaters to support the weekend of December 5th.  This movie is something that will help keep this important conversation going so let's fill those seats! (More info to come soon).

December 10th: Day Without a Gay - Day Without a Gay is about an economic boycott.  Our community contributes $700 billion a year to this economy (the same amount as the bailout), yet we are not given equal protections under the law that every citizen deserves.  As such, it is time we make a stand.  During the largest shopping season of the year, we ask that you do one very important thing: Don't Buy Anything!  What would happen to this world if the LGBTQ community didn't exist?  Why is it that we continue to contribute to an economy and government that does not contribute to us?  Let's answer these questions on December 10th.   Read More...


December 20th: Light up the Night for Equal Rights - On November 15th, we took to the streets and shouted for our rights and against the acts revoking rights on November 4th.  We mobilized in ways this country has never seen and did so on the steps of City Halls and US Embassies throughout the world!  On December 20th, we ask that you join us again for a demonstration that will make an impact on the private sector.  Thanks to the great suggestion of one of our readers mixed with the brilliant ideas of the Civil Rights Front, we ask that you join us to Light Up the Night for Equal Rights.  Read More…

January 10th: National Protest Against DOMA - Please join us to make history AGAIN.  Let's march on our state capitols and remind President Elect Barack Obama that he promised to Repeal DOMA!
February 12th: Freedom to Marry Day Sit In - February 12 is Freedom to Marry Day and we are teaming up with MarriageEquality.org to bring visibility of immense proportions to this issue.  Let's exercise our freedom as citizens of this country!  We ask that you join us at the steps of your City Hall and ask for a marriage license.  If you are denied a license, don't leave.  Sit with your community, your allies, and friends.  Let's show this country just how many US Citizens are DENIED EQUAL PROTECTIONS UNDER THE LAW.

Thanks!
-Brandon

Cha, cha, cha, changes are coming . . .

to our lives. Katryna and i are so desperately wanting to move back to SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA. We are weighing all the options and mulling the pros and cons. We have contacted the Lyme Support Group of Sacramento for doctor recommendations. i will be contacting them this week, asking my questions, and hopefully setting up appointments for late January, as we are planning an exploratory trip for doctors and housing options then. We plan on renting and Katryna is looking for jobs. We will be consulting with my Lyme Doctor in Northern Virginia.

i am in the process of finding a real estate agent to assess the value of our home and an analysis of the Richmond market and when to put the house on the market.

We have a few things to do around the house before we get it on the market. i also have a storage unit in Cincinnati with a buttload of stuff that needs to be delivered here in Richmond to be gone through and purged.

ALL THIS while i feel like shit! i am so tired of our lives being put on hold because of this awful disease. i MISS California and want to go back. i will miss all of our dear friends and this house, but i won't miss Richmond too much.

So, there are so many questions and details i need/want answers to:

* When do i give up on my doctor and try another one?

* Will i find another good Lyme Literate Doctor in California? Will they take insurance?

* Will i be able to get medical insurance in California with having Lyme Disease? Or will we pay through the nose?

* When do we decide to put the house up for sale?

* Can i get what i think it's worth? Will it take a really long time to sell?

* How do i get from being overwhelmed to motivated to deal with the storage stuff and packing up the house when i feel so sick?

* Am i EVER GONNA BE WELL?

i trust time and prayer will tell, lead, and guide us. Thanks to anyone who feels like praying for us.

Join the Impact and Protest Prop 8

HT to Join the Impact - Protest Prop 8. The protest will take place THIS Saturday, November 15, 2008 in cities across the USA. PLEASE come out and join and support us!

Prop 8 Protest: A Call to the LGBTQ Community, Friends, & Family

I’m sure all would agree that with the election of Barack Obama, this week
has been one of amazing wins in the world of equality!  Still,
Tuesday night was one of bitter-sweet celebration, as we came together
to witness the first black man who will become our president, and
watched in sadness as Florida, Arizona, Arkansas, and California all
voted down equal rights for all citizens.  Pendants and bloggers
alike have put their focus on Proposition 8, trying hard to find an
explanation for the anti-gay wins in the face of a huge pro-equality
event.  Some have blamed the voters, others blame religious
groups, and even others blame the LGBTQ community for not being able to
mobilize on a larger enough scale.  And you know what, there is
truth in every argument.

As a community, we have to admit to the fact that we are polarized
in various ways.  Honestly, I’m not sure what community isn’t and
I believe that our polarization is proof to our humanity - we are no
different than anyone else, regardless of color, creed, or sexual
orientation.  Still, our polarization has hindered us from
mobalizing as one strong voice.  We all come together in the month
of June to celebrate Gay Pride, but few of us are even aware of why Gay
Pride exists.  Gay Pride is a celebration to commemorate the Stonewall Riots of 1969.
Many say that the Gay Rights Movement began in 1969, which means that
we are still a young movement and have accomplished a great deal in
such a short amount of time.  The generation that fought for us in
1969 deserves our gratitude and respect.  This is a generation of
amazing people who fought for our ability to hold hands in the street,
to speak out against hate, to dance to our own “thumpa thump”, witness
television shows with a queer cast, and come together in the streets
celebrating for an entire month!  This is the generation that
opened the doors for us to even have a conversation about gay marriage,
and this is the generation that deserves our help and our voices
now.  On June 27th, 1969, this generation came together in
protest, jumping from closets, taking to the streets, and mobilizing in
ways this country had never seen before!  And what happened?

The country was forced to respond.  The Queer identity was forced
onto the front pages and coffee tables of people’s worlds and people
had to once and for all accept that we are human too!

Now, almost 40 years later we NEED to come together again.  We
need to show this nation that we are ONE LOUD VOICE THAT DEMANDS TO BE
HEARD! We need to be one organized unit.  Our gay pride shouldn’t
be something we celebrate one month out of the year.  Our
gratitude towards the ones who came before us shouldn’t be ignored and
wasted away with one party after another.  We beg to be given a
right that requires responsibility and commitment, yet we, as one
strong community, have not proven to this nation that we deserve to be
taken seriously!  The gay pride parade has become a great party,
but it has lost the memory of Stonewall and therefor given the nation
another reason to cast us aside as irresponsible.  It’s time we
come together for debate, for public recognition, and for LOVE!

Let’s move as one full unit, on the same day, at the same hour, and
let’s show the United States of America that we too are UNITED CITIZENS
EQAUL IN MIND, BODY, SPIRIT AND DESERVING OF FULL EQUALITY UNDER THE
LAW!

On the steps of your City Hall on November 15th at 10:30am PST /
1:30pm EST, our community WILL take to the streets and speak out
against Proposition 8 and all of the other pro-equality losses that we
have faced in our lifetimes, in our parents’ lifetimes, and for many
generations before us.  WE CAN’T DO THIS ALONE! WE NEED YOUR
HELP!  We need organizers in every major city to work with us and
get out the protest!  I know you’re all tired from all of the work
you’ve done for this great election year, but I’m asking for one more
push!  Let the country hear our voices together.  Let them
see that we are a strong, adamant, and powerful community that deserves
equal rights, and CAN’T BE DEFEATED!

Send this post to everyone!  We have one week and must react to
the pro-hate votes cast against us!  Let’s help our LGBTQ friends,
families, neighbors, and each other to IMPACT this country with a
demand for our basic human rights!  Join the cause, join the
voice, and JOIN THE IMPACT!

Find your protest location here.

Another View on Prop 8

A fellow Richmond blogger weighs in on the passing of California's Prop 8. i think she hits the nail on the head and makes really great points.

I've got to weigh in.

So, here's my two cents:

Do we really want religious beliefs informing our laws?

One of the catch phrases that Republicans used to justify the war in Iraq was "they hate our freedom." Remember that? Well, if we are supposed to be opposed to terrorists because they "hate our freedom," then why are we voting to take away the freedoms of our own citizens?

If you say that it's because they (gay and lesbian citizens) should have never had the right to marry in the first place, then I'd ask you - Why not? Why should a heterosexual couple be allowed to marry any more than a same-sex couple? If your answer takes you right back to the old "because marriage is between a man and a woman" argument then my response to that is - Why?

Invariably bigots will either quote the bible or mention something about the natural laws of procreation. Well, then why don't we just do away with secular law all together and follow biblical law? Which one do you want to go with? The King James bible? The Book of Mormon? (Anyone else think it's effing religulous that Mormons, of all people, want to get in on an argument about marriage?) The Koran? The Torah? Which one can we all agree to abide by?

And if you really believe that the ability to procreate somehow sanctifies a family unit then I suppose you'll be all for it when the Earth is populated to the point that we are all walking on top of each other like cockroaches and fighting to the death for a last morsel of food. Fucking is a lot more spiritual when you are in love, but anybody who thinks that it doesn't, or shouldn't, or couldn't happen outside of holy matrimony is obviously either a sanctimonious liar or has shit for brains.

And if you think that it's in any way appropriate for civil rights to be put to the popular vote then I sincerely hope that you are not black, not a woman, or do not have so much as a drop of immigrant blood in your body, because if you are in any way a part of - or love someone who is a part of - any of the aforementioned groups then you can thank supreme court justices for your ability to cast a vote in favor or against someone else's civil rights right now.

And if you think judges are "legislating from the bench" then you really are ignorant. Mob rule will never protect the rights of a minority. May your God help you if you ever find yourself in a minority at the mercy of a majority vote.

And don't tell me that next it'll be "a man and a cat" or "a woman and two birds" or some moronic crap like that. You know better than that shit and if you don't then you really should just keep your mouth shut anyway.

I'm not telling you not to follow your religious convictions, I'm just telling you to practice them in the privacy of your home and your church and keep them off my constitution. If you don't believe in same-sex marriage, then don't marry anyone of the same-sex. But leave me the hell alone and I will leave you alone.

It really is that simple.

P. S. Kelly, has a great solution! If this is all about "protecting the sanctity of marriage" then let's fight to amend the constitution to prohibit divorce. Wonder how that'll go over. Talk about hypocrisy!

HT to earth2karen.

Today i Made History...

Barack in Richmond, VA

Here's a little clip, courtesy of Arun Chaudhary, of what I saw today in Richmond at the Obama Rally:

 

"Change won't come easy."

Richmond Times-Dispatch reports 'Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama tells crowd of 13,000 in  Richmond Coliseum, "Bush has dug a deep hole. It's going to take awhile to dig out."' My friend, Sierra, went with me to see Obama speak after Mayor Doug Wilder, Governor Tim Kaine, and Mark Warner. He said many things I have heard before but it was so cool to be in the same place seeing Obama speak live. It was inspiring and gave me goose bumps! We were in the nose bleed section and the acoustics were horrible, but still well worth the 2.5 hour wait since we almost did not make it inside. (The photo of Obama above was taken by me from way up in the nosebleed section!)