Chas is up north gigging in grand marais and duluth so i've got ALL DAY to myself. helps me to reflect on what's going on in my life and around me....when i don't get time to write or reflect i start trippin on the smallest things.
still thinking about this article in the city pages about racism in the gay community (i would also add classism) http://www.citypages.com/2009-03-18/news/jamez-smith-a-gay-black-man-says-racism-is-alive-in-the-twin-cities-gay-community
on a lighter note, am loving my friend's blog: http://www.effingdykes.blogspot.com/ the girl can write, this is for sure. for anyone with lingering lesbian questions, read it.
have been thinking i am a bit too serious at times...and at the same time, too whacky...spring and winter tug-o-warring my tudes. aint no in-between.
thought it'd be fun to start a "fav poem of the week," so this weeks is...drum roll....symbol smash smash: Terrance Haye's "At Pegasus"
reading: started Fanny Howe's The Winter Sun, Notes on A Vocation
reading Fanny Howe always reminds of the importance of disobedience and resistance...i think this is why she is one of my favorite writers. i strive to not seek approval in my daily life, but seem to continuously fail at this and have to remind myself daily to be concsious in my interactions, yet not tweak them towards obedience. something in my blood has always drawn me to flip things...turn something into the exact opposite of what a person wants or expects from me...makes for interesting times when two people in a relationship have this same urge.
also still reading Nuruddin Farah's essays and at times have to take breaks to fully digest it all. for me, these essays are important reading and intense reading. i work with refugees and asylees (majority are from East Africa) by helping them manuver through the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) system in order to get permanent resdience (green card) and to naturalize (obtain citizenship). i have been working in this field for almost 3 years and i never researched the history of Somalia, Mogadishu in particular, and what led up to the war...has me thinking about national identity in ways i never have before...what does it mean to be born in the nation you are born in?
listening: to Hyder Ali a million times over. dude's got fab rhythm. makes me think about fanny howe's poem "Victory"
looking forward to the Equilibrium Spoken Word event at the Loft Literary Center/Open Book tonight with Giles Li & Bassey Ikpe—with special guest El Guante tonight!
i'll be giving a reading! Friday April 3 at Jackie's Garfield House Variety Show!, Chas will also be performing....what to read...what to read..
sad note: Early barfed flourecent yellow twice this weekend. the old man is slowing down and it's ripping at me from the inside out. this morning on our walk he shuffled along as i told him, "you the man Earles, you the man" he seemed to like this. encouraging tones are all i need sometimes too.
and finally... i've got the travel blues...am trying to find cheap tix for this summer to visit Chas' family in Manhattan and in New Hampshire!
