otherwise I'd have nothing to do at work!
I’m a little worried: last night I was at a dance party fundraiser for IJSN and I was really having a hard time dancing. I kept feeling like my rhythm was off and my body wasn’t moving in the ways I’m used to — my feet kept stopping in awkward places, and I couldn’t find it in me to dip as much.
Hopefully I’ll write it off to the fact that I was tired. But I’ve felt a little dance awkward lately. I’m hoping I haven’t lost it.
Last weekend, I trekked up to Seattle for what may be the last time for a while, since Logan is moving to New York in two days(!). It was kind of sad — Seattle’s been this really nice spot to visit and vacation, and always feels like it has a slightly different pace, and also so much green and mountains. Even though I’ve only been a handful of times (maybe 6 now?), I feel like I have quite a few memories and also a number of places I really like visiting (including the Lifelong thrift store, the park with the nice fountain, Remedy). I always try to impress Logan with my knowledge of where we are in the city, how to get somewhere else, or what else I know is around there. And even though I’m sure I’ll visit again, it certainly won’t be the same.
On Thursday night, I “volunteered” pouring drinks at the volunteer party for Logan’s job. It was cute — lots of seniors so energized about this campaign that to me feels important, but not like something I would dedicate my time too. Also, a lot of the ladies had impeccable style. Later on, we met David and his boyfriend Rodrigo for drinks at this nice bar with cute boys. David asked me how San Francisco had changed me “as a gay man.” And then we ate tacos with beets!
On Friday, we went to Lifelong, ate fancy sandwiches (apples and brie) at this cute and bougie cafe, went to the “gay beach” (grass near water, with a handful of fags), ate at Tamarind Tree (despite not being hungry, they had amazing lemongrass smoked tofu) and then dressed up as drag queens to go out to R Place (this kind of awful bar) with some of Logan’s friends. Getting Logan into drag was amazing(she chose the name Lindsay Logan Kelly Kapur). We missed the photobooth at the bar, but thankfully were able to take some on her computer (this represents only a small handful):
These are Logan’s American Apparel gay shirts (both acquired second-hand). She wore them almost every day and insisted that I take lots of pictures of her in them.
This “tender” photo was definitely our favorite.
On Saturday, we headed up to Anacortes for Shipwreck Day, which was a little less-than-exciting (lots of expensive antiques, junk, and things that didn’t sell in stores). Logan did find me A Chorus Line on vinyl (as I’ve been discussing with some people lately, I think ACL may be my gay root, I can say more about that later). We sat in the park for a while and listened to some hipster bands What the Heck Fest that were cute, but all sounded the same. We got bored and left, drove through Deception Pass State Park, and got to our gay B&B (which had clearly become the main destination of our trip, given that Logan and I have dreams to one day open a B&B). Our hosts offered us lemonade (which I took because how could I not?), and sat us down and asked questions about our lives. It was all very cute, but also a little more awkward than I imagined. Logan sort of spilled the beans that we weren’t dating (we were hoping to maintain a sense of healthy confusion). But it was totally gorgeous and had a lovely garden and a hot tub, and a sun room attached to our room that had copies of gardening magazines and Out (which was the perfect trashy vacation reading). We were going to go see a drive-in at the nearby theater since Logan had never been, but then discovered that it was a stupid-looking Eddie Murphy movie. Instead, we ate dinner at this strange restaurant on a very long pier, then ate Dairy Queen girl scout cookie blizzards and watched the sun set from inside the car (it was super windy). We tried to make it home in time for the 8-10pm drinks that were alluded to on our welcome card. We got home around 9:30 and didn’t find our hosts drinking, but Ro emerged a few minutes later and had a glass of wine with us. We took a dip in the hot tub, read some magazines, and then fell asleep to the scent of baking biscotti. Hilarious, no?
We didn’t drink the Pellegrino, but we loved it anyway.
On Sunday, we were treated to a breakfast spread that included the biscotti and many other treats. We packed up the car and headed south to Lavender Wind Farm, where we discovered that we sadly couldn’t pick lavender ourselves. Though we did learn a bit about different varieties and enjoyed sitting and “meditating” as it was suggested we do. We also saw the lady on the brochure, who was indeed wearing a lavender-colored frock and lavender-print gardening pants. We then went to a farm where we were also disappointed that we couldn’t pick Loganberries (not for another month, which is confusing, since the festival was the following weekend). But we did have mini donuts, and samples from the farmers’ market, and tasted Loganberry wine (very sweet, like Manischewitz). Logan bought some of the best tahini we’d ever had from a strange but friendly man. With more to our day than we’d anticipated, we found a beach with ridiculously warm water and a low tide, and watched dogs chase each other. When we got back to Seattle, we went to this restaurant that Logan had randomly received a $20 gift certificate for in the mail, which had expensive entrees but was in a mall (we spent exactly $20.50). Then we went to eat artisanal ice cream (we were supposed to have gone for artisanal desserts each night, but bygones). We ran into Zach, Adam, and Micah there (I’d already run into Zach on Saturday on our way out), which was actually a really nice surprise.
That’s it. I came back and went to work the next morning.
Oh, but two other highlights: Rainier Cherries (delicious) and singing along to Ani DiFranco in the car (a tradition that we always uphold). Those were the days…
I’m going up to Seattle this weekend to visit Logan for the last time in Seattle before the big U-Haul move to New York. (Sorry, I had to throw that in there. Appreciate it.) Originally we were going to go to the Vancouver Folk Festival (you may be laughing, but it’s actually quite lovely, and has a really politically savvy definition of “folk” that incorporates world and other genres without being tokenizing). Then we decided to go to the What the Heck Fest in Anacortes, WA, but then didn’t get tix in time. Oops. So, instead, we’re still going to head up that way and check out the Shipwreck Day rummage sale, stay at a gay B&B (our dream together, and “research” for when we open our own).
Logan made me this phenomenal map of our activities (I tried to embed it, but WP won’t let me).
These are two very different things, but I’ve just been thinking about how brilliant they are. Maybe I’ll start this as a category on my blog, in another attempt to write more on it.
1. Alex and I were talking about “online dating,” since I’d responded to an ad on Craig’s List (maybe I’ll write more about this later, but I’m not sure there’s anything to say now. I was telling him about how I’ve always thought it was weird, but then I had moments of giving in to friends’ advice to try it, but that usually just reconfirmed how weird it is. He made the observation that in online dating, it’s not like talking to people where they can forget things you’ve said. Instead, you’ve put it on paper, so to speak, and you’re held accountable to the things you’ve said about yourself. (A bad and unproductive kind of accountability, I would argue.)
2. Kathleen is having a birthday party. Last year’s theme was “the Apocalypse, Fruit Salad, and Eye Makeup.” This year’s is “Decadence in the face of Economic Doom.” Seriously, Kathleen is genius. She ends her email with:
to me, “decadence in the face of doom” imparts images of costume jewelry with stockings with runs in them. Or, a fancy suit that looks a little too well worn. I truthfully don’t care toooo much if don’t dress accordingly. I do care that you party like the dollar won’t be worth shit in a month.
Words to live by? I think maybe. We decided she should write financial help books.
it’s not fair that so many cute boys are dating other cute boys. it means two are taken instead of one.
i had a very small crush on this adorable artsy boy who was being particularly charming with (to? at?) me recently, only to find out he’s dating a friend of a friend (who i also thought was cute).
totally not fair.
I came across this post on Feministing talking about work by artist Yazmany Arboleda that explores the character assasinations of Clinton and Obama. I find the work really fascinating and wanted to share it and remember it. It incorporates some disturbing and hurtful imagery, yet I don’t think I agree with the Feministing blogger’s assesment. It feels like the kind of work that actually asks engaging questions about media discourse, political rhetoric, race, and gender.
I moved last weekend from my apartment on the Oakland/ Berkeley border to the Mission in San Francisco. I’ve been meaning to write a post about moving (and a lot of other things for quite a while now). I didn’t really want to live in the Mission, mainly because I didn’t want to be another white queer kid in this historically Latina community gentrifying it. I’m not sure it’s possible, from my social position, to work against gentrification (no matter how hard I try) and still live in this neighborhood. My only rationale is that I really like the people who were already here (2 white, 1 brown) and didn’t find many other options that were as close to my work and had nice folks, so it was definitely my top choice. I could write more, but I just wanted to give some context for now.
The reason I’m posting this now is that, while working on the Hogwarts program in my living room, I just heard gun shots. Not right outside, I believe, but close enough to hear. There were a lot of them. I’m not scared for my own safety, but I’m struck not knowing what to do. Calling the police is my immediate reaction, but law enforcement and the Criminal Justice System are so screwed up. And I don’t know any details about what was going on to even be “helpful” if that were the proper course of action.
I just heard sirens, and figure that either someone else called or an officer heard the shots. Cars are racing by (or maybe that’s just them accelerating after the stop sign?).
Situations like these me wonder about justice and accountability. How do we keep our communities safe? How do we deal with things we witness responsibly?
I’m reminded of the time that Maile and I saw a woman being assaulted by a man on the street as we were pulling away from a bus stop. She was screaming no and fighting back, but at first it was unclear as to what was going on until he started taking her clothes off. Neither of us (nor anyone on the bus) knew how to intervene. Personally, I wouldn’t want to put my small body in the middle of that violence, and I’m doubtful I would have accomplished anything if I had. So Maile called the police. But did they make it there in time to de-escalate it and protect the woman? And if they did, what happened to her or the man? But what else is there to do? Could everyone on the bus have gotten off and confronted him together?
I’m posting these questions, not rhetorically, but because I genuinely wonder how to respond to this sort of violence without bringing in more violence (in an immediate or structural sense). I’m not looking for future-looking/ ideal-world answers, but for the practical answers of now.
Here is a letter that I wrote to the SF Chronicle in response to this article about Mayor Newsom’s visit to Israel. It wasn’t published. It’s not my best writing, but I doubt that’s why. I wanted to at least do something with it.
Dear Editor,
I am outraged to read about Mayor Newsom’s upcoming visit to Israel, and the myriad layers of hypocrisy it reveals.
First, the Jewish Community Federation does not in any way represent the diverse voices of the Jewish community in the Bay Area or beyond. As an anti-zionist Jew, I am angered by the JCF’s political and financial support for Israel’s sixty-year occupation of Palestine, and its attempt to speak in my name. What Newsom, the JCF, and others celebrate this month as “independence” is referred to by Palestinians as “al Nakba” – literally “the Catastrophe” of massacre, exile, and colonial occupation.
It is further revealing that Newsom’s focus is on establishing business connections. While Israel continues to constrict the Palestinian economy through violence, control of borders, and exploitation of Arab labor, San Francisco is becoming more a city favorable to corporate interests. Consider the city’s rampant development of homes and services targeted at the wealthy, and the ever-increasing costs for renters. Not surprisingly, to my knowledge Newsom has not spoken out against Proposition 98, which, among other things, would eliminate rent control throughout the state and could lead to mass evictions.
While the situations in San Francisco and Palestine (and Tibet, for that matter) may be drastically different, Newsom’s visit draws clear connections, demonstrating that the interests of the global elite are what ultimately win out. San Francisco deserves a mayor that is willing to challenge the status quo, and to fight against displacement wherever people’s homes and livelihoods are concerned.
Sincerely,
Harris
I’m reposting this, mainly to just get it out into the internet more. Click here to sign it.
I’m also involved in organizing actions around the 60th anniversary of the Nakba. You can keep tabs on the No Time to Celebrate webpage and blog (which I helped to create).
NO TIME TO CELEBRATE: Jews Remember the Nakba
Statement and Pledge of Action
This May, Israel will mark 60 years of statehood. In cities across the U.S. and Canada, major Jewish organizations will sponsor celebrations of “Israeli Independence Day.” Meanwhile, Palestinians around the world will mourn 60 years since the Nakba - Arabic for “catastrophe” - of 1948. Sixty years ago, Zionist militias destroyed over 500 Palestinian villages and made more than 800,000 Palestinian people refugees in order to create a Jewish state in a land where the majority was not Jewish. This does not deserve to be celebrated. 
Today the Palestinian Nakba continues. In order to maintain Israel’s artificial Jewish majority, the Israeli government has continued campaigns of ongoing displacement, violence, and occupation. Inside of the 1948 borders of Israel, Palestinian citizens are denied equal rights to Jews under the law. Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem are denied access to land, water, healthcare, and other basic resources. Palestinians throughout historic Palestine experience international isolation, economic devastation aided by the erection of a 730-kilometer wall, and continued closures and invasions including the current horrific siege of Gaza. Today there are more than 6 million Palestinian refugees around the world, all of whom are denied their internationally recognized Right of Return to their homes and land. Meanwhile, we are invited to live on that same land simply because we are Jewish. We renounce this “right” to “return” given to us by Israeli law.
In addition to 60 years of occupation and dispossession, this anniversary marks decades of creative and powerful Palestinian resistance to Israel’s violence. With this statement, we support this struggle, which is so often ignored or vilified in the U.S. media.
As Jews committed to justice, we imagine an “independence” that does not depend on an ethnically or religiously exclusive state or on the displacement of indigenous people. As North American Jews, we refuse to celebrate the ongoing colonization and dispossession of Palestinian lives and communities funded by U.S. foreign aid. There has never been Jewish consensus around Israel: not in 1897, not in 1948, and not today. We reject the notion that we have been chosen to displace others. We support Palestinian people’s right to return, individually and collectively, to the homes they lost in 1948 and in the violent decades since then.
In response to these historical events and a call from Palestine to mark their significance, we refuse to celebrate “Israel 60.” We will take action to make our shared position clear and visible. In cities across the U.S. and Canada this year, we pledge to participate in or to support:
- Refusal to participate in Israeli Independence Day activities;
- Peaceful disruption of these events;
- Nakba commemoration events and actions organized by Palestinians and the Palestine solidarity movement;
- Incorporation of Nakba remembrance into our Passover seders;
- The movement for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions of Israel;
- Other efforts to challenge the perceived Zionist consensus among American Jews through education of Jewish and broader communities about the Nakba, about the colonial nature of Zionism, and about the history of Jewish dissent and Palestinian resistance.
As North American Jews, we stand together with Palestinians in mourning 60 years of al-Nakba and in honoring 60 years of vibrant resistance.
