| GAME SEVENNNNNNNNN |
[Jun. 23rd, 2005|12:11 pm] |
We're watching it tonight at my house
743 Packard Street, Ann Arbor
We'll have food and booze and lots of love for our boys
And then we will take to the streets when we win!
Everyone is welcome--holler if you need directions |
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| Voting Guide |
[Nov. 1st, 2004|03:50 pm] |
Taken from Goodspeed Update
http://www.goodspeedupdate.com/index.php?p=1565
My Voting Guide (This guide includes information for contested races only.)
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
John F. Kerry & John Edwards - Democrat
15TH DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS
John D. Dingell - Democrat
53RD DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE
Chris Kolb - Democrat
MEMBER OF THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Marianne Yared McGuire - Democrat
Herbert S. Moyer - Democrat
MEMBER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN BOARD OF REGENTS
I suggest voting for Democrats Olivia P. Maynard and S. Martin Taylor. Although Green Party candidate Nathaniel Dameren is appealing, if elected the Republican candidates would try to end affirmative action and likely have a negative impact on a host of issues I care about: the University’s labor relations, environmental and multicultural policies, etc.
MEMBER OF THE MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
I recommend voting for Democrats Joel I. Ferguson and Phil Thompson.
MEMBER OF THE WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY BOARD OF GOVERNORS
Tina Abbott - Democrat
Annetta Miller - Democrat
WASHTENAW COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEY
Brian L. Mackie - Democrat
WASHTENAW COUNTY SHERIFF
Daniel Minzey - Democrat
WASHTENAW COUNTY CLERK/REGISTER OF DEEDS
University employee, blogger, and administrator of The Political Graveyard Lawrence Kestenbaum will be an excellent county clerk.
ANN ARBOR CITY MAYOR
John Hieftje - Democrat
ANN ARBOR CITY COUNCIL
Depends on your ward. I’ll post something on this soon.
JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT
This case is extremely important: the Michigan Supreme Court is controlled by right-wing Republicans. One of the two Democrats, Marilyn Kelly, is running for re-election, and the other Democrat in the race is Deborah Thomas. There is no party affiliation for this race on the ballot - but it’s easy to remember who to vote for - they’re the only women in the race!
WASHTENAW COMMUNITY COLLEGE TRUSTEE
I don’t know enough about these candidates to give an endorsement, however the candidates running are:
Stephen J. Gill
Pamela J. Horiszny
Alfred E. Johnson
Roger W. Lane
Kenneth Lindow
PROPOSAL 04-1
This proposal would make it harder for new casinos and other gambling to happen in the state: it would require a statewide vote and also the local jurisdiction vote to approve gambling. I support this proposal - vote YES on 1.
PROPOSAL 04-2
This proposal would amend the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. It’s part of a nationwide campaign to prevent gays and lesbians from achieving equal rights. Vote NO on 2.
UPDATE: See the website of a group opposing this proposal at CoalitionForAFairMichigan.org
WASHTENAW COUNTY
PROPOSAL A
This proposal is to renew a property tax used to fund parks and recreation. Yay parks and recreation! Vote YES on proposal A.
PROPOSAL B
This proposal would restore a property tax to fund Washtenaw Community College. Since I believe public education is the cornerstone to a healthy and economically vibrant democracy, I suggest voting YES on Proposal B.
ANN ARBOR CITY
PROPOSAL C
This proposal would allow for the use of marijuana as a medical treatment in the city of Ann Arbor. Vote YES. |
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| State of emergency |
[Oct. 22nd, 2004|02:29 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | "Walk Through My Door" - Gaelic Storm | ] |
I was walking on State Street last night, and I saw a car with a BJORK sticker in the window...
...and a BUSH-CHENEY 04 sticker on the bumper!!!!!!!
Bjork fans are NOT allowed to support Bush and Cheney! Bjork would kick their asses like she kicked the ass of that Thai flight attendant that one time if she found out about that!
It's a TRAVESTY, i tell you! A FUCKING BLOODY TRAVESTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 17th, 2004|10:24 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  disappointed | ] |
I did not like "Garden State." Did not like it at all. |
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| Republican Bill Shireman's Top 10 Reasons Republicans Support John Kerry |
[Oct. 16th, 2004|07:11 pm] |
"I'm a lifelong Republican, though I vote for the best candidate - or the
least objectionable one. Four years ago, I hoped George Bush would be a
moderate, fiscally conservative leader, firm but thoughtful. I have
been repeatedly disappointed. My top 10 reasons for opposing George
Bush, and supporting John Kerry, are:
1. Stubborn is not Strong.
2. You can't promote the Bill of Rights by violating it.
3. You can't advance democracy by imposing it by force.
4. Brave and Free, not fearful and insecure, are the qualities great
presidents inspire
5. 30,000 deaths do not avenge the murder of 3,000
6. Killing terrorists requires precise aim.
7. You cannot protect 300 million rich by frightening 3 billion poor.
8. In the military, Smart is as important as Strong
9. Those who seek liberty through security lose both. Security is the
result, not the cause, of liberty.
10. The "Last Resort" should be the last resort." |
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| Success. |
[Sep. 23rd, 2004|03:02 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  ecstatic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | "Ruby Through the Looking-Glass" - Tori Amos | ] |
2,689 tickets sold by 2:45 pm.
In just under 6 hours.
With a 4-ticket per person LIMIT!!!!
Not even 1,000 left.
The Republicans coming in to MSA on Tuesday and personally tearing me to shreds in front of everyone is totally worth it now.
God this thing is going to be amazing. |
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| Holy shite |
[Sep. 22nd, 2004|11:14 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  awake | ] |
| [ | music |
| | "Tear in Your Hand" - Tori Amos | ] |
I'm the big 2-0 today.
Also:
MICHAEL MOORE
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29TH
7:30 PM
HILL AUDITORIUM
$4 Students (with valid M-Card)
$5 Community members
**Tickets go on sale THURSDAY, SEPT. 23RD AT MUTO!**
(limit 4 tickets per person)
Brought to you by the Peace and Justice Commission |
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| PARTY |
[Sep. 16th, 2004|10:53 am] |
Saturday, September 18th
743 Packard Street
Why? BECAUSE ASHWINI IS FINALLY TURNING 20.
Guaranteed to be the first giant bash of the year. You're all invited. I want to see all of you motherfuckers passed out facedown on my front lawn. |
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| Let me break it down for you: |
[Sep. 16th, 2004|12:35 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sleepy | ] |
I am now going to dispel all of the rumors, myths and other nonsense about voter registration in the state of Michigan.
Many people will ask, "I called the Secretary of State and they said I can't vote at school until I change my driver's license to my school address."
While technically, yes, this is true, this law is illegal and was put into place purposely to disenfranchise young voters. The way to get around it is, write down your campus address and use your student id card (as long as it has a photo it will do) when you go to the polls.
Generally speaking, most of the voter reg form is unneccessary. The things that are absolutely essential are:
1) YES I am a citizen
2) Name
3) Address (where a voter reg card can be mailed to you)
4) City, Zipcode
5) Phone number (although this is optional, put it down anyway so folks can contact you if there's a problem with your form)
6) Three signatures
YOU CAN LEAVE THE DRIVER'S LICENSE PART BLANK. In fact, we recommend it because it just wastes time when you're registering people. Just get the essentials and don't worry about the other shit, like "Mailing Address" and "School District."
A note about absentee ballots: Another form of young voter disenfranchisement is the law that requires first-time voters to request absentee ballots in person. This rumor is, in fact, TRUE. Thus, if you are doing a voter reg drive and a person asks for an absentee ballot and has never voted/registered before, they cannot use that ballot unless they go in personally to the clerk and request one. It's fucked up, yes. But it's the law and there's not really a way to get around it.
Now you too have the power to go out there and register people en masse! Any more questions--just holler. I think expecting everyone on my friends list to be registered is reasonable. |
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| Pics from 8/29 |
[Aug. 30th, 2004|11:50 pm] |
From NY Times online and dianelent.com:
 |
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| I'm back at school |
[Aug. 30th, 2004|10:16 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | sore and exhausted but content | ] |
Ok no I'm not. But i didn't want to feel left out from everyone else's "I'm at school and this is my roommate and there's no AC and it's so hot but I met some great people bladibladiblahhhh"
Actually, I am still in the lovely New York City, having just completed the task of helping to organize the most massive protest in the city's history:
(Ok i'm on a mac and I don't know how to add pics from here so check back soon!)
I still can't believe it's over. The culmination of my entire summer. I was standing next to Marisa Tomei when we were walking past Madison Square Garden. She really gets into it! I also got a pic with Eve Ensler, and marched with Danny Glvover and Michael Moore. So my celebrity fix is fulfilled. Besides that, which is ultimately unimportant, I was inspired and energized byt the masses of people that showed up. 500,000 of us motherfuckers--twice as much as we had originally expected--took to the streets. Yes, this was perhaps the most low-risk protest activity of the week, but if it hadn't been such, we would have never gotten the numbers.
After marching, we headed up to the Great Lawn of Central Park, where there was a continuous jam session and several thousand activists converging on the lawn. A kid comes up to us, telling us there are several delegates eating at the Tavern on the Green currently, so we all head over there to yell at them. There were about 250 of us last evening, from about 7-9:30, and as the delegates and other Republican flunkies came by we would scream at them, "SHAME SHAME SHAME" and "GO HOME GO HOME!" plus, "WE DON'T WANT YOUR FUCKING WAR!" Pretty soon, hundreds of cops full riot gear came by, more cops than there were protestors. I took the strategy of yelling to the cops to join us, knowing that just weeks before they had picketed Madison Square Garden for fair contacts. I yelled, "Why are you doing this for unfair contracts?!" and a bus-full of riot police started laughing and one yelled to me, "That's a good question!" I kept it up, "The ten billionaires in there don't need your protection!" and "Why are you doing this when you can't even afford to eat in there like the rest of us?! They don't give a fuck about you and your families!" Man, it was nice to have some direct confrontation after the celebratory but largely symbolic efforts of the afternoon. I'm looking forward to much much more.
Other updates:
-I went to Yellowstone with my family for a week and a half a little while ago. I am never going on another family vacation.
-The Books Not Bombs youth convergence on August 28th was spectacular. I'm so proud to have been a part of it. Almost 600 kids from throughout the country came to St. Marks Church to demand Books Not Bombs. I saw many kids from Ann Arbor. :)
-I finally got me some loving; it had been too damn long.
When am I coming back to Michigan you ask? Well I'm leaving NY to go to Maryland this Wednesday (I know I'll miss the last day of the convention) then flying back to MI probably Saturday. So. I'm looking forward to it, but good god I will miss being here. I'll miss the wonderful people I met, the organizers who have inspired me to keep doing this work, the city that although it gets on my last nerve sometimes is ultimately beautiful in its insanity, the friends I have made, the place that has been my home through these last desperate months to reclaim this country and salvage what little integrity is left in our political system. Coming back to Michigan, I will be throwing myself into voter reg and voter ed/identification. And everyone will party at my house on November 2nd, and we will drink champagne, not tequila, at the end of the night because WE WILL HAVE WON. And after November 2nd, we will force John Kerry to stop being a douchebag and we will hold him accountable because it was due to our willingness to compromise our ideals in the effort to oust Bush that he has won. He hasn't done jack shit. We don't like him, but our hatred for Bush is far greater than our dislike for Kerry. And school will of course be wonderful.
I love and miss you all. |
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| So I've said it before |
[Aug. 11th, 2004|10:40 pm] |
But I'll say it again, and lay it all out for you--THE PEOPLE I WORK WITH FUCKING ROCK.
Below you will find the names of most of our staff, followed by exactly why they fucking rock:
Hany (National Organizer, and my supervisor): Former organizer of hotel employees
Judith (National Organizer): Works for the Communist Party, has the thickest Bostonian accent I've ever heard
Bill Dobbs (Media): Rides his bike to work and always maintains a scowl
Jessie (Volunteer coordinator): A 70+ year old woman who refused to shake Hilary Rodham Clinton's hand after she voted for the war in Iraq
Beka (Internet): Was featured on the cover of High Times magazine (the first one is her and her boyfriend; she's also featured on the cover shown on the homepage in the lower left hand corner)
Leslie K. (materials): Just had twins 4 months ago and takes them everywhere with her, including to all of the No RNC clearinghouses. Also breastfeeds during our mobilizing meetings and excuses herself to go use the breastpump
Frank: Has given me at least 6 books this summer, to keep, including "Nickel and Dimed," "The Romance of American Communism" and 3 books by Kerouac
Leslie Cagan (National Coordinator): Organized the largest protest in history in Central Park (over 500,000 people) in 1982 during the nuclear disarmament movement
And these are just the people in the office! |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 7th, 2004|11:32 pm] |
I just got back from Six Flags, and I realize--
there is nothing in the world like Cedar Point.
NOTHING. |
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| Bombs over Baghdad |
[Jul. 5th, 2004|12:46 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | tired | ] |
So we all went to see the fireworks in D.C. on the National Mall today. I just couldn't enjoy it. Seeing those explosions in the sky, all I could think of were the explosions the people in Iraq must have seen in on March 19th...except they weren't thinking "How cool" but "Please god help us all." I began wincing at each explosion, and the fact that all around me people were clapping and cheering made it seem like I was back in 2003, when the whole country, our government and the media, were clapping and cheering when we bombed Baghdad. It was eerie, and sickening. Suddenly, the fireworks were no longer fireworks but symbols of impending unimaginable destruction and suffering that would be coming to take away my home, my family, my friends, everything that was important to me. I wanted to vomit. I kept looking around me and behind me, and people's faces would light up from the explosions, and all around me they were fixated on the sky, awestruck, and content.
The fact that I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 last night makes this all the more relevant, and sensitive I suppose. I honestly did not think it was as good as Bowling for Columbine, but one part really got to me: Michael Moore was talking about the inherently evil nature of military recruitment in this country, also known as the "poverty draft"--and he said, the folks that get the shittiest effects of our capitalistic economy are always the first to sacrifice themselves and to step up to fight in the military. They fight, they give up their lives, so that you and I, the privileged, can live comfortably and enjoy our freedoms. They die for us--so we don't have to. Can't we at least make sure that they don't die in vain?
But we can't even do that anymore. |
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| You look like a perfect fit |
[Jul. 1st, 2004|07:56 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | drained | ] |
I'm going to D.C. tomorrow straight from work, and staying there until July 13th. With family until the 8th, then at Choice USA's Gloria Steinhem Leadership Institute until the 13th. :) I'm taking the Chinatown bus. $20 all the way to D.C. The websites proclaim, "Guaranteed working bathrooms on bus!" ...I don't have such a good feeling about this...But come on, $20? I'll deal.
Yesterday I saw Aimee Mann for free in Rockefeller Park and it was brilliant. I love her. Sitting on the grass, listening to the concert while the sun set behind us over the Hudson River...such is the stuff that summer memories are made of. Also, spontaneously making friends with people walking on the street is good. Here's how it works: You don't know which way you're going, so you ask someone: "Which way is Rockefeller Park?" Stranger: "I don't know, but I'm going there too. Are you going to see Aimee Mann?" And a new best friend is created.
Have I mentioned that I miss everyone? |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 23rd, 2004|11:56 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  busy | ] |
"If you look back on the ‘60s and, on balance, you think there was more good than harm, then you’re probably a Democrat. If you think there was more harm than good, then you’re probably a Republican."
-William Jefferson Clinton |
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| Moonlight sleeping on the midnight lake |
[Jun. 20th, 2004|07:26 pm] |
I saw Ladysmith Black Mambazo last night--for FREE. It was at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, part of this "Celebrate South Africa" series. It was magical. I've always loved isicathamiya music, how it manages to relate narratives of despair and suffering while always conveying a sense of hope, of uplift. It really made me miss musicology, actually. Did you know Ronald Reagan supported apartheid? I ain't gonna play Sun City.
This is so cliche, but I am really growing professionally and intellectually. Community organizing is really something I can see myself doing for a long time. It's challenging and creative and rewarding and ultimately frustrating. I am finding myself becoming increasingly radical--I am no longer threatened, afraid of, or wary of people who call themselves Marxists or Communists of Socialists. I don't even snicker to myself. I don't consider myself "pragmatic" or "practical" for working within the confines of the mainstream left to affect progressive changes. Every day I am becoming convinced that the mainstream political spectrum must be ripped apart to truly affect change. I support unions. I support redistribution of wealth. Wealth makes me sick to my stomach these days. I am more cynical yet more idealistic. I stand with Palestine. I am working with more people of color groups, labor rights groups, womens' advocacy groups, Muslim groups, youth organizations...and I'm all by myself on it. And I'm doing a good job.
Also, H & M is the most self-important ridiculous vendor I have ever encountered in my life. Three interviews for a $7/hr job?! |
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