curate

Scrubwoman Don't Talk

scrubwoman don’t talk
‘cept to poke holes
in the silence

but she screamin’
GET OUTA MY FACE

she dreamin’ sisters’ eyes are safe
& she ain’t scrubbed resilience out
not yet
she vow she ain’t never gonna work
on her knees ag’in

she dump Ajax, Windex, Mr. Clean &
everythin’ in a pail
swoosh it around real good &
dash it in The Man’s face

when she was a girl she hang the walls
with womanly wages &
maintain her sense o’ humor
when she was a girl she drag
every dark gypsy outa mama’s closet
turbans & scarves & glad rag sashes
gettin’ ready to start somethin’

she hook up with a woman
drummer makin’ ripples
swimmin where the river
bottoms out

she hook up with a woman
drummer makin’ sinuous
samba rise-up song
on a drowsy Monday mornin’
she hook up with a woman
drummer makin’ 3/4
African time
in the heartland

blood beat heavy in the backup
bringin’ the story home
& dreams are kinda queer
alchemies
anyhow:

maybe she make a sweet potato pie
for nobody but herself
maybe she tell that know-it-all preacherman
to bug off, she find her own spirit
maybe after the cop try to mess her ‘round
she go home and trash her jury summons
maybe she wrap her nappy hair in red & purple
& throw a brick through the beauty shop

she want quick black dykes in the street
she want lickety tongues under the moon
she want handmade silver-bangled earlobes in
her revolution, you dig?

&
who don’t love a good show
I mean who don’t
love a gooood show

-Bru Dye, from Amethyst, A Journal for Lesbians and Gay Men (1987)

poetrynews:igather:lazz

(this post was reblogged from poetrynews)

Mariana Romo-Carmona and June Chan, 1988 (via bobster855 via materialworld)

“Mariana Romo-Carmona was born and raised in Santiago, Chile. In the late sixties, she emigrated to the U.S. with her parents when she was 14. Her fiction in English and in Spanish reflects the theme of immigration and often its alienating and fragmenting effects. As an emerging writer, Romo-Carmona worked to create spaces for the publication of voices from lesbian, gay, and communities of color. She produced the first lesbian and gay bilingual radio program with a feminist perspective in the late 70s, and as co-founder of Latina lesbian groups in Boston and New York City, she went on to participate in international networks in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Puerto Rico. Among other things, she became one of the early members of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press and co-edited the ground-breaking anthology Cuentos: Stories by Latinas, in 1983.”

(this post was reblogged from materialworld)

Children should be seen and not heard.

Child: no smoking. smoking is bad.
Me: it is, very bad.
Child: teacher say no smoking, nobody smoke.
Me: teacher is right. you shouldn't smoke.
Child: why you like to smoke so much then. all the day you smoking.
Me: I...don't know.
Child: smoking kills you. you want to die? do you want to die?
Me: I...n no, um.
Child: smoking is wrong. smoking is bad. its wrong its wrong.
Me: yeah I-
Child: WHY YOU TRYING TO DIE. LIVE.
Me: .........OH MY GOD LOOK AT THAT MONSTER BEHIND YOU.
Child: No, I know you just kidding but you need to stop smoking too.

(this post was reblogged from igather)

When I ask myself what kind of work I want to perform, it is this: work that is challenging, work that asks me to go beyond what I think I can do, work that demands that I am honest –not necessarily about who I am, but with an idea, a character, or an interpretation, work that obliges me, through physicality, to touch emotions within myself, work that requires me to grow as a dancer, an artist, and a person – in short, work that demands that I participate.

These two solos from my project are these kinds of works. This is what I get to do here. È vero.

Solo Project: Italy: My European Debut

The aswang (or more specifically, the manananggal) is a shapeshifting Filipino vampire that sucks the blood of unborn infants. At night, she ditches her legs in the tall grasses of a rice field, and she flies around with her guts hangin’ out, hunting for pregnant women and stray children. (via ASWANG 8x10 in Giclee Print by helllllen on Etsy)

From the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday (El Dia de los Muertos) and the Catholic All Saints’ Day to the Celtic festival of Samhain (also known as Halloween) and the African-American Maafa (African Holocaust) Commemoration, cultures from Europe to the Philippines, North America to Africa have created holidays that celebrate the living by honoring family members and friends who have died. These celebrations usually occur from late October through early November and focus on community gatherings where altars are built to the deceased, offerings of marigolds and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed are presented, and the graves and sites of remembrance and departure are visited with gifts. Inspired by this global transnational tradition, Spirit in the Arts is pleased to present Mi Tierra, Mi Corazón: A Diasporic Offering to the Ancestors. Through the perspectives of 30 artists representing cultures from the four directions, this group exhibition pays homage to the ancestors—ancestors of a people, ancestors of a land, ancestors both ancient and contemporary—with a range of artworks and altars that speak to diasporic longing. (via Mi Tierra, Mi Corazón Opening Reception)

When: Nov. 6th - Nov. 28th, 2009
Opening Night: Friday, Nov. 6th. 6pm - 9pm
Where: “Gallery 550″ - 550 2nd Street, Oakland (between Clay St. and Jefferson St.)

Inspired by the Days of the Dead and global transnational traditions that honor the ancestors, “Mi Tierra, Mi Corazón: A Diasporic Offering to the Ancestors” presents thirty artists representing cultures from the four directions, in a group exhibition of artworks and altars that pay homage to both the living and the dead.

Artists:
Aaron EzRa Ableman
Abba Yahudah
AndreasOne
Refa One
Khalil Anthony
Emily Butterfly
Ebony Iman Dallas
Ezra Li Eismont
James E. Gayles Jr.
Priya Assal Gheysari
Jocelyn Goode
Sakura Haru
Kwesi Hutchful
Marlon Sagana Ingram
Derick Ion
Lucy Kalyani Lin
Keba Konte
Yasmin Mawaz-Khan
crystal am nelson
Eesuu Orundide
Favianna Rodriguez
Karen & Malik Seneferu
Bayeté Ross Smith
Jeff Straker
Jennifer Tamez
Joël B. Tan
Scott J. Taylor
Jessica Tully
Githinji wa Mbire
Joshua Whitaker

Mi Tierra, Mi Corazón: A Diasporic Offering to the Ancestors « eidNEWS

Click for high-res photo

deltafoxtrot:

Heard there was was 2 Lakota, 1 Dakota and 1 Crow tipi

(this post was reblogged from deltafoxtrot)

deltafoxtrot:

(via TheOnlyGoodIndian)

Set in Kansas during the early 1900s, a teenage Native American boy (newcomer Winter Fox Frank) is taken from his family and forced to attend a distant Indian “training” school to assimilate into White society. When he escapes to return his family, Sam Franklin (Wes Studi), a bounty hunter of Cherokee descent, is hired to find and return him to the institution. Franklin, a former Indian scout for the U.S. Army, has renounced his Native heritage and has adopted the White Man’s way of life, believing it’s the only way for Indians to survive. Along the way, a tragic incident spurs Franklin’s longtime nemesis, the famous Indian Fighter Sheriff Henry McCoy (J. Kenneth Campbell), to pursue both Franklin and the boy.

(this post was reblogged from deltafoxtrot)

“

Leslie: You’re not from here, right?

Tom: No, I’m from South Carolina.

Leslie: But you moved to South Carolina from where?

Tom: My mother’s uterus.

Parks and Recreation - Salon.com