Free Writes

Today's post is coming in rather late in the day. Sorry to say this won't be the only one, hehe. Anyway, I've been wanting to experiment with some free writing, stream of consciousness type stuff, so I did some rambling writing while I was on the bus and train today. It's stream of consciousness so I don't feel obligated to make sure that it makes sense. Ergo, we're coming in in the middle of a thought here. Also, at the end of this post I've got the video to the free write assignment on Crime and Punishment of my senior year of high school, that I set to music. I think it's cool. Hope you do to.

Pt. I: On the Bus-The beginning
Distance. When I think of cultural distance, I realize that race complicates the issue.
I've been thinking also on what it means to be an American.
And now I'm reminded of another free write assignment. This time in high school. Similar to stream of consciousness. I'm sure there's some technical difference that I don't actually care about. Yup.

Pt. II: On the Bus-The end
Little girls with painted nails and puffy coats, and phones. Phones much cooler than mine, and a fashion sense much more hip and up to date, I'm sure.

There's no one here, really, and so writing about the bus ride proves challenging. Ah. It is finished.

Pt. III: The Waiting, and the Train Ride
At Malden Center Station people congregate in mass not-quite-huddles because no one wants to get too close. Baby, it might be cold outside but we require our personal space. I suppose though that if the temperature goes any further below freezing that we might rethink the whole personal space thing. At any rate, the train is much warmer, and we can appreciate that our body heat warms this metal contraption without us having to touch each other.
When I think of the differences between here and Italy that is something I often think of. Touch, space, personal, mine. And yet, though I touched more in Italy and talked much closer than I normally would I still craved touch, and I craved intimacy. You see, when touch is given here it carries meaning. They are not often thoughtless, or just part of the culture. A kiss on the cheek, a hand held, a lingering hug, tend to carry a bit more weight. Well, at least to me they do.
But over time I began to notice that these hugs and kisses of greeting became more, well, more. I began to be able to tell the difference between a "hug and kiss because this is how everyone greets each other here" and a "this hug and kiss is a little bit longer and tighter, bigger and smackier because hey, we're good buddies!"

The languages come in and out of my head almost like suddenly switching characters in a role-play. I'm torn. Maybe a little stuck. But I trust and I believe. Oh, I believe! 

THE END

Here's that senior year lit assignment. Posted freshman year of college (so young and cute! I still ate cinnamon toast crunch, visible in the background) when I actually had time to do things like post YouTube videos without feeling guilty about procrastinating something else. Enjoy ;)

Post 6: I Hear the Chains Falling

This is more of a short spoken word piece and so it's meant to be performed. I'll post the words here all the same. This came out of some lovely personal time with God today.

I Hear the Chains Falling

I used to be bound, but I hear the chains falling.

The pressure used to bend my back but

I hear the chains falling!

I walk upright in victory. There is no shame that can attach itself to me, oh no. Because I, am the daughter of the Most High King. 
That mountain that was blocking my path? I told it to move in the name of Jesus. It moved. 
Those chains that were binding me? Broken, in the name of Jesus.

I hear the chains falling.

I used to be bound but, 

I heard those chains fall.

Orange Line Vigilante

Hello all! Post #5 of the year is dedicated to the Orange Line Vigilante.

So yesterday as I was heading to meet some friends downtown I decided to take the opportunity to soak in the familiarity of riding on the Orange Line. As I looked around me I noticed some advertising.

It all seemed innocuous enough. To be honest most of my time looking at the ads was trying to figure out what was being advertised, until I saw "Surface." Ok, so some new laptop/tablet hybrid. What I first noticed was this:

And so, you can see, it's understandable why I didn't immediately know the name of the product. What stayed with me though, is what's written on the advertisement. 

"This literal objectification of women should not be used to sell products!"

Followed by, "Yes! I agree. Thanks for writing this!"

And so, I extend my thanks as well to whoever wrote this. While defacing paid for space isn't always advisable, this is definitely one of the more positive advertisement writings I've ever come across. This person opened up an important dialogue in a public space where anyone could come across it, and not just those who would go looking for this sort of discourse. Well played, Orange Line Vigilante. Well played. 

#GreenPeopleBeLike

Normally I'm not hip enough or motivated enough to comment when things like this happen, but given my post on micro-aggression a few days ago and the fact that I've given myself a hefty writing quota to fill, post#4 of the year is dedicated to +Green Liberation, who identifies not as White, but as Green.

You can find the development of this whole twitter conversation and the development of the #greenpeoplebelike hashtag HERE.

Where to start? I mean, there's so much material here. Many others have already pointed out that there are more constructive ways to personally deal with systemic racism than to choose to no longer identify as White. Unfortunately, as I have previously stated in the aforementioned earlier post, White privilege is something you are born into. Clearly not everyone wants to deal with it. 

I think though, that the response we have to people who have difficulty acknowledging this simple truth is incredibly important. (And by we, I'm talking about all of us who felt " I'm Green" was not an adequate response to "I don't identify with White people", nor an adequate response to the issue of race as a sucky social construct that must be pushed against.) Yes, I think she's a little off the mark to think that denying her whiteness absolves her from dealing with the personal and societal responsibilities and inquiry into her privilege that come with her desire for positive social change. Yes, I think she was overly defensive and a bit aggressive, even when there was no clear warranting of it. And you know, this whole "how dare you say I'm racist!" song and dance is starting to sound unfortunately familiar. 

BUT (you knew one was coming...)

What about us? How did we respond? How are belittling, disparaging and hurtful comments going to encourage this woman to respond to us with the love and openness we want her to, when we didn't show it ourselves? I include myself in this, as I retweeted, favorited and laughed at my fair share of mocking comments... until I realized that if I were struggling to process my race in a way others couldn't understand I wouldn't like it much if they mocked me like that. It was up to her to openly and honestly examine herself. If we feel she didn't (and I do...), no need to lambast her about it.

To be fair, not every response to this woman was negative. Some were really good openers to safe exploration of this "I see you White/I see me Green" dilemma. These were healthy and helpful.

However, I think in general it's high time we started looking at the way we interact on the internet. If someone is agitated you don't keep bombarding that person with stimuli. You leave one or two statements and then you back off. Let the person think, cool off, process. If the parties still cannot meet in agreement then at least they can be kind to each other.

With the gazillion people commenting on the internet, there really was no opportunity for this to happen. One or two statements multiplied by, oh let's just say a gazillion, adds up to a gazillion different stimuli coming in. I'm not saying we shouldn't tweet and blog and vlog and whatever else we do to share opinions and interact with each other. I just think we should be more mindful of others when we do so. 

Even when we know we're in the right, it takes an extra bit of character to look beyond ourselves and love where it's difficult. That is the righteousness that I don't always show, but I always aspire to.

WC2014: Day 3

Hello! Going strong, three days into the new year. So impressive!
Some of these pieces are going to be crap, and I'll likely be embarrassed to post  a few of them, but a challenge is a challenge! Here's today's piece.

The Time Capsule

Sometimes I feel like Christmas Trees are a sort of time capsule. Only, instead of having memories locked up and buried away to be discovered at some distant unknown quantity of time by someone else, the memories are rediscovered at the regular interval of each year when the tree is put up.

The tree I have come home to this year is to me the visual representation of my bildungsroman. Each ornament brings with it a memory of a place, a person, a time: laughter, joy, and the traces of healed pain and trials overcome.

It is the sum of my coming of age.

I have not participated in the preparation of the tree this year, nor the last, because I have been away. This absence, too, is part of my story. All the same, this tree bears examples of my presence everywhere, and though not adorned by my hands, it is wholly familiar. I am reminded that some things stay with us and speak to our unity even when we're not together.

Haiku: WC2014

Structure (Jan 1st, 2014)
Syllables are five
Now syllables are seven
Again they are five



New Year's Snow (Jan 2nd, 2014)
Snow of the new year
Body cold but heart so warm
This snow is from home

Happy New Year!-The 2014 Writing Challenge

1st post of the new year! Woot woot!
Now, like many people I want to start the year off well. I also want to finish well, but that's besides the point.

Or is it?

What's more important? The beginning or the end of the race? Or perhaps it's neither. Perhaps it's the entire race itself that is where the value is held. So! It's time for a course change.

I want to be a writer.
Like, I really want to be a writer. I want to continue blogging, I want to write more and better songs, I want to write poems, I want to write books. I want to write!

And so here is my new year's challenge, which I will hold myself accountable for here on this blog. One piece of writing to be posted each day, for the entire year.

That's right. The entire year. No easy-peasy challenges for me! I'll post things like song lyrics or recordings, poems, etc etc.
Now, I will make for allowances for those situations in which I don't have internet access. It does happen. I will try to do posts in advance or post the writings once I've got connection again. You will just have to believe that I'm keeping up with my writing.

So exciting! Stay tuned folks.