action figures sold separately

For yom kippur this year, we went to marin for a new kind of service (for us) with with Rabbi Natan Segal. Yesterday was not much of a holy day for me (i had to finish a big installation project), so i’m taking time today for reflection and walking and so forth. Been thinking about the role of radical jews in the aftermath of the 9-11 tragedy, and how we can respond with conscience, grieving for the dead, pushing for a just and peaceful solution, and showing our rage that this many people dying grisly deaths is a too-regular occurence in parts of the world where u.s. policies and client states have had a massive impact. I’m thinking especially of the sanctions on Iraq which have killed over 600,000 people in the last decade, and of our fostering Israel’s war of occupation. Our jew-ish and activism links pages point to lots more good info about these and other vital issues. Check it.

Soon we’ll have pix of our bbq party up. goofiness helping to stem the tide of global doom.

For some reason, i just can’t seem to keep it down to just one “site of the week,” so here’s a couple of goodies for now:

I think that Wayne Grytting is one of the least appreciated, most talented satarists around. Check his American Newspeak page, a huge collection of pieces exposing our massive doublethink, since the mid-90’s. His last posting was from August, but browse the archives and let him know to mail you when he updates the page.

Democracy Now!, the best news and public affairs program on the radio, had to take production out of the WBAI studios, since Pacifica is on a rampage to get rid of everything progressive and truly community-oriented. So unless you are lucky enough to live in a city that’s airing their exiled production, you can hear it here on their new web page.

So- my rotation now is at the San Jose Medical Center where I’m hanging out with family practice residents. I’m having a great time! I’m doing inpatient right now and I love the fact that we are doing some really hard core medicine (i.e. taking care of pretty sick people) but are doing it with this teamwork-oriented, low bullshit approach where patients and families’ psycho-social situation actually matters and gets talked about. We’re laughing a lot, too, which is nice. I asked them on Friday when they wanted me to come in for weekend rounds and they were like “Oh no! We would NEVER make a student come in on the weekends! Go home and have fun!!” So, I did. . .

WHAT I DID THIS WEEKEND (so far):
The Vintage Fashion Expo!!! The Vintage Fashion World is a fun and fascinating subculture to study as an amateur anthropologist participant-observer. There are the lindy-hop, swing dance freaks (one of my very favorite links for that subcult is this clothing store Re-Vamp featuring remakes of retro clothes and tips on vintage style and etiquette, mostly for swing dance enthusiasts). There are way cool and sexy hot rockabilly types. The guys look like old-school motorcycle greaser types with fabulous haircuts (sideburns, pompadours, duck tails- lots of pomade) and beautiful tatts of hearts and crowns and bannered images with girlfriend or mom names. The women have Betty Page haircuts, bright red lipstick totally sexy fun outfits. Rockabilly music and cars- restoring and tricking out fabulous pre-1968 cars. There is awonderful event- The Blessing of the Cars, where Rockabilly types, low-riders, and other car culture folks get together and a fabulous ponytailed catholic priest with wonderful checkered flag and flamed vestments sprinkles holy water on cars while praying that they run well and keeps occupants safe. SO- I got jewelery and dresses and a FABULOUS navy blue forties suit for my residency interviews. One of my favorite moments was when I came into the group dressing room and a beautiful woman was trying on a cigarette girl costume (beautiful spangled and sequined leotard worn with fishnets) that an 80 year old vender had brought to sell- they were the ones that SHE had worn when she was a cigar girl so many years ago.

I had to get the suit skirt altered and went straight to the Escobar Brothers. I went to their office on the corner of Sutter and Stockton, took the elevator up to the seventh floor, shared by chinese businesses, immigration lawyers and a Russian travel agency. The Escobar Brother who helped me (I think the second from the left in the photo below) tugged here, smoothed there, pinning and making mysterious chalk marks on my hips and butt where the skirt was too tight or didn’t drape right. He unzipped the side and exposed my glow-in-the-dark alien underwear. It was amazing, though, he basically smoothed his hands all over my hips and ass. It felt intimate but comfortable and connecting and I was completely in awe of the mastery and skill involved in being a tailor. I felt womanly and beautiful to think that I will have something that is made to suit me and my particular curves perfectly. I wish that clothes were like this still- gorgeous fabrics, wonderfully made, attended to with skill, appreciated and cared for, adjusted to fit women in all of their different shapes and sizes. Getting clothing like this is so preferable to the very problematically globally mass produced crap clothing (the Gap!) that is obselete or non-functional right after it is bought, is made for skinny-ass women and ruins the environment and oppresses its piece workers to boot!

Some other retro links:
Atomic- Essential Guide to Retro Culture
Pin Ups! Yowie!
Folkwear Patterns- wonderful vintage and ethnic/cultural patterns
Costumer’s Manifesto with her Links for Period Weddings
Nose Art! with the very famous Memphis Belle- maybe someday I’ll be wild enough to get a gorgeous nose-art type pinup girl tattooed on my upper arm!

So- a lazy fun Saturday here with Eli playing a computer game and doing laundry with the Girls lazing around. I may go running or I may just drink another beer do some yoga and burn CDs.

A out.

bettie page

Escobar Bros.

Yee ha! A vintage pin-up!

been too busy to post, on jobs for some cool folks, CEH and NCCP, and i’m kind of reeling from all the orange-white, orange, green-white, blue, blue-white, green, brown-white, brown. which brings me to this weeks first…

site of the week:

if you need to brush up on or break into new skills with CAT 5 cabling, here’s a good place to check out: the CAT 5 tutorial and FAQ’s.

the next site of the week is…

Alternet’s new 9-11 special has lots of compelling and in-depth info. a must-see.

but a kernel of news not there, which you’ll have to dig for: kudos to these firefighters in Miami-Dade county!! Just say NO to symbols of greed and racism.

today’s my b-day. and leonard peltier’s also. cleaning house, making calls, dealing with old emails and voicemails, doing laundry, missing my sweetie who’s at the hospital, her last night of call in this rotation.

neither my dad nor i could sleep much last night, so we wrote emails back and forth to connect and help make sense of it all. then i got a note from my sister this morning about her 7 year old’s response to events in NY:

I don’t have much to add except to give you Martha’s words of wisdom on the way to school this morning. “Maybe these people thought they were changing the world or they just wanted to be famous, except its not the right way to do it and they aren’t even here to know they are famous, so it doesn’t make any sense does it?” No my sweet, it makes no sense at all.

and to add to yesterday’s list, global exchange has a keen perspective on the rampant scapegoating that is all over the corporate news.

best news sources i’ve seen so far include:

alternet, with stories such as “A Time for Peace, Not Retaliation,” “In the Air During the World Trade Center Attack - Eyewitness Account,” and “America’s Terrorist Roots: Reminders of How We Got Here.”

rc3.org daily, with updated accounts.

monkeyfist, with cogent analysis.

more in the news section of our links pages.

on tipsy stroll, i ace area’s fudge
strip lost area’s only cafe guide

== action figures sold separately ==

rAnDOm fuN ToDay:

• the internet anagram server will eat up your time like nothing out there. look out. superfun for wordhounds.

• in the “tripindicular” department: Nature Science Update has this piece on the first nerve cell-silicon microchip going live.
• somone listed at camworld (worth a look), but i can’t remember who, had a link to this cool review of web color pickers, very handy. my faves from which i’ve now put in a new links category on color in html.
• some good updates at the Free Dmitry site. check it.
• um… is anyone reading this? email me and/or link to it? thanks!
  
  — e.

• These insane drug scanners have got to go: Mariah Taylor Arrested After Confrontation. But the pettiness and arrogance of prison guards doesn’t help matters.
• Two compelling and very clarifying pieces this week at AlterNet.org: Reflections on Zionism from a Dissident Jew, from Tim Wise, and a piece on white supremacists recruiting with records by Bill Berkowitz.
• Also, for those who might not have read it, here’s Kendall Clark’s cutting essay on racism’s global reach, featured on MonkeyFist, it’s called The Global Privileges of Whiteness.
• While we are on the subject, let’s take a closer look at what’s going on in Durban, now that the u.s. and israel have split (stories at indymedia, White Privilege, and Democracy Now!).
• Also note that while their newly revised website is not yet up, the Challenging White Supremacy Workshop still has this excellent piece from Dismantling Racism: “White Supremacy Culture” on their site at PARC.

• A photos page is now up. always more to do on it, but it’s there. Also, the links page is now complete and the home page has been majorly revised.

• These stories from the EarthCrash, Alliance for Sustainability, EMagazine, and Science News reveal a very dark irony. Stress and confusion and garbage and greed contribute to psych problems for so folks, which brings lots of phych drugs, which means most of that chemsoup passes through our bodies and onto fish, bringing on more stres and confusion and angst and anger. ug!
• knee in serious pain. not doing the triathlon. hope to do one in the spring. first gotta find a good PT/sports doc.

here’s the new link of the week: BAD-RAP’s rescue page, where you will find this dear one, Kelly. (That’s Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls). Go check them out & support their awesome work. Suggestions for links and for future “sites of the week” are welcome. Shoot me some mail