action figures sold separately

Danzine is an awesome organization of folks in the sex work biz. They offer support and health and safety related info through their zine, needle exchange program, second hand store, “bad date line” and more. The Bad Date Line puts out information about abusive and violent customers so that working folks can protect themselves and each other. I went to some of their workshops in Seattle for the Harm Reduction Coalition conference and they and others are doing inspiring work: focusing on serious issues like violence, sexism, HIV and HCV while infusing their radical politics, community-building and advocacy with love and playful fabulousness. I was especially enthralled by the Bio Babes: a team of folks wearing sexy reflective vests who go around neighborhoods surrounding Danzine-sponsored needle exchange sites in order to clean up syringes and other biohazards. They keep detailed maps of where the hazards are found and do community outreach when neighbors ask what they are up to in their spiffy duds.

I checked out their website tonight to look something up for a patient and I found this:
“Hello there,

Teresa Dulce from Danzine calling. We have some big changes happening with the agency that I wanted to announce. This transition isn’t due to money alone, but it does lend a compelling argument.

Danzine, the non-profit organization, will end June 1, 2003″

Luckily the exchange programs and bad date line will still be operational and also there will be “a most EXLNT last fiesta on SAT, JUNE 14. Live music featuring STORM & the Balls, with DJ Dairy spinning his tunes. Event will be held in Chinatown at the Seven Seas Bar & Restaurant on 205 NW 4th Ave. Sliding scale ticket price from $10 to $1,000–bring your ones, bring your check book. A dollar off with a can of food. Food goes to the Womens Innercommunity AIDS Resource (WIAR). Doors at 9 pm, persons 21 years +.”

Head out and find out what this crew of awesome community organizers are doing next and help them to celebrate after 8 years of community service!

recently we read Barbara Kingsolver’s amazing The Poisonwood Bible aloud to each other. if you have not yet read it, i highly recommend. here’s a bit in the voice of the second oldest daughter, the not-quite-as-smart twin, Leah:

“Where we are headed, there will be no buyers and sellers at all,” my father corrected. His tone implied that Mother failed to grasp our mission, and that her concern with Betty Crocker confederated her with the coin-jingling sinners who vexed Jesus till he pitched a fit and threw them out of church. “Where we are headed,” he said, to make things perfectly clear, “not so much as a Piggly Wiggly.” Evidently Father saw this as a point in the Congo’s favor. I got the most spectacular chills, just from trying to imagine.

of course besides being rich writing and an engaging story, it’s a compelling way to tell the history of the civil war and CIA coup. Kingsolver guides us, using the lenses of the wife and daughters of an extremely uptight Baptist preacher, through the history of the Congo and Zaire of the 1960’s and 70’s.

the day we finished the book, i got wind of this news regarding the millions that have died in the war since 1998. as the author says, the conflict serves the economic interests of the west, so the suffering goes on.

i was also totally fascinated with one of the books more tangential, but quite meaningful characters: the driver ants.

• the university of exeter bug club points out that they can eat up to 100,000 animals a day.
• antcolony.org says that “driver ants of the Savanna consume more animal matter than all of the larger super predators combined!” and has a piece on them by the dude who wrote the book on driver ants.
• Science Frontiers looks at their collective intelligence
• an american museum of natural history entomologist has this detailed page, with photos.

margaret berry, the succinct and wonderful creator of mightygirl is famous among more than dozens now, and her new piece at the morning news is about the 15 fights you should have before you get engaged. read it even if you aren’t engaged, or if you are already married. sage and witty advice, sis.

rabecca solnit’s new piece at alternet is on the lessons of the peace movement(s), and grabbing heapin helpins of hope in hard times. an excellent analysis of organizing and an inspiration for progressive action.

this position posted in the craigslist portland “office jobs” section won’t be available long. oh, right, cuz it’s not legal:

Personal assistant to Vice President level position. Young pretty girl needed for answering the phone, making appointments and light typing. Attitude more important that skills, will train. Pretty smile and nice legs a must. Multi-national company, Asian background a plus, but not necessary. Flexible schedule and great benefits. Apply in person.

from various sources, mostly from the stop-polabuse list, i’ve been getting more news that compels me to wonder why we don’t just go ahead and start calling a police state a police state.

• the guy who leaked the docs proving LAPD misconduct is being locked up for it
• a santa fe attorney was popped for comments he made in a chat room (in february)
• after coming under fire, pdx activists have laid out all the details on the joint anti-terrorism task force
• story from the AP wire, infoshop news, and elsewhere: A 57-year-old Harlem woman died of an heart attack Friday after police detonated a flash grenade and handcuffed her during a raid on the wrong apartment.
• minneapolis professional photographer retaliated against for catching police brutality on tape
• activists were rounded up the other day in st. louis:
  • Police invaded two known movement homes Saturday morning, apparently in “pre-emptive raids” to prevent their attendance at Sunday’s demonstration against the World Agricultural Forum.
  • Others were taken into custody while riding their bicycles to the BioDevastation gathering at Forest Park Community College, and the police have left the bicycles lying along the road.
  • Sarah Bantz, organizer for MORAGE and a speaker at the BioDevastation conference, was arrested for having a container of Vitamin C capsules, which police are claiming to be an illegal drug.
• the air force women who were raped and whose cases were in the media in march were featured in another (not yet linkable) story, by joan lowy of the scripps howard news service that says the women were told when they entered the academy that they “should expect to be raped.”
• updated: the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center is saying that protest can basically be seen as terrorism.

there were enough decent color-picking tools out there that i gave them their own links sub-category. but now, there’s probably no reason to go to any of those others. (sorry, folks.)

the web color theory page by mundi design studios covers it all, and does so in a way that is more useful, more elegant, and just plain fun to use, than other color resource. it’s also handy the way that it gives you 3 different options for how to view the colors and analyze how they interact.

there is also a page, from iamcal, devoted to web design that takes into account viewers who have varying types and degrees of color blindness.

but i am. given the truly interesting discussion of gender issues in video games initiated over at gamegirladvance, i’m wondering what she’s going to have to say about the new matrix game due out this week.

yep. saw it yesterday. if you just take it as eye candy, it’s still hot. but two interesting things struck me. one, the whole theme of how most of us are actually, in this life, just asleep, going through the roles, and not engaged in the actual world, got taken another step with this movie: it’s now about how we have a choice in that. we have agency and can decide to unplug and stop feeding the machine. of course it’s more complex than that, but that was driven home in a new way in this one. two: they (the filmmakers, not the characters) employed a staggering number of people. sheeit. so much talent over such a long period went into that couple of hours. we have such a bizarre economy.

oh. and we don’t have any sort of video game apparatus here so i’m either going to have to crash my nephew’s or just take your word for it.

the other night we watched the collection of very cool experimental films by Matt McCormick. trippy. thought provoking. not snooty.

if you know the name of a font and you want to know what it looks like, or if you are trying to find the name of a font you are looking at, use this very cool resource.

“Government is by the people, for the people,” said state Rep. Jim Dunnam of Waco, the House Democratic caucus leader who help organize the exodus out of state.

– from an article about their return.

ok, and this government that would be by the people, for the people… that would be since when exactly? sorry, jimbo, but ain’t no such animal. no matter how you might dress them up, ducks don’t cluck. chickens don’t quack. let’s not pretend that it’s going to do something which it was designed specifically not to do, mmmkay? super.

in the past few days, while not trying to fix the blog, i’ve been inspired to add over 100 new links to the links pages. sometimes i’ve gotten bored with the web in general. i’d rather cook or ride the bike or read or play with the hoofers or i’m just too busy workin. but every once in a while a stream of very cool resources catches my eye (thanks to some of the killer sites on the sidebar and often from randomwalks flux). some have been around for a while, others are brand new.

some of you will be very happy to know that i:

• consolidated all the media activist stuff into its own new category
• expanded the central and south america links to include puerto rico libre stuff, and changed the name to reflect that
• added such highlights as these…

the food timeline, a comprehensive resource showing who ate what, when, how, and why

the duct tape fashion archives, where you can view such gems as this lovely couple, or others from their extensive gallery - i had know idea it was such a widepread… um, phenomenon.

a place where you can learn more about what the hell they were talking about it those R.E.M. songs.

No Sweat, the source for cool, casual, 100% union made clothing, made by folks who believe that the most viable response to globalization is a global labor movement.

who’s looking for what when at google, planet-wide. fascinating.

god’s blog, a funny one.

making a few changes around here. all will be fixed very soon. thanks.

update: all is basically fixed. the archive pages are still messed, but that will be corrected tonight or so…

in the Buffy-as-social-commentary-on-the-(so-called)-war-on-terror department:

Although Cordesman noted that Buffy deals with existential questions, his main point about the Buffy Paradigm is that the vampire slayer “lives in a world of unpredictable threats where each series of crises only becomes predictable when it is over and is followed by a new and unfamiliar one.”

At Dissent Magazine this month, Maxine Phillips has a piece analyzing the “Buffy Paradigm,” in which she argues that there may be more to it than the way intelligence wonk Anthony Cordesman is framing it.

i thought this especially interesting, given buffy’s recent ouster as grand jefe and the commentary on democracy and collective action therein. i must say, as much as folks have slammed these last few episodes, i think it’s up there with joss’ best writing. i mean you know your show is making cultural inroads when it’s central themes and characters are worked up in reports by the heavy-hitting DC think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

recently, students at Oakland High were interrogated by u.s. secret service agents after their teacher heard them make apparently anti-Bush statements in a discussion about the war on Iraq. when the students asked if they could remain silent or have an attorney present, they were apparently told by the agents, “We own you, you don’t have any legal rights.” Who was the teacher? I’m sure we won’t be getting any answers from their Oakland Patriots website, where the only student club being linked to is the JROTC. what was that part about there being no thought police? riiiiiight… [via the randomwalks headlines]

from a posting at the hipmama news pages, the story of a canadian mom who was targetted and harassed for trying to breastfeed her kid on a plane. the link there is busted, but the columnist did an interesting follow-up.

earlier in the week, the International Solidarity Movement posted news about how the Israeli occupation forces and government have stepped up their attacks, at least in rhetoric, against the ISM. Now they’ve stepped it up. Just after mid-day today, Israel time, the ISM offices were raided by the Israeli military. They destroyed and stole files and equipment, and kidnapped at least three international human rights observers. Read the full story and what you can do.

if war is hell, what is the aftermath? this chilling account from a London Daily Mirror reporter details u.s. soldiers gunning down unarmed civilians the other day. [via truthout]

the web is neato, but the world is cooler. last week on the sidewalk, i found this gem of a piece of notepad paper. i’m going to have to send it in to found magazine.

Mayam’s wishes, wants, dreams and got to haves:

• Dress shopping
• 1000 Dragon Ball Z Cards <smiley>
• Dance lessons
• martial arts
• prep for college (Harvard!)
• 5 pages of report
• ***Man Shopping!! (w/ a nice chest) <smiley>

best of luck to you, Mayam.