Happy Dreadlock Appreciation Day 2012!!!

Here's wishing all those in our dreadlock tribe -- oldies and newbies -- a mellow day and a great weekend (without anyone reaching out and touching our locs or asking any inane questions like whether we have bugs in our dreads or why we don't UN-dread them and have long hair!!).  Keep 'em flowing! x0x0x0x0x

    

***And here's one of my favorite SPOT-ON dreadlock-related video collabs from YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22pZrCwAb6o

Happy Birthday, Octavia Estelle Butler x0x0x0x

She would have been 65 today.  It still saddens me that she's no longer on this plane, but her brilliant spirit lives on in her powerful, creative works.  Wild Seed was the first book I read by her.  I was so blown-away by her vision and it felt absolutely amazing to read a sci-fi story with a lead female character of color I could finally relate to.  Just amazing.  I hope there are legions of young women (and men) writers of color being inspired by her imagination.  There is still such a need for more diverse voices in the genres of sci-fi and fantasy writing.  Every time I think of works like the Lord of the Rings or the George R.R. Martin's books, and the birth of the popular Game of Thrones  tv series  it's based on, it just smacks me in the face and burns.   We deserve to be major characters in epic sci-fi/fantasy stories -- And not just ones who are sexually-charged servants, buffoonish supporting characters or suddenly killed off in the first act.
   


  

**Click the link to watch the second part of her interview with Charlie Rose:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=W1W9CNwl2e8

African Venus by Charles Cordier, 1851

(Whenever I see a picture of this sculpture and some of Cordier's other beautiful pieces, they often make me think of Octavia Butler's work.  This one especially reminds me of the character Anyanwu from Wild Seed)

When will it end???

 Killed in his own bathroom.  No gun.  No other weapons.  Ramarley Graham's Mom Speaks Out:

Ramarley Graham's Mother Speaks Out: NYPD Cop Who Killed My Son Should Be Charged with Murder

**Check out these links for Democracy Now's footage and interviews from the recent silent Father's Day March protesting NYC's racist "STOP & FRISK" policy -- they took it all the way to Bloomberg's door:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-VdBvmrDW8&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0494nqGRwbY&feature=plcp 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDtgsx81kKg&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fegT7eQchAE&feature=relmfu

Have you been hearing about it??? Check out the Robin Hood Tax Campaign

Small tax...BIG CHANGE.

Happy B-day, Jello B. x0x0x

A little wind for the sails and some fuel for motivation and action....What Would Jello Do part 25 - The Barackstar, Wisconsin and much more! 

Happy Loving Day!!

45 years ago, on June 12, 1967 a landmark Supreme Court case shattered all state laws banning interracial marriage. It was the case of Mildred and Richard Loving.  She had African and American Indian heritage and he was a white man.  Their only crime was falling in love with each other at a time when "race-mixing" was regarded by many as unnatural and forbidden.  The times have changed in so many minds and different parts of the country, but racial intolerance towards interracial couples still exists.  And the current battles being fought by so many LGBTQIA individuals for their rights to equality and the ability to marry the people they love dearly echoes so much of what the Lovings went through.  The bigotry and hate projected from the intolerant minds around them is on the same par as what mixed couples had to suffer under miscegenation. 

***Click link for info on the creation of Loving Day and  activities that might be in your local area this week:  http://www.lovingday.org/

A dark, dark day for Labor.....

What.  The.  Fuck.  I've been watching the results flow in from the recall fight tonight against Walker in Wisconsin and I'm....speechless...and sick to my stomach.  What the hell reality is this where UNION has become a dirty word???  I hope....I really, really hope....to wake up tomorrow and hear that hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Wisconsin and refuse to be moved. 
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/scott-walker-fights-retain-governorship-wisconsin-recall-010044710.html