CALL FOR ESSAYS


--Do you have something to say about being bisexual?

--Do you have a story about coming out as bi?

--Do you feel you could identify as bisexual but choose not to?

--Do you find connections (or conflicts) between your bisexuality and other parts of your identity or life?

--Do you have something to say about desire? About relationships? About religion? About community? About politics? About the position of bisexuals in the place or community you call home?


If you answered yes to any of the above questions, we want to publish you!


We seek short personal essays or poems (200-1000 words) by bisexuals from Central or South America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, or Africa. We seek Muslim voices from anywhere in the world.


If you don’t want your name in print, you can write under a pseudonym. If you think you’re not a “real” writer and would like to be included in this anthology, we want you. If you’re not comfortable writing, we can interview you. If you are not comfortable writing in English, write in your native language and we will translate your essay.


Essays will be published in the second edition of Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World. The new anthology will be published in 2009, in dual editions (English and Spanish).


The first (2005) edition includes personal narratives by people from 32 different countries, on 6 continents, ranging in age from 15-79. Please help us make this amazing collection even broader in scope!


Send submissions to Robyn Ochs (robyn@robynochs.com) by June 30, 2008.



Thank you!


Robyn Ochs (www.robynochs.com) & Sarah E. Rowley, Editors

I'm not really surprised with these results, especially on the Democrat side. I don't even wanna know how I managed to get a 13% match with Tancredo though. *barf*

100% Dennis Kucinich
98% Mike Gravel
82% John Edwards
78% Chris Dodd
77% Barack Obama
75% Joe Biden
74% Hillary Clinton
70% Bill Richardson
30% Rudy Giuliani
28% Ron Paul
20% John McCain
14% Mike Huckabee
13% Mitt Romney
13% Tom Tancredo
4% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

January 21st: Oppose the Lynch Mob Racists! No to Nooses! Free the Jena Six! We Want a Better World!

White Supremacists plan to march in Jena on Martin Luther King Day in 2008. On Martin Luther King day of all days, the one day that is supposed to be about the struggle of Black people, they are coming to march with Nooses! This is a call to people everywhere: On Monday January 21st, get to Jena! OPPOSE THE LYNCH MOB RACISTS!

Displaying nooses is a hateful and terrorizing message. These racists want to take us back to the days of lynch mobs murdering Black people in this country. Nooses are INTOLERABLE. Bring a sign, hang a poster, make a banner, get to Jena, SAY NO TO NOOSES!

The Jena High students said no to nooses hung at their school when they protested by standing underneath the “white only tree”. Then on September 20th, 2007 tens of thousands of people stood up, marching in Jena and around the country. People said Enough is Enough to the injustice in punishing Black youth who take a stand against racism. The white supremacists call Black youth criminals and thugs, they say, “Jail the Jena Six”. Let's say it loud again in Jena: FREE THE JENA SIX!

It is in response to September 20th and what that day achieved that white supremacists are lashing out, with a message that takes us back to the horrors of lynch mobs and segregation. When racism rears its ugly head, it is up to people everywhere white and Black, people of all nationalities, to take a stand. If you are against injustice and inequality, if you want racism to end... its up to you to voice it! If we don't speak up and stand up, this horrific message will go unopposed. If not us who? If not now when?

Protest in Jena on January 21st. Join people everywhere in politically opposing white supremacy and drowning out their message of hate with the message that WE WANT A BETTER WORLD.

January 21st Committee

Initial signatories:

* A group of 14 Jena residents Black and white, young and old, including two parents of the Jena Six
* Reverend Raymond Brown Community Activist, New Orleans
* William Winters, Baton Rouge Activist
* Student Organizers from University of California, PA and Howard University
* Alice Woodward and Hank Brown, Jena, LA correspondents for Revolution
* Herb Boyd, The Black World Today, NY,NY
* Don Rojas, The Black World Today, NY,NY
* Miky Espinal, NY organizer for Health & Hospital Workers Union 1199*
* Thomas Kleven, Professor of Law, Thurgood Marshall School of Law
* Idress Stelley Foundation
* Education Not Incarceration (SanFransisco Chapter)
* San Fransisco Bayview Free The Jena Six Task Force
* San Fransisco Village Voice Community Radio, 105.5 FM
* San Fransisco Bay view Campaign to End the Death Penalty
* Sess 4-5 Nuthin But Fire Records, New Orleans
* Cindy Sheehan, Candidate for Congress, California's 8th district, mother of KIA soldier Casey Sheehan
* 60 residents of Cabrini Green, Chicago
* C3 (Community, Concern, Compassion)/Hands Off Iberville, New Orleans
* Mayday New Orleans
* Don Paul, writer, musician, Housing is a Human Right, New Orleans

*For identification purposes only

Join us! This call is still in progress and we invite organizations, student groups, Jena residents and others to endorse.

Spread the word! Get out this call far and wide, support and build for January 21st!

Contact the committee: january21injenacomm@yahoo.com

Stolen from ftmichael and tipofaspoon. It's getting around!

Make your own album cover!

1. The first article title on this page is the name of your band.

2. The last four words of the very last quote on this pageis the title of your album.

3. The third picture here, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post it in your own journal.

I have a "girl of my dreams"... literally. I woke up this morning fully remembering the content of my dream the night before and the feelings I had during it were still with me. I had a huge smile on my face and this genuine joy in my heart. It felt so real, but it was all a dream.

Whoever she is, whether there is a 'real-life' version of her or not, she is amazing. There are things I know about her just from spending one night with her (although my dream actually spanned a few days), like the fact that her heart is pure and her external beauty doesn't hold a candle to what's inside - and trust me, she was a looker. Her eyes, her greyish blue eyes would look at me with such suspicion at first, that I knew she had been hurt many times before. I could tell there's a wall that she erects whenever she meets someone new, not trusting their motives or intentions, but I smiled at her and she saw right through me. The wall melted away and she let herself be vulnerable to me, trusting me so deeply. I can still feel her in my arms, the warmth of holding her there and knowing that this one wouldn't turn around and hurt me. That she had the same fears, the same painful past, the same bruised heart. We met not wanting or expecting anything, and getting everything.

We weren't going to be reckless with each other's heart.

I felt safe, loved, wanted, trusted, thought of, needed... and when I woke up I added hope and faith to that list. For the first time in 5 months, I believe that I can love again, because I did last night. For the first time in 5 months, I hope to get the chance to love again and make someone really happy.

I love you dream girl and I WILL find you.

EDIT: A day later and I can't stop thinking about her and every time I do, my heart skips a beat. She feels like a "Lisa" or a "Lauren" to me.

HRC and several other 'civil rights' organizations (none of them LBGT) have formally defected from passing an inclusive ENDA. This opinion piece was written before the news was out:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/11/07/EDD7T6UMC.DTL

http://www.sovo.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=15118

"The rest of us -- which is to say, NGLTF, Lambda Legal Defense, the National Association of LGBT Community Centers, the Equality Federation, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Transgender Law Center, Equality California (and every other statewide LGBT organization in the country), and the other 300+ national, state, and local organizations in the United ENDA coalition -- were, and remain, shocked, stunned, horrified, and devastated. Most of us learned the news via Gay.com.

Then, later in the day, HRC, along with the Advocate, released a poll of reporting that 70% of gay people (in the HRC database, presumably) are prepared to leave transgender people behind for expediency sake (from this day forward, all civil rights protections will be
determined by popularity contest): http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid50267.asp"

[AC4A listserv]

So basically, what's the news? Oh, yeah, there isn't any! Nothing's changed.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance is being observed this year on Sunday, 18 November. See http://rememberingourdead.org/day/ for more information, and/or contact your local Trans group(s) to see what's happening in your area.

[Own addition: For Michigan State students, contact phitaumu@msu.edu for information about TDOR observations on campus. I'll hopefully have more info up about it on the website as soon as I know]

http://transgroupblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/i-lost-friend-yesterday.html

I Lost A Friend Yesterday
by Jenn Burleton

I lost a friend yesterday.

He wasn't my best friend, or my oldest friend. He wasn't a drinking buddy, golf partner, wingman, school chum, former lover, next door neighbor or casual acquaintance. He was just my friend.

Ian was a special guy. Everyone knew that. You could see it. You could feel it. And if he let down his guard a little, you became even more aware of how remarkable he was.

I've always thought of myself as a pretty smart gal. Quick with a quip ... know a little bit about a lot of things ... informed just enough to have an opinion on just about everything. But I always suspected that Ian knew something I didn't. I believe Ian was smarter than me, and I don't say that out loud about too many people.

Ian was taller than I am. Taller than most people, in fact. As a result of that, I think he always slouched a little bit, to try and not take up too much space, or stand out any more than necessary.

( Read more... )

The US is at this moment, the closest it's ever been to formally recognizing the Armenian Genocide. It is important that this happens and happens soon. Should 100 years pass, the perpetrators and those that have since benefited from it can no longer be held accountable. There are only 7.5 years left to reach that point-of-no-return on the Armenian Genocide.

Vote YES on recognizing the systematic, state-organized and -sponsored annihilation of 1.5 Armenians during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The Armenian Genocide is not a "controversy" that is up for debate.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21253084/

News release from Barney Frank
_________________________________________________________
Congressman, 4th District, Massachusetts
2252 Rayburn Building · Washington, D.C. 20515 · (202) 225-5931
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Steven Adamske
202.225.7141

Rep. Frank to Hold Press Conference on ENDA
WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) will hold a press conference tomorrow, Thursday, October 11, at 11:30 a.m. The subject will be the obligation of the Democratic Party to govern responsibly when confronted by a demand to react emotionally by a deeply committed, single-issue faction insisting on putting ideological purity over achievable advancement of our values.
The specific example discussed will be the current demand that the Democratic leadership kill the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which has been the prime legislative goal for gay and lesbian people for over 30 years, because we do not have the votes to include people who are transgender.

WHO: Rep. Barney Frank
WHAT: Press Conference to discuss the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
WHEN: Thursday, October 11, 2007, 11:30am
WHERE: Room 2219, Rayburn House Office Building



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No comment.

If I've said it once (I've said it a million times actually), I'll say it again: The Human Rights Campaign sucks!

HRC will not stand against trans exclusion from ENDA