badget
Friday, November 07, 2008
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
What the heck is wrong with Kramer?
Michael Richards needs a public relations person....stat!
I mean like poste haste, tout suite, expedimente!
If you haven't heard and I don't see how you couldn't have, Michael Richards (aka "Kramer" from the popular sitcom, SEINFELD) had a psychotic break over the weekend at the Laugh Factory after being heckled. He flipped out and started calling people the N-word and told the heclker "Fifty year's ago, you would have been hung up in a tree with a fork up your ass!"
and then went on Letterman to apologize saying that he was sorry to all the "Afro-Americans"
*sigh*
I reiterate: Michael Richards needs a public relations manager.
See, me? I would have had him go on Letterman and apologize and in the middle of the apology I would have had him drop a tear, not an Andrew Dice Clay tear, but a little choke up and then after a couple of seconds I would have had him utter the following phrase:
"Tito, pass me a tissue"
and THEN I'd have Tito Jackson himself come in frame left to bring him a tissue (wearing a tee shirt that said "I'm Tito Jackson" cuz nobody knows what the hell Tito Jackson looks like).
and in the middle of the apology, I'd have his cell phone ring and have it be Nelson Mandela and then Nelson would be satellited in and Nelson would say that he's known Michael for years, has prayed with him on ancient burial grounds and was at his baptism in the Nile and knows that Michael Richards is not capable of hate.
and all of this would happen while Michael wore a MLK tee shirt.
Yeah, that's what I'd do.
And I woulda told Michael that Black folks were only "Afro American" for about 3 days in 1981 and we never like to be called "Blacks" in racially volatile situations.
And I would have given him some lithium.
but since none of that happened....Michael Richards can kiss my ass.
The only person who can save him now is Oprah and she is not risking her rep for the likes of "Kramer".
And the Laugh Factory let him perform the NEXT night and then decided out of the blue to BAN him from the Laugh Factory pending an apology but then said the Letterman apolgy wasn't enough, he'd have to come BACK to the Laugh Factory, apologize to him (the owner) and the entire crowd. Ummmm, will you be charging $10 a head a two drink minimum for the controversial "Kramer" apology?
What Richards has done, though, is opened the door for discussions on race. Some of the conversations are old: "how come black people can say the n-word and white people can't" and some are not so old. I have constantly said that unless we incorporate multicultural history into junior high curriculuum, we will always have a problem with race in this country. 12 years of school and no one in your school books look like you (except Crispus Attucks ), that's not bound to do psychologically damage, oh no. And when all the "heroes" in the books are white, that doesn't give white kids a superiority complex, pu-shaw!
Most people in this country know nothing about The Middle Passage, Jim Crow, the Trail of Tears, Japanese internment camps, lynching, auction blocks or anything thing else that has contributed to our ethnic rage. Most folks think slavery was just about us picking up around White folk's houses, they don't know about auction blocks and rape. (Trust me, they don't, that's why they're so dismissive about it.) They also don't know how long slavery was, why slavery started in America or the fact that we're only 141 years out of slavery. Give most people, black or white, a pop quiz about Black history and they'd fail. I only know what I know because I made a point to research it and I'm still abashedly uninformed.
At some point during his interview, "Kramer" sounds like he's about to talk about the rage the lead him to the n-word, he doesn't get to it but I'd be interested in what he had to say actually. He can still kiss my ass but I'd like to know.
I'd like to know because on TMZ.com I was FLOORED by how many white folks had no problem with what "Kramer" said, no problem at all. They were glad somebody had said it and blamed the hecklers for opening their mouths (although I've been to a comedy club. On a date, entry for 2: $20; 2 drink mininum for both $36; tips: $12; appetizer: $15 - $83 into it and "Kramer" isn't funny???? OH HELL TO THE NAW!).
This country is begging for a conversation on race, I don't know through what medium or on whose terms but there's a storm a-brewin'.
On the "upside" though, I wish that someone would have corrected the news report that a black man stood up to "Kramer" and told him his comments were "un-fucking-necessary". The man yelling at Kramer is obviously (to me) Latino. In a city where there is so much Black/Brown tension, it's nice to know that one of the homies had our back.
I mean like poste haste, tout suite, expedimente!
If you haven't heard and I don't see how you couldn't have, Michael Richards (aka "Kramer" from the popular sitcom, SEINFELD) had a psychotic break over the weekend at the Laugh Factory after being heckled. He flipped out and started calling people the N-word and told the heclker "Fifty year's ago, you would have been hung up in a tree with a fork up your ass!"
and then went on Letterman to apologize saying that he was sorry to all the "Afro-Americans"
*sigh*
I reiterate: Michael Richards needs a public relations manager.
See, me? I would have had him go on Letterman and apologize and in the middle of the apology I would have had him drop a tear, not an Andrew Dice Clay tear, but a little choke up and then after a couple of seconds I would have had him utter the following phrase:
"Tito, pass me a tissue"
and THEN I'd have Tito Jackson himself come in frame left to bring him a tissue (wearing a tee shirt that said "I'm Tito Jackson" cuz nobody knows what the hell Tito Jackson looks like).
and in the middle of the apology, I'd have his cell phone ring and have it be Nelson Mandela and then Nelson would be satellited in and Nelson would say that he's known Michael for years, has prayed with him on ancient burial grounds and was at his baptism in the Nile and knows that Michael Richards is not capable of hate.
and all of this would happen while Michael wore a MLK tee shirt.
Yeah, that's what I'd do.
And I woulda told Michael that Black folks were only "Afro American" for about 3 days in 1981 and we never like to be called "Blacks" in racially volatile situations.
And I would have given him some lithium.
but since none of that happened....Michael Richards can kiss my ass.
The only person who can save him now is Oprah and she is not risking her rep for the likes of "Kramer".
And the Laugh Factory let him perform the NEXT night and then decided out of the blue to BAN him from the Laugh Factory pending an apology but then said the Letterman apolgy wasn't enough, he'd have to come BACK to the Laugh Factory, apologize to him (the owner) and the entire crowd. Ummmm, will you be charging $10 a head a two drink minimum for the controversial "Kramer" apology?
What Richards has done, though, is opened the door for discussions on race. Some of the conversations are old: "how come black people can say the n-word and white people can't" and some are not so old. I have constantly said that unless we incorporate multicultural history into junior high curriculuum, we will always have a problem with race in this country. 12 years of school and no one in your school books look like you (except Crispus Attucks ), that's not bound to do psychologically damage, oh no. And when all the "heroes" in the books are white, that doesn't give white kids a superiority complex, pu-shaw!
Most people in this country know nothing about The Middle Passage, Jim Crow, the Trail of Tears, Japanese internment camps, lynching, auction blocks or anything thing else that has contributed to our ethnic rage. Most folks think slavery was just about us picking up around White folk's houses, they don't know about auction blocks and rape. (Trust me, they don't, that's why they're so dismissive about it.) They also don't know how long slavery was, why slavery started in America or the fact that we're only 141 years out of slavery. Give most people, black or white, a pop quiz about Black history and they'd fail. I only know what I know because I made a point to research it and I'm still abashedly uninformed.
At some point during his interview, "Kramer" sounds like he's about to talk about the rage the lead him to the n-word, he doesn't get to it but I'd be interested in what he had to say actually. He can still kiss my ass but I'd like to know.
I'd like to know because on TMZ.com I was FLOORED by how many white folks had no problem with what "Kramer" said, no problem at all. They were glad somebody had said it and blamed the hecklers for opening their mouths (although I've been to a comedy club. On a date, entry for 2: $20; 2 drink mininum for both $36; tips: $12; appetizer: $15 - $83 into it and "Kramer" isn't funny???? OH HELL TO THE NAW!).
This country is begging for a conversation on race, I don't know through what medium or on whose terms but there's a storm a-brewin'.
On the "upside" though, I wish that someone would have corrected the news report that a black man stood up to "Kramer" and told him his comments were "un-fucking-necessary". The man yelling at Kramer is obviously (to me) Latino. In a city where there is so much Black/Brown tension, it's nice to know that one of the homies had our back.
Monday, October 23, 2006
My Ebony Pyramid Black Gay and Lesbian Cruise to the Bahamas Photojournal
Okay, I'm cutting out a lot of the miscellany because that was in the last blog I wrote that got deleted, all you're getting now are the facts.
I got attached to EPE at the end of the last year after Montoya who I'd worked with as part of Los Angeles Black Gay Pride recommended me to be the western regional administrator. Montoya moved to the ATL last year sometime and I don't think he and I have ever had a conversation but he was familiar with me and what I do and thought I'd be a good rep. After a telephone interview with Alton and Dujuan, they attached me to represent the cruise.
The cruise started on land actually and those of us on the EPE staff had to show up the day before the guests to get everything ready for them. Sean, my Cali back-up and I flew in coincidentally on the same flight, a red eye, and because we have the same last name, we quickly instituted an inside joke of being married and called each other "hubby" and "dear" all weekend.
We hit the ground running on Wednesday, flying in at 7:30 AM, checking into the hotel and then finding something to eat and going to Walgreen's so Sean could replace all the tioletries airport security unapologetically dumped into their gray wastebuckets. After that, we had a little time to wink (not nap, wink) before the entire staff had to convene for our 12:30 meeting, afterwards the staff got to work putting together guest packets while the EPE entertainment staff went somewhere to rehearse their show.
Honestly, I had the most incredible time during this cruise, everyone is down to earth, lots of fun and drama-free. EPE is super-professional, well organized and gives its guests lots of events to participate in. I can't put into words how much I want you to participate next year. Early registration for the cruise starts in November, average cost for the cruise is $500 or so for an inside cabin, pay around $60 a month from November to July and your cruise'll be paid in full by the time the payment plan ends late July. Tell me it's not worth $60 a month to spend 5 days in Paradise. Join us next year.
P.S. I came home to find that I'd misplaced my oh-so-expensive group pictures taken by the cruise photographer. Those pics give a much more accurate view of the over 200 black gay and lesbian folks who went on the cruise. As it stand, the only group pic I have is the 70's pic above and that is by far the least attended group picture of the the 3 we took. =(
Wanna see more? Click here for even more pictures.
I got attached to EPE at the end of the last year after Montoya who I'd worked with as part of Los Angeles Black Gay Pride recommended me to be the western regional administrator. Montoya moved to the ATL last year sometime and I don't think he and I have ever had a conversation but he was familiar with me and what I do and thought I'd be a good rep. After a telephone interview with Alton and Dujuan, they attached me to represent the cruise.
The cruise started on land actually and those of us on the EPE staff had to show up the day before the guests to get everything ready for them. Sean, my Cali back-up and I flew in coincidentally on the same flight, a red eye, and because we have the same last name, we quickly instituted an inside joke of being married and called each other "hubby" and "dear" all weekend.
We hit the ground running on Wednesday, flying in at 7:30 AM, checking into the hotel and then finding something to eat and going to Walgreen's so Sean could replace all the tioletries airport security unapologetically dumped into their gray wastebuckets. After that, we had a little time to wink (not nap, wink) before the entire staff had to convene for our 12:30 meeting, afterwards the staff got to work putting together guest packets while the EPE entertainment staff went somewhere to rehearse their show.
Honestly, I had the most incredible time during this cruise, everyone is down to earth, lots of fun and drama-free. EPE is super-professional, well organized and gives its guests lots of events to participate in. I can't put into words how much I want you to participate next year. Early registration for the cruise starts in November, average cost for the cruise is $500 or so for an inside cabin, pay around $60 a month from November to July and your cruise'll be paid in full by the time the payment plan ends late July. Tell me it's not worth $60 a month to spend 5 days in Paradise. Join us next year.
P.S. I came home to find that I'd misplaced my oh-so-expensive group pictures taken by the cruise photographer. Those pics give a much more accurate view of the over 200 black gay and lesbian folks who went on the cruise. As it stand, the only group pic I have is the 70's pic above and that is by far the least attended group picture of the the 3 we took. =(
Wanna see more? Click here for even more pictures.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Serafemme
I've been threatening to write this blog for a while now but truthfully I hadn't really had the chance to sit still and put all my thoughts together until now.
I told a friend of mine at the beginning of the year that I wasn't sure if Serafemme was going to happen this year because I was still exhausted from 2005. She gave me the gas face and told me to get it together because Serafemme 2005 was well-done and if nothing else, she personally wanted to see the event happen again.
*sigh*
It's not that I didn't want to do Serafemme, I most definitely, absolutely wanted to do Serafemme but I really felt overwhelmed last year and the thought of putting myself through that much work again wore me out. Nevertheless, Serafemme was a dream of mine (I say that a lot, I know, but it's true) and I wasn't content with only executing it once and letting it go. The venue last year was great but I knew that I wanted to do Serafemme later in the year this time, a time during the year when most people are back in school and the National One Archives is in a college town and not the most condusive spot at that that time of the year.
My own personal "Serafemme", Ann Giagni from the June Mazer Archives, is such an extraordinary person. Having only known me for about a year, her belief in me is unparalled. She believes in me and in Serafemme and is absolutely committed to making sure the festival succeeds year after year. It was Ann's idea to solicit support from the Lesbian Visibility Committee for the City of West Hollywood, a committee I'd joined after delivering a speech for their 2005 Dyke March. She came equipped with a complete presentation on why they should get behind the festival and I believe she got two sentences out before the Committee said "Sure!".
It was quickly decided that the Serafemme would be housed in West Hollywood Park and the Committee committed to sponsoring it at a certain level. So far, so good.
I'd designed the first run of flyers the same weekend as Long Beach Gay and Lesbian Pride and went about the task of getting the word out about the festival but it wasn't too long after that I found out that the Pacific Design Center located directly across the street from the park on San Vicente would be shutting down San Vicente on the same day as the festival - August 27th - for their Emmy party. That left me with two choices: change the date of the festival or change the time of the festival. Changing the time would mean that the festival could only run until 3PM at the latest and I would have had to hustle everyone out of the park immediatley afterwards so the PDC could set up for their party; parking would have been a nightmare and all the way around it would have been a frenetic, uncomfortable scenario so I had no choice but to change the date.
Changing the date turned out to be a blesssing because now the festival could go as long as I'd wanted (6PM), we were able to use the baseball field instead of trying to figure out how to baracade the actual park, parking would be a lot easier - in fact, we got free parking at the PDC thanks to the City and my buddy Krys who posed for the flyer could be there to see the festival before she took off for Denmark.
I asked 9 of the artists from last year's festival to return - Damnyo, Ricoshade, Angie Evans, Neb Luv, Skim, Gia, Nadirah Shakoor, Lori Jenaire & DJ Nova Jade and added some new ones: Kandi Cole, Madam Brown, Miki Vale, Red Summer from Chicago, J Scales from Maryland, Shurlavision, Jade Ross & Alison De La Cruz. With the space and the artists in place, the really big stuff was on lock.
Which just left: figuring out the layout of the space, photography, stage dimensions, decorations, color scheme, sound, vendors, volunteers, chairs, trash cans, canopies, artist bios, artist technical needs, artist bookings at local clubs, designing flyers, parking, designing a poster, and promotion-promotion-promotion both online and print. =)
My two saving graces were - the City of West Hollywood and Ann-Marie Williams. Corey Roskin and Daphne Dennis from the City are the most patient, accomodating people on the planet and answered every question, every concern and every need with a smile which can't be easy. Ann-Marie is a woman I met through the CLV (Committee for Lesbian Visibility) and she came across as responsible and together and I thought her working on the festival with me would give us a change to hang out. I had no idea she'd be the dynamo she turned out to be, this woman is brilliant. She's the most resourceful, responsible, go-to person I've met in a long time and she quickly became my right hand person. She took a huge load off my shoulders!
A month out of the festival I was stressed about some things, mostly vendors. A lot of the vendors I got a week out of the festival and the food vendor I got TWO DAYS BEFORE the festival after I did a desperate call to Alan-Michael, vendor contact for the ATB festival panicked that the attendees wouldn't have anything to eat. I would have loved for their to have been more variety in the type of food offered but I tried my best,I went to festivals and swap meets for months before Serafemme trying to gather every vendor I could but either Sundays or August 20th in particular just wasn't a convenient day but I did what I could and from what I've heard from people save for not having more food options, the vendors were pretty good.
The day of the festival I didn't feel ready. I'd wanted more vendors, wondered if there'd been enough promotion, wondered if anybody other than me was interested in a queer women of color music festival, worried that I'd forgotten something crucial, did the line-up flow well? Should I have put the poet where the hip hop artist was? Should I have switched the bassist with the poet? Is the layout okay? The baseball field looked like it was going to swallow the crowd, would the sightlines be okay? Do we have enough tables? Is it going to be too hot today? Will the hosts do a good job?
I wasn't supposed to host Serafemme, that's another story but I did and I had a lot of fun doing it. There's an unofficial decision out there that I am to host Serafemme every year and who knows I just might? Queen started the afternoon with a blessing, followed by a 4-person open mic (another point of the day's stress: is anyone going to participate in the open mic?) and then the festival started strong with Gia and the beginning of the day long running joke of all the things the sign language interpretors had to translate: "pass it around" "damn, you think" and "muthafucka" were some of our favorites.
Once the day started, it was nothing but bliss. The City, Ann-Marie and I had put together all the right elements and all we could do was sit back and do it. Unfortunately, many of our volunteers flaked on us but the CLV ladies took over at the front gate.
August 20th, 2006, we laughed and communed as one. Women brought their lawn chairs, their picnics, their sunglasses and their smiles. We listened to an entire afternoon of great music, bought some great vendor merchandise and chowed on some damn fine chicken. Over 500 women and absolutely no drama, 17 artists bringing their A-game. It was nuthin' but love and despite my own-self imposed stresses, it went over without a hitch. Serafemme was ordained for the community, that much was evident and the community came out to show their support.
I have no interst in patting myself on the back. I pat Ann-Marie and the City on the back, the June L Mazer Lesbian Archives, Christopher Street West and GLAAD. Those are the entities who believed in the festival and lent their financial support. I pat the artists on the back for being the brilliant musicians, dancers and poets they are. I pat Jasmyne Cannick on the back for helping with the publicity and Tongues Magazine, Butchlalis de Panochtitlan, Eyespyla & Jewel's Catch One for their community promotional support but more than anything, I pat the community on the back for supporting this effort both with their presence and their positivity. It was an exhausting experience but one that I love and look forward to bringing to the community year after year.
I told a friend of mine at the beginning of the year that I wasn't sure if Serafemme was going to happen this year because I was still exhausted from 2005. She gave me the gas face and told me to get it together because Serafemme 2005 was well-done and if nothing else, she personally wanted to see the event happen again.
*sigh*
It's not that I didn't want to do Serafemme, I most definitely, absolutely wanted to do Serafemme but I really felt overwhelmed last year and the thought of putting myself through that much work again wore me out. Nevertheless, Serafemme was a dream of mine (I say that a lot, I know, but it's true) and I wasn't content with only executing it once and letting it go. The venue last year was great but I knew that I wanted to do Serafemme later in the year this time, a time during the year when most people are back in school and the National One Archives is in a college town and not the most condusive spot at that that time of the year.
My own personal "Serafemme", Ann Giagni from the June Mazer Archives, is such an extraordinary person. Having only known me for about a year, her belief in me is unparalled. She believes in me and in Serafemme and is absolutely committed to making sure the festival succeeds year after year. It was Ann's idea to solicit support from the Lesbian Visibility Committee for the City of West Hollywood, a committee I'd joined after delivering a speech for their 2005 Dyke March. She came equipped with a complete presentation on why they should get behind the festival and I believe she got two sentences out before the Committee said "Sure!".
It was quickly decided that the Serafemme would be housed in West Hollywood Park and the Committee committed to sponsoring it at a certain level. So far, so good.
I'd designed the first run of flyers the same weekend as Long Beach Gay and Lesbian Pride and went about the task of getting the word out about the festival but it wasn't too long after that I found out that the Pacific Design Center located directly across the street from the park on San Vicente would be shutting down San Vicente on the same day as the festival - August 27th - for their Emmy party. That left me with two choices: change the date of the festival or change the time of the festival. Changing the time would mean that the festival could only run until 3PM at the latest and I would have had to hustle everyone out of the park immediatley afterwards so the PDC could set up for their party; parking would have been a nightmare and all the way around it would have been a frenetic, uncomfortable scenario so I had no choice but to change the date.
Changing the date turned out to be a blesssing because now the festival could go as long as I'd wanted (6PM), we were able to use the baseball field instead of trying to figure out how to baracade the actual park, parking would be a lot easier - in fact, we got free parking at the PDC thanks to the City and my buddy Krys who posed for the flyer could be there to see the festival before she took off for Denmark.
I asked 9 of the artists from last year's festival to return - Damnyo, Ricoshade, Angie Evans, Neb Luv, Skim, Gia, Nadirah Shakoor, Lori Jenaire & DJ Nova Jade and added some new ones: Kandi Cole, Madam Brown, Miki Vale, Red Summer from Chicago, J Scales from Maryland, Shurlavision, Jade Ross & Alison De La Cruz. With the space and the artists in place, the really big stuff was on lock.
Which just left: figuring out the layout of the space, photography, stage dimensions, decorations, color scheme, sound, vendors, volunteers, chairs, trash cans, canopies, artist bios, artist technical needs, artist bookings at local clubs, designing flyers, parking, designing a poster, and promotion-promotion-promotion both online and print. =)
My two saving graces were - the City of West Hollywood and Ann-Marie Williams. Corey Roskin and Daphne Dennis from the City are the most patient, accomodating people on the planet and answered every question, every concern and every need with a smile which can't be easy. Ann-Marie is a woman I met through the CLV (Committee for Lesbian Visibility) and she came across as responsible and together and I thought her working on the festival with me would give us a change to hang out. I had no idea she'd be the dynamo she turned out to be, this woman is brilliant. She's the most resourceful, responsible, go-to person I've met in a long time and she quickly became my right hand person. She took a huge load off my shoulders!
A month out of the festival I was stressed about some things, mostly vendors. A lot of the vendors I got a week out of the festival and the food vendor I got TWO DAYS BEFORE the festival after I did a desperate call to Alan-Michael, vendor contact for the ATB festival panicked that the attendees wouldn't have anything to eat. I would have loved for their to have been more variety in the type of food offered but I tried my best,I went to festivals and swap meets for months before Serafemme trying to gather every vendor I could but either Sundays or August 20th in particular just wasn't a convenient day but I did what I could and from what I've heard from people save for not having more food options, the vendors were pretty good.
The day of the festival I didn't feel ready. I'd wanted more vendors, wondered if there'd been enough promotion, wondered if anybody other than me was interested in a queer women of color music festival, worried that I'd forgotten something crucial, did the line-up flow well? Should I have put the poet where the hip hop artist was? Should I have switched the bassist with the poet? Is the layout okay? The baseball field looked like it was going to swallow the crowd, would the sightlines be okay? Do we have enough tables? Is it going to be too hot today? Will the hosts do a good job?
I wasn't supposed to host Serafemme, that's another story but I did and I had a lot of fun doing it. There's an unofficial decision out there that I am to host Serafemme every year and who knows I just might? Queen started the afternoon with a blessing, followed by a 4-person open mic (another point of the day's stress: is anyone going to participate in the open mic?) and then the festival started strong with Gia and the beginning of the day long running joke of all the things the sign language interpretors had to translate: "pass it around" "damn, you think" and "muthafucka" were some of our favorites.
Once the day started, it was nothing but bliss. The City, Ann-Marie and I had put together all the right elements and all we could do was sit back and do it. Unfortunately, many of our volunteers flaked on us but the CLV ladies took over at the front gate.
August 20th, 2006, we laughed and communed as one. Women brought their lawn chairs, their picnics, their sunglasses and their smiles. We listened to an entire afternoon of great music, bought some great vendor merchandise and chowed on some damn fine chicken. Over 500 women and absolutely no drama, 17 artists bringing their A-game. It was nuthin' but love and despite my own-self imposed stresses, it went over without a hitch. Serafemme was ordained for the community, that much was evident and the community came out to show their support.
I have no interst in patting myself on the back. I pat Ann-Marie and the City on the back, the June L Mazer Lesbian Archives, Christopher Street West and GLAAD. Those are the entities who believed in the festival and lent their financial support. I pat the artists on the back for being the brilliant musicians, dancers and poets they are. I pat Jasmyne Cannick on the back for helping with the publicity and Tongues Magazine, Butchlalis de Panochtitlan, Eyespyla & Jewel's Catch One for their community promotional support but more than anything, I pat the community on the back for supporting this effort both with their presence and their positivity. It was an exhausting experience but one that I love and look forward to bringing to the community year after year.
Serafemme
I've been threatening to write this blog for a while now but truthfully I hadn't really had the chance to sit still and put all my thoughts together until now.
I told a friend of mine at the beginning of the year that I wasn't sure if Serafemme was going to happen this year because I was still exhausted from 2005. She gave me the gas face and told me to get it together because Serafemme 2005 was well-done and if nothing else, she personally wanted to see the event happen again.
*sigh*
It's not that I didn't want to do Serafemme, I most definitely, absolutely wanted to do Serafemme but I really felt overwhelmed last year and the thought of putting myself through that much work again wore me out. Nevertheless, Serafemme was a dream of mine (I say that a lot, I know, but it's true) and I wasn't content with only executing it once and letting it go. The venue last year was great but I knew that I wanted to do Serafemme later in the year this time, a time during the year when most people are back in school and the National One Archives is in a college town and not the most condusive spot at that that time of the year.
My own personal "Serafemme", Ann Giagni from the June Mazer Archives, is such an extraordinary person. Having only known me for about a year, her belief in me is unparalled. She believes in me and in Serafemme and is absolutely committed to making sure the festival succeeds year after year. It was Ann's idea to solicit support from the Lesbian Visibility Committee for the City of West Hollywood, a committee I'd joined after delivering a speech for their 2005 Dyke March. She came equipped with a complete presentation on why they should get behind the festival and I believe she got two sentences out before the Committee said "Sure!".
It was quickly decided that the Serafemme would be housed in West Hollywood Park and the Committee committed to sponsoring it at a certain level. So far, so good.
I'd designed the first run of flyers the same weekend as Long Beach Gay and Lesbian Pride and went about the task of getting the word out about the festival but it wasn't too long after that I found out that the Pacific Design Center located directly across the street from the park on San Vicente would be shutting down San Vicente on the same day as the festival - August 27th - for their Emmy party. That left me with two choices: change the date of the festival or change the time of the festival. Changing the time would mean that the festival could only run until 3PM at the latest and I would have had to hustle everyone out of the park immediatley afterwards so the PDC could set up for their party; parking would have been a nightmare and all the way around it would have been a frenetic, uncomfortable scenario so I had no choice but to change the date.
Changing the date turned out to be a blesssing because now the festival could go as long as I'd wanted (6PM), we were able to use the baseball field instead of trying to figure out how to baracade the actual park, parking would be a lot easier - in fact, we got free parking at the PDC thanks to the City and my buddy Krys who posed for the flyer could be there to see the festival before she took off for Denmark.
I asked 9 of the artists from last year's festival to return - Damnyo, Ricoshade, Angie Evans, Neb Luv, Skim, Gia, Nadirah Shakoor, Lori Jenaire & DJ Nova Jade and added some new ones: Kandi Cole, Madam Brown, Miki Vale, Red Summer from Chicago, J Scales from Maryland, Shurlavision, Jade Ross & Alison De La Cruz. With the space and the artists in place, the really big stuff was on lock.
Which just left: figuring out the layout of the space, photography, stage dimensions, decorations, color scheme, sound, vendors, volunteers, chairs, trash cans, canopies, artist bios, artist technical needs, artist bookings at local clubs, designing flyers, parking, designing a poster, and promotion-promotion-promotion both online and print. =)
My two saving graces were - the City of West Hollywood and Ann-Marie Williams. Corey Roskin and Daphne Dennis from the City are the most patient, accomodating people on the planet and answered every question, every concern and every need with a smile which can't be easy. Ann-Marie is a woman I met through the CLV (Committee for Lesbian Visibility) and she came across as responsible and together and I thought her working on the festival with me would give us a change to hang out. I had no idea she'd be the dynamo she turned out to be, this woman is brilliant. She's the most resourceful, responsible, go-to person I've met in a long time and she quickly became my right hand person. She took a huge load off my shoulders!
A month out of the festival I was stressed about some things, mostly vendors. A lot of the vendors I got a week out of the festival and the food vendor I got TWO DAYS BEFORE the festival after I did a desperate call to Alan-Michael, vendor contact for the ATB festival panicked that the attendees wouldn't have anything to eat. I would have loved for their to have been more variety in the type of food offered but I tried my best,I went to festivals and swap meets for months before Serafemme trying to gather every vendor I could but either Sundays or August 20th in particular just wasn't a convenient day but I did what I could and from what I've heard from people save for not having more food options, the vendors were pretty good.
The day of the festival I didn't feel ready. I'd wanted more vendors, wondered if there'd been enough promotion, wondered if anybody other than me was interested in a queer women of color music festival, worried that I'd forgotten something crucial, did the line-up flow well? Should I have put the poet where the hip hop artist was? Should I have switched the bassist with the poet? Is the layout okay? The baseball field looked like it was going to swallow the crowd, would the sightlines be okay? Do we have enough tables? Is it going to be too hot today? Will the hosts do a good job?
I wasn't supposed to host Serafemme, that's another story but I did and I had a lot of fun doing it. There's an unofficial decision out there that I am to host Serafemme every year and who knows I just might? Queen started the afternoon with a blessing, followed by a 4-person open mic (another point of the day's stress: is anyone going to participate in the open mic?) and then the festival started strong with Gia and the beginning of the day long running joke of all the things the sign language interpretors had to translate: "pass it around" "damn, you think" and "muthafucka" were some of our favorites.
Once the day started, it was nothing but bliss. The City, Ann-Marie and I had put together all the right elements and all we could do was sit back and do it. Unfortunately, many of our volunteers flaked on us but the CLV ladies took over at the front gate.
August 20th, 2006, we laughed and communed as one. Women brought their lawn chairs, their picnics, their sunglasses and their smiles. We listened to an entire afternoon of great music, bought some great vendor merchandise and chowed on some damn fine chicken. Over 500 women and absolutely no drama, 17 artists bringing their A-game. It was nuthin' but love and despite my own-self imposed stresses, it went over without a hitch. Serafemme was ordained for the community, that much was evident and the community came out to show their support.
I have no interst in patting myself on the back. I pat Ann-Marie and the City on the back, the June L Mazer Lesbian Archives, Christopher Street West and GLAAD. Those are the entities who believed in the festival and lent their financial support. I pat the artists on the back for being the brilliant musicians, dancers and poets they are. I pat Jasmyne Cannick on the back for helping with the publicity and Tongues Magazine, Butchlalis de Panochtitlan, Eyespyla & Jewel's Catch One for their community promotional support but more than anything, I pat the community on the back for supporting this effort both with their presence and their positivity. It was an exhausting experience but one that I love and look forward to bringing to the community year after year.
I told a friend of mine at the beginning of the year that I wasn't sure if Serafemme was going to happen this year because I was still exhausted from 2005. She gave me the gas face and told me to get it together because Serafemme 2005 was well-done and if nothing else, she personally wanted to see the event happen again.
*sigh*
It's not that I didn't want to do Serafemme, I most definitely, absolutely wanted to do Serafemme but I really felt overwhelmed last year and the thought of putting myself through that much work again wore me out. Nevertheless, Serafemme was a dream of mine (I say that a lot, I know, but it's true) and I wasn't content with only executing it once and letting it go. The venue last year was great but I knew that I wanted to do Serafemme later in the year this time, a time during the year when most people are back in school and the National One Archives is in a college town and not the most condusive spot at that that time of the year.
My own personal "Serafemme", Ann Giagni from the June Mazer Archives, is such an extraordinary person. Having only known me for about a year, her belief in me is unparalled. She believes in me and in Serafemme and is absolutely committed to making sure the festival succeeds year after year. It was Ann's idea to solicit support from the Lesbian Visibility Committee for the City of West Hollywood, a committee I'd joined after delivering a speech for their 2005 Dyke March. She came equipped with a complete presentation on why they should get behind the festival and I believe she got two sentences out before the Committee said "Sure!".
It was quickly decided that the Serafemme would be housed in West Hollywood Park and the Committee committed to sponsoring it at a certain level. So far, so good.
I'd designed the first run of flyers the same weekend as Long Beach Gay and Lesbian Pride and went about the task of getting the word out about the festival but it wasn't too long after that I found out that the Pacific Design Center located directly across the street from the park on San Vicente would be shutting down San Vicente on the same day as the festival - August 27th - for their Emmy party. That left me with two choices: change the date of the festival or change the time of the festival. Changing the time would mean that the festival could only run until 3PM at the latest and I would have had to hustle everyone out of the park immediatley afterwards so the PDC could set up for their party; parking would have been a nightmare and all the way around it would have been a frenetic, uncomfortable scenario so I had no choice but to change the date.
Changing the date turned out to be a blesssing because now the festival could go as long as I'd wanted (6PM), we were able to use the baseball field instead of trying to figure out how to baracade the actual park, parking would be a lot easier - in fact, we got free parking at the PDC thanks to the City and my buddy Krys who posed for the flyer could be there to see the festival before she took off for Denmark.
I asked 9 of the artists from last year's festival to return - Damnyo, Ricoshade, Angie Evans, Neb Luv, Skim, Gia, Nadirah Shakoor, Lori Jenaire & DJ Nova Jade and added some new ones: Kandi Cole, Madam Brown, Miki Vale, Red Summer from Chicago, J Scales from Maryland, Shurlavision, Jade Ross & Alison De La Cruz. With the space and the artists in place, the really big stuff was on lock.
Which just left: figuring out the layout of the space, photography, stage dimensions, decorations, color scheme, sound, vendors, volunteers, chairs, trash cans, canopies, artist bios, artist technical needs, artist bookings at local clubs, designing flyers, parking, designing a poster, and promotion-promotion-promotion both online and print. =)
My two saving graces were - the City of West Hollywood and Ann-Marie Williams. Corey Roskin and Daphne Dennis from the City are the most patient, accomodating people on the planet and answered every question, every concern and every need with a smile which can't be easy. Ann-Marie is a woman I met through the CLV (Committee for Lesbian Visibility) and she came across as responsible and together and I thought her working on the festival with me would give us a change to hang out. I had no idea she'd be the dynamo she turned out to be, this woman is brilliant. She's the most resourceful, responsible, go-to person I've met in a long time and she quickly became my right hand person. She took a huge load off my shoulders!
A month out of the festival I was stressed about some things, mostly vendors. A lot of the vendors I got a week out of the festival and the food vendor I got TWO DAYS BEFORE the festival after I did a desperate call to Alan-Michael, vendor contact for the ATB festival panicked that the attendees wouldn't have anything to eat. I would have loved for their to have been more variety in the type of food offered but I tried my best,I went to festivals and swap meets for months before Serafemme trying to gather every vendor I could but either Sundays or August 20th in particular just wasn't a convenient day but I did what I could and from what I've heard from people save for not having more food options, the vendors were pretty good.
The day of the festival I didn't feel ready. I'd wanted more vendors, wondered if there'd been enough promotion, wondered if anybody other than me was interested in a queer women of color music festival, worried that I'd forgotten something crucial, did the line-up flow well? Should I have put the poet where the hip hop artist was? Should I have switched the bassist with the poet? Is the layout okay? The baseball field looked like it was going to swallow the crowd, would the sightlines be okay? Do we have enough tables? Is it going to be too hot today? Will the hosts do a good job?
I wasn't supposed to host Serafemme, that's another story but I did and I had a lot of fun doing it. There's an unofficial decision out there that I am to host Serafemme every year and who knows I just might? Queen started the afternoon with a blessing, followed by a 4-person open mic (another point of the day's stress: is anyone going to participate in the open mic?) and then the festival started strong with Gia and the beginning of the day long running joke of all the things the sign language interpretors had to translate: "pass it around" "damn, you think" and "muthafucka" were some of our favorites.
Once the day started, it was nothing but bliss. The City, Ann-Marie and I had put together all the right elements and all we could do was sit back and do it. Unfortunately, many of our volunteers flaked on us but the CLV ladies took over at the front gate.
August 20th, 2006, we laughed and communed as one. Women brought their lawn chairs, their picnics, their sunglasses and their smiles. We listened to an entire afternoon of great music, bought some great vendor merchandise and chowed on some damn fine chicken. Over 500 women and absolutely no drama, 17 artists bringing their A-game. It was nuthin' but love and despite my own-self imposed stresses, it went over without a hitch. Serafemme was ordained for the community, that much was evident and the community came out to show their support.
I have no interst in patting myself on the back. I pat Ann-Marie and the City on the back, the June L Mazer Lesbian Archives, Christopher Street West and GLAAD. Those are the entities who believed in the festival and lent their financial support. I pat the artists on the back for being the brilliant musicians, dancers and poets they are. I pat Jasmyne Cannick on the back for helping with the publicity and Tongues Magazine, Butchlalis de Panochtitlan, Eyespyla & Jewel's Catch One for their community promotional support but more than anything, I pat the community on the back for supporting this effort both with their presence and their positivity. It was an exhausting experience but one that I love and look forward to bringing to the community year after year.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Unlike India, I am my hair
So...the only other black woman on the floor told me yesterday that she got upset with someone recently who asked her why I wear my hair the way I do.Apparently this unnamed person asked her why I don't wear my hair the way she does - straight and processed - to which she replied that she liked my hair and asked Unnmaed Person what was wrong with my hair.
"Well, it's not very professional" was the reply.
Interesting.
We work in an environment where jeans and baseball caps are the norm, curse like sailors and watch the World Cup throughout the day. Professional?
The software developers have abandoned their chairs for exercise balls because they're fun to roll around in but my hair is not professional?
Despite the fact that I wear 3 1/2" heels everyday, work entirely by myself and get all my work done, my hair belies my professionalism.
Whatever shall I do? Go get my hair "trained" by pressing it on a weekly basis or subject my hair to an array of chemicals so that I can then be "professional" in an environment that doesn't call for any?
I've worn my hair natural for almost exactly 10 years, it grows out my mf'in head this way and aside from those 3 years when it wanted to get real wavy on a sistah, it's always been thick and defiant...just like me.
I'm curious to who Unnamed Person is, I'd love to have a sit down with him about this "professionalism" thing and call on him to show me one "professional" thing not only in our office but in Hollywood as a whole where professional is relative. We're all still making movies and making moves and I still have a strong work ethic and motivation regardless of what my hair looks like. I'm still polite, work quickly and am willing to help wherever I'm needed. I speak to everyone in a respectful tone, show up on time and always look nice. My contract here has been extended repeatedly while other people who came in with me and before me have been terminated. I left for what I thought to be a better opportunity and within 24 hours was asked to come back.
My bad, I thought THAT was professionalism.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Monday, June 12, 2006
My Dyke March Speech...
Good evening :
My name is Marquita Thomas, founder of Out&About, a social, networking and activist organization for lesbians of color. I am also the producer of Serafemme, the queer women of color music festival taking place August 20th at West Hollywood Park Baseball Field
I would like to thank the mayor of West Hollywood, the City of West Hollywood, Christopher Street West and the Committee for Lesbian Visibility for continuing the dyke march and for addressing the need for lesbian visibility.
When we take on the issue of lesbian visibility, we address the question of where are you?. To that, we respond: We are in West Hollywood, we are in Silverlake, we are in Leimert Park, we are in San Francisco, we are in Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, Kalamazoo, we are in the faraway unknown parts of the map and as close as the seat next to you. We are teaching children, raising families, in the Senate and on your television. We are making you laugh, making you think, making you wonder and changing the world.
Having said that, we can not address the issue of lesbian visibility with just where we are physically, we must too address where we came from and pay homage to our lesbian ancestors without whose contributions we would not be standing here today. After answering the question: Where are you? we must also answer the question of who are you? and in one collective resounding voice we must say:
I am we.
I am the woman who was institutionalized for dressing as a man.
I am Lucy Ann Lobdell
I am the woman beheaded, stoned, assaulted or jailed for being gay.
I am Sakia Gunn. I am Brandon Tina
I am the pink and black triangles of the Holocaust.
I am the Stonewall Rebellion.
I am the women who defiantly wrote songs and poetry about their love for women
I am Ma Rainey; I am Bessie Smith; I am June Jordan; I am Audre Lourde; I am Rita Mae Brown;
I am the political lesbian who did not accept exclusion from traditional political organizations
I am the Daughters of Bilitis; I am Elaine Noble; I am Margarethe Cammermeyer;
I am the lesbian fighting to adopt a child and the lesbian couple trying to conceive.
I am the black lesbian persecuted by her pastor. I am the lesbian of Asian descent dealing with the absence of accurate and decent representations in the commercial and political sectors of mainstream artistic circles.
I am Merle Woo; I am Ivy Bottini.
I am the immigrant lesbian who fled her country to avoid persecution; I am dont ask, dont tell; I am the underrepresented lesbian youth and lesbian elders; I am the lesbian clergy.
I am the gay activist fighting against the federal amendment;
I am all the lesbians who stand at the forefront of revolution and inspire change:
I am Meshell Ndegeocello; I am kd lang; I am Jasmyne Cannick; I am Lorri Jean; I am Sheila Kuehl ; I am Pat Langlois; I am Patti DiLuigi; I am Rita Gonzales; I am Jen Gomez; I am Marquita Thomas. I am love. I am Pride. I am equal.
Thank you.
My name is Marquita Thomas, founder of Out&About, a social, networking and activist organization for lesbians of color. I am also the producer of Serafemme, the queer women of color music festival taking place August 20th at West Hollywood Park Baseball Field
I would like to thank the mayor of West Hollywood, the City of West Hollywood, Christopher Street West and the Committee for Lesbian Visibility for continuing the dyke march and for addressing the need for lesbian visibility.
When we take on the issue of lesbian visibility, we address the question of where are you?. To that, we respond: We are in West Hollywood, we are in Silverlake, we are in Leimert Park, we are in San Francisco, we are in Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, Kalamazoo, we are in the faraway unknown parts of the map and as close as the seat next to you. We are teaching children, raising families, in the Senate and on your television. We are making you laugh, making you think, making you wonder and changing the world.
Having said that, we can not address the issue of lesbian visibility with just where we are physically, we must too address where we came from and pay homage to our lesbian ancestors without whose contributions we would not be standing here today. After answering the question: Where are you? we must also answer the question of who are you? and in one collective resounding voice we must say:
I am we.
I am the woman who was institutionalized for dressing as a man.
I am Lucy Ann Lobdell
I am the woman beheaded, stoned, assaulted or jailed for being gay.
I am Sakia Gunn. I am Brandon Tina
I am the pink and black triangles of the Holocaust.
I am the Stonewall Rebellion.
I am the women who defiantly wrote songs and poetry about their love for women
I am Ma Rainey; I am Bessie Smith; I am June Jordan; I am Audre Lourde; I am Rita Mae Brown;
I am the political lesbian who did not accept exclusion from traditional political organizations
I am the Daughters of Bilitis; I am Elaine Noble; I am Margarethe Cammermeyer;
I am the lesbian fighting to adopt a child and the lesbian couple trying to conceive.
I am the black lesbian persecuted by her pastor. I am the lesbian of Asian descent dealing with the absence of accurate and decent representations in the commercial and political sectors of mainstream artistic circles.
I am Merle Woo; I am Ivy Bottini.
I am the immigrant lesbian who fled her country to avoid persecution; I am dont ask, dont tell; I am the underrepresented lesbian youth and lesbian elders; I am the lesbian clergy.
I am the gay activist fighting against the federal amendment;
I am all the lesbians who stand at the forefront of revolution and inspire change:
I am Meshell Ndegeocello; I am kd lang; I am Jasmyne Cannick; I am Lorri Jean; I am Sheila Kuehl ; I am Pat Langlois; I am Patti DiLuigi; I am Rita Gonzales; I am Jen Gomez; I am Marquita Thomas. I am love. I am Pride. I am equal.
Thank you.
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