I am knowledge. February 26, 2009
Posted by Adrien in reflections.Tags: knowledge
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This morning, I insert myself towards the back of the 30 line bus as the crowd thins after the Stockton tunnel, as it usually does. Half the Chinese people on this sardine can get off at the first stop in the heart of Chinatown.
Finding my seat, a middle-aged Asian woman across the aisle to my right, smiles at me in her unfortunately unflattering sleaveless red top. I politely say hello and wave, thinking I might have met her before somewhere at my work or something. I was wrong.
She says hello back and begins to laugh. She must be the happiest woman on this bus. I smile at her. She points to me then motions towards her face gesturing as if adjusting eye glasses.
She says “Knowledge” and laughs some more. Without needing to speak further I know what she’s saying.
Yes. Apparently. I am knowledge in human form.
Om February 20, 2009
Posted by Adrien in reflections.Tags: Buddha, Enlightenment, Gautama, Siddhartha
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I have been sick recently and in the last two days I have been randomly lightheaded throughout the day. I am also re-centering my emotions and spirit, and I thought maybe the two are related …
me: i just coughed and then got light headed
maybe they are correlated
L: maybe
how do your lungs feel
me: they feel fine
omigsosh you dont think i have tb or something do you
L: lol i’m sorry i don’t know why i’m laughing about the situation..
me: its okay
i am only running wild with my imagination
L: i hate when you reach hypochondriac status
“what’s wrong with me?!???? am i dying??!”
me: yeaaah except i think that or also “what’s happening? am i reaching an new state of consciousness!!??”
maybe light headedness is the first stage before i see everything as pure energy
L: hahahaha
calm down siddhartha gautama
me: LOLZ
Make movies! February 20, 2009
Posted by Adrien in opportunities.Tags: Asian, Asian American film, Film Festival
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Film festivals for Asians all over! Go be a star!
(Repost via Hyphen)
From the east coast to the west, February brings opportunities to filmmakers everywhere.
With a record number of nearly 18,000 attendees last year, the San Diego Film Festival returns for its 10th year. Be part of the celebration of Asian American media by submitting your own shorts, animation, feature length, documentary or music videos. There’s a minimum cash prize of $1,000 for the Jury Winner and all films are automatically entered into competition. Think about that: way better odds than the Lotto. The festival is in October, but the April 30th early deadline for entries is sooner than you think, so visit their website for more information.
Another deadline is right around the corner, and that’s for the 9th Annual Slant: Bold Asian American Images in Houston, Texas. As a festival of short films, covering all kinds of genres, it will sure appeal to people who like to get to the good stuff quickly. It’s also worth mentioning that the festival’s curator is Hyphen’s own founding editor, Melissa Hung! Deadline is February 23rd so do make sure you postmark accordingly. Follow this link to read up on more details, and act fast.
In New York, gears churn for the next Asian American International Film Festival. Their regular deadline is tomorrow — but don’t panic. The final deadline gives you until February 25th. With six categories currently accepting submissions, they are looking for films of different strokes to please the many different folks. Follow their submission guideline here, and take part in the first and longest running festival to recognize the works of Asian American filmmakers.
Your camerawork wants to fly. Set it free.
Friday Zen February 20, 2009
Posted by Adrien in sightings.Tags: Blame Ringo, Garble Arch, Lucky Number 9
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“Garble Arch” by Blame Ringo (from Lucky Number 9)
Hard truth about being a man February 19, 2009
Posted by Adrien in sightings.Tags: Best of Craigslist, Craigslist
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Reading this made me cringe at times (sexism) and sigh at times (truth) and forgive the writer at other times (truth after sexism). I don’t agree with everything, but it is truly worth your read. Here is an excerpt of some things that hit me.
Advice to Young Men from an Old Man
(from best of craigslist, February 2007 — italics mine)
4. Get in a fistfight, even if you are going to lose.
8. Don’t take proffered advice without a critical analysis. …
10. Don’t undermine your fellow young men. Mentor the young men that come after you. Society recognizes that you have the potential to be the most power force in society. It scares them. Society does not find young men sympathetic. They are afraid of you, both individually and collectively. Law enforcement’s primary purpose is to suppress you.
11. As a young man, you’re on your own. Society divides and conquers. Unlike women who have advocates looking out for them (NOW, Women’s Study Departments, government, non-profit organizations, political advocacy groups) almost no one is looking out for you.
14. Don’t be afraid to tell people to “Fuck off” when need be. It is an important skill to acquire. As they say, speak your piece, even if your voice shakes.
30. Remember, 97% of all advice is worthless. Take what you can use, and trash the rest.
Read the full list from best of craigslist.
my future lover February 17, 2009
Posted by Adrien in poems.1 comment so far
knows the difference between
will
and
shall
we shall find each other
we shall love
and love
I will not fall in love with your bones and skin February 17, 2009
Posted by Adrien in quotes, reflections.Tags: Andre Jordan
3 comments
This is the kind of lover I am.
… I only care about the words that flutter from your mind. They are the only thing you truly own. The only thing I will remember you by. I will not fall in love with your bones and skin. I will not fall in love with the places you have been. I will not fall in love with anything but the words that flutter from your extraordinary mind.
Post-Presidents Day Lincolnian realization February 17, 2009
Posted by Adrien in quotes.Tags: Lincoln
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I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races-that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this, that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I, as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.
~Abraham Lincoln
Strange reflections that Abraham Lincoln was a President moved not by personal will but by the forces of history. As Frederick Douglass wrote of him in 1876:
Viewed from genuine abolition ground, Mr. Lincoln seemed tardy, cold, dull and indifferent; but measuring him by the sentiment of his country, a sentiment he was bound as a statesman to consult, he was swift, zealous, radical, and determined.
Spotted at Change.org.
Which savage? February 13, 2009
Posted by Adrien in quotes.add a comment
“They have this idea that Lakotas are (or at least were) a primitive people in relation to Europe. any rational person would have to ask what’s so “primitive” about a people which manage to maintain a perpetually democratic way of life, which shared all social power equitably between both sexes and various age groups, which considered war essentially a game rather than an excuse to indulge in the wanton slaughter of masses of people, which killed game only for food rather than a “sport,” which managed to occupy its environment for thousands and thousands of years without substantially altering it (that is to say, destroying it). That same rational person would have to ask why any sane individual would not choose to live that way if the chance were available, or aspire towards such an existence if the chance wasn’t immediate.
That same rational person would then have to ask what’s so “advanced” about a culture which generates authoritarianism and dictatorship as a social norm, which deprives its women, its ethnic minorities, its elders and its youth of any true social power, which engages in the most lethal warfare on a regular basis and has left perhaps a half billion mangled bodies in its wake during this century alone, which is eliminating entire species of plants and animal life forever and without real concern, and which has utterly devastated the environment of this continent in approximately two centuries. Finally, that same rational person would have to ask what sort of lunatic would choose to switch from the first way of life to the second….”- Frank Black Elk
(From Salma.)
The 5th Anniversary of The SF Valentine Weekend Revolution February 12, 2009
Posted by Adrien in reflections, sightings.Tags: Gavin Newsom, gay marriage, LGBT, Prop 8, Proposition 8, queer, San Francisco
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Today is the 5th Anniversary of Gay Marriage in California. Five years ago to this day, the City and County of San Francisco began issuing marriage licenses.
Here is today’s statement from the Office of the Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom:
MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM’S STATEMENT ON THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
Five years ago, same-sex marriages united the city and expanded our capacity to imagine, achieve, and believe in a more equal and just society.
Looking back to that moment in time, five years ago, when the City of San Francisco first celebrated same-sex marriage, there is the indelible image of the faces of couples and families who came together that day. This is very personal to me, because I saw in those faces the importance of recognizing same-sex marriage as an expression of human commitment. I’ve seen the faces of people whose lives were changed for the better by official recognition of their value, faces like those of Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, whose relationship spanned five decades, and were the first same-sex couple to be married in San Francisco.
Official recognition by the City of San Francisco changed the lives of our citizens for the better, and transformed the consciousness of the nation in its progress towards justice for all. We celebrate and proclaim the fifth anniversary in that spirit.
Do you remember the feeling of history?
More images after the jump.
