Making / things that I break / to fix them / and break them again / I pass my time
photo taken 2006 in Granada, Spain from a moving car

Yesterday I watched this Frontline documentary about kids getting life imprisonment. According to the website, “the United States is one of the only countries in the world that allows children under 18 to be sentenced to life without parole.” This topic has interested me ever since learning that my current state of residence, NC, has sentenced children ages 13 and 14 to life imprisonment. Youth can be tried as adults in every state in the union, and over 2300 people are serving life imprisonment without parole, for crimes they committed under the age of 18.

Some other relevant information that highlights the inadequacy of punishing children with life in jail:

– Youth lack adult capabilities: kids brains aren’t as developed as adult’s brains, particularly in areas related to impulse control, risk assessment and moral reasoning.

– Racial/Class Bias: black youth arrested for murder are significantly more likely to be sentenced to life without parole than white youth arrested for the same crime. White youth are more likely than black youth to hire private counsel.

– Cycles of Abuse: youth imprisoned for life are frequently victims of parental neglect and abuse.

– Prison Rape: youth placed in adult penitentiaries are frequent targets of rape by older inmates.

This information is particularly striking when considering that three NC death row inmates have been freed within the past six months, with judges citing inadequate evidence and flaws in their defense. Today the NC General Assembly held a special hearing on the death penalty (we currently have an unofficial moratorium on all executions).

If these adults have been represented improperly, what’s the likelihood that children serving life sentences have been as well? I hate to think of the wasted potential of so many children… just passing time.

Collage made from construction paper, pictures from magazines ( BUST and a Target circular), and plastic sanitary pad packaging; inspired by premenstrual rage and cramps.

It’s that time of the month where I feel like ripping people’s faces off. I want to lock myself in my room, eating chocolate and watching romantic comedies and/or Frontline documentaries. Popping Advil and other painkillers as necessary.

Yes, I love my period as much as any gal. It can be painful and emotionally wrenching, but also kind of nice to have a reminder that your body is working the way it’s supposed to. Plus, didn’t you know that menstruation created the world?

Sometimes I long for a Red Tent right here and now. Others, I feel really lucky to have a room, chocolate, and various forms of entertainment to retreat to during this special yet annoying time. It’s actually kind of perfect.

Stencil found outside Carrboro police department parking lot. Interestingly, this stencil was up for several months before being scrubbed off recently.

No, I’m not actually advocating running over cops, and I don’t think they’re all pigs. They’re human beings doing their jobs. Sometimes I feel safer when police are around, for example directing traffic late at night. My criticism is not with all individual police officers, but a system that enables police misconduct and police brutality. My beef is with police who abuse their power.

The three members of the NYPD who shot and killed Sean Bell in 2006 were acquitted last week. Despite over 50 witnesses who saw the undercover officers shoot Bell 50 times, the judge found them not guilty. Among the many disturbing elements of this case, a few stand out to me:

1) The excessive use of force. Why did one officer reload his gun, shooting Bell over 30 times? Properly trained officers should only need one well-aimed shot to critically injure a suspect.

2) The police were undercover, and approached Bell’s car with a gun. If someone wearing civilian clothes approached you with a gun, wouldn’t you try to get away as quickly as possible?

3) According to an editorial in The New York Times, “undercover officers said that they stayed within the allowed limit of two alcoholic beverages, but they were not tested.” I was unaware that police can drink on the job. Alcohol impairs judgment and diminishes performance, which leads most employers to forbid drinking at work. Why is the police department any different? Perhaps a drink may be helpful during certain undercover operations, but why were no breathalyser tests performed, as they would be on any alleged violent offender found outside a bar?

4) All three officers are still employed by the NYPD and, according to another article, “are all eager to get back to regular police work.” How can New Yorkers be assured that the officers will not behave similarly in the future?

This case bears chilling resemblance to the 1999 shooting death of West African immigrant Amadou Diallou by four members of the NYPD. Police officers shot Diallo 41 times while he stood on his stoop, and were later acquitted of all charges. Shortly after the verdict, two more young unarmed black men were killed by the NYPD: Patrick Dorismond was fatally shot by an undercover narcotics officer, and Malcolm Ferguson was killed by an undercover officer during a drug bust in the Bronx. None of these police officers were ever charged with or found guilty of any crimes.

Then-police commissioner Howard Safir was widely criticized for mismanagement, while then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s Street Crime Unit (responsible for most of these incidents of police brutality) was eventually disbanded. Please note that both men developed prostate cancer shortly after this wave of police violence, which curtailed their immediate career advancement. Safir stepped down from his position as commissioner, while Giuliani, in circumstances that would be repeated nearly eight years later, dropped out of the 2000 race for Senate against Hillary Clinton. Interestingly, some members of the Haitian voodoo community claimed responsibility for their illnesses.

The moral of this story? Methinks we need a little voodoo magic back in NY.

I wrote this in 2001 and it’s still relevant. Especially the last line: “no one is expendable.”

A love letter in mini-zine format to my once-adopted hometown, Cleveland, OH. I made this almost 5 years ago, upon leaving Cleveland to travel across country.

Title page: Leaving Cleveland

Page 2: People say you can surf Lake Eerie.

Page 3: Cleveland is toxic but I love it and I love you all. You are all the twisted seeds that grow up crooked and strong, determined and stubborn from the mercury-laden soil — you are all so lovely growing in the heat, my friends. I wish for you to continue growing on your crooked, stubborn, and wildly colorful path, and I’ll grow on mine.

This stencil pasted onto an electrical box is located on Main Street in downtown Carrboro, NC. I am holding one corner down because it started peeling off (see below to view without my finger).

I love the smart people in my town who are making public art regarding immediate concerns, even though I don’t know who they are.

It’s the economy, stupid. An article in The Economist points to four major factors contributing to the looming US recession which is already affecting so many Americans: housing prices, credit, food & fuel prices, and unemployment.

On the first issue, housing, it is estimated that millions of Americans will lose their homes due to sub-prime mortgages. According to the BBC, one in ten houses in my former home of Cleveland, OH is now vacant. It may be useful to consider the parties responsible for this crisis: many people are pointing to Alan Greenspan’s (mis)handling of interest rates as Fed chairman, while Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson, who leaves office this week, encouraged sub-prime lending.

On food and fuel prices: oil prices reached a record high this Wednesday at $115/barrel, while food prices are affecting school lunch menus in US schools. The US economic slowdown has had a ripple effect throughout the world, as political and economic leaders acknowledge food prices have reached “emergency proportions” in developing countries.

Yes, this is all quite sobering news. For some much-needed comic relief, I turn to The Majesticons’ 2003 album “The Beauty Party,” a satiric, melodic hip-hop exploration into lifestyles of the rich and fabulous: “Alan Greenspan, get your hands up! Billy Gates, get your hands up!”

Update 4/12/08: Listen to Iraqi feminist leader Yanar Mohammed describe the violence facing women in her country on yesterday’s Democracy Now! Among other issues, Mohammed estimates that 20 percent of Iraqi women have turned to some form of prostitution to support their families, due to a crumbling economy and a war that has created almost one million widows. Mohammed is in the US as part of the V to the Tenth celebration this weekend in New Orleans… wish I could be there!

This stencil was found on Thompson St., NYC, during late fall 2007. Notice that the dove is carrying the bomb in its claws and a spear in its beak. At first I thought the bird was whisking the bomb away to dispose of it safely, but now I look closer and see a different story.

I am thinking of this now as recent reports on women in Iraq illuminate facts about the treatment of “the gentler sex” during this dirty war.

First: two women testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday about how they were raped by fellow employees and US soldiers while working as military contractors with KBR/Halliburton in southern Iraq. Interestingly, former CEO Dick Cheney was responsible for drafting some of the policy that is making it difficult for these survivors to seek legal accountability. According to an article in The Nation, “employees like [survivor Jamie Leigh] Jones signed away their constitutional right to a jury trial.”

Update 5/13/08: I am pleased to report that Jamie Leigh Jones’ case actually will be going to trial. Last week a Texas judge ruled that Jones would be able to take her case to court, rather than be settled in private arbitration, as her KBR contract specified. You know what they say: don’t mess with Texas…

Second: this week an article in Newsweek explores how the surge may be negatively affecting Iraqi women. Tribal militias, or the Awakening (Sahwa in Iraqi Arabic), have seized power from insurgents; but leadership seems uneven and reactionary, in particular relating to women’s issues. Some tribal sheiks have ordered women to stop driving, forced them to wear the head scarf, and even encouraged “honor killings” for women accused of having sex outside of marriage. Read more about the disintegration of women’s rights under the US occupation in Women for Women International’s 2008 Iraq Report.

Third: I was listening to Manu Chao’s latest album, and really like the song “Rainin’ in Paradize:” “In Baghdad it’s not democracy, That’s just because it’s a US country!” The video is awesome, fun, cartoon-like and serious all at once. Watch it here.

Photo from Macy’s Spring 2008 catalog, The Magic of Spring, pp. 46-47 

Last weekend I was waiting for a friend to try on clothes in Macy’s menswear department when, bored out of my mind, I sat down and started paging through the Spring 2008 catalogs they had strewn about the little table in the waiting area. Lo and behold, amidst the ubiquitous photo spreads of prep school types wearing polo shirts, suits and ties, and the oh-so-carefully unbuttoned button-down shirts, pages 46-47 show some homeboys casually loitering on the beach by a graffiti-painted wall, with some tagged palm trees in the background.

The text on this photo spread reads “Go Graphic,” while the appropriately scowling African American men don clothing emblazoned with graffiti-style writing and pictures (the purple t-shirt the center guy is wearing has letters written in the LA-Chicano style of 1950’s-era graffiti, while the model on the left sports jeans appliquéd in sequins to approximate a sailor-type tattoo).

Is the graphic design particularly interesting or unique? Not necessarily. Will Macy*s make bank from appropriating outsider, illegal, and/or fringe art, while most graffiti writers never hope to profit from their work? Probably. Is their marketing department marginalizing young black men in their fashion layouts? Undoubtedly.

But the real question is: Who knew LL Cool J had his own clothing line?

Update 3/29: For more tranny performance, I was able to check out the Tranny Roadshow last night, during their US tour stop in NC. Highlights included the all-girl garage rock band The Degenerettes, which made a lotta people dance. For more on the Iraq War, read the recent New Yorker article on Abu Ghraib military officer and photographer Sabrina Harman. I learned that at least one torture technique used on Iraqis originated in Israeli prisons.

This stencil was found on the Carrboro bike path, spray-painted on back of a metal street sign. I recognize the image from Tim Tum: a trans jew zine, made by Micah Bazant back around 2000. It is a great zine, and I highly recommend people read the section on trans etiquette. (Note: the interlocking circles in the center of this person’s chest is the hobo symbol for “don’t give up”.)

In other gender-bending news, The Cuntry Kings based right here in Durham, NC are just about the sexiest, most fun, intelligent, thoughtful and dance-able drag troupe I’ve ever seen! They performed this past weekend at drag.esque, addressing a range of issues from factory farming to immigration, all while making the crowd dance to songs by Madonna!

I think we’re gonna need to remember to keep dancing while we learn, yearn and struggle… ’cause serious stuff is continuing to affect our world. As of yesterday, 4,000 US soldiers have died fighting the war in Iraq, just after its fifth anniversary. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of al-Nakba (the catastrophe), which created a homeland for Jewish people in Israel, while totally displacing and destroying the homes, possessions, trees and livelihoods of thousands of Palestinians.

But like Micah and the hobos say: don’t give up . . . . . . . . . . . .

This bunny was painted on a door on Queen Street, in lovely downtown Toronto. During my visit there last winter it was VERY cold, but girls still wore high heeled shoes with no socks to go out. In other fashion news, Toronto is also the home of one of my favorite lingerie stores. Check it out if you ever visit!

Even though it’s cold up north, we’re experiencing some early spring-like weather here in Chapel Hill, NC. The flowers are starting to bloom and it’s really gorgeous. Easter is also approaching, which is why I’m inspired to post this bunny graffiti… I know, I’m Jewish, but can’t everyone appreciate cute little bunnies? And chocolate Easter candy? I even ate a few Easter-inspired SnoBalls the other day, just for fun. Interestingly, a brief Google search revealed the existence of SnoBall flavored lip balm… as a die-hard lip-balm addict, I may need to investigate this further.

Update 3/18/08: Please read Bob Carson’s beautiful eulogy for his daughter.

Update 3/13/08: It seems that local police have found their guys. What a relief. Except, these kids seem more stupid than pure evil. I hope that they get a fair trial and punishment, because emotions are running really high in this case. I’m partly concerned because, until recently, NC was one of the few states who still punished youth with the death penalty.

Self-portrait (of sorts), 2000

Sometimes bad things happen for no apparent reason.

Today was such a beautiful, clear, sunny day; which made it even more surreal that a girl in my town was killed. Then my sister called from Jerusalem to tell me that several boys were shot to death in a nearby yeshiva.

It doesn’t make any sense, why someone would shoot a young person. Why end a life that is so full of promise?

I drew the above picture several years ago, after a few people I loved (also quite young) had died. It totally sucks. The only good that came out of it was learning to appreciate each day I have, and try to do all the things I wanna do before I die.

I’m not gonna stay inside just because I’m a girl and “it’s dangerous” to go out alone at night. I will also not let violence against “my” race/religion inform my view of other groups in a misguided attempt at regaining a sense of security, control or understanding. It was horrible for a Palestinian or Arab Israeli to kill kids, and it was just as senseless for Israel to kill over 100 Gazans (including many civilians, several of whom were children) last week.

Life is crazy sometimes, like a lightning storm roiling the sea. That’s why I learned how to surf.