The Fear of White Decline

'For decades now, scholars have been writing about the invisibility of whiteness. To be white in America meant that you were a member of the default category that just isn't discussed. In 2000, journalists didn't incessantly mention that George W. Bush was seeking to become the 43rd white male president of the United States. No one even thinks in those terms. It's implied. It's one of the perks of dominance. We generally mention race when we speak of nonwhites.'

'Is this election in 2008 white supremacy? No, in fact it might be its opposite, an acknowledgment that white privilege has its limits. With immigration and globalization reformulating who we are as a nation, it isn't the white elites that are threatened by the changes; rather, it's the nearly 70% of whites who are not college educated who figure among the most insecure of Americans. Many feel that their jobs are being outsourced or taken by immigrants -- legal or otherwise -- and that their culture is being subsumed. When Clinton promises to make their voices heard, she's appealing not to Anglo-Saxon racial triumphalism but to the fear of white decline.'

Taken from the LATimes :http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-rodriguez19-2008may19,0,4785500.column?track=mostviewed-storylevel

Good Read!

Viva La Cholita

This afternoon I had the utmost pleasure of working with Ms. La Cholita, whom at the very young age of 25 has accomplished so much including earning herself the title of Ms. Las Vegas Burlesque 2007. She has done so much collaborating with women in her community and has managed to push Latina beauty into the laps of young boys everywhere.
I will post all pics on the site soon. Enjoy!

new fanciful feather art

I made this hat for Ms. La Cholita whom I will have the pleasure of working with this friday. I am pleased with the radiant colors she chose but most of all for the antique yellow feather creation I found deep in the belly of my favorite millinery supply store in downtown. gosh I love feathers. I will post pics of the shoot with her this weekend.

What if no one were fat?

MSN has published yet another groundbreaking and fresh (read: stereotypical and craptacular overall) article posing the question: What if no one in America were fat? MSN takes it from the financial standpoint:
We’d save billions of dollars in gas. Airlines would double their profits. A dearth of diabetes and other diseases would save billions of dollars more. […] Productivity would rise, potentially creating tens of thousands more jobs or higher wages all around.
Add up the savings up on health, food, clothing and efficiencies, and you could buy a professional home gym for every U.S. household — or hand each $4,270 in cash.
Yawn.
Fat drivers use more gas and they’re COSTING US MONEY!
Fat clothes-wearers need more material to cover themselves and they’re COSTING US MONEY!
Fat folks are sick all the time and the cost is sucking away healthcare dollars from those who really need it and they’re COSTING US MONEY!
Fat folks are dragging companies down by taking all those sick days or sitting at their desks feeling unwell, and they’re COSTING US MONEY!
ZOMG! Fat is attacking our economy! No wonder we’re on the verge of recession, what with fat folks basically stealing money from fellow commuters, fashionistas, CEO’s, and kids with cancer.

On top of these savings would be billions of dollars more. Manufacturers and builders wouldn’t have to make doorways bigger, car seats wider, furniture stouter. Some even argue that global warming would slow a mite, as consumption of gas, energy, fertilizer and methane-producing cattle decreased. --- taken from fatgrrl.com


my 2 cents: hahaha, america can never have too many scapegoats. i would hate to be a gay undocumented fat person. this country is so fucked up, never mind the actual reason that this hyper-capitalistic country is consuming itself. if anything this country should love fat people, if all we do is over consume we raise demand, straining supply, ensuring more profit for corporations- by all accounts we are the image of capitalism and they should fly flags in our honor.
i’m so delighted to know fat people are destroying this country, i am going to celebrate by eating an icecream.

shooting elephants

Inmate correspondent:
As simple and plain as the blank black stamp on the envelope
It screams of love dissatisfaction and hurt, much like the free world.
If only tax dollars would pay for this too.

Drowning under a silver lonely moon, drunk again.
Drunk on my old loneliness, for you I drink, sick again.
The water fills my plastic bottles, as I walk, as I drive, alone.
The salt like mosquitoes stings as we circle around perfect, knowing false.

Mirrors drown. I stand next to your grave, the water fills my lungs.
No one knows you.
I hid them underneath your memories, under our smiles, we are never alone.
And little ropes and pink whitish pills call, the moon smiles and hands me the provisions..
Yet around the corner something is brewing, I have been watching.
Wings, grey, flight, smiles. No fine here for throwing coins, bread, peanuts, trail mix, in honor of poochinie.
Pizza, pop-tarts, sushi, chocolate, and peanut butter scattered for their delight,
we smile.
Legos never built houses this strong.
Fitting in with a dead flower on my wrist, we dine, we drink, we laugh, yet it is still alive.
I fit in when we are alone.
Midgets, mermaids, women with beards, a man with no arms or legs,
I fidget.
On a good day I see good in people, tonight I see nothing worth saving
but my sunfish, a box of ashes, a picture, and a sea horse snow globe.
I am loved, though I cannot feel it now.