Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Yesterday was a tragic day in Europe. Death and violence have swept the continent in two episodes that might, at first hand, seem unrelated. In the Belgian city of Liège, a man threw hand grenades and opened fire on the crowd at the city center’s Christmas market, killing four and injuring more than 100 (of [...]
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Every morning I wake up and I have a little ritual going. First I am met by the generally cheerful dog and cats. Then I pee. Then I get a cup of coffee and sit in front of my computer. I scan my inboxes (yes plural, as a long term mail user I have ten [...]
Friday, November 25, 2011
Today marks the anniversary of the political assassination of three women known as the Mirabal Sisters. The Mirabals were four sisters who grew up in Salcedo, a city in the Dominican Republic, during the era of the dictator Rafael Trujillo. Three of them — Minerva, Patria, and Maria Teresa — were killed by Trujillo’s henchmen [...]
Monday, November 14, 2011
[Content warning for very racist images, links to videos of police brutality and depictions of State endorsed racism] Ah, my home, The Netherlands. Tourists from all over the world wax lyrical about the tulips, the windmills and the widely available weed. What these tourists hardly ever get to see is how institutionalized racism works in [...]
Thursday, November 10, 2011
European countries are always praised for the strides they make towards gender equality. European nations consistently rank on top of quality of life rankings and measurements. Moreover, the EU is held as a sort of modern gold standard for the promotion of human rights and the values of “reason and enlightenment”. Gender equality and anti [...]
Thursday, November 3, 2011
I. There was once a Mazatec curandera, Maria Sabina, living in the mountains of Southern Mexico. She sang of other worlds and she made poetry with her songs. She sang like this: Because I can swim in the immense Because I can swim in all forms Because I am the launch woman Because I am [...]
Thursday, October 27, 2011
I have a fondness for the spirit behind the Occupy movement. I suppose my fondness is based on potentials. The potential to change something, to move in a different direction, to create new forms of organization, to engage young people politically in ways that resonate with them. I guess I still like the idea of [...]
Master of puppets I’m pulling your strings Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams Blinded by me, you can’t see a thing Just call my name, ’cause I’ll hear you scream Master Master Metallica, Master of Puppets Introduction: in which I walk into the stage, with dimmed lights, and I explain my love of performance [...]
Now picture this: me screaming the above. Angry. VERY ANGRY as a matter of fact. Screaming this at my computer screen. Screaming it at nobody and everybody. At you. You, person I might have never heard from who might have not even commented on this blog or any of the other publications where I can [...]