Since I'm getting this so late, I'm not sure if I will be able to lend my support in person, but take a look:
Subj: [ALP-announce] Harvey Milk School-9/8Â
Date: Thursday, September 4, 2003 5:30:59 PM
From: alp-announce-admin@mediajumpstart.net
Fred Phelp's (a white conservative christian fundamentalist most know for protesting Matthew Shephard's funeral) is protesting the first day of school at Harvey Milk High School. The Audre Lord Project will be there in support of the students, but is not organizing a formal counter protest.
If you would like to join ALP, come to the school at 2 Astor Place, 7:30am on Monday, Sept. 8.  Look for the ALP banner. If you have any questions please contact Loyda Colon at 718-596-0342 EXT 20 or lcolon@alp.org
[enjoying life, will be back some time soon]
After a small setback, Rachel James has a new issue of 28MM out.
[I won't be back for another 2/3 days]
I had high hopes for New York City Bloggers Question of the Day. Lately, there has been very few, if any responses. Especially when it comes to issues of race. Today's question: Million Youth March: Free Speech or Hate Speech?
New York Newsday shows it's the most level-headed newspaper in the New York Tri-State area:
The Million Youth March, a flashpoint for controversy just five years ago, stepped off quietly Saturday with about 300 people joining in the six-block trek in Brooklyn.
Malik Zulu Shabazz, head of the New Black Panther Party, said the purpose of the march was positive.
"Our message to the young people is to stop the killing," said Shabazz, whose group sponsored the event. "Stop going to prison, complete school, go to work and try to rap better lyrics."
The march began with the release of white doves, a symbol of peace, before the crowd began its walk. > > > .
The march has evolved, and hopefully, it will lead to a dedicated effort to improve conditions in Black communities. High crime, poor education and apathy...
Whatever. I can't see a damn march changing anything. Especially with loud mouths. Muhammed's death just created confusion with the sponsors. If they're serious about their stated goals, Shabazz, et al should can the useless rhetoric and make this effort a year-round thing.
I meant everything that I wrote. DIARY OF A LOST GIRL is my soul book. This is Kola Boof. I have so many enemies who are very powerful. So many lies are told on me, so much cynicism is used to degrade and discredit my life. Of course, Black women are used to that treatment. But I must speak my own truth. I must set an example to show that it's alright to speak ones own truth. Black women need to wake up from their delusions. -- Kola Boof, Womanist Author & Activist
I am constantly at a lost for words. After reading several comments by a poster at Keith Boykin's site, I did a simple search of the name "kola boof." To say I was blown away by what I found and read and bookmarked would be the biggest understatement in my lifetime.
I want to interview this woman, this warrior. I want to hold this woman and tell her that I understand. That I love her and her cause and that everything will be alright. It would do little in the way of soothing her fears and wounds and stopping the hate directed towards her and her efforts. But it would mean the world to me.
No, this category ain't dead.
Rob at the Mac Net Journal reports on exciting news from Apple:
Once again proving that it can fool the rumor mills, Apple announced revised iMacs and iPods this morning. The iMacs still use G4 processors, but now they run at up to 1.25 GHz, use faster 333 MHz DDR memory, offer USB 2.0, and have faster graphics capabilities. The 15-inch iMac now runs at 1 GHz while the 17-inch iMac has the 1.25 GHz processor. > > >
I am a bit disappointed that there are no new PowerBook configurations, but not that upset. I am hoping to buy my first laptop in February or March of 2004 for business purposes. I may do it sooner if my old ass iMac gives out soon. Every time I turn it on and it powers up, I am relieved and saddened at the same time.
With a business startup and gigantic plans for the coming year, I am relying on technology in general, and Apple in particular to assist and enhance my efforts.
Long-time crush Steven G. Fullwood, writer and critic, profiles the extraordinary web design god (and my font of all things Macintosh!) Donald Agarrat. Donald is finishing up a sure to be fantastic design of my new business project.
The profile is wide-ranging and interesting. Here's his response to Steven's question about his start in web design:
In 1996, I was living in Fort Greene. Angel Williams and Rebecca Walker were running Kokobar (now defunct but still the only cyber-cafe I've known to be Black-owned and operated). I've been using computers since I was about 12 and I've been an amateur photographer since high school, so when Angel approached me about trying my hand at building their site, it gave me a chance to pull those and many other interests together into one cohesive media experience. Also, I didn't know too many Black people with cool websites, so I took that as a challenge. There was so much synergy around Black people getting online - New York Online was really popular at the time. Guess it all had to end some time ...
Go read the entire post.
Santana reflects on life after Central Park jogger case
As part of Trisha Meili's attempts to get her shattered life back on track, the Central Park jogger ran, literally, back to the site of the vicious attack and rape, 14 years later. As for Raymond Santana, convicted but later cleared in the case, he hasn't set foot in the park since the day he was arrested.
"I've been near it," Santana said last week of the park. "But as far as in, no. I don't know, I'm not trying to go there. Or run into anybody and they say, 'Oh, he's back in the park.'"
Like Meili, he is a victim, said Santana, in one of the rare interviews he has given since the convictions were overturned and his name cleared in the Central Park rape. He has slowly tried to put his life back together, taking business courses at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, and working as an office assistant there.
But some things may never get back to normal. At 28, he has been unable to sustain a relationship with a woman for more than six months, he said, largely because of the stigma of the case. And by the time the conviction was overturned, half of his family had shunned him.
"This case destroyed me..."
More to come later this month and later this weekend, the beginning of a FAQ (finally!).
I will update my Short Short Story List soon. Unlike the general public, I love the short form and have read a few collections this year. Ha Jin most definitely belongs on that list.
I decided that writers would occupy only one spot on the list (otherwise, Ha Jin would get a second entry) and that it would be of my most recent reads (recent meaning within the past three to five years). As you can see, many of the listees are writers of color and relatively young and a few are queer. As I promised Donald recently, I will review all of the titles on the list and will include some interesting side stories about a few of the writers.
OK, only if you'll be in Washington State for the datelines below:
Take an HIV test and come with POCAAN to Canada...FREE!!!
WHEN: October 4, 2003
Where: Vancouver, BC
We have charter buses leaving from both Seattle and Tacoma. We will be leaving early on Saturday Morning and return Saturday Evening/Sunday Morning. Test on testing dates to reserved your seat on the bus.
Seating is limited. Shopping and Entertainment is on you. Lunch and Dinner is on us.
Testing Date: September 15 & 19 4pm-8pm at
POCAAN Tacoma Office: (253) 272-2577
Contact Autry Lee Bell Jr. ASAP
Testing Date: September 9 & 11 all day at
POCAAN Seattle Office: (206) 322-7061
Contact Kiande Jakada or Walter McKenzie ASAP
I know Howard Dean has a blog, Blog for America that has fueled his incredible run for the White House. I didn't know he has a book due in November: Winning Back America.
On a (somewhat) related note: For Liberal bibliophiles, Reasons for Regime Change in 2004 created by autonomeus.
[ from an email forward; there isn't a current web address for the group.]
Other Countries is an organization dedicated to the development, dissemination and preservation of literature and other forms of cultural expression of GLBT people of African heritage. The collective began in 1986 as a writers workshop for Black gay men. Today, Other Countries renews its commitment to our community's artists and seeks to re-emerge as one of the pre-eminent organizations of its kind in the United States. The writing workshop that started 17 years ago and launched a series of powerful and unique publications and arts programs is back as a weekly peer workshop for black GLBT writers of all genders working in all genres.
The Writing Workshop returns Saturday, September 20th, 2003:
GMHC Building*
119 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011
3:30 - 5:30pm
Room 720
Free weekly sessions offer:
• peer critique of writers' work
• writing exercises
• special programs
• facilitated by GLBT writers
• free duplication of work to be read
For additional information and a copy of workshop guidelines e-mail OCWorkshop@aol.com
(*Security procedures, including electronic equipment registration, in effect.)
September, 2003
Open Letter from Kola Boof:
Osama Bin Laden said to me more than once: "If I can't save the world--then I will put it out of its misery."
I knew him to be a deeply religious, sexually abusive, psychotic person...mostly a mass of contradictions. One moment dreamy and poetic, the next vicious and rage filled. His anger was "epic"...never small. He thinks, truly, that he is a Prophet sent by Allah.
My reason for writing...is this...
I think that the people of the United States are not taking seriously...the great, great danger this country is in...not so much from Osama...but from the thousands of other men like him out there. Men who, I assure you, are plotting to wreak a terrible and debilitating physical horror against our country. It amazes me how spoiled and unrealistic Americans are about terrorism and about the bitter feelings of those from my part of the world (North Africa and the Middle East).
And as my own books have been forced out of print by terrorists (who firebombed my publisher in Morocco, thus making American companies fearful of publishing my work as well--not to mention the fact that American whites have some aversion to the Nile River Valley being represented by a Black woman who looks black) and as death threats from my own countrymen (Gamal Ibraheim, my former sugar daddy Hasan al Turabi and Osama's followers) have collected like balloons about to POP in my hand...it infuriates me when Westerners dare to dismiss my warnings and insist that they know more about my people...than I do.
I have been accused of being "racist" against the poor good Arab Muslims. But what I truly am...is their daughter. By both sperm and experience.
The Black Women of Egypt have a saying: "Those who refuse to hear the thunder...will soon feel it."
As usual...it's those of us who know the most that no one listens to. In my case, because of the lies and deceit shrouded upon me by a cynical, misguided Media...and by unethical toilet rags like the New York Times...where there is a political agenda to protect Arab Muslim reputations at all costs (Americans pride themselves on their stupid Political Correctness, which only they are rich enough to afford)...even at the hand of attempting to discredit a very credible half Arab African woman like myself, who has no agenda...but is merely sharing the truth about experiences that she has had first hand. Even if those truths seem stranger than fiction. Which is the nature of life.
I thank the ultra conservatives at FOX NEWS for confirming the "fatwa" on my life and for being the first to give this liberal Democrat the opportunity to present myself...as myself...without the ugly white-media mask that has so long painted me as merely some publicity hungry African Mad-woman.
This country is not going to be a safe place to live anymore. In time, we'll come to worry about the very water we drink. But of course, who cares to listen to the rantings of the former mistress of Osama Bin Laden?
And as an American citizen and as a mother of two small children--and as an author published in 8 countries whose books were FORCED out of print and who has a fatwa on her head and who lived with Osama Bin Laden for six long months...and as the latest Black Woman to be silenced and swept under the carpet....I can't imagine why I would want to be silent about that for even one minute.
re:Verse Festival 2003, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2003 4pm at The Bronx Museum of the Arts.
Mosaic Literary Magazine and the Literary Freedom Project present the inaugural re:Verse Festival to celebrate the independence of thought, writing, and the spirit of poet Audre Lorde.
[ Amazon.com links related to this entry ]
Don't know why I took so long to introduce myself. Then again, I don't really like doing that that much. I figure: read and learn. A valuable lesson for all of our endeavors.
{ a burst of light } was inspired by the life and work of Black, Queer poet and activist Audre Lorde.
I am a publishing consultant specializing in book publishing, general editing and (soon) book packaging. I consider myself progressive when it comes to politics, moderate when it comes to lifestyles and intolerant when it comes to hateful people. Love to hear from readers and other webloggers, especially in the New York City area.
Court Delays Recall Vote in California; Faulty Ballots Cited
A federal appeals court postponed California's Oct. 7 gubernatorial recall election, ruling Monday that the historic vote cannot proceed because some votes would be cast using outmoded punch-card ballot machines.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals withheld ordering the immediate implementation of its decision, allowing a week for appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ted Costa, head of the Sacramento-based Peoples' Advocate, one of the groups that put the recall on the ballot, said an appeal is certain.
"Give us 24 hours. We'll get something off to the Supreme Court," he said. > > >
This date marks the birthday of Claude McKay in 1890. He was an African-American writer, born in Jamaica.
McKay was one of the prominent figures of the Harlem Renaissance in black literature of the 1920s, he was known for his poems and novels of black life, first in Jamaica and later in the United States.
[ from the African American Registry's profile of Claude McKay ]
[ Amazon.com links related to this entry ]
I totally forgot about the case of Stephen Funk till I got this email forward (paraphrased for brevity and because I don't necessarily agree with, nor know enough about the upcoming protest organized by queer activists):
Hey all, here's a call out for books and letters to Stephen Funk, the gay asian boy convicted for going AWOL. He's being sent to a prison known to treat gays and deserters harshly.
Howard
I think I will send the writings of another conscientious objector to him when possible.
Stephen Funk would appreciate letters from supporters at the following address:
Stephen Funk
Building 1041
PSC 20140
Camp Lejune, NC 28542
Funk's supporters have established a scholarship fund to support his college education after his release and will be planning a homecoming celebration in the San Francisco Bay Area upon his return.
Let's hope he gets out safe and sound and able to use any scholarship funds raised.
[ via Jeanne D'Arc of Body & Soul ] :
Aid Agencies Call For Full Global HIV/AIDS Funding In 2004
As President Bush and lawmakers return to Washington, many of the nation’s leading humanitarian and faith-based organizations are stepping up their efforts to win Congressional approval of $3 billion for global HIV/AIDS funding in 2004.
The new drive includes placing advertisements in newspapers and mobilizing citizens around the country to contact President Bush and members of Congress about the importance of full funding of the AIDS bill, which will be voted on by the Senate this month. Click here to view the ad campaign.
Local and international aid agencies have the capacity to put the $3 billion to work immediately to save lives. The 11 undersigned organizations are on the front lines of the AIDS crisis, in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. They have joined forces to urge complete financial backing for prevention, treatment, care and support programs, with 10 percent of the funds dedicated to the care of 14 million children orphaned or affected by AIDS. > > >
MacRumors.com Apple Expo Paris 2003 coverage. Here's what piqued my interests:
- New Powerbooks (Steve: 42% of Macs are mobile. PowerBooks are 80% thinner than PC Laptops.) They all have the 7457 Chip and are available today:
1. 17" PowerBook: 1.33GHz, 2GB RAM Max, $2999 Euro. Mobility Radeon 9600. 2x Superdrive.
2. 15" PowerBook: Aluminum casing like the new G5s. Slot Loading Drive. Backlit Keyboard. Actually 15.2" TFT. 1.25GHz, G4. Up to 2GB DDR RAM 333MHz. Radeon Mobility, DVI, FW800, 2 USB, Airport Extreme. $1999 Combodrive model. Superdrive for $2499. One config has 1GHz, 60GB, 256MB. 1.25GHz has 512MB RAM and 80GB HD.
3. 12" PowerBook: 1GHz with 512k Cache, $1599 Euro. GeForce fx go, usb 2.0. $1799 Euro 12"/Superdrive.
- Panther to be available by end of the year. 150 new features, works better with windows, smb printing is supported, freebsd 5.0
a. A new finder that is not computer-centric. Very fast search for documents, files.
b. FileVault: on-the-fly encryption of the home directory.
c. New Pixlet codec: high definition, 48 bit, no artifacts, great sound
d. Improved Preview: much faster than any other PDF reader. A scroll test using a 1600 page document results- 20 sec with Preview/71 sec with Acrobat
- New wireless, bluetooth powered keyboard and mouse set. "Adaptive frequency hopping," new technology provides better connection and includes128-bit encryption.
[recent iPod upgrades, iChatAV, iSight, the success of the outgoing Jaguar (OS 10.XX), etc., mercifully omitted]
I'm not overly impressed, nor disappointed. Despite the post title. Really, I don't expect very exciting news before MacExpo SanFran early 2004. After that showcase, I hope to buy my first laptop (*fingers crossed* because my iMac is on its last legs and I can't afford to purchase hardware at this time, although if forced...) and eventually make the transition to a G5. Jobs promised 3Ghz G5s by the end of Summer 2004. That would be perfect timing for me and my biz.
Jobs & Apple tempering announcements and software/hardware rollouts is a good thing. Overload would hurt the company in this economic climate. Besides, it just wouldn't seem right to not do it on American soil.
Cobb writes about the Prophesy of the New Savanna. I miss Gravity and wish it would come back.
One of these days I may write about my experiences as a poster there. It gave me the courage to think about blogging.
David Pogue asks:
How Susceptible Is Your Operating System to Viruses?
I also wrote that Mac OS X and Linux are virus-free because they offer virus writers a much smaller “audience” than Windows -- a notion that’s been much repeated in the press, most recently last week’s BusinessWeek cover story. That, as it turns out, is a myth, no matter who repeats it. There’s a much bigger reason virus writers don’t like Mac OS X and Linux.
“Unix [which underlies Mac OS X] and Linux ARE more secure,” wrote one reader. “They have been developed, open-source style, by people who know exactly what they are doing. Unix and Linux have had at least 10 years of battling hackers to better themselves. This leads to an extremely secure environment.”
Many of you also pointed out simple design decisions that make Mac OS X and Linux much more secure than Windows XP. For example:
* Windows comes with five of its ports open; Mac OS X comes with all of them shut and locked. (Ports are back-door channels to the Internet: one for instant-messaging, one for Windows XP’s remote-control feature, and so on.) These ports are precisely what permitted viruses like Blaster to infiltrate millions of PC’s. Microsoft says that it won’t have an opportunity to close these ports until the next version of Windows, which is a couple of years away.
* When a program tries to install itself in Mac OS X or Linux, a dialog box interrupts your work and asks you permission for that installation -- in fact, requires your account password. Windows XP goes ahead and installs it, potentially without your awareness.
* Administrator accounts in Windows (and therefore viruses that exploit it) have access to all areas of the operating system. In Mac OS X, even an administrator can’t touch the files that drive the operating system itself. A Mac OS X virus (if there were such a thing) could theoretically wipe out all of your files, but wouldn’t be able to access anyone else’s stuff -- and couldn’t touch the operating system itself.
* No Macintosh e-mail program automatically runs scripts that come attached to incoming messages, as Microsoft Outlook does. [ read more ]
[ from Joichi Ito, a recent addition to my blogroll and an intriguing thinker ] :
Not related to the mac directly, but interesting.
Web domain register sued for new service (my title, they don't need anymore free publicity):
An Internet search company on Thursday filed a $100 million antitrust lawsuit against V***S*** Inc., accusing the Web address provider of hijacking misspelled and unassigned Web addresses with a service it launched this week.
[ ... ]
According to the lawsuit, Mountain View, California-based V***S*** has been using its position as the keeper of the master list of all Web addresses ending in ".com" and ".net," also called domain names, to unfair advantage.
Not only is V***S*** making money off the redirected searches, but it is improperly interfering with competing services, including Netster's SmartBrowse and similar services run by Internet service providers like AOL Time Warner Inc.'s America Online and Microsoft Corp., Popular Enterprises said.
Typically, Internet users are shown a generic "404 -- cannot be found" page when a Web address does not exist. SmartBrowse and other services display Web sites and search options that are closely related to the original search request.
SiteFinder reduces the effectiveness of anti-spam programs that work by rejecting e-mail coming from non-existent Web addresses, [Paul] Vixie [President of The Internet Software Consortium, a non-profit group that developed the BIND software that directs most Web traffic to the correct address] said.
It also is raising privacy concerns that V***S*** will have access to log-in names and passwords that are sometimes included in Web address queries and information in e-mails sent inadvertently to non-existent Web addresses, he added. [ read the entire article ]
Think Secret - Mac OS X 10.2.8 released internally
The Mac OS X 10.2.8 update was released internally late last week, sources confirmed. The Jaguar software update was posted to the Apple network for employees on Friday.
Sources speculated that the update will be provided to users Monday or next week. One insider, however, suggested the release could be delayed due to some problems that have recently cropped up.
Apple's official download notes for the update state that 10.2.8 "delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for the following applications, services and technologies: Audio, Bluetooth, Classic compatibility, Finder, Graphics, LDAP, Power Management, Safari, and FireWire and USB device compatibility." Version 10.2.8 also includes updated security services and the latest Security Updates.
Apple provided employees with a KnowledgeBase link for more information on the update, but the link can only be accessed from behind Apple's firewall.
PC Mag | Apple Power Mac G5: Neck-and-Neck with Intel PCs
When Apple's Steve Jobs introduced the Apple Power Mac G5 this summer as the fastest personal computer any company had built to date, we took it with a grain of salt. After all, Apple had made that boast in the past, and those claims did not tend to hold up when independent third parties (such as ourselves) ran tests on current, real-world applications (not the synthetic benchmark tests Apple cited).
Well, we'll take that salt with a side of fries. After testing a loaded ($4,349 direct, after we opted for more RAM and upgraded graphics) dual 2.0-GHz Power Mac G5 on a range of high-end content creation applications and comparing the results with a similarly configured (and priced) Dell Precision 650 Workstation running dual 3.06-GHz Xeon processors, we see that indeed the G5 is generally as fast as the best Intel-based workstations currently available ( see performance table).
The key improvement to the new line of Power Macs is the PowerPC G5 processor, developed jointly by Apple and IBM. The G5 architecture is much stronger in accessing memory and handling computing-intensive tasks without repeated, time-consuming trips to the hard drive.
The G5 also will bring 64-bit processing to the Mac platform, allowing an exponentially greater ability to handle integers than the previous 32-bit processors. As with the AMD Athlon 64, applications need to be optimized for 64-bit computing to take full advantage of the architecture. But the PowerPC G5 (like the Athlon 64) will continue to run 32-bit applications (like those in our test suite) natively instead of in emulation mode, as with Intel's 64-bit Itanium processor.
Grant Barrett's World New York.
Ironic that George hipped me to the above because his new venture reads just like WNY. At least IMMHO.
Ursula K. Le Guin on The PEN/Malamud Award, November 2002
The PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction has been given annually since 1988. It has gone to a lot of excellent writers, including excellent short writers, such as Grace Paley. It involves a prize of $5000, a reading in the Folger Library in Washington DC., and a very nice party.
Some of the PEN awards generate a lot of attention, but others, like PEN West and this one, seem to be quite well-kept secrets. I had barely heard of it myself when PEN contacted me about it. I have seen absolutely no press notices about this year's award.
This silence is a pity, as the short story is always getting scrunched by the novel, and the award could help remind people that stories are a great form of fiction.
Besides, it's annoying when people correct you about your award. You explain that you went to DC for the PEN/Malamud, and they say kindly, "Oh, the PEN/Faulkner award, you mean." All you can do is say Malamud! Malamud! and growl like a Malamute.
The award has several times been divided between an older writer being recognised for a substantial body of work and a younger one who's just blazed onto the scene. A very good idea for a literary prize.
Junot Diaz and I shared it this year. I was scared of Junot before we met because so many trendy people had praised his book and I thought he was going to be trendy, but no, he was terrific. It was a joy to get to know him and his book Drown is a joy too. We have not yet decided which of us is the Mala and which one is the Mud.
j. returns! Liking the new design, although he's still tweaking it. As is (apparently) dantewoo who's making the switch to Movable Type.
Apple Seminar Series - Driven by Design
Explore new creative options. Improve font and color management. Produce the highest-quality images. Discover industry insights. It's all part of Apple's continued commitment to provide you with the ultimate creative studio.
I'll probably attend. Contact me if you're planning to be there.
From FemmeNoir Online, Sharon Bridgforth's Site & home of RedBone Press
Call For Submissions
We are now reading previously unpublished short stories, diary entries, one-act plays, poetry and essays for an anthology entitled, "Don't Piss Off the Cook: The Kitchen Table Diaries." Submissions are encouraged from all parts of the globe and inclusive of all genders, sexual orientations, religions, races and ethnicities.
Edited by Monalesia Earle and Russell Campbell, this anthology will celebrate the women in our lives: their impact upon us, how they protect and nurture us, their ability to prevail in the face of adversity/oppression/exclusion, and their unique gifts to the human race.
We are interested in stories/poetry, etc., that explore the lives, the power, and the influence of women from the back woods of rural counties and provinces (farmers); from domestic help (west indians and blacks); from migrant workers (mexicans); from the families of Holocaust survivors; and from gypsies, africans, muslims, and aborigines. Virtually any story that deals with the power (unrecognized or otherwise) of women--and how their struggles have inspired, challenged, or changed us--is welcome.
Closing Date: October 31, 2003 (This deadline may be extended, depending upon the needs of the editors and publisher.) For complete guidelines, e-mail Monalesia at: saysun90@hotmail.com
In further uninteresting news from Apple news:
MacNN: Free iBlog, FireWire drive discounts at .Mac
Apple has added new .Mac exclusive offers for members of its online Web service, including free iBlog software ($20 value, good through 11/25/03) that "lets you publish weblogs of news, reviews, commentary, and journals on the Internet without worrying about formatting, archiving, or site maintenance" and up to $40 off three of SmartDisk's FireWire drives at the online Apple Store through October 22 as well as other offers from VersionTracker. (Readers also note that Apple Japan is also offering a special TV tuner/iMac promo, which is not presently available in the US.)
What was it about the vigil that drew you back into activism?
Those kids. I have never seen so many kids just falling apart. I mean, their grief and their pain was... it was just so deep. These were mostly young African-American lesbians. And I'm wondering, Where are their parents? The kids don't have any place to go.
[ from Bernard J. Tarver a very recent and welcome addition to my blogroll ] :
A Movement Grows in Newark, an interview by Jessica DuLong for the Advocate.
Outraged by the stabbing death of 15-year-old lesbian Sakia Gunn in Newark, N.J., last May, longtime gay rights activist LaQuetta Nelson decided to create a place where gay and lesbian youth could find safety and get support. After learning that Gunn had been killed when she rebuffed the sexual advances of two men, the 48-year-old Nelson attended a vigil held by Gunn’s friends and then decided to come out of retirement from activism and begin a campaign to build a new community center in Newark. Nelson, founder of the New Jersey Stonewall Democrats, had retired from activism just three months prior.
Getting support for the center has proved daunting, but Nelson is pushing forward, asking others to give time and money to what she sees as an important community need. She launched the Newark Pride Alliance to organize the effort and the Sakia Gunn Memorial Fund to manage donations.
The Advocate spoke with Nelson about her recent involvement with Newark’s gay youth and the difficulties she has faced in making the center a reality. > > >
Smoking Lovely Book Launch Party! October 13 at 7:00 pm. 13 Bar/Lounge, 35 E. 13th St., Union Square, NYC. FREE. Willie Perdomo will read with guests John Rodriguez, Rich Villar, Jai Kumar and Jayme del Rosario.
* ...a little bit louder... co-sponsored by louderARTS