she is always speaking to us if we are listening.

Women of Color in America have grown up within a symphony of anger, at being silenced, at being unchosen, at knowing that when we survive it is in spite of a world that takes for granted our lack of humanness, and which hates our very existence outside its service. And I say symphony rather than cacophony , because we have had to learn to orchestrate those furies so they do not tear us apart.

– Audre Lorde “The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism”

Yom Kippur

MY favorite holiday after my birthday just ended. Stacie spoke beautifully on their blog about the holiday of Yom Kippur including some of the important questions to think about on such a day. For many progressive and/or radical Jews the holiday can be a difficult sell. Yom Kippur is about atoning for one's sins. It is about taking away all distractions to focus on a relationship with divine based on seeking forgiveness for what wrongs we committed in this past year that qualify as sin and focusing on what we intend to do in this coming year. Many folks take issues with such a relationship with the divine and with condemning ourselves as sinners. Traditionally people fast from sundown the evening before through sundown of Yom Kippur day.

I have been doing this for many years and every year I am so hungry. I always took my hunger as part of my experience and worked so hard THROUGH my hunger to find meaning in the holiday. I was not hungry this year. I was instead heightened by not thinking about food, not thinking about my phone, about my blog, about twitter (ruby_beth), about falling in love, about sex, about what to wear and I instead spent most of my day in temple listening, chanting and reconnecting with the things I love and respect about my self and my community and the things I wish to improve upon. Wow. What a difference a day makes. I feel renewed internally and feel the beginnings of building community with the people I was in temple with. I was not condemning to myself but I was very challenging and critical of the things that I take for granted.

The unbelievably special place that my mama and I have attended high holidays services for many years in called Bet Haverim and it was founded by a small group of gay men and lesbians in the Atlanta area that could not find the type of inclusive community they were looking for in Jewish communities in Atl. It is a powerfully inclusive space and is constantly working to improve upon its mission of inclusivity.

Driven by the pleasure of community, we are a congregation that fully understands the needs of families and individuals whose history, outlook or situation means they have not felt comfortable enough in typical Jewish community environments to relax and be themselves. Alternative families, single parents, interfaith families, gays and lesbians, Jews of color, families with adopted children of color, and Jews with a progressive mindset all experience the safe haven of true acceptance at Bet Haverim.

This special place is part of why this holiday is so much more about love and understanding than it ever has been about self hatred and wrath. But really.. I mean REALLY REALLY it was about prioritizing and allowing myself time with myself with my "faults" with my joys and with my contradictions.

RUBIES

a heads up: geographical distance between your 2 lovely contributors, now in ATL and NYC when previously both within a square mile of CT, might just make this blog a little more sentimental on occasion.


but i wanted to say: RB you may be broke but YOU ARE ONE OF THE RICHEST PEOPLE I KNOW.



"rich"

4.	abounding (usually fol. by in or with): a countryside rich in beauty; a design rich with colors.

5.	of great value or worth; valuable: a rich harvest.

6.	(of food) delectably and perhaps unhealthfully spicy, or sweet and abounding in butter or cream: a rich gravy; a rich pastry.

8.	sumptuous; elaborately abundant: a rich feast.

9.	using valuable materials or characterized by elaborate workmanship, as buildings or furniture.

10.	abounding in desirable elements or qualities: a man rich in kindness.

11.	(of wine) strong and finely flavored.

12. (of color) deep, strong, or vivid: rich purple. ("Prices of rubies are primarily determined by color.")

13.	full and mellow in tone: rich sounds; a rich voice.

14.	strongly fragrant; pungent: a rich odor.

15.	producing or yielding abundantly: a rich soil.

16.	abundant, plentiful, or ample: a rich supply.

17.	Automotive. (of a mixture in a fuel system) having a relatively high ratio of fuel to air (contrasted with lean ).

18.	Informal. a. highly amusing. b. ridiculous; absurd.

fiasco

lovin the playlist idea, ruby! keep 'em coming.

still stuck in a lupe fiasco rut (well, i clearly don't feel that way-- i can't get enough, but i'm assuming the roomies are getting a little fed up of me playing the same thing ALL THE TIME, and not even a compilation but one artist. well, at least he has lots of others featured...)
since i saw him speak on a panel--about poetry, rock, hip-hop, and words-- at the Brooklyn Book Festival a weekend or two ago.

he was pretty great.



one story about the panel reports that Lupe "explained that before he worked with music and beats, he filled notebooks with words. "I had a plethora of words," he said. "See how many pieces I could collect."

final food for thought:

Lyrics to Intruder Alert :
(feat. Sarah Green)

She said there was no love in her heart,
Cause one day a rapist attacked her and broke that heart apart,
She said there was no way to fix it or to cover her scars,
Then one day a guy came along and probably could help her start,
He was sincere, made her believe it was safe for her to trust again,
Before long she was cool with giving hugs to him,
Knew that it was right, cause something was wrong,
The alarms in her mind didn't tell her he didn't belong,
There was no,

Intruder, [x4]
Alert [x4]

He said nobody else ever loved him,
That's why he'd get high enough to go touch the heavens above him,
Vividly remembers every pipe, every needle that stuck him,
Every alley he ever stepped in, every purse that he snuck in,
Every level of hell he's been to and the one that he's stuck in,
The one he can't escape, even though it's of his own construction,
Maybe you can relate, maybe you're one of those that just doesn't,
Maybe he doesn't care, loves to allow these demons to come in with no,

Intruder, [x4]
Alert [x4]

Famine striking his home, landing no social standing,
In the econmic pecking order of emergency relief distribution systems,
Is in disorder, he's checking water, making sure it's safe enough for his daughter,
To float across in the boat he built, hopefully strong enough to support her,
Praying border patrols don't catch her and process and deport her,
Before she reach the shore of the land of the free, where they feed you,
Treat you like equals, deceive you, stamp you and call you illegal,
and there's an,

Intruder, [x4]
Alert [x4]

find these lyrics very engaging for the linkages they make between violence on different scales, from interpersonal/domestic violence to international/state violence. will look back to syllabus from Borderlands lit class from my last semester at school, cause i know i read some stuff makin some of the same powerful connections about violence in one form--say, state or societal-- re-creating or re-appearing in another form--like interpersonal--, that we as a society have an awful habit of trying to isolate as if it weren't related... get back to you on that one. another example i always think of though is the wall that Israel has built up around Palestine, as if that kind of aggression and violence WASN'T going to just create more in the opposite direction. every action has an equal and opposite reaction, right? basic physics. we're too advanced a society at this point to not be getting this stuff that ISNT THAT COMPLICATED. love--> more love. hatred--> more hatred. bah.

Playlists

I'm broke. Money is tight. Blah Blah Blah. My recent and inexpensive way to do gift giving lately is to make mixes for people. I know people have been doing this forever but I have not so for me this is new and SO FUN. Today I feel compelled to share LIANA'S HAPPY LIFE IS GREAT MIX.

I know I should know by now how to share songs on the blog.. but I don't. so I will link videos if they exist -- if there are no official videos I will like youtube clips of the song with videos. If that is annoying or lame I apologize. Its the best I can do. Teach me.

Liana's HappyLifeIsGreat Mix

1. As Cool As I Am by Dar Williams
2. I Remember, I Believe by Sweet Honey in the Rock
3. Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae
4. Stir It Up by Bob Marley [the first 8 seconds of stir it up get me EVERY TIME talk about timeless]
5. Anthems for A Seventeen Yearold girl by Broken Social Scene
6. Golden by Jill Scott
7. Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez
8. Don't Stop Believin' by Journey
9. Post-War by M.Ward
10. The Fox by Nickel Creek
11. Rain Down by Angie Stone and Eddie Levert
12. I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me by Billie Holiday
13. Loves Me Like a Rock by The O'Jays [words and music by, you know paul simon.. you had to know i'd get him on here somehow] IF YOU ONLY WATCH ONE VIDEO PLEASE WATCH THIS ONE It is a Photo montage of Barack Obama & family set to the song, "Loves Me Like a Rock", from The Fighting Temptations soundtrack performed by the O'Jays. LOVES ME LIKE Barack?! Anyone? eh? eh? Seriously, I'm famous for finding amazing homemade videos to really wonderful songs let's not forget the My President is Black incident a la ST Lab @ Wesleyan University. We should have been kicked out for the outbursts.


Turns out some of these videos are amazing and perhaps as a consequence of not growing up with a tv i'd never seen a lot of them before. enjoy. send me playlists. even if its just new artists to check out.. i'll listen to pretty much anything.

Coming soon: My new and much improved ATL list.

Ose Couture @ African Fashion Weekend

London Fashion Week Featured The Young African Fashion Weekend -- a really wonderful showing of collections by young African designers.

One of those designers is the very talented Babs Atta-Krah. She is the brains behind Ose Couture. According to her website Ose Couture represents a time when women were, "not afraid to be sexy, buxom, and accentuate their curves." Who doesn't love that?

You can see Babs Atta-Krah talk about her collection and her passion for the industry in this interview. The video shows a number of her designs including her headlining piece(shown above). I hope to someday to have the nerve and the occasion to wear something so fierce and beautiful.

PS Babs also happens to be the sister of Kenton, a dear friend of the RadicalKidsClub. Isn't it nice when the whole family is amazing??

Iranian Street Art

A gallery in LA is showing street art pieces from Iran.


Heather Murphy writes,

Iranian customs agents are extremely controlling when it comes to imagery. It was therefore surprising to curator Shervin Shahbazi, that they let the depiction of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's biggest rival, Mir-Hossein Mousavi (below), slip through without a hitch. Some less overtly political images were less successful in their journey to the U.S.

Those that made it are currently on display at the Crewest Gallery in Los Angeles. In an interview on All Things Considered today, Shahbazi, who organized the exhibit, called From the Streets of Iran, says he felt compelled to present a different image; one that didn't involve nukes or Ahmadinejad's awkward grin.
"It's not really about me or the other artists in this exhibit, but it's about paying attention to what goes on in Iran, because it might sound cliche, but people have to learn there are other things than a nuclear power plant and a president who's out of his mind."

Shahbazi went on to say that he did not know the artists behind many of the pieces. The images are evocative, powerful and really beautiful.

Shahbazi explained that "The youth of Iran are like fashion peacocks and their social defiance is basically their fashion revolution."

The Funniest Protest Signs of 2009

This is a WONDERFUL LIST by the Ol' Huffington Post.

Whether You Like It or Not He's Back: D-A Double D-Y Fat Stacks

Upon my return home I am throwing my self back into the ATL hip hop scene which I love with all of my heart. Big boi leaked a song from his upcoming album today and although half of the chorus really pisses me of with its misogyny the song is dope as hell. can't stop listening.
can't stop, don't wanna stop: wont stop.
Download it HERE [new fixed link! it works!]


for more on the M word in media

Excuse me

and yet another!

everydaycontradictions.blogspot.com