Vegan Ethiopian food

So a couple members of the shire hit Little Ethiopia this evening.

The food was wonderful. We were brought a special pitcher and bowl to wash our hands at the table. And the table!

Don't mind us - we were just hungry

And here is the group

From Vegan Ethiopi...

We are a little bit blury, but what can you do? Click the link for bigger versions, plus a couple of more pictures.

I'll Have the Wool-Free Stripper in Pleather, with a Side of Vegan Chimichangas, Please

Want a guilt-free lap dance? Visit Casa Diablo Gentlemen’s Club in Portland. Not only does the club serve vegan chimichangas, the strippers there wear pleather, not leather. Feminist vegans, dubbed "feminazis" by the club's owner, are none too happy about the vegan club, which the New York Times chronicles in an article called "The Carrot Some Vegans Deplore."

Is it okay to peddle human flesh, while discouraging the peddling of animal flesh? The Times tries to answer this question as it explores the sexual politics of the meat-free movement. It also refers to the Peta protest we at Wordwax recently discussed in which a pregnant woman knelt on all fours in a cage to protest the cramped living conditions of humble pigs. Read the article in full here.

Oppressive Fashion Device Not Just For Women Any More . . .

In the transgender community, binding is often a big concern for those identifying as FTM (female to male). Whether the breasts in question are large or small, altering or hiding their appearance in order to look traditionally male-chested is not only a fine art, but it is also a giant pain in the ass. Many FTM folks are always keeping one ear to the ground to hear about new methods and materials available to help make binding more manageable.

Someone we know here in Tucson passed along a website via e-mail for Romantasy Exquisite Corsetry, suggesting they might offer some new options in the world of binding. After a brief (and horror/hilarity-filled) review of the offerings from Romantasy, it is quite obvious they this proprietor has something else in mind entirely.

Up until recently, wearing corsets has been a body-deforming, health-harming tradition relegated to those of or an identifying as the female gender. But Romantasy Exquisite Corsetry is looking to change all of that by suggesting men should wear corsets as well! While this is different from binding in many, many ways that I feel should be immediately obvious to most people, the two differences I'd like to point out are:
1) Binding is not meant to alter the shape of your body long term, but is just for hiding or adjusting the shape of your body for the short term and
2) corsets don't really hide breasts or help give a more traditionally masculine appearance, which is typically the whole point of binding.
The failure to understand these points sort of shows that I think Romantasy misunderstands the FTM community.

Regardless, I am actually most horrified that people are still trying to alter the shapes of their bodies with corsets, which have been shown to cause (among other things) internal organ damage. I understand corsets when it comes to fetish stuff or SM play, but Romantasy seems serious about making it part of an everyday lifestyle (for folks of any gender). Creepy!

Amazed...

Nadra and I caught an AMAZING show this evening at UCLA's Royce Hall: Angelique Kidjo with opener Dengue Fever.


Dengue Fever, hailing from Los Angeles, offered up an eclectic mix of surf-garage rock, crossed with Cambodian pop and Ethiopian grooves. Fronted by hypnotic Chhom Nimol from Cambodia, with her Khmer vocals, the band brewed up intoxicating flavors, leaving the audience both mesmerized and heads-a-bobbin'. Recommended: Venus on Earth.


Angelique Kidjo, native of Benin, West Africa, via Paris and New York, is the definition of a Performer (with a capital "P"). With fire in her vocal delivery, electricity in her dance moves, an infectious spirit, and a killer pan-African backing band, Kidjo leaped into the audience's hearts with her first steps on stage. By the end of the evening, the entire crowd was dancing on their feet, with about 150 people up on stage, grooving with Kidjo and the band, remaking the austere university concert hall ambience with color, jubilance and passion. Check out her albums, Black Ivory Soul and her new star-studded affair, Djin Djin.

Best concert in recent memory!

Listening to Youssou N'Dour: Guide (Wommat)

I Don't Care Who Great Leaders Sleep With In Their Spare Time

I was saddened to hear the news today at Governor Eliot Spitzer had to resign from office because he was found out to be breaking the law by engaging in transactions with prostitutes.

I myself began to admire Mr. Spitzer when he took on some of the biggest names on Wall Street on behalf of Joe and Jane Q. Public during his tenure as NY State Attorney General. Mega Huge Investment Firms and Insurance Companies that no one else would dare to mess with were brought to their knees in court by this man. While he was far from perfect, I think he dedicated a lot of his time and energy to fighting the good fight and winning battles that no one thought could be won.

What a bummer to see such an inspiring politician's career brought to a premature end because of this kind of thing. I do firmly believe that who or what a political leader decides to sleep with in their time off should not be held against them. I don't think, however, that they should be allowed to break laws. Because Mr. Spitzer couldn't get his kicks for free, all of New York state loses out.

Now some folks might say, "He was cheating on his wife! You're a rabid feminist--how could this not upset you?" To which I say: you assume he was cheating on his wife. He and his wife may have come to any number of agreements on their sexual relationship, including an agreement to be polyamorous and/or to engage in anonymous sex with multiple partners. Much like being trained to look at gender as binary, we're also trained to think that every couple only wants to sexually be a couple with each other. But I've got news for you folks: polyamory is alive and well, along with many other kinds of non-traditional sexual relationships.

Sex often ruins politics only because people have an interest in enforcing what they see is "normal" on other folks. And you can probably guess how I feel about that.

Stuff White People Like

Full List of Stuff White People Like

Including "Bottles of Water," "Toyota Prius," "Public Radio," and "Marathons"

Do You Ever Get the Feeling . . .

. . . that you're voting for a brand instead of a candidate?

With two folks running for the Democratic party nomination who have such similar stances on so many key ideas, we're often distracted from issues and forced to look at image.

I blame a chunk of this problem on the way our media has decided to handle this race. Instead of thorough examination on where Hillary and Obama differ on issues, we're forced to deal with sound bites and slogans, like:

"Stand for change!"

"Help make history!"

None of this is new--snappy slogans and a candidate's "image" have been shallow key parts of elections for many decades. But for some reason this election has made me so tired of these tactics. Perhaps because I feel like both Democratic candidates have so many interesting ideas that they could be talking about, but most of the time we actually hear their voices in the media, they're putting each other down or giving simple, one-sentence answers to policy questions.

I also believe we have the dreaded two-party system to blame for this mess. If there were several *viable* candidates from multiple parties, we'd actually have to listen to what the difference between all of their policies is, rather than just vote for the one with the coolest website. Or so I think anyway.

I am almost done beating this dead horse, but thought I'd post anyway . . .

thoughts on a Marathon

Okay, so after three LA Marathons ('06, '07, '08), I figure it'd be fun to actually write down some of my thoughts post-race, for posterity's sake...

- Best iPod moment of the race: "Where Were You?" by the Mekons - The first mile of the new LA Marathon course is all uphill, everyone walks, going through the narrow Cahuenga pass. But then, when you hit the top, everyone starts screaming down the hill towards Los Angeles, the Hollywood Bowl on your right. The Mekons song starts out slow, and builds for the first minute. As I hit the hill, the song picked up, the drums kicked in, and I started running down the hill, the wind in my face.

The LA Marathon is lined with community folks, giving you everything you can think of, cheering you on, hitting you with gardening hoses...

- Best thing in my mouth during the race: 2 sticks of Red Vine licorice near Little Tokyo, so GOOD! A nice lady gave them to me.

- Worst thing I put in my mouth during the race: Pretzels near the Fashion District, made me want to vomit, I promptly throw the rest of the handful on the ground to be trampled by the runners behind me.

- Best running performance stuff of the race: Power Bar Gel, Double Latte flavor (with 2x the caffeine! This was my coffee for the morning mid-race).

- Probably not a good thing: Natalia, one of my fellow SRLA running coaches, gave me a handful of 600mg Ibuprofen pills for the race, to prevent swelling and leg/knee/ankle/shin splint pain from holding me back during the race. Ummm, yeah, I took 3 or 4, I think. Didn't feel a thing! (The next morning, I felt a sharp pain in the top of my right foot. I now think those painkillers might have been masking a stress fracture).

- I got scolded for this: Texting my family and friends on my cell phone around mile 17. My fellow running coach and running idol, Goetz, chastised me for using an iPod in the first place (not running a "natural" race), but the cell phone seemed to be a bigger no-no...

- Best moment of the race? Seeing my roommate, Daniel, around mile 24.5! He ran out on the street, grabbed my hand and started punching the air, running with me for about a half mile. "DOIN' AWESOME, MAN!!! KEEP IT UP!!!" Something like that, by that point in the race, it was all a haze.

- Memorable sights of the race: 44 people in the race dressed up like Slash (from G&R). There was also a woman that looked like Scary Spice in a red bikini. Two kids, one boy, one girl, about 4 feet tall that beat me.

- Highlights? Beautiful weather, all of the students and teachers from my school finished, no one got hurt, all proudly received medals and SRLA Marathon Finisher sweatshirts; Horace Mann teachers and students came out to support at mile 13; Nadra, Jason, Mina and Dino at the finish line!

- Is this my last marathon? Not sure. I've got people pressuring me to do this in June: San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon (Maybe you should too?)

PETA Ads, Part 2

One of the reasons I love bitch magazine is because I have never found another periodical that echoes my thoughts so often and even more articulately than I ever could have hoped.

Here's bitch's blog piece on the PETA demonstration Nadra brought up last week, which includes a "Vote for Which PETA Ad You Hate the Most" poll.

Just thought I'd share . . .

Jehovah's Witnesses and Your Local Laundromat

I have been living life without a washer and dryer at my free disposal for about six months now, which means I have had the distinct pleasure of taking my laundry to laundromats. While our fabulous new apartment has laundry facilities right near our door, while we lived in Lancaster I drove to many different laundromats all round town.
For some reason, in my rush to get to the laundromat and do a bunch of laundry, I would forget to bring a book to read while I was waiting for our clothes to wash or dry. I would quickly become bored out of my mind and would read whatever was on the counters.
What I usually discovered was the Jehovah's Witnesses Watch Tower and Awake! magazines. The more surprising part of this story is that I actually read them! Why? Because I was stuck at the laundromat!
While I was not converted to being a Jehovah's Witness myself, I have to say that I would rate this an extremely effective tactic for spreading the word of the gospel of your choice. There are few places more boring than a laundromat, and religious zealots everywhere should take note of this fact and start dropping off material at the Suds 'N Duds nearest to them.
Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Those delightful 'Once' folks...

A truly wonderful moment in the popular imagination, and for Oscars history was watching these two win it for best original song:

Pitchfork Interview with Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová

Another amazing Oscar performance of long ago (skip to 2:55 for Elliott, unless you want to watch Trisha and Celine too):

Oscar Performances