Tag: activism

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White supremacy is like water

White supremacy is like water. It seeps into every crack and crevice. It pools in low areas, creating a narrative of normalcy for all other isms to thrive. It drips from the mouths of agents who seek to maintain control and it eats away at the resolve of those who attempt to contain it. It consistently searches for a river that will help it travel to those who do not have access to it.

It is in you and me. No matter the color of our skin or the environment we were raised in. Just like the 60% of our body that is water, it flows through us in ways that we cannot control, but with an understanding of how to contain it, we can move forward.

Unlike water, which we need to survive, we do not need white supremacy. But in order to tear it down and build a better future, we have to agree that it isn’t a necessity. That, in fact, we can live good lives within a structure that does not rely on one group of people being considered superior to all others. That we are all genuinely equal and can live in community with one another. Helping each other, rather than calling each other out. Pulling people close, rather than pushing them away. Understanding that if we don’t work together as one human race, we will lose the ability to have our home on earth.

When water freezes, it does even more damage. It can burst pipes and cause vehicles to spin out. It can wreak havoc on a community. White supremacy has frozen our systems of governance, commerce, and justice. It has seeped in and allowed the systems to stay in place that favor the few over the many.

White supremacy is like water, but we can turn off the faucet and stop the damage. We can listen to those who have been oppressed in this supposedly free nation and learn how to dismantle the white supremacist systems. We can stay engaged and do the work to move forward. We can stop the flow of misinformation shared online, in the media, and person to person by talking to one another about change. White people need to talk to other white people about white supremacy and how to stop the flow. The faucet has been steadily dripping over the years and it is time to gain control, once and for all. When everything is soaked, it may seem impossible to find the surface, but can do it together. Dry ourselves off and move forward as a people.

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Bodies, Autonomy, and Perceived Selfishness

Is it real or is it brainwashing?

I used to think it was wrong to disparage people socialized as women who chose to stay at home with children and not pursue any outside employment, schooling, or general interaction with adults aside from their neighbors, family members, and spouses. After all, anytime someone like me – childfree by choice – made a comment about not wanting to be a mother I would hear about how rude it was to imply that women who made the choice to be ‘stay-at-home moms’ were somehow inferior. As if that had anything to do with my personal choice to be childfree. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t believe any choice a person makes is inferior, but hear me out for a moment. I don’t believe that people socialized as women actually CHOOSE to be stay-at-home moms. I’ve come to this conclusion after much observation and a long conversation with my own mother who floated the idea that perhaps they are not choosing it so much as being coerced into believing that it is required of them.

This goes for those in cultures that prize motherhood in a way that is imposed upon them through rhetoric and religious beliefs. Complementarianism mixed with bullshit ideas about gender roles has created a toxic stew of beliefs that force some people into situations that they may not have chosen if they had other options. This is not about being a mother or a parent, in general, this is about the role of staying home with the children and forcing yourself to believe that you don’t want anything more for your adult life. That you are unable to do anything other than stay home with your children because others have made you believe you cannot do anything else. This, my dear friends, is brainwashing, plain and simple.

Now, I know -this seems like the ramblings of a childfree by choice feminist killjoy, but truly – I do not believe that these women who say they only want to be stay-at-home-moms are being truthful. I think they believe this because they have been made to by their upbringing, their partners, or the heads of their churches. To put mothers on a pedestal and make them believe that their ultimate goal in life should be to only raise children and take care of a home is doing these mothers a disservice. Every human has the capacity to do multiple things throughout their lifetime and motherhood is no different from any other profession. Of course – in the beginning, someone has to stay home with the baby humans, to keep them alive, but egalitarian parents seem to accomplish this just as well as complementarians, with the added bonus of all parents remaining equal. With a little help and support, parents can raise their children and have lives outside of the home. It is happening every day and it isn’t strange or different.

The glorification of motherhood and the backlash people socialized as women feel if they vocalize the fact that they do not want to be a stay-at-home-mother is damaging to society as a whole. We have cultivated a traditional sense of motherhood that has been detrimental to all people, parents or not. This sense of what people socialized as women should want is toxic and feeds into the self-loathing they feel regardless of the route they decide to take.

Of course – people socialized as men don’t get this same treatment when they say they don’t want to have kids. It is always and only people socialized as women that bear the brunt of vitriol from others. That vitriol, of course, is outwardly facing internal pain, but that is a whole other avenue of psychology that I’m not going to try and tackle here.

Critical thinking skills are essential

The conversation with my mother actually got me thinking a lot more critically on this topic. I have always believed that being a parent is a choice that each of us makes, independently of any other forces in the world, but I also realize that there are many people who make their life choices based on their surroundings. They listen to the people in their family, friend groups, community, and/or church elders to determine their choice. They may not listen to the voice in their own head that tells them what they truly want because the messages that they receive from the outside are too loud. They also might not have the critical thinking skills to determine exactly what they want versus what the world wants for them. At worst, they might not know that they have other choices.

The points above, coupled with the fact that stay-at-home-motherhood is put on a pedestal in our culture, makes for a conversation that is almost impossible to have. Or, at the very least, it is impossible for someone like me to have. Someone who has chosen NOT to have children. Someone who has listened to the internal voice that told me I didn’t want to be a parent. Someone who did a wealth of critical thinking, questioned my gut reaction, and still came to the conclusion that I did not want to be a parent. I did not arrive at this conclusion quickly, easily, or without thought. I did the work to get here. I do not believe that those in the complementarian style of life do this critical thinking. They just move forward with what they have been taught to believe and they never question it. At least not in the beginning.

A wedge emerges

The day after the conversation where my mother asked the question; ‘but do they really WANT to be stay-at-home moms or are they merely socialized to believe that is what they want?’ I woke up with my brain buzzing. Do they truly, deep down, want to be ONLY stay-at-home moms or are they just saying that because it is what they believe they have to say? Why don’t we ever give people socialized as men grief for having a job and children? Why are only people socialized as women in the hot seat when it comes to child-rearing? Why are people socialized as women put in a position to have to ‘make a choice’ or try to ‘have it all’ or ‘go childfree for a career’ when people socialized as men can just do all the things and there are no conversations about it. There are no think pieces (a quick search returns SO MANY for ‘women’) written in major publications on why people socialized as men can or can’t have it all.

And here is the crux – people socialized as women are pitted against each other in this conversation because if one person says “I don’t want to have children” another will ask “why? children are gifts from G-d and we should be happy to be mothers”, therefore continuing the lie of motherhood as an imperative.

There are people who want to raise children. There are people who want to have careers. There are people who want to raise children while having careers. But there are not people who want to only raise children and never have any other work. The idea that there are people socialized as women who are ‘born to be mothers’ or only and forever want to stay at home raising children because they don’t have any other interests is a bullshit myth that has been instilled in people socialized as girls and women for centuries in order to make the white supremacist patriarchy function.

Throughout history, when people socialized as women show ambition for anything beyond raising children, it is tamped down by the forces in society that maintain the status quo. If people socialized as women collectively agreed that we can be parents and have careers, just like people socialized as men can, then perhaps we would be able to crush the stay-at-home mom expectation that harms people socialized as women who think they have to be doing that job in order to be good.

In an excellent piece by Jill Filipovic (jill.substack.com), the myth of stay-at-home motherhood is shown in all its toxic glory through MLM schemes. The piece focuses on the new documentary about LuLaRoe, which connects directly to what I have stated above. No person socialized as a woman is born wanting to be only and always a mom with no other outlets in her life. This is why MLMs are so easily ingrained in traditionalist communities. They promise an outlet for stay-at-home moms to interact with other moms, without leaving home to do so, and in the process, they take these people socialized as women (and sometimes people socialized as men) for a ride financially. Something framed as empowering is really a scam that ends up becoming an extremely expensive hobby.

There is also something to be said for the infantilization of people socialized as women in society. Traditionalist people socialized as men see their wives as inferior to them by design and although they are tasked with the huge responsibility of keeping small humans alive, the moms are often seen as children themselves who cannot make decisions. So, when one of them is scammed by an MLM scheme like LuLaRoe it confirms the narrative of childlike behavior, further pushing them into the realm of the home and not allowing them to seek out other career opportunities or even have hobbies that take them away from the home and their children. And when a mom decides to go out and get a job to fulfill the need to be a participating member of society or contribute monetarily to the home (not to diminish the fact that domestic labour is already contributing GREATLY to the home, but as unpaid work is devalued) her jobs are often devalued by these traditionalist communities as hobbies. They are seen as ‘little jobs’ that are not really contributing anything to the bottom line, even if they have the potential to contribute a great deal to that home budget.

Double standards

Social media allows toxic positivity and traditional motherhood tropes to thrive virtually unchecked. I have witnessed comment threads in which people suggest stay-at-home moms who attempt to go out in the world to work or have a social life are being selfish. Giving pointers on how to have a job and still ‘keep house’ is a common occurrence, but only on the comment threads of people socialized as women. Those parents who were socialized as men never get pointers on housework or raising kids, even when their threads are full of leisure activities, let alone when they talk about work opportunities. The double standards abound and it creates an environment where mothers are held to a more stringent standard than fathers. This is a toxic loop that we are still having a hard time getting out of, even in 2022. The political climate of holding back on or, worse, rolling back legislation that provides equal rights adds to the issue. If paid family leave is not available then mothers end up having to leave the workforce for long periods of time, setting their careers back and lowering the standard of living for their families.

Add to this, the mothers who think they know best what other mothers should be doing. The ones who talk about how to work, take care of the kids, clean the house, do the laundry, and get dinner on the table, without ever thinking that perhaps the father in this scenario could help out as well. And that also completely leaves out single parents who have to do all of these things on their own and don’t have the option to just stay at home with the kids. If you have a partner, you should be sharing in all of the home duties as well as bringing an income into the family. Adults should work in and out of the home, no matter what gender they were socialized into.

Honestly – my partner and I share the household chores and we do them on Sundays. It takes about 2-3 hours of our time to clean our home from top to bottom. Every season we do a larger cleaning, also on a weekend. During the week we share the responsibility of cleanup after dinner. One cooks, one washes dishes. And we, together, keep our home and clothes clean. These responsibilities add up to maybe 8 hours per week total. So, if there was one person doing this type of work, why would they need to stay home and not have a job? The answer, obviously, is that they wouldn’t. The framing of ‘stay-at-home-mom’ as necessary is a myth. Yes – someone has to stay with the children as they grow, but once they are in school and on their way to adulthood, the person who stayed home to raise them should be able to re-enter the workforce or education system or any other outside of the home outlet they wish to pursue. They should not be relegated, forever and always, to the role of housewife. This role was created simply to control people socialized as women and nothing else.

Why does any of this matter?

On the individual level, people socialized as women are being made to feel like garbage when they want to raise children and have a career. At the think piece level, people socialized as women who stay at home with their children are interviewed to glorify the traditional stay-at-home mom role while lashing out at people socialized as women who are raising children and cultivating careers. But these are merely tools for the patriarchy to continue control. Wedges that are placed between people socialized as women so that we will continue the infighting, rather than looking outward as a collective at the harm that these myths have caused over time.

There are so many people who have set aside their ambitions because they didn’t think they could raise children and pursue a career and they were, frankly, duped. They can do it. With help. And that is the point. Raising children does not require some special skill that only people socialized as women have. It merely requires adulthood and knowledge. It requires assistance from others and the support of a community that cares for it’s young.

It also requires universal daycare and pre-K, universal healthcare, paid family leave for 6 months after the arrival of a child, a $20 minimum wage, and universal healthcare. It requires community care. You know – the basic things to live. The stability to live life with dignity. Needs met. We put tax dollars toward so many other things in the United States that do not benefit the whole of society, and yet we don’t see the need to fund these basic services for all. It is truly disgusting.

Because people socialized as women are made to believe, over our lifetimes, that we are not able to do all the things, we fall into the patterns that society has laid out for us. Some of us have children and stay at home. Some of us don’t have children at all. Some of us have children and careers but struggle to make ends meet. If we dropped the myth of motherhood and came together as a collective of people fighting for a common goal of equality, we would see a better world.

As a collective, we can lobby the government to get the things we need so that we can have it all, no matter what having it all looks like. We can stop resting on the myth that people socialized as women are ‘meant to be’ mothers and if they choose something else they are going outside the norm and smash that myth into a million pieces through our organizing for the rights of all people to have support in our ongoing efforts, parenting or not.

This past week

The above conversation about raising the young is all fine and good, but there is another force at play that reared it’s ugly head again last week and that is the right for people with uteruses to have the ability to choose what they want to do with said uterus. Yes, I am being very specific here because there are all kinds of people who can create, grow, and bear children and all of us are at risk of losing our rights.

First Texas, then Oklahoma, and just yesterday, Kentucky, have basically made abortion illegal in their states. At present, we still have Roe v. Wade to uphold the bodily autonomy of those with a uterus, but if the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization moves forward, it could send the decision of viability back to the states. The issue in the case is “whether all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional” (scotusblog.com) and if found to be true would essentially overturn Roe. With near total abortion bans setup in many states across the country, to be triggered with an overturn of Roe, we are truly on a path backwards. Women are people. All women are people. All people with uteruses are people. And at the end of all of this, if we overturn one of the most crucial Supreme Court decisions we have seen in recent memory, we are telling all people with uteruses that we are, in fact, not human.

How can we retain our rights?

The good news is that many pro-choice groups and organizations, across the country, wrote amicus briefs, in September 2021, in support of the defendant, showing a great deal of pushback to the draconian reversal of human rights that the petitioners seek. Contacting legislators through phone calls, text messages, emails, and marching to capital buildings with our message of equality will continue to pressure these officials. Holding them accountable through our votes is another avenue of resistance. We need to stay aware and remain vigilant in the protection of equal rights for ALL, not just for those in power.

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Three Months

We are three months into the Alabama experience and there are a few things that I have learned since I have been living in Huntsville.

Beer is a serious thing down here

I always thought that Buffalo was a big drinking town, and it certainly is as the last call is still at 4 am, but if you are looking for really excellent craft beers, Northern Alabama is a great place to be. Here in Huntsville, an old school was converted into a complex for several breweries to hone their crafts. Campus no. 805 houses multiple breweries, bars, restaurants, and other businesses on its 13-acre plot of land. Beer aficionados can purchase their beer in the local grocery store and, if they are in the mood for something other than beer, they can also buy wine in the same grocery store. This, again, is a difference from NYS where wine can only be purchased in the liquor store.

Speed limits are merely suggestions and tailgating is an art

A misconception that many Northerners have about the South is that the people are slow moving. Now, I have noticed some people walking slowly and they certainly take their time with the customer service, but once they get behind the wheel of a car holy crap are they ever in a hurry! It’s like they have to rush to get everywhere so that they can then take their time talking. I have never been tailgated as much as I have in the past 3 months of my life. At first, I thought it could be due to my bumper stickers. Perhaps they were mad at my liberal views and so they decided to make me feel uncomfortable, but I quickly realized that had nothing to do with it. They just like to drive fast. If the speed limit is 45 you can be sure that everyone around you will be driving a minimum of 60, if not faster. And nobody uses signals down here either, so you just have to guess if the person behind or in front of you is suddenly going to change lanes. Driving in Alabama is, to say the least, an experience.

Huntsville is a lot like Buffalo

My friends and family in Western New York will certainly think I am lying when I say this, but Buffalo and Huntsville are very similar. The people here LOVE football just as much as WNYers love watching the Bills. Saturdays are game days and you can see people wearing either Roll Tide or Tigers gear, EVERYWHERE. The funny thing about them rooting for the University of Alabama or Auburn is that both of these schools are a day trip away from Huntsville. UofA has a campus in Huntsville, but the campus where they play the games (the main campus) is in Tuscaloosa – 2 hours and 31 minutes away. Auburn is even farther at 3 hours and 44 minutes away, but anywhere you can buy clothes you can buy gear for both of these schools. Alabama A&M, which has a football team and is in Huntsville, only has one off-campus location where their gear is sold and people are not super into rooting for them.

Another way that Huntsville and Buffalo are similar is population-wise. Buffalo has a population of 258,612 (as of 2017), while Huntsville is at 194,585 and growing. Huntsville is laid out similar to Buffalo in that there is a downtown core with housing, the cultural district, the historic district, and an entertainment district and is surrounded by suburbs and rural areas further out. Sound familiar? Huntsville is also becoming more gentrified by the hipsters, which also falls in line with the Buffalo scene.

Huntsville has central industries that revolve around NASA, software, and missile defense. This means that there are many people who work in Huntsville that are not originally from the area. These people generally do not live in the city. In Buffalo, there is a similar theme, but the industries are different in that they revolve more around banking, start-ups, and the medical campus. A cool outcome of living in a city where NASA has a large presence is that our local television company provides the NASA channel for 24-hour viewing. The late-night broadcasting is especially soothing as they show images of earth from the space station with calming background music, providing a great way to relax and unwind before bed.

Severe weather exists in Huntsville, just as it does in Buffalo, but in the form of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. We are actually under a severe weather threat for this evening and I am super excited and scared for it. I know exactly what to do when a blizzard is coming, but preparing for a tornado is very different. Especially when it is forecasted to hit the area between 1 and 3 am. If we have to take shelter, we will be up all night. At least with a snowstorm, you can generally sleep through it and the morning is super annoying if there was not enough accumulation to warrant closed roads, forcing workers to clean off cars and drive to work in a few feet of snow. But at least snow melts. More updates on the severe weather in the Tennessee Valley to come…

Northern Alabama is not at all how I thought it would be

The biggest thing I have learned in the past 3 months is that Northern Alabama is not the stereotypical South that we think about being from the North. When I told people that I was moving to Alabama they had many reactions, but mostly they were fearful for my safety. They were nervous because I am a highly liberal, feminist, opinionated, woman and they assumed that was not going to be okay for the majority of my new neighbours. So far, that has not been my experience. I have been pleasantly surprised by the fact that the people of Huntsville are very much not the old Southerners that we expected them to be. They are a lot like us. They might not be as liberal and they are certainly a lot more into church (there is a church on every corner, for real, and some blocks have a church next to a church next to a church – to say the people are into church is actually an understatement) than Northerners, but they are also into science and art and having a good time. Bars and restaurants and cafes close early, but that is not a big deal to me anymore because I am WAY past the age of staying out until 4 am.

There are occasions when I am driving down University Drive (the main thoroughfare between where I live and downtown) and for a moment I forget that I am in Alabama. Last week I was driving through the country, trying to get the lay of the land near my apartment, and I suddenly came upon a field of cotton. That threw me for a loop. I was expecting to see corn and it was cotton. That was a reminder of where I am and of the history of this place. It made me want to start doing research into the history of Huntsville and Alabama as a whole. I have also learned that there are many mounds in Alabama that were built by my ancestors in the Muscogee (Creek) tribe and I am excited to look further into that. I am very happy that I made an effort to get my library card the first week I was here. My life would not be complete if I could not use the library for research.

Of course, there is a history of the Civil War down here that is quite opposite of what we discussed in Northern schools and this is something that I would also like to explore. There are old homes that were built before the war that are still standing in the old town area of Huntsville and I would like to know more about their history. I am highly interested in race, gender, class, and socioeconomic structures and living in the South will provide me with many ways in which I can further my research in these areas. Huntsville is home to 1 of the 21 HBCUs that is also a land-grant university in Alabama A&M. Alabama is the only State that has 2 HBCU/land-grant universities, Tuskeegee being the other. This is a great opportunity to do research on the history of these types of schools in America and how they contributed to the empowerment of people of color and helped those who had few skills expand their knowledge in order to improve their futures.

Although I had relatives from Alabama, I never truly knew what it was like to live down here. I still don’t. I am still looking for a job and this means that I spend my days working from home for the same company that I worked for in Buffalo and I only interact with locals through customer service. Once I start working with the people here I am certain that my opinions will change and my understanding of the South will broaden. For now, I feel like I have had some good experiences and I hope to have more. Only time will tell if Alabama is truly the place for us and I will be updating you on all the interesting things that happen along the way.

Thanks for reading and DON’T FORGET TO VOTE TOMORROW!!

Peace,

Chantale

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Seriously

So, I was thinking that I would go in a different direction with this blog. Something outside of the realm of citizen action. At the time I made this decision, I believed that we were going to elect our first female POTUS and continue with another 8 years of change for the better. At that time, I did not realize that we would be left with the most horrible man in that position. A man that is the antithesis of positive change. A man that would rather build a wall than build bridges.

With that – I feel that the original focus of rise up buffalo needs to remain. This space needs to be a place that residents can come to see what is happening in the city of Buffalo and the surrounding area. A listing of current and future events. Posts that discuss topics of interest to the activist community. Moving forward I will try to be more prolific in keeping rise up buffalo updated. I will also be looking for assistance in this effort.

Rise up buffalo has been around for quite a while (10 years as of 18 May 2016!), but has not been active for a while now. This is mainly due to my inability to keep things moving on my own. I have been busy with other things, but there are really no excuses. Going forward I promise to be more on top of the goings on in Western New York activism. As I said above, I could really use some help with this. I am always looking for guest posters, so please let me know if you would like to volunteer some of your words to the cause.

We must stay vigilant and continue to be allies to one another. Now, more than ever, it is important to keep our marginalized friends and family members safe. Continuing to be up to date with the activist community is a good step in that direction. Thank you for joining me on this renewed journey. Our new POTUS may end up being a devastating force, but together we can keep ALL of our leaders in check. We can write letters and make phone calls and assemble in the streets to peacefully resist the future direction of the this most wonderful country. At the root of it all, we are a great country, we just need to be sure that every single citizen has an equal voice and equal rights as we move into the future and away from our disgusting past.

Peace and happy organizing!

Chantale (aka hippiegrrl)

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Changing Things Up

As you can see, it has been quite a while since the last official post here at Rise Up Buffalo. We have been busy working on other projects and getting locked out of our accounts, but we are ready to pick up where we left off, with a few tweaks to the original theme. Rise Up Buffalo was originally created to be a resource for the Buffalo, NY activist community. Our main goal was to inform the activist community on matters of importance. To spur actions and continue the growth of community building in the city. In the past 5 years, we feel that Twitter has become a major source of this type of community building. The opportunities for activist outreach through Twitter are endless. Coupled with other social media outlets, Twitter has been an excellent resource and continues to move change in Buffalo and across the planet. Humans writing pieces on blogs cannot keep up with the minute to minute nature of actions and Twitter was really made for that type of interaction.

Having said this, it seems that Rise Up Buffalo needs a change of focus. Instead of maintaining a standard of information gathering and dissemination for current actions, we feel that it can be a repository for nostalgia in the Buffalo community. So, as we stated back in March, we want to move forward with the writing series listed on the Series Up pages. This will become the main focus of Rise Up and we hope that you will join us on this new leg of our journey. All submissions are welcome! Please read more about this series and contact us with questions. In the meantime, be on the lookout for the first installment of Buffalo, Then, coming in November.

Peace, love, and activism,
Chantale

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Nice To See You! How Have You Been?

I realize that it has been almost a year since the last update here at rise up buffalo.  To my readers, I am truly sorry.  Life has become chock full of things to be done and this web journal had to be put on the back burner for a bit.  I should have mentioned that, but sometimes life takes off before you have time to give notice.  Anyway – we are back now and hopefully there will be weekly updates of goodness for you to ingest.  

Here are some of the things that have been happening elsewhere, but are, in many ways, connected to rise up buffalo:

For all you gender studies folks, and those of you that could use a couple lessons in gender studies, we present not just girls, a place to learn and pass it on.

Are you interested in wiping out hatred? Squashing bullying? Eliminating racism and discrimination? Join us at Hatred Be Gone where we will attempt to put a positive spin on the negativity that comes from discrimination and hatred. Moving toward a world without hatred. This includes the hatred perpetrated by those that are discriminating in the name of religious beliefs. This is the worst type of hatred, couched in the words of scripture or a system of belief. Hatred Be Gone! Poof!

hippiegrrl explains it all is up and running! We are finally on our own server. All the old posts from Backwash.com are archived here, as well as the new goodness. Please pop by and check it out when you have a moment to spare.

In the future we will have a landing page for all the “hippiegrrl” properties, but for now we are scattered across the interwebs. Safe travels and see you again soon!

Peace,
Chantale

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2004.3.17 – spring into action!

Just around the corner is the best season of all. Yes, I am speaking of Spring. The sun starts to show up on and off for the month of March and by April it stays with us nearly everyday. Growing up in a relatively grey area of the country makes the spring even more special.

The snow melts, animals come out of hibernation, and the trees, plants and flowers start the growing process. After a long hard winter, spring is this great surprise. People begin to walk and ride bikes instead of driving their cars and we all get together more often. Leaving the house has to be the best thing about springtime.

A sense of energy comes over us all and we are ready to start the season of action. Activism should be a year round thing, but as many of you know, it tends to be a lot more active in the warmer months. So, without further ado, here is a list (you knew I couldn’t get through a column without including a list, right?) of great ideas for the coming seasons of activism.

Host a March For Women’s Lives House Party
Organize for the largest march in support of reproductive freedom in history, 25 April 2004, in Washington, D.C.

Send a Letter on Intolerance
Oppose writing intolerance into our Constitution!

Get Busy. Get Equal.
Helpful tips from the ACLU on how to forward the cause of gay and lesbian rights in our land of the free.

Help the Homeless
Bringing America Home Campaign

Take Back the Night
Help out with your local events or organize your own rally and march if one does not exist in your town!

Literacy Volunteers of America
Volunteer your time to help someone learn to read!

This is just a short list of ways that you can take action this spring! Now get out there and search for a way to positively effect the people and places around you. March in a rally, volunteer your time, help others, do something. You will feel great about it and help someone in the process.

Peace,
Hippiegrrl

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2004.1.9 – ill activism

‘Tis the season to be….sick as a dog, or cat, or some type of animal.
Anything but human.
Now you know the reason for my lengthy absence. I was not out having a good time, but rather in bed for several days. The best (and perhaps worst as well) part of the flu is that you are unable to go out. You feel a strong need to stay in your room and wallow in your sickness.

This was evidenced by the fact that I stayed in my little apartment for four full days without a breath of fresh air. I didn’t even go in the hallway or down the elevator to pick up the mail. I kept myself secluded and it seemed to have worked.

So, now that I’m back to about 90% of my original health I am ready to write! I hope everyone is prepared for a great activism piece, because I’m ready to give you one.

New Year Activism 101
What can i do to make my little piece of the world a better place, you ask? Well, there are many things you can volunteer to do and even some things that you can make money doing, but I am only going to mention a few in this column, for obvious reasons. Activism isn’t the most interesting topic, but I will try my best to make it fun and exciting for you!

Reproductive Rights March
25 April 2004, Washington D.C.
You can either reserve a seat (for yourself) or sponsor a seat for another individual to attend this rally in April. The cost is only $40 and it is well well worth it. Reproductive Rights are coming under swift fire in this country of late (culminating with the signing of the partial birth abortion ban by our fantastic President) and we definitely need to do something about it. Visit the link below for the NYCLU to sign up to take the trek.

Clean Energy NOW
Join the mailing list on Greenpeace.com and be informed about actions that can be taken to gain cleaner energy alternatives throughout our country. If each of us did some conservation of our own it would go a long way toward solving our energy problems. Our dependence on oil from foriegn sources is quite unhealthy and we need to find ways to become independent of this curse.

Support Fair Trade
This is definitely a favourite of mine and once again I will attempt to drive home the point. Farmers in hot weather countries are treated terribly in the face of exporters who pay them next to nothing to pick the beans for our morning lattes. Working in the coffee industry gave me insight into the conditions that these farmers work under and things that we can do to change their plight, if only in a small way. Support fair trade campaigns, the most popular of which being the Organic Consumers Association Starbucks campaign. Focusing on one of the highest grossing chain coffeehouses in the world, the OCA establishes press releases, protests and other actions to counteract the coffeehouse money making scheme. Coffee should be about pleasure, but if the farmers are being paid next to nothing it can only be about pain.

So, that is all for now. I promise to update more frequently now that I am well again. Keep an eye out for more activism columns and
keep fighting the good fight!!!

Peace,
Hippiegrrl

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Are you registered?

It is almost time to select our next president. If you are not registered yet, please use this form to do so. We need to band together and keep moving forward.
Our country cannot afford four years of another Republican. We had eight years that got us to where we are and now that we are finally coming out of it, we need to keep going on this better path. Obama will get us further down the road to improvements in our economy while maintaining our rights. Romney, as surrogate for the right wing, crazy conservative, tea party influenced, Republican Party, will take away the rights of women through policies that harm EVERYONE!

Register and then get to the polls! It is your right, your privilege, and your duty to do so.

Peace,
Chantale (aka hippiegrrl)

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Slackers Unite!

Troy: what happened to your normal clothes?
Michael: wow! Lelaina, look at you. You look…where’d you get that dress?
Lelaina: Oh, um… I don’t know. I just bought it. But I think I’m gonna go change because…
Michael: No, don’t. You look beautiful. You look like… You look like…
Troy: A doily.
Lelaina: I’m gonna change.
Michael: No, don’t change.
Troy: And don’t go thinking for yourself either, Lainie.

[scene from “Reality Bites”, universal pictures, 1994]

The Art Linklater film “Slacker” has been considered the generation-x answer to “Easy Rider”. Although it is not a road movie, it most definitely defined (or redefined) a generation. If this is truly the case, then we must also consider the movie “Reality Bites” as a defining moment in cinema history for gen-x. Both movies depict a world in which the most intelligent and creative among us become lazy and complacent. In “Reality Bites” the main character, the valedictorian of her graduating class at university, ends up having to work a minimum wage job to be able to make ends meet. Her roommate, who has also completed university, works at the gap and their friend, who has only one class left to finish, would rather loaf on a couch than complete his degree. Philosophically, what is the point of the piece of paper? That is the question asked in these movies and, unfortunately, they were not just defining a generation, but also foreshadowing the future. Smart people with no direction.

How can we better understand our current circumstances through movie depictions of our generation. Of course, we are not characters in a movie, but some movies strike right at the heart of real, living, breathing, humans. The characters in “Reality Bites” are not 2-dimensional caricatures, but fully formed characters. People that we, off the screen, can actually relate to and maybe see in others of our generation. Generation-x, that is. Those of us between the hippies and the hipsters. Those of us born in the 70’s who have really tried to make this country work for us. We are the main demographic for advertising now and we actually have always been. We grew up with MTV, but had to work for our media. We are the generation that was raised with sound bites and short attention spans, but didn’t have ADHD diagnoses to blame for our problems in school or life. We were told to try harder, not take the easy way out by popping a pill. If we wanted to talk on the phone we had to dial a number, but we have also adapted to our current surroundings. Generation-x may be considered a lost generation, now, looking back, but we are still here. We carry with us all the debt the 80’s created and the disillusionment of the 90’s. We carry the weight of the baby boomers as they move into social security years and the burdens of the hipsters who steal away our chances at success in new media industries, even though we were on the forefront of those technologies.

An outcome of slackerdom, or simple complacency, is the pull to stay in one decade. For gen-x, that decade would be the 90’s and, believe me, I have that bug. I would love to wake up at noon each day, go to a coffeehouse, hang out and read a good book, walk back home, stopping along the way to pick up a few items for dinner, and then work, after dinner, on a book or a libretto or something creative that pays the bills. Writing this blog and getting paid for it. Making espresso and getting paid for it. Reading and writing and getting paid for it. But getting paid enough to afford the things I need and want, not scrounging. Back to the days of $1.13 gallons of gas and free meals, 29 cent stamps and Fiona Apple. Back to The Counting Crows and Jewel and Puff Daddy. When Kurt and Left Eye, Biggie and Aaliyah, Tupac and Layne were alive. Back in the day.

So how can we make the 90’s happen in the teens? First things first. Find a job that makes you happy. Never settle for doldrums. If you have to scrimp and save and scrounge for a bit to get to where you want to be professionally it will be more than worth it in the end. Working a job you hate just to pay the bills ends you up a bitter person with a sad life. You will look back and only see the paychecks, not good times. Once you are on the road to a better existence though work happiness everything will look sunnier. Each morning will be one that you want to rise to the occasion for, not a struggle to get out of bed.

Next – stop beating yourself up for the things that you have not done or may not do that others wish you would do. Your life is your own and if you do not live it the way you want you will be unhappy in the end. You are living for you, not anyone else, and you have to put your needs and wants first, not those of others. You cannot take care of others unless you take care of yourself first. You cannot love others unless you love yourself first. This includes having children. Children are a huge responsibility and if you are not personally ready to enter into the realm of parenthood it is never a good idea to move forward. Let go of the things that people say or request of you and move forward with what YOU want. Positivity and moving toward goals will bring you everything you really want in the end and the guilt of children not being in the equation has to be let go of in order to move forward. You only get one life so you should live it how you want and not how others think you should.

Finally – always make time to be creative. If you have a talent, use it. The spent doing the things you love will make you a better person. Time spent alone, concentrating on a creative outlet wil make you a stronger and more well rounded individual. Always keep your mind open to new things and do not dismiss the opinions of others. You do not have to agree, but you should at least listen. From one human to another, this is all we really want from each other. To be heard.

So, maybe being from gen-x is not the worst thing in the world. We have a good handle on the future, based on the past, and we are able to overcome obstacles. Environmental issues? No problem! We will reduce, reuse, and recycle like rock stars. Bad economy? Please! We will downsize until things bounce back. Need a new tech? Of course! We will be working on the future of the tech that was introduced to us as children, because that is what we do. We are problem solvers and we will not quit until we have found solutions for everything. Moving forward, making the future brighter, this is what we slackers are all about. Don’t think that slacker is a negative nickname. It is the fuel that we need to change the world. And, mark my words, we ost certainly will. We should embrace the titles that older generations have given to our generation. Coffeehouses and grunge music were the beginning of our enlightenment. Don’t worry, Eeyore can still be our gen-x mascot. We will just make the Eeyore in each of us see the future in a brighter light. Eeyore can still be a downer and a doer at the same time. It is possible to be a walking contradiction and nobody knows this better than those of us born between 1965 and 1980. Go go gen-x! Rock it out and leave the boomers and the millenials in your dust!

Peace and Happy Fixing!
Chantale aka hippiegrrl

Links apropos
so maybe the slackers had it right after all
how generation x got the shaft but can still keep everything from sucking
eeyore

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from the archives – we love coffee! 11 october 2007

coffee is one of the best reasons to get up in the morning. at least that is how i feel about it. it was quite easy for me to become addicted to this liquid while working in a cafe. one free pound of beans per week and as much coffee as i could ingest during my shift was enough to get me hooked. who wouldn’t get addicted?

at that time, in the mid-late 90’s, i must admit that i was pretty much in the dark about coffee. i knew nothing about fair trade, shade grown or bird friendly coffee. i didn’t realize the effect that the coffee i was drinking had on people in hot climates picking beans for less than $1.00 per pound.

then one day the mail came and there was a coffee trade magazine in the mix. since we weren’t that busy i decided to sit and read up on the coffee industry. i came across this great article about an organization called “coffee kids”. their mission was simple –

to help coffee-farming families improve the quality of their lives.

reading on in the article i learned the following –

•Coffee is the second-most traded commodity in the world economy, after oil.
•The global coffee industry $60 billion annually. Coffee farmers earn as little as 4 cents a pound for the coffee they pick by hand.
•For every pound of gourmet coffee sold, small-coffee farmers receive between 12¢ and 25¢.
•25 million families around the world work in the coffee-fields and totally depend on the coffee crop as their only source of income.

these statistics are mind boggling, considering we were selling pounds of coffee at our cafe for anywhere from $9-$15 per pound (and even higher for types such as kenya aa ($25/pound) and jamaica blue mountain ($30/pound). after reading the article, i spoke to our district manager to find out if there was any way that we could start looking into fair trade coffee. i was told to speak to the owner of the cafe i worked for. a few days later i had a conversation with our owner and was told that fair trade coffee was too expensive. this answer coming from a lady that drove around in a bmw and lived in a good size home while paying her own employees well below the standard for baristas in the coffeehouse industry. i’m not sure where i thought i would get with my suggestion, but i had hoped to see a little bit of goodwill on the part of the company i worked for.

needless to say, this was the beginning of the end for me at that particular coffee establishment. it was sort of the last straw to find that my employer wouldn’t even consider something that would make the company better global citizens and, in the long run, help many people in need. fair trade is important. it saves lives and mends families.

if you are a coffee drinker (or tea totaller, cocoa consumer or chocolate fanatic) please consider buying fair trade for these products. whenever you visit your favourite coffeehouse be sure to ask for fair trade products. if each of us does our part to keep up the push on these coffee places, eventually everyone will carry the best and most conscious products available. and believe me, the cup of coffee that you know helped the whole supply chain better their lives is the best cuppa java you will ever sip!

peace – hippiegrrl

links of use for this topic…

frankenbucks campaign from organic consumers
fair trade federation
global exchange
make trade fair from oxfam international

where to find fair trade products in Buffalo and Rochester –
Lexington Co-Operative Market
Abundance Co-Operative Market
One World Goods
The Coffee Connection
Java’s
Lori’s Natural Foods

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from the archives – eat local – 1 september 2007

rise up buffalo has been looking into the possibility of going completely local with our diet. the 100 mile diet, to be exact. in order to do this though, a few items may need to be given up in the winter months and other items given up altogether. with the help of a few great websites, we are learning more about eating locally and how it can help the environment while keeping our local farms in production.

local harvest is a great resource for finding and maintaining the means to eat locally. you can punch in your personal zip code and the site will show you all the farms in your area. there is also a wonderful section of the site explaining why we should buy locally and the effect it has on our planets and local economies. just in case you needed an explanation or would like to be more informed in discussing this 100 mile option with friends and family.

quoting from the sites about us page – “The Buy Local movement is quickly taking us beyond the promise of environmental responsibility that the organic movement delivered, and awakening the US to the importance of community, variety, humane treatment of farm animals, and social and environmental responsibility in regards to our food economy.”

for an even more in depth explanation about buying local, check out sustainable table.

isn’t this cause to at least give it a try? see what we can do as a community to continue the sustainability of our local farms and, while doing so, help the greater ecological issues we are facing in this current time.

staying on the local topic, but away from food there is a new movement in our buffalo community to buy local goods from retailers in our area. buffalo first “aims to encourage Western New York residents to make purchases at locally-owned independent business whenever possible. We also encourage local “mom and pop” stores to source with Buffalo’s farmers, producers and retailers; and work with local nonprofits, credit unions and other institutions whenever they can.” they are getting in on the movement as well, so isn’t it about time for you?

peace & happy marching!
hippiegrrl

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Technology and Disenfranchishement

When I say I want to go back to the seventies, it has more to do with technology than nostalgia.  Yes, I realize that I am sitting at a computer in a separate room from my husband, listening to a Pandora playlist online, while I type this into a word processing program.  Meanwhile, he sits on the couch in the living room, simultaneously watching television, checking the scores for a Yankees game on his iPod and texting his brother and cousin on his cellphone.  Without technology our lives would be empty.  Or would they?

This is a question I have been pondering for the past couple weeks.  Noticing that since I have left school I have less need for my cellphone, more time to read books, and less pull toward the computer.  If I could find a mid-range typewriter, something from 1985, I would be content to type on that, rather than a word processing program.  Heck, I would be content with an Apple IIe, if I could type my thoughts and then save them to a floppy disc.  I have been writing, by hand, in a journal and I am also content with that.  I do, however, notice that my hand cramps up more easily these days, since I am now more used to typing than writing.

I suppose that it has to start from inside.  This year I will start learning how to devolve back to earlier technology.  Making actual files in an accordion folder, rather than files on a flash drive.  Reading books that I can hold in my hand and turn the pages of, rather than reading articles on a computer screen.  Searching for a typewriter to collect my thoughts that come too quick for me to write in my journal.  These are small changes, but they are good.  That way, when the power goes out or the internet is suddenly unavailable, I have a way to collect my thoughts without relying so heavily on technology.  If I can do it, anyone can.

We have come to rely on this technology to live.  Not to actually exist, but to be.  Without the ability to check twitter and Facebook and the absence of email, the silence of a turned off cellphone becomes dreadfully desperate.  Without text messages to tell me that I am still breathing, however will I know I am still alive?

My iTunes playlist keeps me fully grounded in the decades ranging from the 1960’s to the 1990’s, with the exception of very few recent hit songs or underground artists.  By having the list constantly playing, throughout the course of my workday, I can be transported back to high school, Gords, or Rockwell hall at a moments notice.  As it spins to Alanis Morissette, I am reminded of my prom, not the happiest of memories, but a memory nonetheless.  Spinning to Chaka Kahn takes me back to my parents living room, sitting on the floor, as a ten year old, glued to HBO as Breakin’ is broadcast for the masses.  Trent Reznor oozes out of the speakers and I am transported to St. Catherines on a Friday night in 1995 where my best friend and I are in full Goth mode, on the dance floor, worshiping the gods of industrial music while drinking $2 blues and smoking cloves.  Everything is perfect.  Everything is new or different or just good.

Step right up, march, push, crawl right up on your knees, please, feed, greed, no time to hesitate. Trent Reznor

After reading an essay by Chuck Klosterman about The Empire Strikes Back and Reality Bites, I have suddenly realized why my obsession with the latter movie has been so strong.  I also realize that I am not alone in this obsession.  It is not a particularly good movie, but it certainly hits home.  It signifies everything about my 20’s.  I spent the bulk of that decade (1994-2004) in coffeehouses, either working or hanging out, sometimes both.  The beginning I spent in college and the end I spent in a dead end (although somewhat prestigious, in the IT department of a bank, but in the end, dead end) job.  At the very end (right before turning 30) I got married to someone who was in basically the same situation as me.  We were both in jobs that we knew we were not going to maintain forever, but they paid the bills.  We both hung out in coffeehouses and were disenfranchised, to use a sad, yet true, stereotype.  Or at least we felt disenfranchised, which is actually the same thing as being disenfranchised.  Self inflicted disenfranchisement.  This is a symptom of the Generation X group.  We have this in common, even if we do not want to admit it.  Each time a song from the 90’s is used in a commercial (which is beginning to be more and more prevalent this century) I, along with a whole generation of 30-somethings, cringe.  We are less unambivalent about this happening than our parents were.

I distinctly remember discussing this with my mother at the age of 20, the first time Pontiac used Jimi Hendrix (Fire) to try and sell their cars. I asked her, “isn’t that upsetting?” and she responded “somewhat, but what can you do?”  Well!  I say you can do a lot.  Don’t buy a Pontiac, tell everyone you know not to buy a Pontiac and begin an online campaign to stop using hippie (anti-establishment) music to sell products.  That would be my response, but hey – I’m a disenfranchised slacker – so that’s the way it goes.  I will sit in a coffeehouse and talk about protest, but how often do I get off my ass and follow through.   That was the legacy of my parents generation, so maybe they are a bit too tired to fight the good fight against corporate America.   They were too busy, in their youth, fighting for equal rights and against the war.  Obviously, there is a gulf between us, at least from this standpoint.

Well I used to stand for something, but forgot what that could be, there’s a lot of me inside you, maybe you’re afraid to see. Trent Reznor

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From the archives – back from the big city – 30 june 2007

yes, we have returned!

spending a weekend in toronto (or canada in general) always makes us want to do more for the environment. it also nudges us more in the direction of activism. realizing that toronto is a major metorpolitan area, you would think this wouldn’t be the case, but they are very conscious of usage, recycling, etc. up there.

so – considering the fact that we don’t want to be left behind when it comes to environmental awareness & activism, here are a few links to things happening locally in the western new york community!

re-tree wny – group formed to start the replanting process this coming fall for the trees that were lost during our storm in october 2006.

streets are for people – this group is organized in the toronto gta (mainly the queen west/kensington market neighbourhoods) to take back the streets for people. buffalo could use a little of this.

buffalo blue bicycle – buffalo’s bike sharing program. a great way for citizens to get back into biking without making a large investment in a new bicycle. you can join the club, learn how to repair bikes and share with other like-minded biking citizens! a season membership is only $25 or 6 hours of service helping to repair/maintain bikes. not bad!!!

freegans – As it states on the freegan website – “Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. Freegans embrace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed.”

push buffalo – helping low income individuals and families turn the page and become homeowners – one house at a time.

massachusetts avenue project – the mission of map is to “nurture the growth of a diverse and equitable community food system to promote local economic opportunities, access to affordable, nutritious food, and social-change education” and they have several ongoing programs to help them accomplish these goals!

queen city farm – a project that is still in the early stages, bringing the ability for fresh food and growing to the east side of buffalo.

i realize that this is quite a bit of information, but we are trying to get back on the right foot with this site. please join us in supporting these amazing groups and give you two cents on the comment board!

peace & happy marching –
hippiegrrl

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Equality Now!

Tomorrow will be the eighth anniversary of the writer and I “tying the knot”.   Luckily, because we are of the opposite sex, we were able to secure a legal marriage with very little effort.   If, in fact, we were of the same sex, we would be celebrating an eight year commitment with no legal rights between us and within our union.

This week, the State Senate of New York is voting to pass a bill that will legalize same-sex marriage and secure a higher level of equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals.   In opposition to this bill is a small group of bigoted but vocal individuals, led by a group called the national organization for marriage (nom).   This group purports to be pro-marriage when, in reality, they are a bigoted group who seek to push their values on the majority of Americans that believe in equal rights.

Legislating from the seat of morality is a very sticky situation.   America is a nation built on the ideals of equality, justice and separation of church and state.   Without these founding positions to ground us, we would be nothing but a nation of religious zealots, no better than those countries that govern their people based on religious fundamentalism.   This seems like a no-brainer really.   What people do in their bedrooms should not be governed by the public.   Laws are meant to protect people, not to restrict rights.

When it really comes down to it we should all have the freedom to do what we personally feel is right. If two people want to get married for love or money or rights, that is their decision. The government should not be in our bedrooms, telling us how to live our lives. The faithful say that they are trying to “protect the sanctity of marriage” by fighting against equality, however they are doing a disservice to the faith that they claim to have. Faith is personal. Faith is a guiding principle in an individual life. Faith is not something that can be legislated or imposed on others. Each of us walks through this world with our own minds and the ability to make decisions about our own lives. If one chooses to be married, that is a personal choice. It should, therefore, not be molded by those with power. It should not be regulated by those in high positions. Morality is something that we each deal with on a personal basis and that is how it should remain. Love is love is love.

Having said that, what can we do to counter the hate filled rhetoric of NOM and move forward with a more equal system for all?

Stand up and be counted
The Human Rights Campaign has been working diligently to get our elected officials to vote yes on the marriage equality bill.   With the “moral” attacks from NOM and other organizations, the efforts of HRC could be thwarted.   We need to stand up as a people and show NOM that the majority believe in equality and acceptance, not bigotry and hatred.   Call or email your senator with your support of this bill today!

Tell a Friend
Share the news that you are part of this fight with your family and friends. Power comes with mass outreach and the struggle cannot be won without an outpouring of support from all people.

Post your support
You know you love to “like” things on Facebook or Tweet about stuff that concerns you. Why not do that for this very worthy cause? Let all those people that follow you know that you will not stand for the inequality that has been the norm for so long.

Let’s go New York! Let’s make this happen in my lifetime. Equality for all is what we were promised in the beginning of this nation and we should make an attempt to see it through. It has taken us long enough, time is up, equality for all, NOW!

Peace,
Chantale (aka hippiegrrl)

Please pass this column along to those you think would be interested, or, even, those who you think need a bit of educating on ideas of equality. Your support is important to the cause.