Say it with a lisp!

I'm in Barcelona until April 7th!

Hooray!

xoxo
lady

R-E-A-D-A-B-O OK?!?!

Anyone want to start some sort of a book club?

I have so much I want to read, but with no deadlines, I am not getting it done.

Anyone?

Beuller?

<3
poindextress

Make it Work

Please stop driving.
Just make it work for you.
What a waste of money it is to have a car!
What a waste of resources it is to have a car!

I'm 23 years old and I've never had a license and never driven a car.

Why?

• I grew up in Providence where I either took the RIPTA bus or walked 3 miles to and from high school. Uphill both ways.
  
• My family didn't have money, so I knew not to expect a car on my 16th birthday. Instead I received a blender from my parents.
  
• I never signed up for drivers ed because I was too busy being cool and subversive (smoking pot on the regular while maintaining honor roll).
  
• My mother was in a near-fatal car crash when I was 6 years old. She was hit by a drunk driver and underwent experimental surgery having several of her vertebrae fused together, leaving her bedridden for 6 months and in chronic pain for the rest of her life (don't drink and drive). So perhaps there's also a psychological element to my lack of desire to operate a motor vehicle.
  
• I went to college in Boston where it's totally lame to have a car. I am a subway expert and fanatic.
• I had a serious boyfriend who I basically lived with when I wasn't in Boston. We would carpool almost everywhere. He was always Designated Driver, and for that, I owe him a lot (I'll repay you somehow, Harold!).
• Back in Providence since 2006 and walking has never been more pleasant. The architecture of this city is brilliant and I love looking pedestrians in the eyes and saying hello when I pass them on my walks cross-town. Community building.
  
• I have two jobs. Since I don't drive, I have to make strategic decisions about where I love and work. Each job is no more than a 20-minute walk from my apartment, and an even faster trip on the bus or bike.
  

It has become so normal to have a car in the society we have constructed for ourselves, and hopefully we all realize that we cannot maintain this lifestyle without doing harm to our global and personal health. Consider leaving the car at home sometimes. Go for a walk. Bike! Use public transportation. Take time to experience your city or town from the perspective of a pedestrian. Or even from the perspective of the natural world.

If you biked to work instead of drove, you would save money on gas, cut down on your contribution to pollution, and get in shape in no time. Hug that tree, get physically fit, and save money while doing it.

Consider a lifestyle change that feels soooo gooood.

xoxo
carla

How to Solve Illegal Immigration

Listen to Ween's "Puffy Cloud"

I got dumb on vacation.

It might be a week or so until my brain cells regroup and realize that happy hour by the pool is over.

So if you interact with me and I'm a total dumdum, please be kind and give me a second chance next week.

xoxo
'la

Hey Baby, Let's Cross Pollinate

People we know are living and doing some great work around the globe. Let's share information!

Providence
We've got talented and friendly local musicians, cycling, energetic politicians, artists, farmers, and labor organizing, immigration justice work, beer-brewing, and pride... (we also have this great waitress and child care provider with a special interest in sex work and birth control methods)

Boston
Another fine (in looks and quality of mind) crop of Simmons Women are about to graduate (with a speaker much less vagina-rific than mine). I recently had the chance to spend 9 days with a small sampling on Vacation #1. PR, Marketing, Art, Arts Administration, Photography, and a start-up grassroots social and cultural activist hive "Kinetic Artivist Collective" that will be coming together in South Africa in January '09.

NYC
Alicia just worked the WE LEARN Conference (she's a board member and coordinated language access for the entire event!). Excellent work, amazing women, and clip art. Fordham University has an article about WE LEARN, focusing on women and wealth. NYC is also home to a million cool graphic designers and contemporary hipster bohemian types. One of them is a dear friend named Jesse.

Barcelona
My sister from another Mister, Caroline, is tearing it up folk-style. Please check out her tunes and then buy them. You won't regret it. I'll be over there soon to hug her for you.

Argentina
Nick Mahshie is painting up a storm at Residencia Corazon with distinguished title of "El Primer Yankee."

South Africa
See Kinetic Artivist Collective above. Brought to you by Erica Bowman and Jazz. Get in touch with me if you have interest in the KAC.

Armenia
People are doing all sorts of work over there, despite the current events. Tamar's website seems to be having trouble, but you can check out ArtWorks Armenia via her father's coffee shop in Sacramento. Dual-citizenship legislation has been passed in Armenia!

* * * * *

I think my long-term plans include being everywhere.
Care to come with?
Let's plan trips together!
I have free time this summer, and for the rest of my life.

xoxo
carla

p.s. I'm trying to volunteer at an urban apiary this summer... any suggestions?

Kissimmee

I've been in Kissimmee, FL (south of Orlando) on Vacation #1 since Saturday the 8th. I will climb back in the minivan on Sunday morning, and I will be home Monday the 17th just in time to pretend I'm Irish.

Florida is a strange place. We'll talk about that when I get back to Li'l Rhody. I would hate for the State of Florida to overhear me.

This whole vacation experience has been very relaxing (a little fuzzy at times) and also a bit uncomfortable. I am not good at being idle for very long. To keep busy I've been cleaning around the (amazing) 8-person suite (2 kitchens, jacuzzi bath, 2 bathrooms, 2 porches...). I've also started chainsmoking while idle. I will probably be a bit jittery from nicotine withdrawal when I get back to my set schedule of work and work and work and play.

Highlights of the trip:

• trying not to work all week (I failed)
  
• making time for mid-day bikini bubble baths with friends
  
• happy hour:
• happy hour at the poolside bar is from noon-3pm
  
• happy hour at the upper level bar is from 5-7pm
  
• happy hour at the bar by the resort entrance is from 10pm-2am
  
• sunbathing with a favorite book
• wearing a skirt or dress every day
• inspiration to write a Zombie movie screenplay!
  

I have a lot on my mind, but I'm letting myself get fuzzy and relaxed this week.

We're going to check out the lesbian scene in Orlando tonight. I'm expecting some Disney kink.

Sorry my vocab and general composition skills are lacking. Like I said, I've been fuzzy in the brain all week.

xoxo
carla

p.s. dear wayne coyne: stop selling your songs to range rover please. sincerely, carla

Linking NAFTA and Immigration (Part 1)

After some immigration debate with my father (the former RISD student and rock musician has matured like most Boomers) over apple pie and ice cream at my regular Doughty Family Dinner last Sunday, I've decided to compile some immigration / migrant worker / remittance / etc information.

As you probably know, I coordinate a child-care program for a non-profit in Olneyville, Providence that (to put it simply) provides English classes for Spanish-speaking immigrants. While my personal politics may differ from many of my coworkers, there are some undeniable truths about our responsibilities to human rights and our responsibilities to recognize our own power and influence as causal factors in this wave of immigration from south to north.

Here's some food for thought.

"During the NAFTA debate in 1993, advocates assured the U.S. and Mexican people that it would greatly alleviate unauthorized immigration by increasing employment opportunities in Mexico and closing the gap between U.S. and Mexican wages. But the promise of prosperity has been a mirage for millions of Mexicans: the value of the Mexican minimum wage dropped 23 percent in NAFTA's first decade; 19 million more Mexicans are living in poverty than 20 years ago, and today, one quarter of Mexico's population cannot afford basic foods."
-Linking NAFTA and Immigration by Ted Lewis for The San Diego Union-Tribune

Today is a conference in DC entitled:
Linking Agriculture, Development, and Migration: A Critical Look at NAFTA, Past, Present, and Future

Global Exchange has done a great job putting this information together, and they have a petition to Congress that you can sign online if you'd like.

Please realize that building a fence is not going to solve our problems.

xoxo
Carlita

Media Democracy in Canada

PRESS COMMUNIQUE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Adbusters Demands Canwest, the CBC and the CRTC Stop Blocking
Citizen-Produced Advertising

On Monday, February 18, Adbusters lost its court battle against two of Canada's television networks that refused to sell airtime for its commercials. Adbusters claimed the CBC and Canwest Global had violated its right to free speech under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by refusing to sell air time, but the court decided that the Charter does not apply to private corporations.

"It's outrageous that the fast food, oil and automobile industries can buy as much TV time as they want in order to promote their agendas, but citizens are not allowed to talk back," said Adbusters Editor-in-Chief Kalle Lasn in response to the ruling. "Canadian democracy will not work properly until we the people have the same right to buy airtime as corporations do."

The rejected Adbusters ads pointed out that over 50 percent of the calories in a Big Mac come from fat, called for an end to the age of the automobile, and promoted Buy Nothing Day. While Court Justice William Ehrcke ruled that private broadcasters have the right to run whatever ads they like, Adbusters feels the case raises some troubling questions.

Firstly, why are Canwest and the CBC selling as much time as they possibly can to corporations, while fighting expensive legal actions to keep citizen-produced messages off the air? Why does the CBC call itself "Canada's Public Broadcaster" if they won't sell airtime to citizens?

Secondly, why is the CRTC not standing up for public access? When they grant licences to broadcasters, why is the right of Canadian citizens to access their own "public" airwaves not being guaranteed? Thirdly, why is our freedom of speech being suppressed? Why can corporations buy airtime while citizens cannot? Why doesn't the Canadian Charter apply to the most powerful social communications medium of our age - television?

"This case goes to the very heart of what our democracy is all about," says Lasn. "A healthy society allows its citizens to walk into their local TV stations and buy airtime under the same rules and conditions that corporations do. Adbusters has been given 30 days to challenge the ruling. This legal battle for media democracy will go on."

To talk to Kalle Lasn, or Ryan Dalziel, our lawyer, about the case please contact Lauren Bercovitch (lauren@adbusters.org)

EDITOR'S NOTES

For more information about Adbusters and the global media democracy movement visit www.mediacarta.org and www.adbusters.org

[1] Canadian Media facts:

Three corporations (CanWest, Quebecor and Torstar) control 70 per cent of the country's daily newspaper circulation.

Five major media acquisitions in Canada have been approved by CRTC in the past year: CHUM was purchased by CTVglobemedia for $1.4 billion, which then sold five CityTV stations to Rogers Communications for $375 million; CanWest purchased Alliance Atlantis for $2.3 billion; Astral Media bought Standard Broadcasting for $1.2 billion; and Quebecor bought the Osprey Media newspaper chain for $414 million.

[2] Facts about Media Democracy:

More than 30,000 people have signed the Media Carta www.mediacarta.org, to voice their concerns about the way information is distributed in our society.

In the past year, a growing number of grassroots media activist groups have been formed in Canada to express a dissatisfaction with the continued consolidation of the country's media:

DemocraticMedia.org

MediaReform.ca

MediaDemocracy.ca

Democracy at Home and in the Motherland

Do you live in Rhode Island?
Are you a registered voter?
Find your polling place and go vote before 9pm!

Then come to Lupo's and watch results come in.

* * * * * *

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

The media blackout within Armenia has Diasporans nervous and unsettled (to say the least). From my friends who live there, I'm getting mixed messages about what has been going on, and why.

How many dead? 8? 40? 100?

"Yerevan residents have resorted to telephoning one another or coming out onto the streets to swap information. Taxi drivers, in particular, have become a good source of 'alternative news.'"
-iwpr.net

"CNN segments about Armenia were clipped from television programming, and many Web sites were closed. Only journalists from foreign news organizations could attend Mr. Ter-Petrossian’s briefing."
-NYTimes

Why do I have to ask my friends via e-mail what is happening there - where is the coverage?!



I am so much to say about this... But I have to go vote!

xoxo
carla

I'm, like, totally famous...

LOVELIFE Providence is the hip new thing, and it just so happens to be hosted where I work, so I get to be famous via online photos.

I'm not very hip, but I like to observe the hip peoples in their element.

I look a little scary, but this was after a 14-hour workday.

xoxo
'la

Subtle Butt

I really don't know how I feel about this product.

The video is predictable, but funny nonetheless.

Personally, a good apology after passing gas satisfies me. Or taking it to the other room.

But a carbon filter patch?!

(ok it's time for me to get back to work)

xoxo
'la

International Sex Worker Rights Day! Keep Working, Ladies!

March 3rd is International Sex Worker Rights Day!

• Decriminalize prostitution!
• Stop the entrapment of prostitutes and their customers!
• Encourage and fund education and programs that keep us all physically and mentally healthy!
  

There are many events taking place from NYC - Chicago - LA - AZ - SF... Find one in your city!

In other sex work news:
Bush Calls on Congress to Pass PEPFAR Reauthorization Bill
For those of you who don't know, PEPFAR is the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and it includes some exciting funding bits for abstinence only as well as condom programs... It also makes governments of the world pledge to have zero tolerance for "sex trafficking" if they want to receive this funding. Unfortunately for sex workers, ALL prostitutes are lumped into the this group and labeled "victims of sex trafficking" as opposed to women with free will to enter the trade. I have a lot of info on this at home of you'd like to read more or borrow my copy of "Taking the Pledge." Picked it up at the US Social Forum in Atlanta last summer.

Barcelona Police as Pimps to Immigrant Sex Workers, Women go on Fines Payment Strike!

xoxo
Carla

Lazy Flies!

Besides the fact that you can vote for my lady Lara as Best Bartender, I am mostly disappointed with the editors' picks of what's "The Best of Providence" in the annual Phoenix survey... Gigantic chain stores (Best Buy, Borders, etc) are listed among our unique and lovely Rhody favorites. I expected more!

Shame on you, Phoenix!

p.s. "Benefit Street" should not be an option in the "best place to live" category when the other options are cities (including Providence!)

p.p.s. Phoenix, you misspelled Narragansett!!! Who the hell wrote this survey, some non-native Brown student? (sorry, friends... but seriously!) WTF?!

Sippin' whiskey in the midnight shade...

“The Armenian government prides itself on having a democratic image,” said Cartner. “Beating peaceful demonstrators is inconsistent with that image and violates its obligations under human rights law.”
-human rights watch www.hrw.org

Well, I don't think the Armenian gov't has much of a democratic image to begin with, but if they're trying to pride themselves on one, they shouldn't be doing this... or is this how it's done in a democracy?

* * * * * * * * *

I watched Rambo 3 tonight (at the Hot Club) and realized with my brother that everything Dick Cheney knows about Afghanistan, he learned from this movie.


goodnight.

xoxo
carla