CED in PDX

It's official.

I'll be in Portland, OR from April 11- April 14.

Easter in PDX with great friends!

Do you have ideas about what I should do / see while I'm there?

Do you have a bicycle (48cm) for me to use while I'm there?

Holler atcha girl.

xoxo
Carla

Meet Go Go!

she's my baby and favorite companion
(second only to my '81 ladies schwinn back home)

thanks, marc!

xoxo

I'm comin' over...

Food Not Lawns

read this book. I own it. you can borrow it.

I bought vegetable and herb seeds this week. planting next week. thrilling! I would love to have a seed swap this season. free seed sharing = ideal.

also: chickens would be great. fresh eggs every day. and they're kinda like pets. the yard is big enough... it's perfectly legal. and maybe bees? we'll see how far the landlord lets me go.

have you heard this prediction? it better happen. elected officials need to step it up as role models towards sustainable best practices in their daily lives - for the sake of everyone's daily life.

I firmly believe that many of society's problems are caused by our disconnect from food. food not lawns!

xo
'la

City From Below!

"The city has emerged in recent years as an indispensable concept for many of the struggles for social justice we are all engaged in - it's a place where theory meets practice, where the neighborhood organizes against global capitalism, where unequal divisions based on race and class can be mapped out block by block and contested, where the micropolitics of gender and sexual orientation are subject to metropolitan rearticulation, where every corner is a potential site of resistance and every vacant lot a commons to be reclaimed, and, most importantly, a place where all our diverse struggles and strategies have a chance of coming together into something greater. In cities everywhere, new social movements are coming into being, hidden histories and herstories are being uncovered, and unanticipated futures are being imagined and built - but so much of this knowledge remains, so to speak, at street-level. We need a space to gather and share our stories, our ideas and analysis, a space to come together and rethink the city from below."

THEMES TO BE CONSIDERED

* Gentrification/uneven development
* Policing and incarceration
* Tenants rights/housing as a right
* Public transit
* Urban worker's rights
* Foreclosures/financial crisis
* Public education
* Slots/casinos/regressive taxation
* Cultural gentrification
* Underground economies
* Reclaiming public space
* The right to the city
* Squatting/Contesting Property Rights
* Urban sustainability

Read more - get excited - submit proposals!

Insulting All Umbrellas

Today:

Slept until 10:45am, got up, and showered for the third time in 30 hours. Realized that my OCD has been getting out of hand lately. Fixed a broken couch while wearing a sleeveless shirt that showed my unshaved armpits. Realized why people think I'm a dyke.

Grabbed a cup of coffee and walked past the super cool bicycle messengers on my way to the BART. Jealous of their career, but not of their attitude. Embarassed of my paper Starbucks cup, but not of the holes in my pants.

Headed to Berkeley and scoped out four more bike shops (I've been to 14 shops in 3 days). Only one shop has a bike suitable (and dope enough) for me. It will be purchased tomorrow, thanks to the loving generosity of my big brother. So thankful.

Rain and sun on and off all day - making great rainbows and very soggy sneakers. With nothing better to do, and my mind on my poverty status, I decided to walk the several miles home instead of pay to take the subway and bus. My ipod was tuned to my Cozy Like Cats // Cats Like Cozy playlist. Fresh to death. Regardless, I got chilled to the bone walking the several miles / hours home. It was a typical windy and rainy Bay Area winter day. The kind with sideways rain, insulting all umbrellas.

Chose the most uphill route to my house (health is wealth). Bedroom. My nest. Cozy clothes on. Cancelled a date I was anxious about all day. Reading $pread, Unlikely, and Craigslist Missed Connections (a wonderful weekly ritual) on my tilted couch. Realized that almost everything I have is old, broken, and frayed. Realized that doesn't bother me. Smiling.

My housemate James is listening to great 70s Turkish rock records. Inspires me to eat Armenian food. Yoghurt (<3), eetch (armenian-style tabouleh), hommus, raw vegetables, ak-mak crackers, beer. Half a beer. Realized that poverty has improved my health and helped curb some bad habits. Still smiling.

Snickerdoodle cookies can be made with lard? I want to try one. Instead, I will watch brain-melting videos and read ridiculous articles provided by my favorite gchat / wrestling friend.

Wondering if my insomnia will persevere tonight since I am sober and without spooning companion. Just remembered last night's strange dream in which I was hoarding Snickers and other candy bars in an old plaid makeup bag my mom gave me when I was a little lady. Maybe I should treat myself to a candy bar tomorrow after I go for a much-anticipated bike ride. Undecided.

Thinking of the Sesame Street records I used to listen to religiously as a kid in my old bedroom. Oscar the Grouch has a song about how much he loves the rain. That bedroom was also the laundry room. The tumbling dryer creating pleasant white noise that I could use tonight...

Drunk Bees

Sisters in the hive do not tolerate this type of lazy and selfish behavior.

Off with her legs!



xo
red light hive

smoke. choke. disease. death.

it's been a month since I quit smoking.

hooray for me!!!

it's really not that hard. all you have to do is not smoke.

I recommend my quitting method: overdosing on the nicotine gum, giving myself an aversion to the drug forever.

also, this super lame video has helped and I think it every time I see or smell cigarette smoke.

Active in Oakland

Tuesday morning I went with my housemate Gabriel, the Campaign Director for Colorofchange.org, to the District Attorney's office in Oakland to hand in about 21,000 signatures demanding an explanation why not all offending officers in the Oscar Grant murder case have been charged (or at least investigated).

There was a great amount of media coverage, and those who participated in the action feel that it was very successful. Scope us these two videos:

ABC 7 KGO-TV

KTVU

I met some great people during this action (CAPE, Ella Baker), and I hope to become more involved with social justice organizations during my time in the Bay Area. I miss being out and about organizing and participating in actions - fighting the good fight. Hopefully some sort of internship could turn into some sort of paid job over time...

xo
Carla

Chicka Boom Chick!

Yesterday I posted the jazz drum skillz of my great friend Austin (who was my first boyfriend ever in 8th grade - adorable).

Today I post the drumming of my best good friend Mike via TomTomTime.



I have much love for the percussionists in my life <3

xo
la la la

who needs a drummer?

homeboy is brilliant.

love you.

xo
lady

words that do not come from children's books

I love Ella, and this week I love this song. Strong and playful. Tough and flirty. So good!

xo
'la

nom nom nom

I've had a few successful interviews and I'm starting to train and work this month in two restaurants.

One is a 17 year old local-foods daily-changing-menu spot near the Mission in San Francisco. I'm going to be covering manager duties during busy shifts and generally "floating" around helping the service staff. I'm very much looking forward to training with the General Manager (a position I would love to hold in the next few years).

The other spot is a brand new Gastro Pub located on Lake Merritt. I really enjoy opening restaurants - you get to set the tone and culture of the entire space. The sense of ownership makes me feel proud and enthusiastic about going to work. It also helps me visualize what amounts of strength and stress go into opening a restaurant for the owners and chefs.

I've also started reading "Heat" by Bill Buford, which follows his culinary studies under the wings of Mario Batali and then on further to Italy. It is straight-forward and amusing. It is hitting all the nerves in my body that want me to cook for a living, but I think I'll stay in the front of the house where there is considerably less pressure (and sweat).

George Orwell says in The Road to Wigan Pier:

"A human being is primarily a bag for putting food into; the other functions and faculties may be more godlike, but in point of time they come afterwards. A man dies and is buried, and all his words and actions are forgotten, but the food he has eaten lives after him in the sound or rotten bones of his children. I think it could be plausibly argued that changes of diet are more inportant than changes of dynasty or even of religion. The Great War, for instance, could never have happened if tinned food had not been invented. And the history of the past four hundred years in England would have been immensely different if it had not been for the introduction of root-crops and various other vegetables at the end of the middle ages, and a little later the introduction of non-alcoholic drinks (tea, coffee, cocoa) and also of distilled liquors to which the beer drinking English were not accustomed. Yet it is curious how seldom the all-importance of food is recognized. You see statues everywhere to politicians, poets, bishops, but none to cooks or bacon-curers or market gardeners."

Love your local farmer / chef / waitress.

<3
"Hello! How are you? I'm well, thank you for asking. My name is Carla and I will be your server tonight."

Mixed Bizness

I recently went to the Lusty Lady for the first time. $1 a minute to see real live naked ladies dance around. That's what I like to call a "North Beach Night Cap." Mix business with pleasure.

xo
'la

More Art

Nick has done it again - made his way into the Argentine press. Read the article and then check out his stuff. I'm a big fan.

Not only because this dude is super talented and amazing, but also because the doll-making project in Providence he talks about was when we worked for English for Action's arts and literacy based child care program, NuestraEscuela! I took the photo above from that day working with kids painting the dolls that Nick had carved. The dolls were later part of a larger exhibition of works. Nick's skinny arms can be seen in the photo.

Word up.

the arts

xo
carlita do parlita

new-to-me comic!

I love comics. I'm still very new to this one. it's challenging and the author is at times painfully self-deprecating, but it's well-done. enjoy.

xo
Carla

Click Them.

Things you should read today that others have found:

obey


there's probably no god...


will it blend?


peace, love, unity, punch in the face.


feel like smiling?


first ever lolcat


we'll conclude with an old hip hop favorite of mine...

Oh.

Being a New Englander, the natural disasters I'm used to fearing are Hurricanes and Giant Fucking Snowstorms.

Usually, by the time a Hurricane (that's been kicking the Caribbean's ass for a week) gets to us in Li'l Rhody, it's more fun than anything else. Minor damage from wind happens, but we're used to it. No biggie.

Blizzards hit northern NE more than down in The Wee State. We make a mad dash to the grocer and stock up on bread and milk (and scratch tickets) and wait it out. Kids go sledding after they are forced to shovel and drink cocoa. Grownups find other ways to stay warm and entertained...

But now I'm in California - specifically, the San Francisco Bay Area. Quake Country. The earth shakes from two of the biggest tectonic plates dancing around with each other. Tsunamis rage outward from our gnarly epicenter to screw up someone else's day. Gross.

So during tonight's bout of insomnia, I found this government website that has me quaking in my knickers. There is a 62% chance that at least one earthquake of magnitude 6.7 or greater will happen in the Bay Area by 2032. Yikes!

Remember when I said I was going to stay in the Bay for a few years, but not forever? Yeah, I'd rather play in 2 feet of snow with my kids every year than clutch them under the kitchen table while everything falls apart around us. Don't worry. I'm coming home eventually.



Love,
'la

bees!

I love them dearly.
so smart and developed.
I wrote about my affinity to bees and ants in a cover letter today.
I am a nerd to the max.
enjoy!

xoxo
la

Live With Meeeeeeee!

Yo!

Do you live in the Bay Area, or do you have people in the Bay Area?

Please check out and pass along this information.

We need someone to sublet (or stay for a while) in my slammin' apartment!

xoxo
Carla

Best / Worst

Jesse,

Have I told you lately that I love you, and I love your FUCKING INTENSE blog?!?!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Keep it up, old friend. Miss you bunches every day! When I get rich I will fly to Brooklyn and we will party in style.

xoxo
'La

8 Years in 8 Minutes

Is it Tuesday yet?



We've got a mess to clean up, people!

Thanks for sharing, Aaron.

xoxo
Mrs. Olbermann

baby baby please come and rock me...

One of my favorites.



Amen.

The Fierce Urgency of Now!

"Now is the time to make real the promises of Democracy!"

Let the good Doctor move you...



remember: today is not a day off, it's a day on!

xoxo
carla

Step One: Listen to Blackalicious

Gotta snap into something good.

Gotta shake this funk that I've been dragging around with me.

I don't like it. I want to love my days and nights as much as possible.

My theme last year was "do what feels right," which proved to make 2008 one of the most fun years I've had. In 2009 I find myself making major life changes:
I quit smoking, I'm drinking less, I spend more time by myself and I'm single, I moved across the country to Oakland...

I am lonely. I am worried about a lot of things. I have a lot of stress - from the microcosm of family issues to the macrocosm of global financial crisis. Sometimes I get so worried I feel sick to my stomach.

How do we deal with stress in meaningful and effective ways?

Yoga and taking time to relax seem to help me. Mindfulness. Cleaning the house compulsively always helps me. Enjoying the little things (I like to stop and smell the flowers and smile at strangers).

So I am going to actively try and shake my funk. Sorry I've been so doggone down. It's part of life, and necessary and valid... But I've had enough.

Step One: Stop listening to Beck, and start listening to Blackalicious.

Step Two: Read Hope For the Flowers by Trina Paulus

Step Three: Take more naps. A rested Carla is a happy Carla.

love love love,
Carla

feel the joy in my chest

thanks for sharing, nick!

xoxo
carla

Sex and Candy

new blog added to the blogroll:

Sugar Daddy Blog

very interesting blog from a dating website for you if you are (or want to be):
a sugar daddy, sugar mama, or sugar baby

check it out!

xoxo
carla

Tranqui Yanqui

Nick is doing some more great work in Argentina.

Support my starving artist friend and send him hot dogs, paper, paint, or purchase his art. It's amazing.

Watch his video.

Send him love and support!

xoxo
Carlita

Portland!

I am so poor, but what better thing to do than take a trainride with my bicycle to Portland, Oregon for a springtime vacation!?

I'm actually considering touring from Oakland to Portland, or maybe part of the way - but we'll see...

The first or second week of APRIL I am going to Amtrak my way up to your neck of the woods to kick it before I dip back to Providence for Zombie Jesus festivities. Then it's back to Oaksterdam where I've built my nest.

Do you live in Portland?
Will you be around in the beginning of April?
Can I sleep on your couch or in your bed?
Would you like to have a friend-date and show me all the fun things in your city?

Big giant smooches (they're free!),
Carla