This week's damali ayo lecture has left my head spinning. Bear with me while I try to sort my thoughts, please?
I'd known of damali's work for a few years, but this was the first time I'd seen her perform. As I expected, she's wickedly funny, extremely articulate, exceptionally bright, and undeniably charismatic. In her talk, "Shut up and change: A life as a social change artist," she walked us through her childhood, her art projects and performance pieces, her heroes, the negative and hostile response to her work, her six-year struggle with chronic fatigue syndrome, and her recent decision to "pass on" her anti-racist projects so that she can focus on yoga teacher training.
Bitch: It's a Noun, It's a Verb, It's a Magazine, Now it's a Cabaret!
Saturday, October 4, 2008, 8:00 p.m.
WARPhaus Gallery, 818 NW 1st Ave., Gainesville, Florida
Come enjoy artwork about feminism, sex, sexuality, sexism, gender...
I'm in Gainesville, Florida for a few days and will be facilitating a Feminism In/Action discussion tomorrow night. Sponsored by the University of Florida's Center for Women's Studies & Gender Research and The Friends of Wild Iris Books
:::
Friday, 3 October, 7:00 pm
The Atrium at Ustler Hall, UF Campus
This very kind person offered to host a benefit this Friday at El Rio in San Francisco (thank you!) back when we were in the middle of our fundraising crisis. We're thrilled and incredibly grateful that the event is going on as planned -- because it's ongoing support that's gonna keep Bitch thriving.
Sounds like it's gonna be a great event. Please attend if you can!
Since another PETA ad campaign is making the rounds in the blogosphere -- this one persuading Ben and Jerry's to use breast milk instead of cows' milk (Breast is best!) -- I wanted to offer a little bit here and send people over to a post that captures some of what's on my mind. Namely, the all-too-common refusal of non-veg*n feminists to even engage with the legitimate animal cruelty issues raised by organizations like PETA, and, as another example, the recent Skinny Bitch book series.