Story Archives 2011

When I started this journey, I asked my Pops to give me a blessing. I didn't call this journey the Indigenous Peoples Highway at the time but I knew I was about to enter a journey deeper into the rabbit hole. I was asking myself "How far in the rabbit hole do I want to go?" So this weekend was that for me...

I faced one of my belief systems head on... and cried because I knew that belief that I had wasn't authentic to whom I really am. 

This belief system affects the way I see myself as a woman, and how I believe elders, grandparents, and parents see me.

So I had to choose to love the me I was meant to be or be the fake person in the name of looking good and "respect". This sounds all really abstract, but the concept is clear being whom you were meant to be.

So this weekend during the round dance was reflection after reflection after reflection and definitly after. 

I thank the Creator for placing all these perfect reflections in my life so that I may destroy this belief that i choose to belief. 

OF course its not over, the work is only the beginning....

I leave you with a round dance video from the rounddance I was at... cya winter and welcome spring... brighter days to come!

After spending the day with my sista Kellee Coleman, Austin native, organizer with Mamas of Color Rising, and supa mama to 3 fierce little ones, I arrived at my sister's house (called the Bunche House) and found a wonderful surprise. The house smelled delicios my sister was in the kitchen cooking, squash, black beans and rice and the house echoed with voices and laughter. Outside I saw the backyard had transformed in to a huge play space and there was a group of young people playing dominoes at the table with housemate Chelsea.

There were around 11 kids ages 4-13 years in backyard and in the house. Everyone knew each other. There was a feeling of mutual respect and family. It reminded me of when I was a kid growing up around all my tios and tias older cousins at my grandmothers house. I felt like a kid again (well we all are kids at heart!)

I had a great time and met new friends! I reflected and thought what a beautiful example of interdependence.

Housemate Courtney had this to share about all the neighborhood kids coming over and playing in the yard, "Even though we live in the house, the land belongs to everybody, they have just as much a right to use it."

Que hermosa la vida y familia!!

Today was my first orientation for the birth companion project and training I am participating in. My sisters with Mamas of Color Rising (MOCR) have been organizing tremendously around birthing access in Austin for poor women of color. Mamas of color rising  is a collective of working class and poor mothers of color based in the Austin, TX area.

Sankofa means in  the Akan language of Ghana, "go back and take" often used with the proverb "It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten." ^. This meaning is very close to my heart, because that is the reason why I have been drawn and called to birth support work. I believe it is time to go back and learn the indigenous practices of my ancestors and live as they did.

At the orientation we learned about the program, specifics, time commitments and parts of the bigger vision that the Mamas have.  I also learned more about the NEED for women of color support networks, the NEED for access for alternative birthing options, and the "Womb to Prison Pipeline".

What a fierce day reconnecting with my sisters, meeting new sisters, and participating in an intentional and revolutionary space and project.

There will be a women in hip hop showcase (featuring Invincible of Detroit and Krudas Cubensi just to name a few!)  and benefit for this project on Tuesday March 15, 2011 at austin's historic Victory Grill.....!

www.MamasofColorRising.Wordpress.com>

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Hurry Hurry Hurry!
Greatest Reality Show.
Your City And You On Display.
We're Here To Help You Wretched Folks.

Urban Sightseeing Remember the words “Deepest Darkest Africa” describing the sun loved inhabitants of the continent of Africa?

Or socalled Wild Aboriginal people’s of Australia.

Mighty Rome saw early Gaul’s (German’s), British,as Barbarian’s in ancient Rome.

Well its well over 2000 years and a similar though modernized notion is reviving this sickness all over again.

Like Hippies of the late 1960’s with busloads of tour guides to show the denizens of the counter culture.

Now there’s L. A. Gang Tours There Mission: show people on tourists walking how low income people live and how some of these tourist supposedly out of the goodness of the hearts and with money can safe these sad, degraded people.

I didn’t believe this crap still goes on at this late time but if one want to feel superior buy a ticket to Los Angeles, take cell phone camera, digital camera’s and click at the spectacle of everyday people living, surviving in West L.A. or The other Tenderloin.

Good intentions maybe however callous and calculating in its way of turning people troubles to a profit making venture for a non-profit group.

Let's see how the well healed, wealthy, gated, Mc Mansion living folk having their pristine neighborhoods made into a tourists attraction on the wild, watchful, slightly deviant, always absolutely fascinating, rarely seen rich in their private habitats.

Let gawk at the obscene wealth problem of too much money can do to so –called regular ordinary people.

Do you think they would want such attention on them day in, day out, for weeks, months, or years?

Seems to me this urban sight seeing can cut either way or a non profit org. can see how these rare individuals live their lives and how the burden of wealth changes them.

Armored care full of suited riot gear police in paramilitary fashion would be on hand to quell the non disturbance of bus loads of people and those on foot with all sorts of image taking devices snapping, clicking, away at stunned embarrassed populace.

I people cannot imagine the disrespectful; incursions on others people rights to be left alone in their own place and not to be treated as animals in display in a zoo.

Then maybe the rich and wealthy should be treated to the same indignity and invasion of their most precious right.

The right of poverty in there owns home and not seen as objects of pity.

Maybe this thing in L. A. won’t happen in January of 2010 because most of us are more sophisticated and know all neighborhoods, streets, areas, have their endangered people places.

Treating people in depressed, low income places like some new age safari fetish only shows low America’s standards have gone. Then again maybe we should do the non profit wealthy-sightseeing tour too and have enjoy the gawking looks of surprised faces as what was conceived as help- our poor brethren and sisters into 2010 is See The Wealthy in their gated community compounds, see how they live, and learn the ways of their Urban Jungle. Yes, that ought to be one trickle down theory I’d like to see.

Hotel Voices Update!
LIMITED SEATING
NO RESERVATIONS
When:2pm Sunday, January 17, 2010.
Where:Jefferson Hotel Speakeasy/Stage
440 Eddy Street,
San Francisco
(between Hyde & Leavenworth,
Tenderloin District)
TICKETS: $1-20
(No one turned away
for lack of funds)
Call 415-836306

After the round dance (4am), I received the chance to interview two youth round dance singers, Fidel Wounded Head and Quinn Benally. They were very shy and when I interviewed them there were a bunch of other round dance singers watching. Big ups to these two singers for holding it down being interviewed when everyone else was scared to. The Above pic is of my homeboy Wayne and Giovanni from Ft. Hall!!! One Love!

Continuous function is my love for you
Mathematical origins
Cause
Flowers grow to
Bloom
Not to die
Seasons come and go
Yet I
Calculate the height
Of
The growing flower
Which is love
Your soul is the seed
The soil your body
The sun is me
Seasons come and go but my love for yo!
Beauty, beauty meaning your soul
I carry with me every where I go
You my everything
This is my poem to you
Cause my feelings
Evolve
Beyond control
And will echo in eternity,
The only thing that changes is
The setting
Same actors
Different backdrop
Top down in spring
Hardtop in the summer
Cause
It’s too hot in central Cali
When I’m roaming through the valley
Supplying health and educational services
For migrant kids, students
I’m a Gardner
I plant seeds of compassion and passion
For new hope
I represent
My only religion, which is
Compassion for all
Mark Gonzales taught me that I
Too roll deep
Cause with every footstep I take
Every word that I say
I bringing the strength
Of my people
Cause I’m an underdog
And I’m never giving up
The hopeless have hopeful ideas and hopefulness
No matter the odds
Ya’ll aint taking that from me
Cause even when my body dies
Through my poems and performances
I
Will re-rise like the phoenix
I was born to fade away
in the fall
To sprout again
Every spring
So when everything
Is going wrong
I just play back and recite this poem,
And let ya’ll know
Ya’ll ain’t ever getting rid of me
Cause I rise like the phoenix
And set like the sun,
In my heart, second to none.

“If There Were a Reactor Meltdown or Major Leak at Fukushima, the Radioactive Cloud Would Likely be Blown Out … Towards the US West Coast”

Washington’s Blog
March 13, 2011

UPDATE: Nuclear Expert: Radiation Could Spread To US West Coast

Map of U.S. Jet Stream

Agence-France Presse notes:

California is closely monitoring efforts to contain leaks from a quake-damaged Japanese nuclear plant, a spokesman said Saturday, as experts said radiation could be blown out across the Pacific.

***

“At present there is no danger to California. However we are monitoring the situation closely in conjunction with our federal partners,” Michael Sicilia, spokesman for California Department of Public Health, told AFP.

“California does have radioactivity monitoring systems in place for air, water and the food supply and can enhance that monitoring if a danger exists,” he added.

***

Experts have suggested that, if there were a reactor meltdown or major leak at Fukushima, the radioactive cloud would likely be blown out east across the Pacific, towards the US West Coast.

***

“The wind direction for the time being seems to point the (nuclear) pollution towards the Pacific,” said Andre-Claude Lacoste of the French Nuclear Safety Authority, briefing journalists in Paris on the Japanese crisis.

***

Earlier the NRC said it was “examining all available information as part of the effort to analyze the event and understand its implications both for Japan and the United States.”

The winds could shift at any time, blowing radiation into Tokyo or other parts of Japan.

However, even if the prevailing winds remain off-shore – towards California and Washington – those American states are still a long way away. As AFP notes:

While US nuclear experts acknowledged the seriousness of Japan’s reactor crisis, some stressed that taking steps in the United States such as distributing iodine tablets — which prevent iodine 131 from being absorbed into the body — would be “vastly premature.”

“It’s a big ocean. These (radiation) releases are essentially going to be at ground level,” said Ken Bergeron, a physicist who has worked on nuclear reactor accident simulation.

“We should not confuse it with health issues in the United States.”

Japan is roughly 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) from the US West Coast.

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But while the great distances make the risk of radiation exposure to Californians and Washingtonians small, it is not zero.

For example, pollution from Chinese coal factories routinely hits California. For example, Mongabay noted in 2008:

Previous studies have documented that dust from Asia — especially from deserts and industrial regions of China — routinely crosses the Pacific Ocean on prevailing winds to sully the air over the western U.S.

And see this and this.

As as the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory wrote last December:

About a third of the airborne lead particles recently collected at two sites in the San Francisco Bay Area came from Asia, a finding that underscores the far-flung impacts of air pollution and heralds a new way to learn more about its journey across vast distances.

In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the California Air Resources Board tracked variations in the amount of lead transported across the Pacific over time.

***

It’s well known that particles and other aerosols cover long distances through the Earth’s atmosphere. But the details of this transport, such as that of the lead particles’ 7,000-mile journey from the smokestacks of China to the west coast of North America, are largely unknown.

——————–

Message from Infowars:

As always, we should hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

It is admitted that the first plant has melted down, and 6 more nuclear power plants in Japan are in danger. If they fail, this situation could get even worse. Japanese authorities are distributing potassium iodide to its population for thyroid protection.

For U.S. populations, we can hope that most of the radiation will disperse into the ocean and never reach us, however, with the U.S. West Coast in the direct path of the jet stream from Japan, it is a good precaution to stock up on potassium iodide or natural iodine from kelp, which can prevent the absorption of radioactive iodine, the most common complication from radiation poisoning. Consult with your doctor or medical professional before taking these or any supplement (we are NOT giving medical advice). However, unfortunately, we cannot count on the government to be honest and upfront with us about the dangers of fallout, so you should consider your own potential risks and don’t wait until things are already underway.

Try these Google shopping links or check your local stores for iodine from kelp and potassium iodide. Check Wikipedia and other sources for more info on the safety of potassium iodide and recommended doses.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack has directed the Forest Service to work with the USDA’s Office of Tribal Relations (OTR) to review existing laws, regulations, and policies and examine their effectiveness in ensuring a consistent level of protection for American Indian and Alaska Native sacred sites located on National Forest System lands. Secretary Vilsack asked the Forest Service to consult with Tribal leaders to determine how the Agency can do a better job addressing sacred site issues while simultaneously balancing pursuit of the Agency’s mission to deliver forest goods and services for current and future generations.

The Secretary has asked the Forest Service and USDA OTR to provide a final report and recommendations for sacred site policy changes and proposed policy language by November 2011, following the conclusion of Tribal consultation. Information on the policy review can be found athttp://www.fs.fed.us/spf/tribalrelations/sacredsites.shtml 

The following Sacred Sites Listening Sessions have been scheduled on Navajo Nation. 

March 14, 2011 - Navajo Nation Museum @ 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. 
Location: Navajo Nation Museum, 
Highway 264 and Post Office Loop Road, Window Rock AZ, 86515 

March 15, 2011 - Coal Mine Canyon Chapter House @ 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. 
Coal Mine Canyon Chapter House 
Directions: West 139 miles from Window Rock on Hwy 264 to BIA Indian Route 6710 

From Tuba City go 15 miles east on Hwy 264 to BIA Indian Route 6710 
  
March 16, Shiprock, NM @ 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. 
Shiprock Chapter House 
Directions: East from the junction of Hwys 491 & 64 in the town of Shiprock, 500' east from the junction on your way towards Farmington. The Chapter House is on the north side of the Hwy. 

Noon Meal will be pot-luck style. 
In partnership with Dine Hataalii Association. 

Not able to attend?  You can still get your comments in. 

Tonight was an amazing time! I spent the night volunteering at (and enjoying) the Mamas of Color Rising benefit for the Sankofa Birth Companion Project I will be participating in. The mamas linked forces with Detroit based artist Invincible and organized an all women in hip hop showcase at Austin's historic Victory Grill.

The energy was fierce and full of serious love. A lot of information and consciousness raising went down. Paula Rojas my sister organizer with Mamas of Color Rising and studying midwife shared that "In the U.S., 2.5 times the number of black women than white women do not have pre natal care. " and "Infant mortality for black babies is twice the high versus white babies, that means the percentage in which black babies are dying is worse than poorer countries in the world".

Paula went on the share more about what they call "Womb to Prison Pipeline". We know that at an early age children of color are tracked in the school system in different ways for example,  to either go to college or prison in  what has been called the "School To Prison Pipeline."  What Mamas of Color is saying is that this sort of tracking of our children,  happens much earlier, it starts in the womb.

The line up was strong and powerful. The Line up included local artists DJ TKAY, Tiger Lily of RAS, Yoli of Public Offenders, T-fly of the Cipher, Queen Deelah, EMT, Gabi, Perseph One, Las Krudas Cubensi, and Detroit's Invincible.

What an amazing and magical event that I was honored to be a part of. What a declaration of community and solidarity and sisterhood!  And a personal affirmation that my path to becoming a birth companion and midwife is the right one for me...

 check out my youtube channel for more footage!!

http://www.youtube.com/rachelcaballero