Thursday, June 5, 2008

Shower Power!

I smell like a dirty hippy who tried to cover up the rank smell of her b.o. with patchouli oil. It's probably because I tried to cover up the rank smell of my b.o. with patchouli oil.

Glory to God in the....Desert

I don't remember if Jesus Christ Superstar would have made it into my list of favorite plays as a kid, but it certainly worked its way into my list of most-often-attended plays when I was littler. So when I was browsing the On Demand movie menu on my mom's fancy television the other day and saw it listed, I had to watch it. Turns out that it's not just a movie version of what has become one of my favorite rock operas of all time, but it's a glorious hippy version!

To get a sense of the wonderfulness that is this movie, check out the overture:



It's a little slow-going at first, but at about 1:25, the glory that is the The Bus makes its debut. The movie is essentially a huge group of wonderful, 70s hipsters who go out into the desert and act out Jesus Christ Superstar.

The movie makes me want to take a huge bus into the desert with all my friends and pretend like we're biblical characters reliving the rock spectacle that led to the crucifixion of Jesus! Of course, I'm not so much into role-playing, so we could leave out the acting part and just kind of party in the desert in our own little communities that each have their role in some larger society that we've created especially for our desert excursion.

Or I guess I could just go to Burning Man.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

The Masculinist Coalition at Pitzer

So there's been a lot of positive press surrounding what's been going on at Pitzer with this kid who's trying to start a "Masculinist Coalition" club and this is all I can think to do right now to try and get some word out there about what is so bad and awful about this club. (Plus I was thinking about starting to blog a little more often now, so why not start with this?)

A couple weeks ago, this kid at Pitzer (who I'm not going to name since I have a lot of issues with the way this person has been putting everyone else out there on the internet) sent out an email about starting a Masculinist Coalition for heterosexual men on Pitzer's campus to get together and do "manly" things like drink beer, watch sports, grill, go to strip clubs, etc. Twice in the email, it said that they would "celebrate men (not in a gay way [not that there's anything wrong with that])," which is just not a good way to start (you know, kind of hostile and unaccepting and all that).

At the first meeting, many of my friends who are members of the Pitzer Feminist Coalition and the Pitzer Queer and Allies club, along with a bunch of people who aren't affiliated with these groups but are feminists and queers and allies, came to voice their opinions about why this club is hurtful, offensive, and oppressive. I didn't go to the meeting because I can't deal with people being assholes (any people - even my friends), but I of course received lots of reports from my friends. One of the things that upset me the most is that, apparently, the person who sent out the first email (who is also the leader of the club) made a statement about discussions the group might have about prison rape that went something to the tune of "I'm not going to say that rape of men in prison is more intense than other kinds of rape, but..." and left off there.

Additionally, throughout the entire meeting, this person had a video camera rolling (though it was only focused on this person leading the meeting). Afterwards, this kid posted the video to the masculinist coalition website (yes, they have a website) with some really upsetting captions. For one video, it ridiculed my friend, we'll call him Ryan, for getting upset after being harassed for his comments at the meeting. The leader of the masculinist coalition later sent an email to the entire student body with a link to these videos and the statement: "Please be aware that any emails sent over student-talk or to me
privately might very well be posted in multiple locations online."


Eventually, the group went to Pitzer's Student Senate for funding and recognition of their charter (which would make them an official club) and were denied on the basis of their behavior at the meeting. The leaders of the club came to Feminist Coalition that week and a very productive and calm dialogue about what about the club was offensive and how they can fix it and everyone came up with the idea that the club should be called the "Broalition" and it should be about drinking beer and watching sports and everything that they originally wanted to be about. That way, all of these activities can be tied to a male identity if they want it to be, but it isn't making such a blanket statement that that's what masculinity is all about. Not to mention, it helps Pitzer save a little face, too, since apparently the masculinist movement was a hate movement against women.

However, the leader of the club decided that, in good faith, the name could not be changed and they would remain the Masculinist Coalition. They returned to Senate again this past Sunday with a revised charter and were again denied funding, this time on the basis of their name. Keep in mind that, this whole time, everything regarding these decisions has been publicized on the internet.

Yesterday, the kid who sent out the email (who is also the leader of the club) went on KROQ for an interview regarding the whole situation. My friend, let's call her Lauren (even though her real name is on the internet - I'm sticking to my disgust with that, though), called in to offer a voice about why the situation is actually serious and offensive and more than just a matter of some poor kid being denied funding. I haven't listened to the interview yet (again, because I can't stand assholes), but Lauren said that she was cut off by the DJ with the statement: "Now you think you're a feminist and that's adorable, but this is the real world and I'm the man." (something along those lines - but definitely "I'm the man"). The masculinist coalition leader then sent an email out an email to the entire student body with the link to the streamed version of the interview that was posted (by this person) on funnyordie.com, where Lauren's full, real name has been used to tag the video.

Now, I'm not well-versed in gender and queer theory at all and I probably couldn't tell you the broader implications that a formation of a group like this might have in regards to the feminist and queer movements, but I do know that on a practical level, not theoretical, the person who started all of this has been really intimidating, and not just unintentionally. It has become bigger than just some joke, and it really upsets me, not because of the implications it has for feminism and for gay rights, but because I don't feel safe anymore.

So I don't know what to do. Right now, I'm just trying to get a voice out there about why this club is bad. This isn't a voice that says a club like this can't work out or that straight men don't deserve their little space on campus, too. It's a voice that's saying that I should feel comfortable in that space as a girl and I don't. That's what's wrong with this group.

So do what you can to make this voice heard. Visit this blog from as many different computers and IP addresses as you can - get as many hits as possible. If you blog, write a little something about it. I dunno - I'm clearly not as internet savvy as this kid. But I'm hoping other people will help. Get this side of the story out there. Make people realize that it is not a joke.

Sending all my love to the world (even to the haters).
heart out to the max!
-Amy

Thursday, November 15, 2007

CREATIVITY ESCAPES ME

So life here is great. Awesome, really!
Last week, school ended so this week I've just been hanging out doing not a whole lot...hanging out with Laura (Tebogo) and doing nothing... it's been pretty awesome.

Um...I joined a choir! It's officially what I'm doing for my Independent Study Project. It's this choir called KTM and it's sort of funny because they're doing Christmas Carols right now so I know most of the music. Actually, the conductor wants to talk to me because he says he's not sure if I should stay with them since they're not doing any Setswana music right now. I mean, I'm thinking I'm going to ask my program director if there's any other choirs I could join as well as this one so I could sing traditional music, but even just singing in this one is so different from the choirs at home. The music is COMPLETELY different - there is no treble or bass clef - and no notes! It's written according to do-re-me and it's sort of hard to get used to. That and the way we learn the music is really different, too, so I feel like even if I'm not singing traditional songs, I'm learning something either way.

Last weekend, my mom had this soccer team, the Township Rollers, who are like THE team of Gabs staying at the lodge so I got to go on Saturday and hang out with them and it was awesome! Tebs came along and we went to a football game with them where they were getting in free since they're an organized team, but the people at the stadium were giving them all sorts of crap since me and Laura were quite obviously not on the team. But this one, Not Kago (we thought his name was Kago for a long time, but it's not and we don't remember what it is so we call him Not Kago) told them we were team doctors and the team ushered us in and it was awesome. It was pretty cool sitting with them, too, cuz they're pretty famous-ish and everyone was asking about the game they had the next day against the Police. Then, we went back to the lodge and hung out with some of them some more - we mainly hung out with Chicken (they call him Chicken Nandos cuz his last name is Koko, which is "chicken" in Setswana and Nandos is a chicken place here) and Bernard, who's from Zambia and it was awesome. Bernard kept showing us pictures on his phone of his wife (who he called his queen) and kids, and kissing his phone (btw. they range in age from 17 to 30). And we listened to music on Chicken's phone and talked. We met this guy, Gumgum (they call him Gumgum cuz he likes to listen to his music real loud and all you can hear is "gumgumgumgum") who is the team captain and who is BEAUTIFUL. He hung out for a bit which was awesome and this other kid, Aubrey, who's the 17 year old, came and hung out and he's sort of a brat, but it was fun. And then Bernard got up and was dancing all crazy and Chicken got up and joined him and it was so so so much fun!
Then, the next day, we saw them off to their game and Gumgum was playing music all loud from the combi (of course) so I danced a bit with this kid Lesego (which is funny cuz that's my name) and he and the goalie, Toldo, told us they'd take us out dancing sometime so that's super exciting. We went to their game and they tied 0-0 but it was SO nerveracking because the Police were playing super dirty and the ref wasn't calling much and now that we knew them, we were so worried for them. Ha, but it was awesome.

Oh, and I dyed my hair! (yes, I found a way to dye my hair all the way over here). It's just a blond stripe down the right side of my head, but it's pretty much awesome. My little brother now calls me "Jeff Hardy" because that's a wrestler who they call the "rainbow haired warrior" cuz he has his hair dyed all different colors which is AWESOME because Jeff Hardy is absolutely my favorite wrestler (did I mention that I have become grossly obsessed with WWE RAW here? It's like the best thing ever!). Actually, Nicki and I went to this flea market-type place the other day to try and get Jeff Hardy t-shirts but all they have is J ohn Cena, so this guy we met gave me his number and might import some shirts especially for us from South Africa! Ha!

Sorry I haven't put up any pictures, yet. It's really hard to get my pictures to a computer that has internet, but I have a TON and I can't wait to show them all off. AND. Lots lots of love to my wonderful Dad for being super awesome and cute with his comments and SUPER SHAME on the rest of you who are just living vicariously through me and not telling me so! Tahaha

I LOVE YOU ALL and miss you lots and CAN'T WAIT to come home and show off pictures and presents and happiness! YAY

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

A Whole New World!

Oh, I love Botswana!
So. A family bio. I live with a woman named Kemonnye who is 45 and she's not really around all that much because she's working at the lodge alot. But she's super nice and I really enjoy talking to her and last weekend, she made us have a photoshoot where she took 80 bajillion (or like 20) pictures of me in her garden to show off how pretty her garden is. I have a little brother, Ryan, or Kago is his Setswana name, who is technically a cousin (his mother was my dad's sister, but she died last year so now Ryan lives with us). He loves wrestling and dances all around the house and is in general an ADORABLE 10-year old. I have a dad who's only really around in the mornings before he goes to work and a semi-sister named Patience, or Naledi. She's actually a Zimbabwean maid, but I think of her as my sister. In fact, there were two little neighborhood girls at our house last week and Patience told them I was her little sister (she's 22) and one girl was like "but you're brown!"and Patience told her that our mother was white like me and our father is black like her. She's cute and super energetic. My house rocks.

Last Saturday, we all went back to Mmankgodi to see our first families and my mom picked me up and then we cooked diphaphatha (home-made bread) and it was awesome. Then we spent the night at Nicki's for a party for Greg's 21st birthday. I went to sleep around 9:30 cuz I'm just that awesome, ha! And now I have tor un cuz we're going to get ice cream and watch HOLES cuz we rented it! (We rented Aladdin and the Lion King too, I'm in heaven!)

HEARTS

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The internets suckssss

So I'm in Gabs! That's Gaborone, the capital for those of you who aren't all in the know around here.
Last week I went up north where all the famous African wildlife is and it was awwwesome! We camped out for 2 nights in Savuti, where we couldn't leave our tent at night without a torch (aka, flashlight) and a buddy because we could get eaten by hyenas or lions. Needless to say, I just held my pee till it was light out again, especially after I heard all these growling noises the first night (though apparently they were just the elephants) and lions groaning the second night (that was confirmed - they were, indeed, lions). I got to see all sorts of crazy animals - more elephants than I could ever count, warthogs, which I LOVE and are my new favorite animal, hyenas, giraffes, some lions, hippos, and tons of antelope. We also got to go to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls, which is one of the seven wonders of the world! We walked along all these paths to see the falls and on one of the last ones, off a side path, we managed to get really close to a baboon and her cute, cute little baby. But then, people tried coming down the other side of hte path (where there were other baboons) and the mother growled at us and we literally had to sprint away from her and another mother and baby as they chased us down the path. It was terrifying at the time, but pretty awwesome now!
The trip back was pretty awful; we had to take a combi, which is like a utility van, with 11 of us plus a driver and "conductor" and all our bags for 6 hours from Kasane to Francistown, then on the overnight train, they booked us in a car that wasn't actually attached to our train, so we ended up with 9 of us in 6 beds and I slept head-to-foot with Laura. Then, we got to Gabs and moved in with our families.
And, oh! Has my standard of living gone through the roof! My house is huge and has an air-conditioning unit and more than one television channel and really comfortable couches and TWO toilets (it doesn't even HAVE an outhouse!) and a shower and a tub and I get my own room with a little bit of closet space! That and the first night, my mom bought me pizza for dinner (did I mention I'm not so vegan here - just Vegetarian? I'm actually really excited to go back to being Vegan when I get home) and the second night we had corn on the cob!
Other than that, all is well; I'm learning the city and all sorts of good stuff. Sending my love toa ll of you at home!
HEARTS

Friday, October 5, 2007

We Don't Care What People Say...

For those of you that don't know, that title would indeed be a tribute to the great Kanye West. Right now I'm living in Kanye, which is about 45 minutes southwest of Gaborone and is a big village. It's huge, actually, but I think I'm learning my way around.

I live with a pretty awesome family. My mom, Osadi, is 42, my uncle, Mpho, is 31, my sister, Monnye, is 20, and my little brother, Popo, is 15. Plus there are two other 20 year-old boys living in our house so we all just hang out. Oh, and I have a crazy gradnmother who talks to herself. There are only three of the 9 kids from my program in Kanye, me, Greg, and Nicki and the others are in Molepolole and Mochudi and it's been pretty rough being away from them. However, my family is pretty much amazing, so it's okay.

And a note to Claire, if you read this (if she doesn't, someone tell her to) - I told mom this, but Popo wants to move to the US and be a doctor and I think it would probably be best for everyone involved if you two got married. You know, once you're older, the age difference won't matter at all. And he cooks! tahahaha

I "teach" at a primary school (which is standard 1-7, essentially the same grade-wise). It's okay, nothing to write home about (ha!).
I also get hit on at least twice a day here (depending on my exposure). Just today, this man drove me and my principal home from school and told me I was beautiful, asked if Iw as married, asked if I had a boyfriend (to which I lied and said yes), and then proceeded to ask me if he could marry me AND when I went to get out of the car, asked if he could kiss me. It all sounds real nice and flattering, but it gets old real fast.

Oh, and I have a request for advice. For my Directed Independnt Study Project, I have the choice to go up north and work with the board of tourism or stay in Gabs with my friends and intern at a diamond valuing company. I want to study the ethics involved in either industry and I really have no idea so you should all write back what yout hink and why.

And now, I'm apparently on the only working computer and others want it so I must go. I LOVE YOU ALL and miss you ALOT!