Happy in Hectic Times

Sorry, I've been lacking in the posts lately. My school has set up this great peace camp to keep the war in people's faces. I've had that plus I made library co-ordinator for the Women's Centre next year, so on top of my school work, I've been really busy. I'm kinda in a hectic time right now, so don't expect the updates to come anytime soon. Just know that this kind of happiness has been absent from my life for a really long time, and it sucks that the war has to wreck it, but as I like to say, "Don't let the man get you down. Get down the man."

For some humour in my absence, check out Sinfest. It has to be my favourite on-line comic, and by now I'm a comic afficianado. I know a-a-a-a-ll the best.

And here is Former president Jimmy Carter on the war on Iraq.

Brief outbursts of
intruding love,
betraying my
brain, invade my
body and remind
it momentarily where
your body used to
be breathing above and below mine.

and I am standing still
next to stampedes,
secure in my safety,
because it is just a test of will
to stand and survive
through stubborn determination.

So, I'm kinda worn, because of Fringe, the Women's Centre and all this Iraq crap. I totally haven't done a lick of school work all week, so I hope you don't mind if I take a little break from the blogging. I'm sure when I need to procrastinate, I'l come back, but for now, I'm taking a much needed vacation.

I don't know what to say. You know what I'm talking about, and if you don't, get your head out of your ass and get informed. I'm in such a state of disbelief that ... I got nothing. Perhaps when I'm not so worn out from Fringe (which when splendidly. So well, that we're going to be playing at Wilf's, the on-campus pub. Many yays!). Right now I'm just emotionally tired. I know I'm going to protests, writing petitions and praying. A whole heck of a lot of pray. Stay safe, stay sane. Know you are loved. Peace.

This kid reads way too much Calvin and Hobbes

So, I have a little brother that is hilarious. Any of my friends who have met the little fucker thinks so. This is just a small anecdote about Status Quo's knowledge of current events. Just as a bit of background, Status Quo, which is my brother Andrew's rapper name, is 14, and he tends to watch the nightly news with my Da. So, on with the story. In my area of Canada right now, there is still quite a bit of snow, which my brother is vehemently against, so he decided to go on his own personal crusade to rid my backyard of as much snow as possible. I was home this weekend, doing work at the kitchen table, watching him stomping and kicking around the snow. First, he comes inside and asks my dad if he can fill up some buckets with hot water to pour on the snow. Da tells him to bug off, so Drew goes back outside to procede with his kicking and stomping. Suddenly, he stops *lightbulb goes on here*, and runs in the house up to the kitchen. He reaches into one of the cupboards and pulls out 2 toothpicks. Then, he turns to me and says, "Yes, weapons of mass destruction!" He then ran frantically from the house, as I howled for ten minutes. Yeah, Drew, sometimes it feels like they are arguing over toothpicks.

A life reflected in Narcissus

I'm a sister of Echo, singing my songs to a man too concerned with his 'image' to listen. I am still a commanding presence, but when will I start to fade into submission? Are we all Echo's screaming into gapping geography and chiasmic knowledge gaps, waiting for the sound to hit the other side, hoping there is someone there to yell back? Is it just me? I’ve never performed for 25 minutes as myself. Perhaps, after Wednesday, I can stop singing and just relax in myslef, which is how I spell myself. I didn’t say I would wait. I just said I wanted someone to listen. I’ll return the favour, if I know I’ll be paid back. IOU: 1 conversation where I shut up. Perhaps if you would pull yourself away from those pools I could stop all these Blues, or maybe if I sing loud enough, the pools will ripple, showing the beautiful distortion hidden in mirrors and water.

Come one, come all!

I am so STOKED about Fringe! I haven't performed in like 2 years (choir excluded), so I'm feeling nervous and excited with a chocolate cream centre. The guys I'm playing with are super stellar. We're doing mainly blues (see Ben Harper, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Black Crowes) and these guys both study guitar here at Laurier. Need I say more? Probably not, but I will. Their skills are phenomonal. Now, I know you don't have to go to school to be a superb player, but these guys are. We just jammed together for like an hour and it was frickin' brilliant. Their soloing is fantastic. It was amazing how the music just flowed. I've never had a jam session that just moved like that. AH!! I'm so excited!! Yeah, Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 pm in the Turret you can come see Dan, Matt and myself play up a sunny night (with the minimal fee of $3)! You know you wanna. :)

Please don't answer this

Do you hate me yet? Do you loath the thought of my name, my laugh, my wild, wild hair? (For some strange reason, it has grown completely unmanagable in your absence. You always kept me grounded.) Do those everyday reminders startle you, inciting the fighter spirit as they do in myself? My WS prof champions women as the radicals so my passions are explained away, but yours... Sorry, uterus in my throat. I don't know who I'm writing for anymore. I guess I just expect people to start hating me. My buddy Dan and I had just come from a sweet rehearsal for our Fringe Festival shit, and he comes out of nowhere with "So, Alysia, what kind of Feminist are you?" I was taken a back but promptly answered, "Radical". I know the thousands of negative ideas related to that, but I'm gonna start saying it with confidance, because I know that I adore men. For me, radical feminist is a champion for change, not a female supremesist (spelling? fuck it.). In my Children's Lit course, my teacher brought up the gender equality in this one children's story, and of course I, and a few others, went off on feminist theory in relation to the children's books we're studying in the course. I thought it was one of the most energetic, vigourous discussions that we participated in, but one young man in particular thought this must have been the biggest trial of his life. Another of my male classmates brought up the issue of feminist film theory and I went off on this tangent about Nicole Kidman's 30 min. performance that the Academy deemed Oscar worthy. I realized it was irrelevant to the class so I related it to one of the books. In the middle of my "speech" (for lack of a better word at 3 in the morn), this guy starts groaning and throwing his head down onto the desk. (!) I was like, "What the f', guy?" Yes, I actually did say that, to which he rolled his eyes at me. Way to verbalize your feelings, Mack. (Mack is a generic name used to indicate the gender of the person in question. His real name is Matt.*) It irks me that someone in English, where there are so many necessary methods of analysis, including Feminist, could have such a juvenile response to an honest discussion. The only other time I've encountered a response such as that was from Trendy McTrend, who groaned and rolled her eyes at my answering a presentor's question on feminist theory. Yo, Chiquita, he asked the question; I'm just answering it.

It is unfortunate that my blogs have become steadly more serious, but I will not apologize. If you find it uninteresting, email me with a topic of your choice. :)

* names are changed to protect Matt's identity, I mean, the identity of the people refered to here.

Found this wonderful gem on a friend's blog. Thoroughly enjoyable. Base-Bull caps, anyone?

YAY International Women's Day!!

In celebration of this magnificent day, I thought I would create my own "Yay Women!" CD. It's not a CD of purely Ani and Tori (though they both have two songs. I couldn't give them just one each.), nor are all of the songs totally feminist in nature, but they are all songs that either address issues, or provoke thought in myself. And some of them are just fun (See Bitch and Animal. :)) Then, I thought, "Hmmm, why not share your wonderful mix with your (*insert tongue in cheek*) adoring public, Alysia?" Good idea, self. So, here we go!

No Doubt - Just a Girl

Tori Amos - Girl

Alanis Morrisette - Hand in My Pocket

Ms. Dynamite - It Takes More

Fiona Apple - Sleep to Dream

Sarah Slean - Climbing up the Walls

Ani Difranco - Talk to Me Now

Jill Scott - One is the Magic #

Jewel - Pieces of You

Garbage - Queer

Sarah Harmer - Don't Get Your Back Up

India.Aire - Video

Lisa Loeb - Garden of delights

Ani Difranco - The Waiting Song

Bjork - Army of Me

Bitch and Animal - Best Cock on the Block (Couldn't find the lyrics. :( Sorry, you'll just have to download it.)

Sarah Jones - Your Revolution (Note: Hit |the poem| and it will play the song with the lyrics. It also has the option to download it. :))

Tori Amos - Real Men

Stir vigourously and ENJOY! (Don't forget to dance. :D)

YAY!!

Okay, so this is what happiness feels like. Seriously, I don't think I would change a thing with my life at this moment. In the past month, I've gotten really involved with the Laurier Women's Centre and I finally feel like I have a large group of people who get me totally and completely. I have a few friends who get me, but they are few and far between. My music friends understood me, but in a completely different way. Some of them treated my passion as part of my "act", like the bitchy comedian. (Emphasis on some.) Because it is International Women's Week, there have been a lot of things going on around campus, including a feminist discussion on Tuesday that was so amazing. The theme for the discussion was "Listening" because it seems like we feminists are doing a lot of talking but not listening to each other. It was a fabulous experience. There was a shit disturber there who was just trying to get us to fight with him, but we just debated. Even I didn't yell at him, and if you've ever tried to debate with me, I usually end up yelling, getting all personal and just Great Wall of China defensive. I was calm, which shocked me afterwards.

Also, I presented this project in my women's studies class that I had worked especially hard on and was quite proud of, and my psuedo-TA told me after the Feminist discussion that it had actually brought her to tears. (It consisted of a group member reading first person accounts of violence at the back of the class while myself and two other women stood at the front of the class with red tape over our mouths, holding a huge collage of black and white photos of women with pieces of red tape over their mouths. It was my idea. I actually got in front of a group of people and didn't say a thing. It surprised me more than anyone.) That was pretty amazing since I wasn't sure how it would fly.

I went to a Yoni workshop last night. Basically, Yoni is the vagina, so I went to a vagina making workshop, but that it doesn't have to be a realistic representation of the vagina. I made candy dishes, because vaginas are delicious things. ;) I haven't worked with clay in two years and it was such a beautiful to sit around with a bunch of women and men celebrating Yoni. It was beautifully meditative and aaaahhhhhh.... sweet sighs.

If you get a chance to go to the Vagina monologues, GO! They are enjoyable to the X-treme.

Yeah... *enjoys the sound of the word* happy *sighs with contentment*

There is action in inertia

Fighting these two wrongs without making two rights. Trying to validate my feelings of superiority, while battling inferiority. Watching Jerry Springer and realizing that could be me: Jerry, the guests or the audience? Yes. Loving my knowledge, excepting its uselessness. Continuing my inability to string together a logical sentence under pressure. Recognizing my own spaciness. Adoring my skin and his, yet taking a kindergarten attitude: I don't wanna share. Divided affections getting my undivided attention. Attempting to gain comfort by putting myself in uncomfortable situations. "This is me according to me."

Right.Here.Now.