Women's Work's topics - tribe.net

FRONT LINES!

thefreeassociation — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 01:42:56 GMT

stuck in an overcrowded street in manhattan, i started to walk down the block to see what else was going on that night. Ever club that I wanted to get in to was closed off for a couple of more hours before people were allowed to come in again, while walking down to the next block to see who was creeping there, the people that I had came with noticed a shorter line to get in somewhere.

Someone said ”that line is short, lets go to that one! “
Another person said, I dont want to go there, there are too many black people in that one. The other person automatically called this person a racist.

Were they joking or where they were serious? I could not tell because I didn’t know him. Had the other person not said anything, I am not sure what I would have done because I was unprepared for such ignorance. Not that much tension wasn’t felt between the people because because they were both white. Would there had been more tension as if I,a person of color would have challenged it. I still don’t know if he was serious or he took that other persons comment to heart.

Luckily there was another person there to speak up. Sometimes when I feel that am in a safe space or sharing space with those "politically conscious" and comments like that are made two things could happen to me. No feelings get involved and I automatically choose not associate with that other person or I tend withdraw to
reflect to find out what would be best or I challenge the situation.

This time, I observed objectively though I felt anger because these comments where being layered on top of other comments made earlier by other people and more people and more and more.

Why isn’t the term Sexism draw out as much emotion as the term Racist? I have known lots of women of color who really go off on the racist end of things but kind of overlook the sexist. And though in my experience, its been very rare in my circle that I find people who still only look at the surface, its hard to know what to expect from a friend of a friend. it does happen but it is less than likely that it would be overlooked.

my point is not valid because I am not black? I have heard from a sexist point of view, my thoughts are invalid because I have no interest in men? Who cares who i want to sleep with!!!

There was this lame show on tv once i overheard while i was making
dinner in the kitchen. my old roommate who was black was watching this tv show (the manshow). they kept making remarks about the innate qualities of what make women so real to me but trivial to them. My roommates wife at the time came in from work or something and started to listen in to the show, she didnt
really like what she was hearing. She didnt go off, but she pointed
out what she didnt think was cool about that. He assured her that it was just a joke and that they were just trying to be funny and in the end, she said well you if these guys started making racist comments, that would not be cool. She was white. He was like yeah your right but this was funnier! Couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

Front lines is a term I use to describe where the miscommunication happens in that part of the dialogue with people. Like the day i was walking in the streets of manhattan I was standing border to. Its
where you hear all kinds of shit. men have approached me with all kinds of responses to: you need to learn how to take a joke, suck a cock, to shut up. Really all I have to do is sleep with a man to get a sense of humor about some sexist shit? That will desensitize me?
Entertain at his every whim of him getting his rocks off? Please.

On a more evolved path men but just as misogynistic men have said: why should i care about woman who i dont potentially have access to?

i really feel that everyone is entitled to feel happiness, this can only happen when their space to exist and think that they want to think and say what they have to say. period. as more times passes, i often find myself wondering how much more i can take, especially in space i thought was safe but no, here we go again! I don’t even call it retreating back to women’s spaces anymore. Its not a retreat. It’s the way things should be and not on the account of woman having to do all the work i.e. modify their perception or behavior just to accommodate him.

another fucking glory hole, poked through. The humiliation, the degradation.

I will never learn how to take a joke like that with someone I don’t know. The same person made a comment the next couple of days when we were going to go meet up 3 of my other friends at the movies. He had a girlfriend who was in another country and started asking questions about my friends who were female. Are any of them cute, do they have big boobs etc. I asked : don’t you have a girlfriend? Yeah he says but she is in another country. I haven’t had sex in 7 days, I am a man. I like to play the hypothetical game, the game that if this woman was single and I was single…blah blah blah. I said what about your girlfriend who you claim? Do you think she would be okay with comments like that? HELL NO, it would be disrespectful.

Later he said he was joking after I mentioned about how those comments bothered me. Who cares? Why not ask if they have someone and respect the space? Whether they are single or not?

Respect that space!

I wasn’t laughing and it wasn’t once that he brought it up, it was twice. Still not laughing. He really wanted to know since I didn’t answer him the first time. Sounds like a cover up aye? Damn straight.

After this person left our apt, I immediately reached out to a male co worker of mine at the bar I work at to see what I thought. I was in no way overreacting he said and that made me feel better.

How much preparation is needed to handle comments like that? Well I feel that that answer can only come when we realize our boundaries and then not compromise anymore. Anymore. Thousands of thousands of years of women getting fucked over.

How much more can you take? What angle to take since its sooooo complicated, what to say? Its overwhelming at there are so many things to consider. Like one: how evolved they are as a human being and communicator. Sometimes it may not be worth it to save you from the burn out as what is most common in advocacy. Sometimes non-action can be more effective, sometimes not. Most important things is not to forget, take it as it comes and focus:

One conversation at a time.

Quality of life will progress or it will maintain to where you are at, there is no lose… just appreciation and support from women all over that are alive and that have passed, no doubt.

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if its good enough for me, then its good enough for her....

thefreeassociation — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 21:42:11 GMT

So a couple of weeks ago:
***************************************************************************************************************************
Women's Soccer Team Releases Apology For Negative Attention
Issue date: 5/22/06 Section: Campus

Members of the Northwestern women's soccer team came together and issued their first official comment Saturday following allegations of hazing on May 15.

The team wrote a letter addressed to "the Northwestern community" and passed it on to coach Jenny Haigh with the intention of having it released to The Daily.

Haigh told The Daily on Thursday that some of the players were getting together to write "some kind of apology, something along those lines."

Last Monday, Athletic Director Mark Murphy suspended the team indefinitely, pending a Division of Student Affairs investigation into an alleged hazing incident at a party attended by several players last August.

The suspension came after 16 pictures from the party were posted on BadJocks.com showing alleged initiation rituals with players in their underwear, dressed in costumes, blindfolded with their hands bound by athletic tape, consuming alcohol and performing sexually suggestive acts.

On Wednesday, former members of the women's soccer program denied a history of hazing in an e-mail that was sent to several local and national media outlets.

Sunday's letter from the women's soccer team follows, unedited and unabridged:

To the members of the Northwestern community,

We, the Northwestern women's soccer team, apologize for the negative attention, press, and controversy our alleged hazing incident has caused the University. We never foresaw that what began as a well-intentioned night of team unity and celebration would have such severe consequences, and we are embarrassed that our actions have become the source of such harsh criticism.

We fully accept responsibility for our behavior and understand the magnitude and severity of the current situation. As Northwestern varsity student-athletes, we take extreme pride in representing this school, and this incident does not reflect the values, integrity and qualities we seek to embody.

We hope this incident has not resulted in a breach of trust. From here, we will move in a positive direction toward reestablishing our relationship with the Northwestern community. Let this be a learning experience not only for the women's soccer team, but for all Northwestern groups, organizations and teams who wish to uphold the honor and prestige of this university.

In addition, we extend our apologies to teammate Kelly Sitkowski, who had absolutely no role in the incident and was not present that evening.

- Members of the 2005-06 Northwestern University women's soccer team

David Morrison can be reached at d-morrison3@northwestern.edu.

***************************************************************************************************************************
After trying to discover more details about what made their situation different, than literally thousands of other male athletes/teams participating in similar rituals. i found that there wasnt any difference other than the fact that : they were women! i immediately wrote a letter to the head coach of this soccer team :

Hello,

My name is Socorro. I am a resident of California that noticed this article written by Mark Starr today on MSN.Com and felt the need to talk about his trivial take on what happened in regards to some of the "team sprit" NW soccer team members shared in the past. My professional interests focus more on the arts but I feel this sense of solidarity with other women: No matter what economic background, lifestyle and situation a woman might find herself in these days.

Our sexuality is way more complex than what most want to believe or take time to want to understand. He, himself I feel, doesn't realize that his perception is not all that different from the majority of men out there that think women should be as conservative as men are not. He hasn't realized how much human sexuality has changed in the last five years. Especially for women.

I saw the rest of the article as another morphed way of trying to control women to make them out to be something that they are not so that this image they have about women wouldn’t be tainted to further perpetuate his/men's insecurity about letting women define themselves without a man’s influence or approval.

I do think with his knowledge of feminism would be more appropriate to apply to the other half the population who are just fucking clueless as to how men are limiting our experience as human beings everyday. Some men, even going out of their way to do this. I feel that after a man realizes the dictating roles he is assuming, it makes more sense to open up a dialouge with his brothers and friends as they are too defensive to talk about these issues when women bring up the same thing.

It feels like almost every expression that is seen unconventional, in a woman’s case, is a novelty. It really bothers me how female sexuality gets immediately written off as this and doesn’t get taken seriously just when a woman finds a little room to breathe this air for herself and not from somebody else’s mouth.

This is a deep subject relating and riddled to a history's worth of weight hard to approach at times, not because there is little to make a decision on but because its another challenge to work together as women to build awareness and to confront this hypocritical nation about these issues.

I started a women’s art collective with a friend of mine this past winter with10 other talented women who also openly share and advocate a liberating vision . One that is inclusive to them, not exclusive. I wanted write you show to show some support for all your efforts in achieving in all that you have done in a male dominated field. We feel that its time open back up again and to remind them who is there, keeping this world together.

NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE TO US !!

Socorro
Women's Work In Progress
4402 West Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90019

***************************************************************************************************************************
She writes back the next day:

Socorro,
Thanks for this note. I appreciate your perspective more than you know. And, we all greatly appreciate your support right now. Keep on doing the good things in the world that you're doing.

Sincerely,
Jenny Haigh
Head Women's Soccer Coach
Northwestern University

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today is for her

thefreeassociation — Tue, 16 May 2006 21:15:20 GMT

The sound of the music known as rai has wafted from its native Algeria to nearly all corners of the world in recent years. And yesterday, rai lost one of its greatest and earliest performers. Cheikha Rimitti died in Paris. The news was announced solemnly on Algerian television news. Cheikha Rimitti was Algeria's Bessie Smith. She sang her country's version of the blues. And like Bessie Smith, she was a rebel. She entered a territory that had been accessed mostly by men. And she took it places it had never been before.

Cheikha Rimitti was born Saadia Bediaf in the 1920's. Rai was already popular, and a few women had already begun to sing it. That's an old 78 of the early Rai singer Cheikha Tetma.

Cheikha is an local word for a female singer who achieves renown. And Cheikha Tetma served as a role model for the young orphan who would later become Cheikha Rimitti.

Cheikha Rimitti was twenty years old when she became friends with a group of musicians.

They took her under their wing, and often gave her lead vocals in cabarets and cafes, where rai was a staple of the musical diet. Rai roughly translates as is "testifying." In her early days, Cheikha Rimitti testified about the ravages of epidemics that spread through Algeria. And before long, she became more courageous in the topics she took on.

"Charrag Gattaa" was Cheikha Rimitti's first hit in Algeria.

It translates as "torn and slashed." And the song is a description of a relationship with an abusive man who takes her virginity. Cheikha Rimitti's lyrics were more explicit than just about anything Algerians had heard before, at least from a female singer. In "Charrag Gattaa," she sings, "he crushes, whips and beats me.

I say I'm going away, but I still spend the night. Pitiful me. I've developed bad habits."

In the sixties, the new independent Algerian government took a dislike to Rimitti's lyrics. They essentially censored her. And from that point on, Cheikha Rimitti spent most of her life abroad. But she continued to place herself at the cutting edge of rai. Even before fellow Algerian expatriates like Rachid Taha and Cheb Khaled would become the darlings of world music afficionadoes, Cheikha Rimitti had ventured into new sounds.

In her seventies, Cheikha Rimitti recorded the seminal album "sidi Mansour." The 1993 release featured the British art-rock guitarist Robert Fripp, and bass player Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In the hands of these three, rai simply exploded.

And just last year, Cheikha Rimitti continued to prove that, even in her eighties, she wasn't going to sit still stylistically. Even in exile, Cheikha Rimitti never lost touch with the plight of her Algerian sisters struggling under the constraints of Islamic tradition back home.

And Algerians of both sexes never lost touch with her.

Cheikha Rimitti died of a heart attack.

She was 83.

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i just noticed our logo pic.... yeha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sonjagraphicmaze — Wed, 03 May 2006 22:11:06 GMT

i say yeha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i say yeha?????????????????????????????/
i say ye ha?!?!
i say ha?
I see nice panties .... I say socorro?!?!?

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(no subject)(just random)

thefreeassociation — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 16:30:39 GMT

for some
there is a difference
between how we work
and how we live...
for some, they are
one.
there is nothing missing,
only your presence.
what are doing
with your freedom
to/d/ay ?

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ready....aim....

thefreeassociation — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 21:26:27 GMT

The "COMBINE TO MULTIPLY" theory suggests that when we choose to create, that our will be split up accordingly to this:

33 % INTENTION.... 33% to PROCESS and 33% to PROGRESS and of course to that one percent to CHAOS!! many people are usually focused on one or the other and so that is why most of us dont respond to imbalanced things. you could tell in one minute while someone can look at the same peice of art for HOURS and not see what you saw off hand. the same i feel on a personal level if you are one of those people that feel that life is art....

right now, to me, things look really superficial. the truth a novelty, like a plastic pink flimingo stuck in front of a "normal looking house" that looks one way in one state of mind and very different in another. A couple of years ago my friend adrienne had a party at this bar in hollywood and while people where passing her card around to sign, I remember writing what i thought pop art was to me at that very moment:

deep people standing in shallow water or shallow people in too deep?

there is a stream of consciousness that can be tapped into when we accept things at face value which i feel is difficult considering the general publics awareness of the injustice in the world now. FINALLY....less shadow puppets to take up head space and more sun breaking though the cracks of that wall to show us what has been growing in the deepest part of selves...

as a whole the way that most people are connected to is the media but so few connected with each other by word of mouth. illusions do only what we say anyway....if we continue as women to let people intimate or manipulate us to prevent us from communicating our needs, then it will happen and there is nothing you can do about it ! not because of some outside force but because you say it is not fixable or possible.

to me what is the point of having a relationship with that someone or something who will not even give the space for you to express? i really feel that learning is the challenge in itself be a new skill or new people.. it takes a certain amount of openess...which a competitive perspective is not. what can we absorb if we are closed? in that earlier part of my life i have always found it easier to inspire myself than other people who looked for every reason to not let themselves to say to themselves : this is what I really want to do, this is what i want from life.

and yes it may not be easiest, you might have to struggle more to attain it but life will become much simplier when you are satisfied and in the way that it is supposed to be! there is nothing lost as with that fear that accompanies it...only knowledge to be gained!

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Work Equity

thefreeassociation — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 00:03:50 GMT

WOMENS WORK

Hey there everyone so it’s getting close to the New Year and I wanted to know if we could add this one topic with some of our heavier, deeper discussions to our bulletin BORED. I kind of see this topic going with the New Year being that this time of year lots of people like to think about the future and so much of the future is related to this topic. How much work is available for us? What
Kind and at what cost to have a little security or stability in this life? How much freedom will people give us to create something for ourselves? How much are they going to deny?

The more people we find that NEED (not want) this safe space, the more space we can create to house our intuition. Our evolution has been based on this intensity as well as Trading connections and our collective structure.

The last time that I was really comfortable was when I was ten. I knew what a bill was when I was eleven when the lights went out, my older sister made me do my work with a flashlight. Just because Daddy wasn’t giving us the child support wasn’t an excuse not to work. He did this to prove a point that he was REALLY IMPORTANT and that for us to survive as a single parent unit was impossible and so my mother said that maybe it was better that we didn’t say anything about it and we survived! One less obligation based on fucked up conditions to worry about.

for over two years, I have lived a 2200 dollar lifestyle for 450$ (1200 for a room and the cost of living...500+500 for art AND music space) even this winter as not been able to pay the last couple of months the house STILL give me equal access to resources and to work. We can do this because there is 14 of us and so it makes it easier to absorb financially. I think that the house has done so much in making me feel comfortable to accept this help and with gratitude, not insecurity.

I have been SO lucky and yet feel sad to know that this is not true for the women who are being supported by their men who claim to say that they love them. Alot of women have experienced this and when they are not able to contribute in one way that society finds acceptable, they begin taking on self destructive patterns. What I love about the group is how flexible it is and opens to letting me contribute in another way and still VALUE it in the same way. Be it a poem, a page from novel, photography, feedback, ideas or inspiration.

One thing I feel is that if a person doesn’t need that much they will not do much help us evolve and be more efficient. I have lived with people only interested in what they can get here at the house where the buy-products are the intention, not community! You could even look at Hollywood in same way. To me the definition of class is: A CONSCIOUS SOCIAL FORCE.

people in certain clicks and communities are very selective of who they share space with, some for reasons that I wouldnt agree with but for women I see it and for those who don’t see the point in it, it is because they do not know what we have to deal daily. they have not paid attention to the history of how we as women have been marginalized, scapegoated and capitalized off of.

When some people say the word "FREEDOM" they cry when they say it because they know they don’t have it...some will never have what we take for granted in the US because most Americans never have been oppressed in their life. They have never struggled to survive. They didn’t come from anywhere else to try to live. The privilege just keeps getting passed down to some, not all.

I have always experienced and embraced the backlash for wanting consistency, or being realistic and to keep staying positive. To hesitate to follow through on what I took initiative on would be a way that people use to try to manipulate me or the situation to prevent us to look at what is the issue... to what is fair or necessary to maintain.

With this New Year coming in, I hope that we can continue to redefine our standards as we have of late and to share the will to give unconditionally in a positive way, not negative.
Many women have expressed this need for space. I have seen women stop making art and loving themselves for the wrong reasons and I want to be ready and there for the women who have made an adamant decision to improving the quality of their lives and it will happen because as they say in politics:

the MAJORITY will get their way as will MINORITY will get their say

and so if we find ourselves not getting what we want then we should at least not give up trying to communicate our needs with each other and for each other or to re examine just what exactly they want us to believe about ourselves.

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The political/anarcho edge from a couple of hundred feet up...

thefreeassociation — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 03:47:22 GMT

Hell-o, my name is Socorro. I am 28 an artist and activist from Long Beach, CA that was one of many to get this group off the ground. The first connection that I made about this idea was with another women by the name of Elizabeth... soon we ran into other revolutionary types only about a month of its conception this past winter. Our goal is to have an all woman multi media exhibition and experiance showcasing some of the most inspirational art surrounding us.

I love to celebrate with women anytime I am in the company of them. My life changed when I started to intentionally surround myself around those who felt just as passionate about their creative expression and just as strongly about the meaning of why they created.

People clearly state their assumptions about women and have certain expectations of them that has really limited their experience. Somehow, these expectations were mistaken for understanding...if there was a real understanding of women then I feel that there would be more sensitivity offered towards a womens process and not pressure to be something other than themselves.

I feel that much of our culture revolves around male sexuality and I would so be open to help set an example for men so that they themselves can learn how to really value and appreciate a woman when she consciously chooses to share any kind of space with people. I feel that it is equally important for other women to be aware about this as I see them often model themselves after men who think that they understand women or the world.

There is this new level of awareness I have noticed among women today, floating in the collective consciousness! I have committed a part of my life to be there for the women that make a decision to challenge mainstream sterotypes and to challenge the misogyny creatively. I look foward to meeting you all in person and talking. Thank you for taking the time to read this, have a good night.

S.

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12/15 notes

thefreeassociation — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 20:57:32 GMT

Thank you for those of you who showed up or thought of us last night. We hope that you got our message of us thinking of you and hoped that you would at least think about art until 1 am last night, or every night...even if its just writing down your ideas.

we thought of different ways to communicate our intentions for the new year that is coming from the brainstorming we had over fine wine and time. we thought that if women were not picking us, that we should pick them!

we thought about turning one of the nights we meet as a field trip to take to meet other female artists or get connected to things happening around us...all of your feedback is welcomed about how to evolve into the next art movement. email us, let us know what is going on!
move love,
s

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Dedicated to all lovers of Women and Knowledge:

thefreeassociation — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 22:04:14 GMT

THE ROMANTIC!!!
in this new year, things must be done with our heart! nothing depreciates passion faster than perfection.. the mind pulses thoughts and abstractions but the heart pulses a beat, that beat which is one of the natural rhythms in life...listen to it and nothing else. One of my favorite cult film directors suggested that seduction was done by those who represented the unreal... those voices less divine and more demonic.

i say be what you love or whatever that makes you feel that much more compelling and passionate. there is no kissing or telling and impossible to run from yourself when you are eternal. There is no cheating on the past, present or future because its all the same woman...she will always be there.

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our space

thefreeassociation — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 07:48:02 GMT

i want to say what a privilege it is for me to be able to share this space with you all. I say privilege because SO MANY MEN APPROACHED ME AND WANTED TO BE HERE to enjoy it too like many young people feel about having adult privileges. I have noticed that that is how they have been able to take for granted the time and energy we have shared with them. I struggled so much and have worked so hard to form a sisterhood that most men have no interest in knowing or doing anything about and this is the space where I draw the line ...my creative space.

They have everything, but we have creativity and embody love. I want to make clear that I do not hate men; I just know that they are not doing that much for us if not making it harder. it makes them VERY uncomfortable when I talk about it. If I were a man and gave in the way that I do, I would be a phenomenon but I since I am not, I am just another women and I think that I should tone it down so that they can deal with it to ignore me some more. Men are key to Feminism. It won’t be so much as female but men advocating for women to other men in the future. They will do it if they say that they love women or even go as far as to call themselves feminist.

on a personal level i feel such a responsibility to the things that i care about the most. One responsibility I feel is to educate, build awareness about the things I know. i feel like i have to stay open, to represent myself and to be there for people.

Humanity is often compared is often compared to a sword. Justice, injustice. The Twins! The one that rules heaven and the one that rules hell. The greater the mission the greater the chance the group has to impact culture. Survive culture. The greater the size of the organization the greater the chance that the vision has of being blurred.

The co operative structure is a political expression for me. It means everybody takes action, equal pay means equal say philosophy. there are so few spaces where I can go to feel autonomous. I encourage everyone to start their own affinity groups if they cannot come to ours. i always try to see the larger picture..more safe space for women, more art to relate, connect and be inspired by...which creates a circle that competition does not.

The difference between our government and no government is pretty extreme and I feel collectives are not even in that rat race, they are in the sky, just like stars... A symbol of unconditional love for something. I love women, even the ones that are just not making the right decisions for themselves. they make them because they are just not aware yet that there are other alternatives and solutions out there or here….

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WOMEN ARTISTS

sonjagraphicmaze — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 22:27:01 GMT

I have touched with a sense of art some people – they felt the love and the life.
Can you offer me anything to compare to that joy for an artist?
...Mary Cassatt

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