Quinoa scarcity. Evaluation Panic. Vegas and Southern Queers
I should be preparing for a workshop I'm leading for a Harold Washington conference tomorrow, but instead i'm writing to let you all know that Trater Joe's is out of quinoa. quinoa the magical new, hip grain that i guess is in high demand. I went to Jewel first and when i couldn't find it, I suggested to the service counter that maybe they'd want to order it. Just sayin. Went to TJ's and they were out too. Poop. My recipe will have to alter.
So things aren't as drab as they were when i last posted. Today's National Polls put me to some degree, at ease:
* Gallup: Obama 49%, McCain 42%
* Hotline/Diageo: Obama 48%, McCain 42%
* Rasmussen: Obama 51%, McCain 44%
* GWU: Obama 50%, McCain 43%
* Research 2000: Obama 51%, McCain 40%
We're in the throws of Fire This Time grant-making which is exciting. We had over 50 applications and more and more, we're seeing truly informal and community-based local, multi-racial, radical groups applying. We're even talking about breaking from Crossroads and getting our own bank account at the Northside Community Credit Union where donations could be earning the fund interest. Talking about reciprocal and open ideas for sustainability. Self-care grants, etc. I'm ready for members and grantees to hold it, run with it.
I did get a little anxious this week. I had my six month evaluation at LSNA and was nervous, am always nervous with evaluations. All was positive but I think i was traumatized in my post-college work days. I remember crying when I was let go from a diner waitress job. Supposidly I was too pretty for the wife of the owner and so he let me go with no explanation. It wasn't a great gig, by any means. I got blond AND kentucky jokes from all of the truckers who came in for coffee. But still. And then, when I was an Admin Asst for the Bloomington Arts Council the year after I completed undergrad, I was told I was too impersonal on the phone and needed to be more professional, otherwise they were going to can me. So.. i have my reasons I suppose.
On the travel front, I surprisingly really enjoyed Vegas. Old Vegas, especially. I roamed the Golden Nugget casino floor and found myself plopping down for my first real game of Black Jack, where I amassed $45 bucks only to come out even at $10 in the end. [Had to sit and finish my free beer!] HP, Broqued and I got to see the video spectacle Sat night splash overhead the old vegas dome, and the motorcycle cage riders. My favorite neon was the rotating glass slipper. Ohsoreluctant and Poker's desert backyard is wild because you'll be sitting there, chillin and then all of a sudden, you'll hear these screams coming from uh..somewhere over head and then you look over the roof and there's the Stratosphere with a gigantic claw circling screaming voices over its edge. Being in Vegas felt like being on a different planet (with amazing faux and real Japanese food!) and that was refreshing.
The weekend before Vegas I went to Durham NC for the 15th anniversary of Southerners on New Ground celebration (SONG). Something I'll try and write a bit more about.. is the emotional underpinnings that spawned many tears during what was a time for reconnecting and celebration for many. [BTW The most beautiful male-bodied and female-bodied queer environment sharing space I HAVE EVER experienced. Equal number of all gender/gender variant/fluid folks from all over the south!] I went having never been in SONG's space and really wishing to "connect to my Southern queer roots" and meet others from the South. It was a political queer who's who. Left Turn magazine editors were there; Project South organizers who were the champions of the US Social Forum in Atlanta; members of Cuntry King (No Ava though) :( and Queers for Economic Justice (NYC) documented the event. It was charged and tore at something deeper in me, which has been hard to come to terms with for several years now. It's complicated as emotions are. LJ keep me to it. I'll share more soon.
Love, Coxy
PS. XTA!!!! Miss you already. It was so comforting and gave me warm fuzzies inside to have you back in Chicago.
So things aren't as drab as they were when i last posted. Today's National Polls put me to some degree, at ease:
* Gallup: Obama 49%, McCain 42%
* Hotline/Diageo: Obama 48%, McCain 42%
* Rasmussen: Obama 51%, McCain 44%
* GWU: Obama 50%, McCain 43%
* Research 2000: Obama 51%, McCain 40%
We're in the throws of Fire This Time grant-making which is exciting. We had over 50 applications and more and more, we're seeing truly informal and community-based local, multi-racial, radical groups applying. We're even talking about breaking from Crossroads and getting our own bank account at the Northside Community Credit Union where donations could be earning the fund interest. Talking about reciprocal and open ideas for sustainability. Self-care grants, etc. I'm ready for members and grantees to hold it, run with it.
I did get a little anxious this week. I had my six month evaluation at LSNA and was nervous, am always nervous with evaluations. All was positive but I think i was traumatized in my post-college work days. I remember crying when I was let go from a diner waitress job. Supposidly I was too pretty for the wife of the owner and so he let me go with no explanation. It wasn't a great gig, by any means. I got blond AND kentucky jokes from all of the truckers who came in for coffee. But still. And then, when I was an Admin Asst for the Bloomington Arts Council the year after I completed undergrad, I was told I was too impersonal on the phone and needed to be more professional, otherwise they were going to can me. So.. i have my reasons I suppose.
On the travel front, I surprisingly really enjoyed Vegas. Old Vegas, especially. I roamed the Golden Nugget casino floor and found myself plopping down for my first real game of Black Jack, where I amassed $45 bucks only to come out even at $10 in the end. [Had to sit and finish my free beer!] HP, Broqued and I got to see the video spectacle Sat night splash overhead the old vegas dome, and the motorcycle cage riders. My favorite neon was the rotating glass slipper. Ohsoreluctant and Poker's desert backyard is wild because you'll be sitting there, chillin and then all of a sudden, you'll hear these screams coming from uh..somewhere over head and then you look over the roof and there's the Stratosphere with a gigantic claw circling screaming voices over its edge. Being in Vegas felt like being on a different planet (with amazing faux and real Japanese food!) and that was refreshing.
The weekend before Vegas I went to Durham NC for the 15th anniversary of Southerners on New Ground celebration (SONG). Something I'll try and write a bit more about.. is the emotional underpinnings that spawned many tears during what was a time for reconnecting and celebration for many. [BTW The most beautiful male-bodied and female-bodied queer environment sharing space I HAVE EVER experienced. Equal number of all gender/gender variant/fluid folks from all over the south!] I went having never been in SONG's space and really wishing to "connect to my Southern queer roots" and meet others from the South. It was a political queer who's who. Left Turn magazine editors were there; Project South organizers who were the champions of the US Social Forum in Atlanta; members of Cuntry King (No Ava though) :( and Queers for Economic Justice (NYC) documented the event. It was charged and tore at something deeper in me, which has been hard to come to terms with for several years now. It's complicated as emotions are. LJ keep me to it. I'll share more soon.
Love, Coxy
PS. XTA!!!! Miss you already. It was so comforting and gave me warm fuzzies inside to have you back in Chicago.