...Please, make it this one: http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_copenhagen/?cl=401623913&v=4919

You may not have heard of Avaaz.org before, but if you've been paying close attention to the news this year, you'll know that they are a seriously effective worldwide body for mobilizing, organizing and communicating public protest and public expression to the world's leaders. This is not just somebody's naive attempt to get a petition together, that will never get taken seriously. This one *will* be seen and heard by the people who count.

I lol'd. Also, I learned an important lesson today about medicine and hair removal. Namely, if the dermatologist gives you medicated strips to shrink a keloid it's good to remove the hair before applying the strip. And if you forget to remove the hair then Nair (or the nearest equivalent, that might be Veet that I bought) will not feel good on skin that's been covered in said medication for the last 18 hours. Especially if the medicine was only supposed to be on there for 12 hours. You may now sing Stupid Girls at me and laugh. I'll be over here hoping my skin doesn't fall off.

OK i am going to share my absolute favorite part of the thanfiction/victoria bitter wank:

Yes, I have fought with both the RHD and RIRA, because I wanted to see both sides for myself before committing myself blindly to 'the cause.' What did I learn? They're both wrong. A lot of that experience, actually, I used later in writing my second HP fan-novel, "Sluagh."

liviapenn discusses in detail.

eta: the fandomwank wiki on vb/jordan wood/thanfiction.

I'm finally getting around to doing my holiday cards so give a shout out if you'd like one (name, address, etc). Since I keep a Excel spreadsheet of my addresses (yes, organization!), please let me know if your address changed or any other pertinent information. Comments are screened so no worries.

This waiting to hear back about interviews thing is super tedious. I think I lack patience on the molecular level. Distractions? Patience enhancing exercises? I already wasted some time in sf_d talking about my pseudo-kidnapping (ex boyfriend thought it was a great way to get me to take him back, for obvious reasons it didn't work out) and I can't seem to focus on anything productive. You people should supply me with entertainment or something.

In "Generosity Rant," at Social Class and Quakers, Jeanne talks through a set of distinctions about charitable giving that has long been important to me, but which it seems I don't hear discussed that often: where does a donation of time or effort fit into existing power structures? Does this donation mostly benefit people who already have a fair bit of systemic privilege? (Public radio, f'rinstance.) If it's for the benefit of people without much systemic privilege, does it only provide temporary relief (leaving intact the power structures that contribute to or perpetuate the problem), or does it seek to change the power structures, too?

(Note that these questions are not intended to knock the importance of temporary relief -- if one needs food or housing now, that need dwarfs everything else. However, if all effort is directed toward temporary relief, that seems equivalent to saying you're ultimately okay with the status quo just as long as the hard-knock bitter edge of it isn't too hard-knock bitter.)

Unfortunately, the system-changing orgs -- the ones that I think are ultimately most important -- don't ever seem to get a lot of press. There are a bunch of systemic reasons for that: they tend not to be rooted in middle-class communities (and they shouldn't be!) so they don't tend to get the word-of-mouth buzz in middle-class circles; what they do is less concrete, and thus doesn't come with that sure-thing feel-good buzz; and then there's the NIMBY issue of whether or not middle-class communities even want social change, and on what terms. In the end, some of the coolest orgs, doing the coolest work, just don't get talked about much.

So in the interest of talking about these groups more, I'm curious to know who you think is doing good or important system-changing work out there.

( My list, cut for length )
You'll notice that my list is rooted in my locality and identity, mostly because that's what I know enough about to be able to say, "Hey, here are people doing cool things in a useful way." That's not to say that those are the only people I'd like to hear about -- in fact, I'd like to hear about groups that I'm less likely to be familiar with.

One more note about my list: there are no environmental justice people on there, and I'd like there to be. In particular, who's doing work on ecosystem conservation and not doing it on the backs of indigenous, migrant, and poor people? I know that some American Indian tribes are doing work like that (f'rex, The Intertribal Bison Cooperative), but I'd love to hear more names.

Your turn: in the interest of spreading the word, who's on your list of people doing cool system-changing work?

Based on Howard Zinn's revisionist "A People's History of the United States," "The People Speak" employs the talents of Hollywood heavy hitters, including Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Marisa Tomei, Don Cheadle, Josh Brolin, Sandra Oh, Viggo Mortensen, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, and provides a striking, exhilarating and at times horrifying reminder of not just our indomitable ability to change but also this country's collective history of oppression.
.

This also includes Danny Glover, Q'orianka Kilcher, Jasmine Guy, and Harris Yulin.

I am so fucking Matt Damon.

via newspaper_rock

Hello IBS, my old frieeeennnndddd...

Looks like it's going to take a little while for my innertube to settle down completely into its new routine. Possibly I need to be taking the Immodium every day, at the same time, so as not to confuse my tummy's tiny mind.

p_dilla is playing 50 cent's video game. I don't know this man. Clearly. In other news while discussing the possibilities of our next home if I get one of these Fed jobs we ran across this place. Decent neighborhood. Great price for investment property. But we'd be landlords. I think we could handle it, but maybe I have the crazy?

Teacher Cuts Off Girl's Braid In Front Of Class. One, every little girl plays with the beads at that age. It makes a fun noise and if you can't handle it then you don't need to be in a classroom. Two, if you ever in your life think about cutting a child's hair without permission from that child's parents? You better pray they just file a complaint. I don't give a shit how stressed out you are at work, you keep your hands and the scissors off the kids. The fact that this person is still teaching? Blows my mind.

We're going to Gallifrey One in February! Eek. Come and hold my hand.

holzman has a great post up about that incident at the canadian border.

with bob marley 1980 interview in ny. ( poor vid quality but sounds ok. )