Subjective Response

Mr. Slick politician guy using public relations to gain street cred with disenfranchised groups. Very clever if you ask me. Of course he should be applauded for the good he does, but I hope his head doesn't get big from too much praise. Well, at least he isn't as flashy as Willie Brown. Still, what I'm saying is "don't believe [all] the hype." If something looks better than should be believed, then it probably has cracks. My gut tells me that he's trying to woo the lefties because so many of them voted against him in such large numbers.

Oh yes oh yes. The slurp smacking, taste-bud-tingling goodness that makes a slobbering dog of the best of us. Mmm. Chew on the salty flavors of noodles, the crunchy greens, smell the aroma of sweet sauce and bite into soft tomato red. Makes you glow inside. Satisfy your stomach's mumbling hunger. That's why it's good for the craving spirit.

A poet? Yes. Performer? Ditto. But I have said it before and will say it again. Bamuthi is most like a preacher. Not in a dry, moralising, "do-as-I-say" kind of way, but in the uplifting tone of his voice that provides an adrenaline rush for the audience when he's working them up.

For Bring the Noise 2005 he got the crowd hollering and then threw them a heavy load. He spoke of African Americans expressing "pain and rage," of Haitian suffering, of being made to feel unAmerican. Then he talked of his two-year-old son being shaped by mainstream forces that were against everything he believed in. He danced, too. Pirouettes followed body waves and street moves to the beat of congas.

Was it all too much to take in at once? Perhaps, but at least people listening didn't have to keep shushing all the loud, restless teens as they did throughout Ishle Yi Park's performance. It was an appropriate segueway to allow for Beau Sia to bring the house down.

Photo by ekai.

Peering through the dust cloud, a vision. Another world of shapes and dreams disguised as twisted metal folding back on itself convulsing. A ladder to somewhere undiscovered. The climbers move on to the other side, leaving me behind.

That used to be me, but not so much anymore. Being a part of the counterculture long enough has given me an identity crisis as of late. A conflict. Am I part of the mainstream now? Does settling down necessarily mean giving up ideals of youth? How very San Francisco of me to wonder these things. In other places people my age would have let it go long before now. But I'm reluctant. Guess that's why I live here.

Most male and regal, ruled by the sun. Magnetic, dramatic yet languid at ease. Mysterious. Lover of pleasure, are you hedonistic? Appearing in my dreams you offer me approval. A good omen to make me glad.

I want to be a mommy like her. Everytime I see a baby now it gets me all mushy inside and fills me with longing. The rational part of me goes into hiding, forgetting that it spent years saying babies would make me lose too much sleep. Now I've found someone who actually would make a good dad, that's all gone out the window. So here I am all wist-filled. Somewhere in my chest radiates a soft warmth. If I don't get pregnant soon, the worry will take over, and I'll be filled with a whole new feeling. Hopefully that won't happen. Boy, do I need to learn how to relax.

Elephant in captivity. Solitary confinement. Herdless. No fields to roam or hills to climb. No rivers for swimming. Death by degenerative-foot disease. Will not live to see 60. Where are the others?

I saw a photo on flickr and it reminded me of being surrounded by Caucasian kids chanting "Chinese Japanese/Look at these/Dirty knees," while pulling their eyes into slants. Ouch. Bad memories.

That got me thinking about a story I heard where Fox Movie Channel planned to air a Charlie Chan marathon in 2003. Some people objected due to the blatant stereotypes of Asians in those films, which then led one commentator to express surprise because, he said, "these people are usually too [busy] acheiving to bellyache."

People mocked the objectors' complaints that Charlie Chan was a "painful reminder." Greg Crosby dismissed it as "witch-hunting activist groups on the left" out to save the world from evil.

Fox suspended plans, but finally showed the movies due to uproar from viewers. It seems that our pain doesn't count.

Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan