Preparation

So I've been kinda going out with this guy lately, and he said something to me recently that made me think a little bit. (that happens a lot, with everyone, they say things that make me think) So he says, "I bet you would be a great political columnist someday if you wanted." I thought about it, and was like wow. See it started a spiral of thoughts in my head. I'm actually thinking about Graduate school lately, which for people who know me, is insane. I hate school, have always hated school, and really more so in college where its all theory and discussion, where's the ACTION. But it occurred to me, if nothing else, I will be one more Chicano Queer with letters behind my name, so why not? And then I was like, great, well I need to fix a few skills, and one of them is writing. So I'm going to try to write more concisely, argumentatively, and clearly on here from now on, although at times, it'll be about me ranting. And maybe in the meanwhile I'll develope enough skill to be a political columnist for a local paper or something.

Religion...

I went to see "The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told" last night. It was an amazing show.

This is a review of it, performed elsewhere, but the important part is the plot of the show not the actors here. (Altough ADAM was really hot, and the opening scenes they are nude, fully)
http://www.talkinbroadway.com/regional/sanfran/s116.html

This play was amazing. I had the wrong idea of it when i first went to see it. I was under the impression it was the passion of hte Christ with gay characters, but no its the history of the world, its the entire old testament with Adam and Steve, and then Jane and Mabel. The story follows then after ADAM makes a decision to leave the garden, throughout the old testament and into modern times.

There was a message constantly of whther or not there is a possiblity of God to exist, and why people have faith in God, and such. The last scene made me cry, and it summed up how I feel about God and Religion at this time in my life, (see "catholic" further down)

Everyone keeps talking about how Adam beleives in God and turns to God because it is easy, and Adam replies no because it is hard. Thats how I feel. There is this feeling inside me that says there has to be a God, things don't all happen because of me, nor do they all happen because of God, but rather they happen because we work together to make them happen.


This entry was a little less than eloquent because I tried writing it over the last few days. I've been distracted easily.

Blood, Latinas, and Rantings

Part Three:

Blood I wanted to finish this trilogy from the beginning of my blogging days the reason I started this blog. Catholics, Blood, and Heroes.

http://www.dailylobo.com/media/paper344/news/2005/09/06/News/Gay-Men.Not.Allowed.To.Give.Blood-976340.shtml

Check out that link. This is the reason I started the blog to begin with. This article is about me, and my attempt to be a Good Catholic. A Good Samaritan. (See blogs below) and more importantly a Hero. I watched the Spiderman 2 movie recently when I went home to visit parents. I was particularly touched by the words of Aunt Mae (is that her name?) to Peter (Spiderman) about how young people need heroes. I think about this, and I have some serious issues with this policy. (The connection here, in case you're not all in my head and making it, is the slogan to United Blood Services "Be a Hero")

I went to give blood in the middle of the aftermath of the Katrina Hurricane. The very least I had to give was my blood to people who needed it in that particular tragedy. The Newspaper article tells what happened. This is my beef though. Gay men are not the highest rated population of HIV positive people anymore, Black women are. Heterosexual Men are giving the disease to people at horrific rates, mostly because heterosexual men are still not getting tested for HIV. This is a ridiculous policy and just underlines why we need to elect a Democratic President, a Democratic Congress, and flood the administration with people who know the issues and what they are doing rather than allowing cronies of the current administration to be making these policies.

This is just one of many issues where the science has left the building. But is there something more to it than that? I will start another section in a few minutes about Latina Health, but a thought that was brought up to me that I have to wonder about. Are the makers of these policies Racists/Homophobic/Sexist? Or are they well intentioned people who don’t' realize how racist/homophobic/sexist their policies are? Well my Mama always said, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
Is it just so easy to say "Gay Men are likely to have HIV" and therefore we can't take their blood? Is there another latent reason to implement this policy? I have to wonder, It's not like the Reproductive Rights Movement, Keeping women unhealthy and pregnant prevents them from higher aspirations and goals. Not donating blood doesn't prevent me from anything. This is an honest question... What are the thoughts on this?


National Latina Reproductive Health Institute

I attended the LOLA training this weekend by the National Latina Reproductive Health Institute. (www. LatinaInstitute.org) This was a training that I feel really changed me inside. I had some problems to work out with myself in the beginning. As always people are individuals and cannot be used in one situation to define the likelihood of other situations. But still...

During the opening session of the training one woman pointed out how shocked she was that a training for Latina women would be held in English at all, and inferred that it should have only been open to Spanish speakers. This was not completely horrible to hear, because I understood what she was saying, but also it put me in a difficult place. I am mixed race, My mom is Anglo/White and My dad is Chicano. I have light skin, and grew up mostly with my mom, but realistically I identify with the Chicano side of me more than the White. My father barely speaks Spanish, he was taught to speak only English in public, and at home, they never spoke Spanish in order to encourage that. This was an attempt to make sure my dad's generation succeeded, we call it assimilation. I would have liked to have learned Spanish, but two years in high school taught me two things, classrooms don't teach Spanish, and the language was going to be different if I learned it there.
So here I am, volunteering to be part of a movement for Reproductive Justice mainly for Latina Women, and I'm wondering if I should stay. Am I welcome? Should I be here? Should I be hurt that I am not really Latino according to this woman? Now it is important to say that this woman was not one of the facilitators or trainers, but just a woman attending, and I think by the end of the training that she came around a bit. But this brings up important issues underlying the movement for Justice for People of Color. Can we really overcome these issues, and move forward to get what our communities need?

After this, the training was amazing. I'm writing a letter and Op-Ed to the Newspaper of my campus to start the spreading of information about Latinas and Health in this country.
There were many difficult issues brought up, and I was glad to be made to think about them. It was a fairly depressing training at times, talking about the state of Reproductive Justice right now and where this struggle might be headed soon. Very interesting. Things I've learned:

Its no longer about Choice, its about Justice. A few reasons, number, the bumper sticker I’ve seen like crazy "choice kills" or "its not a 'choice' its a Child" This has made the Word Choice a trigger for so many people. But also, it's not just about whether or not a woman can choose to have an elective abortion. It’s about Women having access to all of those reproductive health services and information. Women are coerced into sterilization in some places, because they have drug habits. How can we see this and call ourselves a just society? 25% of Latina women do not receive prenatal care for the entire first trimester of their pregnancy. These are statistics we cannot be okay with. But when we talk about Reproductive Rights, or Choice, people think Abortion. I am going to start calling is Reproductive Justice, and begin conversations with these statistics, instead of moving for abortion right away.

I learned how to be a better advocate for Latina women, and I think i understand more and more the need for multiple levels of activism within a struggle. I.e. not everyone was made for "politics" as much as other things, like real community based organizing.

I learned most of all, the need for a real coalition in this city and state of Latina men and Women (the feminist in me says to use A to end plural words) to work together to bring about real Justice in this area for us all.

Please check out www. LatinaInstitute.org