Mujeres de Maiz

I was fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time in Highland Park when Arroyo Books and the Centro Regeneracion / Popular Resource Center (PRC) were in full swing. I had a radio show on the micro radio station that broadcasted to all of the Highland Pk. valle.
Right before my show 'In The Mix,' was a an all women show called 'Mujeres de Maiz.' They read poetry, manifestos, chapters from books and talked about issues. At least that is how I remember it.
Soon there was an all woman art show called Mujeres de Maiz and it made an impact on the community that we are still lucky to be feeling today.
This past Saturday at Self Help Graphics Mujeres de Maiz kicked off a month long celebration of their 11th anniversary, 6th publication, International Women's Day and Women's Month. I had to be there. My daughter is 11 years old. I feel safer that there are mujeres de maiz 'putting our indigenous core, into the center of their art, music, words and medicine,' and that my daughter, even though she may not 'get it' right now she is surrounded by them, familiar to them and will understand more deeply when the time is right.
Gracias hermanas. Congratulations.


Mujeres de Maiz
presents

“SOMOS MEDICINA”

A Month-Long Series of
intercultural, intergenerational, interdisciplinary
ART Events

*Celebrating our 11th Anniversary, 6th publication,
International Women’s Day, and Women’s Herstory month*

March 2008, Los Angeles
SAVE THE DATES!!



ALL EVENTS
@
Self Help Graphics & Art (SHG),
3802 Cesar Chavez Ave. LA, CA 90063
unless otherwise noted.

Ratting out MEN...

Here are some things I have recently learned, am pondering, can see clearly now, or have finally been able to put into words, about my fellow MEN. Be warned, they are bold generalizations. Be warned, they are conceptual, I think...

- We don't know shit until after 25 or 27 years old. Up til then, we are just making it all up.

- We are told to want the hot, sexy, girl in the little skirt that goes home with us after a few drinks, but more times than not when we get her home that night, we don't/can't have sex with her, because another more primal impulse/response kicks in: This is not the woman I want to procreate with.

- Some of us can take that hot, sexy girl home after a few drinks and rock her world, but we are trying to prove something, working out some issues, and basically not into her as much as we are into ourselves.

- Some of us are relationship guys, even though we'd like to be players. This kind usually screws up a lot of relationships before they can admit to who and what they are.

- Some of us are players, even though we'd like to be relationship guys. This kind has a lot of screwed up relationships because they can't admit who and what they are.

- When we are in love, our ego is gone or seldom seen or heard from.

- Many of us do like comfort, but not boring repetative comfort.

- Yes, many of us think, to some degree, we are gifts from God.

- Yes, many of us think that any woman who looks at us and smiles, wants us.

- Yes, many of us don't know what do when a woman smiles at us.

I've done enough for today. Fire at will...

The Codes of Warriors and Thieves...

This long holiday break saw me renting four films that were all linked on a superficial level by the code of warriors and/or thieves.
"Letters of Iwo Jima"
"Ninja Scroll"
"The Transporter"
"The Wild Bunch"
Yes all very macho, violent, action filled, blood and guts. I watched alone so I chose what I wanted.
In all of them the characters were morally ambiguous. They all killed for various motivations, but they maintained a code of honor, integrity, and discipline which were shaped by a life of extreme violence and circumstances.
When speaking with a friend about these codes, and the often sexist and racist settings in which the stories took place, I asked if artistically should filmmakers sugar coat the past in fiction in order to present not so sexist, racist and stereotypical images. They responded immediately with" "Of course they should, it would make their audience much bigger and the main point of making movies is to entertain and make a lot of money." I was asking if it was artistically or morally correct to change history in a work of fiction for a greater good. Needless to say, said friend works for a major multinational media monster which often dishonors historical facts for a cheesy love story.
They presented the capitalist motto: Profits at any cost.
In the context of the the broader conversation the codes of warriors and thieves seem to be a better alternative than today's psychopathic capitalism.
The samurai, the soldiers, and the former members of military branches turned thieves and shady businessmen, were ruthless and brutal, but they had rules. Most of the rules were to protect themselves, but at the same time served as a stop to potentially greater violence, loss of life and money. There was a limit.
We need honor, integrity and discipline to come back into mode. These give us limits.
Right now we can look around and see that our leaders were never in any situation that helped shape their honor, integrity or discipline, so they act without restriction or any real remorse. Moral compasses are twisted so that, multi million dollar homes that were burned are visited for photo opportunities, but entire bays that are environmental catastrophes are treated as every day accidents. Overeating contests and $1,500 desserts get 5 minutes of media coverage, while drought conditions are ignored until it is time to institute water police, which contribute to the police state/union.
I gotta pull out my old Carlos Castaneda books and re-read the parts of being an impeccable warrior. I know I need to work on my honor, integrity and discipline, because I have not seen many examples of that in a long time... except in bloody morally ambiguous films.