Social media

A few social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have claimed ownership of the term, “social media” and have written the first draft that guides most of our ideas about social networking and about socializing online.  Social media and social networking are vast ideas that are just beginning to blossom – and are doing so on very limited terms.

danah boyd speaks and writes about this, too:

“Give me one other part of history where everybody shows up to the same social space. Fragmentation is a more natural state of being.”

-- From http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/13/5488558/danah-boyd-interview-the-era-of-facebook-is-an-anomaly

Unfortunately, these social network mega-corporations have also had time to figure out how to use and harvest our social information for their own ends, like advertising and market research.  

Part of what I want to do is challenge this notion of megalithic social networking sites by introducing non-ego-centric networks.  In other words, I think there can be non-individualistic social networking -- social networking for the greater good rather than for myself.  We can look at these networks (of our friends, peer organizations, or any variation of any kind of entity that exists!) from a different level -- we can look at them from the perspective of a network and interact with them so much differently than we do on Facebook.  It's a little like social movement building -- thinking about key influencers and power brokers within the network.  It's a little like Malcolm Gladwell's ideas on how things spread and cause tipping points.

I also hold as a core belief that we can be social and use technology to connect us without getting stuck in it and without selling our data/information to gigantic companies.  I'd like to write more about this in the future!

Why I'm not a "pioneer"

I went to an event recently and someone tweeted about it at me afterwards, calling me a pioneer:

World changing pioneers! It's a @women2 @W2citymeetup #FF @activismo, @alizardx, @anadiazhernandz, @arilikeairy, @ArtfulAllie, @Avilesm
— Nicole Lazzaro (@NicoleLazzaro) May 2, 2014

I have a few thoughts.

1) First and foremost, I do appreciate the sentiment and good intentions that motivated the above tweet.  Pioneer generally has a positive slant in our society, so if I can just skim the good connotation off the substance, I will.  I'll take the cream off the top.  We generally applaud pioneers for their successes, knowing or seeing something first, and usually taking some action because of it.  Parts of me certainly would like to be part of this trend-setting group.

However, there are some less-desirable characteristics of the word that I wouldn't like to embody, and for those reasons, I don't identify as a pioneer.

2) The word pioneer, says Google, means:

Though I am part of U.S. settler colonialism, I don't seek to actively reify it.

3) I'm also not the first, nor only one ...probably doing anything.  There are countless people who have come before me and set forth ideas that have lead to my own.  To discount all of that work, thoughts thoughts, the labor, and the individuals before me is narrow-minded and...quite frankly self-centered.

So, nope, I'm not a pioneer.  I acknowledge those who have come before me, those who have helped me get to where I am now, and I am actively against reifying settler colonialism!

Take Action against the Keystone Pipeline

As you may know, the Keystone Pipeline was recently made available for public comment.  I'd like to share a little information and hopefully encourage you to voice your opinion on this matter.

WHAT'S THE DEAL W/ #KXL

The proposed pipeline will carry crude oil and products of tar sands production from Canada through the U.S. for refining.  There's also been talk of shipping these refined products to Europe.

Aside from the mainstream environmental issues - its contribution to climate change and our government's continued resistance to move away from fossil fuels - Native Americans and First Nations of Canada have been extremely active and vocal about stopping Keystone.  All of the land the pipeline will traverse and will draw from were once native lands - and some still belong to native people.  Beyond that, burning these fossil fuels will affect us and generations to come, with unforeseen consequences of climate change.  This is a bleak picture that I'm sure you are familiar with.

However, there is good news!

The construction permit for this project has not issued yet - it's still a proposal.  That means, if we get our act together, we can prevent it.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT

There are several things you can do to express your thoughts, feelings, and plans for the project.  Here are a few:

• Submit a comment online - http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=DOS-2014-0003 - before March 7
• Write and send in a letter to (more info http://www.keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/) - before March 7

U.S. Department of State

Bureau of Energy Resources, Room 4843

Attn: Keystone XL Public Comments

2201 C Street, NW

Washington, DC 20520

• Share this email with your friends and people who care about the health of the planet and its people.
• Attend or organize a protest - join others who feel similarly, feel solidarity in action - they're happening across the country.

The first two actions are often taken in isolation; you can't really *feel* that you're part of something bigger.  However, attending protests is often an inspiring way to show how I feel about something and also be joined by others who agree.  It's motivating and reminds me that tons of other people really care about these things and are willing to go out and do something about it.

CONCLUSION: DON'T SIT THIS ONE OUT

I recently saw Winona LaDuke (an Anishinaabe activist) speak - she made a point about how the extractive industry is becoming more extreme.  The Deepwater Horizon (drilling to depths of more than 30,000 ft) fracking, mountaintop removal, now tar sands extraction - the U.S. is becoming more and more desperate in our addiction to these toxic substances.  But more and more people are also standing up, realizing the truths about climate change, and taking action against the government's mindless trajectory toward climate destabilization.

I urge you to voice your own opinion about the Keystone Pipeline - we have the ability to slow, stop, and prevent it from happening.

I'd love to hear if this email has been motivating to you - and to hear if you decide to email or mail in a letter.

My public comment on the Keystone Pipeline

We know climate change is happening and is caused by human activity, namely the burning of fossil fuels.  President Obama has promised us oil independence - let us take steps in that direction by NOT building this pipeline, and instead, investing in energy sources that will sustain us in the future, not cripple us and our children's children.

The United States should take a leadership role in the world by denying industry- and greed-based proposals such as this one and move forward with this country's history of innovation.  This pipeline will only deny the inevitable as there is still only a finite amount of oil shale, tar sands, and crude oil to be refined.

Building this pipeline will negatively impact me by releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, by continuing to destroy and develop Native American lands, and by failing to respond to the sentiments of U.S. citizens, who are vocalizing their dissent of this plan.

Please do not approve this plan - it is environmentally destructive, socially unjust, and deeply un-American.

Shrinking Women

I just ran across an amazing video of a slam poet, Lily Myers.  Check it out:

Shrinking Women

Here's the text:

Across from me at the kitchen table, my mother smiles over red wine that she drinks out of a measuring glass.
She says she doesn't deprive herself,
but I've learned to find nuance in every movement of her fork.
In every crinkle in her brow as she offers me the uneaten pieces on her plate.
I've realized she only eats dinner when I suggest it.
I wonder what she does when I'm not there to do so.

Maybe this is why my house feels bigger each time I return; it's proportional.
As she shrinks the space around her seems increasingly vast.
She wanes while my father waxes. His stomach has grown round with wine, late nights, oysters, poetry. A new girlfriend who was overweight as a teenager, but my dad reports that now she's "crazy about fruit."

It was the same with his parents;
as my grandmother became frail and angular her husband swelled to red round cheeks, rotund stomach
and I wonder if my lineage is one of women shrinking
making space for the entrance of men into their lives
not knowing how to fill it back up once they leave.

I have been taught accommodation.
My brother never thinks before he speaks.
I have been taught to filter.
"How can anyone have a relationship to food?" He asks, laughing, as I eat the black bean soup I chose for its lack of carbs.
I want to tell say: we come from difference, Jonas,
you have been taught to grow out
I have been taught to grow in
you learned from our father how to emit, how to produce, to roll each thought off your tongue with confidence, you used to lose your voice every other week from shouting so much
I learned to absorb
I took lessons from our mother in creating space around myself
I learned to read the knots in her forehead while the guys went out for oysters
and I never meant to replicate her, but
spend enough time sitting across from someone and you pick up their habits

that's why women in my family have been shrinking for decades.
We all learned it from each other, the way each generation taught the next how to knit
weaving silence in between the threads
which I can still feel as I walk through this ever-growing house,
skin itching,
picking up all the habits my mother has unwittingly dropped like bits of crumpled paper from her pocket on her countless trips from bedroom to kitchen to bedroom again,
Nights I hear her creep down to eat plain yogurt in the dark, a fugitive stealing calories to which she does not feel entitled.
Deciding how many bites is too many
How much space she deserves to occupy.

Watching the struggle I either mimic or hate her,
And I don't want to do either anymore
but the burden of this house has followed me across the country
I asked five questions in genetics class today and all of them started with the word "sorry".
I don't know the requirements for the sociology major because I spent the entire meeting deciding whether or not I could have another piece of pizza
a circular obsession I never wanted but

inheritance is accidental
still staring at me with wine-stained lips from across the kitchen table.

Travel 2013: Island hopping in Thailand

Starting in Bangkok, we took an overnight train to Surat Thani, transferred to a boat and then spent a few nights in Koh Samui.  (Koh means island.)  Next, we got another boat and spent a week on Koh Tao, a few islands to the north.  Two days ago, we took an overnight boat back to Surat Thani, and a mini-van and ferry through Krabi to Koh Lanta, on the west coast.  Here's a map of the route:

Click here are some photos from our island hopping, stay tuned for an accompanying text update:

Travel 2013: Bangkok food

Thai food, as you may already know, is by and large wholly delicious.  One amazing example are the ubiquitous "pancake" or "roti" stands at nearly every tourist hub.  In my opinion they're more like crepes than pancakes, but hey, I'm not complaining.  I took a video of one being prepared -- it's not sped up at all, he's just super fast.  And it was delicious - all for 25 baht, which is less than $1.