iRobyn|iWitness Culture|iWrite

I fecked up

irobyn — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:02:23 +0000

Sorry!

Lo Siento!

Won’t Ever Happen Again!

I had to even call my mom back. She’s just returned from Texas! I miss that place sometimes!

Christmas in “America”

irobyn — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:00:08 +0000

I love poetry! It stirs my heart! Melissa Etheridge’s album The Road Less Traveled was one that struck me during my clinical residency training. I love this song, this poetry, this narrative! Christmas is NOT over for me! After all, I’ve still gotta break open my Aerosmith GH hero! I just love music, especially Christmas music! My colleague has a radio and I can hear it from my space; it does me good when she has her Christmas music on! Check out this Etheridge tune! Perhaps you know it?

I picked out a tree
And I tied it to the car
There’s a wreath up on our door
Eight tiny reindeer in the yard
I drove under the downtown lights
Red and green and blue
The silver neon snowflakes
Only made me think of you
It’s Christmas all around me
You’re in someone else’s land
So I’m sending out my only wish
Hey Santa tell the man

Hey mister send my baby home
This December I don’t want to be all alone
Oh Christmas in America
I need you in my arms
Far away from harm
Mister send my baby home

I hear someone singing jingle bells
No wait that deck the halls
And the teenagers with candy canes
Ramble through the malls
The girls are down at Ruby’s
Trying to find some Christmas cheer
There’s not much to do but drink too much
When everyday’s unclear
So here I am on Christmas eve
This silent holy night
And I reach up to the stars for you
And I pray that you’re alright

What happened to the peace on earth
All that goodwill toward men
Oh come on all ye faithful
It’s time to think again

Phil! He’s my racer dude!

irobyn — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 02:14:59 +0000

This is Phil! He and I work at Johnny Sprockets, my all-time favorite bike shop in the world. Steven, from Tejas, is totally rad. Phil races, and he’s got my t-shirt and won’t give it back, dammit! It’s the Specialized t-shirt which says: designed for women!

I love these guys at the shop! They always do me right: John, Phil, Steven, & Justin. I’m the one you’re always looking at when I roll in on my single speed! So, Phil, when are you going to give me back my t-shirt [designed for women]? I’m kind of in need of it for Chicago Bike Winter cuz it goes so well with my smartwool!

Trust, its just that important!

irobyn — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 16:12:47 +0000

Last night’s ritual at Chicago Women-Church was on Trust! I thought, “how appropriate!” I thought I’d share some of the quotes that are printed on the sheet that Dar handed out!

Follow your heart, but be quiet for awhile first. Ask questions, then feel the answer. Learn to trust your heart.

To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved [but I do want to be loved, too!]

Trust is a like a vase…once it’s broke, though you can fix it, the vase will never be the same again.

We’re never so vulnerable than when we trust someone-but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy.

I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish she didn’t trust me so much.

Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.

The key is to get to know people and trust them to be who they are. Instead, we trust people to be who we want them to be–and when they’re not, we cry.

Without trust, words become the hollow sound of a wooden gong. With trust, words become life itself.

I’ve learned to trust myself, to listen to trust, to not be afraid of it and to not try and hide it.

When mistrust comes in, love goes out.

The best proof of love is trust.

America’s Hidden Role in Hamas’s Rise to Power

irobyn — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 18:24:25 +0000

America’s Hidden Role in Hamas’s Rise to Power
By Stephen Zunes, AlterNet
No one in the mainstream media or government is willing to acknowledge America’s sordid role interfering in Palestinian politics. Read more »

Why iWrite

irobyn — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 01:03:02 +0000

My final tweet for 2008 was the following; it deserves to be on the iRobyn site:

“Why am I compelled to write?… Because the world I create in the writing compensates for what the real world does not give me. By writing I put order in the world, give it a handle so I can grasp it. I write because life does not appease my appetites and anger… To become more intimate with myself and you. To discover myself, to preserve myself, to make myself, to achieve self-autonomy. To dispell the myths that I am a mad prophet or a poor suffering soul. To convince myself that I am worthy and that what I have to say is not a pile of shit… Finally I write because I’m scared of writing, but I’m more scared of not writing.”

My all-time favorite author is Gloria Anzaldúa. This is her, and she certainly transcends the labels!

Labels: I actually despise them!

irobyn — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 00:11:32 +0000

Labels: This American Life is built on them! I hate them, abhor them, and for the life of me live in a world the forces me to use them. The following is THE one conversation I wish I could’ve had in 2008 with Wieden and Kennedy, some folks I met at Kopi.

I’ve never ever been into labels. EVER! I use social labels to be hospitable. White, Black, Brown, Red, Mexican, etc, I never did get it! Gay, Lesbian, WTF? I never did fit into those binaries! EVER. I was much more of a fluid thinker. In fact, my teacher in grad school would tell me: ”Robyn, you have these moments of brilliance!” Texans always love it when their egos are stroked! How I wish I could see Tumbleweeds roll, perhaps from my tent?

It’s the narrative of life that waxes and wanes when labels find ways to make sense to those in a world that is formulated and crafted in binaries. But, for those whose minds naturally transcends the binaries wishing to braid together the fluidity of life finding paths of liberation for those who are bound to the Labels, I am that one.

I didn’t get to have this conversation with Wieden & Kennedy, but perhaps 2009 will yield some conversations? It’s too soon to tell!

Call for Proposals

irobyn — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 04:25:53 +0000

Call for Proposals Submission deadline: January 15, 2009

Free Minds, Free People is a national conference that brings together teachers, high school and college students, researchers, parents and community-based activists/educators from across the country to build a movement to develop and promote Education for Liberation. Education for Liberation prepares the most excluded, under-served members of our society, in particular low-income youth and youth of color, to fight for a more just world by:

Teaching students the causes of inequalities and injustices in society and how communities have fought against them.
Helping them develop both the belief in themselves that they can challenge those injustices and the skills necessary to do that.
Supporting them in taking action that leads to disenfranchised communities having more power.
The goal of Free Minds, Free People is to provide a forum for sharing knowledge, experiences and strategies that support the use of education as a tool for liberation by:
Connecting local community efforts to national education for liberation
activities.
Expanding our network of education liberators by building relationships that cross barriers of geography, race, age, class, gender, sexual orientation, profession and other identities.
Showcasing a broad spectrum of strategies, including arts, popular education, organizing, dialogue and scholarship, and their related impacts.
Acting as a catalyst for the continued development of a social movement
around education for liberation.

We invite K-12 teachers, community-based educators, high school and college students, activists/organizers artists, parents and academic researchers to submit proposals for workshops, panels, poster sessions and other activities.

Please download proposal guidelines at www.freemindsfreepeople.org

If you have any questions please contact:

Tara Mack (tara@edliberation.org)
Education for Liberation Network, Brooklyn, NY

Alex Poeter (alexpoeter@gmail.com)
Chicago Freedom School, Chicago, IL

Robin Owens (robinowens@sbcglobal.net)
Local Planning Committee, Houston, TX

Fem2pt0: society’s issues + women’s voices

irobyn — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:39:26 +0000

I agreed to post a link to the following site for the work Marcia G. Yerman, Blogger, Huffington Post, does. This is a stellar site. Check out the following the site at: http://www.fem2pt0.com/.

Golden, CO: Where the West Lives

irobyn — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:31:17 +0000

I’m traveling to the mountains today with family: SRH and cousin, KD [not to be confused with K.D. Lang]. Golden is where the West lives, though I’m not too sure what this means. Having grown up in TX, the mountains are a sure place to clear one’s mind. No books, no computers [and I'll have strict instructions to keep my blackberry in my coat pocket] and further instructions to just enjoy the scenery.

There’s a certain beauty to life that will for sure produce harmony. As a theologian/social ethicist, though I ask questions and am curious, I look for this harmony. I look for the balance and the goodness in life. I’m looking forward to the drive.