Anyhows, my birthday is coming up this week. (ACK! Quarter of a century old!) In the past, I’ve planned gatherings, big parties, ridiculous themes for my birthdays. A few months ago, my brother inspired me with this very powerful video:

This year, I’m giving up my birthday and Christmas presents for a philanthropic cause! *POWER FIST PUMP!* Especially in our recession, it’s soooo easy to use “this economy” as an excuse to clench onto our dollars, but I still think it’s even MORE important now to remember those that are in need.

Did you know that one billion people in the world don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water? That’s ONE IN SIX of us!

$20 can give one person clean water for 20 years. $5000 would fund a well project to serve 250 people—50 families, 1 whole community. 100% of charity:water donations go directly to building a safe, sustainable water solution for villages in Africa.

So, how about it? I’m turning 25 this week, and instead of collecting presents, I’d love it if you could donate $25 to help me build a well instead! I’m extending this as my Christmas celebration too so no need to get me presents if you donate!

Help me build a well this December!

Seriously though… I really don’t need ANYTHING. I have everything I truly need, so please no presents. :) Use that time and money to help someone else that really needs your help to live healthily.

Thanks SO much for your time, and for helping me get closer to obtaining my birthday wish! <3 Love you all!

• Donate to Estella’s 25th Birthday campaign!
• Find out more about charity:water
• Start your own fundraising campaign!

I was cleaning the living room with MSNBC on, where they shared feedback from viewers about the Susan Boyle segment they did the day before. They didn’t show her performance, but shared the commentary from a viewer which caught my interest.

The viewer spoke of the hardships of our time right now, and the stress and financial pressures she’s needed to go through in the last few months, with children to take after too. When she saw the Susan Boyle video on the news, it brought a smile to her face. She thanked the newscast for sharing the story and asked that they cover similarly positive stories like this, even to bring a smile to someone’s face for 5 minutes in their day.

This sincere commentary caught my curiosity and I Youtubed “Susan Boyle.”

If you haven’t seen the video yet, you can view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luRmM1J1sfg

Below are my thoughts and social commentary in response to Susan Boyle’s shocking performance.

Introduction

Unexpectedly, this video greatly affected me. I started crying while watching and continued to cry, 15 minutes after I watched the video. Why did this have such a big impact on me?

Without a doubt, Susan’s singing abilities is extraordinary: grand, beautiful, and precise. The moment she sang her first line, it reminded me of Jodi Benson, the voice actor for The Little Mermaid’s Ariel. When I saw pictures of Ariel’s voice, I was in my teens and was a little shocked that “it was an old lady”! (Perception of “old” was rather skewed back then ;)

There’s two issues that come up for both Susan and Jodi’s examples: the correlations between beauty equating to success, and the preconceived notions of beauty and age. Additionally, the three factors of beauty, success, and age are all related.

Shock

Why is it that we were all shocked the moment Susan sang her first line?

She doesn’t look like everyone else, she’s older, and she’s from a village town. She’s nervous so she stumbles on her words on stage.

Based on previous experiences watching these shows, the editors often depict the abnormal contestants as weird, strange, unappealing to tv audiences, and otherwise unsuccessful. Take a look at the editing, they still made Susan out that way before she began singing. It’s reinforced by the teenage audience member that rolls her eyes, and the middle age woman that’s probably saying, “She’s old; she shouldn’t be up there!”

So then she sang. And it was strong, clear, and elegant. Her voice was so “opposite” of her appearances–or rather, her voice was so opposite of the appearances WE’RE used to seeing.

Beauty and Success

That bubbles down to our concept of beauty and success, both walking hand-in-hand.

Look at all the successful American Idol contestants over the years. All of them have been made-over to be “more presentable” for the mass media. They’ve been cleaned up, styled, and are prim.

Consider the whole idea of make-overs on talk shows and how the audience cheers to reinforce the concept of beauty=success, that now she’ll be able to find the job and man of her dreams with her new look! (Finding a man=success is a topic for another day ;) Magazines, models, celebrities, we hear it all the time about how we’re fed images of beauty. But do we THINK and CONSIDER and DIGEST these things that we internalize every day?

Consider our own individual lives, and how we have to dress up at work. Traditionally, folks at large corporations need to have business attire (though a lot more relaxed in the computer/web company world). White-collar attire vs. blue-collar attire.

I’m not saying that this is bad and we should change it, I’m just saying this is how it IS. We’ve been taught and we are CONSTANTLY taught that beauty equates to success.

Beauty and Age

It’s interesting how our perception of beauty itself has been driven by advertisements, Hollywoodism, and mass media’s goal to just make more money through sexual icons. They all tell us that beauty = youth, and that growing old is NOT beautiful.

Why else would you buy the products that reduce wrinkles? Why else would so many middle age people dye their hair to cover up their grays? Our culture is not very good at embracing aging for what it is.

Most older women want to look young again. Most women in their 20s want to maintain their youth as long as they can. And most teens want to look like what folks in their 20s look like.

Our society’s conception of beauty is in youth.

Proving Us Wrong

For the reasons above, when we initially see people like Susan on tv, we kind of cringe because she wears a plain dress, she hair is flopping all over the place, she just doesn’t look appealing on tv because it’s not what we’re used to. She’s 47, way over the age of most contestants in their teens/20s/30s.

So, people have preconceived judgments and EXPECT and WANT her to fail, because that’s what we’re used to seeing when people like her come on tv. She lacks the media’s ideal beauty aspect altogether, so chances are she’s not gonna do very well.

Wrong. Her voice shook us up, contradicted our expectations and conceptions of how WE think she was going to do. In fact, it’s the contrast of our preconceived notions of her appearance that really brought out the success and talent in her voice.

Lucky for her, she’s good and she had a great performance. Consider what would have happened if she stumbled during her song, or if she got really nervous like most contestants would on stage. She was spared by the spears of judgment that loomed over her, waiting to strike at her fumble.

In a completely different experience, beyond the superficiality of appearances, it was her voice, her talent, and her uplifting personality that brings out the beauty in her now.

Final Thoughts

So, why did I cry for so long? Why was I so touched by her performance?

Yes, it was the obviously moving and inspiring ability of her voice, in addition to the lyrics of the song she sang.

Yes, it was the happiness I felt when she overcame everyone’s negative preconceptions of her, which were solely based off of her appearance and behaviors.

Yes, it was the complete turn around that the judges and audience members experienced, where they all shockingly realized that they were proved wrong.

But I cried also because I realized how we’re SO quick to judge, and we’re SO quick in thinking that we know everything and anything about someone in a span of 60 seconds. And that it’s usually in a negative, put down manner.

And it also made me think about all the people that will NEVER get a chance to succeed because of that, and because of the lack of OPPORTUNITY to even SHOW others that they’re extraordinary. There’s likely someone in a 3rd world country right now who could potentially be THE person to cure cancer, but due to the lack of opportunity, resources, encouragement, and BELIEF, it WON’T happen.

Susan Boyle’s performance brought a lot of positive feelings to me, but it made me understand and realize more clearly the negative implications too.

I think the major lesson for me is that every person has a talent, although it might not be completely developed yet–they need the opportunity, resource, and support for it to show. Also, every person has an opportunity to prove you wrong, so don’t get too comfortable in thinking you know everything about everyone.

Thanks for reading my thoughts and commentary on this topic. I’d love to hear what you thought about her performance too. :)

Wear a White Knot on Thursday wherever you are. whatever you are doing.

http://www.whiteknot.org/

The California Supreme Court will be hearing the arguments to invalidate Prop 8 which banned same-sex marriage. The result of this case will impact the fight for equal rights throughout the country. On Thursday, show the world how much support Marriage Equality has by wearing your White Knot and telling people why.

100,000 Person March

http://www.100000march.org/sfmarch.html
THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 8AM – 1PM WEAR WHITE IN SOLIDARITY
Please visit, join, and invite all your friends to the original facebook event page that started the 100,000 March by clicking here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=68292490618

The court case challenging Prop 8 will be heard on March 5th in San Francisco – and rather than watching from behind the media’s eye, I challenge you to be in front of the cameras.

Be present outside the court to show the judges how much we support overturning 8. Don’t wait and react to a decision, go out and show you will fight for equality. No matter what the courts decide, this will be a landmark case in determining if the rights of any minority are safe in our society, so now’s the time to take a stand. If you’re able please come stand outside the courts and wear white in solidarity.

And once you do don’t just settle for your own action, bring a friend, tell a coworker, bring all your allies. The more visual support we garner, the harder it is to silence the need for justice.

I’ve heard talk from various people about doing this, and not just getting a handful of supports or a few hundred, but 100,000 people. That is a very lofty goal and it will take all of us pooling our resources, calling our allies and giving our time to achieve that. But if we do – that sends a huge message. However because this is such a lofty aim, organizations are less likely to put their name on it because of the risk. So thus I’m just taking this into my own hands and trying to network the college kids and hoping that together our network can do this. We should be the ones standing up on our own without an organization telling us to, and this begins with you and me. Hope to see you in San Francisco!

*UPDATE*:
Thursday, March 5 is the ONLY day they will be arguing the case… There will only be one day of arguments and then the judges get 90 days to decide.
We have ONE shot and no second chances to make a statement outside the courthouse… so PLEASE COME! There will be press conferences by the lawyers afterwards – all on March 5 – and the opposition is going to be there in full force so we need to mobilize to make sure we’re the dominant voice!

———————–
You know I’LL be there to show my support! Hopefully see you there! I’ll be wearing my WHITE polar bear hoodie (if it’s not raining to hard)!!!!

1. No state (or other political subdivision within the United States) need treat a relationship between persons of the same sex as a marriage, even if the relationship is considered a marriage in another state.
2. The Federal Government may not treat same-sex relationships as marriages for any purpose, even if concluded or recognized by one of the states.

On Saturday, January 10th, 2009 we will come together as one UNITED FRONT asking the LGBTQ community to join us in signing an Open Letter to President Barack Obama, during a NATIONAL DOMA PROTEST.

This letter will remind President Elect Barack Obama of the promises he made to us.
It will also serve as a pledge from our community that we will hold him to his promises and help him achieve them.

Cities across the United States will be coming together on Saturday, January 10th to a Nationwide DOMA Protest, collecting over 1,000,000 signatures to attach to an official open letter from Join the Impact to President-Elect Barack Obama asking him to Repeal DOMA.

NATIONWIDE GOAL: Collect 1,000,000 Signatures

Find the Nationwide DOMA Event near you: Join the Impact

Even Bob Barr, the author of DOMA, says Obama is right, and agrees that this law should be repealed. Below is his op-ed from the LA Times (my own bold emphases included):

No defending the Defense of Marriage Act

By Bob Barr
January 5, 2009

In 1996, as a freshman member of the House of Representatives, I wrote the Defense of Marriage Act, better known by its shorthand acronym, DOMA, than its legal title. The law has been a flash-point for those arguing for or against same-sex marriage ever since President Clinton signed it into law. Even President-elect Barack Obama has grappled with its language, meaning and impact.

I can sympathize with the incoming commander in chief. And, after long and careful consideration, I have come to agree with him that the law should be repealed.

The left now decries DOMA as the barrier to federal recognition and benefits for married gay couples. At the other end of the political spectrum, however, DOMA has been lambasted for subverting the political momentum for a U.S. constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. In truth, the language of the legislation — like that of most federal laws — was a compromise.

DOMA was indeed designed to thwart the then-nascent move in a few state courts and legislatures to afford partial or full recognition to same-sex couples. The Hawaii court case Baehr vs. Lewin, still active while DOMA was being considered by Congress in mid-1996, provided the immediate impetus.

The Hawaii court was clearly leaning toward legalizing same-sex marriages. So the first part of DOMA was crafted to prevent the U.S. Constitution’s “full faith and credit” clause — which normally would require State B to recognize any lawful marriage performed in State A — from being used to extend one state’s recognition of same-sex marriage to other states whose citizens chose not to recognize such a union.

Contrary to the wishes of a number of my Republican colleagues, I crafted the legislation so it wasn’t a hammer the federal government could use to force states to recognize only unions between a man and a woman. Congress deliberately chose not to establish a single, nationwide definition of marriage.

However, we did incorporate into DOMA’s second part a definition of marriage that comported with the historic — and, at the time, widely accepted — view of the institution as being between a man and a woman only. But this definition was to be used solely to interpret provisions of federal law related to spouses.

The first part of DOMA, then, is a partial bow to principles of federalism, protecting the power of each state to determine its definition of marriage. The second part sets a legal definition of marriage only for purposes of federal law, but not for the states. That was the theory.

I’ve wrestled with this issue for the last several years and come to the conclusion that DOMA is not working out as planned. In testifying before Congress against a federal marriage amendment, and more recently while making my case to skeptical Libertarians as to why I was worthy of their support as their party’s presidential nominee, I have concluded that DOMA is neither meeting the principles of federalism it was supposed to, nor is its impact limited to federal law.

In effect, DOMA’s language reflects one-way federalism: It protects only those states that don’t want to accept a same-sex marriage granted by another state. Moreover, the heterosexual definition of marriage for purposes of federal laws — including, immigration, Social Security survivor rights and veteran’s benefits — has become a de facto club used to limit, if not thwart, the ability of a state to choose to recognize same-sex unions.

Even more so now than in 1996, I believe we need to reduce federal power over the lives of the citizenry and over the prerogatives of the states. It truly is time to get the federal government out of the marriage business. In law and policy, such decisions should be left to the people themselves.

In 2006, when then-Sen. Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment, he said, “Decisions about marriage should be left to the states.” He was right then; and as I have come to realize, he is right now in concluding that DOMA has to go. If one truly believes in federalism and the primacy of state government over the federal, DOMA is simply incompatible with those notions.

Bob Barr represented the 7th District of Georgia in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003 and was the Libertarian Party’s 2008 nominee for president.

Read the original LA Times article here.

The above is an amazing passage, content-aside. I think it takes a lot for someone to come out and express these opinions when he could have easily done nothing at all. I respect that kind of honesty.

If you were pissed, upset, and otherwise affected by the passing of Prop 8, get off your ass and DO something about it. Find something you can do, do it, and KNOW that you’ve contributed your part in this movement for CHANGE. We need a tremendous amount of help, and we need anyone that is WILLING to help. Let me know if you need some place to be directed and I’ll find a place for you.

Don’t sit around and wait for someone else to make it happen for you–that’s what happened with Prop 8.

(Boring. Not many pics this year.)

2008… (the factual stuff)

Where did you ring in 2008?
Sacramento at Peacock’s place! We almost missed the New Year’s mark because we were playing the Every-Time-Estella-and-Eugenia-Laugh-During-Lemony-Snicket’s-Series-of-Unfortunate-Events Drinking Game. We had a ton of orange Cuties to eat. The infamous Family Portrait (below). Left over Carl’s Jr. chicken sandwiches. THE EPIPHANY.

The Epiphany

Family Portrait

Did you keep any New Year’s Resolutions?
- Buy a 1 tb harddrive — DONE!
- Possibly renetwork the silly setup in our house — NOT COMPLETE (I don’t think I really considered this thru the year)
- Start writing stuff down again — DONE!
- Get back to 110lbs — NOT COMPLETE (At least I’m the same weightish as I was last year! And the back dimples make an appearance every so often)

How did you earn your keep?
Web developer @ Embark
Operations Analyst @ Embark

Did you move anywhere?
Not officially. Spent most of my weekends in San Jose or now back in Oakland with Brent.

Where did you go on vacation?
Vegas, LA, Lake Tahoe, and Hawaii!

Describe your birthday:
Went to Buca for dinner with mostly Embark folks, and went to Fenton’s afterwards for dessert.

My bday was on a Wednesday and I took my 2 floating holidays the following days to get an awesome 4-day weekend! Went to Academy of Science, Brent made sushi, and went to a winter oyster BBQ with Brent’s friends.

What did you do for Christmas ’08?
I decided to skip out on the trip to Las Vegas with my mom and Conrad (to meet up with our Toronto friends–Chan family) because I was sick and so I could spend more time working on my website revamp. I got a LOT done being home by myself, though I realized how much more was needed.

Norvelle came over for a pity visit. *shaking fist*

What sporting events did you go to?
Probably none. Wellll, actually… Flag Football with Embark’s T^2 counts! I think I went to 1 Warrior’s game too, to see my fav player: Steve Mullins!!

What concerts did you go to?
- Ozma – May 19, 2008 @ Bottom of the Hill
- Weezer – October 13, 2008 @ SJSU Arena

What was the best thing you bought in ’08?
I’ll go with practicality… Either the new digicam SD1100 since my old SD400 broke, or the new Inspiron 1525 laptop (tho this is still kind of new and I’m still getting used to it.)

Where did you spend most of your money?
Food, and the September Hawaii trip. And probably a lot of electronics/gift-type things. Wow.

What did you purchase that was over $500?
New laptop, Hawaii plane tix, etc.

Were you in school (anytime this year)?
Yes! I went back to school!! Took Beginning and Intermediate Figure Drawing classes at Laney! Suuuucchhh a great move for me!

Favorite TV program of ’08?
LOST, of course. I don’t really watch anything else. Although Ace of Cakes is a pretty awesome show to watch!

What was the best book you read and/or movie you saw?
I didn’t read much this year :( No specific movies come to mind, though I’ve started watching more, since I now manage Brent’s Netflix queue.

2008… (people)

Did you know anybody who got married?
Janelle! What a funnnn wedding! And Brent’s friend Danny!

Any new additions to your family?
Uncle Darryl had a daughter!

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Taylor and Vicki got Karli!

Did you know anybody who passed away?
Yee-goong (Leland Dea)

Did you fall in love in 2008?
Same as last year’s response: Always. There’s ALWAYS something to fall in love with.

Did you get your heart broken in 2008?
No.

Do you hate anyone now that you didnt hate this time last year?
Yes. But solely due to work’s relationships with schools. (e.g. PSU, Harvard, Oxford)

Who was the best new person you met?
Brent’s crew is really awesome. I don’t think I’ve met many new people this year other than folks at work, though. I didn’t get out much this year ^_^

Who did you wish you did not meet?
No one in particular.

Who was your best friend?
Eugeniaman, Norvelle, Pean, Brent, Christine

Who was your enemy?
Ehh…. *shrug*

Who do you miss?
Pohpoh.

2008… (the stuff that requires more thinking)

Are you happier than this time last year?
Uncertain. I’m happier in a sense that I feel a lot more settled and professionally accomplished. I feel more mature and that I’ve learned a lot. I know more now about what I want. (Does that count as happy??) I feel much more accomplished, and that I’ve definitely come a long way, for sure.

What song will remind you of 2008?
Nothing in particular.

What’s the one thing you thought you would never do but did in 2008?
- Drink only “girly” drinks. Not drink.
- Go on a LOST-fanatic trip around Hawaii
- Become so involved in work that my social life had to get put on hold.
- Be able to find someone that I can connect with on SO many levels; and to be okay with seeing him just about every day.
- Revert back to the “their always together” status–which I don’t seem to mind!

What is one thing you regretted this year?
Hmmm… nothing in particular comes to mind. I’m pretty content with 2008 and where I’ve come along the way.

What’s something you learned about yourself?
- Not everything’s as black and white as they used to be.
- You never know until you’re put into the situation.
- Always follow your heart. “It may hurt, but when you look back at it in the future, you’ll always know that you’ve done what YOU wanted and not what someone else wanted.”
- I should have got more into art a long time ago.
- I’m not perfect; I don’t have the best attitude; I’m not immune to selfishness. But… these are the things that I am, and I can learn to give and take, and it’s comforting to know that he knows that, and that he’s still willing to overlook all that. I’ve learned a lot from that, and how I should be as forgiving and understanding. This is feeling of mutual understanding in conjunction to all we have in common with and for each other is worth it all.

What was your best month?
September: Hawaii trip. That one week made up for the troubles and stress of the rest of the month. It was a big epiphany moment for me, too, to take the time off and figure out what the heck I’m doing with my life.

Best decision made all year?
One of the biggest decisions I’ve had to make before.

What will you remember 2008 by?
Hell months and the amount I’ve learned; finding my own management style; Brent.

Will any date from 2008 stay etched in your memory forever?
Septemberish – The Hawaii trip.

What was your biggest achievement of 2008?
Being able to handle the Leads position; managing a team of 7.

What was your biggest failure?
Not hanging out with my friends enough.

Did your behavior change over the year?
Yes. I’m totally more of a hermit and a grandma now. Please find me in my peaceful underground dwelling.

What do you wish you would have done more of?
Exercise; more activism; see my friends more; get more of my site updated.

What do you wish you would have done less of?
Nothing.

What was your greatest discovery?
For some reason, I have a new addiction for any type of sushi, sparked by just plain ol’ California Rolls. Not sure why this happened so late since I’ve been eating sushi my whole life. Very bizarre.

Also discovered the BEAUTY of Kauai, Hawaii!!

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If I knew I was healthy. hahaha
Also if I got my revamp up :~(

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
Part of growing up is knowing WHEN to make decisions. Sometimes you have to take the opportunity available to you even though you’re not ready, or even if you’re not sure if you even want to take the leap. The key really is to follow your heart, to know that your decision is truly the best thing you can do for yourself, and that it’s the truthful choice for you. People may get hurt, but you just have to be honest with the parties involved and especially yourself.

Another lesson learned is that bad things happen, and they will KEEP getting worse and worse. But they’ll always get better; there’s always a pay-off. It was important for me to keep this in mind in order to pull out of the tough times. “Everything will be okay in the end. If things aren’t okay right now, it’s not the end.”

What will you always remember about 2008?
Learning to live independently while “living at home”; the lessons I’ve learned.

The New Year…

What are you doing to ring in 2009?
Went to Liz’s place in Sac (why the heck did she invite us over???)

Any resolutions?
- Be healthier
- Save more money, including: money hunting (finding best bank rates and such), budgeting my monthly expenses, making financial milestone goals
- Find an art-related job
- Not be a coward when it comes to art and activism
- Continue organizing all my archived photos on Terry
- Move out

What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
An artish job.

What do you want to do in ’09 that you couldn’t in ’08?
Budget.

Anything you want to change about yourself for 2009?
Hmmm… haven’t figured it out yet.

Own Notes

Since it always happens, favorite passing-out/drinking experience:
- Most eventful: Getting x10 wasted at Janelle’s bachelorette party in Vegas, passing out to have Paul wake me up, and then getting kicked out of Palms, wahah
- The standard: I totally didn’t drink that much at all this year.
- The comeback: Playground for Gilbert’s bday; 6 soju shots; sleeping crew. wahah

Favorite Embark Moment:
Undecided.. it was the culmination of moments. Some good ones: Embark Prom, BBQs at Shults-Foster Manor, All the good times in the Leads chatroom!

Favorite Brent Moment:
- Most memorable: the whole Hawaii trip + all the LOST touring!
- Epitome of us: Tie between 1) chanting “Sushi House! Sushi House!” at 8:30AM like 3 year olds in bed. (Then going to Sushi House at their opening hour.); 2) 2AM Taco Bell run to eat in bed.

- Most delicious (local): Harris’ Steakhouse!
- Most delicious (travel): Hanalei Dolphin Restaurant
- Most delicious (homemade): Suuuuushiiii!!!

Restaurant of the Year:
The truck. hahahahha

Highlights of 2008:
- Embark Holiday Party (Face-Your-Fear CLASSIC!)
- Ugly Sweater Party!
- Man’s Bday: Everett & Jones + Fenton’s + couchcouchcouchcouchcouch!
- T^2 games!
- LOTS of E&C!
- Caden visits!
- 90′s Game nights
- Lots of trips to San Jose
- Nancy’s Bday (stupid UCLA shot!!)
- AWESOME LOST season 4!!
- Roadtrip to LA and up the CA coast :DD
- Embark Prom!
- Brentwood (Nectarine Pick Your Nose!)
- CA Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage
- Janelle’s Bachelorette Bday
- Shults-Foster Manor!
- SARS-Bikini Spam party!
- Janelle + Ryan’s wedding
- TECHKARAOKE SF!
- Brent’s surgery
- August Tahoe trip! Soooo fun!
- Banned! the Band practice
- VHS Night
- Hawaaaiiiii!!
- BFF’s Bday in Vegas
- Prop 8 Protests
- Karli’s born!
- 24th bday at Buca’s + Fenton’s
- Academy of Science!
- Meeting Phyllis Lyon @ GSA Network’s YES Summit
- New Years @ Sac!

Happy new year, all. Have fun, and be safe <3

The demonstrations against Prop 8 that have been organized using Facebook and wikis are promising signs of an opportunity to build a stronger, grassroots-powered movement for marriage equality. The “Please don’t divorce…” photo project is a fabulous grassroots action to help people build a personal connection to and empathy for people who are hurt by Prop 8.

One of the great weaknesses of the No on 8 campaign is that it did not take advantage of the opportunities for grassroots/netroots organizing. Also, the campaign made a big strategic error by hiding the faces of gay people, when we know that personal heart connection is what moves many people to change their minds about supporting gay rights.

The actions of the last six weeks are a great start — and there are many more opportunities to weave together a grassroots, netroots, people-powered movement. There are opportunities for people working on bottom-up initiatives to coordinate together. There are opportunities to take advantage of the power of Web 2.0 technology to empower grassroots organizers and younger activists who live online.

The Web has changed organizing; it will never work top-down again. The Web has shown us how to bring people together to make change. EqualityCamp is a pilot event to bring Web 2.0 geeks who know the lessons of the Web well together with activists for marriage equality and equal rights for gays.

EqualityCamp on January 3 in San Francisco, is a “BarCamp” style event that will bring together netroots, grassroots, and technologists to help coordinate efforts to repeal Prop 8 and support marriage equality. The people with the most power aren’t the people in a few organizations. We all have power. That means you, too. We’re organizing a way for you to exercise it easily. At EqualityCamp you set the agenda. We discover what we want and we teach each other what we need to know.

Themes and topics at EqualityCamp are expected to include:

• connecting “netroots” and traditional organizing
• using “Web 2.0″ tools to support a grassroots movement
• bringing effective practices from the Obama campaign into the movement for marriage equality
• digital video concepts to share stories and build support

Come to EqualityCamp and flesh out your ideas to use your networks, organizing and tech skills to support marriage equality and help repeal Prop 8. We are dedicated to making a people-powered marriage equality movement work from the bottom-up.

Join us!
January 3, 2008
Citizen Space
425 2nd Street, Suite 300
San Francisco, CA 94107
Google Map

For more information: http://equalitycamp.com/
Registration (you’ll need a ticket to attend): http://equalitycamp.eventbrite.com/

If you cannot make it to San Francisco for January 3rd, then visit EqualityCamp.com to learn how to make your own in your town. Please comment if you have any more questions.

If you’re interested in joining me on my latest LGBT activism: I’ll be attending the first Equality Camp on January 3rd in SF: http://equalitycamp.com/

If you’re a techie and you’re dedicated to making change in the LGBTQ community, this event’s a mesh of Web 2.0 activists that will plan and discuss ways to incorporate and utilize our techie knowledge as another medium for the social movement.

SAN FRANCISCO – A woman in the San Francisco Bay area was jumped by four men, taunted for being a lesbian, repeatedly raped and left naked outside an abandoned apartment building, authorities said Monday.

Detectives say the 28-year-old victim was attacked Dec. 13 after she got out of her car, which bore a rainbow gay pride sticker. The men, who ranged from their late teens to their 30s, made comments indicating they knew her sexual orientation, said Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan.

“It just pushes it beyond fathomable,” he said. “The level of trauma — physical and emotional — this victim has suffered is extreme.”

Authorities are characterizing the attack as a hate crime but declined to reveal why they think the woman was singled out because of her sexual orientation. Gagan would say only that the victim lived openly with a female partner and had a rainbow flag sticker on her car.

The 45-minute attack began when one of the men approached the woman as she crossed the street, struck her with a blunt object, ordered her to disrobe and sexually assaulted her with the help of the other men.

When the group saw another person approaching, they forced the victim back into her car and took her to a burned-out apartment building, where she was raped again inside and outside the vehicle. The assailants took her wallet and drove off in her car. Officers found the car abandoned two days later.

The woman sought help from a nearby resident, and she was examined at a hospital. Although the victim said she did not know her attackers, detectives hope someone in the community knows them. One of the men went by the nickname “Blue” and another was called “Pato,” according to authorities.

Richmond police are offering a $10,000 award for information leading to the arrest of the attackers.
Gay rights advocates note that hate crimes based on sexual orientation have increased nationwide as of late. There were 1,415 such crimes in 2006 and 1,460 in 2007, both times making up about 16 percent of the total, according to the FBI.

Avy Skolnik, a coordinator with the New York-based National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, noted that gay, lesbian and transgender crime victims may be more reluctant than heterosexual victims to contact police.

“Assailants target LGBT people of all gender identities with sexual assault,” he said. “Such targeting is one of the most cruel, dehumanizing and violent forms of hate violence that our communities experience.”

Skolnik said the group plans to analyze hate crime data to see whether fluctuations may be related to the gay marriage bans that appeared on ballots this year in California, Arizona and Florida.
“Anytime there is an anti-LGBT initiative, we tend to see spikes both in the numbers and the severity of attacks,” he said. “People feel this extra entitlement to act out their prejudice.”

If you’re interested in joining me on my latest LGBT activism: I’ll be attending the first Equality Camp on January 3rd in SF: http://equalitycamp.com/

If you’re a techie and you’re dedicated to making change in the LGBTQ community, this event’s a mesh of Web 2.0 activists that will plan and discuss ways to incorporate and utilize our techie knowledge as another medium for the social movement.

I’m participating in the East Bay AIDS Walk 2008 to benefit local community orgs in the fight against HIV and AIDS. As generic and template-esque as this text sounds, I’m actually typing this out, believe it or not.

Anyway, raising money for local orgs to help those immediately in our area. Money’s more concentrated for closer/more immediate people in our communities.

Please help, if you can: http://eastbayaidswalk.kintera.org/craisin
You can also join my team, too: http://eastbayaidswalk.kintera.org/eobs

Thanks,
Estella

On November 4, there will be a measure on the ballot that, if passed, would again ban same-sex marriage in California. If passed, it would amend the recent CA Supreme Court ruling that declared that it is unconstitutional to limit marriage “between a man and a woman.”

There’s a reason why the CA Supreme Court made its ruling: denying the 1000+ federal/state rights that come with marriage to people who are just as committed, just as in love, just as human as our heterosexual family and friends is simply unfair. Seriously, we’re in the 21st century. Can’t we just LEARN to accept that there are DIFFERENT peoples in our world? Point is… we’re all PEOPLE and we ALL still deserve the legal protection and rights.

I’m urging you to PLEASE help me fight against the November 4 initiative that would ban same-sex marriage AGAIN.

Above anything else, please VOTE NO against the ban on same-sex marriage. If there’s ANYTHING I could ask of you this year, THIS is it. If you’re not registered to vote, click here to do so ASAP so you won’t forget to do so later! In order to vote on November 4, you MUST register by October 20, 2008. Do it NOW so you won’t forget and miss the deadline!

Secondly, please know that the people that initiated this proposition are very well-financed. We need all the support we can get to fight this battle! If you can, I urge you to contribute to the campaign to fight back! Since we’re all very busy people, this is the EASIEST way to contribute your time to the cause. http://www.equalityforall.com/

Third, spread the word. Remember in the Transformers movie (the OG 80′s one) where Megatron said “Constructicons, merrggee for the killll!” and Springer says, “Come on, Arcee! Megatron’s making his big push and… we’ve got… to push…. back!” We need all the help, all the friends and families, all the ALLIES we can get to push the bad guys BACK. Please inform and teach people who are not as educated about why this issue is unfair and discriminatory.

If you’ve always wanted to MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THIS WORLD, if you’ve always wanted to make CHANGE to our society, stop sitting on your ass. Get the fuck up and DO IT. I just gave you three ways you CAN make a difference. It’s important to know that in a battle like this, every person, every cent, every minute, every VOICE counts. So please, Eugenia, Norvelle, Veronica, Greg, Greg, Greg, Greg, Greg, Brent, Jeremiah, Nancy, Batz, Henry, Christine, Darren, Debby, Mauricio, Jackie, Conrad, Ivan, and EVERYONE that READS my blog, PLEASE help me in this battle I’ve been fighting for the last 10 years of my life! Make it HAPPEN!