'Kindred' Spirit Remembered

Black gay bloggers and science fiction fans are both saddened today by the news of author Octavia Butler's death this weekend in Seattle, WA. Black people and science fiction fans are often not thought of as having any common members, but clearly the death of the first African American female (and lesbian!) science fiction author to achieve widespread acclaim (a 1995 MacArthur Foundation 'genius' grant, Hugo and Nebula awards, et cetera) has affected many different people.

I can still remember almost a dozen years ago when one of my best friends said "Oh, you like science fiction? You have got to read Octavia Butler! Her stuff is freaky but really, really good." And she was right. I quickly devoured the Xenogenesis Trilogy (Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago) and eagerly moved on to the Patternist Series (Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind, Clay's Ark and Patternmaster). The books address race, sexuality, alien sex, genetic mutation, telepathy, and familial and societal structures. But none of those books prepared me for Butler's masterwork: Kindred. As blogger (and author) Fred Smith discovered last month, there is a huge silent audience of people who love Octavia Butler and her books.

Octavia Butler grew up in the Pasadena area, which is part of the north east section of Los Angeles where I have been living since 1994. Last month the city of Pasadena chose Kindred as the 2006 book for its One City, One Story program. Amazingly, I and that same friend who introduced me to Octavia Butler's work actually met the author at a reading at Sisterhood Bookstore in West Los Angeles a few years before it closed in 1999. At the end of the reading, my friend and I shyly went up to our idol and discussed aspects of her latest novel (I think it was Parable of the Talents but it might have been Parable of the Sower). Octavia Butler had a very deep voice, was well over six feet tall and physically imposing. As the small audience dissipated we realized that Octavia Butler was planning on taking the bus from Westwood (near UCLA on the west side of town) to Altadena (just North of Pasadena, about 10 minutes drive from where we were going). It would probably take her between 2 to 3 hours to make the trip on public transportation. We looked at each other. "Let's offer her a ride," my friend whispered. "Oh my god, we're gonna drive Octavia Butler home!" I squealed.

Octavia Butler declined the offer of a ride at first (did she think we were besotted fans with visions of repeating the author kidnapping from Stephen King's Misery?) but when we were explained we were both college professors from the local liberal arts college in the town next door to hers, she agreed. In the 30 minute drive from the bookstore to Octavia Butler's house, we discovered that she was a funny, shy person. She said she didn't mind taking the bus around Los Angeles. "It gives me a lot of time to do the thinking required for my books." She also loved to walk. "Oh, we like to take walks, too!" my friend blurted out. "We could walk together, if you like." "I'd like that," Octavia replied. After dropping her off and exganging business cards and contact information (this was before the ubiquity of cellphones) we drove back to Eagle Rock. "I wonder if she'll call us to go for a walk?" She did. We went for two walks with Octavia Butler in the next year or so. I carried Octavia Butler's business card in my wallet for years after that meeting. She will be missed.

On The Importance of Algebra

Terrance, at Republic of T, is haunted by the story of Gabriela Ocampo:

Last year, she dropped out of the 12th grade at Birmingham High School in Los Angeles after failing algebra six times in six semesters, trying it a seventh time and finally just despairing over ever getting it. So, according to the Los Angeles Times, she “gathered her textbooks, dropped them at the campus book room and, without telling a soul, vanished from Birmingham High School.”

This is a story that is repeated thousands of times all over the Los Angeles Unified School District. As someone who probably understands algebra even more than English, I am very interested in this problem and in contributing to the solution. I'm not convinced that every person who graduates from high school in California needs to have passed two semesters of Algebra. Why is this a societally beneficial requirement? Don't misunderstand, I do think that numeracy is important. However, there are a lot of very important aspects of modern day life which are not improved, assisted or mediated by high school level algebra. Other skills, such as understanding Excel spreadsheets, the ability to compute percentages and per capita costs (i.e. if the 12 oz jar of food stuff cost $1.89 and the 1 lb jar cost $2.89 which one is cheaper?) and understanding compound interest would lead to a profoundly "better educated" citizenry, in my opinion.

Nigga, Please!?

Mack Reed over at LAvoice.org has given a heads up about Damon Wayans attempt to trademark the word "nigga." MadProfessah believes this is an interesting legal question. The comments over at LAVoice makes it seem like there would be widespread opposition to this idea, but I'm not so sure. Message t-shirts have been popular among the young and trendy for a long time.

What do YOU think?

Clijsters Withdraws From Pacific Life Open, Will Lose #1 Ranking

Kim Clijsters announced that she will not be defending her title at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, CA March 6-19. Therefore, she will lose 527 points on March 19, and Amélie Mauresmo will assume the #1 WTA Tour rank on March 20, 2006!

Conference on Sexual Orientation law

Today MadProfessah will be at the UCLA School of Law to attend the Williams Project's 5th Annual Update on Sexual Orientation Law. It should be very interesting, with speeches by former Stanford Law School Dean Kathleen Sullivan (who was quoted in a Los Angeles Times article earlier this week on her experience with the excruciatingly high failure rate of the California Bar Exam), Yale Law School Deputy Dean Kenji Yoshino and Geoffrey Kors, Executive Director of Equality California, among others. In addition, the Honorable Steven H. Levinson, author of the landmark Hawai'i marriage case Baehr v. Lewin, will judge the Final Round of the 2nd Annual National Sexual Orientation Moot Court Competition from 5:00-6:15pm.

FOOD: Pasadena's Cafe Atlantic disappoints on return

On President's Day MadProfessah and his "Plus One" saw a matinee of Eugene Jarecki's "Why We Fight" (a review will follow later this week) at the Laemmle's Colorado One theater in Pasadena and then ate lunch at Xiomara Ardolina's Café Atlantic. MadProfessah had the arroz frito, which had been ordered during a previous visit about six months before and then had arrived with a huge quantity of fried rice, replete with chunks of chicken, pork and plump shrimp. This time the pork and chicken were not as plentiful and the shrimp were these incredibly small, aptly named "rock shrimp." I basically had to spit them out and leave them on the side of my plate. When I had eaten at Café Atlantic before one of the highlights had been the extremely well done maduros, fried over-ripe plantains. This time the plantains were sweet, but they were also chalky and unappetizing, which either means they had been fried and left to sit, or they were not ripe enough when fried.

Mr. MadProfessah ordered the roastbeef sandwich with fries and was very pleased with the results. The fries were excessive in quantity, and perfectly done. A homemade "tomato sauce" (none dare call it ketchup!) was a fabulous accompaniment to the fries but at least two ramikins full would have been needed and only was supplied. The sandwich used the toasted Cuban bread to excellent effect and the horseradish sauce had just the right kick to it. Overall, I was disappointed on this return visit. I know others have had good dining experiences at Café Atlantic, and I think I will give them one more chance, but probably next time order a sandwich or possibly try breakfast, which they serve until 3:30 on weekends.

GRADE: B+

EUROPE GAY RIGHTS UPDATE: Czech, Ireland, Russia

365gay.com reports that a public opinion poll in Ireland shows a slim majority of respondents are in favor of marriage being opened to gays and lesbians and are evenly split on the question of gay and lesbian couples adopting children. Last month, a parliamentary committee recommended that full civil partnerships similar to those enacted in the United Kingdom (and taken advantage of by Sir Elton John and others) in 2005 be introduced by the Irish Government.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus vetoed legislation that would have allowed same-sex domestic partners to register with the State and receive some of the rights and benefits of marriage in that European country. Prime Minister Jiri Paraoubek said that it was one of the President's "biggest errors" and that he would use all his political means to garner 101 votes in the 200-member house to attempt to override the veto.

In Russia, an attempt to organize the country's first gay pride parade May 27, 2006 in recognition of the thirteenth anniversary of the legalization of sodomy was vetoed by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov in light of the threat of violent protests by religious leaders if the gay pride celebration was allowed to go on. Apparently explicit homophobia is a common feature of Russian society, although progress has been made in recent years.

Bill Frist Kicking Us As He Exits The Senate

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced last week that he plans on scheduling a vote on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage the week of June 5. (Just in time for Gay Pride Month!) The amendment has just about zero chance of becoming law (it needs 67 votes, it only received 48 votes last time). Frist is retiring from the Senate a few months later (to run for President---ha!), he has decided to go out with a homophobic, otiose gesture. I guess he's not running as "uniter, not a divider."

Sheriff Thinks Naked Men Won't Fight

What kind of sadistic, voyeuristic and homoerotic policy is this?? Apparently, after an African American man was killed during a racially motivated, violent mélée at the Pitchess Detention Center, L.A. County sheriff's deputies ordered prisoners to strip naked, gave them blankets and took away their mattresses in a "necessary step to stop the fighting."

Human rights activists have already condemned the actions. Besides the obvious dehumanizing aspect of the actions, it is doubtful that they are even effective. The prisoners were only naked for a day, but the violent fighting between the black, latino and white prisoners has continued for weeks, and another African American male has been killed, and dozens of others injured.

To the MadProfessah it seems obvious that keeping prisoners cold, naked and uncomfortable is likely to give them more reasons to fight than less, particularly when they are already in a highly stratified, psychosexually charged environment like a single sex multi-person holding facility. But, then again, I'm not a prison industrial complex specialist.

Venus and Serena Withdraw From Dubai Duty Free Open

Hat tip to On The Baseline for the information that Venus and Serena have withdrawn from the Dubai Duty Free Open set to start February 20. We can hope it's a protest over the United Arab Emirates' shockingly anti-gay human rights record, but it's more likely the two are still injured. Serena's ranking is now in the 40s and if she doesn't play in Miami's NASDAQ-100 Open March 22-April 2 (everyone knows that neither she nor her sister will play in the Pacific Life Open March 6-19!) she will probably fall out of the WTA Tour Top 100 by the end of March. Then she'll start meeting Top 10 players in the first and second rounds of the Slams. Venus has a lot of points to defend during the clay court season, so her ranking would not fall precipitously until about May.

Meanwhile openly lesbian player Amélie Mauresmo is entered to play in the Dubai Duty Free Open in the openly homophobic Arabic country, although today she is facing Kim Clijsters in the Proximus Diamond Games Final.

UPDATE: Mauresmo has defeated Clijsters 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to defend her title. She now has a chance to win the million dollar, diamond-encrusted racket if she wins the Proximus Diamond Games in either 2007 or 2008. Clijsters bettered her quarterfinal performance from last year so she increases her lead to be #1 on the WTA Tour.

Black Republicans and Gay Democrats: Oxymorons or Just Morons?

Pennsylvanian Republicans have chosen African American ex-NFL star Lynn Swann to be their nominee for November's Gubernatorial election against Former DNC chair and incumbent Democratic Governor Ed Rendell.

Current DNC Chair Howard Dean has decided to terminate the LGBT Outreach staff position but is keeping the DNC's LGBT fundraising operation.

These seemingly disparate events illuminate the complicated nature of what has come to be disparagingly referred to as "identity politics." Republicans and race is a topic that MadProfessah has previously discussed many times before on this blog. The question of the Democrats and their commitment to gay rights is a new topic for this blog, but is a much discussed topic all over the blogosphere.

I suppose the first question to answer would be "How are these two things related?" To me, it is clear they are related in that black people running as Republicans or voting for Republicans indicates a shocking lack of awareness and understanding of the history of race-baiting by Republicans in electoral politics. Similarly, the decision by the Democratic National Committee to disband a specific institutionalized outreach plan to LGBT democrats should not be surprising to anyone who has followed the numerous instances of homophobia by Democratic candidates and various organs of the Democratic Party.

UPDATE: The DNC has released a press release defending its consolidation of minority outreach programs and touting the progress made since Howard Dean became DNC chair.

Say It Ain't So: Silverlake's The Coffee Table Going Away

After waiting for over two years for The Coffee Table to open up a second restaurant/cafe in Eagle Rock, MadProfessah was saddened and suprprised to read at LA Observed about the original The Coffee Table on Rowena in Silverlake losing its lease. LAist says that The Coffee Table may be okay, but Rowena is in trouble.

Who Is The Best Ever? You Decide at YouTube

A friend of mine told me about YouTube.com, which is a very cool site with lots of personally uploaded videos. One of the fun things to do with YouTube is to review vintage live performance videos of the two greatest popular female singers of all time: Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Clearly, neither woman can sing live today at the same incredible level they could at their peak. For Whitney, her most impressive performance would have to be "I Will Always Love You" from the soundtrack to The Bodguard. For Mariah, there's actually a lot of things to choose from, but I think probably her first single, "Vision of Love" is without question one of her best. (Her most successful single, "We Belong Together" is from 2005 but is clearly not one of her most scintillating vocal performances, though it is an impressive songwriting and production achievement.)

So, you go and watch the videos and tell me who you think is the greatest female pop singer of "our" age: Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey?

Venus and Serena Enter Dubai Duty Free Open

Interestingly, Venus and Serena Williams have entered the Dubai Tennis Championships set to start February 20th in (you guessed it!) the United Arab Emirates. An intrepid tennis reporter might ask some of these world class tennis players what they think about the human rights record of the country which is offering them millions of dollars in prize money while it imprisons it's own citizens.

5 Year Prision Sentence For "Being Gay"

Kudos to Doug Ireland for highlighting this news report out of the United Arab Emirates:

Eleven of twenty-six men arrested at what police in the United Arab Emirates called a "gay wedding" have been sentenced each to five years in prison. The 15 others were acquitted but are still being held until the government decides whether to have them retried. The men were charged with homosexuality, a crime under Sharia law, although police acknowledged that none of the men were engaged in a sexual act when police raided the event (emphasis added).

Please note the emphasis I added to the news report. The police did not witness any homosexual activity. 365gay.com has (as usual) done an excellent job in covering this story.

In their report, they mention that what happened was that there were 12 men dressed in traditional Arab women's clothing (and the men declared that they were not gay, but transgendered) and 12 men dressed in tradition Arab men's clothing. Is this case about ``being gay"? Or is it about gender identity? Or some complex mélange of the two? Regardless, the point is that countries which are ruled using Sharia law can be quite harsh against both gender non-conformity and homosexuality, and often see the two as one and the same.

Did Homophobia Kill This Child?

Monday's Los Angeles Times features a front page story about the tragic details behind the violent death of 2-year old Sarah Chavez. The article includes all sorts of intimate details for the committed reader of the lengthy piece but fails to acknowledge a possible contributor to the death of the toddler: institutionalized homophobia. The reporter, while matter-of-factly naming the "foster couple" who cared for Sarah Chavez as Diana Hardy-Garcia and Corri Planck never exolicitly mentions that they are a lesbian couple. In fact, these two women are not "just your average lesbian couple." Both women are relatively well-known lesbian activists. Planck is the Deputy Director of the Family Pride Coalition, and Diana Hardy-Garcia was for years the most prominent spokesperson for gay rights in Texas as Executive Director of what became Equality Texas.

The article details the story of how the lesbian couple became foster parents to the little girl, and also how distressed they were when the County Department of Child and Family Services suddenly removed the children from their care and placed her back with her great aunt and uncle. Three days after Sarah's death on October 11, 2005, these two "family members," Frances Abundis and Armando Abundis, Sr. were charged in her murder. The coroner's report said that Sarah died from blunt force trauma to her stomach that completely severed her small intestine. Most media reports are revolving around the negligence on the part of DCFS, but I am curious as to the source of this negligence and whether it was not compounded by homophobia. Why rush to take the child from a loving home to give her to two "relatives" she barely knew?

Intrepid Lesbian Reporter Karen Ocamb is also following the Sarah Chavez case.

Mauresmo Defeats Pierce for 2nd Consecutive WTA Title

Lesbian power! Amelie Mauresmo, fresh off winning her first Grand Slam title at the 2006 Australian Open, has won the Gaz de France Open in Paris by defeating Mary Pierce 6-1, 7-6 (2). Mauresmo now leads her compatriot 6-4 in head to head matches and has 21 WTA Tour Titles to Pierce's 18.
Next week, Amelie is defending her title at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp. Neither Venus or Serena Williams are entered onto this tournament. The surprising withdrawal is Venus, who lost the "diamond" match last year to Mauresmo. (In addition to the regular prize money, there is diamond encrusted tennis racket valued at nearly 1.3 million dollars which goes t the first person to win the tournament three times in five years.) Venus won the tournament in 2002 and 2003, so 2006 was her last chance to "play for the diamonds."

Freedom To Marry Week

The week of Valentine's Day is is the 9th Annual Freedom To Marry Week, February 12-18, 2006 . The highlight this year will be arguments on Wednesday February 15 before the New Jersey Supreme Court in a gay marriage case, Lewis v. Harris. The queer media is following this case pretty closely. Interetingly, as the picture above shows, the top court in New Jersey "looks a lot more like America" than most courts. The chief judge is female, as are two other Justices on the Court. Unfortunately, four of the seven members were appointed by a (moderate) Republican Governor, the slightly sapphic Christine Todd Whitman. The other three members (which features an African American and a Latino) were appointed by the first openly gay Governor in U.S. history: Democrat James E. McGreevey.

Freedom to Marry Week comes as at a time when it appears the momentum against anti-gay marriage ballot measures appears to be in our favor. In California and in Florida heterosexual supremacists have failed to qualify initiatives for their initended election date. In California they are still gathering signatures and there may be a devastating anti-gay proposition on the November statewide ballot. In Florida, they are aiming for 2008. In Maryland, a judge ruled last month that state's gay marriage ban to be unconstitutional. In New York and Washington State we are still waiting for definitive ruling from those state's highest courts. In Massachusetts, where discrimination-free marriage has been legal since May 17, 2004, opponents have been caught forging citizens' signatures to a petition to have a vote to amend the state constitution to end gay marriage. Our side has filed a lawsuit against the Attorney General of Massachusetts Tom Reilly (who is running for Governor). The earliest a vote could occur in that state is 2008.

Canada MPs Unlikely To Alter Current Gay Marriage Law

Apparently the warm flush of victory in last month's Parliamentary elections in Canada is beginning to fade. After downplaying the urgency in addressing the issue of same-sex marriage in Canada (which has been legal since July 21 2005) during the election campaign, now the Tories are backing away from reconsidering the issue at all. Outgoing Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler told the Globe and Mail newspaper that he believes that most MPs do not want to re-address the divisive issue again, and thus same-sex marriage is likely to remain legal in Canada for the foreseeable future. Oh, Canada!

Didn't She Used To Play Tennis?

Serena Williams with singer Mya at New York City's Fashion Week on Monday February 6. Venus Williams was also seen with Nicole Richie in the front row viewing Oscar de la Renta's collection.