OutsideLands!

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Woke up early to move my car for street cleaning. Made my way to the Mission District to Belmar y La Gallinita. Mental list, ordered my dozen of handmade tortillas, my bag of fresh and cleaned nopales, my queso fresco, picked out some cilantro and tomatoes...As I waited for my order of tortillas I had one with a slice of queso fresco and a Mexican coke. Friday perfect.

I was all smiles with my cane sugar soda and hot off the girl tortillas de maiz. Walked towards my car. And continued to walk. Perplexed- where exactly was my car? The mental list and yummy anticipation had totally blocked my ability to recall my parking spot. En serio- I thought okay, think- and the next best thing is to just continue to walk around and talk to someone who could appreciate and laugh with you. Unfortunately none of those people- mi Papa, mi Frank, mi Monica seemed to be available at the moment. Fortunately I was walking down the wrong street and found my car.

My mom called me and I told her my funny story.

All my errands out of the way I parked my car for the weekend, sure enough a few hours later the neighborhood was overcome with festival goers.

I sliced up the nopales with onion drizzled in olive oil and kosher salt and set them in the oven. My friend came over with tequila which we drank and snacked before heading towards the park.

On our way down the block we ran into our favorite door guy and had a drink for the road. Found two more festival buddies to share a cab with. They said drinks on them after the show.

Inside the festival we caught the end of Steel Pulse. Tried to get in touch with friends inside but the iphones and crackberrys were making mobile communication impossible.

Found our way towards the front of the polo field stage for Manu Chao- love him, more and more each time I see him. He gave shout out after shout out to Mexico!

Radiohead was a big downer- my friend wanted to stay a bit longer. The stage was beautiful lavender light emanating into the dark park sky- the music was too mellow. I said- this makes me want to kill myself. Reaction finally made our way through the tunnel towards the free redbull onto the bus and back into the bar where our cab buddies showed up and true to their word offered us more drinks...

House of Cards

Looking forward to hearing this live!!!

Manu Manu Manu!

Counting down the days to Friday...The San Francisco Outside Lands Festival, is gracing my back yard!

Looking forward to meeting up with city friends for a phenomenal concert that we can walk too :)

Firecracker, firecracker, shish, boom, bah

It has been a beautiful week full of love...

The sun is out, new and familiar friendships abound and I feel very still. Woke with the urge to reorganize my closet- wardrobe rotation in anticipation of the Indian summer that lies ahead. Sun streaming through the kitchen, my friend and her husband both PhD's and writers shared with me their writing tips and routines. Over tea we talked about centering and writing, getting over the fear of what keeps us from carving words on paper.

Made it to two yoga classes, one tennis practice, and one personal training session this week and my body felt both stronger and sore. I think I am finally getting a hang of this fitness for health lifestyle thing...The Sunday yoga class set the tone for my week- "the opposite of love is fear. Be love," I knew this I thought, but it is always good to be reminded.

From the Sea Ranch to the city, was blessed to mix friendship and work the week through. July is off to a good start, lots of work to do and absolutely ready.

Danced at Dub Mission but that was trumped by Manicato at Afroliscous. Celebrated my favorite Chicanas birthday with botanitas and sparkling wine before dancing the night away with the girls Thursday night.

Enjoyed the holiday from my friends place in Twin Peaks, who hosted us with a veggie and meat spread that complimented her Mojito's perfectly! It was foggy, but no one seemed to mind. Caught up with girlfriends in passing moments as their husbands, boyfriends, dates, were out of ears reach...seems we all had quite a bit to share- the fireworks, couldn't possibly have been half as entertaining :)

A Good Day

I woke up an hour late for breakfast, and sent a text admitting I needed another hour. The sun was out and I tried to move along and get ready, stopping only to boil water for a yerba mate.

Made a mental list of all the errands I had to run, gathered my stuff, changed purses and surprisingly kept the first outfit I tried. Happy with the open toe flats, short graphic print dress, layered with a small sweater and scarf- sunglasses and out the door.

Maybe I was ten minutes late. He walked out with my two cds and three more of his own, asked if he should drive? I admitted on the way to breakfast, I did not like driving, he was surprised. Seriously I said, if I could have a driver I would.

Deciding where to go I reminded him of the Hayes Valley brunch spot that we skipped one Sunday because the line was out the door. Stacks, I think was the name and we made our way through the sunny streets, even found parking.

Inside Stacks 'comfortable food', I asked for a booth please and we got it. I loved the upscale coffee-shop and the kind server who said, no worries, there are four pages of choices. I knew instantly I was having a savory breakfast crepe, just had to decide which one. He went with some scramble that involved meat.

We caught up easily, shared, asked, answered and then he said, where to first? I am your chauffeur for the day. I smiled. On the way to the car he said he never knew I did not prefer to drive.

I rambled off all the places I needed to go and we made our way through the city. The transit office for my residential parking permit, office store for certificates for work, a department store for a return I had to make.

In the department store I showed him where the men's stuff was and said I just need to look at a few things. He laughed, and agreed. I picked out some shoes I was interested in, and when I returned admired his one selection. Mentioned to him, cuando te queria tried to pick something out for you. 'Oh, ya no me quieres?' No, you know I like things on my time-line. Then he really started laughing and I joined him.

We looked for a few more things and I said wow- you have amazingly bad taste in handbags. I couldn't tell if he had bad taste or was just being annoying. He didn't mind shopping with me and that is something I did not know about him. It reminded me of Aguascalientes, where you see the men and women accompanying each other shopping, when I was there my male cousin even joined me, until I sent him away to the men's section.

I thought to ask if he had any errands he needed to run, and it was just one. Some adapter for audio, I stayed in the car checking and responding to email. We each had one errand to go and agreed to to check out the ocean after.

I picked out some juices and we continued to listen to the stack of cd's, Loteria Beats that I had turned him onto and his Blues Motel that I loved instantly because they reminded me of the Rolling Stones in Spanish.

We made it to the ocean, the water was choppy too windy to stay out side. So we had to take it in from the car. I continued to return emails as they came through and he returned calls he had missed. When we had recharged a bit in the sun we made our way back.

I had to pack for my trip and he was meeting friends for a show at Cafe Du Nord. Did I want to go? He asked, and I promptly replied no. We traded cd's his Manicato for my Loteria Beats...

El Presente

Con el mundo
como va se nos acaba todo ay yaya ya yayy
la tempestad y la calma casi son la misma cosa
ay yaya ya yaay Julieta Venegas

The D.E.Y.

Feria de San Marcos

Ni puedo creer que el viernes me voy a Aguascalientes! Hoy desperte con ganas de escuchar esta cancion, Pelea de Gallo...

A la féria de San Marcos, del merito Aguascalientes
Van llegando los valientes con su gallo copetón.
Y lo traen bajo del brazo al sonar de la partida
Pa' jugarse hasta la vida con la fé de un espolón.

Linda la pelea de gallos con su público bravero
Con sus chorros de dinero y los gritos del gritón.
Regosándonos el gusto no se sienten ni las horas
Con tequila y cantadoras que son puro corazón.

Ay! Fiesta bonita!
Y hasta el alma grita con todas sus fuerzas:
"VIVA AGUAS CALIENTES SU..!!"
<"QUE VIVA!!">
Que su féria es un primor.

Ya comienza la pelea, las apuestas ya casadas
Las navajas amarradas centellando bajo del sol.
Cuando sueltan a los gallos temblorosos de coraje
No hay ninguno que se raje para darse una agarrón.

Con sus plumas relucientes y aventando picotazos
Quieren hacerse pedazos, pués traen ganas de pelear
Y en el choque cae el giro sobre el suelo ensangrentado
Ha ganado el colorado que se pone ya a cantar.

Ay! Fiesta bonita!...

Love

Ahora

The Tahoe weekend away was perfect for thinking about the month ahead. Unbelievable the end of March has arrived.

Mental list transfered to agenda and electronic calendars last night. Deadlines and wrting schedules set.

Will be buzzing through the month to make it to the Feria de San Marcos con mi familia linda. Al diablo con los feos, me voy a Agauscalientes el corazoncito de la republica, "Agua limpia, gente buena, tierra buena!"

City Living

Sunny weekend in the city and life is good...

Took the 33 into the Mission for a Bhangra dance class. In the Capoera studio the dance floor was packed the dohl drum kept the beat and we laughed and glistened in the rising second story studio heat.

Found out about more Foucault across the disciplines resources at nearby universities.

Walked down the hill to the corner bar for dark n' stormy's before hopping on the 71 downtown and hailing a cab up to China town for drinks with friends. Walked down to North Beach for dinner at Steps of Rome Trattoria. Heard stories of Tunisian beaches enjoyed complimentary desert.

Made it to Amoeba and found the Jamaican Recordings: Dub Sampler and KCRW's own Raul Campos: Loteria Beats Mixtape. Inspiration to keep me company as I wrote, still moving the pieces of the dissertation forward.

Walked over to Coffee to the People, to meet my fellow Chicana and read her dissertation chapter 4!

Then toasted to mimosas at the Gold Cane, shopped and caught up on conferences, proposal deadlines and of course- men. Settled into Alembic for some snacks and light and refreshing vodka gimlets...

Tuned in to BigUp Radio for more musica and writing.

Global

In just eighteen hours...

Reuniting with some friends from the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, made our way down to the Bill Graham Civic Center Auditorium. Every concert there I have had a great time, first Bob Dylan, then Manu Chao, this weekends Ragga Muffins Festival did not disappoint.

We didn't have tickets and were only showing up for the last three acts, to catch up with the out of towners. The box office still had tickets, but I told my friend lets check the list.

So I walked up to the guy behind the will call table and said hi, "do you have any tickets that maybe did not get used and you would like to give away?" smiled. He said he had one ticket was I there alone? "No, my friend is at the box office window, called to her and she waved (by the way she is rockin the luscious brown locks ;) but there is only a few acts left and we don't know if it is worth it to pay the full price?"

He said, he had one ticket, I waved my friend over, he pushed the ticket towards me on the table. "Thank you! Certain we squealed and would have hugged him if he wanted." Back at the box office we got the other ticket. My friend asked, how did you do that? "I just asked."

It took a minute but we found our party the first band we saw was Midnight from St. Croix, pretty mellow for my taste.

Anthony B. from Jamaica though, brought the energy of dancehall to the stage and it spread throughout the auditorium. Made friends with the group standing next to us. It seems the drinks just kept coming, beer, cran and vodka, sprite and vodka, it was warm and the air smelled sweet.

Between acts the guest djs spun some crowd favorites then I started to hear Yee-haw. I was really confused. Why are they saying yee-haw? My friend said the next act was known for saying it, Eeka-A-Mouse from Jamaica. Still confused by the yee-haw my other friend explained Eek-A-Mouse also says meow, get it like a cat? I tried not to stare blankly back at him and we laughed.

Handy cackberry searched out options for festival after parties, reggae gold at the End-up? Not scheduled this weekend, they had already been to Club Six, then we came up with the intimate Senegalese spot, Little Baobab.

I think we hailed a Taxi pretty quickly then made our way to the Paris-Dakar International night. Everyone had a great time in the shoe box sized venue, dancing and drinking to french hip hop, music from various parts of the African Continent, when I heard the familiar sounds of Orixa, streaming out of the speakers I finally understood every single word...Everyone was from somewhere, global and friendly as they danced in very cramped quarters.

Everyone likes to keep a good night going, so we weighed our options with the blended group that poured out of the Beauty Bar and Little Baobab on the corner of Mission and 19th. The events change depending on the weekend of the month so we stood outside at two am, discussing options for afterhours and undergrounds and after parties at the Phoenix Hotel...Yee-haw!

Cupid Playlist

21

Days to break a habit...3 days to go.

Sun is shining in our lovely city and it is all good. Made my way to Amoeba, after spending the morning working from home.

Picked out Amy Winehouse, Cafe Tacuba, Manu Chao, Alejandro Saenz...After the listening station settled on La Radiolina and the Back to Black double cd import.

At the checkout when they called next the clerk smiled and said right on to me. Took that as a sign of approval. Seems you can't go wrong with an Amy Winehouse or Manu Chao purchase these day...or I have very good taste in music today.

Dub Mission

Back in the city and professionally I seemed to be on a streak.

I was appointed as the new Service Learning Grant Coordinator through summer. Looking forward to spending my entire budget on educator created community projects. The novel perks for me were the office, the travel I get to take to the field from Seattle to San Diego and my favorite cities in between to see the funding in action.

Midweek returned to my campus to give a professional development, and asked back for one more. Spent my Saturday, facilitating and supporting, realizing only continued thoughtful dialogue will make any change possible in our society.

Worked through the reverse jet-lag, and just took time to sleep, and rest.

It was a great week.
*
Love is one thing, lifestyle is another. Sometimes, no amount of love can bridge that divide. At least not in the present. Too bad timing couldn't permit a languid lunch, a lighter Saturday, in the end I trust it all works out.

Hadn't been back since summer but on occasion of the long weekend made our way to our favorite Sunday night spot Dub Mission. It was late, it was cold and we decided our friends would just have to make their way upstairs to find us. Coat check, and drink, we just started to take it in.

It was packed, it smelled sweet, we felt the warmth. And shortly we were holding court among nationals that would rival the U.N. So the night was a mix of friends, and friends of friends, from Korea, Tunisia, France, Argentina, Palestine, Nigeria, y Brazil!

We danced, and danced, and when a dub of No One by Alicia Keys came on, you could feel the love in the room. "You can be sure, that it will only get better..."

Mediums

While reading Foucault in the living room with CurrentTV and MTV Tr3s alternately serving as a background decided to try out the video feature on my new ipod.

I must admit, the grant gave me the nano video for educational purposes? First I transferred my existing music library and realized 8gigs is going to go pretty far, I fully intend to load it with my favorite music videos as well. So, far only got as far as finding this video by Calle 13 that really fits well with the week. At least if you have spent it discussing the virtues of; Coyotes, INS, and humanity. Now, I just have to figure out without investing too much time how to take it from YouTube to Apple.

CurrentTV had a great podcast by Blakkbox on Hezbollah and Mtv3 a great forum on immigration hosted by Ask a Mexican's Own Gustavo Arellano.

Calle 13 though, has a gift for taking the uncomfortable mainstream.

Time Marches On

Sakinoma, BRC, 2007


Bios to edit, lecture to finalize, and my beloved dissertation...

Ended the summer on the most amazing note. My friend from first grade, flew in from Los Angeles and brought all her joy and love with her. The term, 'best friend,' had no meaning before her.

We went to school together till eighth grade and continued our friendship at different high schools and universities. She chose me as the maid of honor in her wedding and nothing has ever caused a conflict in our friendship- ever.

She left her beautiful son in the care of her devoted husband and made her way to the city. We drank lattes outside the French cafe and I promised she had arrived the morning of the first city rain. "Lo, I don't believe you," point blank tone. I insisted really, it was sunny up till yesterday! "Shut up!" We both laughed and I said, you are soo LA.

I told her we really did walk a lot in the city and since her last visit I had learned to use the public transit system. Yet we drove to the nail salon. Later and less sober I tried to explain the difference between BART, Muni, and taxies.

Parking goddess activated, finally made it to the flat. Toasted her arrival with a little pink bottle of Nigori sake I had picked up for the occasion. I shared the photos of my first burning man, she read up on my blog, and we walked down to shop.

Made our way through the neighborhood in and out of shops. Decided for our night out we wanted large luscious- lashes. I didn't know estheticians actually trained in this. She went for volume I went for a set with a glittery band on the base. It was silly and fun.

Time was moving too quickly for all the things we wanted to do. Before we knew it we were ready for the evening and somehow I was running late. We joined my friend for drinks at a very comfortable and well appointed downtown lounge. We were getting very comfortable but still had another stop to go, we said goodby and hailed a taxi. Again behind schedule my friend was already holding our place in line because it was reaching capacity quickly.

Once inside the very attentive host at Pink personally poured our complimentary cocktail and the four of us toasted the end of summer...Miguel Miggs or Julius Papp were deep in their set and as we made our way to the coat check I turned to see my best friend grinning.

Time Marches On by Layo and Bushwaka streamed from the sound system and it was all just perfect.

The Muse

9/13 Update: "This video has been removed due to terms of use violation." So it goes, my first adventure into You Tube, seems MTV did not approve!

A more soulful performance on the 2007 MTV VMA's than Alicia Keys could not be found: No One.



Thanks to Google I was able to make the link to You Tube http://www.youtube.com/Queridalo back to love and writing...