My REAL Facebook Year in Review

Facebook's See Your 2012 Year in Review is a cool idea. "Look back at your 20 biggest moments from the past year." FB showcases my Swim-A-Mile pics along with those taken at the International Black Women’s Film Festival (IBWFF), me tagged with Octavia Spencer and Adrienne Anderson. I notably liked 37 Pages and added 13 Friends (ooof! I told myself I wouldn't approve any Requests!). FB doesn't tell me how many Friends I unliked or blocked.... (1?).

The top "news" is my current cover photo: me, hubby, and cat-son Sidney. A close second is my Profile pic, reminding San Francisco peeps to save the date for my January 26th show at Martuni's. Next: a shared Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater photo (by Andrew Eccles): the gorgeous lines of Alicia Graf Mack. Then a reprinted conversation:
 
Guy at party, just learning that his friend "Barry" is gay, and being asked for a "real man's" opinion: "we'd better not ask Barry!"
My husband: "Barry is a real man; he's just gay."
That's why I married him! ♥


Next, a tag of me performing at Cafe Flore, a post about my first marathon row (42,195 meters), more IBWFF pics and pics from Costa Rica, tags in pics from my nephew’s high school graduation, more status updates about rowing (thanking Friend Gabrizzle for motivating me), a link to Jezebel’s "A Complete Guide to 'Hipster Racism'", a tag from my Idiocracy party, birthday and holiday greetings, my "Blatinas" video, and the NAACP's call for stories regarding the economic crisis.

 

Biggest moments? I don't know how FB determined such a thing, loads of respect though I have for the programmers. Here are my moments: 

Posted on my wall
"Thought of you, my love. Unfortunately." [with a link to I'm a Commercial Actress and I'm Constantly Being Told I'm Not "Black Enough" on www.xojane.com] My comment:

Really sad. Really not surprising. Really frustrating that the author goes along as well as doesn't blame casting agents (but then, she'd have to blame herself, too). Really tiring that no one questions the legality of these employment practices (makes me think of folks going along with Jim Crow). Really great that it made you think of me. Perhaps I am making a dent after all.

My own posts
(12-12-12)
So for the second time in only a few months (that's been told to my face), a "progressive" casting person has openly refused to cast a brown person as a villain because of not wanting to feed stereotypes, even when a brown person is the best thespian for the job. These are my thoughts: look asshole, if you cast your heroes diversely, it won't harm the world to cast a villain of color, and while you think you're helping, you're just keeping another brown person out of a job while increasing the number of White people in leading roles. I appreciate the thoughtfulness, but damn!

(12-07-12)
Mehmet Cengiz Öz [only one person seemed to get this one]

(12-07-12)
Reason # 100101010100 I really dig my beau:

Me: "I'm totally cool with any son of mine wearing mascara...."

Chris: "Wait, why is he wearing mascara? If it's just a cross-dressing glam thing, then it's okay, but if it's because he's goth, then I've failed as a parent."

(11-30-12)
My singing gave my cat a urinary tract infection. #600dollarsbecauseIhateyourvoice

(11-29-12)
"The purpose of this is not for you to flex your nuts but work on your form." - my hubby upon learning that at the PMAX Indoor Rowing Time Trials on Sunday, I will have by far the fastest 5K, "so should I enter a harder heat, the 10K?" No! .... Okay, who wants to join me? You don't have to flex your nuts....

(11-27-12)
So it IS possible to eat too many kiwis....

(11-19-12)
Dream so dull, I woke up out of sheer boredom....

(10-04-2012)
[with the link to a survey of shows] Dag nabbit! "Supernatural" is on the "worst of" list for not hiring a single female or non-White director for the 2011-2012 television season. Sadly, then, I'll have to turn it off. Dammit! I love that show! Well, "Grimm" is on the "best of" list; time to turn it on instead.

(06-26-12)
yoga on the veranda
Costa Rican breakfast
read "Catching Fire" on the veranda
take a dip in the infinity pool
head to market in Playa de Coco
say "hola" to the Jacuzzi iguana Art Linkletter
grab a late lunch/early dinner of fresh fish, vegetables, and rice
watch the sunset on the veranda
say "hola" to raccoon couple Eddie and Ralph
more laps in the infinity pool with a bat fly-by
go to bed so I can do it again tomorrow!

I have way too many posts promoting W. Kamau Bell (BTW, he’s got an NAACP Image Award nom’!), a bunch of posts for free events from concerts to Geek Outs, shared pics from Truth Beckons (Stop Making Stupid People Famous) and Occupy Bahrain (the thing about smart people is that they seem like crazy people to dumb people), and a bunch of pics I posted on Intelligent, classy, well-educated women who say F*ck a lot.

But for the full picture, you must see the quotes I pulled from the various links I shared:

"You don't expect quark-gluon plasma effects [with lead-proton collisions]," said MIT physicist Gunther Roland. "It was supposed to be sort of a reference run — a run in which you can study background effects and then subtract them from the effects that you see in lead-lead collisions."

"Basically this is a movie about how 280,000 people died so one white kid could learn to be less of a snot." [about The Impossible]
 

HILARIOUS: "ADVERTORIAL NOTICE - The following document and information resource is factitious and includes supposititious content that is reproduced and assumed. The function of this information is to spotlight products and services which have their own unique authoritative document and information."

"Never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Crabtree, a professor of pathology and developmental biology, suggested our intellectual peak came when humans were mostly nonverbal and were stressed out trying to think of ways to not get eaten by wild animals."

"Racism is like a wily little bacterium. It doesn't just roll over and die once we swallow our antibiotics—it mutates and evolves and hides itself in plain sight, and then all of a sudden, fuck, my arm fell off. Dickhead bacteria."

Finally, my FB Friend of the Day, which really translates to my 300 biggest moments. I showcase Friends - each on their very own day - for their talents, any services or merchandise they are currently plugging, and their general awesomeness, thanking them at the end of the post for something they brought into my life. As I explained to a Friend who inquired, Friend of the Day came about because I decided: (1) I didn't want to accumulate Friends, i.e., I wanted to actually know folks on my list, not just have 4,000+ so that I could boast about it; and (2) I want to appreciate them so that they know I don't take them for granted. Used to be I wrote letters to folks; now I'm totally cyber-ed out like the rest of us, and I don't want to lose that part of acknowledging the people in my life, whether I see them in person or not. I figure if I can't spend a minute of each day celebrating someone on my Friends list, then I'm really not a friend at all and have gotten WAY too busy/self-centered/isolated/etc.. In short (too late for that!), I want to keep my values in check and not lose big chunks of my humanity in this collapsing world....

So thank you, Facebook, for my 2012 Year in Review. But my REAL 2012 is about these amazing people you've made it possible for me to honor, publicly ... within the confines of my private FB settings. The attempt to make an app for my moments reminds me of just how important these real folk are, how there's nothing like flesh and blood. Whether it be my adoration of Michael Gene's Sullivan's relentless anger, the honor of being an intellectual resource to Erin Merritt, or the deserved humility and shame about my own dysfunction pointed out to me so brilliantly by JoAnne Henry, these big moments are each an experience that can't be tagged ... thank LBJ! (Lesbian Black Jesus)

###

Three Days in Costa Rica (June/July 2012): What to Bring, Where to Go, How to Be ... I’m Talking to You, Americano!

Since some of you will want to jump to the chase, here are the six destinations we visited in three days (scroll down to the end for before-you-go and other pointers):

• Llanos de Cortez (waterfall)
• Rincón de la Vieja (volcanic area)
• Monteverde (Cloud Forest)
• Arenal (volcano)
• Tamarindo (beach town)
• Ostional (las arribadas, i.e., where to see turtles)

If you check a map - and are smart enough as I know you are to do the conversions from kilometers to miles - you might think these places aren’t very far apart, and you’d be right. Costa Rica is not very big, and the distance between destinations is not much. However, drive times are another cosa all together. For example, a day trip from Papagayo (Ocotal/Playas del Coco region) to Monteverde and Arenal took fifteen hours, nine of it in the car. Why? While the two lane main roads are not terrible - few traffic back-ups and many opportunities to pass slower vehicles - there are plenty of unpaved roads that stretch for miles - eh-hem, kilometers - and you will literally drive for hours over rocks and potholes, bumping and bouncing with hopefully the right attitude about it. No, there’s no other way to get there, so learn to amuse yourself along the way.

Okay, let’s get started.

Day 1: Llanos de Cortez and Rincón de la Vieja

What to Bring: towels, swimsuit, change of clothes, binoculars, walking shoes, water, bug spray, sunblock, sunglasses, hat, camera (BTW, I highly recommend Polaroid's Dive-Rated Waterproof Camera Housing if you'd like to take photos in and out of the water).

From Coco, Llanos de Cortez is about an hour away. The side road you need off Highway 1 (headed south) is to the right with a large sign indicating the falls and a couple of tiendas where you can refresh. Most of the directions online are obscure. Just keep to the 1 and look for the small bridge crossing Rio Potrero. The road to Llanos de Cortez soon follows.

After you’ve driven a ways, another road forks to the right to reach the falls, and there is a guard collecting donations for a school. Pay something, customarily about 1,000-2,000 colones ($2-$4), and save a buck or two for the second guard in the parking lot as a tip when you leave. Note: coconut juice (from the nut) and other refreshments are available in the lot.

The falls are a short hike from the parking lot and well worth the trip. Enjoy a beautiful large waterfall with a swimmable pond and white sand beach. You can hike to the top of the falls as well (recommended).

From Llanos de Cortez, head back north to Rincón de la Vieja. If you’ve smartly rented a GPS with your 4x4, you can enter the destination and go (otherwise, I trust you have a map and have checked directions online prior to your trip). It will be about a two hour drive and a $10 per person entrance fee (less for Costa Ricans: “Ticos”). The ranger will give you a map and recommend trails depending upon how much time you want to hike. Stick to the paths the ranger highlights. Let me repeat: STICK TO THE PATHS. You will notice the ground off the paths has various colors and textures, all caused by incredible heat. By heat I mean HOT! Temperatures on and in the bubbling muds and smoking rocks range from 192-278 degrees Fahrenheit. Wander off, and you may cook. A strengthening sulfur smell should serve as a good warning of whether you have gone astray, but be very careful to avoid needing stink or melting shoes as a guide. Rincón de la Vieja is still an active region, and as with any visit to volcanic grounds, you chillax at your own risk.




That written, the experience is well worth the trip and any nerves you might have about thermal activity. Photos and even video simply can’t do justice to the scents and visuals of liquid and burning Earth, let alone the physical sensations associated with steam, heat, and frankly a little fear. Fauna/flora highlight: we (almost) stumbled across a very large vine snake crossing the trail.

Day 2: Monteverde and Arenal

What to Bring: binoculars, walking shoes, water, bug spray, sunblock, sunglasses, hat, camera, poncho or waterproof jacket.

Seeing both parks in the same day is not for the faint at heart, but unless you’re staying overnight near these destinations, Arenal and Monteverde require many of the same roads that you really do NOT want to traverse twice if you don’t have to. If you are going to spend the night, I recommend staying somewhere with a view of Arenal. You can kayak on the Lake Arenal with the majestic volcano overseeing your adventures without feeling rushed. The Arenal paths are much shorter than those of other parks, so you really can make a full day of the area.

From Coco, it’s about a three and a half hour drive to Monteverde. There is a delightful coffee shop en route once you’re within a few kilometers of the park entrance where you can rest your bum, watch hummingbirds, and have a great mocha. Since I cannot remember the name of it, here's a pic of the interior.

If you’re trying to find it, look for the driveway to the coffee shop lot on the left side of the road, made of fine black rock, with a steep decline grade. Souvenirs, pastries, and wine are available as well.

Once at the park, a guard will (probably) direct your parking. When settled, head to Reception to purchase your tickets. You will receive a map and instructions on which paths to take depending on how long you’d like to hike. You really could spend an entire day if not two walking around Monteverde. The Cloud Forest is gorgeous with high winds in some places, so hold onto your hat! As it is mountain jungle, be sure to bring a rain coat or waterproof poncho and something warmer to wear along with bug spray. I was also über glad to have binoculars with me since so many of the forest’s fauna linger deeper off the path and can be harder to see clearly without some enhancement. If you do bring large camera lenses, etc., be prepared to protect them from rainwater.

Monteverde opens at 7am, BTW, so as you plan your travels, try to get to the park as early as a good night’s sleep will allow, especially if you are going for our loco itinerary and heading to Arenal afterward. Flora/fauna highlights: coati, monos, and some very talkative toucans, parrots, and other birds ... and a flower called “Hotlips”.

We left Monteverde around noon and arrived at Arenal shortly after 2:30. The sign at the guard’s station states that the park closes at 4pm and the last car is permitted entrance no later than 3 o’clock. The guard told us the entire trail(s) took about two hours and that the park closed at 6pm, so there should be no problem seeing everything. We indeed finished and left the park at 5 o’clock having walked the entirety.

While there was no hot earth to observe either spewing from the crater or bubbling around us, the volcano is amazing. A must see.

Day 3: Tamarindo y Ostional
 
What to Bring: towels, swimsuit, change of clothes, binoculars, water, bug spray, sunblock, sunglasses, hat, camera, astronomy flashlight.

Drive time to Tamarindo from Coco is about an hour. Water was turned off in San Jose the weekend we visited, so who can say whether the number of people about was normal. Still, it was clear that Tamarindo appeals to the sensibilities of large numbers of folk from the U.S.A. with many more and much more upscale establishments, a Western Union, and tons of souvenir shops. We came in search of a rumored $1 boat ride to an island off the beach that is supposed to be great for snorkeling. We never found the boat and swam instead closer to shore. It’s a long beach with an incredible tide line. You can walk out for a hundred meters and still touch bottom. The down side: no visibility or life under the waves. The up side: great for beginning and advanced surfers.

There was no flora/fauna highlight, but La Palapa - restaurant/hotel - was hands down the best place we ate at the entire month we spent in Costa Rica.

The food was tasty and beautifully presented, the happy hour lasts basically all day and the 2-for-1 drinks were strong, delicious, and garnished artistically. We ate on the beach with a perfect view of the sunset, and while we figured our four shared dishes (big plates, even if they are on the menu as tapas) and six drinks would set us back at least $100, our bill was only $76. Pura vida!

After sunset, we headed to Ostional for another long and bumpy ride, singing all the while. Again, find something fun to do to take your mind off the jostling. At this point in our three day adventure, I was driving like many Ticos and not taking the road particularly carefully but instead at the posted 40km/h speed limit. After several bridges, we crossed a river (yes, you will drive across a river; in heavy rainy season, it may be too deep to go through so get your eyeballing ready). After another long drive, we ended up at the guide station. For about 4,000 colones, a guide takes you to the beach to look at the turtles. Okay, so what I’m about to tell you is very important. Don’t be an asshole and do your own thing here.

The turtles are very sensitive to light, so the guides will walk you to the beach using either red gel over a regular flashlight or a flashlight similar to (or exactly like) those used for astronomy with a red bulb. If you have one of your own, by all means bring it. Before you get to the beach, set your camera so that it does not use a flash. Test it to make sure. Apply your bug spray before you leave the guide post. Do not touch the turtles, even if you end up with a guide who is trying to “be nice” and tell you that after she lays her eggs, it’s okay to give her a quick stroke on her shell. Leave the turtles alone. Remember, we humans are driving 200 species a day to extinction, so try not to live up to our reputation.

You will be absolutely amazed watching the turtles dig their holes, lay their eggs, cover up their nests, and lumber back to the ocean. Yes, your photos will be difficult to decipher what with the red and the dark, but your memories will fill in the holes.

You can also try your luck seeing the turtles at dawn. During the rainy season, pretty much every day has a sighting, even when it’s not arribadas when hundreds of Ridley turtles take to Ostional Beach in the third quarter moon. Most of the eggs are laid at night, but you might get lucky. You will definitely enjoy better photos if you do. Catching the turtles hatching is another adventure that we did not enjoy, but if you’re so lucky, be very careful about where you are stepping and help scare predators away.

It took more than two hours to get back to Coco, and we were ti-red! But the thrills exceeded our expectations. Since we didn’t want to spend $150 a person every time we sought to tour Costa Rica (most from the Coco region were priced thusly), the $80/day car rental worked out great. “Ha!” you say. “I got a $15/day rate on Expedia/carrentals.com/etc./blah blah.” Jokes on you, my friend. There will be extensive insurance premiums, additional driver fees, and other hidden costs added on, let alone that unless you rent a 4x4, you’re going to have to stick to the main roads and miss out on some exceptional excursions ... or freak out as you try to maneuver a sedan over unpaved roads. How long a drive will that be? Here’s what you do: get in touch with Ken Miller of Mi Lora Tours. He’s a transplant from Chicago who knows well tourism in Costa Rica. He can arrange airport transfers, tours, accommodations, and car rentals. Ken will tell you what it’s actually going to cost you and let you comparison shop if you want/ need to. The only information we misunderstood was that rental prices are quoted for manual vehicles, a $5/day bump tacked on for automatic transmission. Since I ended up badly spraining my ankle Day 1 slipping on a rock near a waterfall in Rincón de la Vieja, I was really glad to have an automatic. From the smell of some drivers’ clutches, they were probably wishing that had reserved similarly.

Pointers: some roads aren’t painted, and even on the ones that are, people walk and bike in the street, pets and wild animals trot alongside traffic, and drivers hug the middle lines that are indicated and ignore the center where not. Basically, I suggest you hang to the right as much as possible. On one of the unpaved from Arenal, a motorcyclist would have hit us head on around a curve had I not been sticking to “my side” of the road. His swerve did not get him past center, and there would have been no way to avoid impact. Bottom line, drive smart and plan 12 seconds ahead.

On another note, while most Americanos are used to posted speed limits on curves, I don’t remember seeing even one in the month spent in Costa Rica. Keep good judgment about any upcoming bend as you won’t necessarily be alerted to hairpins or other reduced speed zones ... or drivers in your lane. A GPS really helps here as you can catch a glance of the shape of the upcoming road and adjust your speed accordingly.

Okay, well, that’s about it. I’d tell you what I packed, what I bought, and everything I wish I’d remembered to bring, but this blog (dedicated to Damian!) is already a bit too long. Let’s just say that I’m thankful I packed snorkeling gear and hydrocortisone ... especially hydrocortisone. The bug spray didn’t deter everyone, and the itching was gonna drive me crazy!

Happy travels! Learn some Spanish, dammit, and guard your food from magpies. No seriously. The magpies will steal your food.

¡Pura vida!

Got Bias? the myth of the meritocracy

This piece was rejected by The Recorder with I thought an appropriate and concise email: "Thank you very much for your submission. While it is a very creative approach to addressing the issues of bias and racism, I don’t feel it will speak directly to our readers." The Recorder's readers are lawyers, after all, and their creativity is limited...as is their interest in addressing their own bias, so I was hopeful, but I was not surprised (one of my attorney friends said, "OMG! I hope they publish it. The Recorder is the most boring, dry publication ever!"). Ah, pues. I haven't heard from Salon.com and submitted three weeks ago, so I've printed my article here. I am simply too lazy to search for another publisher...and it's hard to fight for something I don't really think will make a difference.

Got Bias?




    It wasn’t the first time I dreamt that I was a White guy, but it was the first time I had a girlfriend. She was almost a redhead if the light hit her just right, but really, she was a brunette with curly locks that cascaded halfway down her back. We were driving - well, I was driving - a road trip of unknown duration to an unknown location, but despite the sun shining brightly and me feeling certain we had just hit the road, it was already feeling like a very long day.


    After she finished putting on way too much make-up for such a journey, she pulled out a can of hairspray and mid-sentence fumigated the passenger seat. As I choked on the drifting fog, I complained, “Don’t put on hairspray in the car!” An argument ensued. It felt typical.


    I knew where we were on the interstate, the neighborhood that Whites like myself avoided at all costs, but I exited anyway, tired of the bickering and the frilly girlfriend I never thought of leaving. I pulled into the parking lot of some local bar, a place connected to my consciousness by a large, dingy sign that stood high enough to be seen from the freeway. When I walked through the front door, I went from nervous to edgy.


    All (four) of the patrons and the three bartenders were Black. An old man at a rickety round table looked up slowly and locked his gaze. One by one, they stared at us ... all except for one large bartender who was more concerned with cleaning beer mugs.


    My girlfriend sped toward the bathroom, no doubt eager to vacate the main hall to tend to her grooming. I sauntered over to the bar, trying to seem like nothing was amiss. The one bartender stopped cleaning glasses, looked up casually, and said, “That’s your girlfriend? She’s cute.” How I yearned to seem cool to these Black guys. Was this my chance? I replied, “You like her? You can have her!”



 
   Wait, is this the story that will make the difference? ....



    "When were these pictures taken?" he asked. "Right after the accident?"


    "No, Your Honor. I believe they were taken in May of the following year."


    He shook his head at me in disdain.


    "I never claimed damage to my vehicle," I explained. "Defendant's insurance company filed a claim against mine and sent an adjuster." He rolled his eyes and continued to sway his head from side to side. I was so confused. It was the person who rear-ended me while I was at a full stop who then filed a claim against me through his auto insurer and whose adjuster found damage I never asserted. No, it doesn’t make sense, but the nonsense is not my own doing. .... Besides, we were there for my pain and suffering from the consequent whiplash, so why the hostility about something not in dispute? Why, ultimately, award me only $500 for a year and a half of uncontested symptomatology that cost over $7000 to treat?


    Then I remembered....


    Oh, right, I’m Black.


    .... That will definitely not make the difference.



    My boss fired me after my supervisor told me to “act Blacker” and I complained of discrimination, admitting she was motivated by my recitation of employment rights. The arbitrator ruled against any finding of race-based retaliation or discrimination....



    No....



    My supervisor at Legal Aid (!) pushed me down on a couch during an office party demanding a “sexual massage”....



    No....



    Your data suggest:


    a strong automatic preference for Fat People compared to Thin People


    a strong automatic preference for Dark Skin compared to Light Skin


    a slight automatic preference for Gay People compared to Straight People


    a slight automatic preference for Abled Persons compared to Disabled Persons

    
a moderate association of Female with Science and Male with Liberal Arts compared to Male with Science and Female with Liberal Arts



    Heavy sigh. It will have far greater impact on people for them to take their own Project Implicit ® preferences tests than to read my self-analyses.

    Okay, how about instead we try this out for size:



    Imagine you are casting a few films with any stars (or D-listers) you want. Whom do you pick for the following? Yes, I mean for you to write the names down as you go. Descriptions are okay, too, e.g., “co-star of Thursday night romantic comedy show.” You will know whom you mean.



    Independent Soldier -  Disguised as a lieutenant in the Confederate Army, this “independent soldier” joins up with a regiment just in time to fight at the Battle of Bull Run, and the following year in 1862 is arrested for being a possible Union spy, cleared of the charges ... but guilty?



    role of soldier:      

    ________________________________________________________

    No. 10 - Not many passengers slept through the 1912 collision of RMS Titanic with that infamous iceberg, but one awakens afterward to knocking on the cabin door and the second-class call, “Put on your life vest!” After three times being turned back trying to make way to the lifeboats, our passenger manages to slip past a guard and fill the last seat on Lifeboat No. 10.


    role of passenger:

    ________________________________________________________
 


    An All-American Jedi - A graduate of Queens College, this former NYPD cadet lived for football and Star Wars until the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. When terrorists strike the twin towers, this newly hired Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher and biochemist bravely rushes to the site to assist victims ... and disappears. For weeks afterward, family members search desperately until in March 2002, remains are identified in the rubble of Ground Zero.


    role of hero:     

    ________________________________________________________



    A Hero Comes Home - Born in Alabama as the youngest of three children, this eventual astronaut is introduced to the world of science by a cherished uncle. But before launching into space, our young scientist must return from a Cambodian refugee camp.


    role of astronaut:  

    ________________________________________________________
 

 
    Spelled Just Like It Sounds - A patent lawyer with a multi-syllabic last name waits anxiously on election night as votes are tallied for the position of Superior Court judge. Losing previous races for rent board member and transit commissioner as well as a judge’s seat two years prior, will this time be the charm?


    role of lawyer: 

    ________________________________________________________ 



    If you’re anything like the participants of my workshop at the recent Leadership & Social Justice Conference, you have overwhelmingly chosen White males under 40 years of age to lead these productions. In fact, Independent Soldier is about Loreta Janeta Velazquez, a Cuban born woman of 20 years at the time she disguised herself as a man and went into battle. No. 10 in real life stars Masabumi Hosono, a Japanese man of 42 years. An All-American Jedi stars Mohammad Salman Hamdani, a Pakistani-American man of 24 years. A Hero Comes Home is about Dr. Mae Jemison, an African-American woman who was 22 years old when she volunteered at the camp in Thailand and 36 years old when she traveled into space. Spelled Just Like It Sounds stars Victoria Kolakowski, a Male-To-Female Polish-American transgender of 50 years when she was elected to the bench.

    By now, I would think the majority of people understand the problems of bias and how they effect hiring, expectations, performance, justice, politics, socialization, and economy. But I suspect most people think these problems are of “them”, not “us”, not “me”. Perhaps this little exercise inspired a moment to ponder your Self? I hope so.

    If nothing else, dreaming of being that particular White guy finding myself in a Black neighborhood bar taught me biases are not always catapulting from a bad place but sometimes from the very human place of needing to fit in, be accepted, feel safe and valued. The impact is obvious: in my (dream) case, racism and misogyny, but if I’d only known what I was doing - and why - I could have alleviated if not prevented the damage.



    Maybe that understanding will make the difference for all of us....

###

America's Kathleen Antonia: saving The People's packages, one blog at a time

I must admit one thing before I begin: I friggin' hate stupidity. I resent it, blame its carriers for it, fly into a (generally unspoken) rage when around it, stew in my own irate and hateful juices as I try to talk myself down from the annoyance and intolerance of it. I know I have an attitude problem. Yet when it comes to the stupidity of the United States Postal Service, my rage breaks through to laughter, uncontrollable amusement at just how friggin' stupid its employees can be sometimes. I wish all of my rages were so shepherded.

A quick preview: if you've ever had your packages go missing because a USPS carrier delivered them not to your mailbox but to your porch or stairway or building lobby, read on. I believe a class action lawsuit is in the making. If you just like reading bitter and sarcastic writings by well educated dramatists, well, you might get something out of this missive, too.

The Story: I love the USPS staff in Oakland, California. There's where my nice words end. The Bicentennial Branch staff in Los Angeles lost my payment in the mail (can you believe that?) and closed my P.O. Box even after the bank called the Branch to reissue payment and say, "We sent the check to you three months ago." The Yelps make me feel better <http://www.yelp.com/biz/us-post-office-bicentennial-los-angeles> except for some foolishness of a positive note that convinces me it was planted. Then there's the Rogers Park Branch in Chicago, Illinois. According to its own Mary Jones, a parcel I sent via Amazon was stolen from an apartment building lobby where it was intentionally left by the route carrier, and yet USPS staff stands hard by the notion that any uninsured parcel does not qualify for reimbursement. Eh-hem:

USPS Domestic Mail Manual Section 508 (Recipient Services), Subsection 1.2 (Carrier Release for Uninsured Parcels): "An uninsured parcel may not be left in an unprotected place, such as a porch or stairway, unless the addressee has filed a written order, or the mailer has endorsed the parcel 'Carrier-Leave If No Response.'"

A lobby is an unprotected place, especially one USPS identifies as belonging to a “highrise apartment building”. If a parcel may not be left in the stairway outside of someone's apartment, then certainly it "may not" be left further out in a highly trafficked lobby. Seems easy, right? Well, logic has apparently run out of fashion at USPS.

After my initial request for reimbursement for the stolen parcel, my first raging chuckle came when USPS Domestic Claims Supervisor Autria Finley denied the claim and upheld her decision on appeal. Yes, that's right. She reviewed her own decision and, surprise, decided that she had made the right one. At the next stage of appeal, I choked on another laugh when USPS Consumer Research Analyst D. Davis rendered her denial without ever addressing the internal regulation referenced above (as neither had Ms. Finley). Then came the phone call from Mary Cruz, referred to me because - as she tried to stop saying - I “escalated to headquarters” (she really wanted to say I “inquired with headquarters”, but that's so hard to do when I keep asking questions that go unanswered and refuse to stop asking them).

Ms. Cruz stated USPS had no obligation to approve my claim because of the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 USC 2680(b): "The provisions of this chapter and section 1346 (b) of this title shall not apply to—Any claim arising out of the loss, miscarriage, or negligent transmission of letters or postal matter." However, as the United States Supreme Court explained in Dolan v. USPS (2006) 546 U.S. 481 “Congress intended to retain immunity, as a general rule, only for injuries arising, directly or consequentially, because mail either fails to arrive at all or arrives late, in damaged condition, or at the wrong address.” Id. at 489 (emphasis added). In Birnbaum v. United States (1978) 588 F.2d 319, the Court stated, “[t]he language of the exception itself indicates that it was not aimed to encompass intentional acts”. Id. at 328. How can the violation of an internal regulation be anything other than an intentional act? Carriers are responsible for knowing Section 508 of the Domestic Mail Manual, and it bears no weight if its violation doesn’t have consequences. How could it go unenforced? That wouldn't make sense. Well....

Ms. Cruz stated that USPS “give[s] carriers jurisdiction” to make subjective interpretations of regulations regarding residential delivery and cited the Carrier Handbook, M-41 Section 741.4 (street work): "if the article is too large to be placed in the mail receptacle, return it to the post office and leave a completed Form 3849. Place the notice in the receptacle." I'm not sure how that helps do anything but boost the regulated obligation of carriers NOT to leave packages just any ol’ where. Ms. Cruz added that if the carrier deems the area safe, the Domestic Mail Manual is 
“not followed unless something happens”. That something is by that reasoning never a USPS regulation, and apparently notifying the carrier months prior that packages left in the lobby had been tampered with is also not "something happening". That something must, according to Ms. Cruz, be a written request to leave delivery notices instead (note that Form-1000 is not acceptable to USPS to give notice, and there is no such form for matters involving theft or tampering; according to Ms. Cruz, you must deliver your own written request -- please keep a copy, folks). When that something happens, then USPS sends out an assessment team. Are they kidding? This is how they spend their dollars?

So instead of following the Domestic Mail Manual and Carrier Handbook which state that carriers must leave delivery notices and not packages (outside of the mailbox) unless the addressee or mailer authorizes it, USPS’s interpretation of governing rules is that a carrier shall not leave a delivery notice unless the addressee or mailer files a written request or report. ... wait, I got ahead of myself; USPS isn’t actually interpreting its regulations at all. It’s doing what reminds me of Lily Tomlin’s “Ernestine” on SNL: “We don't care. We don't have to. We're the [Post Office].”

Isn't it cheaper for USPS to just leave the notices that its regulations call for? How on earth can USPS compete with UPS, DHL, and FedEx when its basic position is that its carriers can leave your packages in trash cans or at the curb or on the bus and still not be liable? I would hope that the agency would get it together. .... Ahahahahahhahahahahaha! Ah, I made myself laugh again. What USPS does recognize is that carriers must provide reliable and efficient service (M-41 Section 112.1: “Federal statutes provide penalties for persons who knowingly or willfully obstruct or retard the mail. The statutes do not afford employees immunity from arrest for violations of law.”). If nothing else, there is your route for satisfaction. A carrier knowingly violating USPS regulations is knowingly retarding the mail.

Anyway, for those of you who want to "escalate" the issue of your recklessly endangered packages, I hope this helps. As for my saga, Ms. Cruz said she would get me in touch with someone in Legal more than two weeks ago, and I've heard nothing (before you can file a complaint before the Postal Regulatory Commission, you have to engage all levels of appeal and try to settle the matter with the General Counsel, Mary.anne.gibbons@usps.gov as I understand her to be). What will I do now? Who knows? I feel like I'm watching "Idiocracy", and I sure did get a number of good laughs out of that film. Lord knows I need to practice laughing at stupidity rather than my usual. We'll see. I'll keep you posted ... but not Post-ed; you might never see or hear from me again.

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Fist Bump, the Witch is Dead! Which Ol' Witch? The WICKED

There should be no celebration, private or otherwise, over someone's death. It's appalling. Will people fist bump when Dick Cheney dies? As much as I hate him, I certainly hope not. I'm also old enough to remember Junior High school students whooping and celebrating Ronald Reagan getting shot. Furthermore, it seems that the current celebration over Osama Bin Laden's death is more over murder (i.e., revenge killing) than death. If Bin Laden had died from a heart attack, who would have jumped up and down? When Pol Pot died, Americans didn't budge. When Roosevelt died - a man who ordered the interment of hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans - there was no celebration, neither when Truman passed away after having murdered over 200,000 civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Folks have got to ask themselves why they're so ecstatic. A dear friend of mine escaped the South Tower on 9/11/2001. Shortly after 9/11, a friend from Jordan lost his job and moved back to the UK because of all the hate Americans vomited toward anyone who "looked Arab". When Bin Laden was killed, his wife was critically injured. People who awoke to the shocking sounds of the raid will suffer nightmares as eventually will the Navy Seals of Team 6. Yeah. Let's celebrate. Whoopee.

Brown, Velina. Casting Call to Arms, Theater Bay Area (March 2011) -- Kathleen Antonia, uncut

 Velina Brown, by the way, is a smart, talented, passionate delight. I applaud her impetus to write on the subject of non-traditional casting and its role in modern entertainment. I thank her for plugging my documentary Getting Played and for utilizing me as a resource in the first place. Some of the quotes may feel out of context, and because of inevitable and pending questions, I have opted to reprint my e-interview. The italicized text is reserved for Velina's questions, the bold text my answers. The article itself online at "Casting Call to Arms", Theater Bay Area (March 2011). Any questions? Comment away!

I was wondering if you would be willing to share opinions or experiences regarding non traditional casting?

            non traditional casting definitions:
            1. placing a non-white in a role not specially written for a non-white actor (New York Times 1993)
            2. "use of actors of any race, sex, ethnicity or degree of disabilities in roles for which such factors are not germane to the development of stage characters or the play" (Washington Post 1987)
            3. fair hiring (common "law")
            4. "an aberrant idea that has never had any validity" (August Wilson)

I'm not sure there is any agreed upon definition of "non-traditional casting". Regardless, when I think about it, the first thing that comes to mind is, "It's a lie." It's an elitist concept, a token handout by the powerful to the powerless ... do I dare make a comparison between offering the house to a field slave? Maybe that's too far into the negative, but for certain NTC is not the noble concept it's presented as.

Do you think it's still an important issue?

What's important about the issue is that "traditional casting" continues in spite of lip service being given to equal employment opportunity and equal protection, at least in the United States. The USA's entertainment industry is a reflection of all that is wrong with unbridled, free market capitalism, a dynamic the Constitution itself is meant to protect against. If audiences want ("want" is debatable) "traditional" leads, stories, and characters, the profit driven Industry serves them up, but the problem is that doing so fails to establish bona fide qualifications for the jobs available and in that violates U.S. law. Crews, talent, writers ... they are workers who are entitled to employment based upon their skills. They should not be penalized for age, race, disability, gender, etc..

Is there still work to be done or do you feel that the strides that have been made are sufficient?

There is a lot of work to be done. Given our celebration of Rosa Parks for actions thousands of people took before her - seventy years after Ida B. Wells sued over Jim Crow transit - it looks like it's going to be a long road. Given also that talent who draw attention to the issue suffer additional employment penalties by the Industry powerful, most of the work is going to have to be courageous and supported. For example, productions headed by EEO ("Equal Employment Opportunity") or First Amendment supporters should actively seek out talent who put themselves and their careers on the line to speak for equal employment opportunity. As an entertainment community, we need to help all workers feel like they can express their opinions without so much fear of the consequences.

Do you agree with the concept of non traditional casting? Not everyone does.

I agree with the concept expressed by the Washington Post that if certain demographics are not germane to the characters or play, then they should not be considered when casting. I happen to think it's illegal to consider them, but that's what being a lawyer will do to you. I also agree that certain demographics can (rarely) be germane to some stories and characters, and in those circumstances there is a bona fide reason for casting only talent with those qualifications.

Non Traditional casting, Color Blind Casting, American Casting do these all sound like the same thing to you?

I don't think all of these terms sound like the same thing. I've said my fill of "non-traditional casting". "Color blind casting" is as limiting as it is foolish; color isn't the only category of Industry discrimination that requires remedy, and no one is color blind nor should one be color blind. E.g., you should notice that men of Asian ancestry are rarely cast as romantic leads unless the entire cast is Asian. One should be color sighted enough to contemplate opportunities that might break down the horrendous stereotypes that burden us as a society. As for "American casting" ... what does that mean? Casting according to the demographics of the city in which the workers are hired? In Los Angeles, that means principal roles should be more than 50% filled by women and people of color since that's what the City looks like. When does that happen in mainstream media?

If you feel that there still work to be done how do you think it needs to happen? Raising consciousness? Rules? Boycotts? Other ideas?

I think that audiences need to be aware of how the Industry operates, how productions get greenlighted, and how many great works never make it off the paper and great talent never make it onto the screens. "Traditional" stories and characters result from purposeful actions. That being the case, federal and state governments need to enforce Equal Employment Opportunity and Equal Protection laws in the Industry. Performers unions should adopt and enforce the Bona Fide Occupational Qualification as part of their contracts. Audiences need to entertain themselves with work that hires more fairly and avoid productions that don't.

That said, I don't have a lot of hope. I produced a documentary "Getting Played" about Industry EEO, and certainly it is clear that the powerful don't want to be "forced" to hire "non-traditional" talent. Producers want to make money, and they want to create a world that doesn't challenge their thinking, certainly one that doesn't suggest they are unfair or prejudiced. The U.S. government seems content turning a blind eye to Industry operations, probably because of massive profits that it doesn't want to risk by requiring hiring practices that apply to every other business ... American businesses, I should repeat, because Chinese companies were reported as hiring White male Westerners to seal business deals, talent only to suggest that the companies were of strong global presence and influence. Heavy sigh.

As for my own experiences, I haven't yet considered talent demographics for my casting although I am writing a feature where one of the characters must be of a certain race and gender for the story to work ... of course, talent must simply be able to look like that race and gender regardless of actual "biology". Every other role in my script goes to whomever auditions best, a very diverse "dream cast"in my mind as I write. Quite frankly, if it were ever to come down to two for a male romantic lead and one of the auditioners is of obvious Asian ancestry, that's who I would hire, but that's because I believe I have an obligation to counter stereotypes ... realizing that after I write, casting may no longer be entirely up to me.

As talent myself, I have been gifted with so many opportunities to work with such fantastic production teams, but frankly, I have rarely played a character that wasn't specifically of a particular race and gender. I was even fired from a musical once for not playing a character Black enough. There are a lot of issues that experience brings up in addition to the fact that while gender and age were germane to that story, race was not, certainly not whether talent could pull of some stereotype that audiences would appreciate. The issue is generally not, however, getting dropped from a production but instead never getting hired or even an opportunity to audition in the first place. In addition to actual employment, there are significant emotional costs of living lives that aren't given equal chances to flourish. Acting is my fourth career of choice: (1) playing defensive right tackle in the NFL - blocked (no pun intended) by my gender; (2) flying combat for the U.S. Navy - it dates me, but again, blocked by my gender; (3) practicing law - successful in earning a J.D. and passing the California Bar, but too much sexual harassment of a very physical nature persuaded me to quit; and (4) acting ... which will end from lack of employment? I'm sure giving voice to my opinions means I should be looking for career #5, but at the end of the day, who among us wants occupations to be chosen based upon what others think of particular demographics? Probably no one would say affirmatively so, yet this is what we as a society demand everyday, not only in entertainment but in life. How else can we change this dynamic but by changing the images we are fed, the images that shape our thoughts and feelings? I would hope a majority of us could decide we are all worth it.

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Sasshole

Intentional asshole is failing. I was going to write about a week of my successes, but on Sunday, I returned a wallet I found on the stairs at 24 Hour Fitness to the front desk. On Monday, I told someone pulling into a nearby parking space that my meter was jammed with a quarter, thus parking was free. On Tuesday, I sent an email to Dr. Oz promoting a friend’s blog. Wednesday, I submitted a report on a smoking vehicle. Thursday, I carpooled. You get the idea.

So, I’ve decided to Monday night quarterback and see these experiences instead as half full: on Thursday, I drove rather than took public transportation thus further advancing global warming; on Wednesday, I sent some stranger at the very least a hard time with the DMV and probable expense during recession; on Tuesday, I bought into the corporate machine; on Monday, I kept revenue from the City’s cache; and on Sunday ... well, I still can’t figure out how to spin that into being an asshole somehow, but the week as a whole looks more promising in hindsight.

I’ve been sent requests to write about various asshole behavior: White people giving unwelcoming looks to people of color on “their turf” (golf course, tennis court, etc.); basketball players earning outrageous sums to throw a ball around; insurance adjusters denying legitimate claims. But I just want to summarize my week - my half empty, half full week: assholes don’t think they are being assholes. They spin their actions into benevolence.

With such fantasy, reality can never change.

So what asshole thing have you done this week? I’d follow up by asking what you’re going to do to ensure it doesn’t happen again ... but you’re an asshole. You’re going to keep on doing what you’ve always done. Aren’t we all?

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