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Thursday, September 27th, 2007
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I have to get on a plane in about 5 hours, so I will keep this short.
While I was at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project's 5th Year anniversary after-party, a couple of cops arrived on the scene under the guise of responding to a call about assault, something which definitely did not occur at the party. A group of people confronted the police and were told to disperse. The police then arrested two of our members who were trying to talk to them in the street, and maced 4-5 observers on the sidewalk, one of which was my friend.
The crowd from SRLP's party followed the police to the 9th precinct which is where they took the arrestees. The majority of the group is going to maintain a presence there for the night. A plan of action has been set, and emails should be going out soon.
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About two weeks ago, I was walking around the West Village, extremely depressed. A tall and slender man stopped his bike in front of my path, and requested my attention. Not feeling like being insulted, harassed, hit upon, or solicited for prostitution, I turned away without a word. The man was not to be deterred though. He asked in a gentle voice for me to stay and not be afraid, and with much hesitation, I gave in. He inquired about why I was upset, and as we talked, a crowd of people gathered around us, enthralled by who I was talking to. I couldn't make sense of it at first, but then someone called out his name.
Rupaul ended up speaking to me for about twenty minutes. He was really sweet and kind, and tried his best to cheer me up. I hope to run into him again someday. He lives in the area.
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1/1/07
Social Justice Imagery
 
Kiwi as Mistico
 
 
Getting ready to take the bus to the Zocalo
 
Christmas and New Year's Lights at El Zocalo
 
 
1/02/07
Frida Kahlo's House
 
The picture on the right shows Frida's deathbed.
Subway
 
And that's it.
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Saturday, April 21st, 2007
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12/31/06
The Aztec Pyramids
We didn't plan to come back to the pyramids on New Year's Eve, but that is what happens when you walk away with no photos from your first visit. In order to get to the site, you have to take a long bus ride. And then walk. A lot.
The Avenue of the Dead
The Avenue of the Dead is a long, long, long, road. In the photo below, you can see the Moon Pyramid at the very end, and the Sun Pyramid on the right. The pyramids look close because they are massive. We still have a long way to go.
There were several dozen areas like what you see below. Some of these ruins were used for housing, and others were used as fields for sports and games.
The Moon Pyramid
The first flight of steps on the Moon pyramid are very steep and narrow. During our original visit, I felt chest pains after ascending them. When I turned my head to see how Mina was doing, I found her crawling on all fours. Needless to say, it was physically taxing. For our second visit, we were both in better shape and managed the climb more easily. I got to the top without any problem, and Mina didn't have to crawl. Of course, as you can see in the photos below, she wasn't exactly ecstatic about the climb either. Or perhaps of just me taking pictures of her doing it. ():)
  
On top.
Post-climb.
 
The Pyramid of the Sun
  
Tired
New Year Eve's Festivities
To celebrate New Year's, we went to El Ángel de la Independencia to watch a free concert featuring Hotel and Belanova. As usual, I was underdressed. Contrary to what you may think, Mexico City gets really cold at night.
 
 
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12/29/06 (continued)
Lucha Libre
One of the highlights of the trip was attending a CMLL show at Arena Mexico. CMLL is the oldest lucha libre (wrestling) promotion in Mexico, and boasts the talented Mistico as its current ace.
Lucha Libre is widely popular in Mexico, and you will find masks and other types of merchandise related to the industry being sold all over on the streets. The lucha libre style is highly acrobatic. Many of the wrestlers wear masks. To lose a mask in a match is considered to be a shame, as the mask represents a huge part of the wrestler's identity.
 
Mistico soars through the air. Classic rudo action.
 Time for sleep. Finally ...
12/30/06
Castillo de Chapultepec
The Castillo de Chapultepec is a historic site that was used for military, imperial and presidential purposes, before being converted into the home of the Mexican National Museum of History. It occupies the apex of Chapultepec Hill.
 Hmmm. I don't remember taking any drugs that morning ...    This watchtower is highest point of the castle. During the battle of Chapultepec in 1847, Los Ninos Heroes - six teenage cadets - died defending the castle. It is said that the last living member of the group, wrapped himself in the Mexican flag, and leaped off of the watchtower to his death, to prevent the invading U.S. forces from claiming the flag.Palacio de las Bellas Artes
Back at the Apartment 
Drag Show at a Local Gay Bar  |
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Saturday, April 14th, 2007
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12/29/06
The Flyer Dance
This is a spiritual ritual that was performed at several of the sites that we visited. The Flyers climb up to the top of the pole, tie ropes to their bodies, and then fall backwards, slowly swinging around 13 times before hitting the floor, while a caporal plays music on top.
  
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
 
It is not often that I meet people who are taller than me.
 
 
 
The Zoo
No Justice, No Peace
When we left the zoo, there were tons of police officers in riot gear waiting for ... this peaceful group of protesters.
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12/26
I arrived in Mexico City on the evening of the 26th, completely exhausted after a day of cleaning and packing, and prior to that, family congregation. Mina picked me at the airport and we took a taxi to the apartment that we were staying at. The owner was a friend of a friend, and it was unclear if we would even see him during our stay.
12/27
Aztec Pyramids: Take One
On the 27th, our first activity was visiting the Aztec Pyramids. Unfortunately, no photos survived from the trip. We were both to blame, having committed separate but equally stupid actions (and inactions). The situation was rectified a few days later. The pyramids, as you will see in the second or third part of this account, were incredible. They were also physically demanding. My heart was pounding after I climbed the first flight of stairs on the Moon pyramid. Mina was crawling.
The Apartment
 
Sun-burnt from the trip to the pyramids, hungry, and ...
El Zocalo
We visited the Zocalo in the afternoon. It is the home of the National Palace, which is the seat of the Executive Branch of Mexico's federal government.
 
Mina in the Plaza de la Constitucion (El Zocalo). The National Palace can be seen in the background. There are huge Christmas lights on most of the surrounding buildings.
12/28
Mina cooking beans for breakfast.
Getting ready.
Cholula
After eating breakfast, we took a bus to the city of Cholula, in Puebla, to meet up with a professor Mina had contact with, and to see the Great Pyramid of Cholula, and numerous churches. It is said that there are so many churches in Cholula that you could visit a different one, for each day of the year. That claim, whether valid or not, is remarkable given that the population of the city is only 200,000.
The teacher and the student.
Churches
 
 
Jesus on a cellphone. Jesus in a skirt.
 
The Great Pyramid of Cholula
Its base is said to be the largest in the entire world. Its top is desecrated with a Catholic Church. Yay imperialism!
 
Inside the pyramid.
 
On top of the pyramid. You can see a volcano in the background. It is active and erupted in 1999.
 
Mina made me take the following picture ten times. In most of the shots, she has what might be interpreted as a snarl. In the final picture, below, a family entered the frame. The little girl started waving at me. I inquired if Mina wanted to wait, and was met with a loud answer in the negative. Well, at least she smiled.
 
The church on top of the pyramid. The streets of Cholula.
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Monday, February 19th, 2007
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More kazenjamming. More wasteful Sundays. More busy Mondays ...
Sylvia Rivera Law Project benefit show
Hung out with Mai-Lee and AJ. Danced to that beat. Bands and spoken word. Amaretto sours and hamburgers. Lots of trannie boys and their admirers. Not a lot of trans women.
ROH
Good show as always. Joe vs. Morishima was awesome.
Evil Dead the Musical
I was planning to see this with Mai-Lee and Paulina in the splatterzone section (you basically get drenched with blood) for several months now, but kept on delaying ordering tickets due to money and other stuff. On Thursday, I looked at the site and discovered to my horror that the show was closing on the 17th. Mai-Lee couldn't go to any of the remaining dates, and Paulina opted out after it became apparent that we wouldn't be able to sit together. On top of all of that, the spatterzone was soldout. So, that sucked but the show sure didn't. I went on closing night, sat by myself, and had the greatest theater experience I ever had. The show is hilarious from beginning to end, has great music ("Do the Necronomicon", "What the Fuck Was That?", etc.), and is loaded with blood and guts that is both sprayed and spilled on the audience. I pray that the infamous Evil Dead remake that is in the works, ends up being an adaptation of this show. It is AMAZING.
 
Oldboy
Boni took me to a midnight screening at the IFC center. Mmmmm, squid. It is interesting how the film gives agency to people who engage in incest and then takes it away.
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Sunday, February 4th, 2007
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The Empire State Building has been knocked off my tourist-things-that-I-have-never-done-despite-living-in-NYC-my-whole-life list. It was unfortunately pricey and underwhelming. Staff took a picture of me and Paulina upon entering the observatory, which they then tried to sell to us for $25 when we were leaving. I tried to take a picture of the picture, but that didn't work out so well. I loved how I was asked if I was a clown, and then a comedian upon entering.
It looks 3-D in a 2-D kind of way.
I feel like we saw 20 films this month. Which we certaintly didn't. But it feels that way.
I tabled with Mai-Lee at the 2nd annual POC Trans Job Fair. I am kind of interested in helping trannies do job search/interview preparation in the future. We'll see.
Attended Mai-Lee's Lentil Fest party. Shy stupidity made me late, late enough to have missed the actual party, which in the end was fine because I just wanted to hang out with the organizer anyway. I now have Lentil Fest gloves.
Alena and Justine's held a joint birthday party. I went out with Alena and Hamad to a bar afterwards. It has been a while since I have been groped multiple times by strangers on a coat check line.
 
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Sunday, December 24th, 2006
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Went with Boni to ROH's final show for the year. Homicide beat Danielson for the World title, drawing a World Series-like sustained pop from his hometown crowd. The coronation ceremony and dance party that followed was something to behold. Brooklyn!
The Briscoes, as is the norm, completely stole the show with a match of the year candidate with the Kings of Wrestling, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli. The match built at a furious pace, leading up to a insane electric chair super hurricarana spot for a great false finish. The match then went in complete overdrive mode, resulting in not one, but two burning hammers (!), among many other sick and crowd-pleasing maneuvers. The finish saw the Briscoes hit Hero with a shooting star press and legdrop combo, from opposite turnbuckles, at the same time. They are truly the best team in the world today if not, brace yourself, ever. It is like watching a pair of Dynamite Kid clones fight with contemporary state of the art offense.
Other highlights included Sydal, Shingo and CIMA defeating Aries, Strong and Delirious in a Dragon-Gate style bout (Shingo got much mullet love), McGuiness tapping out to Rave, and Samoa Joe issuing an open challenge to Noah, including that "old man Misawa". Ohhhhhhhh. Joe, if you thought Kobashi gave you an ass-kicking ...
 
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Saturday, December 23rd, 2006
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Spent hours with my favorite explorer searching for that special gift. It eventually came down to two things. Scientific methods such as eeny, meeny, miny, moe were utilized, but in the end fate was decided through color scheme approval from the recipient himself.
Today, I am going to look for stuff for my family. I wanted to get them cable, which they never had, but it looks like I am going to have to delay that gift for a year or more due to a variety of factors. Oh well. Last minute shopping is my mantra.
ROH show tonight and then I fly off to Mexico with Mina on the 26th. We expect to meet up with Paulina there on or around New Year’s Eve. Pyramids, lucha libre and dipsomania. Should be fun.
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Sunday, October 29th, 2006
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Just got back from Halloween shopping with Paulina. I got a ninja turles outfit which I will attempt to transform into a "teenage mutant ninja trannies" costume. It is something that i have wanted to put together for a drag act for years. It probably won't work and if it does i will freeze to death on halloween.
i am feel like i am horrible leader. i need to re-evaluate a lot of things.
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Sunday, October 15th, 2006
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My nextdoor neighbor says I should wait a day or so more before I remove the stitches holding my chin together. He seems somewhat scary. Like one of the villians from Hostel. He lives with his sister. Their apartment is pretty filthy. I keep on imagining someone tied up, without consent, in one of the backrooms. Maybe it is because I am reading Ketchum's The Girl Next Door.
Finally saw Videodrome. Finally read I am Legend.
I have two jobs at the moment. Only one pays money.
It is kind of fun causing all of the Wall Street folks' eyes to bulge.
Paulina is very sweet.
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Sunday, October 8th, 2006
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GENDER CONSTRUCTION, WHAT's YOUR FUNCTION? MEETING THE NEEDS OF TRANSGENDER STUDENTS AT NYU
Monday, Oct 9
7pm
Kimmel, room 405
In November of 2005, the University Senate voted to amend NYU's Anti-Harassment and Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action policies to include gender identity and expression - language used to protect transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals from discrimination. It is now time for the University to follow that amendment in practice. Kiwi
Grady, alum and founder of T-Party, NYU's transgender club, returns to the University to discuss some of the challenges facing transgender students on campus, and what NYU can do to support them and follow its nondiscrimination policies in practice.
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Ok. Maybe I really need to give myself a day off ...
I was cleaning my bathroom tub on my knees a few minutes ago when all of a sudden I began to feel faint. I leaned my body over to the side to gain support and I guess my muscles gave out because I ended up collapsing chin-first on the cover of my toilet bowl's backrest. It didn't hurt but I felt a swelling sensation grow in my mouth. My eyes were closed. When I was able to reopen them the first thing I noticed was that my hand was resting inside of the toilet bowl. All of the shampoo bottles were scattered all over the tub. The ajax can that I was using was crushed. And there was blood everywhere. It was pouring down from my face like water from a faucet. At first I thought I knocked my teeth out (I did in fact chip off a piece of one in the back of my jaw) and started feeling for gaps with my tongue. However, I quickly realized that the blood was still pouring when my mouth was closed. I started feeling around my face and found a deep and wide laceration underneath my chin. Sigh. I hope stitches aren't too expensive. I have no health insurance at the moment.
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Sunday, October 1st, 2006
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Good lord. I am out of school and I am still getting about 4 hours of sleep. Spread over two days.
Slept over Mina and Carlos's apartment last night. So pretty. I can't get Estoy Enamorada out of my head.
The GP's Action Network's first action begins today. Let's make some noise.
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Friday, September 29th, 2006
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Wow. My neighborhood is crazy tonight. The building on the corner of 3rd and 13th had an accident where a crane fell and injured several people. I have been told by individuals in NYU that there is/was fear that the entire building would collapse (it was being constructed and is more or less a skeleton) and fall onto the residence hall (Palladium) next to it. All of the students in that building were evacuated and the surrounding area is closed off.
On top of that the building directly across the street from me had a huge fire as I was coming home. Massive flames were coming out of the frontdoor. Since the firepeople were around the corner for the crane accident it didn't take long for them to respond. Every floor in the building is burnt black.
On a more positive note last night I went out and had fun for once. Paulina invited me to dinner and barhopping with her cohort. Why the group decided to barhop in midtown is beyond me, but I guess it can be excused since most of them are new to the city.
Work is a lot of fun. I have been having a pretty intense debate with my colleagues about commas for straight two days now.
I will be in the Washington Square News on Monday. Pray for me.
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Saturday, September 23rd, 2006
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I started my position on Thursday and things have been going well so far. My supervisor, who works in D.C., is doing a slow orientation with me which is nice because it prevents me from feeling overwhelmed like most people do when they start new jobs.
The office is huge, taking up most if not all of the 2nd floor of the building. There are name plates outside of each cubicle area which should make it easier for me to memorize names. The printers, which are very high in number, all have an individual Muppet identity. The printer in my cubicle area is Scooter. However, that may change soon as several of my neighors are lobbying for a transition to Beaker. Ah, identities. And because there are a lot of white gay men in the organization a central computer in the middle of the office is named Cher. She has a name plate outside of her cubicle too.
 
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Tuesday, September 19th, 2006
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This is what the living room currently looks like. Guests are encouraged to draw on the blue wall (the "reclaimed wall") with a metallic pen. So far only a small section of it is covered. I contributed a large grinning sun with a positive message scrawled underneath. What will you draw?
 
 
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Sunday, September 17th, 2006
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Went to ROH's debut at the Manhatten Center last night. Amazing show as has been the norm for ROH as of late although I did want to punch the idiot behind me who kept on screaming stupid and offensive statements (i.e., calling the Noah stars "Japs").
The main event saw Bryan Danielson successfully defend his title against KENTA in an astounding bout. I really had no idea who was going over heading in. The nearfalls at the end were exceptional leading to a tapout by KENTA. Danielson thankfully was serious for once. The shoulder injury he sustained in his previous bout didn't appear to bother him much.
Recently crowned GHC heavyweight champion Naomichi Marufuji successfully defended his title against Nigel McGuinness in another great bout. This was the first time the title has ever been defended outside of Japan.
Other big matches saw Chris Hero and Claudo Castagnoli end Austin Aries and Roderick Strong's 9-month tag title reign and Samoa Joe and Homicide defeating in the Briscoes. Living legend and former WWWF champion Bruno Sammartino made an appearance early in the show and gave a short promo endorsing the ROH product. And yeah, I sang along and waved my cellphone to Jimmy Loves Lacey.
The next New York show will be in December and will feature Homicide getting a shot at the ROH title. As always I recommend fellow wrestling fans to check ROH out if they haven't already done so. It is by far the best promotion in the country today.
ROH Championship: Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA
    
GHC Heavyweight Championship: Naomichi Marufuji vs. Nigel McGuinness
   
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