Ordinary Stories

Battle for Our History

If you'd told me nine years ago that shutting down the WTO and downtown Seattle, getting tear-gassed, beaten and arrested, and organizing a grand "fuck off" to the dominant institutions of global capital would one day lead to activists partying in a luxury suite at the Westin San Francisco after watching a Hollywood star-studded major motion picture depicting the protests, I'd have told you that you were on drugs. But I guess this is yet another case of reality being stranger than I could have imagined.

On Sept. 19 we all headed downtown for the SF debut of Stuart Townsend's new release "Battle in Seattle" to watch Michelle Rodriguez, Martin Henderson, Woody Harrelson, Charlize Theron and a bunch of others play basically, well, us, sort of. They used a lot of real footage, creating a bizarre dichotomy between the film seeming realistic, yet at the same time utterly inaccurate in many ways. Happily, it wasn't so inaccurate with the issues. The director obviously had good intentions, and all in all, I'm glad the movie's out there. But if we're not careful, the movie could be what sticks in people's minds as what actually happened in Seattle. Already the mainstream media has painted Seattle as something dramatically different than what it was, rewriting history from its own interests and perspectives. Hopefully the film may inspire people to seek out the true stories, which are being compiled in a people's history website, http://realbattleinseattle.org/, and may be compiled in a book next year. I wrote up an essay for the project, called Learning To Sing, about my experience there, and I hope many others who were there will also contribute.

The Kamagasaki Patrol: What the G8 Means on the Street

Ten years ago, a homeless man in Osaka, Japan, was collecting recycling by the river when he was assaulted and thrown in the water, where he drowned. The homeless community was outraged and called meetings to decide what could be done to ensure the safety of their community. They decided to address the issue collectively and autonomously, since the police were not supporting them. This was the beginning of the Kamagasaki Patrol.

In recent months the Patrol has been focused in three main areas of work: 1) patrolling the neighborhoods for safety and coordinating weekly communal meals; 2) organizing with the precarious workers' unions for workers' rights, and helping community members find jobs; and 3) engaging in anti-G8 organizing. But several weeks ago their efforts were derailed.

G8 Dispatches: What Does Nike Have to do with Tokyo's Homeless?

Like many other foreigners, we arrived in Tokyo holding stereotypes of Japan as a prosperous country, not one where tens of thousands of people live in the streets. Surprised by the visible poverty and homelessness we saw hidden behind the neat commercial glitter, we realized our assumptions were wrong. The next question was how to write about the issues of homelessness and displacement with relation to the policies of the G8 and international financial institutions. Last night the answer to this question appeared.

June 25 2008: Arriving for Japan's First G8 Counter-Summit and Mobilization

I arrived in Japan on June 23 with a small affinity group of fellow activist/writers, to take part in this year's G8 mobilization. We'll be giving theatrical performances on the streets and at universities, building signs and giant puppets for the street demonstrations, and sharing experiences with global justice activists from around the world. All the while, we'll be writing about our observations and experiences, and publishing them on Alternet and several other sites. I'll post some of our writings in the "Featured Projects" section of this website, with the intro piece remaining here and the most recent posts appearing in the section below. You can also follow all our postings on Alternet at http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/#89425

Elections? Again?

For someone who hates getting involved in electoral politics, I sure end up doing it a lot. I especially hate it in instances like this, when instead of fighting to make things better, we have to spend our time and energy working to hold on to what we already have. But yet again, the assholes with money have put an initiative on the ballot that would make a big mess for everyone but them. So I’ve been spending my free time making flyers and running around begging people to vote no on California Proposition 98. We’re also planning a Reclaim The Streets (RTS) action on May 31 to draw attention to the issue, which should be lots of fun. We’re meeting at Dolores Park at 1:30 pm then parading off unpermitted from there with music and festivities.

April 2008: SE Asia- Reading My Journal

I decided to do something completely different with the travel writing this time. Instead of picking out a few stories and telling them, I wanted to find a way to convey the whole story of the trip and the internal journey I took. So I decided to do something that’s really scary to me: I’m basically sharing my journal. I didn’t intend to share my journal when I wrote it-I was just writing for myself. So it’s not a literary masterpiece, and it’s full of unenlightened thoughts, un-PC observations, premature judgments, doubts, insecurities, and all that crap, as well as hopefully a few good moments and some interesting stories as well. Entirely unintentionally, it seems to have a definite plot progression, as things go from bad to worse, and then I eventually break through to a completely different experience of Asia.

Feb. 10, 2008: Polka-dotted in Thailand

Am I destined to see the inside of the hospital in every country I visit? What’s up with that? The sore throat started in San Francisco the day I left. I guess it was to be expected. Those last few weeks were just too much...

Winter 2008: SE Asia

Thu, 31 Jan 2008

The Book

Fri, 31 Aug 2007

Ordinary Stories of Magic, Adventure, and Chocolate

June 27, 2008

What is the worst thing that could have happened this month with regard to the book project? How about having my laptop stolen when I was literally ONE DAY away from finishing the first round of edits? Yep, that's what happened. And I hadn't backed up in way longer than usual, because I was so close to finishing and kept thinking, "Tomorrow I'll be done and sent it off to the editors, so it'll be backed up then." And it was probably my most productive writing month ever. To add insult to injury, just as I was realizing the computer was indeed missing,I looked over and saw that my new housemate's cat was peeing on my jacket.

I spent the whole day crying. I wondered if this was a message from the Universe that the book was crap and I should just move on with my life and do something more useful for the world.The idea of reproducing all that work was heartbreaking...

Summer 2007: Nine Months In a Nutshell

Tue, 31 Jul 2007

I guess it’s been more than 9 months since some of you have heard from me. And I’m not even writing with any exciting travel stories. I am in Vancouver, but I’m sorry to say I have no exotic Canada stories as of yet. But I thought I’d send a note anyway, just to let y’all know what I’ve been up to. The most notable thing is I finished my book. It was kind-of hell at the end. I was so close for so long but losing inspiration to finish, and the light at the end of the tunnel seemed to get further away with each step, since I kept adding things like the Colombia stories and Brad’s death...

Ordinary Stories

Battle for Our History

The Kamagasaki Patrol: What the G8 Means on the Street

G8 Dispatches: What Does Nike Have to do with Tokyo's Homeless?

June 25 2008: Arriving for Japan's First G8 Counter-Summit and Mobilization

Elections? Again?

April 2008: SE Asia- Reading My Journal

Feb. 10, 2008: Polka-dotted in Thailand

Winter 2008: SE Asia

The Book

Summer 2007: Nine Months In a Nutshell

Nov. 2006: Journal entry, edited

Nov. 6, 2006: Swim Swim Swim

Oct 28, 2006: Appreciate Life

Oct. 10, 2006: Berlin

Sept. 27, 2006: Fresh Figs and a Warm Breeze on the Adriatic Coast