The Arts! (BW Book Update, Racist Political Ads, DisOccupy, Sh*t ______ Girls Say)

January 20, 2012

The very first The Arts! of the year, spiffy! To hit things off, I would like to say that the little kitty I was talking about at the end of my last post, Little Mouserat, is going to be okay after all! More than enough money was donated to help out this adorable little guy so he can have normal vision just like any other kitty. Thank you for your help and spreading the word. Read about his update here. Yay! Now hopefully he’ll be going to a good home.

Alright, continuing on!

Before I continue on with The Arts!, I gotta chit chat about this BW book that’s supposed to come out next month and the snags it has run into.

Okay, here’s the thing: the book is nearly done, just needs some formatting and off to a publisher it goes… or so I thought. Instead, therein lies the snag. I want the book to be posted in color, just like how it is here on the site. That’s part of the issue, though. It jacks up the price like no other and even if I opt for the black and white, still the fact that the book is going to be slightly smaller than a piece of paper instead of slightly bigger than a post-it note and is over 100 pages also drives up the end price. Should I stick with no color and squeeze down the book, then the book will be about $32 per paperback copy. If I say “screw it” and go with what I want, the book is going to be about $64 a paperback copy. Totally not expecting that, the math was much kinder the last go around and could get to a more feasible price of $20, which I much preferred. That price is affordable to all readers and doesn’t feel like overkill.

So that leads to this: I’m going to have to handmake the books. Y’see, when I was younger, I did bookbinding. Hardback and Japanese stab bind are particularly what I know. I’m pricing folios now so this is probably what’s going to happen. Be warned, this may revamp the price some because everything will be handmade but thanks to material costs not being too crazy, the book should not get any further than $30 in price since you’re buying content and a handmade product. So the potential price range is $20-$30 in opposed to $32-$64, big difference. I will definitely keep everyone updated given this changes pretty much everything now. If it does go down this route, it won’t delay the book by much (it’ll still be coming out in Feb, just perhaps mid or late Feb) but there shall be weirdness ahead. Still the preorders will be $18 altogether so there’s that. The BW vol 1 will be in hardback and it is a strong possiblity that with the next BW vol., there will be an extra booklet for the Black Witch Top Search WTFs and that will be Japanese stab bind. I’ll worry about that in June, though, and focus on this now.

Please let me know your opinions on this in the comments, on the BW fan page, twitter or email me, especially if you have preordered.

Update: Ustream chat tonight at 8 PM EST about the Black Witch Vol. 1 Book update. Be there!

Racist Political Ads
It’s 2012. You know what that means: election time! Here in America that means there will a buttload of political ads and as this year is more circus-y than ever, that means some ads will pull out all the stops to get any voter. Usually Republicans are guilty of this and they’re full force this year. Usually I wait for the Democrats to mess up somewhere down the line (I’m Independent, I think both parties have too much derp) but it seems they’re laying cool with Obama whereas the G.O.P. have cherry picked any loon who doesn’t seem to take running for the highest seat in the nation very seriously. This means, my dear readers, we’re going to be in the crosshairs of sheer WTF-ery. This includes the international crowd too because a running theme this year is crapping on other nations hardcore. This is how the tumblr, Racist political ads came to existence.

On Racist Political Ads you will always know this basic run down:

– The organization/person who paid for it
– The consulting firm that produced it
– What campaign cycle it was used in
– Where it was aired
– Who is it bigoted against

Here’s a starter, the classic “Oooooh, Black people!” with a mix of “Ooooh Muslim name!” about Kevin Boyce:

But look! You can elect a Marine – a dedicated Marine! Who’s White and has a family and stuff! And he’s tested and trusted – like a Duracell battery! According to the run down, this vid was bought and paid for by Josh Mandel (R-OH (Republican, Ohio)) in his bid for state treasurer. The people of RPA don’t know the consulting firm who made this but if you do, let ‘em know. The campaign cycle was in 2010, aired in Ohio and bigoted against Arab-Americans (they forgot to mention Muslim since not every Muslim is Arab-American and vice versa) and African-Americans. And there’s even a link in their “Read More” that takes you to the source.

And because this country likes to crap on my race all the time like it’s a hobby: here’s a political ad about abortion and how being the uterus of a Black mother is more dangerous than being Black and simply living in a country where you can be shot 41 times just for pulling out your wallet to identify yourself to a group of officers or the healthcare is 40% worse because the doctors have prejudices that stem from stereotypes banged into this nation’s cultural mentality like a hammer on an anvil that comes through in their practice or unless you’re White and preferably middle class, no one cares if you’re aimlessly maced and/or beaten by a cop.

According to the rundown, someone from Texas thought this was smart to throw up in NYC. The organization was Life Always (should rename it to “Not Thinking Always”), the consulting firm is unknown, the issue is (obviously) abortion, shown in the Big Apple and racist towards African-Americans.

The tumblr is just starting out, but seeing how things are going (read: Romney vs. the rightly pissed Chinese-American woman, Ron Paul and his ample bigotry, to name a few), this tumblr is going to have a lively year.

Racist Political Ads

DisOccupy
I’ve been keeping my eye on Occupy Wall St. since I first heard about it from Lupe Fiasco on his twitter. I’m fairly political and I think it’s about time for people to stand up and talk about what’s really going on in the United States but I also had my reservations. Y’see being Black and political in this nation, you’re more than painfully aware that if the crowd isn’t White, there won’t be much national traction (more like national demonization) but if the crowd is White, expect the same old nonsense. Just because some White kid in the suburbs is finally feeling the pinch that some families in the hood have been feeling for generations in total jabs and want to do something, don’t assume that they’re going to automatically be absent of racism, sexism, homophobia and other equally irritating things. If anything, they’ll be teeming with it because if they consider themselves a “cultural revolutionary”, chances are their privileged ego shields them from acknowledging their wack behavior. Occupy is great as an idea but in application, there is so much fail. They wonder why they can’t get minorities to come along then get caught dissing a civil rights activist Rep. John Lewis. Try to say that Occupy is safe for everyone but there have been rapes and blatant cases of misogyny. That minorities who are not perfect packaged as the yuppies and hipsters of Occupy have imagined them are “scary” (actual word used). Yep. Sounds less like a utopia and more like Woodstock 2011: Let’s Modernize. Why am I not surprised? Why, shoot, if it weren’t for Lupe Fiasco, I would have brushed off Occupy as “White folks complaining about how good they had it and how they feel a teensy unprivileged, slow news day” and if it weren’t for Occupy The Hood, it would still seem that way.

DisOccupy is to keep track of the race and gender fail at Occupy and why is it considered as such. The name stems from the notion that this country is already occupied, just ask anyone who’s Native American. Why be occupied twice over? So it is named DisOccupy to reflect such. To recognize that the financial issues that trouble our nation is more than just money matters but something to do with the culture of this nation as well. This country was built on the backs of occupation and still is going onwards through cultural domination. If the face of Occupy should be any race, it definitely should not be White – it should be any race but. So keep up with DisOccupy, even submit your piece if you have something to say.

Here are a couple noteworthy pieces to read:

“Occupy Where? What’s In It For Black and Brown People?” by Bruce Dixon
“Occupy Wall Street’s Race Problem” by Kenyon Farrow
“What UC Davis Pepper Spraying Tells Me about the Racialized Politics of Sentimentality” by Occupy White Supremacy

Visit the site and submit!
Disoccupy

Sh*t ___ Girls Say
I’m sure these video memes have been making their rounds but I had to share them here. I usually don’t pay attention to memes, especially meme directed at a particular race or gender because I know that it’s probably going to be a frothy mess. Then I saw Chescaleigh’s video “Sh*t White Girls Say to Black Girls”

I have to honestly say, I think I heard about 60%-80% of what she has said in this video. I think it was utterly fantastic. Especially the part about “Ghetto” Dear. God/dess. Almighty. I was raised in the ghetto so I find it heavily offensive because it’s clear that the things they’re calling ghetto and thinking it means “poorly done” or “ugly” should be called just that because the reality is, it isn’t ghetto, just poorly done or ugly. Usually, my response is, “Yeah, that is so White Trash. I think it would match you perfect.” Instead of calling something ghetto, how about at least faking some tact and class and brains and just say, “Ew, I don’t like the way this looks. It’s icky.” See, your douchebag loser points drop significantly and you look less like the poster girl of why abortion should be legal and free everywhere.

Also Ms. Chescaleigh has made a part 2 which is equally as enjoyable!

And to not be missed, I spotted this on Angry Asian Man: “Sh*t White Girls… Say to Brown Girls”. This was so awesome, it had to be shared. I knew I would see more, these are for Desi (Indian) girls.