Candlelight vigil this Tuesday for Durval Martin
On Tuesday May 19th, 2009, GLOV (DC's GLBT Anti-Violence Task Force) is holding a candlelight vigil and march to raise awareness about hate crimes against the GLBT community and to renew focus on the murder of Durval Martin to hopefully bring in new leads and help MPD close this case.
On December 16, 2008 Durval Martins was shot and killed while walking home at the intersection of 11th and Q streets, NW in DC’s Logan Circle neighborhood. Local community leaders will be in attendance to raise awareness, enlist community support in finding those responsible and condemn hate-biased violence. Durval’s identical twin brother, Pedro, will be there to join us. We ask that you come, too – bring friends, neighbors, colleagues, and families -- and please wear white to show your support.
WHEN: Tuesday, May 19, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (estimated)
WHERE: Introductory remarks at Reeve Center Courtyard (Corner of 14th and U streets, NW). Procession will head South on 14th street, East on Q street, end at 11th and Q streets, NW and end with a moment of silence at corner of 11th and Q streets, NW (the site of Durval Martins’ murder).
WHAT TO WEAR: Attendees are encouraged to show solidarity by wearing white.
There's a great photo essay with audio in the New York Times about a straight player who joins his gay brother on the Gotham Knights rugby team to bond.
Happy Syttende Mai! Perhaps on this day in observance of Norway's independence we can learn how to be frugal like this country that has bucked today's economic woes.
Newt Gingrich thinks he knows everthing about Central Asia's Chinese Muslim minority, the Uighurs. During my Peace Corps experience several of my students and friends were Uighur - not all of them are Islamist militants.
Today me and Mari went to see The Garden at the E Street theaters. The documentary film is about a community garden that gets displaced, and the gardeners try their best to preserve it through activism and legal routes. Mari and I are likely to face similar resistance in our chicken anarchy efforts.
On our way back home from the movie, we noticed that the McDonald's at 9th and E Streets NW had nailed a sign to the tree in their treebox advertising that they maintain the flowers outside their store. They get an A for effort for maintaining the treebox, but a FAIL for nailing the sign to the tree. Nails in the trunk or damage to the bark can open a route for disease entry into a tree.
We may lose our favorite bearded city administrator Dan Tangherlini to the Obama cabinet.
I'm loving this new track Bulletproof from a group called La Roux from the U.K.:
It reminds me of a resurrection of New Order, old Eurythmics, and Erasure. Fun, bouncy electronica.
Kenneth in the 212 has some good advice for Madonna in light of Kylie's arrival to North America this fall:
"YOU'RE NO FUN ANYMORE. Do I really want to shell out 200 bucks to watch you do the same old hypersexual dance moves with your same old 20 mixed-race bisexual dancers (all in unison, now!) while hanging off a cross or showing some other tired "political" or otherwise "shocking" video AGAIN -- all while you REFUSE to sing perform the songs your fans want to hear most??"Having been to a Madonna concert I can tell you that her shows are all about her - you can almost feel the invisible wall that protects her. Whereas Kylie is a SHOWGIRL!
hey jimbo --
you're a former parks employee--what do you make of obama allowing concealed weapons in our national parks?
Jeremy: well sorta...I worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as what they call an "interpretive" park ranger at visitor centers or in a public affairs capacity. I was not certified to issue tickets or perform law enforcement duties.
That said, late one evening in Alaska I heard the sound of gunshots in our peaceful valley that was zoned for recreation. There were too many public campsites or wildlife viewing areas to allow guns. All the enforcement officers were gone so I had to stop them in my jammies. Sometimes if you ask nice they will stop, especially when you explain that they might kill someone while you do target practice.
Overall, park rangers have a mortality rate equal to NYC police officers, since they're dealing with people with guns who are often drunk.
I do not know the gun possession rules for federal lands, but I know people in federal lands often have guns anyway, or are allowed in certain areas and not others. It seems like making a blanket statement about banning or allowing is kind of moot, since in some areas gun use will be banned altogether anyway.
I haven't seen the movie yet, but I belong to a bunch of enviro groups around here and somebody that came down from LA to the stop the 241 toll road from plowing through the middle of San Onofre State Park meeting was in on the LA community garden fight. He told me that the methods developers use is to get a hired gun to procure a seat on the city council or other local government position, then exclusively represent the developers' interests in the city's plans, not the interest of its citizens.
The best disinfectant for any infection like that is exposure of the distortions and unethical tactics to sunlight, which is what our group has done at the hearings about the toll road. So far, so good. The two hearings that have been held have both resulted in decisions against the toll road and in favor of the park.
I really want to see that movie. Your friend Mari seems like a very cool person from her site. :-)
Do you have a lot more info on this? I have been digging for this info for a long time. --------- You might think I'm nuts but I'm crazy over white ceiling fan.