Screamales tour dates

Sad that I will be at none of these shows:

May 18 Modern Formations Gallery Pittsburgh, PA
May 19 The Summit Columbus, OH
May 20 Majestic Cafe Detroit, MI
May 21 Greek's Pizza Bloomington, IN
May 22 Empty Bottle Chicago, IL
May 23 Ski House Carbondale, IL
May 24 Huckelberry's Pizza Rock Island, IL
May 25 7th St Entry Minneapolis, MN
May 26 Gabe's Oasis Iowa City, IA
May 27 Replay Lounge Lawrence, KS
May 29 Hi Dive Denver, CO
May 30 Visual Arts Collective Boise, ID
Jun 1 The Funhouse Seattle, WA
Jun 2 Backspace Portland, OR
Jun 3 Thee Parkside San Francisco, CA
Jun 4 Hemlock Tavern San Francisco, CA
Jun 5 Spaceland Los Angeles, CA
Jun 6 TBA All Ages Los Angeles, CA
Jun 7 Che Cafe San Diego, CA
Jun 8 The Trunk Space Phoenix, AZ
Jun 10 Emo's Austin, TX
Jun 11 Big Magic Fest @ ACAC Little Rock, AR
Jun 12 Rocketown Nashville, TN
Jun 12 The End Nashville, TN
Jun 13 Secret Squirrel Athens, GA
Jun 14 Local 506 Chapel Hill, NC
Jun 18 Daniel Street Club* Milford, CT
Jun 19 SPACE Gallery* Portland, ME
Jun 20 Higher Ground* S Burlington, VT
Jun 21 Le Cerde* Quebec City, QC
Jun 22 Il Motore* Montreal, QC
Jun 24 Zaphod Beeblebrox* Ottawa, ON
Jun 26 Lee's Palace* Toronto, ON
Jun 27 Mohawk Place* Buffalo, NY
* = w/ Ted Leo and The Pharmacists

diy days ahead

Some things I've recently made:

My "Rainbow Eyes" skirt:


A pencil roll for Sean:

Jenny Jump

Sean took me 'cabin camping' at Jenny Jump this weekend and it was awesome, I didn't want to leave. Being that we went in December (up North called for a little bit of snow to happen days before), we were the only recreational campers there, all the other cabins were regretfully filled with hunters. Although there is no hunting in Jenny Jump, there are places very nearby that allow hunting so the sound of gunshots didn't miss our ears.
Our cabin was so cute and cozy, it had 2 bunk beds in the back which were divided by a wood wall, but Sean and I just stacked two mattresses in thee front of the cabin so we could sleep by the woodburning stove. I almost felt like the Princess and the Pea, except the mattresses were millions of blankets that were stacked on top of me.

Sean and I shared a meal of pea soup (there's that pea again) out of an aluminum pot with big silver spoons. It took about 3 hours to feel warm enough to take my hoodie off. Sean is the fire master and don't you forget it (thanks to him, I'm pretty sure I can make a mean fire myself).
The next day we went hiking on the Summit Trail which was beautiful.
There weren't many human footprints in the snow, but we saw tons of animal ones, mostly deer. We stopped at some outlooks and saw the Delaware Water Gap. Towards the end of a trail, there was a tree covered in carvings, some dating back to '94 (I know, doesn't sound antiquated but that's 15 years!). We then took the Ghost Lake Trail and although we didn't see the lake (must have been the other way) we took a chance and glided across an icy pond. Lastly, we took the Orchard Trail and gathered some fallen branches for our fire before heading back to base.



We relaxed the rest of the night and I gave Sean a matching Spalted Oak wooden tree branch pendant necklace that I bought from Jay at Wooden Treasures.
Here's a link to his Etsy shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/WoodenTreasures

We then made a big pasta dish with veggie meatballs, toast and red wine. We also shared that out of a pot even though we brought bowls, it just felt better that way. Sean also brought his iPod and played some music through his headphones which he duct taped to the wall like mini speakers, which worked perfectly.
I wanted to stay there for a week, but it was time to go by 12 the next day. Good thing we left when we did, we were warned by a hunter staying in the next cabin (who happened to be from Whiting) that the roads were starting to ice up and he wasn't kidding. Taking I-280 and I-80 home, we saw literally (and unlike a lot of commercials and infomercials who do not know the true meaning of literally when they say your money "literally flies out the door") 10-15 car accidents, each involving 2 or 3 cars mainly. The roads were so icy that a lot of people had pulled over or were going 25 mph (and this is a highway), and since we wanted to get home really bad, we did the same. The 2 hour drive to get there took 3 1/2 to get home. It was nice though, Sean and I talked about how we wish he had a bench seat in his car as I cuddled next to him my ribs getting poked by his center console. As we looked around at all the accidents it was very unnerving but Sean promised me he'd get me home safe (I know I know it sounds so mushy, but it really was scary if you could see the amount of accidents adorned with ambulances, cop cars and fire trucks).
Well, next year we're going to go back to Jenny Jump during Summer or Fall, or maybe both, for the photos I see are BEAUTIFUL during these seasons. I can't wait! They have group campsites too, so maybe if enough people are down, we could make that happen. I'll start recruiting soon (Nicky, you're down right?).

The burden of stuff

I think it has finally happened. The breaking point. The final realization that we have been conditioned to consume and retain as many things as possible. The realization that it took five hours of work to purchase that one pair of jeans that you don't even wear anymore. The realization that advertisements slap me in the face every which way I turn. No more for me.
It makes more sense to be happy with what you have and to know that in the end, all the material possessions we own don't really make us happy, but quite sick after adding up the total cost of our gluttony. I think many people agree that a cluttered room goes along with a cluttered mind, and that's how I've been living. I've never wanted to fill up as many trash bags with JUNK in my life. I feel like it will parallel the show Hoarders, except I don't have kitty skeletons or 3-month-old pumpkin guts grafted to my carpet.
Not only is consumerism exhausting, it's ignorant. Do you know where more than half your belongings came from? Whose fingers crafted the item you cherished for about a week? More than likely it was a 12-year-old child who was stuck working in a dust-infused cell where no one was overseeing the working conditions. I don't think the ignorance is the most chilling part of it all, I think that the fact that a lot of people now know this goes on but continue not to care.
Anyway, I'll keep you updated with the status of my room. I'll try and take pictures to document the movement.

"Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you."
-Lao Tzu

Slackin'

It's almost the end of the semester...so close. Next week I'll be on the ball.

Upcoming topics to discuss:

1) my homeless advocacy group
2) possibly going to Albuquerque for free
3) camping

Man, sorry for the lack of posts if anyone was reading this. :(

SMASH

The Westboro Baptist Church had the nerve to show their wretched faces in New Brunswick by picketing the high school and the Jewish center at Rutgers. I think these pictures will speak for themselves:The real dealPolice trying to kick us off a public walkwayMe with my reporter's notebook of courseA final message

Some signs the church brought were "God is your enemy", "Fag University", "Fag Halloween", "God Hates You", and "God Hates Jews". I'm going to guess they didn't like my buddy Spina's sign that read "Abort God".
The Rutgers Hillel had a peaceful protest which wasn't even in front of the Westboro loonies. The church only sent about 6 picketers and they left within 15 minutes after someone drove up with a mini-van. It was fun heckling them, one of my favorites being "God hates gas guzzlers" as they were getting in their van. All photos courtesy of my buddy Alex Jackson!

homeless advocacy

GCU is proud to announce a new homeless advocacy group thanks to Dr. DasGupta! I attended the first meeting on the 21st, and there was a great turnout.
Our three main objectives are:

• Advocacy
• Support
• Awareness

I suggested we plan a coffee house on campus to promote our new group and let people know what we're all about. We would have live music, (I would also be playing, hooray!) videos of visits to our local tent cities, and speeches about our group and our plans. Also, we have a petition we need signatures for so we can send it to the Ocean County Board of Freeholders to strive for an affordable housing trust fund for the homeless. I thought we could get most of the signatures at this event, it's just a matter of planning the whole thing.

Power to the people!