Vlogbrothers John and Hank Green bring the second Tour de Nerdfighting to the Bagdad Theater in Portland, Oregon on on January 29, 2012. John reads from, and discusses, The Fault in Our Stars, Hank plays some songs, somebody gets punished and Sleater-Kinney guest stars!
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“This is our opportunity to make his dream a reality.” Those words were spoken by Dennis Lucas, a member of Occupy Tacoma and one of the organizers of Occupy the Hood, at a candlelight vigil held in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Occupation Park. The vigil began at about 7:15 PM on October 15th, slightly later than the scheduled 7:00 start. Occupiers lit candles and stood in a circle on the sidewalk by Pacific Avenue for a moment of silence followed by time of open sharing and discussion. “When I was growing up,” explained Lucas, “I was more of a Malcom X fan. I didn’t get the whole non-violent aspect of [Dr. King's] movement. But as you grow up over a period of time and you start to learn and understand life, you realize that the only way to get anything accomplished would be through a non-violent protest.” “I respect him for his bravery to be a forward thinker and understand that before most people did,” Lucas added. “We all know from being in this Occupy movement that dealing with aggression and not responding with aggression is a hard thing to do.” “That’s what I believe this Occupy movement is actually picking up off of, from the civil rights movement. Because it’s all inclusive, the way Dr. King was. He started out championing for the rights of African Americans, and then progressed into championing for the rights of human beings. And that’s what we’re all about.” “Martin Luther King talked about the idea of a beloved community, and I didn’t quite get that for a while,” said Jo Walters. Walters went on to describe how she used to think that King was being very specific, referring to loving your neighbors and countrymen or love between the different races. “But it’s so much broader. What he’s talking about is a sense of humanity, seeing our entire community as beloved by all of us and feeling a sense of collective responsibility for each other.” “I think that’s what the Occupy movement is doing: it’s helping to move his dream of a beloved community forward.” Occupiers continued to share their thoughts, both about Dr. King and their visions of an ideal future. Most, if not all, of these idealized worlds reflected King’s own ideas in one way or another. Toward the end of the event, Mike Ladd pointed to another Occupier’s sign, which included a photograph of King being arrested by two police officers in Birmingham, Alabama.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. being arrested in Montogomery, Alabama on September 4, 1958. “In school,” said Ladd, “we hear about his nice black guy who fought for civil rights and got assassinated and how sad it was.” “We hear about the I Have A Dream speech – it’s a beautiful speech – but we don’t read Letter From Birmingham Jail, we don’t read Beyond Vietnam and we don’t hear about the Poor People’s Campaign,” Ladd continued. ”I’m more partial to the image of Martin Luther King sitting in jail than I am to him giving a speech, because I think it gets to the essence of what he’s talking about.” Ladd elaborated, describing how King had come to the conclusion that “the issues of race and civil rights [were] intimately intertwined with that of social class.” “In many ways, we’re picking up where he left off.” “We are the change we’d like to see in the world,” said Francesca Carreras-Velez. “This is it: this is happening, and it’s unstoppable.” “And the only way we will be stopped is if we stop ourselves.” The Westlake Center in downtown Seattle proved unfriendly to visiting Slutwalkers, kicking anyone associated with the protest out. The claim was “indecent exposure”, however most of the Slutwalkers entering the mall were dressed no more indecently than the typical, everyday Seattlites that regularly shop there. In response, the collected Slutwalkers tell Westlake to stick it somewhere indecent. A note from the SlutWalk Seattle EmCee about how ptsdforum.org can help survivors of rape and other trauma. Activist & survivor Christy Forrester tells the crowd at SlutWalk Seattle about her personal experience with victim blaming and rape culture. Poet Tara Hardy – recipient of the 2011 Washington Poet’s Association Burning Word Award, founder of Seattle-based LGBTIQ writing institute Bent and self-proclaimed “femme dyke” – speaks to the crowd at Seattle’s Slutwalk rally. At Seattle’s Slutwalk, Ronni Avila from the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services (DVSAS) in Bellingham collects donations whilst simultaneously poking fun at the Westboro Baptist Church. The Westboro church had a handful of members protesting Seattle’s Slutwalk; in retaliation, one of the signs seen in the Slutwalk read, “God hates Southern baptist breeding buttheads.” Activist Cee Fisher, a member of Radical Women‘s Seattle branch, speaks to attendees of the Seattle SlutWalk rally.
I’ve been fortunate to know R.R. Anderson for going on three years, having met him about a month before he started the chalk-offs in Frost Park. I’ve even been immortalized by his Since I first met the eccentric illustrator from a distant Northern land, he has achieved much. He has sired a son, Maximilian, and trained him in the ways of the chalk. He has joined with other artists to found a secret society whose ranks continue to swell, a society that supports, engages and delights the Tacoma community. His weekly Tacomic has been joined on FeedTacoma by a dozen more comics, yet still stands proudly as the flagship of the virtual funnies page, lampooning or praising local personalities and infecting the community subconscious with the bizarre imagination of R.R. Anderson. And now, he takes on a brand new title: published author. 100 Tacomics features the first 100 strips of Anderson’s local political comic, as well as commentary, photos and possibly other goodies (I have not yet personally had a chance to thoroughly look through the book). The book is available for sale at local establishments such as King’s Books (if anyone can fill me in on other places it’s available, I’ll add them here) or a choice of either hard copy or the cheaper (but far less tactile) digital copy online via lulu.com. At the top of this post, if you haven’t watched it already, you’ll find my fully edited video of the event. In the interest of complete coverage, there are links below to unedited interviews (with text commentary on the interviewees) and the full 24-minute ceremony, featuring an introduction by The Tacoma Urbanist and a speech and selected readings by Mr. Anderson himself. Full coverage from the 100 Tacomics book release party:
Above is the complete ceremony portion of R.R. Anderson’s book release gala, unedited. Featuring the Tacoma Urbanist, Erik Bjornson, serving as the Master of Ceremonies and introducing the author/illustrator. Mr. Anderson himself then gives an entertaining speech and reads a few excerpts of his new book, “100 Tacomics”, which features the first 100 strips of his FeedTacoma.com com political comic as well as commentary and other goodies. More coverage from the 100 Tacomics book release party:
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