Author: Ruby Sinreich

“Operation: Dreamland” opens this weekend all over North Carolina! Or it’s being shown in Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Fayettenam, er Fayetteville anyway. Watch the trailer.

Continue reading “Dreamland or nightmare?” →

Donate to support Planned Parenthood’s family planning clinics in the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina and Lake George:

1. PP of Houston and Southeast Texas (is the fiscal manager of PP of Louisiana and the Mississippi Delta)
2. PP Federation of America – Hurricane Katrina Relief

Many PP clinics around the country are offerring free or discounted birth control and health services to clients presenting a Lousisiana or Mississippi divers license.

Some of the “randomness” that makes this Ruby’s Rants and Randomness…

• Today is my first real day working for Aspiration!
• How long do you think it will be before there is Hurricane Katrina flavored spam? There is nothing more universally holding Americans’ attention right now. Can’t you imagine how likely your friends and family are to open an e-mail that says “help hurricane survivors!” or something like that? It’s just a matter of time. 🙁
• In other news, the Sigur Rós show at the Carolina Theater last night was really great. I hadn’t planned to go (it was pricey, and I’m not a massive fan), but a friend had an extra ticket so I went along. I have now decided that Sigur Rós has almost all of the elements that I love about Tortoise, but without the annoying preppy deadhead fan base. Their light show/video production was good, but a little extravagant for my tastes. The opening/accompanying band, Amina, was really great and I regretted coming in late and not seeing more of them.

  But I had a good excuse for being late: it was beautiful outside and I ran into my friend Dawn who has recently moved back to the area after stints in Nepal and Washington, DC. I was so happy to see her I couldn’t even say anything, I just ran and hugged her.

From An open letter from Stan Goff to all troops:

Email, write or phone your elected officials (Senators, Representatives, Governors) TODAY and tell them that we need the troops back home now. Tell your families and your friends to start bombarding those elected officials TODAY. Here is the link to get their contact information:
http://www.firstgov.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Then send the things you want to say to the public, but can’t because certain ass-kissing brass want to silence you to protect their careers, to the Bring Them Home Now! campaign at . We will not print your name unless you specifically request it.

I can’t tell you to do any more than that without risking being sent to jail.

…

Private efforts to get in and help HAVE BEEN TURNED AWAY BY SECURITY as part of the Bush administration “response.”

A big part of that colossal snafu is the fact that so many of the traditional first responders to major crises within the US, the National Guard and the Army, have been shipped abroad to kill Arabs for Halliburton — who by the way has already been handed a no-bid contract for the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast.

That’s right. War profiteer Halliburton is now a disaster profiteer, too.

There’s more at BringThemHomeNow.org and StanGoff.com . Click “Keep reading…” for another exceprt or just go here to read the whole thing.

Continue reading “We need you here” →

Lynda Barry has been one of my favorite artists for a long, long time (since I was in high school!) and she has never let me down. She often sells her work on eBay and is currently donating the proceeds to hurricane relief.

Read this decription of a bag she has decorated and I think you will see why I adore her so and why Matt Groening calls her Funk Queen of the Galaxy. (Emphasis and line breaks added.)

100% of proceeds will go to aid for NOLA. Black Marlys! Hey You NEVER saw this before, man! Because it never even WAS before, but NOW IT IS! Yes! LOOK! Actual! Hand! Decorated! Bag! by Lynda Barry! Signed! This Black bag has a picture of black Marlys, We will never know what would have happened if it was all white people in the superdome, at the convention center! We will never know because it will never happen. Or will it? Homeland Security! OK! You Jazz Fest Lover, give some $$$! We will pass it right on to the people who need it. This bag of low class dollar store style, of the most simple polyester cloth, one pocket, one adjustable strap velcro closure kind of thing,very plain. Yet! They are strong! Couple of bottles of water and some MREs and a white flag for your grandmama to wave out the window of her house at the passing national guard boats. It can hold medical supplies, a shortwave radio, and a “Don’t Shoot! I Am NOT Looting” body sash…

Continue reading ““We will never know what would have happened if it was all white people in the superdome… because it will never happen.”” →

My aunt Penny Rakoff sitting on a bench and public art installation by herself and Angelica Pozo at Gund Stadium in Cleveland. 2- and 3-dimensional ceramics and historic photographs on tiles.

Grandma is wearing mismatched shoes!