DON'T LET MARRIAGE BRO YOU DOWN

I speak as someone who swore off marriage -- to the opportunity instead of endless lifelong lovers. Because when two people agree to love each other forever, that's all they need to establish and defend their love. Where if the two should agree later not to keep the bargain, they are free to go on with at least some departed love scarcely allowed any longer the ones who fight and sue for property.

I know gentleman and lady friends of mine who I loved for years, knew all at once, and never married, and then again never needed to break up, no finality, letting friendship as love continue even past the worst fights. When someone knocks me down and I don't want to get up in any but their arms, maybe then i'll find marriage is after all for me -- but even if so, why would I want the state or church to have any say about it. I'm married if I say so and she does too, and if it's in both us already, why need marriage?

Here is something I wrote to speak at my friend's wedding this summer:

Once upon a time the spokes fell off the world and folks got separated from one another. Love is the song that ever since led folks to get together. We here are led together, gathered together, the saying goes, here today by not love but love in concert. These two so already long beloved, their union did not initiate in marriage. For love like jazz is more than shooting stars and fallen astronauts. A marriage is not stood and watched, it’s blessed, it’s made by being witnessed.

It was for this readiness to give witness the Ancient Mariner, when he chose someone to tell his awful journey, told a wedding guest.

“Day after day, day after day…
A painted ship upon a painted ocean…
Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.”

Of course I’m kidding but probably somewhere marriage does lie between there and Jay Hawkins words: “I put a spell on you, because you’re mine.”

Not just because marriage is itself an entrancement, but the wedding vows are of those rare acts of speech that has the performing power casting a spell has. The vow doesn’t just tell or answer, describe or imagine a state of the world as do so many other words. These words are a declaration like a nation’s declaration of independence, bringing as they are spoken a new state into being. A marriage is love in concert, as I have said, and the performance is done on our memories.

We have witnessed already today the four directions: the west with the sun, we have witnessed the east with the growing harvests, and the north where lies that mushrooming civilization, the south with the coast and its seldom storm-blasts.

Fix these surroundings in mind then while you view the unfolding. We are here to join the entrancement, to countersign as witnesses this declaration. Put it in our memories and walk into the stream.

marriage?

As of the last week or so I've had the idea of marriage stuck in my mind. I can't shake it. Rob and I swapped stories about our own parents and deduced neither of the couples were an example we'd hold ourselves to. Even so, I don't know that my parents falling short of standard is what averts me from the idea of being bound by law.

The hopeless romantic in me has always assumed that I'll know what to do when the time comes. I'd be ready to get hitched when I loved someone who thought the idea was just as ludicrous as I did.  We'd be hopelessly in love and marriage would just be a matter of formality-but so what. Now I'm not so sure.

Bearing in mind how excited I am with Jenelle, I'm convinced more and more that the most beautiful part of our relationship is that we're not bound by anything other than attraction. In considering that human emotion is completely transient, to understand that someone is right beside you when they could be anywhere with anyone else is perhaps the most romantic feeling I've ever had. Trusting someone to do as they please, despite the pretenses in  love or marriage is a precious certainty. 

Ten years into a relationship I'd rather look at my partner and know that we've shared time together out of shear attraction than realize they had loved me at a time and we'd been married ten years.

Thoughts?

last night ruled so hard

DR. B WNTS YR MNY

what's with dr. bronner's having all these different products now?

i thought the whole point was that you only needed the one.

maybe it's the same thing in all of them, just different bottles. fancy labeling marketing scheme?

probably.

a smash hit!

On Gay Marriage

I'd like you guys to watch this clip from the Daily Show and then read my response to it. I'm considering turning it into a speech but I need some feedback. I also think this is a crucially relevant issue to our times and an appropriate point of discussion.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Mike Huckabee Pt. 2

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

the ability of a man and a woman to, as Mike Huckabee puts it, "anatomically" create a family is not put in jeopardy by the "redefinition" of the word Marriage. the only thing that changes is how many are allowed the Privilege of financial protection and legal partnership. that is what this is about. the conservative movement sees the "gay agenda" as wanting to legitimize their lifestyle, which - ironically enough - it is. and here is where we have two sides of the same coin: gay people want legal legitimacy, their opponents don't want gay people to have social legitimacy; they see the changing of the legal definition of marriage to include gays as societal condonation of the gay lifestyle, which it is. moreover, they see it as the state governments saying that the conservative christian viewpoint holds no sway in law, which they obviously dislike. short of legally forming and defining two separate religious and secular societies - short of causing further separation - how do we reconcile these two opposing viewpoints?

whether this attitude makes you a "homophobe" or not - whether this activity denies a "basic" human right - is irrelevant. this is one of many steps that gays have taken toward cultural recognition, and just like any other stigmatized minority, they have met with opposition from the traditionalist members of our society. nothing new there. the interesting thing about what the gays' opponents have done is that they have framed the debate, as stewart said, in terms of Semantics. the interesting thing about semantics is that they hold no sway on what people actually do. i could fuck my cousin and call it a marriage, but that wouldn't make it one. i could kill the old man next door and call it divorce, but that wouldn't make it one. what i do and what the law recognizes as legitimate activity are not necessarily the same. case in point: religious folk can't even agree on how to perform a marriage ceremony (i.e. what makes a marriage legitimate in the eyes of their sect) amongst themselves. the best they can come up with is "one man, one woman," but again, as stewart said, the definition of marriage has changed radically throughout the millenia; this is just its modern reinterpretation.

let us not forget that to allow tens of thousands of couples to marry overnight would create a huge strain on the insurance industry. all of a sudden they would have to be responsible for a plethora of new, legally recognized arrangements. if your husband or wife dies in the line of work or of duty, you receive insurance benefits as their legal partner, should you choose to have a policy stipulating such. right now, if you're just a domestic partner, you don't get any of that. i think we're all familiar with how little insurance companies enjoy giving their policy-holders money. again, this is about freedom - not semantics.

lunging for your bible at the mention of the word gay is not going to change the fact that marriage as a social construct has only emerged with the social legitimacy of the second partner, aka the Woman. marriage has been a legal arrangement first and a social arrangement last for nearly as long as it's been in existence. the only thing that's changed is the dictators of the law; once it was the church, no longer can it be: we, the people of this republic chose religious freedom over theocratic monarchy. with that freedom comes the regulated dearth of influence of religious sects in the secular government. whether or not the Founding Fathers were christian is again irrelevant. the Founding Fathers are dead, and we have done many things to their idea of society that would make them blush a mere 232 years later.

this is the problem: our society cannot revolve around the selfish desires of elite ideologues or their flocks if it is to consider itself fair. these people are the same breed of zealous self-styled prophet that has plagued societies with angry, backward ideas since societies began. they should be shunned and ridiculed. much to our dismay, wrapping oneself in the flag and holding a cross does much to inspire the weeping hordes of glossolalial sycophants we call our countrymen. so, it is left to we, the Ones Who Ask Questions, to create a fairer society which does not put its decisions in the hands of Mike Huckabee or his wretched ilk.

New bicycle!

Hey folks,

I'm losing the ped. Officially. It's over. She wasn't terribly fun anyway (only kind of really fun). I just looked really, really cool in that giant fucking helmet and my fancy shoes. Man.

But hark the herald, angels be singin, pappas gettin a brand new bike! I'm thinking Scott or Bianchi from Pac Bicycle.



Any suggestions? Any thoughts? I'm looking for something lean and mean for fun up mountains, something super pretty to get all the babes, and something I can slap a rack and slightly bigger tires on and call a touring bike. I'm thinking a little fancy because I may have the skrill for it, and I may even keep the motobecane beater. I may even be capable of affording a fancy Bianchi.


I'd really appreciate any feedback. And fya'llsi, I lost my damned telephone again.

Bikes need homes too

Hello Team.

So we all have bikes. 

Some of us have lots of bikes.

I thought this might be a good solution to our problem.

$10.99 to store anything you want.

Jones' Big Ass Truck Rental & Storage

MC

WTF

I found myself daydreaming about riding Muni today during recitation.

Wha???

Lost my phone, gained some motivation.

Hey boys, if you find ma phone at your place would you mind hollering, please? I hope its not in that effing cab. Last night was very, verily good. Except I'm way in the red for that turkey and I think Dawn is upset a little bit. And momentary, slight hangover city.

Inspiration! Chris, you're an artist. Samantha, you're an artist. I could use some of your thoughts and works and lives for my own writing devices! How do you folks feel about interviews of some sort, a little Q & A maybe?!

Kings, I know you lived at ABCo but I can't recall if you've ever produced a body of work (?), but you said your brother is way legit and I know you were planning on an oral project with your fams- what say you to us chatting about it?

Lord almighty, I am no entrepreneur; this is tough business. A lot of writing is just disguised theft, I think; reworked, blurred and guised reinterpretations, stealing reports from our happenstance perceptions. Accumulations. Capitalism is something I really have to start appreciating, probably. I'm going to hopefully have something sans pretense, chock full o' joy and the pursuit of understanding our culture and selves to post by the end of the day. Copyright pending. Sometimes I wonder if my naivete is ever going dissipate.

Can't get sex out of my nose.



GoldSprints @ Mike's Bikes Berkeley - 10/16/08 from Mike's Bikes on Vimeo.

AND I think this could be really, really fun.

Matt this is for you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viPWb3ieH6o

I think it's best that Rob n I share this

Thanksgiving BRO-OUT '08

holla acha shorties and make your way out to our house this Sunday for a pot-luck style Thanksgiving. I know a lot of our peeps are leaving for the holiday, or have nowhere to go at all so let's make it our own. bring whoever you'd like just don't come empty handed. everyone's designated to one dish to feed about 20. let's get f ing stuffed Sunday night about 7:00

Sometimes in Michigan we party too...

This time we did it 80's style!

Michigan ==> SF

I just looked at my flight, and I realized that I'm flying into SFO in just a little over a month. December 18th! Holy shit! That's soon.

I miss the city in ridiculously, awful, terrible bad ways. Serious.

Who wants to like have a party, or something? Yeah? MC comes on Christmas, hip! But I'll pro'ly be up with the fam by then.

Anyway. Just throwin' some dates out there. Ponder over it.

I hope other people who were thinking about touring are joining up! I'm scared shitless that I won't make it down the coast, 'cause I haven't trained nearly as much as I hoped to. But, there's a month still! Little over.

OK. Rambling.

Bye.

Lets hear it for my Boys! doo do doo

Hey ya'll so we're approaching an eternity since I've rolled out with all ya'll at once ( Chris, Matt, Rob.) Mostly cuz I'm a flake, but here's one I won't flake on and we should roll out in force for (dragging as many down with us as possible)! Lets go to the new Bond flick on opening night-Novemeber 14th -a midnight showing would be super fun and/or a theatre where they serve food/beer lounge style like the Parkway if showing. What da ya'll think? Cheesy or totally fun? Its a few days before I head to a New Orleans Thanksgiving promising 10 days of carousing with my sisters and corrupting my nephews and niece! I am also planning a Holiday/Housewarming party for the week after I get back (also one of my oldest and bestest Girls will be in town and I wanna show ya'll off( along with the rest of my b-area friends) to each other. But first lets hear it for the Bros and ride out to Bond for some Bronding time!

...is anyone else still kinda high and miffed about the new president?

wtf!!!!

Excitement causes heartburn sometimes! Maybe. Or living in excess, probably.

Bon jeu(r) tou(r)t le monde!.

So I got to thinking. If we're to do this bike ride, we may as well make it really, really worth it. Now I realize adding another dimension to this may strip it of something we were originally vying for, but doing so may also make it more significant. And more bitchin':

Why don't we ride for charity? We've got two months; that means a few weeks to set out proposals for financial backing and sponsors, and a few weeks to canvas. Now I don't know how far I'm going to get (in terms of distance- still waiting to hear from Jankin's to make sure I can have that whole week off- bullfuckinshit) but I'm so into this idea. Not only can we get some karmic happy and social responsibility (and a nasty workout and incredible bond makin, duh) out of this new year's, but a little extra skrill for supplies (ie harder, better, faster, stronger gear??!). Just had a vision of a boombox too, a ghetto blaster if you will, critical mass style.

What do we think? Forward this along to the other non broheme- folks, yeah? Maybe you guys have more of an idea how this works too. I was just chatting with a friend who gave me a bit of hope and direction, and I think we could convince/ charm a few bike shops, bag and gear manufacturers, and maybe even a nonprofit or two. Just ideas.

<3

PS Here's the LifeCycle route- tried and true if less osceanic. Do we have a route planned yet? I'm getting so pumped things are falling from my memory.

el Divino bags

peep the bags a dude in Chile started selling, el Divino

Hall O Ween

ok guys, it's time to stop bullshitting around and figure out what we're all doing for this momentous holiday. more importantly, to figure out what we are wearing to each different party. i will be nefarious bandit guy for all prepartying, and dia de los muertos (essentially a well dressed skeleton) for all main partying. here is my schedule basically:

go to critical mass (big maybe)
go to oakland ghostride (probably, but with minimal alternate costume)
go to a billion mad parties in the mission (most likely)
go to the castro for stupid freakout disco craziness (only if bored and/or on shards)

this is important because everyone needs to have fun on this day and the best way to do that is to spend it with as many of our bros as possible. lets get organized dudes!

so what are you going as/to? I gotta know.

orgive longcenities

so forgive the captives unknown to the captive we. We, the royal, serves best the lofty, often light flight of overwrought soliloquys. Yes. Drunk. the skunk has died and lives on the bottom bunk of my bed, of which I am underneath in the trunk. song sing along. then dine along. trot a long. tra la la laah. bam bam. the gunshed we met. chose swords and lunged long. then slow. then abandoned the campaign alltogether. what a. what a. what a bam bam. a long said jamaican song. Colonial pillowtalk all over done.done. sun. sun. ho hum. what a bam bam. there is a lung at the end of a rope attatched to a wrung. Balance there lightly and then laugh as you let go. you swung. good gone. I'm gone. Run done.
Hearts and anvils
good night and tight tights
Kingsley

Dinner party on Friday?

You've prob already rec'd atextaboutit, but come eat dinner with your friends!

Rad Natalie B has a way sweet space on California and Divis and wants to have a Dinner/ Party, so bring a food item or a beverage and your dancing shoes. 'The more the merrier', btw, her words, hence the quotation marks.

So far on the menu: pasta (fresh noodles- prob pumpkin or butternut squash lasagna), Crystal Castles, mediterrenean salad (don't know yet but Nat makes a nasty good salad), Boize Noise, some kind of ice creamy peppery fruit compote wonderful, and probably some other nasty electro-pop.

The soundtrack is still in the works. I'm going to start cooking at my place 'soon as I get off work, and head straight there post pasta production period (alliteration- drink!).

the UCI Championships

....these dudes calves were as thick as my body. Those are my homies CReal and Kyle. We went down to Carson for the UCI Championships a few months back. It was 3 days long and ruled hard. All track bikes, 55 mph, and teams from all over the world. Most of the bikes were almost entirely composed of carbon fiber too, minus the handlebars and cranks. We saw a rider going full speed collide with another guy clipping in and the bikes shattered into a million pieces. Dudes on the French team didn't understand why we rode track bikes on the street, but they made sure we got tickets for all 3 days. Kyles riding for Broakland now. We should all go next year.

ma birthday.

(watch your testes)

bon fire Tuesday

Rob, Lester and I are planning a bon fire at Ocean beach this coming Tuesday night. Who's in? This is a group effort.

Must See

Hey ya'll. Next time your cruising in Oakland make sure you check the fixed in the window of the gallery on the corner of 10th and Broadway.....ill...looks like handmade wood rims and other foxy adornments. I'm headed toward really awesome event/fun thing where Mos Def is preforming for free live, etc with some folks... Hollah atch ya girl!

I'm so tired,

I'm so fucking tired. I've never been this goddamned tired in my entire fucking life i'm so tired. My bones are weary! They whisper, 'creak, sugar, creak. we're real fucking tired, creak!'

I reply, 'shh, keep pushing boys, we've got a ways ahead. today you're working on whiskey and endorphins. you've done it before, you can certainly do it once more.'

And then I feel my conscious nagging, 'dearest friend, stop stealing company time and others' respect for you. get to work and stop smooching everyone.'

I can't believe how tired I am. Oh yeah, I really like walking in downtown during the brisk fall to winter transition morning clean crisp cold cleaning out malungs air despite one hundred smog i enjoy europeans in clean cold weather garb. Even hell of hungover. At least I can imagine autumn leaves and that really good dusty moldy decaying rake-em-up leaf smell and pumpkin pie and i can't wait for new year's.

Gatoradelover.

Get your rad on!

Hey ya'll I just posted an event for this Wendsday to the calendar that you should totally sweeten with your presence. It's the anti-corporate film festival, and my ol' schoolmate is screening his documentary on sustainable farming etc. Its this Wendsday night at 7 in SF. I will be there to volunteer and view the film. Hollah- check calendar for details..... its been too long. Hearts and anvils. Cogs and revelry. Bloques and head-rings.
Kingsley

Out with the old!

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/bik/877939116.html

Kindasadabowtit.

Macaframa Alleycat

This race is happening in two days! Everyone gotta be there! Tell your friends and I'll tell mine.

This blog has some other interesting shit too.

Sweet Jesus!!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Somebody should edit this and put her on the street
with a new soundtrack.

CreativemindsSF

If you dudes are bored tomorrow night you should totally hit up 111 Minna. Nick Santoro from school helped organized the show and if it turns out alright the folks at 111 are going to let Nick, Lester and me use it to feature our own work. The line up's rad too. www.myspace.com/creativemindssf

ADD YOUR NAMES TO THIS ROSTER

Bike tour is now officially underway!

McLean and I bought our tickets to California this morning; here are the officiated deeets:

We'll be in SF 'round Christmas, and will embark on five days of riding the morning of December 28th or 29th. We'll do about a century a day. New Years out on the road? Near Years out on the road!! We'll arrive in LA January 3rd/4th, stay a couple days... rent a car and drive back to the bay. With bikes in tow, of course.

MC and I will be flying back out of SFO on the morning of the 6th. And then, of course, it's officially over.

Wanna join?

late of the pier pls luv magrls. like moguls. like FUCKIN' CONQUERORS YA'LL MA FAMS.

Whew, right? Who wants to go to Box Dog Bikes with me around 6:30? Because they close at 7:00 I'm riding my moped don't make me late but come on.

...too good

I couldn't help myself. This is usually how Rob gets a date. Ace in the hole!

Official Brohemia Calendar

Hey guys I made us a calendar that everyone can add events to. You can get people to remember stuff better this way, and its accessible from anywhere, even (ahem) your handheld devices if that's what you're into. I added a bunch of stuff so you guys can see what it looks like. Please enjoy this wonderful addition to your social life.

PS if you don't have a gmail account you can log in with
user: brohemia
pass: brodeo18

Everyone else just invite yourself.

no announcements

no pronouncements please, I'll keep the minutes! (with a shout)its 2:35am.
the shift is like late right- there was a cool lake- guilded and wholehulled
I saw three wasps shrouding a leaf....Icky and executed symmetrically
everything is written in the form of a text message. dogging me.
I love humid everythingelses and cold muddy feet...squishing it between my toes, and shoveling more in and maintaining a flat daze. very young, everything to feel, no language to lash it.- lensed all in blue...icky and executed symmetrically.

I am very close to a stupendous persuasion, and then think to a bbq Sunday.
look for a confirmation post (likely left over due to weather till next Sunday.)

Frisco Freakout!!

On October 11th there's going to be a huge benefit for Creativity Explored at the Parkside. Totally awesome psychedelic sludge rock party all day along with food and art. The ticket's 15 bones and all the proceeds go to the Creativity Explored art studios. Earthless will tear a hole in your brain! Be there!

PUCH

Hey guys. I hate to monopolize this thing, but I'm in constant need of opinion and attention.

I'm going to give someone money for a bike that looks, performs, and is just as bitchin' as this.

She looks exactly like this, actually. What are your thoughts? I'm getting it for a steal, btw. The hook up, some call it. And if I get it tonight I can join a giant Creature rally on Sunday. Booyeah. A big ol' steamysexygassmell booyeah.

New Brahmin

I propose we induct Lance into our posse. And again, I'll have a manifesto soon enough.

tentative calendar

Tuesday, September 23- Finnegans Wake @ 703 Haight.

Wednesday, September 24- King Kahn @ Urban (free, early, 7p)

Thursday, September 25- Frida Kahlo @ SFMoMA (extended hrs, $3 admission)

Friday, September 26- Critical Mass @ downtown (meet at my work, 5:50p sharp!)

Saturday, September 27- Teenage Dance Craze @ Knockout ($2 cuhrazy cheap!)

Sunday, Septemer 28- Okay @ Hemlock

Monday, September 29- Bike Kitchen fundraiser @ el Rio

Tuesday, October 1- Finnegans Wake @ 703 Haight

Thursday, October 2- Matcha @ Asian Art Museum (Japanese tattoo!, $5)

Monday, October 6- Tune- up class @ Bike Kitchen ????? (registration req'd + $70/ 3 classes/ consecutive mondays in October)

NOO8S

This is my new favorite story to tell!

ENJOI

This weekend, MC and I were in Chicago riding bikes. I was on my fixed and he was rocking the Bianchi commuter, both of us in cleats. Just cruisin' around, you know?

We decide to make a stop; I hop off my bike and he pulls up next to me and starts to dismount, but for whatever reason his foot won't come out of the pedal and he starts to tip over... ope, oh! wow!!! and he grabs me - we both go down!!! Domino effect: his bike, him, me, my bike - BOOM, we fall down. Hilarious.

Then.

We're riding one of the main streets in downtown Chicago, and we're pressed up pretty close to a high curb. Kind of like riding down Market, you know? Sort of shitty streets, lots of traffic, really tall curbs, and not quite enough room for you and your bike. As we're moving along, I go to stop and put my right foot on the curb, but for whatever reason this time MY foot won't come out of the pedal! And so I literally just TIP OVER onto the sidewalk. And I'm laying there, still attached to both of the pedals, absolutely cracking up. McLean comes over and is laughing hysterically as well - and we suddenly realizes that there is a bus HONKING LOUDLY at me, because my wheels are still hanging a couple feet into the street and the bus can't get by. So I start to shimmy and slide, trying to pull my feet and my bike up onto the sidewalk, and finally the bus has enough room to get by. So it moves up a bit and pulls up to the curb and stops WITH THE BACK DOOR RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. AND THEN THE BACK DOOR OPENS, and people emerge, or rather - attempt to. No one can get out the door because I'm lying there on the sidewalk, right in front of it, still clipped into my bike. So I shimmy and shake again, scoot a bit over, and people step around me and the bus leaves.

Pretty good.

Anyway, the moral of the story is: riding bikes in Chicago RULES. It is the most incredibly flat place I've ever ridden. God's hand itself must have laid those streets with a level. You should probably go there and fall down for yourself, just to see what its about. Definitely recommend it.

el Rio anyone?

The Bike Kitchen's having their 5 year anniversary at el Rio on the 29th. It's a fundraiser, 8 bucks and your in, but drinks are a buck. There's live music and it sounds like a rad time. Holla acha boy

It's pronounced "pə-rē'zhən lôn'drē"

http://www.parisianlaundry.com/artists_fr/smith010_fr

Pon the replay

someday.

OPINION POLL

I figure it's about time I abuse this privilege, seeing as I've had access to this venue for at least a couple hours.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: fixed gear bici - clipless pedals, or not to clip?

I've been riding fixed for a couple weeks now, and I switched my clipless pedals over and have been riding in my cleats most every day. What are others' thoughts/preferences?

Party Tunes

I know this is kinda short notice but can everyone post their suggestions for hot dance tracks for tomorrow night (my birthday party), I'm trying to make it as unforgettable as I can. any sort of music is acceptable as long as you know you can get down to it. test out your ideas by trying to dance to them in the comfort of your own home. also, if you are reading this, you are invited. 1235 19th avenue X lincoln. Do it to it!

Steamroller Aftermath

Holla! Center for the Book is hosting a street fair this Saturday on De Haro between 16th n 17th. Local printmakers and bookbinders will be printing linocuts via a steamroller against the pavement.  It's from 12-5:00 with food and music. Although it's the aftermath of Rob's bday, I'm telling myself I'll go. Holla acha boy if you're up to it.

Bienvenue a Brohemspace.

Party at 946 Haight on Saturday, I forgot to tell everyone. My roommate Fran is having a bday bash in conjunction with a few others. Themes: high school sports and pajamas. Byob or a few bucks for a keg. I'm planning on hanging for the early game.