Date: 7/23/2004 07:53:13 -0600
From: (Rogi Riverstone)
Subject: Fwd: RE: Hair Care - Homemade Shampoo - Conditioner - Hair Dye - MousseRecipes
I sent my friend the URL of Pioneer Thinking. It has homemade recipes & suggestions for all manner of things, including hair care.
Yes, this is the muse for my poem, "Angel Hair."
She feels guilty, indulging in grooming, when children are starving in Biafra. She wonders how many kids could be fed for the price of a concealer stick. Then, she wonders how many kids could EAT a concealer stick, as they're probably edible.
She is struggling to reconcile her attraction to beauty & grooming products with her leftist politics.
I replied:
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Sent e-mail message
From: (Rogi Riverstone)
Date: Fri, Jul 23, 2004,
7:22am
To: Grace
Subject: RE: Hair Care -
Homemade Shampoo - Conditioner - Hair Dye - MousseRecipes
Dear Grace,
LMFAO! re: concealer.
See, this is the reason I like to make my OWN! AND why I like to pick
TRASH!
Hell, with a brief stint in the microwave for powders, or a brief dunk
in rubbing alcohol for creamy sticks, all my trash makeup is completely
safe and free! I've even made my own, out of earths, juices, etc.
I won't smear any trash on you; don't worry.
HERE is my philosophy of radical politics and beauty:
We are engaged in the daunting task of subverting a superstructure which
has ALL manner of defenses, and offenses!, in place to stop us. They
will kill, torture, mutilate and disempower any of us they can get their
hands on.
It is, therefore, easy to fall into the temptations of becoming burned
out. Which is just ANOTHER of the superstructure's tactics!
As long as we approach the work with THEIR paradigm: that it's hard
work, painful, serious to the point of humorless, unemotional,
nonsexual, etc., we are in immediate peril of self destruction.
IF we're serious about replacing the dominant superstructure with
alternative ways of being, it is imperative that we actually PRACTICE
these ways of being, along the way.
Nurture, cuddling, fondling, primping, affection, color, twinkling,
fuzzy, soft, kind, gentle, kissing, singing, playing... these things are
the Stuff the superstructure CAN'T destroy, dominate or even RECOGNIZE,
as they're antithetical to its paradigm, in the first place!
Loving ourselves, and each other where possible, is how we subvert the
system. It spreads. It heals. It provides the sanctuary in which we cook
up our plots, plans and actions.
That old, leftist, Marxist babushka crap may be fine for workers who
want to take over the pollution-spewing factories, who are STILL too
afraid to think and feel for themselves, and who just want a hot potato
on their plate at the end of the day.
But, whoever controls the factories, they're still factories; they still
kill.
I want to plant roof meadows. I want paths, instead of roadkill. I want
hand made things, instead of slave-made things. I want a goat in my yard
and chickens on my roof. I want my wooden computer solar powered. I want
art in the streets and music in the air.
I want pretty people, laughing and hugging, walking down the mulched
paths, past gardens of free produce for hungry people. I want people
with comfortable bodies and active minds working with me.
There's no contradiction, Grace. Beauty is not a luxury. You have GOT
to read Alice Walker's "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens!"
Only the middle class and priviledged are smug enough to sneer at
lipstick, flowers, doilies and blueberry tarts! Because they have the
priviledge to overindulge, every day! Poor folks know beauty is HARD
work -- literally, a labor of love -- that keeps them hopeful, healthy,
stimulated, joyful and vivid.
I went through the hiking boots & overalls stage, with the radical
lesbian feminists in the seventies. You never SAW such a grumpy bunch of
bitches! Lipstick lesbianism was the BEST thing to hit the women's
movement in a hundred years.
Each of us is all we've got. We have a scant time on this dirt clod. I
say, let's do it in silks!
Guilt is the weapon of the oppressor. It's internalized mind control.
It's not healthy; it's not happy; it's not creative and it CERTAINLY
doesn't heal a damn thing. It keeps us in line, while the overseers are
away.
YOU have worked SO HARD to be Grace!!! CELEBRATE yourself! You're a
friggin' MIRACLE!
