Beat

Beat, originally uploaded by SisterSafetyPin.

Beat on the brat
Beat on the brat
Beat on the brat... With a baseball bat!
Oh yeah, oh yeah...
Oh oooh....

Beat on the Brat | The Ramones

I am once again in the cafe called Sipology.

Sip-ol-ogy: [noun] : A cafe that makes unbelievably good latte's | [verb] the process of drinking an unbelievably good latte from Sipology.

So ok, the definitions are mine, but this place is amazing. And yet another reason to love Long Beach. Call me biased [which I'm sure you will] but the hidden gems here are amazing. I'm willing to put Long Beach a notch above downtown la for the shear gayness of the city. Which is cool.

Cause I'm a little gay girl.

Speaking of little gay girls... I've been trying to hold off blogging about this. Because hope springs eternal that I'll soon be a taken little gay girl. At which point, it would be highly embarrassing if she read this... But alas...

I met someone.

And she's... older. [like always]. Taller than me [barely]. Lives in San Francisco [an hour away]. And asked for my number & email [gave me hers as well].

So yeah... we talked for about 8 hours straight about... Music, politics, randomness... and it was great in a big way. And she was my type in a big unidentifiable way... [I can never describe my type when asked, but I always know it when I see it...]

So... yeah... all good, right?

The Truth | You have to love a cafe that plays | Handsome Boy Modeling School

What Makes a Ghetto?

IMG_3810, originally uploaded by nicolemonet2002.

The Ghetto.

People hear the phrase all the time: in the news, on their favorite crime shows, on the radio and even during everyday conversations. But what makes something 'Ghetto'? By what parameters do we judge an area and determine it as a part of the Ghetto? And what requirements must a Ghetto meet before it can be viewed without the negative word hanging around it's description?

When people think about the Ghetto, they think: cheap, poor, trash, and graffiti. They see homeless people loitering in the streets and unsavory types hiding int he wings, just waiting for a helpless outsider to become their next victim. People hear the word, "Ghetto" and they think: drugs, gangs, and crime.

However, this description of the Ghetto is little more then a caricature. Much in the same way shows like "The Hills" and "The Real Housewives of Orange County" are caricatures of what life in Orange County is like. The Ghetto is more then just a bad dream for those fortunate enough to not have been born there. The Ghetto is character.

The Ghetto is a collection of first generation citizens, immigrants, labor workers, families, churches, schools, small businesses and the entrepreneurs that run them, fast food chains, corner markets, and yes... some graffiti. But is that really a bad thing? Many people see living in the Ghetto as the absolute worst situation to find themselves in. However, to the people that live there... to the first time home buyers, the local shop owners, and the youth [that often get labeled as future criminals the day they're born], it is a community.

A community that is unapologetic about wearing its skeletons on its sleeve. A community of people that struggle everyday and live every night. A community of people that aren't always pretty, but always are. They are both the workers and the users of society. They are the Ghetto. For better or worse