Sunday, June 17, 2012

Out and About



“not-out” phobia in today’s gay community

I had somewhat of an epiphany tonight, ironically, while I was browsing Adam4Adam (this is a gay dating/hookup site – yes, there is dating if that is what you are looking for) . I got a message from a guy – seemed nice enough, we chatted a bit, he’s cute, on and on. It eventually comes out that he isn’t out of the closet. He’s 23 years old, almost done with college. It seemed so foreign to me – and I remembered my typical (and rather callous) line “Well, I don’t date guys who aren’t out – I had my identity crisis, I don’t need someone else’s”.



I came out of the closet at 16 years old, then I took that shit and ran with it. Before I came out of the closet, I was pretty much your stereotypical picked-on kid – socially awkward, short tempered, fat (200 lbs at 13), and friendless. After I came out of the closet, my life did an almost complete 180 – I lost 50 pounds, had all kinds of friends, and juggled about 3 different guys off and on for my entire junior year.  It was, by far, the best thing that happened in my entire life – even if the rest of my life is a total disaster.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

A word about Joe Arpaio



I have been a little light on the posting lately, but here’s a couple videos from June 12th’s protest at Fourth Avenue Jail over the death of MCSO inmate Raymond Farinas. More to come shortly – should be regarding immigration.


My take on the culture that Sheriff Joe has created in the MCSO jail system.
And then…
Arpaio’s theory is that inmate Raymond Farinas died from choking on peanut butter–really?


Thanks for watching. Filming is via Santiago James Chavez (link is to his YouTube channel), who has my eternal thanks for putting these up. 

Monday, June 11, 2012

Another Inmate Death in Maricopa County



Joe arpaio has blood on his hands; when will enough be enough?

6-11-12-LACROIX-INMATE-DEATH-JAIL
Raymond Manuel Farinas, 40, died after posting bail on June 11th.

Another day, another death in the Maricopa County jail system. Following the recent murder (let’s call it what it is) of inmate Marty Atencio , Raymond Farinas, an inmate at the 4th Avenue Jail has died in custody, and the MCSO is saying that he choked on peanut butter:
Ramirez said she was told that her son choked on a peanut butter sandwich, but she said he never would have eaten peanut butter. "My son never ate peanut butter, he was allergic."
Ramirez claims when she was allowed to see her son's body, it was covered in bruises. "He was all bruised like they had taken him and beaten him with something. He had a cut on his forehead."
Pretty shitty attempt at a cover up from Sheriff Joe and crew. And since we’ve already established that they’ve told a lie about the nature of Farinas’s death, the only question that remains is if he died at the hands of a Detention Officer, or if his death was the result of negligence on the part of corrections staff. The culture of dehumanization and degradation that I documented in my previous post is the direct contributor to the pattern of inmate abuse, mistreatment and death in the Maricopa County jail system. This man did not deserve to die – and this mother did not deserve to lose her son. Only in an unjust society could someone’s life be so devalued. I’m not really sure what to say outside of that, other than I that on a personal note, I keep thinking that this could have been me. This isn’t right. Joe Arpaio’s continued human rights violations will be a decades long shame upon the face of this state and Maricopa County.

Friday, June 8, 2012

A Day in the Durango Hilton



My time in Maricopa county’s Durango jail

One of the silver linings that I attempted to make out of my prison sentence was that, in many ways, I was about to embark on my own “inside” documentary – given that I was politically active and fairly well read, I figured I might as well attempt to stay positive and use my time to focus on what incarceration is really like. And, lucky me, I would get to spend part of my time in the custody of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office – where prisoner mistreatment has been a red hot issue for much of the last 10-15 years.


(if you would like a summary of my entire situation and what led me to my jail trip, check out this post right here.) \


What's not to love?
The entrance to the MCSO’s Durango Jail, located in South Phoenix

After I was arrested and released, a plea offer was negotiated over a three month period. I would plead guilty and receive somewhere between 4-12 months in prison (I got 9), and the day (August 25th, 2011)I came that I had to plead guilty. Once you change your plea to guilty, you are immediately remanded to custody pending a sentencing hearing a month later. Since I hadn’t received a prison sentence yet, I was placed in the custody of the MCSO pending my sentencing, and for that month, I was incarcerated at Durango Jail, an all-male, minimum/medium security jail, holding mostly non-violent, first time offenders who had never served any prison time. 


While Tent City, Sheriff Joe’s favorite prop for the media/conservatives, gets the vast majority of the press regarding his jail operation, a large chunk of complaints regarding inhumane treatment originate from the county’s brick and mortar jails, including the recent controversy regarding the death of inmate Marty Atencio during booking, or off and on hunger strikes protesting the quality of food provided at the jails. In addition, nearly 90% of male inmates in a non-Tent City jail are considered legally innocent and are awaiting trial.
Here’s a quick summary on the logistics/setup of Durango Jail:
The Durango Jail was built in 1976 as a minimum security jail. The
Durango Jail houses approximately 2214 inmates in seven housing
units and two barracks buildings. Each housing unit contains four
“pods,” and each pod contains a general-purpose day room area with
metal tables and stools, and a bathroom area with sinks, toilets and
showers. There are two large outside areas for recreation.
What was it like? Does it live up to the “human rights violations/Amnesty International”  hype that we hear so often on the television? Yes and no, and that answer can depend on who you are and how you behave while you’re in custody. On a personal level, I had no issues with other inmates or staff, a little bit of money, and was quiet – and the stay was “tolerable”, in so far as I made it tolerable, because I had no other options. But, on the whole, Durango Jail is a pit of boredom and dehumanization, designed specifically to slowly suck the soul out of you day by day. They may not beat you physically, but staff are designed to treat detainees as a lower class of being, often calling names, screaming off the cuff, and sending the message that you are no longer equal to other human beings – in fact, one of the postcards available for indigent inmates to send mail on declares that inmates aren’t even as good as dogs: (sorry for the quality on this, best I could find)

MCSO's winning strategy on reducing recidivism.
The MCSO’s winning strategy on reducing recidivism: telling offenders they are worse than animals.

Throughout the whole experience, this is perhaps what bothered me the most. The attitude of jail staff as a whole enforces an inmate’s assumption that criminals can never be reformed and that somehow, their offense put them in a sub-human class that will never be able to recover from their mistakes – which creates a self-fulfilling prophecy that sends them right back to jail or prison.

A card that the Sheriff’s Department likes to play when encountering that argument is that there are “plenty” of 12 step meetings, GED/HS Diploma classes, and religious services available to assist inmates in enriching their lives upon release. These things are offered – to typically less than 5 total inmates throughout the day in each “pod”, meaning that these classes and services don’t have space for roughly 80% of the general population in custody at the jail. The excuse is that larger numbers of attendees may result in a security threat, but given the non-violent, low-risk type of inmate typically incarcerated there, this makes no sense. Even in the Arizona Department of Corrections – the state prison system – self help and educational classes are not LIMITED by inmate participation numbers, with hundreds of inmates on each prison yard alone attending classes or meetings on a daily basis.

So what does that leave inmates with on a daily basis? Well, let’s start with the cells. At Durango, in each pod, there are roughly 20 cells, with each cell holding 4 people, double bunked. The cells are roughly the size of a high school storage closet (this isn’t a joke), but do not have doors. Inmates are bunked together without regard to race, as the race issue doesn’t really come into play until you reach prison. Each cell looks out into the central dayroom, with two long, steel picnic style tables, a TV high on the wall, and a large, communal bathroom, with shower curtains but no stalls. Dayroom access is typically allowed all day, from 6:00am until 10:00pm, unless the pod or jail is locked down. The dayroom has three “charge-a-call” collect phones for inmates to call on, and the TV is typically on ESPN or ESPN2. Meals are served at roughly 7am and then not again until about 5:30pm, with breakfast always being a large bread roll and old peanut butter. Dinner is typically indecipherable, and, at first, inedible, but you get used to it after a few days, out of necessity. I was never fed anything rotten, and was gross overall, but you learn how to make it work in the long run.

In terms of the inmates – most are normal people who screwed up. Durango’s general population also includes people charged on misdemeanors as well as felonies, but any violent felonies are housed at other jails. There were fights, and drama on a daily basis (amazing how dramatic straight men are when they get bored), but as long as you didn’t go looking for trouble, it never found you. In many ways, this is the easiest place to get along with so many inmates and offenders: often, in jail or prison, they are stone cold sober and have a clear head/thought process. I’ve witnessed first hand seemingly sane, logical people turn into banshees when they get high, and that’s the problem for many drug addicts who keep going in and out of our criminal justice system.

Long story short – the reason why I made it through my time at Durango is because I knew that the detention staff would always win. Because I was healthy, mentally stable, and out of trouble, I didn’t have any reason to ever speak with staff – removing myself as a potential target. The trouble is, many inmates with medical/mental issues don’t have that luxury, and generally, those are the inmates who have their rights violated, and those are the inmates that we need to fight to protect.  My experience with the MCSO was horrible, but I expected horrible and that made it tolerable. The idea – however – that Joe’s “tough jails” in any way prevent people from going out and committing more crime is laughable. 

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Drawing the Line on Same-Sex Marriage



the time has come: friends and family, you’re either with us or against us

257268197433926409_xAAilx14_c
Yet another new poll out today showing national support for same-sex marriage at an all time high: (from CNN/ORC)
Indeedy, it is getting better. A CNN/ORC poll released yesterday revealed that 54% of Americans believe same-sex marriage should be made legal. 42% still oppose the idea, but with the support at the highest levels since 2008, the news is a ray of sunshine warming our smiling faces through the storm clouds. (Forgive the cheese.) 73% of people polled aged 18-34 gave their support.
Same sex marriage at a +12 favorability nationally is pretty stunning to see, but it seems like that’s pretty close to the actual number, with this May 23rd Washington Post/ABC Poll showing support at 53-39 (+14). The most stunning number is that 3 out of every 4 people under the age of 35 back same-sex marriage, putting that issue on the same level as interracial marriage in a very real sense (roughly 25% of Americans are publicly against interracial marriage). More interesting stat lines from the polling:
Less than a quarter, 23 percent, of Republicans supported marriage equality, compared with 70 percent of Democrats.
60 percent of people said they had a family member or close friend who was gay, compared with 45 percent in 2007.
The most dramatic take from this data is how far out of the social mainstream the Republican Party has come. With only 23% in support, that means that the polling must have found roughly 60-65% overall support for same sex marriage between Democrats and independents. President Obama’s historic endorsement of same sex marriage seems to be the catalyst at pushing same sex marriage support into the driver’s seat on a permanent basis, even in the African-American community, where same sex marriage struggled to gain a foothold previously.
But what does that mean for us? The main point to be drawn from all of the above is that now, more than ever, the war for public opinion is over. The 65+, super conservative voting bloc is pretty much cancelled out because the rest of the country is with us. And the fact is, the time for fence sitting is over.


I’m sure many LGBTQ individuals can relate to having that one friend or family member that just can’t bring themselves to support same sex marriage, but boy, are they sure nice to you! Hey, they think you should be able to see your “partner” at the hospital, but “marriage is marriage”! Maybe it’s because of their religion, or they just are a “traditionalist”.

Well, here’s the thing: When roughly 7/10 non-crazy people agree that not allowing same-sex marriages is a violation of civil and human rights because it denies equality, your support for denying equal rights to gay and lesbian Americans is no longer acceptable because the rest of us have evolved enough to realize that it is a bigoted, discriminative and morally abhorrent position that, very shortly, will be as socially acceptable as a KKK cross-burning. Get with the program. The simple fact is, on a personal level, how you can look me in the face and profess your “love” or “care” for me while simultaneously supporting the government’s ability to legally discriminate against me for something I can’t control is SICK. It’s wrong, and it’s fucked up.


And I am sorry if you just “can’t do it”. Maybe it’s the Bible, or whatever backwards, outdated, and usually outrageous excuse that you use to justify your innate homophobia, but here’s the deal: we’re done. To those in my life that don’t support my fundamental right to marry whomever I choose, then fuck off. This might seem callous, but why do I want to remain on speaking terms with someone who believes that I should be discriminated against in the eyes of the law? I am not friends with any white supremacists, or neo-Nazis. I am sure as hell not going to be associating with anyone who’s a bigot and homophobe, and yes, when you’re a homophobe, and believe in discrimination, that absolutely makes you a bigot. You are NO BETTER than a racist or a sexist. History will judge you that way, and I have no interest in associating with someone who will be known as a member of the last generation that opposed same-sex marriage in America.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

You can log out, but you can never leave.



google+, google photos, google docs, google maps…google internet?

Surprising No One, Using Google  Is The Best Way To Boost Your Website's Search Ranking - Business Insider
    



The infographic on the right details the  effectiveness of high popularity on Google+ and the way it transitions to search result rankings on Google Web Search.
























click here

Launched only 10 months ago, Google Plus is Google’s last and grandest attempt to gain a foothold in the social networking market after the abject failure of Google’s last hyped social network debut, Google Buzz. Today, Google+ is ranked 3rd on the social web for monthly visitors, trailing only Twitter, and of course, Facebook. Even with that, news on Google+ has been quiet – it has a well developed niche of current users, but doesn’t drive any excitement – most likely because of it’s lack of colorful “bloat” – a mixture of apps, games, 3rd party disasters, and stupid teenagers.


But it increasingly looks like this may be the calm before the storm. In a bold move, Google merged Google Places (the internet’s most widely used location look up service) and Google+ to create Google+ Local, integrating free Zagat ratings and Google Places listings with Google+ pages – effectively meaning that if you click for details on a business on Google Maps, it will, at some point, push you straight through to a company’s Google+ page. It’s sort of like the Facebook search bar…except it’s on the world’s largest search engine and highest visibility website. Now – while aggressive – this isn’t pushing users to go through Google+ for everything related to a business’s presence online.


What IS going to push EVERYTHING business page related through Google+ is a combination of two main things:
  1. Integration of Google+ profiles and +1’s into Google Web Search results. Active Google+ pages rocket to the top of Google search results for people logged into Google when they search.
  2. Direct Google Web Search bar access to Google+ pages. Take a look at this neat trick in Google Web Search if you use a “+” in front of a search term:

Google



The top search suggestion automatically reserves for an applicable Google+ page, meaning potentially, the very first search result for even the world’s biggest and most searched for brands won’t be a proprietary website, but the company’s official Google+ page. Right now this feature is only available for what seems to be a group of well known brands or people, but will be rolled out to all business pages eventually. 


Google is also implementing fixes for their last major hurdle: their business pages are just dull and boring. From the above link:


The first thing you’ll notice is the new layout and design for the listing for your business. All your basic business information is still available. And by streamlining the layout and putting more focus on photos and reviews, we hope to help you highlight what makes your business truly unique.
Google did us the favor of rolling out the updates to a select group of small businesses to get an idea of what “new” Google+ pages will look like. Updated Google+ business pages include direct Zagat integration and direct OpenTable integration, marking the first foray into third party/page applications. The page for +The Meatball Shop is a perfect example, showing the updated features, but unlike Facebook, no increased bloat.


While it’s an ambitious overtaking and lofty rhetoric for a social networking that has not generated the heat that many thought it would, if performed correctly, Google+ will put themselves in a position to perhaps rival Facebook in less than five years, mainly because instead of trying to fit the conventional internet into a social network, they will make the internet fit a social network via their massive search provider presence. This should be interesting to watch.
Guess you’d better +1 this post.
Here to Publish




Friday, June 1, 2012

Our Neighborhood Ashram.



Gurdwara Sahib Guru Nanak Dwara, Coronado Historic District, Phoenix
 
This is a part of a series on the Coronado Historical District in Phoenix, AZ