Troisième

What a night! My evening went as follows. I attended a lecture at Modern Times Bookstore given by Terence Kissack on his new book Free Comrades. You can listen to the recording I made here. He investigates public records, journals, and books published between 1895 and 1917 to expand the scope of the history of queer politics in the United States. He examines the work of anarchists such as Emma Goldman, Benjamin Tucker, and Alexander Berkman all of which defended the right of individuals to pursue same-sex relations, often challenging the conservative beliefs of their fellow anarchists as well as those outside the movement who chastised queer people.

In Free Comrades Kissack examines the trial and imprisonment of Oscar Wilde, the life and work of Walt Whitman, periodicals including Tucker's Liberty and Leonard Abbott's The Free Comrade, and the frank treatment of homosexual relations in Berkman's Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist. By defending the right to enter into same-sex partnerships free from social and governmental restraints, the anarchists posed a challenge to society still not met today

After that I met up with my friends Alex and Cody (both of which I haven't seen in years) along with a few others and went to Taqueria Guadalajara. You've never had a burrito until you've had one out here in California.

We ended up going to a queer dance party in downtown. It was a benefit for the campaign to Free the San Francisco Eight. A little background: Eight former Black Panthers were arrested January 23rd in California, New York and Florida on charges related to the 1971 killing of a San Francisco police officer. Similar charges were thrown out after it was revealed that police used torture to extract confessions when some of these same men were arrested New Orleans in 1973.

I was in a shitty mood and didn't feel like doing much other than drinking. I wanted to dance but couldn't find anybody that I felt like dancing with so I helped Eric Pass out fliers for this event. I did get another flier for a queer discussion group to be held on the same night regarding the assimilationist agenda of the pride movement. I'm excited to participate.

Alex and I left the party to hang out with some young punkers at their apartment. We mostly talked about tattoos, beer, and sludge/post-metal. Good times all around. Alex and I went back to crash at his place. It ended up being another excellent night.