Lonely Ocean Post

ZOMBIE updated

2011-02-21T02:06:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that Chapter One of my story, ZOMBIE: The Incident at Bloody Rock, is available now. More updates to the poetry blog soon.

--Gabriel

100th Post to Poetry Blog

2011-02-17T06:30:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to tell you that I reached the 100th post ("Breaking Up Again") on my poetry blog, "Words Set On Auto". The five most recent posts are brand-new releases: Breaking Up Again; Surviving Complexity, Afloat of Perplexity; Negotiations at the Duvet; Endless Holidays; and Square Root. Hope you like them.

--Gabriel

P.S.
I am going to try and release a new chapter of my story "ZOMBIE: The Incident at Bloody Rock" once a week. Stay tuned for Chapter 01.

formspring.me

2011-02-11T21:31:00.001-08:00

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/rusticmonk86

New Story, ZOMBIE: Incident at Bloody Rock

2011-02-11T03:40:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

I posted the first chapter of my story "ZOMBIE: Incident at Bloody Rock" to a new blog. Click the link HERE; or find it in the "My Other Blogs" list.

In this story-line, the cure for AIDS creates zombies. Except there are some twists in how the zombies behave. This kind of opened a new can of worms. For instance, hosts that had HIV before being infected with the new zombie virus are more intelligent than those with hosts that did not have HIV. It could also depend how far the virus had progressed.

The characters in this story are part of a single-father household and consists of a father and two sons; the youngest of which has HIV. He is being treated in a remote Children's Hospital that is run by the world's leading scientist in the field. And he was the one who managed to reprogram the virus using stem cell technology, and get it to attack HIV and replicate normal cells. But, something went wrong.

All the kids suddenly become violently ill and have to be put into critical care. Even the outpatient kids get moved into the Cancer Ward to make room. And it's pretty much all bad from there.

Some of you might think that this seems like that movie, "I Am Legend." Well fuck you. I was writing this a couple weeks before that movie made the theatres. And besides, that was about a cure for CANCER. This is about the cure for HIV.

And also, if you would have read the book (like I did) you would have been very disappointed. It never mentioned zombies and the main character was a racist white guy who used the "N" word a lot. Surprised? I was, too. And very disappointed.

So please, don't argue with me about the merits of originality here and just read the story.

Sincerely,

Gabriel Duncan

P.S.
In trying to figure out how to make it easy to navigate the chapters, I am using tags. So, therefore, (in order to make the chapters display in the proper order) I have dubbed the Prologue, "Chapter 00".

Changes to All of the Blogs

2011-02-11T02:33:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to let you know that I redesigned all of the blogs. I tried to make the formats of all of them the same, mostly, with my list of blogs, the blog archive, and the formspring box all in the same place. I was going to add a new blog called: Gabriel Duncan's "Zombie"; but I wanted to work a little on the back story of some of the characters before I published the first complete part. And also edit part one more.

Hope you like the changes!

--Gabe

First Post After Years

2011-02-07T03:19:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

Yeah, I'm a bad blogger, I haven't kept blogging. But I have created two new blogs. One is called "Frame These Moments" and I have some of my photography up there. The second is called "Words Set On Auto". And I have a lot of poetry there. I am considering making more blogs where I will post my stories with each post as a chapter. Let me know what you think. Also, I will have more essays and stuff to post here soon.

--Gabriel

Undead Things

2009-03-30T04:28:00.001-07:00

Tell me this is not the best zombie story beginning ever!

Elderly Woman Dies After Rottweiler Bite

Alameda Woman Hides Dog Bite, Dies

Has anyone seen that movie, "Quarantine"? Hecka good.

Dead Cops

2009-03-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

I'm sure a lot of you are going to be unhappy with what I have to say. Just liek every other post. But maybe this one a little more.

So, in Oakland there were four cops shot dead by this guy, Mixon. The whole incident happened in East Oakland, a couple blocks away from the Eastmont substation. Around where my boyfriend lives. Needless to say I've been in the neighborhood and seen how it is on a regular day. Which, for someone raised in the suburbs of Alameda, is pretty scary. Lots of black people everywhere. Scary music. Cholos on corners. And the ever-present possibility of gunfire. Sometimes. Which is a lot more often than I've ever been subjected to. In Alameda, there is no gunfire, no violence really, at all. We had maybe five murders last year. All of them were solved.

I have never lived in a place where stray bullets can hit my house or someone in it. No matter who I am or how I live my life. And I'm not using my boyfriend as a way of grasping for "knowledge of the hood." Did you know that the maximum effective range of an AK-47 is 874.89 yards? That's more than 7 football fields. Which is more than three blocks in the suburbs of Oakland. 2,629 feet. Which is this large, represented in the shaded area:

View Larger Map

It irked me that the whole area was shut down after the shootings. That the police and sheriff were guarding every corner. It irked me because that kind of response would have never happened in the same area if the people shot had been civilians. Technically, those cops didn't even need to be there after the slayings happened. The bad guy was dead. And the dead cops were at the hospital. But they were there, wasting our money anyway.

All this media hype. All these people showing their support for these dead cops.... I have to wonder why the people before these cops weren't honored in the same way. Why are the stories about the armed guards who never came? Why do four cops get a memorial at the Oracle Arena?

Why not the dead civilians?

What happened to them?

You know, usually I write about being in favor of shooting dirty cops. And this isn't one of those. We need cops. Not dirty cops, but the real men and women in blue who protect and serve us everday. But I don't feel right doing this. I feel like this is an afront to the memory of everyone who ever died in East Oakland.

Projects (A Realization)

2009-03-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

So, I'm working on this one project right now. (I'm working on a lot, actually.) And something happened that made me think of how projects and collaborations work out. Not really. I had a really great idea of what to write about when i got on here but no real thesis. I just got frustrated with how the project didn't really have full cohesion and stuff. We'd spent over a month on it and not gotten very much out of it due to a lot of different distractions. But that's cool. This project is something that I really want to do. The thing that happened made me think about how people's own agendas play out. No, maybe how people try to reach their own agenda in a group, collaborative setting. And what that looks like.

I actually started working on another project because it was short-term and was infinitesimally more organized and better advertised and everyone there would all be working towards the same goal with enthusiasm that, on a good day, could be considered "vigorous". And I've had the good fortune of having all of the projects I've been a part of have people who were committed and determined to do the best that we could, individually, for the group. We all worked together, through differences. If we had them. I know a couple of projects were I ended up kind of not liking people, but we were able to put it aside and make something great together. It's something else. The feeling you get knowing you've successfully pushed through that barrier.

This project was trying my patience, though. It's better now. And I have confidence the finished product will rock.

"Piggybacking" is like getting your pet project to play a role in something that is not necessarily related, or where it would be a stretch to incorporate it. Or using an organization in a shameless attempt to promote yourself or your pet project.

"Piggybacking" is related to a "take-over" in the non-profit world where one organization which is fundamentally behind the creation and initial planning of itself or an event is "taken over" and the credit is "ganked" by people from another organization who had little to no role in said creation.

"Ganked" is "stolen."

--Gabe

2009-03-03T01:29:00.000-08:00

Death's Message to Some: Slow the F*** Down!

2009-03-02T14:11:00.000-08:00

My friend Ryan died yesterday morning (Sunday, March First, Two-Thousand and Nine.) The story right now is that he had taken methadone and drank gin and beer and never woke up. My friend Raul was awoken because the people in the house were freaked out by the fact that Ryan was dead and they wanted him to check. So he did. And I'll just spare you the gorey bits by saying Raul is gonna need a little while to deal with it.

I didn't know Ryan for that long. Maybe six months at the most. But he was a nice guy who always threw parties at his house. The idea of foul play is something that doesn't sit well with me. So I won't really dwell on it. It's a matter of policy that an autopsy is down when the 'cause of death for someone is not immediately determinable. (It's expensive, too. And they end up charging the next-of-kin.)

When I thought about his death, and what it meant to me. I thought of how unfair it was that he should die. I mean, there are a lot of people out there that I have known that I've seen mix far more lethal combinations of drugs. For instance, when I was at the Culinary Academy, I once saw a fellow school mate take pain killers and muscle relaxers and down more than pint of vodka at the same time. And drink the rest of the night. I found this incredibly dangerous because that combination was a couple steps down in potency--and one chemical short of--lethal injection. Alcohol most certainly could have taken the place of sodium chloride.

I have seen the best of my kind reduced to holey-brained shells of the people they once were. Because they popped pills. I've noticed pills are the new gateway drug for some people. Gets them into pharmaceuticals and coke and meth. One day I'll poll the people I know to see how many of them have tried all these drugs out today. I think it's something not everyone knows about, or even wants to know about: The drug problem in Alameda. But it's here. And I hope the people in charge plan to do more than arrest us.

Movie I Did

2009-03-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

Figured it's been three years and people forgot about it already. So I'm just reminding you. This is called "Do You Get It Yet?" and I made it as a part of a collaboration with [Wells Fargo,] TILT (Teaching Intermedia Literacy Tools) and Frameline in 2006 and was shown at the Frameline 30, the International LGBT Film Festival in San Francisco.

We all made our own vignettes and acted in each other's scenes, as well as did crew for each other (sound, camera, lights and stuff.) Hope you enjoy it.

.

Alcatraz Today

2009-02-06T00:11:00.000-08:00

I'm working on a project with a couple youth and some media professionals to create a piece about the temporary Native American Reclamation of Alcatraz. Heh. Went there today with some folks. No pics of them 'cause I don't know if I have permission. Plus, we'll be publishing this stuff anyway. But I wanted to give you a little taste of some of the best shots I got.

Yeah, that was kind of a tease, huh? LOL. This is about a quarter of what I managed to take and keep. The next three pics are kinda dark . . . The sun set. And the hospital at Alcatraz opened. So I went in and took some available light shots. The big light in the middle of that operating room is a fluorescent lantern.

wooo

One Time someone Told Me to Take a Hike

2009-01-28T03:43:00.000-08:00

BUSH IS GONE!!! (A response . . . .)

2009-01-20T18:35:00.000-08:00

I wrote this post. Someone replied to it. This is my response.

i'm not a terrorist. but ... bush should have some picketers outside his house. be prosecuted for war crimes or some other form of abuse of powers. he deserves to be fucked with at a football game; while he's having dinner in a nice restaraunt. you know. regular shit. it's gonna happen if I say it or not. and i have nothing to do with it, frankly.

water-boarding, kidnapping, assassination, assault, harassment and other forms of illegal activities would be ludacris. and felonious.

when i wrote this post. i was pretty sick and tired of people not using their own initiatives and brain-power to get out there and unite with other people who thought what BUSH was doing was wrong. to get the wheels turning in the impeachment machine (which is still relatively warm.) or at least get more people involved and do more non-violent protest (specifically critical masses.) to empower more people to speak out and crank the machine up some more.

i mean, eight years is way too fucking much, mike3. you don't mind if I call you mike3, do you? we just got rid of BUSH and now there's a lot of things to fix. let's not argue semantics, mike3. my weapon of choice is mixed metaphor. BUSH is like an elephant who sat on America's plumbing. straight up.

what I was trying to say, is that we shoulda tranquilized that elephant and sent him to the pound before anything like OUR WORLD STANDING OR OUR ECONOMY got FUBAR'd.

i was saying that a lot of people are pussies. i mean SHEEP. and it makes me sick. the people who voted for him are idiots. the people who voted for him again should probably be checked for sanity. the people who only talked about impeachment but never wrote a letter or got other people interested are pussies. the people who bitched and whined about BUSH even though they didn't vote are idiots.

and so are the people who would rather argue about something like this after the fact. and the people who talk shit to me while i'm holding a "STOP KILLING GAZA" sign. the people who look away are smarter than both groups.

you know, since JUNE SECOND TWO-THOUSAND an EIGHT, which is when this post was written. a lot of stuff has happened. I don't want to ruin it for you, mike3, but we just had some riots here in Oakland, California. no, it didn't have anything to do with the Raiders.

On New Year's Day, a 22 year old man was shot by a BART Cop. Bay Area Rapid Transit, holmes. That's like our electric-powered commuter trains over here. anyway, there were some riots, the guy was mostly subdued and face down on the ground when he was shot. and i don't want to spoil it for you, like I said, but if you look at my posts in the year 2009, you can find the video of the incident.

this incident gave me some more insight into my feelings about people needing leaders and the mob mentality and how dumb those kids who were kicking out those windows were. and no, not because people recorded them. but because it had nothing to do with a kid getting shot. Oakland City Hall had nothing to do with what BART does. so overall i thought the whole thing was half-baked and ineffectual. it made us look like a bunch of amatuers.

i mean, why not do critical masses on BART platforms, force them to close? and around the administrative buildings? perform sit-ins on BART cars, trade the congo and kumbaya for free-styling or whatever? blow air horns at BART cops' backs?

and I think that all these people who want to riot and stuff should really be guarding the main body of protest. you know? distracting cops so other people can go. like a rodeo cowboy or something.

why kidnap a president? huh, mike3? what would you do if you had a random president you kidnapped? in all honesty, mike3, you'd have to be fucking crazy to seriously entertain that idea. or so insanely hooked up you wouldn't bother with blogging about it and just go straight to some Turner Diaries shit. what are you, some kind of cop?

I truly am surprised that between the president's wife, who's killed someone (I think); whose second-in-command wounded but not killed someone with a shotgun; a nation that threw eggs at him for his inaguration; and an iraqi reporter who can get close enough to hit him a shoe (theoretically) he's still alive!

I know everyone is genuinely worried about Obama, though. And I hope he sticks around for a long time. Let me know when you catch up to 2009, mike3.

Search Laura Bush Murder Trial. Or hit up this article on SNOPES.com [lol, such a reliable source] if you think I'm just trying to be super inflammatory.

What?

2009-01-09T01:10:00.000-08:00

So these cops, right? For some reason they stop these kids on New Years. And this kid. This unarmed 16-year old kid gets capped in the head. On the video released, it's pretty clear the kid wasn't putting up a fight. He was laying face down, with his arms behind his back. And the cop who was standing over him seemed to be the only one concerned with the kid. Everyone else was just looking around, doing crowd control. Then the cop pulled out his gun and pointed it at the kid's head--and before anyone could stop him--he pulled the fucking trigger. Fuckin' A.

I hope that guy gets a double life sentence. I'm not really interested in disarming the BART system. Because that weakens us. We need armed officers guarding our vital transit systems. But this is just disgusting. It would have been more understandable if they shot that reporter who threw a shoe at Bush in the head. Go Bush!

Seriously, though. We're gonna let Greece out-do us like this? I think America is one of the few countries that are actually afraid of the police. Yeah, I said that. Condone, no. Disappointed, a little.

Here it is from a different view. This one includes the beating.

I mean the Raiders losing caused more chaos than this. All we get is some broken windows and a goddamn cover-shot? Nothing. No more?

Whatever.

Next post about Palestine.

If you thought it was rude to point the bottom of your shoe at someone . . . .

2008-12-26T15:12:00.000-08:00

You're gonna love this.....

LOL. They even run it back in slow-mo.

Just Kidding! THE REAL 100TH POST!!!!

2008-12-21T05:21:00.000-08:00

So yeah. As a non-registered process server, and a fan of Pineapple Express. I thought I would make my own list of things we need to do to create the proper legal framework for California's medicinal cannabis industry.

1. REGULATE Cultivation, Sale with Regard to Quality and Additives : This is by far the most important thing that needs to happen to medicinal cannabis. Since the FDA is not involved in this. And since California has a very broad law allowing this; I think it is very important that the State of California get involved with the process of cannabis cultivation and sale with care to additives, and quality. Not only should we have set guidelines on what can and cannot be used as proper fertilizer and growing materials; but they should also set guidelines for additives. Like all this purple-color shit the street-dealers are using to make their weed look like "purp." Which isn't even a fucking strain, by the way. Real strains are called, "Train Wreck", "Maui Wowie" and "Pineapple Express."

Yeah. Big pet peeve there. I mean. I wanted to buy weed. But you gave me something with some purple spots. No, not because your grower used more phosphorus than he should have. But because either you or someone in your distribution chain thought it would be cute and sell more if your weed had some more color, you know? Well, unfortunately, I don't know what you used for color. And I don't know if you decided to add anything to give this marijuana a little kick. Furthermore, the fact that I gotta deal with your no-returns, teeth-broken-in policy makes me just a helpless when it comes to you ripping me off like this.

And it is a rip-off. And it is dangerous. And it's just fucking sad. I mean, why fuck up something good? It came from the club. So just let it be.

I want the State of California to regulate this. Make a definition for ORGANIC. Make a label law for cannabis itself and not just edibles. Make it illegal to add anything to joints before Phillip Morris or anyone else can get in on it. Because it would be safer. And it would provide some sort of framework for federal adoption. (You know, if that ever happens.)

2. DE-CRIMINALIZE OR DE-PRIORITIZE Marijuana Related Offenses in Favor of Jailing REAL, DANGEROUS CRIMINALS : We have some real crazy shit going on. I mean, we found Caylee. We found out who killed and decapitated America's Most Wanted's host's son. We need to find out who's gonna shoot up another school. We need to stop people from getting randomly shot down in the streets. We don't need to be busting every poor sod who's smoking a joint in the park. There are some serious fucking crimes going on out there, ladies and gentlemen. And the facts really do show that marijuana does not contribute to violent crime, does not cause death and does NOT cost the american people millions of dollars a fucking year in life insurance payouts, criminal processing, detention time, fixing public and private property. But you know what does? Alcohol. It's a fact. Not like the THEORY OF GRAVITY FACT (which is so well accepted it's considered a law.) Actual case studied fact.

3. REGULATE the Consumption of Cannabis : If this ever went beyond Medicinal Cannabis, I'd like to propose the legal age of consumption of 18. Though 21 would make a lot more sense, since marijuana is sorta an intoxicant. Make a cut-off time, like two in the morning.

4: GET BETTER TESTS : If people are going to start getting pulled over for Driving While Stoned, then there's gotta be a better way of testing people. Now, I know, if the drug is in your system you should technically be under its influence. BUT, you can't test for marijuana the same way you can test for alcohol. The most certainty you can have about when the last time a person smoke weed is their eyes and the smell of their hair. That's pretty much it. Because THC (tetrahydracannabinol, the active ingredient) stays in one's system for about a month.

One time it took me six weeks to test clean. But I wasn't stoned those six weeks. Maybe the first couple of days in the first week. I just smoked so much that it took a long time to clear out (THC settles in fat cells, so if you wanna have a really good time and get clean for that test, work out A LOT.) And it would have been some bullshit to have gotten whacked for driving while stoned when I was actually in a fucking program while i was fucking sober. OMG. That would suck balls. And forget getting caught in Nevada for it. (Not worth it.)

5. TAX IT : Money for schools, money for local governments, money for fighting real crime.

So yeah. That's my list. Umm . . . yeah. This song by The Streets. And it's pretty fitting. So give it a listen. And don't blame me because I'm linking to music. Blame Project Playlist, or the website hosting the file.

"As I was saying, were friendly peaceful people
Were not the ones out there causing trouble.
We just sit in this hazy bubble with our quarters
Discussing how beautiful gail porter is."

The Streets -- "The Irony of It All" (Original Pirate Material)

[END 100th Post.]

Encyclopedias

2008-12-06T23:37:00.000-08:00

encyclopedias
gabriel duncan

if you didn't get it yet
i'm not your best bet
when comes to vests and teks
but i got ten dictionaries
in case your fairy ass wants some
i got a thesaurus in case you wanna get dumb
i got a tome with tabs just for my thumb
wanna fuck with me
see what my rhyming dictionary do to ya
wanna come to my house
i'll show you my encyclopedia
no flash photography, please
don't kuffa with no media
it's the hfb
the homo freedom bandit beated ya

yep

SNAG Holiday Market and Concert Afterwords

2008-12-06T21:43:00.001-08:00

Yeah, this is my hundredth post. Kudos to me. And Kudos to the performers at the SNAG Holiday Market and Concert. I had a lot of fun. And we had a lot of people come. There are some pictures of it floating around in photobucket. But they're a little difficult to search for. So go to SNAGMagazine.com to check out the photos.

The show kinda gelled stuff for me. I've been thinking a lot about performance. Especially after I saw K.G.B. live last month. Then Audiopharmacy and Sista Hailstorm.

I've been watching bands more closely. Trying to figure out what sets them apart from the garage musicians, or the curbside free-styler. The sets they do, the songs they make.

I like to hang out with musicians and artists and I've been doing it since forever. So I get to see them creating and revving up for shows a lot. Then I did the organizing thing. And MC'ing. So I'm no stranger to strangers either.

But I started looking at it differently when hip-hop became my favorite genre. Then there's all the underground/local folks in the bay. And Carlos and Kali over in Brooklyn who were like "whoa!"; which totally encouraged me. And all my friends who flow and make beats. LOL, like Jon who still doesn't really know what to think. And Steven. He supported me a lot when he was around. I've always wanted to sing and stuff, you know.

I guess you could say I was sort of influenced by them all.

I guess this is like a heads up or something. Anyway, this is brand new. By me.

If you're not doing anything THIS FRIDAY....

2008-12-01T02:17:00.000-08:00

My friend Winnona and I will be emceeing.

You can click the poster to enlarge it.

.

OR, AS I LIKE TO CALL IT: After Prop 8's Pass, Conservatives Realize New Fear: Homosexual Acts in School

2008-11-14T01:05:00.000-08:00

Alameda High performs "The Laramie Project"

Seriously By Janet Levaux; I just added the funny bit at the beginning.
Correspondent
Article Launched: 11/06/2008 05:46:03 PM PST MERCURYNEWS.COM

Ten years after gay university student Matthew Shepard was attacked and left for dead near Laramie, Wyo., the Alameda High School drama department has decided to share the story of this hate crime in the interest of furthering understanding and acceptance of differences.

"It's an important work to present, especially on the 10-year anniversary of Shepard's death," said Fred Chacon, director and drama instructor at Alameda High. "He was a gay student at the University of Wyoming, and his death as the victim of a hate crime got a lot of publicity and notoriety."

Of course, telling the story of the brutal attack isn't easy for Chacon or for the students.

"It's an intense work to perform and very challenging," he said. "But the theme of tolerance is an important one, one we try to teach each day."

Students acting in the drama say they wanted to participate in the production because of its strong message.

"People should be understanding of the fact that terrible things happen to others because of discrimination," said Lauren Mercado, one of the performers who is also the play's stage manager.After Prop 8's Pass, Conservatives

Jeanette Zhu plays a narrator in the show, and other narrators are played by fellow students Jason Berk, Kristin Little, Eleanor Johnston and Sofia Fatone-Zayas. Shepard's two assailants, Russell Henderson and Aaron James McKinney, are portrayed respectively by Ben Hughson and Garren Orr.

The controversial drama was written by Moises

Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theatre Project, who interviewed dozens of individuals for the script, which includes close to 70 roles.

More than 25 student actors are participating in Alameda High School's production, which will be presented in the school's Little Theater at 7: 30 p.m. this weekend and next Thursday through Saturday. The play includes strong, adult language and is not recommended for children.

"Drama is a kind of medium that is very effective at teaching lessons about tolerance and giving students awareness of what happened and how the story unfolded," said Chacon.

[End article.]

For more information about what you can do to help make your school cool enough to perform "The Laramie Project" (or something happier) click the link below.

Http://www.glsen.org

Prop 8 Passed

2008-11-08T11:33:00.000-08:00

So . . . that prop 8 thing passed.

:: sighs ::

And I don't really care. I've said before that I'm pretty much against marriage as it is. I already posted about the Supreme Court's decision. But that seems moot now, as the constitution has been amended.

So let's look at different forms of resistance.

This is something I've been considering for a while. The LOCKDOWN OF PUBLIC SPACE BY LARGE GROUPS OF INDIVIDUALS UNITED FOR THE SAME CAUSE.

This doesn't happen often. But it should.

Now, unfortunately, yahoo sucks. So I can only send you links to these videos. But these are two links to videos about Prop 8 Protests in L.A.

Prop 8 Protest Blocks Traffic
LAPD on Tactical Alert Over Protest

I was showing my friend some footage of the White Night Riot. You can find the footage and stuff in my post Matthew Sheppard and Why I Came Out

As far as marriage goes. I think the people have overstepped the boundary of Church and State. And I think the institution of marriage should be dissolved, leaving Californians to only have civil partnerships. If you want to get married, you can do so in your own church, with your own god. But people need to realize there's a difference between giving yourself to each other in front of god, and signing a LEGAL CONTRACT to live with each other for the rest of your life.

But, like I said, I've never been a fan of marriage.

Half of California can suck my dick.

2008-11-04T07:48:00.000-08:00

Obama/Biden

Pete Stark (13th Congressional District US Representative)

Marsha Feinland (9th State Senate District)

Sandre R. Swanson (16th Assembly District)

Hayashi for the Superior Court Judge Office #9

Forbes, Gibson and (wrote in) my mom for the Alameda Unified School District Governing Board Members.

Harrison and Gilmore for City Council.

There was only one person running for Auditor and Treasurer.

AC Transit District Director At Large: Chris Peeples

East Bay MUD Director, Ward 5: Linney

Measures

Safe, reliable high-speed passenger train bond act: Yes
Standards for confining farm animals: Yes
Children's hospital bond act grant program: No (I'm not heartless.)
Waiting period and parental notification before termination of minor's pregnancy: No
Nonviolent drug offenses sentencing, parol and rehabilitation: Yes
Police and law enforcement funding. criminal penalties and laws: Yes
Renewable energy generation: Yes
Eliminates right of same-sex couples to marry: NO [FUCKING WAY!!!]
Criminal justice system. victim's rights. parole: yes
alternative fuel vehicles and renewable energy: yes
Redistricting: NO
Veteren's Bond Act of 2008: YES

Then there are the city props:
P. Yes
Q. Yes
R. Yes
S. No
T. Yes
U. Yes
W. Yes
X.Yes

And district:

VV: Public transportation parcel tax increase of $4: Yes
WW: East Bay Regional Park District Bonds: YES

Concert Announcement

2008-10-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

All Ages Hip Hop Concert featuring DAM!

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!

When: Friday, October 24th, 9:30 pm
Where: Eastside Cultural Center, 2277 International Blvd. Oakland, CA 94606

Purchase tickets online at www.brownpapertickets.com. Space is tight, so purchase your tickets now!

Youth and Student Tickets: $10 Advance or $15 at Door (Must show Student ID at door)

General Tickets: $20 Advance or Door

Sponsored by: Arab Resource and Organizing Center, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, the Arab Film Festival, and Eastside Arts Alliance.

Palestinian Hip Hop group, DAM (Da Arabian MC's), return to the Bay Area for the Berkeley screening of Slingshot Hip Hop (www.aff.org) and concert with Bay Area artist Sizwe from Spear of the Nation. DAM is influenced by US Hip Hop artists, Arab beats, daily struggles they face in Palestine and resistance to occupation.

The concert will bring more awareness and action around issues of political prisoners, particularly the San Francisco 8, 8 community elders and former Black Panther members and supporters unjustly targeted for their activism (www.freethesf8.org).

For more information about the concert contact mxgmoakland@gmail.com or call 415.861.7444

On: The Calfornia Supreme Court's Decision in re MARRIAGES [Six Consolidated Appeals] pt. 1

2008-10-20T16:39:00.001-07:00

I've noticed that, overall, the issue of Same-Sex Marriage is not one that can easily have numbers thrown at it. This is not an issue that has very concrete consequences. It is true that the state of California will receive more money by allowing a larger, more diverse group to marry. It is also true that images of homosexual couples will become more common-place; and that homosexuality may be more accepted if Proposition 8 is defeated. However, the larger, most long-term consequences--which both sides have been using to get us to vote one way or another--will be the hardest to see.

Who has the power to alter cultural norms and long-standing traditions? Does this power come from a Mayor, a Supreme Court? When is it okay, or necessary, to change these norms and long-standing traditions?

On May 15th, 2008, the Supreme Court of California, meddled in the affairs of a state that thought this issue was moot. The decision was tight (5-3) and held that a ban against same-sex couple marrying was unconstitutional. The proceedings lasted for eleven days. The text of the Decision are HERE. Be warned, though, it's a PDF file and contains 172 pages. For reference: The Concurring and Dissenting Opinion of Baxter begins on page 128 and The Concurring and Dissenting Opinion of Corrigan begans at Page 154.

A video that I was watching on Prop 8 [part one, part two] has a quote from the Concurring and Dissenting Opinions of Justice Marvin R. Baxter, in which he said the decision made by FIVE of his colleagues (not just four): VIOLATES THE SPERARATION OF POWERS AND THEREBY COMMITS PROFOUND ERROR. These quotes were used to say the Supreme Court had overstepped its line.

Lemme just add here that using smiling happy people is a bad way to get people to vote for a ban that would make them sad and angry.

But I've found more. The following quotes are also from the Concurring and Dissenting Opinions of Justice Marvin R. Baxter:

Nothing in our Constitution, express or implicit, compels the majority's startling conclusion that the age-old understanding of marriage—an understanding recently confirmed by an initiative law—is no longer valid. California statutes already recognize same-sex unions and grant them all the substantive legal rights this state can bestow. If there is to be a further sea change in the social and legal understanding of marriage itself, that evolution should occur by similar democratic means. The majority forecloses this ordinary democratic process, and, in doing so, oversteps its authority.

This is pretty straight-forward. He thinks the Supreme Court has no business deciding something the Appeals Courts couldn't, now that it was over-turned. And he was shocked, too, so we definitely don't have any business here. Baxter went on to say:

[T]he majority's approach has removed the sensitive issues surrounding same-sex marriage from their proper forum—the arena of legislative resolution—and risks opening the door to similar treatment of other, less deserving, claims of a right to marry. By thus moving the policy debate from the legislative process to the court, the majority engages in faulty constitutional analysis and violates the separation of powers.

When Justice Baxter used the term "less deserving", my eyes kinda popped out of my head. Was he talking about transsexuals? Animals? The insane? The underage? Sorry to put you all in the same category. But who, exactly, deserves to marry more than another, Justice Baxter?

I do agree that the courts may have been overstepping their boundaries. But I think the Supreme Court has the right to strike down any law they deem as unconstitutional; and allow the arena of legislative resolution to fix the law and put it again, to The People. Overall, though, I think the courts were acting within their boundaries and did not change the constitution for any other reason than reflecting the true nature of the Constitution of California and the United States of America.

Who deserves the right to marriage? How is this right determined? It is determined by us. And I think it's a damn shame we would act in defiance of a constitution set forth by American's who forged their way westward to get away from stiff societal norms and seek prosperity and autonomy.

The Supreme Court knew they were in hot water. Which is why the majority decision read:

[S]trict scrutiny (...) is applicable here because (1) the statutes in question properly must be understood as classifying or discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, a characteristic that we conclude represents — like gender, race, and religion — a constitutionally suspect basis upon which to impose differential treatment, and (2) the differential treatment at issue impinges upon a same-sex couple's fundamental interest in having their family relationship accorded the same respect and dignity enjoyed by an opposite-sex couple.

[U]nder this state's Constitution, the constitutionally based right to marry properly must be understood to encompass the core set of basic substantive legal rights and attributes traditionally associated with marriage that are so integral to an individual's liberty and personal autonomy that they may not be eliminated or abrogated by the Legislature or by the electorate through the statutory initiative process.

Some counties eliminated the rights of everyone to marry in opposition to the right of marriage equality. In the end, though, the majority of the (partial) opposition to the court's own decision was most succinctly put forth by Justice Carol A. Corrigan:

The process of reform and familiarization should go forward in the legislative sphere and in society at large. We are in the midst of a major social change. Societies seldom make such changes smoothly. For some the process is frustratingly slow. For others it is jarringly fast. In a democracy, the people should be given a fair chance to set the pace of change without judicial interference. That is the way democracies work. Ideas are proposed, debated, tested. Often new ideas are initially resisted, only to be ultimately embraced. But when ideas are imposed, opposition hardens and progress may be hampered.

Now, this is way more reasonable than what Justice Marvin R. Baxter's (personalized) statement said. This makes sense. And, once again, it's pretty straight forward. All that Justice Carol A. Corrigan is saying is that: in deciding this issue in the courts, the courts didn't give the people the right to make up their own mind. Even if the original prop 22 passed with 61% (WHICH IS NOT OVERWHELMINGLY PASSING) and that proposition was unconstitutional, the courts don't have the authority to change the law, or impose anything more than a line through Cal. Fam. Code §§300, 308.5. And they didn't.

With this decision, the Supreme Court of California did not destroy the balance of power. The federal government did not step in. There have been no riots. Maybe a broken nose or two. (What's up, Jose Nunez?!) But, overall, the fabric of Californian society is still intact.

I think what people are missing here is the autonomy. Having Gay and Lesbian and Bisexual and Transsexual people get married, will not illegitimate your holy marriage, okay? If you got married and decided to have a traditional Catholic wedding at a Cathedral, but your neighbors decided to have a pagan ceremony in their backyard, would you move away? Would you disrupt their ceremony? Would you make a law against pagan weddings? Would you loot and pillage their homes? Force their children and old people into slavery and tie the infidels to a cross? The Romans did. And we have used the cross as a symbol of intimidation for many generations. You could say we had a long-standing tradition of putting on sheets and chasing Black people around for fun.

In fact (I don't remember when) there was a time when black people and white people couldn't marry [because I wasn't alive then. But I know people who were.] In fact, there was a time when Black and White people were forced to use different bathrooms and drinking fountains and had to buy their food at the backs of restaurants like beggars. When it was decided by the Supreme Court that Blacks and Whites should live together in harmony, there was a lot of hardened opposition. But we persevered and California became a model of what kind of prosperity could be achieved by determination in the face of great opposition.

When Asian people came to California in the 1800's to pan for gold and work on California's infrastructure, there were many laws created to take their money and disrupt the practice of their traditions. Many Asian people were forced into slavery, and treated like second-class citizens. This continued through World War Two, and only in the last thirty years has an apology been made to the Asian-American community for their dissemination. But they persevered and carved out nooks for themselves (in a society that seemed to hate them) and thrived.

Today, we are known as the melting pot of America. We celebrate our diversity and encourage differences of opinion. According to The World Factbook, published by the CIA, California would be the tenth strongest economy if we were a separate nation. Our environmental laws are way ahead of the times. We as a state pride ourselves on being different, on being trend-setters. So why do we draw the line here?

It wasn't very long ago (39 years) since the very first fight for gay rights exploded in New York, in Greenwich Village in 1969. And the assassination of San Francisco's first openly gay public official sparked riots in California in 1979. Before 1973 (when homosexuality was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders) you could say it was a long-standing tradition to lock homosexuals in mental hospitals so they could be reprogrammed and averted from their homosexual natures (which results in more suicides than any good.) But we're still here.

Our struggle has not been one of race. For we encompass all the colors of the rainbow. The roots of our oppression are not as easy to trace as the path of Amistead; and cannot be put into simple terms of immigration laws. Nor are our faces, or mannerisms easy to find in a crowd. We are in every facet of modern society. From husbands and fathers to civic leaders and soldiers, we are as active and productive as any other member of society.

It is not right that we cannot marry. It is not right that other people can decided what we can and cannot do. It is not right that an amendment that would impose differential treatment is on the ballot.

People want to talk about what would happen to their families and their children if this sort of thing were allowed. People want to talk about what the bible says. They want to talk about Gavin Newsom and brainwashing in schools.

All we're talking about is Love. And Freedom.

VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 8.

"V" for Vote No on Prop 8

2008-10-20T00:35:00.000-07:00

Did anyone else thing the X-Men were a lot like gay people? That whole cure thing was pretty scary to think about. I thought the charecter with the wings seemed a lot like Pete Knight's son.

V for Vendetta obviously had a lot to do with the rights of humans as people. So . .. in looking for the No On Prop 8 videos I saw on facebook, I found this.

These were what I was really looking for. Takes on the PC, Mac ads.

This is the most poignant:

Prop 8 tryin'a get with the Constitution. No oh la la for him.

And the original:

If you didn't get it yet:
VOTE NO ON PROP 8

Yeah

2008-10-15T01:04:00.000-07:00

My name is Gabriel Duncan. And I oppose Proposition 8. If you want to see more. VOTE NO.

Proposition 8, On the California Ballot

2008-10-14T23:32:00.000-07:00

So, for a long time, people have been trying to ban gay marriage in California. An amendment to the constitution (Proposition 22) passed in 2000 with a 61% majority; it added language to define "marriage" as between a "man and a woman". Regardless of how unconstitutional the law was, The People of California had to abide by it. That was, until Gavin Newsom decided in February 12th, 2004 that San Francisco had had enough. We've all read the articles and seen the pictures of Men and Men and Women and Women marrying each other. The gay marriages in San Francisco reinvigorated the opposition to a ban. On May 15th, 2008 the California Supreme Court overturned the ban on Gay Marriage that the Knight Proposition had managed to impose. This made California Supreme Court the only other court to overrule such a ban (the first, of course, being Massachusettes.) This prompted some counties to stop issuing marriage licenses all together. Now, we're back at a crossroads.

The first question that came to mind was, "If the supreme court already overturned the first ban, what makes this one different? What makes the cockbiting fucktards who created this sham think they can get away with stealing other people's right to the pursuit of happiness?" Well: instead of sliding this insidious language between the cheeks of the Family Code, this proposition would create a new section in the California Constitution that would state simply [something to the effect of] "only a marriage between a man and woman is valid and recognized in California." Awesome, right?

Now, I'm not all about marriage. I have conflicting feelings about the marriage fight. If I had things my way, no one would get married, they'd just have civil unions. I mean, why joke around here: I consider marriage religious. And religion has no business in government. Let's pretend I repeated that for emphasis. Just like we leave god out of the pledge of allegiance. We leave it out of the oaths we swear when we stand witness. But somehow, we've managed to let this conservative, bible-oriented viewpoint infect our constitution. Maybe that's spin, but there's been a lot of spin. Like the ads on television attacking Gavin Newsom. The ad accusing Gavin Newsom of being a rouge, a heretic, and proposition 8 is the only way to show him who's really boss. Gavin Newsom may be unethical, he may be a bit of a rogue. Okay, he might even be a heretic. But Gavin Newsom is hardly to blame for gay people wanting to be married.

So let's try a different spin. [Pay attention, Cheney.] Gay people don't make gay people. They make money, drive the entertainment and fashion worlds, and are leaders in the arts. Straight people make gay people. It's the only way it happens. So, if there are gay people in the world, it's straight people's fault. And proposition 8 is just another attempt from straight people to sweep their failures under the rug. Only people who hate their children and would like nothing more than to rub the fact that they and their partners are only second class would vote for this proposition. Only people who feel inadequate about where they sit on the totem pole would be so involved in other people's lives. I heard the proposition was written in crayon and contained trace amounts of crack cocaine. I've also heard that the Lesser Endowed Men with Big Trucks of California are backing this bill as well.

Now, I'm not calling anyone a stupid redneck. Or a tight-assed conservative closet case. Or even an insane widow chasing the obsession of a hitler-like punk who hated his son and his little brother. But you have to wonder who in the world proposed this thing.

I say: Who cares about Gavin Newsom? Who cares about marriage? If these people want to try and fuck up our lives by not giving us the privelage of titles, fuck 'em. Who are they to run our lives? Who are they to keep us from being happy? Because, at the end of the day, they'll go back to their flat-world existance and fear of technology while we continue to march towards a brave new future. If this law passes, we'll still have another election. We'll still be making money, driving the entertainment and fashion worlds and leading the arts. Everyone will still love the dixie chicks. The 11,000 couples who married will still be married, no matter what. All of the old codgers who voted for the ban will still be dying.

The only thing that will change is the young people who couldn't vote against the ban in this election will be able to do it in the next one! So let them try. These assholes may win the battle for now. But we will not be denied.

California to Palestine

2008-09-30T02:41:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks,

Today I met the other organizers working towards sending a youth delegation to Palestine. Ora Wise and some folks from Brooklyn to Palestine and the PEP (Palestine/Israel Education Project) were there (Una, Carlos, and K.) Then there was Ziad Abbas, the Education Coordinator for the Middle East Children's Alliance and also the Executive Director of the IBDAA Cultural Center. Ziad is really cool. He's from a refugee camp in Palestine. Aurora from . . . crap, a chicano youth organization was there. I remembered she wondered about bringing people under 18. Marvin, the Youth Program Director of the IFH [Intertribal Friendship House] in San Francisco. Then there were Ras, Shadi and me from SNAG Magazine.

Yeah, big meeting. We talked about what we wanted to get out of a trip to Palestine as a delegation of people of color and arts from the US. The way I said it was different, but my reasons are that I've read articles and seen footage and stuff, but I really want to see what's actually going on there. I like travelling and meeting people and finding common ground. And I want to come back and spread my experience in photographs and writing to everyone. Plus I really want to meet these Palestinian Rappers. I find it very exciting how the music scene in places like Palestine are popping up.

Speaking of Rappers: K and Carlos from the Brooklyn to Palestine project are pretty fucking dope. Maybe even "hella" dope. After the meeting we hung out for a few hours just talking and spitting. K can flow forever, just off the top of his head. And Carlos has some really tight rhymes. I had a lot of fun. K said Cali is chill. I guess over in New York things are really, really busy all the time. They were both amazed that there weren't throngs of people walking around at midnight. Their school is pretty tight, too; they have African American Studies and Vietnam War Studies. And these aren't your regular highschool classes, either. These are in-depth; more in-depth than I've ever seen....

Before our meeting, Ora and the folks from Brooklyn to Palestine did their workshop at the IFH for a bunch of youth. (There was a pretty good turn out.) The thing I thought was best was that they got something out of it. The workshop got the youngin's thinking. So that was cool. So is Ora. I can't put my finger on exactly why I think she's so awesome. But she seems like a strong and intelligent woman. She's a talented facilitator and an excellent planner. She's really driving the whole project so far. (Kudos.) Within a month, we'll hear from Palestine a response to the stuff we covered in our first meeting.

I'm really excited that the wheels are rolling. We're planning a couple big events here in the Bay Area to raise funds for the trip. So stay tuned for more info about that. As it is 0319, I gotta sleep.

Peace

Gabe

To lead out, here's some excerpts from a Brooklyn to Palestine performance.

Weddings

2008-09-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

Local Weddings

Written by Donald L. Daly and I. David Facio Published: Thursday, 11 September 2008

On Saturday, August 23, Dr. Donald L. Daly and Mr. I. David Facio were joined in holy matrimony at the Colonial Chapel in Oakland [California]. The ceremony was officiated by Father Michael Gifford of the Sts. Francis & Clare Hermitage Orthodox Catholic Church in Oakland.

On Saturday, August 23, Dr. Donald L. Daly and Mr. I. David Facio were joined in holy matrimony at the Colonial Chapel in Oakland. The ceremony was officiated by Father Michael Gifford of the Sts. Francis & Clare Hermitage Orthodox Catholic Church in Oakland.

Dr. Daly was escorted by his sister, Karen Daly of Corona, Calif., and Mr. Facio was escorted by his sister, Esther Nunes of San Leandro. David Baker of Westminster, Calif., served as best man and escorted Deborah Helenhi of Stanton, Calif., who served as maid of honor. James Hall and Leroy Sellberg, both of Hayward, delivered the couple's rings. More than 80 family and friends witnessed exchange of vows. The couple believes that God crossed their paths and they were meant to be together not only as a couple but also as best friends. A reception catered by Juanita's Restaurant of Alameda followed the ceremony at the couple's home on Oak Street. Dr. Daly is a registered nurse practitioner and retired from the U.S. Army. Mr. Facio is a senior accountant for Kaiser Permanente Division of Research.

The couple have planned a trip to Bora Bora, Tahiti, for later in the year. The couple would like to thank family and friends for their love and support and "what therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."

This was in the paper on Friday, September Eleventh. Does anyone else think this is kinda neat?

Sorry About That

2008-09-06T14:33:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Sorry I've been away. I've been busy working and doing stuff to get good with this whole DUI thing. I also reset, rewrote, reformatted and installed Kubuntu on my computer. And I love it. It's got all the stuff I need, like Office and a Torrent program. I just updated the networks here with new firmware and I'm liking it, too. In fact, I barely notice the change. Sure there are different shortcuts to memorize, and things handle slightly differently, but wow. This is awesome.

There's not much else to report on. Zombie 1.5 and 2 are being worked on right now. I'm also looking for a good KDE HTML editor, hopefully, it'll have FTP and all that stuff. Let me know if you've heard of one. About 2% of the people who visit Lonely Ocean use Linux; so I know you're out there.

I'll let you know about Zombie when I have something substantial to offer.

I know Gustavo and Hanna and now Ike have been tearing up the Gulf Coast. I hope all you guys are okay.

--Gabe

2008-07-15T02:35:00.000-07:00

Indian Country Today Article

2008-07-15T02:07:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone,

I spent the last ten days on the rez. That's why I haven't been around. I took some pictures but only one of them came out well. :: shrugs :: While I was at the Gay Pride Parade in San Francisco, I was interviewed for a story someone was working on for Indian Country Today. I found it just right now:

Challenges remain for California two-spirits; Posted: July 14, 2008; By: Shadi Rahimi

The Story of Stuff

2008-06-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

So, there's this story. It's by Annie Leonard and produced by Free Range Studios. It's The Story of Stuff. Once again, I have to point out that this is not new, and admit that, possibly, I'm showing you something you've already seen. But, for the people who don't know. This is a neat little journey into the American chain of consumerism. It goes from Extraction, Production, Distribution, Consumption and Disposal. This movie briefly addresses Planned Obsolescence and Perceived Obsolescence. This is like a Consumerism 101 course. Yeah, it's cool. I'm'a shut up now.

Five out of Five! The Heidelberg Project

2008-06-29T10:55:00.001-07:00

So, this is the post I've been most excited about. Because I think this idea is so cool.

(Above) Famous OJ House in the background. This is the only house that will hopefully "make sense." (Below) This is the dude who was doing the sculptures, giving me an "action pose!"

Someone told me how much they hated this one blog that is nothing but a collection of flaming hot cheetos litter pictures. Well, those are chesters. But the cheetos are out of view, camera-left. Anyway, this is for her.

This is my favorite pic. They're all kinda dark. But whatev. It's pride weekend. And I'm goign to meet up with Shadi from SNAG Magazine in Frisko. Hope you all have a great weekend. Fuck the right. Fuck knight. Go gay rights. Turn on the light. Umm . . . right.

L8,

Gabe

Anyway (4/5)

2008-06-29T03:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry about that. My party schedule waits for no one.

For your pleasure, this is the old Packard (Chrysler) Plant. I love abandoned buildings.

By the way . . .

2008-06-27T12:14:00.001-07:00

From Wikipedia:

Andre the Giant Has a Posse is a street art campaign based on a design by Frank Shepard Fairey created in 1986 in Charleston, South Carolina. Distributed by the skater community, the Andre stickers began showing up in nearly every big city across the U.S.A. Later, when Fairey was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), he released his manifesto. At the time Fairey declared the campaign to be "an experiment in phenomenology." Over time the artwork has been reused in a number of ways and has become a world-wide movement, following in the footsteps of Ivan Stang's Church of the SubGenius and World War II icon "Kilroy Was Here". At the same time, Fairey's work has evolved stylistically and semantically into the OBEY Giant campaign.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_the_Giant_Has_a_Posse

Something else I found out about while I was at the AMC.

Slingshot Hip-Hop

2008-06-26T15:15:00.000-07:00

I think I saw screener number 38. It was eye-opening. Completely. This documentary completely changed my ideas of the Israel-Palestine Occupation. I admit that I was ignorant going in. But coming out. You've seen the last few posts. I seem to want to join any cause in the honor of human rights and social justice. And this is one that not a lot of people know about.

This is just one of the trailers for the documentary Slingshot Hip Hop.

And this is a poem. It's inspired by someone I met at the AMC from Upping the Ante. I bought one of their books. It's pretty cool. Anyway, she was telling me how rise up is "ableist". She gave me the phrase, "you don't have to stand to up rise." And I use it here. This is for Abeer (who I talked with briefly) and everyone else involved in Slingshot Hip Hop. This is for all of us, really.

We can make change. And we don't need to rely on politicians to do it. I'm not saying go bomb shit, or even commit any acts of civil disobedience (though I do love a good protest.) I'm saying this isn't how politics used to be in America. We used to do it differently.

Fuck Bush, Free Palestine, Tibet, Darfur, Native America, Canada, Chiapas. Up rise, take it all back. Don't let these dirty scoundrels control us anymore.

you don't have to stand to up rise
gabriel duncan

they demand i leave what they want
and take behind what i need
like hand outs, flashed out
gassed out and passed out
it's past now
everyone forgot
carbine maggot
bodies left out to rot
but who remembers
certainly not me
they covered my eyes
so i can't see
they stapled my tongue so i can't speak
they say that leadership is done
so they lead me

they want me stuck
so they took the rotors
don't give a fuck
i'm a human motor
beside the borders i set the mortars
the wall will fall
it's natural order
sooner or later they'll find my corner
and i'll be waiting with a fistful of quarters
i won't sit behind subordinate
popping minds with ordinance
finding cohorts like coordinates
it'll be like god just ordered it
but i'll be watching, recording it
would've never known so much dissent exists
with a little kiss
they'll fall into abyss
and they'll be the ones left to reminisce
while we drain them gone just like a cyst
the time is nigh, i can feel it
the call is here, so hear it

if you're tired of them holding it all
while you fall to the floor they continue to lower
so they can gain more
if you're abhorred, just like me
you'd better raise your fist, so they can see
the time is now, the night's tonight
you need to decide if you will fight
we need to reclaim our country, right
we need to express a communal sight
it won't go away if you close your eyes
you kill yourself with your disguise
while your friends and neighbors are criminalized
sorry I'm not trying to sensationalize
but it's there to surmise
we need more allies
we need more fight and a lot less hide
you don't have to stand
to up rise

AMC, Detroit Neighborhoods Close to the Incinerator (3/5)

2008-06-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

Alright, so this is three out of five. This post is for Thursday. These posts will end Saturday, culminating in a series of pictures from the Heidelberg Project in Detroit. Tomorrow, I will post pictures of the old Packard (Chrysler) Plant.

2 million in the mid 50's. 930,000. people still leaving. reasons are complicated.

the area most affected is North of M1, East of 1-75 all the way E Grand Blvd. Maybe beyond.

When you drive through this area, it's hard to tell what's abandoned and what's still being lived in.

It's kind of like the reservation. Except there are more buildings in Detroit. And more land. America should be focused on fixing this shit, instead of destroying more countries.

The Incinerator (In Detroit, Michigan)

2008-06-25T08:20:00.000-07:00

This is the Detroit Incinerator. The Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Facility burns an estimated 2800 tons of commercial and household waste each day. Which is down from about 4,000, I think, after a ruling that the facility could only run two furnaces at a time.

25 tons of hazardous waste is emitted from the smoke stack annually. (Pictured, the brown cement tower with the three little pipettes at the top.) On top of that, it also emits 1,800 tons of "regular/non-hazardous" pollutants including sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide, mercury and lead, annually. That's 150 tons a month. 5 tons a day. 600,000 tons of CO(2) a year.

The facility creates enough steam to heat 200 businesses. And generates enough electricity to power 60,000 homes. This facility also makes money from metal recycling. Because the metal particles are taken out of the incinerators feed. If the Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Agency doesn't burn at least 780,000 tons of trash a year, they pay big fines. So they bring in independent contracts, who dump for $15 dollars a ton. That's ten times less than Detroit, which has to pay $150 dollars a ton. Presumably because of the "closer to half a billion" dollar debt Detroit gained when they sold the facility to independent operators.

Needless to say, everyone wants this thing to close down. That is, except the owners and operators and anyone employed by this thing. On June 1, 2008 they decided not to renew the lease. But no one knows that that means. The city may be trying to buy it back . . . . Who knows. What is a lease anyway? The city is in a contract, so they need to keep it running. And the mayor is really the only one with the authority to decide whether it keeps running or gets dismantled. It's June 25, 2008 now. So, who knows.

The city promised it'll start a pilot recycling program on curbside basis maybe next (fiscal) year.

Here are some pictures of a nearby school. In my next post, I'll show you the neighborhood surrounding the incinerator.

Because the levels of pollutants reported are so questionable (i.e. the facility can decide when to take levels.) This school and another community org. will be taking their own measurements soon.

Hopefully, it will help influence Detroit's decision on the matter.

I want to cite the Free Press article, "Decision on incinerator's future looms as other options weighed" written by Tina Lam and Zachary Gorchow. I got most of the info from the three-part video I found there. I'd like to extend special thanks to Mr. Gorchow for answering a few of the questions I had while I was doing this write-up.

Pictures from AMC 2008 (1 of ?)

2008-06-24T10:10:00.000-07:00

Okay. I managed to take 210 pictures while I was at the conference. None of them are of the workshop Ras and I presented, but they're still cool. I decided to make my first post of the people who were at the conference.

(Ab0ve) Ras checking out the conference schedule the first day. It's not easy to read, but that's the AMC2008 banner above him. (Below) Same morning, us showing off our NDN shirts!

(Above) Ras and I standing in from of the Brooklyn 2 Palestine mural. That mural's gonna be sent to Palestine with a delegation (that might include us) in the winter.

(Above and Below) Ras being cool.

And.....

(Above) Shwain: this dude is the youngest staff-member in a bad-ass youth org in Ann Arbor (?). And he's pretty bad-assed himself. (Below) Some 'utes showing off their moves.

These next two are from the tour I went on the last day. They are the people I went on the Environmental Justice tour with.

(Above) Hmm . . . I don't know their names past the woman on the far right (Marcia). But that dude in the pink was hella cool. We were waiting for something next to the Tiger Stadium. (Below) The group after we came back from checking out Detroit's incinerator. (More about that in the following posts.)

This was the coolest conference I've ever been to. I'll be posting more pictures later. (ha! don't want to whip it all out too soon!) Like I said, I took 210 photos, but only 60 made it past the cutting room floor.

Back

2008-06-23T03:27:00.001-07:00

I'm back from Michigan. Got to go over a lot of photos. For now, this is a Palestinian rap group called DAM performing their song "Meen Erhabe?" (Who is the terrorist?). Enjoy. Many blessings to DAM and the youth from Palestine I met in the video conference.

Allied Media Conference 2008

2008-06-19T04:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm off to the Allied Media Conference. I've got about two more hours of packing or whatever and I've gotta say I'm excited. I'll be taking my camera and eeepc so I can make updates here while I'm gone. I might even record a little of our workshop. Yeah . . . .

Just letting you know.

BTW, gay and lesbian couples can now get married in California. :: sticks his finger in the eye of the religious right :: So there.

Meals on Wheels, Hunger 2

2008-06-06T04:13:00.000-07:00

Cousins-to-Cousins, which was the name of the organization we created, wasn't all that different from Meals on Wheels. I even think we based it off their model.

Alameda Meals on Wheels has been around for 35 years. They feed people regardless of their age, and have a sliding scale. A week of food usually costs around $45. I don't know how they do it, but sometimes they don't even charge people. It's always on a basis of need. But, because there are no age restrictions, the government doesn't fund our city's program. That means Alamedans have been supporting the whole thing for 35 years, which is pretty frakkin cool.

This Saturday, I'm going to a car show to sell some raffle tickets for a 50/50 raffle. The Raiders and Raiderettes are gonna be there. I have a feeling I'll be heading home with some autographs.

A social service worker who works with people in Alameda noted that the meals we send to people are sometimes the only meal these people eat. Sometimes these people are pressed into really bad situations. This one family I was told about has a mom who is disabled, badly, a dad who has to take care of the mom and can't work, and a thirteen year old son. They don't have money for groceries and that kid could probably eat them out of house and home if he got the munchies.

The director was telling this to me after I finished up one day. We were talking about the difference a program like this makes in a community. I asked about the Alameda Food Bank and the Red Cross. She told me it was really difficult to get food from them. I knew what she was talking about. The food bank has to be really strict and limit who they can give food to. And the Red Cross was just as demanding.

She told me she asked the board of directors for a special discretionary fund to buy groceries and stuff for people and families like theirs. I think they go out once a month. I was there for the delivery of the last bags. (Boy, were they heavy!)

Alameda Meals also has a Friendly Visitor Program. Which is even cooler. You know, a lot of these people don't have anyone to talk to, either. So, seeing the bright, smiling faces of the volunteers is something some have come to look forward to. This program is in its second year and it's going really well. It's not uncommon for long-lasting friendships to come from volunteering for Meals on Wheels. Sometimes all it takes is someone to care about you to make a turn-around. The Friendly Visitor Programs is offered to seniors and people who are homebound.

I think it's really cool that we look after our own, and I'm proud to be a part of Meals on Wheels. I like helping people, and I would be doing this willingly any day. If the director of Alameda Meals on Wheels called me up twenty minutes before everyone was supposed to go out and asked me to fill in for someone, I'd drop what I was doing and help, without question.

So, like I said, this isn't a fundraising drive letter. This isn't a PSA against drinking and driving. (Which is bad, mmkay?) This isn't really a plug for my personal accomplishments or for an organization I'm involved with. I think I'm really just trying to remind you all that you can make change, too.

Meals on Wheels, Hunger

2008-06-06T03:14:00.000-07:00

So, I might as well just put it out there: I got a DUI two months ago. It was dropped down to a wet and reckless level one. (Which is great.) Part of my sentencing includes 96 community service hours. I can do them at any non-profit organization I wish to.

So I picked Alameda Meals on Wheels. This summer, they're holding The Alameda Meals on Wheels 12th Annual Community Faire and Winetasting Fundraiser. [This really isn't an advertisement or anything.] I've been helping out with the fundraiser, admittedly. But I really just wanted to ramble on about how awesome organizations like this are.

In 2006 (I think) my friend Beck Stroud, her wife, Jess and I started a little group called Cousins to Cousins. We gave food and clothing to homeless people at their encampments in West Oakland. Beck and Jess did most of the work, soliciting for clothing from Neighbors, Co-Workers and Friends. We got a lot. In fact, I was absolutely gobsmacked with how many donations we received. I got unused food from local food banks as long as I promised to watch them eat it (because some of the expiration dates were close.) But I also got boxes of bananas, which were definitely in high demand.

What we did was organize the clothes. We even made some of our own. It was a sweat band, we figured it could be used for head or neck. Then we put together packages to go with coffee (creamers, napkins, plastic and silverware.) We had equipment and got cheap coffee. Then we loaded up our trucks and went around to the homeless encampments we could find, sometimes stopping outside a recycling center or park.

This was different than other organizations because we were mobile, because we weren't related to a church and we didn't ask people to pray to get food. We actually went to the encampments and served them, talked to them for a while, gave them some clean clothes and went to the next place. The interaction provided relief in the basic sense, gave these people someone to talk to, and gave us a good idea of how people in West Oakland were doing on the streets.

Our goals were to involve volunteer medical professionals; attain funding; gain city acknowledgment and start the same program in other parts of the city/region/country.

Lofty, maybe. Sustainable, yes. But it was tough with just three people. We did involve a handful or friends who enjoyed the experience. The project ended sometime in the rainy season in November. In my opinion, a program like this would increase the effectiveness of Human Services n-fold. You know, if Departments of Human Services were interested in such things as homelessness.

I know, that was a low blow. To make up for it, I made this nifty map of food distribution sites for Seniors and Low Income Families I don't really know if that applies to homeless people. But this is a city program.

View Larger Map

And these are the locations of food distribution sites that don't feed "low-income families and seniors". These centers serve either the "general population" or do not state. Also, there's a new service called 211 which hooks people up with housing and emergency medical care.

View Larger Map

So yeah. This continues in the next post.

Bush is Almost Gone

2008-06-02T02:26:00.000-07:00

I dislike our president very much. Seeing as it's 2008, I feel comfortable expressing disbelief that a president who was egged by all of washington DC wasn't even nicked by cheney's shotgun, much less a lone gunman's "magic" bullet. It's really pathetic, actually. That we stood by and watched this bitch drag us through the mud. Maybe once he's out of office, the rest of the nation will grow some fucking balls and at least prosecute him for what he did. Oh yeah, there's a law that prevents such things. But who cares at this point, right?

What's wrong with you, America? Politics used to be more. We used to be more. Now we're just beaten-down 'ole dogs, choking on the bueaurocracy chain. We used to forcibly remove elected officials who fucked up. We used to storm into congress screaming. We use to set city hall on fire, drag out and lynch crooked cops and politicians.

But NOW we're wearing them on the inside? Anyone who's reading this, who didn't do anything but bitch and moan about this idiot, who didn't sign the petition to get rid of this cock-biting fucktard, this resource sucking grease stain, this expendable mote... fuck you. Fuck you all for voting for him. Fuck your bipartisan sniveling. Fuck this political process.

This asshole is gonna get away with it. He's gonna step off the white house green, go home to his wife, and live happily ever after. And you're not gonna do shit. You're going to be so god damned relieved it won't matter all the things he did to us. This mother bitch is pocketing money left and right, destroying our military, reversing every good law on the books and all you can do is focus on hulk hogan's son not having a window in his jail cell.

Congratulations, we're the laughing stock of the entire world. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

--Gabe

Updates

2008-05-30T16:08:00.001-07:00

What's up? I updated some stuff on my website. Most noticeable are color schemes in Prose, Novels and Links. I also put a link back into the master poem list and relinked those. (That was a pain.) Aaaaaaaand, I reorganized the links.

Yeah.

--Gabe

Allied Media Conference 2008

2008-05-23T09:07:00.000-07:00

What's up, Everyone?

I'm going to be a presenter at this year's Allied Media Conference in Detroit, Mi. I'm presenting a California Native History workshop with Ras K'Dee. Should be really fun. I'm very glad I finished my California history class a couple of weeks ago.

This year, the AMC is focusing on "Our Evolution Beyond Survival: Media Strategies for the Next 10 Years".

The Allied Media Conference cultivates media strategies for a more just and creative world. It is the primary point of intersection in the U.S. for alternative media makers and committed social justice activists. In June, we will come together on the campus of Wayne State University to share tools and tactics for transforming our communities through media-based organizing. -- From the Promote section of the Allied Media Conference Website

If you're in the media, or a media activist, you probably already know about this conference. But, if you're in the dark, you should probably attend. The FAQ section has a lot of info, too. Like. "Who attends the AMC?"

The Allied Media Conference brings together a vibrant and diverse community of media workers: filmmakers, radio producers, youth organizers, publishers, emcees, web designers, artists, and beyond.

Anyway. The last national conference I've been to was the International Two Spirit Gathering '05, in California. The 20th Anniversary International Two Spirit Gathering is going to be held in Minnesota this year.

I'm putting a link to the AMC on my site. But, here's the image and link on the blog.

--Gabe

Matthew Sheppard, Harvey Milk and Why I Came Out

2008-05-18T04:39:00.000-07:00

I was eleven and struggling with the fact I knew I liked guys a lot more than chicks when Matthew Sheppard, an openly gay man going to school at the University of Wyoming, was pistol-whipped and left for dead, tied to a barbed-wire fence, outside of Laramie. The attack happened on the night of October 7th, 1998. He was found sometime in the morning by a cyclist. His skull was cracked from his brain stem to his right ear. It was so bad that he couldn't be operated on, and he died on October 12, 1998, back home in Fort Collins Colorado.

It's too complicated to explain fully. I knew people got beat up for being gay. Bigotry is something you have to face. But, being killed? I remember crying quietly by myself. Wondering why someone would do that, if the same thing would happen to me. It was probably February of 1999 that I came out. I vowed to never hide. And what happened to me after I came out just solidified my resolve. I will always fight.

When I think about it today, I still get misty-eyed and pissed off. I guess it's similar to how people feel about Harvey Milk. I wasn't alive when he was assassinated, but I am familiar with what happened. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay Supervisor of the City of San Francisco. He replaced Dan White as City Supervisor. Dan White ate a bunch of Twinkies, loaded his revolved, snuck into city hall, plead for his job with then-mayor Moscone, shot him, reloaded, and killed Milk in his (their) [old] office. There was a huge march and candle light vigil that night. Dan White plead "diminished capacities" due to "depression" and got off with manslaughter, sparking the White Night Riots.

Stop Hate Public Service Announcement by Judy Sheppard
Sponsored by GLSEN

[ ]

Hillary Clinton on the Matthew Shepard Act (officially, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007), HR 1592.

Okay... this bill was supposed to update the old hate crimes act of 1969 to include sexual orientation and other enhancements for people already protected by the bill. The bill passed both the house and the senate (where it was attached to a defense bill [hooah!]) Unfortunately, President G. Bush Jr. threatened to Veto the bill if it ever hit his desk. So, it's stuck for the moment. Nancy Pelosi (our current Speaker of the House) has promised to make it work somehow. This clip shows Hillary Clinton in the senate judiciary hearing on HR1592.

[]

And, because I'm interested in these things, here is a link where you can find information on the May 17, 2007 House hearing.

NBC NEWS November 27, 1978 George Moscone & Harvey Milk Dead

[]

Footage of the White Night Riots

[ ]

Federal Rebate Check

2008-05-10T22:31:00.000-07:00

So, yeah. I got in trouble for the first time in my adult life for DUI. On the same night that I got my sentence reduced by half, I was cited for "Drinking in Public". Heh. It's kinda shameful (the DUI) but the other thing is something I have to fight. It kinda blows. I know it doesn't matter to you. But I got this other email that probably does, if you live in the US.

It's from my friend [Blue Buddha]:

FEDERAL REBATE CHECK

The federal government is sending each and every one of us a $600
rebate.

If we spend it at Wal-Mart, the money will go to China .

If we spend it on gasoline, the money will go to the Arabs.

If we purchase a computer[,] it will go to India .

If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico , Honduras and Guatemala.

If we purchase a good car, it will go to Japan .

If we purchase useless crap, it will go to Taiwan ... and none of it will help the American economy.

The only way to keep the money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes, weed, beer and tattoos since these are the only products still produced in the USA .

Thank you for your help and please support the US.

The sad thing is that it's true. The "thank you for your help and please support the US" line was kinda hokey. But the message is pretty clear. And it's something that I've been saying for a while. You can't make money by selling ourselves stuff. It;s just the same money moving around. All these hedge funds and speculative markets are bullshit. And we just found that out. Fuck the police.

If we really want to see the dollar rise, we need to make our own goods.

Fuck the police.

The RIAA and the MPAA

2008-04-28T00:08:00.000-07:00

The Recording Industry Association of America
The Motion Picture Association of America

In an exchange featured on News.Com.Au, Jeremy Horey and Mungo Horey weighed in on copyright laws and the rights of the artist to gain individually from their art. The comments all agreed. You can read it here. I just wanted to say that the comments to the article really clinches it. People want their music their way. They don't want anti-piracy software to get in the way of their enjoyment.

Big whoop, the Supreme Court ruled that websites themselves are responsible for tracking torrents and advertising them. And that was after the RIAA and the MPAA tried shutting down as many places as they could. (Napster, BearShare.) Sometimes recording companies would flood the "market" with bad files. But nothing seemed to slow anyone down. And now we have bands giving away file-versions of their albums for donations; it's done for the old way

Now that the internet is so accessible, everyone will have the opportunity to reach billions of people. The internet can be used to support philanthropic ventures across the world, or be used as a tip jar. The internet can be used to educate us, entertain us, it can be used to give us up-to-the-minute information on things like weather and traffic. It can convert our money, check our bank accounts, send correspondence to friends, family and clients. It can host our remote databases. All of these things can be done with the internet at relatively lower cost than having some company press our records and distribute them.

The time of records is dead. Now is the time of the solid state hard-drives; of the dual-core and shotgun RAMS. Making a copy of The Beatles' "White Album" is even easier now than dubbing was way back when. (That's not true, I haven't seen the white album anywhere. I have it on vinyl, though.) Our sharing technology has become so advanced that no one can tell the difference between sharing and distributing. Copyrights and fees have become meaningless. It's now even more possible to make money from art as an individual, without representation.

Copyright laws should be concerned soley with the rights of intellectual properties of individual. I already have a problem with the fact that corporations are seen as individual entities in American law. But these corporations shouldn't be getting such of an overhead. Right now, it's cheaper for me to make my own 'zines and burn my own CD's of the music and writing I've created. It's cheaper to convert my Word Documents into PDF's and HTML and distribute them that way. Radiohead made a lot of money off their CD's. Here's a link to a break-down of what happened with Radiohead's album "In Rainbows" from Crave.CNet.Com.

I'm not anti-marketing. I'm all for people getting paid for putting their blood sweat and tears into their work. It's so basic though. If I have Young Frankenstein on VHS, and my friend wants a copy, then I can make a copy for him. I would use the dubbing VHS-chingalara then, and make a copy for him. If one of his friends wants a copy, the guy I made the first one for can make one for his friends.

So, imagine you are instantly connected with people who have a copy of what you want to get. Or maybe people who have just a few songs from the album you want and you can fill in the blanks. Would you help him so you can fill in your blanks? Does helping each other do that mean you two are friends? What if other people are involved? Are they your friends to? Is helping your friends illegal? Are the people facilitating these "meetings" thereby "distributing" the files. Or are the files simply out of the hands of copyright laws because they are given or "shared" between friends?

I am reminded of an old saying, "If you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."

Because no one can stop hackers, or people who rip their CD's to their computers and make copies for friends... It seems unlikely that record companies will be able to stop any of us from taking advantage of the "free ride." When entire albums are "leaked" before its release, copyright laws will be there. When someone steals your tune or your lyrics; copyright law will be there. But copyright law should not be there to interfere with our rights as individuals to share and enjoy music.

Should we arrest the man playing a Sublime song on his guitar? Or someone showing a friend how to play a Johnny Cash song on the piano? Should we really handcuff and process the woman humming a Celine Dion tune?

You can't stop it. Individual artists and musicians will thrive once more. And no one can stop it, short of unplugging the 'net.

9 New Poems!

2008-04-23T01:03:00.000-07:00

I added, Filthy Mouths; I Thought; Of a Dream; Time Eases All; Untitled 8; Untouchable; When I Leave, I Hope My Light Burns the Brightest; and You're So Bold. All written in 2008.

Changes all over Lonely Ocean

2008-04-21T16:11:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I added a donation section to explain why I'm asking for donations and what I will do with the money. Donation buttons have been added to the discrete bottom of every poem, story, chapter and gallery since last week.

I re-organized the poetry section by year. This means that, instead of seeing a huge block of poem titles, you will now be able to view them all from 2002 through 2008 with a sense of order.

I updated my age in the About Me section. I also added links to Codey's World and the Talon House.

Don't let me know what you think. I'm too tired to change anything else after that.

--Gabe

What's New?

2008-04-16T20:23:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,

The story Zombie: The Incident at Bloody Rock is complete and available in the Novels section.

I also added a "What's New?" section to the website, in hopes of find non-invasive ways of letting people WHAT'S NEW?

Anyway, hope you're doing well.

--Gabriel

A Letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggar ("The Governator")

2008-04-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

Mr. Governor,

I am shocked and disappointed by how you have chosen to relieve California's deficit problems with regard to education. In today's industries, more than ever before, there is a great need for educated individuals to fill the gaps in our job forces. Whether people are needed to grow produce or specialty crops, or to build the bridges that will unite entire regions to one another: education--KNOWLEDGE--is what made it all possible. Solving the deficit problems by cutting 14.4 billion dollars from schools may help in the short run, but it is Californians who will suffer the lose and bear the burden of trying to stay competitive in today's tenuous economy.

Consider this: there are 6.5 million K-12 students enrolled in school today. If we take the money from education, force school schools to close, and provide less resources for things like tutoring, after-school programs and special education, something very bad will happen down the line. It make take five years for us to notice, the slip to the bottom of the educational food chain may be imperceptible at first, but it will happen if the people of California are not given an education that can compete with the rest of this nation--not to mention the international community at large.

A competent, well-educated population is vital to the survival of California.

Please reconsider your decision.

Sincerely,
Gabriel Duncan

9th Senate District and the 16th Assembly District.

Zombie

2008-04-07T16:53:00.000-07:00

zombie is done. right now, it sits a little over 60 pages. i'm trying to get it up to 100, but that requires a lot of pulling miracles out of my ass. i'm happy with what i have, though. so, aside from tweaking it, it's done. that's the announcement.

now the request: i'm looking for beta readers and editors. if you're interested, comment on this post directly (leaving your contact details), or email me at gduncan@lonelyocean.co.uk.

Two Poems

2008-03-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

I wrote these after I broke up with a dude I was kind of seeing. These are based on what he said in a voice mail he sent. I didn't listen to it all, honestly. But it started out like, "You think you're so superior [, but let me tell you something....]" To tell you the truth, I suck at break-ups of any kind. The easiest way is conflict, of course. But that always sucks. Anyway . . . I wrote these.

you're so bold
gabriel duncan

you think that love is a game you can play
any given person
any given day

you string them along
decoy ducks in the pond
then you pull it out
and shoot so every thing's gone

you leave them to wonder
what went wrong
is it their blunder
and why are you gone

it never gets old
it's never too cold
just tell 'em what you feel like
'cause you're so bold

untouchable
gabriel duncan

you think you're so superior
the way you think you excersize your intellect
you think you're pretty smart
how concisely you reject

you think it's someone else's turn
to feel the burn
from being spurned
you think it's someone else's turn
to see their love
unreturned

you think you're so great
how you never hesitate
to take the things you want
you think you're so awesome
and you prove it when you flaunt

you think you're untouchable
that you're on a level
unreachable by someone
as small and lowely as I
you think you're untouchable
that's why you wear a disguise

deep down inside
it's not why you hide

Zombie

2008-03-12T07:10:00.000-07:00

I've posted an excerpt from Chapter Two of Zombie on at my website. It not sits alongside the prologue. Check them out at my website and tell me what you think.

In other news, the other Gabriel Duncan (psychotic son of an air force colonel who took control of some nuclear weapons after killing Clark Kent) beat me again in Google. This time, Smallville took it across the pond, to Google.co.uk.

CLICK ME!! Defeat my doppleganger. Man, what I wouldn't give for a nuke on the fourth of July. (Can we say: "Space fireworks"?)

Fixed Links, New Section, Zombie Update

2008-03-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Really sorry about the bad links in the poetry section. I reordered the novels section. Also, I added a new section called "Works in Progress". I put this section in to show off what I have so far of "Zombie" (Working Title). I'm only posting the prologue and some pages I haven't decided yet. So stay tuned.

You can read "Zombie" or listen to my poetry at my website: Http://www.LonelyOcean.co.uk

-- Gabriel Duncan

new poem

2008-02-22T00:19:00.000-08:00

spinning on the wheel
just some spit on the reel
flying by my pants
just to tell you how i feel
you steal my senses
broke and entered in my heart
could be a hundred
you'd still be art

untitled
gabriel duncan

One more thing

2008-02-20T01:38:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd bring this back. Man, I miss Halo. Halo music video to Dennis Leary's "Asshole".

[Scratch That.]

I was gonna post one. But I think I found the original. If it's not . . . this version has way better sound. So there

I'm not quite sure why the controls aren't working but . . . . Yeah. I know. To anyone who hasn't played. This is gonna be lame. But you know what? Fuck you lamer. That's right.

Oh yeah. And the Hitman movie was AWESOME.

Books and Zombies

2008-02-19T23:52:00.001-08:00

So, I've been doing a lot of research for this damn story. I think I've read about 200 plus times the amount of pages I've written. (Which is almost at 100 pages.) Seriously. I figured, aside from what I really logged on to post, I should share some of my research. You know, if anyone's interested. But first . . . what I came on for.

Yo! I need to make a book! Any publishers out there?

Researching zombie stuff, I figured the first thing I should look for was the rate of human decay. For this, I found A Manual of Medical Jurisprudence, published in 1897 (yeah, I know) by Alfred Swaine Taylor, M.D., F.R.S. Despite it's age, the book is a very good resource. I frequented Chapter Three a lot, "Modes of Dying". But that was just beginning, this book is large and extensive and awesome for any type of book that would rely on some form of post-mortem forensics for the purpose of mystery/thriller/horror thing.

The book entitled Stiff by Mary Roach. It's more of a layman's journey into "the curious lives of cadavers". Enertaining, for sure. Not as useful as the last book, certainly.

Interviews with five med. students, seven medical doctors and four EMT's (one paramedic, I think.)

Wikipedia hasn't been as helpful as I thought it would be. Since it's a lot more difficult to navigate than an actual, paper encyclopedia. I never thought I'd say that.

The Zombie Survival Guide is on its way right now . . ..

Then there's (don't laugh) the Resident Evil Series by S.D. Perry. I've read 1 (Umbrella Conspiracy), 4 (Underworld) and 5 (Nemesis). They're all pretty good. I'm working on Caliban Cove (#2), which isn't based on any game. So I don't really have a grip on how the author writes without a video game as a guide. No, not knocking her work. LOL. I'm just sayin'!

What have I found from that series? A lot of enjoyment, that's for sure! This whole Umbrella idea is super involved. I mean, mega-involved. I know it was created by a bunch of people; which is probably how it got complex. The whole world that Resident Evil is in raises the bar for me for sure. But I've noticed that once the first book was over, there isn't really a whole lot more to it. I mean, yeah, the conspiracy gets deeper, everyone gets closer to going public, the problem keeps getting harder to cover-up, but it's easy to create these crazy monsters with a bullet proof theory like BIO-WEAPONS ENGINEERING.

[I've seen every game played. Yeah, that means I haven't played it myself. Personally, I think the controls suck. Only because of the changing camera views associated with the third-person handling. And the movement is a little . . . eh. It's not difficult, and it's kinda fun once you figure it out. I like first person shooters 'cause they're a bit more intuitive.]

Overall, because of the Resident Evil series, I've decided to change some of the nuances of the cause of the zombies, and some of the actual zombie stats. And create a bigger differential between the two types of zombies I have so far, and also make one of them much more believable.

I'm going a bit more Pet Semetary now.

For the update on "Zombie" (working title): I've completed the first of three parts, including a prologue. It's 40 pages long, the first part is. I'm going to edit it a bit so I won't go crazy later on when I write myself into a corner, or find that I need to re-write a large portion because I left something out, or put too much in. So, the first part could get conceivable longer. Meanwhile, planning for parts two and the basics of part three are underway. I'll let you know when I have more info.

--Gabe

Two New Poems

2008-02-13T01:26:00.000-08:00

Hey,

I just wrote these. The second poem was gonna be the first poem's title. I renamed the first one to Sandcastles because it feels like our contributions are "only castles made of sand" sometimes. I also wanted Sandcastles to kind of explain a little bit of what the "rainbow on my shoulder" was from the poem "Hit the Floor." I called the second one "Time Eases All" because there's always a certain irony with poems like this. You know, just in case you wanted to know. Here they are.

--Gabe

Sandcastles
Gabriel Duncan

i wear it on my shoulder
just like a flag
like a chip of a rainbow
just like a badge

when i hear them say it
it's hurts the part inside
that was used to being deaf
and blind to hide

i think of what i fought for
what our awareness has become
now that faggots are still sticks
and nooses hang up in the classrooms

it doesn't mean the same thing to them
as it does to us today
we're part of the history
their filthy mouths betray

if they fought beside us then
as much as they stand aside today
maybe then they'd see the reason
it hurts so much today

Time Eases All
Gabriel Duncan

Filthy mouths demolish
Progress only forgets
History is the wheel
We try to reinvent

.

Pictures, And a LoTR inspired MV

2008-02-10T04:51:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys,

I'm still working on that zombie story, just to let you know. I dunno when it will be done, but I've made a lot of progress. Check out these pictures for now. Just some from around the island (the island of Alameda.)

This is the skyline at the former naval air station, post-sunset.

This was the sunset that day.

And this is something my cute friend in AUS sent.

Yep.

--Gabriel Duncan

International Delete Your Myspace Day

2008-01-30T22:00:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

Well, I did it. I deleted my myspace today in observance of the International Delete Your Myspace Day. There were many reasons why, and only few why-not. In the end, I think having another account on another website is annoying. I already have more than seven emails and my friends all know where to reach me. And so do you. Or you should.

Let me take the time to point you, once again, to my website. Http://www.lonelyocean.co.uk There is an extensive list of all the ways you can reach me. So, goodbye Myspace; hello Real World.

This is a link to the Washington Post article. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2008/01/today_is_international_delete.html

Peace,

Gabriel Duncan

Some Socio-Economic Issues I've Been Thinking About

2008-01-27T16:28:00.000-08:00

Hey,

So these are the issues I'm rambling about today: Taxes, The Cost-of-Living, Environmental and Corporate Regulations, and Native American & Casinos

What if we tied income tax to the cost of living? You know, make it a state thing or whatever. What if the cost of living was divided into gross earnings and then judged? This would be an easier way to determine who needs welfare, or even help keep wage disparity in check. People who legitimately have more earnings, less exemptions, less debts and larger coffers should pay more to the State.

I think types of businesses should be more regulated with regard to salary, especially when labor is out-sourced to other countries. We should have decent incentives for using recycled materials, and more control over the way redemption centers do their business. This is a socio-economic issue that not a lot of people focus on.

I know that taxes should never prevent the pursuit of capitol gain. But, I also think that people who earn five times the cost of living should pay more to keep the cost of living down. The whole reason these people got so wealthy is because they live in a country where the pursuit of the capitol gain is important. But the distribution of wealth to improve the quality of life of the people who are making the money for you and who are spending it back to you are more important. Isn't it in everyone's interest to make the environment we live in awesome? Yeah, I know that was kinda lame. And I'm not trying to go green yet, but how would you honestly feel if we lost our cops, streets, schools and parks?

What if the cost of living was calculated using the highest average cost of a year's worth of commodities (per person), in addition to the high average cost of utilities, and rent? I mean, it already is calculated like that, right? (Is it?) Rent should be controlled using the housing authority to audit and rate any rental unit or multi-housing unit according to livability, regardless of Section 8 status.

What if people who owned more than one multi-million/billion dollar corporation had to pay monopoly or franchise tax as an individual, as well as for the corporation? I think we should revoke the right of a corporation to be represented as an individual and hold the owner(s) and officers accountable. Somebody there has to know the answers. And I think penalties (like jail time) for these owners and officers should be stiffer. [Like Martha Stewart serving three years instead of a few months. And the Enron guys going away for 20 plus years.]

People are covered in the constitution. Capitol gain is just the gold medal in the pursuit of happiness for some people. I think the budget should be balanced on the backs of the wealthy instead of government programs. After that, I think we should worry about what to do with our spending.

Government taxes and restrictions on pollutions should be viewed differently. Sure, it means more taxes on cars and businesses, but these issues should never be associated closely. I think this whole carbon voucher idea should be abandoned. It once again enable to the rich countries and companies to continue polluting while the poorer countries will only be getting small kickbacks for their vouchers. Sooner or later, I think developing countries will begin getting dinged for their carbon emissions, regardless of whether or not they can afford the technology or equipment to produce cleaner energy.

And as far as Prop.'s 94-97 here in California, I think the tribes should come together and create their own Buereau of Indian Affairs and spread the money from casinos Inside (to other tribes) before giving it to the state or federal governments. Native America has a sovereignty that transcends California law, even the federal government's law, as the Lakota are now finding out. You don't have to take the US bullshit, guys. Read this article. The Lakota are threatening to take liens against Lakota property the United States is occupying. The link points to Blogs.USAToday.com.

Lakota withdraw from treaties, declare independence from U.S.

--Gabe

Song

2008-01-18T05:04:00.000-08:00

Hey,

So, here's a new song I wrote. It's called "Let Me Go" and it's supposed to be kinda screemo. Yeah, there's swearing in it. Writing stuff like this makes me want to start another band. Let me know what you think. I'll add it to the poetry section later, as I have to get ready for work now.

Let Me Go
Gabriel Duncan

you try to push me down
but I won't give up
push me down to the ground
and force me in the muck
you try to press your luck
and i don't give a [scream]

let me go
let me be unstuck

choose your words wisely
don't waste my time with talk
pound on me uselessly
but i am a rock
you won't get through to me
if you're half-cocked

i'll show you
"diamond in the rough"

let me go
let this pressure build
'cause I don't know
What i'm supposed to feel

show me courtesy
show me some regret
you've been so curt with me
you'll see what you get

let me go
let me be unstuck
these gloves are off
and i don't give a fuck

you say you'll keep me down
i'd like you to show me how
i'm not some ghost
living in a metal shell
and i don't live my life--
drinking from the wishing well

you can't make gold from coal

let me go
let me be unstuck
these gloves are off
and i don't give a fuck

let me go
let be be unstuck
these gloves are off
and i don't give a fuck

...

Hope you're all having a good morning, day and night. It's Friday here, and I couldn't be happier.

--Gabe

Update

2008-01-15T23:41:00.000-08:00

Hey,

I unlinked some of the poems and left the good ones. I realized I had a lot. And people who've never been to my website might get lost and end up at the wrong poem. ;)

Anyway, I'm still working on that zombie story. It's taking a while because I want everything to make sense. ... And also to be able to fit some stuff from my dreams in it. Yeah, zombie dreams. Does that tell you how much I've been working on it? Anyway, it's not done yet, and it won't be for a while so . . . just stay tuned, I guess.

I'll try and find some other things to add.

--Gabe

New Poem

2007-12-04T05:12:00.000-08:00

It's called, "The Little Engine that Crashed and Burned". #129

New Poems, Zombie Story Update

2007-11-13T02:58:00.000-08:00

Alright, By The Summer's Leave and It's Too Easy to Get Famous These Days (CNN) have been posted. The CNN one I wasn't so sure about posting.

As far as the Zombie story is going, I'm still writing it. It got kinda long on me and now I'm planning for the rest of it. Any beta readers for this one?

New Story on the Way

2007-10-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

Hey,

I'm just dropping a note to tell you all that I'm writing a story called "Zombie" that should come out sometime after midnight tonight (Halloween morning). That's all.

--Gabe

New Poem 2/2

2007-10-21T21:50:00.001-07:00

I wanted to write something for my boyfriend. But also let my only ex-girlfriend know what time it is.

By the Summer’s Leave
Gabriel Duncan

Disappointment leaves a bitter after-taste
Like the slow, chilling wind, of autumn’s eve
Another summer past, another year gone by
Dried and cracked, fallen off the trees

Searching through the sticks and leaves
I find only the remains
Of seasonal amity
I trudge forward in the rain

Glancing past the fallen oak
There stands a maple tree
Whose earth has risen
Like a first place podium
Moting the forest below

I climb, clawing at the rocks and leaves
And lay gasping in its roots

Knotted in its belly
Juts a hollowed arm
I watch a cardinal sip from its pool
And take away no harm

As I stretch to take a drop
I hear you creak below
The promises of next spring
Disregarding winter’s blow

The maple’s gift is meager
I will always grow
The maple will someday dry, and die
And I will do neither

But, by the summer’s leave
What does shade mean to me
See, he tastes like you
Only sweeter

New Poem 1/2

2007-10-21T21:49:00.001-07:00

This one was stuck in my head for a year. (Seriously.) I finally got it out a week or two ago.

Now Accepting Applications
Gabriel Duncan

So, you want to be my boyfriend
You want to be the one
You want me to call you special
Hold you up to the sun

Doesn't matter much to me
If you convince yourself
That you've got me hooked
That my playbook’s on the shelf
But watch your words and actions
‘Cause they betray themselves
It’s easy to see
You deceive yourself

Doesn’t matter much to me
If you think you’re it
But, I don't want a girlfriend
Little make-up wearin’ prick
Oh my god, wow, he even has a dick
Stop waving it around and talking that shit
‘Cause when it goes down
I just gotta say this:

Bribing me with flesh
For sex: it’s not sublime
Take the bait I won't;
You’re just a waste of time
I should have dropped you off
For going off the line
Now I’m gone fishin’ in
All of my free time

So, you want to be my boyfriend
You want to be the one
You want me to call you special
Hold you up to the sun
You want to hold the title
Have the name upon your desk
Well, spare me the recitals
Just get it off your chest

You can have it your way
Have your own designation
Hang it up upon the shelf
Display it for admiration

Doesn’t matter much to me
If you think you’re queen
Here’s the royal shock treatment
Stop causing such a scene
I signed up for a dude
not liberacci
Now give that nice girl back her fucking versace

It’s sad you say you love me
When you can’t say what’s wrong
Then you ask me why I’ve changed
Why you feel the spark is gone
It’s sorta strange
Like, missing from my lexicon
But my wallet and my love
Have just sung a swan’s song

So you want to be my boyfriend
You want to be the one
You want me to call you special
Hold you up to the sun

You gotta be true from day one
Forked and silver-tipped tongues better fucking run
You gotta be you from day one
What’s more, silly tricks, god damn, you’d better run
You gotta be true from day one
Don’t play the game ‘cause you still haven't won

Beta Readers, Project Announcement

2007-10-05T14:55:00.000-07:00

Hey,

What's up, folks? I'm working on a new unnamed project and I've just finished the second chapter. Because I didn't know where it was going to go, I put the whole project on the back burner during Angel, and I let it collect some dust. But now I have a brief outline and I like how the story's shaping up. So . . . I was wondering if anyone wanted to take a look at the first two chapters and tell me what they think. [Now I need to describe it without making it sound uninteresting.]

Well, I don't want to let out its working title. But it's based in a motel, in a fictional town called Bernesberry, NV. The main character is a seventeen year-old guy called Shane. His mother owns the motel they live in and the restaurant/bar which they employ themselves at, as well as a few locals. On the side, Shane is a sex worker. His mom is too, but the first and second chapters don't give you any background on how or why.

There's the local kids, two brothers he hangs out with on his free time. His mom, who is cool, but stern. Then there's Mr. Buzzard, some lecherous old man who wants Shane. Al, a mechanic who is probably some kind of father-figure/advice-giver, and the poker guys, who are a mix of local guys that practically live in the bar. Then, there's Thor, who's Shane's favorite truck-driving trick.

Even as I write this, I'm thinking, "What the fuck am I thinking?!" I mean, seventeen year old whores in the middle of the desert? A motel? What the hell? Truck drivers?! For the love of jeebus. This sounds like a bad porn waiting for its third chapter. Well, it's not. Sorry to disappoint you all.

I dunno, I just got tired of having sex with people who sucked in bed and who weren't as experienced as I am. I got kinda dissatisfied and stopped for a while. Then I started thinking about all the people I've done it with in some form or another. There's a lot. Like, nothing close to the most famous lover of all time, but I could probably rival his record by the time I reach the age he wrote his book.

So, I figured I should get started writing about the hook-ups, weekend boyfriends, fuck-buddies, week-long boyfriends and one-night-stands. Holy shit, I don't know if I should even be writing this, but, yeah. I wanted to write from the perspective of a sex-worker because, for me, right now, I thought it would be the easiest, and most interesting way to explore bedroom dynamics, lust, love and that other feeling in between the two that gets confused with love all the time. You know what I mean? The "I love my best friend" feeling that leads into a relationship that was obviously not the right thing to do and could end either way, but still.

Yeah, I think that's happened to me. Umm, I know it has. That could give away something in the future, and I think it may. But, I won't let it be that obvious from the first two chapters. I mean, there's already tons of stories out there about whore-love and daddies and clients falling in love with their whores and the whole withholding love until the whore breaks and happy, endless fucking ensues until the ending, when they walk off in the sunset . . . only to be reborn again in the spin-offs with FRIENDS!!!!. . . .

So, if I make Shane fall in love with Thor, there's no fun, and I might as well just send it off as the triple-X, director's cut to Nifty; where people want to find something that they can easily predict, but surprises them with kinky twists. Which is cool, I guess. But then it wouldn't be the story I had planned, just a leaky cop-out.

Just to keep it real, I don't think I'll break the hymen between eroticism and full-on pornography, even though it is a little hard to do when your main character gets paid to have sex. It'll be easy enough to give you a hot picture, because the main character can detach himself from it and look at it like a job. You know, like rate performance and stuff. Which is more important than the main character being wrapped around nuts and poles and all that trashy stuff for the reason I'll explain in the next paragraph.

I dunno, I kinda noticed how, in the beginning, I wrote about the beginnings. About the fun exciting first love and first boyfriends. But now that I've been there and done that, and made the T-Shirt, it's not like that for me. Dating's fucking tough. It's not that fun anymore.

I mean, what about the relationships you get into that you know are going to end? What about loving someone more than they love you? Or being used? Or just the dynamic of sex, of what happens when one person wants and the other doesn't? And the one person gives in? Or they don't? What about someone getting paid for it?

And what does that change about their relationships? What does that change about their image of themselves? Would someone like that even want a relationship? How would they avoid one? What kind of partner would this person look for? Would they want a sugar daddy? Would they date? Would they have sex? How would this person think of sex? Would they prefer cold hard cash compared to real, scary, I don't know if this will last, if he will leave me, if I'm good enough, love and infatuation?

That really didn't explain anything. But I know I need to be careful with the sex part, to not draw so much attention to it that the plot is lost; but still have enough to have the chance to say what I want to. I guess it's gonna be kinda like fucking someone in a tent with a wasp. But I still think it's going to be fun. I hope I didn't give away more than some of the driving questions and ideas of the story overall.

Together, chapter one and two are twelve pages long. I'm working on the next chapter right now and expect to have a little more done. Beta Readers could become editors, if they want, and if we work well together. I tried to keep three editors at a time, one time, but it got a little complicated. So, one for now. As many beta readers as possible. I'm planning on releasing it once it's what I think half done is, or once it is complete. I really want to wait until it's complete. But I'm sure I'll be biting at my own bit within a month or two of progress.

Drop a line if you're interested. You know how to find me.

...Damn, this was a long post.

New Poem

2007-10-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

So, I just posted the newest poem I've written. It's called "Now Accepting Applications" and it's about my frustration in the dating world. Mostly, having to deal with queens. Or meeting dudes who were putting on the macho front the first time we met. I dunno. Totally about false advertising.

I also wanted to point out that Lonely Ocean is still 100% ad and fee free. And that all the works here are, in fact, mine. With exception to one portrait, which was taken by Stephen Pinata (the credit is given on the mouseover in the about me section.) And that, since the face lift, I've gotten thousands more hits every day. Which might make me very fucking popular. Thank god for Mac, who so generously sponsors this starving artist. (I need to get some lunch.)

But yeah. By me, for you. Everything. The graphics, the design, all the words on this thing are mine. How many of you can say that? I'm feeling succesful today. Because I think I'm one of the few gay author sites that don't try to sell you books, or hook up with other authors to get more hits. Hell, I don't even fuck with my meta tags that much. But I am the king of Search Engine Optimization. Seriously, search me on Google. I'll wait for you here. I'm all over the first page.

And I use my real name. You're god damn right. Gabriel Duncan. I don't need to hide my identity or mediocrity behind a pseudonym. Because I don't give a fuck who knows it. I don't play to the creepy gay youth genre. You won't find me recycling the same bullshit story lines floating out there out there on Nifty and other story sites. Yeah, I love this soap box of originality. See, I stay on a topic for a few poems. For a chapter. And when I end a book, it ends right there. That's it, I'll leave you to imagine the happy ending, or what happens after the walk into the sunset. You won't find me writing three fucking novels of mundane every-day-life-filler just so I can write in more sex scenes between my characters. Or give up and turn the whole thing into an ongoing soap opera that has no ending. That's not me.

Sometimes I feel a little slighted by these guys who just churn out spin-off after spin-off. But I know they're wasting their time retracing over paths long past memorized and I don't feel as bad. Gay Teen Soap Opera is not my bag, baby. But that still doesn't help when I've got a poetry corner with no submissions and a website that isn't getting updated as much as I would like. But that's the way the cookie crumbles I guess.

I was working on that poem for, like, a year. I had the first verse down and I didn't know what to put after it. Then I listened to the Bully soundtrack and found the song "Bottom Feeders" by R.A. The Rugged Man and that helped a lot. I got a good beat to keep my head in while I hammered it out. In reality, the poem only took about a month since I wrote the first words down. But it was a troubling month. I haven't really been able to make progress on any of my projects. Which is very frustrating, seeing as I'm sitting at home most of the day, what being unemployed and too proud to work minimum wage like a Mexican. God I hate being worked like a Mexican.

And, in the food industry, it doesn't really matter if you aren't a Mexican. You're still going to be worked to the bone and underpaid. If you love it, that's good. But I kind of decided it was the wrong industry for me. I can't put up with assholes. I dunno, I had this one chef that was yelling at everyone by the end of the day. Then he got on my case for now plastic wrapping something quick enough so I told him to shut the fuck up and pay me, because I quite. Then I threw the tub on the ground. Yeah, okay, the last bit was a little childish. But fuck them. I was born in America, I speak English and I've been trained for more than a year. I'm not working starbucks, taco bell, jack in the box, chili's, no way in HELL i'm working at the Old Spaghetti Factory again. I mean, I can't even imagine working at a pizza place. Much less a place that has bad food. And I'm not gonna wash any fucking dishes. The food industry is ridiculous. There are no ranks, no nods to seniority or experience. When you get in, you're just a piece of shit like everyone else.

Oh yeah . . . and you get office politics on top of it all. I got dropped into this one place with dudes who only spoke spanish. And that was frustrating 'cause, even though I should know spanish (i'm a fucking mexican-indian) I was adopted by white people, so I don't. After the third or fourth day of working there, being super efficient and all that, the rest of the guys got really scared. I mean, I don't want anyone's job. I want a job, doing what I'm trained to do. Is that too fucking hard to ask? Oh yeah, I'm not putting my fingers in danger of being cut off for $7.50. Go fuck yourself. I mean, how the fuck does someoen expect me to break my ass for a paycheck that won't even by me gas?

Gotta go.

Some random pictures.

2007-09-21T17:09:00.002-07:00

Eh, I think some people have seen this once. I was going to use it for a design. The bottom as the navbar, top for logo and section navbar. But I don't think people ever really see it when the navbar goes from the top to the bottom of the screen.

I took this at the airport on the way back from the National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools conference way back when. I thought they were absolutely beaming. The lady said they'd met each other online. I thought they looked so cute.

I have a bunch of strange photos like this one. Heh. I can't tell you where this was taken. I can tell you it was taken more than four years ago.

My friend Stephen took this of me. I like the background. I was thinking about how I look hella different with facial hair. Here's an example.

2007-09-21T17:09:00.001-07:00

New Pictures

2007-09-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

Alright Everyone,

I just added three new pictures of myself. If you chat with me, or are on my myspace, you would have seen these. But everyone else who doesn't know me, (the thousands of you who visit this site), I thought should see. Anyway. Yeah. Tell me what you think.

I also added spaces to my contact details 'cause I got some SPAM on YIM. Yahoo Instant Messenger.

As far as the grudge, it's over and Tim of IOMFATS took down his ~~bullshit page~~. Heheh. Ooops. Anyway, yeah. Pictures and stuff, WOOOOO!!!

I'll be going on another photographic excursion this weekend. I don't know where to, yet. But, if anyone wants to see anything in particular, or any place, let me know.

--Gabe

Trade Feast Sept 8 & 9

2007-09-08T12:16:00.000-07:00

I'll be selling prints at the Trade Feast at the Marin Museum of the American Indian. Right now, I've got signed 8x 10's on the table for $15 with a $5 Shipping and Handling charge. Ugh. I'm late as it is. See you there.

From Craig's List Listing:

Please come see the Marin Museum of the American Indian's 35th Annual Trade Feast! Saturday and Sunday, September 8th and 9th from 11:00am to 6:00pm in Miwok Park, Novato. Join us for two days of Native American dance groups and art, traditional Native skills, crafts, and food, and kid's activities.

Directions to Miwok Park:
From 101 North or South, take San Marin/Atherton exit and head west on San Marin Dr. Take a left at Novato Blvd., San Marin High School will be on your right just before the four-way intersection. Go 2 blocks and we're on the left!

Internet Warfare: The End of the Grudge-Match

2007-08-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

Hey,

This blog is basically to bring attention to the email list that used to be hosted on IOMFATS.org for a year or more. It was a 129 page compilation of email addresses for the supposed purpose of a SPAM-trap. A spam-trap is a list of bad email that are supposed to clog a spammers database. He supposedly used some real email addresses, but changed the domain names to non-valid locations. Somehow, though, my valid email became nestled inside. I told him to take it down a long time ago and forgot about it.

Last night (this morning) I found out he didn't. So I WHOISed his domain and sent letters out to his ISPs to inform them of his breach in not only their terms of service, but also of the unlawful publication of my email in a list for the purpose of email harvesting. Which is against the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 because IOMFATS.org has a privacy policy that states emails will not be given out to third-parties.

Then I sent emails to The Mail Crew, Awesomedude, CodeysWorld and CRVBoy to tell them that the owner of IOMFATS.org was supplying my email (and maybe theirs) to spammers. An hour later, the page was taken off-line. But not before I was able to erect a page with screen shots in its honor.

So let this link effectively become an egg running down the owner of IOMFATS.org's face. The google cache file is available for the DoJ (Department of Justice) and my favorite webmasters (who do not associate with SPAM.)

Http://www.lonelyocean.co.uk/spammers/iomfats_emaillist.html

--Gabe

Mt Tamalpais Pictures

2007-08-23T14:46:00.001-07:00

Hey,

Someone told me to post more pictures on my blog. So here they are. This is from my trip, yesterday to Mt. Tamalpais. Which was pretty fun. Apparently, there are supposed to be a lot of hidden traila around here. And bees. And waterfalls. I'm still looking. :: shrugs ::

Updated Links

2007-08-22T23:07:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Hope you're having a good week. I just wanted to drop and note and tell you that I've updated the links section. I took out SNAG Magazine because their website is down. I also added a banner for the torrent sites The Pirate Bay & Demonoid. The blog Hack-A-Day is pretty cool. I think anyone can appreciate this site. Check out the Defcon footage of the reporter fleeing the paparazzi. LOL. And I also include Wikipedia there on the bottom. Wiki . . . Pedia. Need I say more?

I won't. But also to let you know, there are some more pictures coming. I think you'll like these.

--Gabe

Last of the . . . England Photos 4

2007-08-20T23:35:00.000-07:00

Hey,

I thought I'd mention last week was the anniversary of Stephen's death. Yay. He was my amazingly gifter painter-friend who jumped off the San Francisco Bay Bridge. There are some rumors going on about how he died. But I'd like to point out that those rumor mongers weren't at the fucking funeral so, :P. Eat it.

Anyway . . . On a brighter subject. Well, I was in a reflective mood when I took these pictures. But these are the pictures of the last three or four days of my trip in England. Crap, I didn't want to leave Zak.

The only picture I took while visiting Zak.

I slept less than I did before leaving America. I'm sitting down at a cafe in Heathrow, waiting for my eggs arlington to arrive.

The view from my table. (There's the reflection/shadow of a bird in the rop right of the window. I can't tell if that's from, like, a mobile or something inside the cafe, or the shadow of a bird flying outside.)

There's going to be some poetry and stuff soon. Or maybe not. I don't know. I've been really melancholy lately. Anyway, this is the last of my public england photos. Hope you enjoyed.

If You Read My Stuff At Events, Tell Me About It

2007-08-16T17:22:00.000-07:00

So, like I've said a lot of times, I don't care if you share my work with your friends. Just as long as you aren't a company or other like-minded entity who wishes to gain profit (or non-profit) through means of publication; whether it be in print or online.

But there's something else I forgot to mention. This isn't another rule concerning distribution. Just kind of a common courtesy thing as far as I'm concerned, ego aside. If you read my work at a conference or something, let me know. Seriously. Not only do I find it flattering, but I'd just like to have some sort of record to how a crowd reacts.

I recently visited Zak again. You know, from "Gay Prom '06" (linked via The Mail Crew); or even the many health projects he's done with his youth organizations out here in the UK. He told me that after he was done with the Gay Prom UK project, I think it was titled "My big Fat Gay Prom", everyone googled the story I wrote about the Gay Prom in Hayward. They liked it, I guess. Some of his friends even read some of my poems at a few conferences. The ones I heard about were "I Found Myself on a Dirt Road", classic, right? And this girl also read "Untitled BART Poem."

That's pretty much the only reason I'm bringing this up now. I've only read "Untitled BART Poem" once. And that was when I was in high school, right after I finished it. Well, twice, I read it to someone else, but that isn't important. I never really thought that it was audience-friendly. I was always told the use of strong language is something that I should stray from when it comes to performing. But this girl read it while it was on-topic. Zak said the audience was moved to tears.

So that's why I want to know. Send me feedback about what you think. Tell me if you've read my work for someone else. Let me know what people think when you share my writing with them. I think it's great that this kind of stuff is happening. Just let me know for god sakes!

LOL.

Umm . . . as far as seeing Zak again, I'm glad I did. And I'm gonna miss him when I go back home today. (Flying out in a few hours.) But, there's always next year. Don't get your hopes up for a follow-up to the "Gay Prom '06" story.

email: gduncan @lonelyocean. co. uk (yeah, co dot uk)

make sure to label the email with a non-spammy subject.

or, use the form i've created on the contact page.

and, if you've gotten to this page from a search engine, the website is Lonely Ocean; the address is Http://www.lonelyocean.co.uk

I've had a couple of beers. Can't wait for my flight. Here's to three hours of sleep. And have a good night.

.....BTW, I'm writing this at +08:00 GMT . . . London time

England Photos 3 (Code Talker Day)

2007-08-11T05:30:00.000-07:00

A note before I begin this update: August 14th is coming soon. August 14th is Navajo Code Talker day. I'd like all Americans and all our Allies to take a second on that day and remember the Navajo Code Talkers. And I'd like to say thank you to all the Code Talkers, for the sacrifices they made in the name of this country.

-- --

As I sit here, my father, sister and her friend are going off to Normandy to see Omaha Beach. Heh. Feels weird saying that. Well, there's no draft. And, yeah I still am in England. Just me and mom. I had a lot of fun last night crawling the bars of Guildford. Yeah, I got a little tipsy. It was kinda lame, though. No one was dancing anywhere. This one place we went to, the legion had good music and the kind of volume I want, damn I wanted to dance! But it was too small. The company was good. Thanks Stuart & Linnea, and Nick, for showing us a good time. Let's see . . . where does this begin? Oh yes....

All the date formats are dd/mm.

This is the inside of the King's Head, Wedensday (08/08). All the cool people come here. I took this picture when mom and I were walking around Guildford. This pub is actually next door to the castle. ------> That way from the bar.

This is the next day. [Thursday 09/08] My dad, sister, her friend and I took a Roal Day-out. This is a picture from the standing stables in the Royal Mews. I don't know why I posted this...

Recreation of what the golden carriage would look like riding.

The actual golden carriage.

The sky from the working stables.

Riding school.

The outside of Buckingham Palace, rear.

Friday 10/08, just a picture of the itinerary and maps.

Me, on the train.

Windsor.

Windsor inner court. (Behind me.)
The tower.

Not much to report about Windsor. I think I'm done with these kinds of tours now. Castles are kind of disappointing. And the security's too tight to have any fun anyway. Gotta find something else to do now . . . . Six more days until we return to california.

England Photos 2

2007-08-08T12:31:00.000-07:00

Written on August 7th, editors comments written today;

Another day. Heh. This time in Guildford. I've spent it running around with my sister and her friend. We visited Henry the Third's castle. It was pretty small. Nothing compared to the proper castles in Scotland. Mostly I'm not about touristy things. But, considering that we're all staying a short jaunt down the street, visiting the castle seemed like fun. Our day started out with breakfast. We were going to come here (department store) to get it. . . . But buffets usually aren't all that high-quality. So we left, and some guy on the street told us about a nice cafe that serves sandwiches. [All the places around here serve sandwiches. No offense to all you real chefs. But I think all these sandwiches are around 'cause no one knows how to cook.] I had a mocha with O.J. and a tuna & sweet corn melt. It came with a salad, slice of cucumber, two of tomatoes and some kinda honey-dijon sauce. Eh. It was good. Worth the six pounds, I guess. :P Too bade the exchange rate fell from 49% to 43% before we flew. Speaking of which, we shaved off about an hour in-flight. God bless the British Airways. The really bad thing about staying here, though, is the abundance of willow trees. They grow in thickets! Just like the piney woods of middle america. I don't know if you knew, but I'm very allergic. [So allergic, in fact, that I'm getting a steroidal injection tomorrow to deal with it.] Even with my allergy medicine, I still find myself about to-the-ground with hayfever. Even right now, my nostrils keep a subtle burn. I don't know what I'll do about that. By the rivers are the worst. But it's not nearly as bad as Casa de Fruta. No, it almost is. Gotta go.

--Gabe

----------------------------------------

High St., in Guildford.

The view from Guildford Castle Keep.

Guildford Castle.

Me.

From the Gardens

Something that looked like bocce ball. I think they called it "bowling".

It looked nice from where I was.

From the pond/moat/puddle thing. (God this castle was small.)

Outside the walls.

Someone told me to watch out for the bad food. "Fresh", "Healthy" and "Satisfying" . . . that doesn't look too bad.

Nevermind.

England Photos

2007-08-06T22:35:00.001-07:00

Alright, so these don't look so great. But I'm here. And this is proof, so there.

yeah, me, looking like shit. this is before the flight. i think i only slept three hours.

Flying over Ireland.

Where I sleep

My view in the morning

My view in the morning 2

My view in the morning 3 (tried to get the moon)

More later

New Poems

2007-07-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

I sometimes find that the poetry I have on my site is not all the poetry I have on the internet. So, every once in a while, I update my list of poems and add the ones that have been published elsewhere. For your pleasure, I submit to you nine more poems.

Untitled 7 -- About my friend Stephen Pinata (RIP)
Hit the Floor -- More shit talking to all the motherfuckers who think they can un-gay us.
March Song 1 -- A marching song. (H.A.R.M. might like this one.)
Judas' Poem -- A little biblical battling. (Short)
It's Like Falling Out of the Sky (Like a Rain Drop) -- I dunno. It's like . . . A fresh towel, right out of the dryer.
Accessory -- About abortion.
Love
A Gut Reaction to a Theologian's Dangerous Dissection of a Simple World -- I was listening to Alan Watts with my friend, Paul, and his artist friend, Alex. Paul flipped out about the "World as a Wave" thing.
Howling Towards Infamy -- About gastronomy.

Enjoy

Travel

2007-07-31T09:05:00.000-07:00

I'm going to England for half of August.

Needless to say, I'm gonna be coming back with a bundle of work.

I hope I make it to Amsterdam. ;)

media

2007-07-25T18:53:00.001-07:00

Added the entry for 6/15/2007

Update 7/23/2007

2007-07-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

I've been busy. I withdrew from the culinary academy because of some **** that went down. Don't ask.

But I wanted to let you know that I've updated the media section. The pride issue of the Bay Area Reporter came out. I was on the front cover of the pride section. And my girlfriend and I were interviewed.

My photography is now on exhibit at the Marin Museum of the American Indian. 2200 Novato Blvd. @ Miwok Park in Novato, California. This exhibit will be on display until July of 2008. If you ever have the chance to check it out, let me know what you think.

--Gabe

Screenings, Galleries and Future Events

2007-05-31T14:15:00.000-07:00

Hey,

How's it going. Well, I've been pretty busy here with school. Here's an update on some of what I've been working on out of school. (I sent an update like this to AwesomeDude; but this update is officially more up-to-date.)

First off: I need to tell you about two movie screenings. Both of them during Frameline31, the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, June 14-24, 2007.

"Do You Get It Yet?"
The film I made with TILT/Frameline's Young Filmmaker Project 2006.
June 16th, 3:45 pm at the Roxie Film Center

"Two Spirits: Belonging"
A documentary by Sabrina Wolf that I was interviewed in, will be showing in a series of films called Mixed Fruit.
June 23, 1:15 P.M. at the Roxie.

The Roxie is located at 3117 16th Street at Valencia, in San Francisco, California. ...Someone told me my picture is on page 60 of the program.

Secondly: I am going to be on the cover of the Bay Area Reporter, a weekly GLBTQ newspaper out of San Francisco, for Pride. Heather Cassel, Associate Editor at the BAR, is working on a Queer Youth 2007 article for Pride and she interviewed both my girlfriend and me. The cover should be coming out in a week or two. So stayed tuned for that. If you don't live where the BAR is delivered, you can check out the Bay Area Reporter's website at eBAR.com.

Finally: My photography and the poem "I Found Myself on a Dirt Road" will be on show at the Marin Museum of the American Indian, starting next Tuesday, June 5th, 2007. The show will last for a year. Check out the Marin Museum of the American Indian's website for hours of operation and directions. www.MarinIndian.com

This makes the second gallery I've shown my artwork in. The first being the judged gallery at the former Alameda Art Center. (Check the Media page for exact dates.) I'd like to thank my friend D Shane for hooking me up with this awesome opportunity. Dude, I owe you some soufflés or filet mignons or something, man. I owe you. And Colleen Hicks, the Executive Director of the Marin Museum of the American Indian, for having the space to showcase the artwork of local American Indian youths. This is a gift. Thank you.

Okay . . . :: takes a deep breath ::

That seems to be it so far. I hope you are doing well. And, don't forget to log in to Lonely Ocean often to check for new updates. Http://www.lonelyocean.co.uk The official website of Gabriel Duncan.

--G.D.

Updated Photography Galleries

2007-05-25T13:41:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

I took the photo galleries down for a while because I was going to add some watermarks to all the photos. But I never got around to that. So . . . if you're wondering which photos are new, they're all in the color gallery. And I signed them all.

That's how you can tell. My signature's in the bottom right. I added the photos seen here on the blog.

Next up, more poetry.

--Gabe

New Photos IMPEACH BUSH

2007-05-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

If I were the president in 2008, I'd have predecessor arrested, tried and (if convicted) executed for crimes against humanities. Or maybe imprisoned in Abu Ghirab, where the prisoners can make Georgie their bitch. You know, I can say that 'cause it's not a threat. Serious. George Bush Jr. needs to get the fuck out of my country. And the other two branches of the government need to make sure that our CEO doesn't have complete control of the military.

Anyway. Now that I've finished reminding you that my president is not really my president, I can continue.

I recently took some time off from school to unwind and work on my portfolio. Here are some pictures. Here are the first two pictures. These ones will finish up the series of pictures I tried to post in the last edition, like I said but I didn't get around to it.

End of the last series . . . .

And this is the new stuff . . . .

New Photos 2

2007-05-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

Taken May Eleventh, Two-Thousand and Seven. Night shots. One early morning. I tweaked the colors for the portraits.

New Photos

2007-05-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

Taken on the Ninth of May, Two-Thousand and Seven. My friend, Tim, got a new camera. So we went out around town to take some photos. We went out again two days later. (Stay tuned for the second post.)

"Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin", the man who helped MLK Jr.

2007-05-04T02:36:00.000-07:00

This flowed into my mail box. You should check it out.

2007 East Bay Queer Film Festival Presents

BROTHER OUTSIDER:

THE LIFE OF BAYARD RUSTIN

83 minutes, 2002
Producers/Directors: Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer
Executive Producer: Sam Pollard

A chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, Bayard Rustin brought Gandhi’s protest techniques to the American civil rights movement and helped mold Martin Luther King, Jr. into an international symbol of peace and nonviolence.

But Rustin was also silenced, threatened, arrested, beaten, imprisoned and ousted from leadership, largely because he was an openly gay man in a fiercely homophobic era.

Five years in the making and the winner of numerous awards, BROTHER OUTSIDER presents a feature-length documentary portrait, focusing on Rustin’s activism for peace, racial equality, economic justice and human rights.

www.rustin.org

Saturday, MAY 19, 2007
The Oakland Museum of California
1000 Oak Street (at 10^th), Oakland
(1 block from Lake Merritt BART;

street parking also available)
Map your route here

This is a FREE event.

7pm registration with free food & drinks

8pm screening

To RSVP, contact Philip Huang

510-986-6830, ext. 371

Phuang@ahschc.org

This event is sponsored by Asian Health Services, La Clinica de La Raza and Tri-City Health Center, with Steamworks Bathhouse and Alameda County Office Of AIDS Administration

Just Don't Think I'm Not, Gay Internet Love Story Writers and The People Who Read Them

2007-04-25T01:28:00.000-07:00

Hi.

You know, I've been thinking about my writing a lot. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from it. Most particularly Just Don't Think I'm Not (JD Tin). Which was a love story, about looking for it and losing it, but more importantly about finding it. JD Tin has a lot more to do with knowing people, staying true to your friends and who you choose to keep as friends. But no one liked the ending.

I'm averaging about one book every two years now. Even though the year that I'm not writing is spent thinking about what I'm going to write next. After reading a thread on the AD Forums that totally trashed multiple first person POV's, I took a look at what I've done.

Okay, my poetry isn't astounding. There are some pieces there that are pretty good. But I have hundreds. So I'm not really satisfied with anything any more. There's only so much I can write about my hijacked country. I took to gangster rapping as the Homo Freedom Bandit and talking trash to the religious right. And that's getting a little stale.

My photography has been slow. I went out a week ago, but thats' pretty much it. I haven't really taken my camera to any place. But I'm gonna change that soon. I haven't been doing any gigs. I got a few offers, but my schedule usually conflicts. I've spent more times discussing subjects than writing essays on them. Besides, I'm not really an essayist.

And then there's Angel. This personal project I've been working on for the past year or so. I mean, I fished this one out of the trash and re-wrote it. The beginning is banging . . . but things kind of fall apart towards the end. I didn't want to leave it there. But I also didn't know where to pick up. But then my friend jumped off a bridge before I started school in the fall and that kind of gave me a leap of inspiration. I can't really tell you more about that project, but Angel is far from over and I will be making some very large changes to it once I'm finished with what I'm working on right now.

I don't know. Maybe it took a year or two more to mature enough to end things properly. Ack. I can't believe I just said that. But looking at Angel, examining the ending and looking at its shortfalls in a more objective sort of way . . . I decided that if I'm going to save Angel, I need to fix Just Don't Think I'm Not. Well, I've always had this gnawing urge to fix that and With Scott. Though I think With Scott will be a lot harder to fix.

I was going to rant . . . but I decided not to. The point behind this all is that I changed the ending of Just Don't Think I'm not. Now, instead of 14 chapters, there is 13a, which is the new ending, and 13b, which is the old.

2007-04-17T17:26:00.000-07:00

So, I got this new camera. My aunt gave it to me sometime after Christmas (thanks!) It's an OLYMPUS SP-500UZ. A few days ago, I drove around town and went to the redwood park in the oakland hills to get some shots of the trees in the rain and other stuff. And, out of tons of images (thanks to a gig stick), here's two.