Life

So I recently began school again. It’s my third year, though it’s my first semester as a Philosophy major, and I finally feel like I’m in the flow of things. Perhaps this stems from the fact that it’s my first time since I got to college that I am taking courses I WANT to take, rather than the business courses I was taking the past four semesters.

I’ve also realized this semester that I have an affinity for being the underdog. I love challenges because I can overcome them. I love the feeling of glory at the end of the day when I get back a perfect assignment– I really do. My courses this year have provided me with that and more, as well as the new job and the new organization. People tell me I’m crazy for spreading myself thin, but in the end, I always come out victorious. I’m determined to make this year a flawless victory.

Follow me on Twitter: @altheatremaine

Excuse My Fist

So, in case you guys didn’t know (I don’t know why you would) I am the producer of a wonderful podcast called Excuse My Fist. If you like rude, dirty-mouthed, sarcastic mo-fos, you’ll love it. Check it out!

Excuse My Fist Podcast

Althea Tremaine Bogus Podcast

So I’ve been messing with GarageBand ever since a friend of mine asked me to produce his podcast, Excuse My Fist. Since I was writing an assignment on why Paul McCartney is the best Beatle, I decided to test out our equipment by making this bogus podcast. Let me know what you think.

Tremaine Podcast

Focus Organic Free T-Shirt Giveaway

So I was on Twitter this morning, when much to my surprise I realized there was a contest going on. To celebrate Earth Day, Focus Organic is giving away free t-shirts via contest. As part of the entry, they asked contestants to link to their blog, although, let me tell you, I would have done so anyway.

Even if you’re not interested in the contest, please take a look. Their designs are amazing, fresh, and I would totally buy much of their clothing if only I had more cash at this point in my life.

So take a look!

Giveaway! Intelligent Design T-shirts – 3 Winners!

Week of Silence at OLLU

This week, Our Lady of the Lake University hosted a Week of Silence in honor of the upcoming Day of Silence usually associated with the struggles of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transexual, Two-Spirited, Intersex, Queer, and Straight allies (LGBTQIS). However, it became something much bigger than it had ever been during its practice at the University.

Throughout the week, there were several events linked to silence in a much deeper sense: oppression, discrimination, fear, violence, and death linked to not only the LGBTQIS community, but also undocumented immigrants, the femicides in Juarez, Mexico, and victims domestic violence. Some events included students, faculty, and staff presentations of altars made to signify silence as a form of oppression, a movie on the femicides followed by a panel discussion with family members of some of the murdered women, a presentation on oppresion by Sr. Jane Ann Slater, and today’s Out at the Movies event which featured the Academy Award winning film, Milk. So far, every event has been a success. I can only imagine what effect it will have after the week of events is completed.

The following are photographs of some of the altars from the Altares event held to kick off the week:

Community-made banner. There were several members of the community who wrote their thoughts on this fabric haven.

Part of an altar dedicated to the challenges faced by undocumented immigrants. This was a very big altar.

A close-up of the same altar. It reads "Treated like slaves, hunted like animals."

Here is a list of the rest of the events along with descriptions, etc. Please keep in mind that all events are free and open to the San Antonio community unless otherwise noted:

Friday, April 17: (In the Mall Area)

NATIONAL Day of Silence: WHAT WILL YOU DO TO END SILENCE?

9:00 a.m. Drop buy & pick up a rainbow cross to wear, pick up speaking cards, sign a solidarity petition, and take a vow of silence to raise awareness about silence experienced by LGBTQIS youth and community due to bullying, harassment, fear, and hate crimes.

Let your silence be the voice of compassion, service, and justice.

Friday, April 17 (continued, in the Cyber Cafe)

11:30 Soup & Silence: Hosted by Campus Ministry

12:15 Anti-Stigma Performance: Performed by Mujeres Unidas Contra el SIDA

12:30 Out in Scripture: An Interfaith Dialogue

A panel discussion to reexamine the Bible as a source of justice for concerns faced by LGBTQI people of faith and their allies. Moderator: Dr. Peter Zografos featuring Rev. Dr. Richard Reams, Naomi Brown, LMSW, Dr. Jane Grovijahn, Pastor Mick Henson.

1:30 Speak Out: An Open Mic to Break the Silence!

Share your favorite poem, testimonial, personal story, song

Sunday, April 19:

7:00 p.m. (Sacred Heart Chapel): From Silence to Solidarity Mass hosted by The Alliance.

Schedule for Among the Sand and Smog (24th Street Theatre):

Fri, April 17, 7:00p.m.

Sat, April 18, 7:00p.m.

S Sun, April 19, 2:00p.m.

A play about the on-going disappearances and killings of over 600 young women of Juarez, Mexico (Strong language & content). Directed by Gypsy Pantoja; includes a post-play discussion with the cast.

Suggested Donation: $5.00 or pay what you can. Funds raised will be donated to an organization addressing the femicides of Juarez.

Free to OLLU Students, Faculty, & Staff; Donations Appreciated

The OLLU Week of Silence was made possible by the kindness and generosity of the following donors:

Center for Service-Learning & Volunteerism

College of Arts & Science

Drama Dept.

School of Business & Leadership Studies

Worden School of Social Service

OLLU Co-Sponsors:

The Alliance

Campus Ministry

Center for Service-Learning & Volunteerism

Center for Women in Church & Society

Dept. of Religious Studies & Theology

Drama Dept.

La Llamada/The Call, Lilly Endowment Fund

Women’s Studies

Worden Social Work Organization

A Special Thanks to Week of Silence Organizers: SOWK 4332 Service-Learning Students– For info, call 210-431-3990.

Twitter

Twitter:

The site that answers the ultimate question: “What are you doing?”

I remember the first time I heard about Twitter– husbo was on his phone constantly and I decided to ask why.

“I’m on Twitter,” he replied.

That was a lifechanging moment, not only because I finally understood what kept him glued to his phone, but because I discovered Twitter.

Since then, I’ve discovered talented, sarcastic individuals such as myself who roam the web. I’ve become a fan of Roy Bragg, a mySA blogger with an attitude problem (hell to the yeah). I’ve networked with people I would have otherwise been unaware of, and many of the people on Twitter are very intelligent, awesome people (or Tweeple), unlike MySpace and Facebook. Moreover, you don’t have that intimidating formality that LinkedIn radiates off every crisp, grayscale page, and Twitter doesn’t charge you for an account.

So here’s a recap of Twitter:

1. Awesome.
2. Free.
3. What are you waiting for?

Anyway, for all you Tweeple or Tweeple-to-be, follow me on Twitter and find out the latest news, chisme, and blogs.

CGIU John Oliver

So I finally recieved my John Oliver picture, taken by Jennifer Chmura from Buffalo, NY. Thanks, Jen!

John Oliver and Myself

Mike Hale Must Die

So I’ve been searching for a video of John Oliver’s stand-up segment at the Clinton Global Initiative University in Austin, so far with no success. However, what I did find, was an article in the New York Times by some douchebag by the name of Mike Hale.

Who is Mike Hale? From my research, I gathered bits of information on the guy, none of them significant enough to mention. Anyway, his article reviewed one of John Oliver’s stand-up specials, “Terrifying Times,” badmouthing it like John Oliver once slept with Hale’s wife, sister, mother, and therapist:

“He works familiar anti-Bush, antiwar, pro-can’t-we-all-just-get-along territory. There’s nothing exactly wrong with a set piece on how America has “taken the baton of imperialism” from the British and is about to hand it off to the Chinese, but the material has a wonky writers’ room quality rather than the naturalness of something worked out onstage.”

- Mike Hale, “Standing Up, a Briton Mocks Britain” NY Times

Well let me tell you something, Mr. Hale: John Oliver was invited to CGIU in Austin and he rocked that crowd.

John Oliver, as seen at CGIU 2009, used one of the best combinations of wit, sarcasm, and information I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. Not only does Oliver give you a break from your usual immature 6th grader comedy, but gives you a much-needed perspective of humanity and the idiotic things we do. It was almost like seeing Richard Dawkins’ face after he realized Bill O’Reilly, one of America’s most influential men, is a complete moron, and was a waste of his atheist time– except better!

So, to Mr. Hale, I can only say this: perhaps your mental capacity was not fully on when you watched his special, or maybe an abundance of truth and humility caused a short in your egocentric, snot-nosed brain, causing it to turn up the “Republican” and turn down the “intelligence,” as turning up the “Republican” often does. Either way, it was not John Oliver’s fault that your head was stuck up your ass when he was kicking it with Grade A comedy, but yours.

Naked Truths

So it looks like I may get my own website soon (yay). Anyway, although I’m sure husbo is going to design this new website and whatnot, I figured it may be a good idea to look around for designs I may like.

First, I ran into a right-wing blog with a horrible design. I’d link to it, but I’d rather not send traffic to their site– it feels good to be evil

Then, I ran into something even more bizarre (if it’s even possible to be more bizarre than a right-wing): World Nude Day 2009. Apparently, the point of World Nude Day is to get nude, get someone to film you doing something funny while nude, and then upload your video in hopes that it will be chosen by “official judges” who will then give you a prize.

Now, there are multiple odd things about the prior paragraph:

1. Why would you make the name sound so empowering? When I entered the site, I imagined that it would be embracing your nudity, not ridiculing yourself while nude.

2. Any friend who films you being a jackass while nude with the intent to upload it to the web for thousands to see is no friend at all.

3. Was the “official judges” thing meant to be a joke? Come on…

4. The least you could do is tell us what the prize is. Imagine someone participating in this contest only to receive a $10 gift certificate to Old Navy. That’s just cruel.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love being nude– just not for someone else’s entertainment. Even porn seems more honorable, and believe me, I’ve had my beefs with porn.

I’ll follow the sun…

So I was at work today, and I realized I haven’t been keeping up with my site. Then, in a sudden rush of energy, I began working on a post I began in early January. As is evident, that failed miserably after I decided to look up YouTube videos of Beatles songs. I guess sometimes life comes at you fast, but if worse comes to worse, you’ve always got The Beatles.

Anyway, I decided to come up with a small list of things that have happened since I last posted a blog:

- Althea Tremaine is now a married woman.

- I attended the Clinton Global Initiative in Austin and not only shook Bill Clinton’s hand, but got to meet and take a picture with John Oliver. Unfortunately, the picture never made it to my inbox

**************** Update: Picture received! ******************

- I moved into an apartment and now have furniture.

- Got my first/last ever nail job. (Damn my husband and his oppressive ways)

- Stopped playing guitar like I used to

- Began my culinary career as Gordon Ramsay’s impersonator at restaurants (and somewhat in the kitchen).

- Became obsessed with Kitchen Nightmares.

- Have been living without any cable or regular television. Thank you hulu.com

- Began wearing shoes other than Converse!

So yeah, I’ll be posting up some more junk soon. Until then, thanks for visiting my site, and feel free to look around at my brand new “Friends” page.