Linnea Ashley on January 31st, 2009

the thing about life is that in some ways everyone is judging. everything is a courtroom appearance and you will either be vindicated or sent away. and it isn’t always as serious as all of that. sometimes it is just the look of contempt instead of being held in contempt. but consider…job interviews- or board. […]

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Linnea Ashley on January 28th, 2009

i’ve been to the gym once in the past three months. once. the one time was last week when i woke up from a nightmare at some unholy hour and couldn’t manage to find mare-less sleep again. so i rose and found myself cursing the treadmill. today i thought i’d try something a little different. […]

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Linnea Ashley on January 27th, 2009

free oscar grant was scrawled in black spray paint across the whitewashed wall of the bart underpass. i shook my head as i passed. irritated because this is new graffiti on the recently painted wall…irritated more that someone missed the reality that you cannot free that which has been killed. oscar grant isn’t being held, […]

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Linnea Ashley on January 25th, 2009

massages can be intimate. naked skin with a stranger. dimmed lighting and rubbing. i didn’t think anything could be more intimate between strangers than a swedish or deep tissue massage like i’ve had a few times in my life. and today’s trip into san francisco for a thai massage seemed an implausible choice for something […]

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Linnea Ashley on January 22nd, 2009

this morning, while the rain bathed a parched oakland in moisture, and before the sun was even attempting to show herself, i woke from a nightmare. sometimes i’m able to ignore them. change the channel in my head so that i dream of something else without actually waking up. but not this morning. i don’t […]

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Linnea Ashley on January 19th, 2009

the thing about moments is t hat they judge you…or rather you judge yourself against them. there is no dress rehershal…only the moment that in some way defines you…even as the next one will define you again and again and again. i hate when those moments define me as less than i want to be. […]

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Linnea Ashley on January 14th, 2009

Oscar Grant Protest Jan. 14, 2009

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Linnea Ashley on January 13th, 2009

we took the long way from the powell station by accident. unseasonably warm in the city, we were almost sweating by the time we found the entrance. a bustle of people smiling and asking for cards or email addresses. i’m not sure what i expected. in some ways it was a throw back to the […]

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Linnea Ashley on January 10th, 2009

“you sure did something to me when you spoke to me. i didn’t even need viagra. bam, through that brick wall back there.” the drums drowned out the competing music from some of the other stalls and it gave the old man an excuse to lean in to my ear after he tapped my shoulder […]

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Linnea Ashley on January 7th, 2009

the thing is…it does more damage. not simply to property, although the blazing cars and crushed car and business windows show proof of that, but of lives. fourteen arrests so far and what does that mean for young brown people. livelihoods of folks who own property that has been destroyed.  resentment – on both ends […]

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