Islands

well....i guess i didn't really bother thinking about blogging or checking my e mail.....it pretty much slipped my mind the moment i stepped foot on US soil. but, yes, it's true....i'm home. that is to say i arrived in San Francisco a week ago, and this place is way more my home than olympia is anyways...... except that the windowless unit #3088 which contains all my earthly belongings is in olympia, not here. But all of this is beside the point.....I'll be flying to seattle tomorrow. after a quick trip to Whidbey Island (my other home) and Bellingham, I suppose I'll be ready to jump into school. see you soon.

Posted by Alison McManus at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The south island was great, except for that time some guy threw up all over me and Belle in our sleep and we had to spend the whole next day at the laudr-o-mat, that part sucked. come to think of it, on the ferry boat ride, there was a bunch of people spewing everywhere,too and that was gross....but besides that, we went to church in christchruch, and it was really cool, they didn't even talk about jesus or god except in the begining they had a photo of a motorcycle projected on the screen and some one was reading "Jesus Christ rolls in to town in a leather jacket and tattered jeans. The Word LOVE tatooed on his right knuckles....bike, roaring" and then we got to burn regrets, light candles and plant trees, it was wicked!
well, I went to church on easter, for the second sunday in row!. Belle and Sammy (who we picked up on the south island) and i had planned to go to the big cathedral in downtown wellington, but we were running so late that we decided to go to the closest church to the house instead. the congregation was small, about 20 people, maybe. We blew them away with our out rageous opratic harmonies and wild Easter dresses. they loved it, and gavve us heaps of coffee and hot cross buns afterward. We were almost the last ones to leave coffee hour. The paster/ preist/father or whatever they're called, his name was allen, an old english bloke with a belly like santa claus. he kicked us out in the end because he was jealous that we could all touch our toes (we were doing a little easter gymnastics in the coffee hall) and he couldn't even see his. actually, he was joking; we told him that we wanted to tell all of our friends that we got kicked out of church, so he pretended to chase us out of the coffee house waving his fist in the air. oh, that Allen! After church we went home and made scones to bring to a potluck at the beach, in colaboration with a veiwing of videos by Full On Studios ( a two woman art collective run by The girls i went up to hawkes bay with), and a reading of the SAC Manifesto (Sexual Adults Club, wich is a sort of side project of Full On Studois). There was modern dancing, more gymnastics and The swiss boys (who have been staying at the house with us) got dressed up and baked some bread for the affair.
then today i realized that my flight leaves one day earlier than i thought it did, so that means, the day after tomoroow, i fly to LA...Yikes! I have alot to do and a vegan potluck to prepare for. not to mention collecting the last bits of zine stuff, and getting rid of a quickly growing colony of lice from my scalp, before i infect a whole plane full of LA bound passengers.... argg.....!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by Alison McManus at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

excerpts from a letter to josh wood:
yesterday was sunday.....you know how i love sundays. I got a strange call in the morning (well around 1:00) from some sort of secret gun man. i.e.:
ring! Ring!
me: Hello?
SGM: how you going?
me: great! [insert common pleasantry here] I'm making pancakes. [fail to mantion how I've burned all of them so far, and in fact, there's one burning right now] Want some?
SGM: nah...do you want to get on the piss and go shoot guns at the gun club with me?
me: F#%! yeah!
SGM: okay, I'll be over in an hour.
me: see you soon!
Okay, this is not that wierd of a conversation, except that I have absolutely no idea who the Secret Gun Man was; i neglected to ask, he neglected to identify himself and never even showed up. But, at least the illusive secret gun man inspired me to spend a lovely sunday kickin' around the house, sittin' in the sun and having a few beers while hanging up clothes on the line and hunting for hidden clothes pins in the overgrown mint plants.................................
I was supposed to be on the ferry at, like 7:30 this morning, prepared to hop on the boat alone and to argue for the full refund of Belles ferry ticket. you see, she found out that her Nana passed away, and so she's staying behind to go to the funeral. I guess her nana had been wanting to die; starving herself for months in the hostpital and complaing that "They won't just let you die in this damned place" At any rate, grandma-death related or not, my lovely sunday was bookended with frantic insomniatic unrest, which I'm prolonging as i write, gentel reader, with insane amounts of coffe and ciggarettes. So, off I went, at some un godly hour this morning in the sharp wind and pelting rain of wellington to catch the ferry- wich i would have missed anyways, were it not cancelled due to the poor weather. I was left, deposited by bus and circumstance, abandon by ferry, in the attrocious atmosphere of Business District At Rush Hour.
How people do this on a daily basis, I'll never comprehend (except that I know I've done it before, I've just blocked it out) In the same way that being anally probed by an officer of the law makes one cringe in disgust at law enforcement, walking through rush hour is enough to make any human ggag at consumerism, capitalism and the work-a-day world. But, as the asshole heals and the criminal reoffends, so too does the working man travel, twice a day, through a the horrifying masses of pre and post 9-5. Vacant eyes storm the foot paths, most with crinkeled brows from domestic spats the night before, or a fender bender on the morning drive; juxtaposed by a few pale and silly grins (finally got laid? a new nephew on the way?) All bustling along to the clack clacking of high (but not too high- proffessionally-respectable high) heels against sidewalk. Too frequent Posh Power Brunch Bistros "think outside the box" by blasting funky- and-hip-but-mellow techno pop out on to the sidewalk in an attemp to catch executive patronage for later in the afternoon. Men and Women stop occasionally and abruptly to ogle over flash shoes in the "just arrived" section of department store windows, quickly checking their reflections to smooth over stray locks. I duck into a coffee shop, as any self respecting human would do, and vow never to leave the house at this hour again,(which should be relatively easy, as I am apparently rendered unemployable by employers) and proceed to drink several dozen cups of coffe. which brings me to my current state of sleep dep and society induced cynysim, with my stomach lining melting away in the acid caffine.....
end of letter excerpt......
don't worry guys, I've regained my sanity and made it down to the south island. at time of post, the identity of the Secret Gun Man has been sussed and plans made for future gun shooting. much love!

Posted by Alison McManus at 05:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Belle's parents came to wellington last week and it was reall good to see them. i guess the last time i saw them i was probably 14 years old. It's nice to beable to replace their memories of me as an angsty bratty teenager with nice new memories of me in all my early adult glory... Bill and Rose took us out for dinner and we went out to The Hutt for an impossibly uphill suburban bush tramp. and then we watched a movie at Belle's sister, Leah's house. Then we went to see a really high energy, death growly hardcore show.
I've been getting stuck into the library alot and yesterday i discovered the national library, where you can look at all the archives of news paper and microfilm and old photos. I stayed there for so long that i didn't realize it had closed and i almost got locked in. someone offered me a really cheap tatoo, the likes of which would be quite expensive in the states, (i guess because it was a sort of practice tatoo, maybe?) wich i took them up on and now i have the most beautiful tatoo you've ever seen of a fantail. it's sweet!
I've gotten a pretty good response from contributers to my zine, and today I'm going to an anarcho fem picnic, so that'll be a good time to bug people about it. Last night i went and saw Belle play with Saliva Twist and some other bands. On the way home we saw some really awfull graffitti outside of a bar that said "drink more so i can rape you bitch", which is totally disgusting and had to be liberated and so it was, with a can of pink spray paint. tonight I'm going to another show.... I don't want to miss a single show, because maybe I'll never get to see these bands again! and It's Fun! and i keep scamming my way on to the door list, so it's free, too!
Then on monday I'm finally going to make my way to the south island, and I've convinced my dear friend to come along (yay!). so.......i guess thats about it.....um.....yep.

Posted by Alison McManus at 09:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

i can't be bothered at the moment with writing a big thing here, but, just so no one worries: things are going just fine in new zealand, and I'll write something out to post here later.
later.....
well, i spent last weekend in hawkes bay, five hours north, with some wild and crazy, full-on ladies and we had a great time. going to beaches and wedding parties. My friend belle and I got a big group of people together in an area of the proposed by pass zone and i took a bunch of photos for the cover of the anti bypass CD. i haven't gotten them developed yet, but I'm sure some of them will come out. I've been to a couple of art shows and a maori tatoo exhibition at the national museum. I also went to this indiginous cultures concert, featuring songs by maori and pueblo (NM) artists. the other day i went to a going away video screening for this kid i know who's going back to the states and london after being here for a few years. the movies showed at a community squat down the street. Two of them were about london squats and one was about a local homeless maori activist camping out in front of parliment. tomorrow there's an anti iraq war protest (anyone know if that's an international thing?) sooo... i guess thats sort of a quick overveiw of everything...I think my friend might be flaking out on the trip down south, but i've started convincing a few others to join me, so hopefully someone will....um.......oh yeah! i forgot the most school -relevant part of what I've been doing!.... I made up a bunch of flyers requesting work for my zine (they're really cool and i wish i could figure out the stupid scanner on this god forsaken computer) and have been giving them out so that i can stop writing my email adress on the palms of peoples hands (because that makes me feel alleny), and yesterday i went to the first meeting of wellingtons new anarcha- feminist group. there was only about ten of us there, but it went great, and we covered a whole range of issues, including liberating misogynist billboards and putting up posters in bar men's and women's restrooms about drug rape....plus we talked about numerous other things, anarchist principles, and blah, blah, blah, you get the point, i don't have to get to into it......as you can see I'm still super stuck into wellington.

Posted by Alison McManus at 09:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Well, things are still going great in Wellington. I went to this great event called The Rusty Tounge, which is an open mic, where all the punk kids play aucoustic bedroom set songs and blue grass and Irish folk songs. Actually Luke got to go too, and I think he made some recordings with his recording equipment (nice job, Luke). The next night I met these two awsome chicks, Kezia and Clair and Kezia's son Israel who is five. We had a little gymnastics competition in their living room and Kezia's brother made a movie of it, which he said he would give me a copy of. I've been devising some changes to my project. I've met so many ladies, as well as some real on-to-it men, who are all about my project and I've been asking them to contribute to a zine by giving me some of their writing or pictures they've made or song lyrics etc. and every one is receptive. of course, some times stuff like this takes alot of reminding, so I think coordinating it all will be quite a job, but I think doing a zine like this will be more interesting and fun, and more conducive to meeting folks. next weekend is the New town Street Fair and then the next weekend Kezia and Clair have invited me to drive up to Hawkes bay with them for a wedding, but I don't think I'll actually go to the wedding, just maybe the reception. afterall sometimes weddings are boring, especailly if you don't know anyone there.

Posted by Alison McManus at 07:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I don't know if wellington is just the coolest city ever, or if i just came at the right time. I feel like every single night there are awsome (and free) concerts, movies and performances. a few days ago i had a great time with old dear friend Belle at the botanical gardens. we lounged around in a fountain in the scent garden with these two other lovely ladies that we came accross and then had a picnic in the cemetary. When we got home that nigh there was a little porch party waiting for us with a buncch of friends from the neighborhood who all happened to have stopped by. These kids get really excited when I tell them that i went to aberdeen a few months ago and wonder if i ever met kurt cobain. I don't know if they were trying to make me fell at home or if this is just the kind of thing that they do, but they played old nirvana snd sebadoh songs all night, songs that i haven't heard in years. It was really sweet and nice. and another night i went to this going away party for some kids who are traveling around the world for the next two years making a documentary on alternative/low impact/comunal living. The theme of the party was to dress up in trash, so I made a dress out of a hula hoop and an umbrella that i found. It was great! The weekend brought on a whole other slew of events, as it was the carnival. for the carnival in wellington they have a huge parade and festival in town. This year, unfortunately, the mayor and the city council excluded an important creative community section of town from the festivities. The city plans to build a by pass through this much loved part of town, demolishing buildings etc on the way. In addition, the mayor banned any anti- by pass sentiment from the parade. Many of my new comrades were outraged by this blatant repression of freedom of speech. So i helped these kids, along with a group of women called The Girlies Project, who work on all kinds of nifty projects from their all-girl squat, and a local non profit to make signs and get together costumes for the parade. with about forty or fifty people we succeeded in slipping into the front of the parade to protest the bypass and the ban on mentioning it. after we marched in the front of the parade we looped around the block and met up with the parade at two more points. It was a big succsess. I was really impressed to see a small group of people organize themselves so well and so articulately to (hopefully) make a difference about something they feel passionately about.

Posted by Alison McManus at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

well, suppose that this entry is a day late or so, due to the fact that there was flooding here in new zealand and i was stuck on the train for an extended amount of time and got shuffled sbout from train to bus to train and back with hours spent waiting in the middle of nowhere in torrential down pours, almost getting left behind in the middle of National Park, which is probably not the worst place to get stuck, but would have put a serious damper (no pun intended) on getting to blog. but other than the flooding, my journey was ....well incredibly long. 34 hors on the grey hound is umm... riddle with excons, single moms, degenerate drunks and young lovers fleeing their oppressive parental regimes. one of the acne faced moms laughed hysterically to her neighbor about how loudly her baby screamed when she set the precious little one on the floor of the bus bathroom, a horifying concept for someone like me, who avoids public restrooms at all costs, particularly ones at the back of buses. All the while one set of teens were ignoring what i consider to be the perfect birth controll of screaming babies because ...i guess they were, shall we say, swept away by the romance of the road? i have a milloin observations from the gre grey hound, but I'll spare you, gentle reader. The flight was 13 hours, and i spent alot of it grinding my teeth in a feidish rage and glaring at the poor girl next to me due to my disgusting craving for a ciggarette punctuated by a pack pain so intense that it felt like some shoved a two by four beneath my spinal cord. But i learned a valuable lesson.....that I'm a total hypocrite....on the bus, i (the beacon of morality that i am) had been shaking my head at all those pitiful folks who would suck down 3 or 4 ciggies at the buss stop while i daintily puffed away on one, but i realise now that I'm a member of that pitiful crowd....ahhh, well.
But I've already made some great connections here in wellington with alot of activists and have my own room at the house I'm stayong at. I went to a modern maori dance performance last night and later at a party i was talking to one of the dancers and she had alot to say about womens roles in modern maori culture. and I went to a punk show later which was... loud.
but this computer business is expensive and in a video arcade which is loud, so .....
ten four.

Posted by Alison McManus at 12:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I was at my sister, Cailyn's house a couple of weeks ago and her fish, Mr. Fish VI (named for our child hood fish and all subsequent fish) died. the poor guy was lying motionless at the bottom his little fishy bowl for at least four hours. Cailyn was pretty broken up about it, as she'd been known to take Mr. Fish VI in a jar on weekend excurusions to my house or my mom's (i think it's time for her to have babies....or at least get a dog). and he was a pretty good fish as
fish go. but i was begging her to flush him or something because i was trying to eat lunch and he was staring at me with dead little fishy eyes, and you know, it was kinda creeping me out. but she just wouldn't do it. she wanted to wait for her boyfriend to get home and have proper burial. well...okay whatevs....but then not twenty minutes later the little bastard was up and buzzing around his bowl again. Mr. Fish VI was ressurected!!! he was living the dream of all Mr. Fish's before him! so now Cailyn is convinced that she is the proud owner of some kind of Christ-fish, and really, who can argue with that? i just dread the day Mr. Fish VI really does pass to the next life, because i don't think cailyn will ever flush his dead little fishy body now. i don't blame her. i guess miracles really do happen everyday
this is my sister, before Mr. Fish VI 's death and near-biblical recovery, at the haight street fair.

Posted by Alison McManus at 04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I lost my wallet three days ago. and this is really too bad. I've lost my wallet alot of time's in my life. The first time i was eight and i left my purple velcro wallet in the bathroom stall at universal studios. There was eighty dollars in it, when you're eight, eighty dollars is equal to roughly a million dollars. and so began my desensitization to the World of the Occasionally Walletless. I've dropped it in the toilet at the Uptown and at Dylan's, have had it taken right out of my pocket on the number 14 bus on Mission Street and have left it at various establishments and curbsides all up and down the west coast. my back pocket is a black hole for wallets. they seldomlast for longer than six months. i have become friends with the washingtom mutal people who answer the phone when you call to cancell the old debit card. last year, i dropped my wallet in front of a stripclub called Crazy Horse, which my boss had taken all of his employees to as a holiday treat, on him. A few days later a got a call from a man in marin county who had found the wallet and he said he would send in the mail right away....it never came.

Posted by Alison McManus at 06:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)