Josh Healey

It was a good weekend in terms of sports, activism, and hey, weather. Let’s recap:

1. Duke lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Sorry, Dukies. But my bracket and Maryland loyalties are both very happy.

2. A group of smart, serious Oakland community activists held a powerful town hall against the recent ‘war on women.’  In the aftermath of the stone-age sexist comments from Rush Limbaugh (to whom the best response was from my favorite political artist Favianna Rodriguez) and Too Short (who was at the Oakland town hall, addressing his recent XXL controversy), this inter-generational gathering tackled the all-too-real issues that such mysogynistic language promotes: domestic violence, rape, and the overall degradation of women, especially black and Latina women.

The forum was the beginning of a new attempt to change the course at all levels, from policy to our personal lives. And most importantly, it let women take the mic. My hats off to the organizers and everyone who attended. Let’s keep this energy going — for the women in our lives, but for the men too.

3. I arrived in Miami! And yes, there to greet me at the airport were Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas themselves, welcoming me into the ways of Miami Vice.

Okay, so maybe I won’t be riding around South Beach solving international crimes and conspiracies…but I will be rolling through the many barrios of this beautiful city as the Tigertail artist in residence for the week. I first met the good folks of Tigertail through Brave New Voices, where their youth poetry slam team impressed me year after year. Now I’m excited to be able to return the favor. I’ll spend most of the week in high schools across greater Miami doing performances and workshops in preparation for their local slam finals. As far as the two public events, here’s the scoop:

WordSpeak Youth Poetry Slam
with special guest host Josh Healey
Wednesday, March 21 – 6:00pm
Miami Beach Botanical Gardens

Art is a Hammer! – Reading and Performance
with Tigertail artist-in-residence Josh Healey
Friday, March 23 – 8:00pm
Coral Gables Books & Books

There’s been a lot of crazy stuff going down in and around Miami recently, from the murder of Trayvon Martin to the raid on Occupy Miami. Racial tension, police violence: I thought I was getting away from Oakland! But hey, this is America. And this is what it means for me to be an artist in residence — to learn from the residents, and hopefully offer some inspiration, some tangible skills, and some solidarity in their struggle for justice and healing.

First day here, but I already know the deal: hit the beach, rock the mic, and always keep your eye out for the cops. Especially if they’re wearing pink polos and white linen pants.

Last week, I got to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a group of people I truly love: Oakland youth. Teaching a writing workshop, it was a dozen high school kids and me, talking about love, heartbreak, and how Rihanna could go back and make a song with Chris Brown. (The general consensus: self-love is the hardest love of all. I’m telling you, my kids know what’s up.)

We were talking about Valentine’s Day cards and candies and Twitter shout-outs, and how we do (and do not) communicate our love these days. Here is the piece that I wrote, something different than my normal style. And just a disclaimer so no one starts talking about how “oooh…Josh cheated on his girl” — this piece is totally fictional. Meaning…NOT about me. I mean, come on, I don’t mess with Tumblr like that. I keep it strictly WordPress.

With that said, enjoy. And then get off your screen and go love someone.

Twenty-First Century Lover’s Lament

stuck on my computer
like i’m stuck on her
computer / compute her
cheated 3 times, not trying to Newt her
play political prostitute like Gingrich
see which sea to shining sea
i can beach with
reach with her on the horizon

stuck on my Verizon
like i’m stuck on her
Facebook got me rethinking my timeline
lifelines, got none left
pulled mine too soon
that’s why she left
that’s why she kept telling me
“Baby, I’m not a machine
that you can turn on & off
when you please
tease me like an iPad
spring me like a trap
you had my whole soul, no control,
but you chose the sold-out app”

stuck on my Tumblr
like i’m stuck on her
wanna blog her up and down
but now all i can do
is check her pics on Flickr
can’t even flick her off
kiss her neck
hear her laugh
feel her breath
love her
love her
love her

i couldn’t even say
i love her
except in a text

she said, “you’ve got one more chance.
say it to my face.”

i said, “I…I…
I ♥ you”
and then she left

Yes, my Badger friends, I’m coming back. You better have my cheese curds ready.

This weekend is the 15th anniversary United Students against Sweatshops (USAS) National Conference - a big deal in its own right. This year, though, in honor of the Wisconsin labor uprising that began exactly one year ago this week, USAS is holding their conference at UW-Madison. And they asked me to give me the keynote performance on Saturday night. International student-labor spoken word solidarity in Wisconsin? Oh hell yes.

This is going to be a special event for me, in many ways. When I was a student at UW-Madison, I was a member of our USAS group, the Student Labor Action Coalition (SLAC). SLAC was really where I cut my teeth as an organizer, where I learned how to build coalitions between farm boys and sorority girls, develop campaigns that targeted capitalism in bite-size chunks, and realize that yes – if we’re smart, united, and put some flavor in our fight – we can win.

We were SLACkers who were anything but lazy. I can’t even remember all the campaigns: fighting privatization and tuition hikes, demanding better conditions for immigrant workers and campus employees, ensuring university apparel was made in unionized factories instead of sweatshops. And every Thursday night after our meetings, we’d go to Nick’s Cafe on State Street for plenty of beer and blueberry pie. Hey, we were college students — solidarity was a struggle, but it was a damn good party too.

In my book, USAS is the most important, most effective national student organization on the Left. It’s impressive how they’ve changed the game on so many campuses (and helped lay the groundwork for things like the Wisconsin uprising and Occupy Wall Street) over the last 15 years.  I can’t wait to join the current crew of 400+ student activists this weekend and see what they’ve got planned for the next wave.

And speaking of waves, there’s no way I’m coming to Madison without seeing my old friends at First Wave. I can’t tell you how proud I am that the little university hip-hop arts program we co-founded in 2006 is now on its 5th class of incoming student artists on a full scholarship, touring new theater works in New York and London, and currently facilitating a lecture course on hip-hop education that was recently featured on CNN.

I’m going to be in town for the Monday night lecture series, which just so happens to be featuring two  good friends and Bay Area hip-hop heroes. I’ll be sitting in on the event, possibly for a short performance, possibly just to be part of the discussion. Either way, it’s going to be a good one.

From the picket line to the cipher, just a regular couple days in good old Wisconsin…

Saturday, February 18
USAS National Conference — UW-Madison
Keynote performance.
8:00pm. Union South, UW-Madison campus.
For conference participants only.

Monday, February 20
Hip Hop Pedagogy and Politics — UW-Madison
Hosted by Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings and OMAI / First Wave.
Alongside Dawn-Elissa Fisher & Davey D.
7:00pm. Grainger Hall, UW-Madison Campus
Free and open to the public.

Well, this should create a different kind of buzz.

I’ve been writing so much about Occupy, political analysis, strategic actions, and all that good lefty biz, I haven’t done an artistic update in a while. Where’s the comedy at, Healey? Have no fear, dear friends, I’ve been hard at work in the lab and on the mic creating some new pieces for your cultural consumption. And now, I have a brand new piece to share, one that you can tell from the title was definitely a good time.

This performance was filmed last week at the Mill Valley Public Library, as part of their Naked Truth storytelling series. I hope you enjoy it…and share its inspiring wisdom with your own grandmas. Remember the Youtube rotation: watch, watch, pass.

In that spirit of loving family, I present to you: “Rolling a Joint for Grandma.”

Over the last few months, I have been an active, critical, yet ultimately proud member of Occupy Oakland. Despite the sometimes-questionable tactics and lack of much diversity in this working-class, multi-racial city, I believed that Occupy Oakland was still a young movement and would mature into a more solid political force. Sadly, it seems, we still have a long way to go.

On January 28, Occupy Oakland’s attempt to take over an unused public building turned into yet another painful, predictable street battle with the Oakland Police Department (OPD), with over 400 people arrested by night’s end. The police’s actions were more brutal than ever, from the tear gas and sound grenades to the unlawful mass arrest that has left many of my comrades still in jail as I write this. I stand unequivocally against the severe repression and the increasing police state that we find ourselves in. To my fellow Occupiers, though, it is time that we critically examine our own tactics. If we don’t, Occupy Oakland is going to fizzle out quicker than Rick Perry’s presidential campaign.

The events in Oakland on January 28 indeed occupied national headlines and local jail cells, but they almost certainly lost more supporters to the movement than they gained. Needlessly picking fights with the cops, vandalizing City Hall, and putting our own people in harm’s way is not the path to social and economic justice. It is a losing, incoherent strategy, one that will continue to damage the public’s support for Occupy until our claim that “We are the 99%” becomes a bad joke. Forget whether folks can survive endless police confrontations and court dates. The question now is: Can Occupy Oakland survive itself?

Continue reading the full article at The Progressive