What is reality?
The reality for women in this country is horrifying. 1 in 4 of them will be raped in their lifetimes. Every day, three to four women are killed by their partners. Every 15 minutes, a woman is beaten.
The reality for women in San Diego is even more horrifying when you consider the sexual violence being perpetrated by the SDPD. The reality for a woman in San Diego is that she must worry what kind of an officer might show up when she requests assistance. [Read more…]
By Will Falk
As St. Patrick’s Day nears, I often find myself revisiting scenes from Irish history.
I see Pádraig Pearse dressing himself in the early morning hours of Monday, April 24, 1916.
I see him struggling with the buttons on his shirt as his fingers shake with nerves. I hear him anxiously muttering the opening to the speech he would give on the grey steps of the General Post Office in Dublin just a few hours later, “Irishmen and Irishwomen! In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood…” [Read more…]
By Will Falk
I am searching for redemption
wishing for La Fonda beach to form
the sandy altar of my own Eucharist
an offering of the body and blood
the body and blood of me
By Will Falk
Bad is getting worse with the San Diego Police Department.
New allegations surfaced over the weekend that yet another San Diego Police officer has been sexually abusing women while on duty.
Then, the Austin, TX police chief hinted at problems with the SDPD when he insinuated that a 24 year-old jogger who was detained for failing to properly yield her identification was lucky arresting officers did not sexually assault her.
People everywhere in San Diego are asking with shock in their voices, “What is going on with the police?” [Read more…]
By Will Falk
The San Diego Police Department scares me. All police, for that matter, scare me.
I’m writing this because I cannot drown out the sharp pops of a burst of police gunfire hanging on the still desert air.
I heard the eerily common sound of gunshots as I watched a video of police shooting an unarmed 20 year-old black man named D’Andre Berghardt near Red Rock Canyon in Nevada the other day with my partner.
A few days before viewing the video, we were on our way to Red Rock Canyon for a rock-climbing trip with friends. Highway 159 provides access to the canyon, but was closed due to a “police incident.” We made a mental note to check on the incident when we got home. [Read more…]
By Will Falk
What do you see when you look out across San Diego and see the San Salvador being reconstructed?
Do you see the first wave of wave upon wave of white settlers who systematically dispossessed California’s indigenous people of their lands?
Do you see the beginnings of a process that reduced the indigenous population of California from 250,000 in 1800 to less than 20,000 in the matter of a century?
Do you see the face of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo grinning maniacally back at you? Do you see the faces of him and his men joining up with Hernan Cortes in the ethnic cleansing of Mexico? [Read more…]
By Will Falk
when I feel crazy or when
I run out of things to say
as if there really is a difference
I wonder why I even bother
to write all this down
when I feel crazy or when
I run out of things to say
I go to Joshua Tree
I like to find a warm, flat stone
to sit on and read and think [Read more…]
By Will Falk
I have a problem with some of the people I call the “shower police.” These are the people yelling about how we all need to take shorter showers because of the water crisis. They deem anyone a hypocrite who accuses corporations and the government of being the worst water offenders while not enthusiastically letting a night of the strongest urine fester in their bathrooms.
My problem with the shower police is not that they’re wrong that we all need to live as simply as possible. We do. My problem with that shower police is not that they’re wrong that we all must endure much more than funky bathrooms. We will.
My problem is that the shower police often confuse personal change with social change. [Read more…]
By Will Falk
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about responsibility.
It all started when a friend of mine asked me why she should feel responsible for this culture’s oppression. “I’m not doing any oppressing,” she said. “I refuse to accept responsibility.”
This shocked me – not so much because I haven’t heard people say this before, but because it came from a woman I consider a very compassionate person. If she refused responsibility maybe I should think about it, too.
This spun me into a tornado of self-examination. We only get one chance at this life, right? If the oppression is not my responsibility, why should I spend all my life fighting it? [Read more…]
By Will Falk
More than 100 species went extinct yesterday. They were my kin.
Despite this, I have been hearing people talk about how the world is getting better, how progress is being made, and how we have a bright future.
For example, CJ Werleman recently wrote an article for AlterNet titled “Humanity is Becoming Increasingly Less Violent, with One Exception – Religious Violence.” His opening line declares, “Studies demonstrate the world is becoming less violent, and that human warfare is on the decline.”
Last night, after reading Werleman’s article, I opened my fridge and took out a package of tilapia fillets to make fish tacos. I stopped for a moment wondering why I couldn’t find cod or haddock anymore. Werleman’s words filled my head “Humanity is becoming increasingly less violent.” [Read more…]
By Will Falk
I hope the economy doesn’t recover.
There. I said it. And it feels really good.
We are in the midst of the Earth’s sixth mass extinction and it is not being caused by volcanic eruptions or asteroids– it is being caused by human activity. And yet, it seems every time we flip-up our computer screens, read a newspaper, or turn on the television, people everywhere are bemoaning the state of the economy.
Not me. I am celebrating. So are salmon, redwoods, polar bears, Torrey pines, and tigers. [Read more…]
By Will Falk
these deserts lack the scaffolded
red-bud Judas trees
there are only Joshua trees
though they are drenched
in silver pieces
of starlight spying [Read more…]
