Update 3/29: For more tranny performance, I was able to check out the Tranny Roadshow last night, during their US tour stop in NC. Highlights included the all-girl garage rock band The Degenerettes, which made a lotta people dance. For more on the Iraq War, read the recent New Yorker article on Abu Ghraib military officer and photographer Sabrina Harman. I learned that at least one torture technique used on Iraqis originated in Israeli prisons.

This stencil was found on the Carrboro bike path, spray-painted on back of a metal street sign. I recognize the image from Tim Tum: a trans jew zine, made by Micah Bazant back around 2000. It is a great zine, and I highly recommend people read the section on trans etiquette. (Note: the interlocking circles in the center of this person’s chest is the hobo symbol for “don’t give up”.)

In other gender-bending news, The Cuntry Kings based right here in Durham, NC are just about the sexiest, most fun, intelligent, thoughtful and dance-able drag troupe I’ve ever seen! They performed this past weekend at drag.esque, addressing a range of issues from factory farming to immigration, all while making the crowd dance to songs by Madonna!

I think we’re gonna need to remember to keep dancing while we learn, yearn and struggle… ’cause serious stuff is continuing to affect our world. As of yesterday, 4,000 US soldiers have died fighting the war in Iraq, just after its fifth anniversary. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of al-Nakba (the catastrophe), which created a homeland for Jewish people in Israel, while totally displacing and destroying the homes, possessions, trees and livelihoods of thousands of Palestinians.

But like Micah and the hobos say: don’t give up . . . . . . . . . . . .