There’s a couple great events coming to San Diego this weekend. In fact, it’s kinda ridiculous that two of San Diego’s best annual festivals (probably the only two based on something besides alcohol) fall on the same weekend.

In Little Italy, this Saturday and Sunday marks the twentieth anniversary of Art Walk - the San Diego/Tijuana region’s biggest art event. It’s tight; all these artists, musicians, and performing artists take control Little Italy for the weekend and manipulate it how they like.

If you’ve never been to Little Italy or haven’t been in a long time, that is reason enough. I don’t think any other community in San Diego has undergone so much positive change in the past 10 years. I remember when I first came to SD in ‘96 Little Italy was just like all the other bordering communities of downtown: falling apart. Then it went from hipster to yippie to yuppie. A shame that rent and housing prices have kicked out so many long time residents, but also a great example of how creative energy is contagious. I look forward to seeing what will happen in the next five years to Sherman Heights, Golden Hill, and North Park. (Look forward as long as San Diego actually addresses its problem with affordable housing. Namely that it is non-existant.)

Also, this Sunday is Earth Fair at Balboa Park. If you have out of town friends visiting this weekend, like Laura and I do, make sure to take them here and trick them into thinking that San Diegans care about their environment.

Because of Earth Fair, a lot of nation-wide environmental groups are in town doing protests. One of those groups, Code Pink, was out protesting the use of Hummer SUV’s at the Marvin Brown Hummer Dealership off the I-8 last night. Unfortunately, as one local radio DJ pointed out this morning, the women’s group might have sent confusing and distressing messages to their male counterparts who read, in giant print, their protest banners which read:

“No more hummers!

So the local DJ calls Code Pink’s office in San Francisco saying that he is worried that the campaign slogan could effect his sex life.

I felt so bad for the woman - surely a volunteer - working in the office. She sounded like the angry feminist trying to work on accepting and embracing people for their differences. But it wouldn’t start with this guy.

“I think any critical thinking person,” she starts “could clearly understand the meaning of the campaign.”
“Right, right, I know … um, I’m just thinking maybe we could have … like a … I mean, couldn’t it be ‘no gas guzzling SUV’s!’? Why does ithave to say ‘no hummers’?”
“I really think that our point comes across pretty clearly.” Then she sighed. She wasn’t having it.
“How ’bout ‘No H2’s!’ I mean, wouldn’t that be ok?”
She sighs again. “Ok, we’ll talk about it. Bye.” Click.

“Boy, she wasn’t very accomodating,” says the DJ.

In related news, activists in Madrid and other parts of Spain are working to make prostitution illegal. (yes, it is currently legal in Spain as it is in the Netherlands and Germany and many other countries).

This is a tough issue for me. One of the few (affirmative action and the legalization of all drugs are two more) that I find myself constantly going back and forth on. The reasons for making prostitution illegal in Spain are numerous. Almost all prostitutes in Spain are smuggled immigrants from Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. (for more information see here, here, and here.) Furthermore, many of them are minors and many are forced into prostitution in part of the worldwide sex slavery trade often controlled by the mafia.

The same thing happens here in San Diego with the Mexican mafia smuggling in young Mexican girls from Chiapas and Oaxaca and sexualizing and abusing them until they become accustomed to having sex with, at time, 50 men in the same day. These women are often smuggled up to satisfy the urges of desperate and lonely male migrant workers.

The case for legalizing prostitution, however, is strong. It has been shown time and time again that in countries, states, and regions with legalized prostitution there is a lower rate of AIDS as well as rape. Furthermore, it financially benefits the state as taxes are made from the prostitute (who would not be in jail). Also, legalizing prostution (like legalizing drugs) would take power away from human smugglers, pimps, and mafia and give the worker’s earnings (minus taxes) to the worker him/herself.

On the other hand, an article from my favorite local media outlet, sandiego.indymedia.org lists resources arguing against the decriminalization of prostitution from a feminist’s perspective.

So my mind is still no made up. In a way this is a primer for some web-journalism that I’ll be doing on my mom’s project on sexual slavery in Thailand this summer. I actually don’t even know my mom’s position on the legalization of prostitution - something I should ask her - but Thai government is simultaneously trying to clean up its repuation as a sex tourist destination and considering legalizing prostitution so it should make for an interesting case.

Let me know what your thoughts are about the legalization of prostitution. I might make this a forum topic in the future. (when I get the forum going again)

The pictures on this post are from Raman’s birthday last week. To quiet Raman’s constant lamenting of never having any luck with women with chi chis, Laura baked him a cake with tits, covered with a construction paper bikini top which he removed with excessive giddiness.

I ate a good share of it which I threw up later in the night. The glory of two dollar you-call-its.