Author Archives: Browne Molyneux

About Browne Molyneux

My name is Browne Molyneux. I'm a lady. I'm a radical feminist. I'm black. I'm an Angeleno. I'm an artist. I'm carFREE. I'm a freelance writer. I'm a blogger. I'm a philosopher. I'm a humanist. I'm a journalist. I formerly wrote a column on transportation, Tracks for LA City Beat. The above are all of the things I have to work on being, got questions email me. browne@shametrainla.com My topics of interests include but are not limited to politics, transportation, dark green issues, economics, race relations, feminism, culture, working class urban life, media, art, Los Angeles and literature.

The dangers of having brass ovaries…

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I was riding the Blueline train the other day and this young black man was trying to get my attention. He wasn’t that cute, he was too young, and I have a boyfriend.

I mean I have a boyfriend; even if he were the right age and was cute I definitely would not have talked to him. I don’t think.

Anyways me ignoring him pissed him off, so he proceeded to call me a “f*cking b*tch.”

It was weird, because I haven’t been called a bitch by a black guy (that wasn’t homeless) in years. The last time a black man called me a bitch was when I brought a white guy friend on accident (sort of) to a coffee shop that was very heavy on Nation of Islam types. Well this guy didn’t so much call me a bitch, but pulled out a gun and threatened to kill the guy I was with (he said he didn’t believe in hurting black women,) that actually happened. Awesome story, but that’s another post.
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Your Stuff to DO!!!

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Of course you could go to yet another happy hour (hell it’s going to be vegetarian, vegetarian are good people), another one of “my friend’s” band or even a circle jerk art event. Remember when the art editor of that major paper had a solo show in Chinatown and his paper picked that very horrible show as a pick? Fabulous times. Yeah those are all fabulous times.

But say you went to Catholic school you managed to make it through with no one touching you in a special place. Sister Theresa told you that your life should be one of service, you should be nice to people and the IRA is truly getting a bad rap.

Maybe you’re not Catholic anymore (except during emergencies, you got your Rosary blessed by the pope, I mean they can’t just be beads, it was the pope), maybe you’re not so nice, but that service part was ok and you know, Northern Ireland does belong to Ireland.

Here’s a list of your things to do.

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PC Slavery. One of the many reasons I celebrate my independence on Juneteenth.

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I can see how slavery lasted so long in the United States. Most people in the US didn’t own slaves, though most everyone benefited indirectly, so is the case of the migrant worker.

I like to call migrant workers PC slaves, since people can pretend as if they aren’t doing anything wrong by casually buying clothes, food and other products that people produce who are paid virtually nothing.

I know many people will whine and bitch about how it’s migrant workers choice, but I don’t think you have a choice if you’re a human being in regards to whether you live or die.

And in order to buy food and shelter you need money and that’s not a fact that is up for debate, correct?

So why would anyone say you have a choice in regards to working? Do migrant workers have trust funds? Are they slumming? They have to work to live.

I was reading one of my most favorite rags, the Economist. That’s pretty much the only way I can find out what kind of nastiness the US economy is actually in, since over here in the states people are insistent that there are signs of a recession, but refuse to say the “R” word. It is as if they think it’s a racial slur or something.

“A CAMPAIGN to improve the low wages and awful labour conditions of tomato pickers in Florida has notched up a substantial victory over farm owners and their biggest clients, the fast-food chains. After one embarrassment on top of another, Burger King backed down last month and reached a ground-breaking agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, representing mostly seasonal farmworkers from Mexico, Central America and Haiti. The Miami-based company agreed to pay them one cent more for every pound (450g) of tomatoes they pick, and to improve their working conditions.” From the Economist, The Price of a tomato. June 26, 2008.

This is the kind of country that we live in, where assholes will fight so that they won’t have to pay a person one penny extra, not a dollar, not a quarter, but one bloody penny. But it’s not just that the guy will fight to not pay that one penny, but the fact that in America that’s all we will fight for. That’s all we’ll help someone fight for.

We will fight for one penny (or half of one percent )  and get slapped down and keep working, because we don’t want to seem unreasonable.

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Symbolic Gestures of Nothingness. Save the turtles. Save your career.

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I’m a vegetarian. In fact I’m vegan when it comes to me purchasing my own food, I don’t wear leather or fur, but I’ve got a human bone to pick with PETA.

Their latest stunt of vapidity (or an out of work actress who claims to be part of PETA and feels this is probably a good way to get publicity and be part of the new movement of caring and eco-greeniness) was to go into downtown LA’s fashion district to stop illegal animal sales.

What was the point of that?

1. To me there are no legal animal sales, even the donation pay for shots variety of rescues is morally “illegal”.
2. But in regards to community building and educating a more broad reaching community of people does PETA think going in and fighting with an underground business by working class people of color is going to get more people on the side of animal rights? Or even save that many animals.

I’m going to guess no on point two. I’m going to guess PETA comes off like the assholes that harass people for not having “proper” citizenship papers or just not looking like you belong.

Why not antagonize the people who get people’s hands chopped off in the beef industry? There’s a packing plant in Chino (Westland/Hallmark), I’m going to bet lots of animals get hurt in there and probably quite a few people.

I guess that would be a little too scary for an actress type who just wants to jump start a career. That would be hardcore. That would be doing something, but of course messing up a rich white guy’s (who doesn’t has too many vowels in his name) business will get you thrown in jail. Jail time for anything more than a DUI isn’t very fashionable.

Trying to be a person who believes in social justice and at the same time supporting the causes of PETA is very, very difficult.
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The Codeword is Half Full.

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I thought that I was going crazy a couple of weeks or so ago, I was reading the Economist and the Financial Times and according to them this country is in a recession. And I thought that was crazy, because you would think that the press in this country would be talking about that before the people in other countries, but then I realized that the codewords have changed.

While the papers all of the world have stated that the United States is in a recession and the facts state that housing prices have dropped 15% and gas prices are like million dollars a gallon. In the US this isn’t a recession. This is simply a reevaluation of opportunities. I know that sounds like a slowdown, but it’s not exactly, because it’s better. It’s more like a “look around” for the best deal possible.

And that seven percent unemployment that everyone has plastered across their papers, those people aren’t jobless they are on “staycations”. Isn’t that fabulous? Staying home and enjoying the company of your family pets, your micro dog, which some negative people would call a roach is not only relaxing it’s eco.
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Dad I’m living in a SRO, but it’s really cool. Don’t be mad ok?

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But actually calling it a SRO is a bit negative. It’s a very small studio or maybe if you were really optimistic a very small loft (since loft seems to mean now apartment with no walls.)

I sublet a portion of my studio in Boyle Heights that I was illegally living in and I’m now using that income to pay for me to live at the Rosslyn.

Is that welfare? Is that capitalism? I don’t know it’s maybe a mixture of both.

I missed that Sex in the City gene of loving to shop and waste money (hey I thought that show was supposed to be satire…) To me paying rent is a waste of money, which means you should pay the least amount of rent that you can get away with.

In college when I moved out of the dorms I lived on Sunset and Fairfax directly across the street from the Virgin Megastore for four hundred dollars a month. Yes four hundred dollars!!!

That was one of my most proud achievements as a college student. I would invite people over and go, “Guess how much I pay?”

My old friends have grown tired of this game and always say thing like “Two dollars.”

Such jerks. That destroys the whole beauty of the game.

I’m currently wearing a coat that costs me five dollars. There is this great store by the Hammer, everything is five dollars.

In LA no one admires thrifty people.

I’m the cheapest most glamorous woman in the world.

I had a friend who used to brag about how she paid one million dollars to live in Mar Vista. I always thought that was a horrible story.

My parents are working class stock. I remember when applying to college my dad was actually very proud of the fact that he had worked so much over-time that I no longer qualified for need based financial aid.
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The film Bang. LA beyond black and white and boy.

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There’s lots of talk of Crash being the ultimate race relations movie in LA.

I disagree.

There was another movie that actually intersected race with class and sexism. It even included a portrayal of the homeless population (which I’m not sure how you could have a movie in LA with no homeless people.)

It had a limited release in 1997. The protagonist wasn’t a white guy or a black guy or even a guy, but an Asian-American woman.

The name of the film is The Bang Theory. It was written and directed by Ash.

In the film an unsuccessful actress (is there any other kind) a character called “girl”, played by Darling Narita shows the audience Los Angeles.

In the film opening unnamed girl has just gotten thrown out of her apartment for not paying rent and her landlord couldn’t even just throw her out. He has to throw her out and call her racial slurs as he does it, because for some reason even now in LA you can be real open about racial slurs against Asian people.

She has one last chance an audition and in LA fashion it goes horribly (this is real LA, no one ever makes it real LA, unless their parents are someone.)

Anyway she “somehow” gets a hold of a cop’s motorcycle, uniform, and gun and takes a journey across LA from East LA, South Central, and West LA.

The best movie ever on race relations, class, and gender in LA.

A refreshingly strong Asian-American woman lead whose character has nothing to do with martial arts.

A Los Angeles treasure.

Rent it. Love it. Have a discourse party. I used to do that in college, but I was weird.

Browne Molyneux

Token Rights. Breaking Special Order 40

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The talk about amending Special Order 40 pisses me off.

This has nothing to do with gangs. This has to do with one thing, race and class, well that’s two, but you know what I’m saying.

LA has always had a major gang problem. It just sickens me the right wing has gotten their teeth into the grief of this family and are using them as tools to pass some stupid racist bs agenda.

I’m not exactly sure how people actually continually fall for the gang rape trick.

What is the gang rape trick? After America got embarrassed about killing Native Americans, lynching black people, excluding Asians, and subjugating women for just being who they are biologically, they needed another way to justify crappy unjust treatment, because why be fair when being an asshole is so entertaining.

So what they decided was to get laws passed that are under the guise of anti-gang, but in actuality they are laws that rape the civil rights of people of color, who the cops can just lie and say are gang members.

If you’re a young person of color how do you convince someone you’re not a gang member?

You can’t.

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The N word. Reasons I hated college

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College was an interesting experience for me, because I really hated it.

I meet teenage women of color at times (I give back and that crap, so I volunteer at places) and they think I’m so neat and they are impressed that I went to college and want to know what school I went to. I get conflicted as to what to tell them. Should I tell them the truth? My truth seems so harsh.

Most people of color always say this, “I loved college it made me such a better person and blah, blah, I was so happy to have the opportunity to learn to kiss ass properly.”

I hate the taste of ass.

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Where’s my bus rider tax break? Post Tax Day Post

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Prius drivers get tax breaks, why not transit riders?

“Because it’s entirely different,” a person who knows where I’m going with this, but wants to stop me, because bringing up race and class is divisive and makes people feel bad.

Well too bad.

Ever since I’ve given up my car I realized some things:

    People who take the bus are treated very shittily.

    The bus takes way too long to come.

    It is very easy to not pay and take the Red Line.

I get treated way differently than my white boyfriend in regards to not having a car. No one ever asks Bob if he has a car when he’s applying for some little shit job to make some extra cash, but that’s one of the first questions that will come out of their mouth with me.

“Do you have a car?”

I applied for a job at an environmental organization and they wanted to know if I had a car?

WTF? If I can do the job what does it matter how I do it, especially if other people there don’t have a car?

What the fudge kind of environmental agency are you anyway?
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I’ll give you a tour for 30 cents. The Bridges of LA.

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Me and my friend BusTard were going to Alcanzando La Historia (a tour of the 4th, 6th, and 1st Street Bridges) put on by the LA Conservancy, but then we found out it was thirty dollars.

And in order to get the tickets I had to go down to smug SCI-Arc where everyone uses hyphens and parentheses for no reason and then I just was like, well how about I just do my own tour.

And killjoy, I mean BusTard was like, I’m not even doing this.

Don’t get me wrong I like SCI-Arc they are perfectly arty and shit. I love them and their little “I think interior design should be pragmatic. I made this kitchen slash bathroom while on a sabbatical in Amsterdam. My parents are quite wealthy you know, though I look as though I don’t shower. That is all for dramatic effect. So in my kitchen slash bathroom you take a shit and then the shit is put through this cleanser made from formerly used naturally clean apple scented ‘i care more the earth than you, so i drive a prius’ dishwashing liquid (20 dollars at Trader Joes) and slowly excreted into a mini kitchen garden as fertilizer, which vegetables and fruit you clean using your own urine, sanitized of course in a completely eco manner. I call it Re (U)-S-E/Re (P)-O-O.”

Re(U)-S-E/Re(P)-O-O
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The Beautiful and Ugly Los Angeles: Ralph Lazo

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In America people like to pretend that certain things didn’t happen and they like to try to encourage you to go with that program by getting super pissed at you for bringing up “negative” memories from the past. I guess for some people facts become being pessimistic when it makes other people look like total assholes. You know the genocide of the Native American population, slavery, the Bracero Program, the list goes and on and, but today we’re going to talk about the internment of Japanese-Americans.
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