Fuck Your Violence.

Actually, don't fuck your violence. Love it.

I grew up not understanding what violence really was. My first schools, His Growing Grove, Montesorri School of Kensington, and Castro Valley Elementary, did not have fights and most people got along really well. When I went to Castro Elementary in El Cerrito, I never experienced or saw violence, but I knew it was there because of the constant conversation we had at school about this one little girl becoming blind because some boys were throwing rocks at her and some of the rocks hit her eyes damaging them permanently. The rest of my elementary school days in Kensington Hilltop Elementary were peaceful. I got into just one fight, which is still hard for some people to believe. It's even hard for me to believe.

When I got into middle school, I went my 7th grade year to a private Catholic school called St. Philip Neri. There werw no fights here, obviously. The most vicious it got was people making fun of other people. Pretty lame. Then, I transferred to Albany Middle School my 8th grade year. There were a few fights here and there, but I was never involved in them and neither were any of my friends.

When I went to Albany High School, nothing particularly interesting happened. The most I ever did was kick the shit out of people when I was drunk. I still feel kind of bad, but no one let me beat the shit out of this one asshole who spread some bullshit rumors about me. Lame. My school years were really peaceful. I think I got in more fights outside of school than in school.

My home life was a different story. Let's just say it involved many belts, a knife one time, and maybe a kick to the head here and there. But, that is not something that I would like to get into.

I do remember when I was living in pretty bad parts of Oakland and Richmond hearing gun shots a lot and seeing a lot of police cars. Oh and there was this one time when I was a little girl that my family and I were going to church in the Mission and there was a drive by. I don't remember. But, I remember that the first show of Delubyo and La Grita at Balazo there was a drive-by right outside. That was freaky.

I do not advocate violence, but man do I love a good circle pit. When the pit is big and strong you never know who's face you are gonna smash in. I remember walking out of Gilman various times with bloody noses, sprained ankles, black eyes, bruises, and cuts. To this day I still walk out with injuries. For example, I went to see Ceremony on Friday and walked out with a bloody, broken nail and a giant bump on my head that is still there. The show was 6 days ago.

I grew up hearing about war violence. I always knew there was violence far worse than I probably will ever experience. My father told me about how in Guatemala, during the civil war, he would drive down the highway and see dead bodies lining the roads. My family experienced violence that I can't even imagine experiencing.

So yeah... I guess this is my rant about my experience with violence. It's not much.
I guess I should start reading for my class.