Days Nine through Eleven. 12/11/09 - 12/13/09

Days Nine, Ten, and Eleven.

10:16 PM - I have a wedding to attend, so because my skin is adorned with spray tanning gunk, I cant really write on it. So heres a beautiful picture I made in honor of the cause. I was given the idea to make t-shirts, and my friend's uncle has an in for the materials and junk. Id like to charge enough to cover the cost of the shirts, a minimum profit for the design, and to go to a worthy cause, preferably an organization thats working toward tolerance and helping others.

So viewers, here's your mission: Where should the profit go??

Day Eight. 12/10/09

Day Eight.

12:09 PM - Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. In honor of the marvelous snow I had to brush off my car this morning, today's NO H8 has a snowflake motif, and is on my hand once more. I'm back to sharpie today, yesterday's paint marker survived a shower and 8 hours of sleeping, tossing, and turning. I haven't even attempted to try and wash it off yet, so I still don't recommend it fully. I can't wait until I get my new camera for better quality images, until then you gotta deal with my blurry camera phone photos.

12:54 PM - ...Yeah, paint marker does not come off the skin well at all. I mean I got 90% of it off with nail polish remover, but its still there. I would not recommend it as a medium for adorning your skin temporarily.

Day Seven. 12/9/2009

Day Seven.

9:21 AM - Alright, first off I want to apologize for missing days 3-6. Who would have thought that life would get in the way...So I decided to count the days as the number of days from the starting point of this project, not the number of days I actually adorn my arm. I'm going to try to be more diligent, but being a full time student, part time employee, and full time human being and member of society (not to mention a full time procrastinator) tend to get in the way.

So today I bring you my forearm (Audience: oOooh). Ive decided to start mixing up the design, and today Im using paint markers to adorn my skin. Im not sure how well or horrific this is going to turn out, so as of right now I do not recommend them if you are going to mark up your skin. Im basically done with finals and work for a month, so I can afford to have a half-visible ghost of a design scribbled all over my body. I'm like your guinea pig, people, how cool is that! If you have any medium suggestions (rational, please), feel free to send them to the blog's email @ iwontbesilenced@gmail.com.

Also! We have another submission! My darling friend Eric has decided to start his own photo project for the cause, and I whole heartedly support him! This is the first image of what he says are more to come. Good luck Eric <3

I had something else to say, but I forget what it was. Hopefully I will remember later in the day. Stop the Hate!!

Day Two. 12/4/09

9:46 AM - Going to make this quick because I have a final report to finish (I hate the last week of classes). However, next week I have zip, nada, nothing to do, so maybe I'll go for some walks and show off my style :)
Day two is presented on my hand. Most arm/hand art will be on my right since I'm left-handed, but maybe I'll work on my right-handed skills and try and make some art on my left side. Also, I had forgotten how sharpie can bleed on dry skin. Oops. Doesn't look too bad if I do say so myself, the message is still clear.

10:59 AM - First submission! Yahhooo! Our first NO H8 submission comes from Dylan, who took his own interpretation in presenting his NOH8. Everyone has their own style when it comes to having something to say, and thats what makes it so cool. Thank you Dylan!


Also, Anna has a story to share about how discrimination and suspending of rights for homosexuals affects the world-over.


"Hi, so I saw you protesting the NO H8 and all that and wanted to bring another very sad and disapointing fact to your campaign. Uganda is about to pass a law stating that any Uganda caught practicing homosexuality will face life in prison or even death depending on the extent of their "crime." Not that i'm expecting you to continue with the Ugandan problem cause I really respect what your doing for NY, just wanted to let you know whats up in other parts of the world as well... you can google it by just ugandan homosexuality bill or something of the sort... its getting big news..."


"its just so upsetting to me cuase I was in UG and it was such a forward moving nation at the time, this really takes it back! A LONG WAY!! and America is no better.... who are we to decide the life of someone else.... all a bunch of hypocrites!!! gosh i hate that!! "


"Yeah, I have some friends still in UG and they are all for this, they dont realize what it means, and that it was EXACTLY what Christ didnt want!! Its so upsetting to see christians get all into this, and never hear them mention things like gluttony.... which is one of the seven deadly sins, but i dont see any country killing all its fat people.."


That reminds me of the Prop 8 musical (I don't know who's seen it, Jack Black is in it as Jesus. It's funny but poses such a valid point), and in one part they bring up the fact that the Bible says that shellfish is a sin, though people aren't holding protests and passing unfair laws about shellfish...hm. Just something to ponder.

11:15 AM - There's a gathering in Albany! Gay marriage supporters protest in Albany today, and it's gotten notice from Capital News 9. Check it out! http://capitalnews9.com/capital-region-news-12-content/top_stories/489412/gay-marriage-supporters-protest-in-albany

7:13 PM - After a full day of classes and work, and organizing an entire cabinet of tempera paint and getting covered in splotches of rainbow all over my skin, my sharpie is looking a little shabby. Going to reapply it when I clean up and get ready to head out to my class sponsored bar night. Should be interesting to see what a bunch of drunk people have to say about whats going on in their state! Haha. Note to self: The hand really isn't a great place to put my protest, especially with all the Say No to Swine Flu! and clean up from art hand washing I do daily.

7:28 PM - Second submission! Thank you to Corey for your support in our fight against hate and needless discrimination. Like my friend said today "you'd think people would have learned by now to be more accepting..." It's true that we have come a long way as a country and as human beings, but there is such a long way left to go!

Day One. 12/3/09

Day One : December 3, 2009

1:44 PM - Oddly enough, I have only been asked once so far about the writing on my arm. It has also gotten kind of smudged, I'm not sure how I accomplished that, but I'll fix it once I get out of work (because as an artist, I'm a perfectionist, and smudging WILL NOT do).

2:27 PM - I think a part of the problem has been that I've been sitting in an office since 9AM answering phones. It is also just the beginning, you have to walk before you can run, afterall! I don't think I have been more pumped for anything like this before. I believe that people have forgotten that we are capable of writing history! We have more power than we have been convinced that we have.

3:03 PM - 3 blog followers and 1 participant! Woo! I came back to my apartment and told my roommate Nikki and she promptly took a sharpie from her desk and adorned her skin for the good of equality. It's really that easy, haha. As for my apparel problem, it is currently about COLD degrees here in New York, so having it on my arm limits my viewers to being inside. I can't wait until I have the courage to start putting it on my face. THAT will be fun. Plus, I know that I won't be able to make it outside and around people every single day of my life (I mean, who does?!), so I will take those days to experiment with color and design, check my email and AIM, and philosophize on equality. I said I was going to do this every day. And I mean every day. OH! And one more thing, since as you know now, I'm in New York, all times are EST. That's East Coast, dudes and dudettes. Just FYI.

5:31 PM - Second participant, my friend Jon :) He came over to visit for the first time in a year, and he let me have my artistic license all over his arms. I'm going to honest, it was really fun. I am definitely going to be exploring styles and design, because I don't want to just copy the noh8campaign's work again and again for hundreds of days. So I suppose the art will be a journey in itself, that should be exciting. The apartment really smelt like marker after that, so unless I want to get high all the time (and lose what little braincells I have), I might want to explore different mediums as well.

9:11 PM - I want to share a little blurb my friend Ash sent me regarding discrimination that she has personally witnessed.

"The first day [at school] I was hanging out with people I met up with some girls and their friend, this big guy from the frat. He made some comment about a guy who was so obviously and proudly gay who was talking to us, And he starts making "fairy" comments etc. and said "I just believe in Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve" AFTER we'd just talked about how much he disliked religion. So... I called him an ignorant hick. And LOL he goes "Did you just call me a hick?" [I replied] "Yeah, I did. Why is that the insult you're more worried about?" "


It's amazing how priorities are different for different people.

So ends Day One. Thank you everyone for checking out the site, following my blog, and giving your support to this cause. I am excited for the many, many days to come, and I hope that you can join me in the march to equality. If you decide to make your own NO H8/NO HATE mark, feel free to send it to my email at iwillnotbesilenced@gmail.com or IM me at iwillnotbsilenced on AIM. Keep checking in, and tell your friends! If not about this blog, then about www.noh8campaign.com. It's good karma. :)

Peace!
 -Ally

So It Starts.

This is me. I am a No-Good, Free Thinking, Dangerous Kid. I say what's on my mind, and my mind wants to tick a few people off in the hopes of becoming a catalyst to change. F34R ME.




Here are some of the things that influenced my recent project:

1) I got my lip pierced. When I showed my mom (who has been subject to these things before), she said "Ally you are an adult now. You're quirky, it's cute. Your body is your canvas." Alright, she didn't say EXACTLY that, but that's it in a nutshell.

2) My friend Angelica showed me a trailer to a movie called Modify!, a documentary about people who decorate their body like a work of art, but sometimes in ways that society doesn't deem 'normal.'

3) New York State shooting down the equal marriage bill on December 2, 2009.

4) And image that my same friend posted up on her facebook. A couple with duct tape over their mouths and NO H8 written on their cheeks. As an artist, it intrigued me, so I did a little google searching, and what I found was nothing short of amazing.

www.noh8campaign.com

That. Right there. A project that was started in response to Prop 8 in California, now their mission statement is to raise awareness that discrimination and withholding rights to ANY group of people his hurtful and WRONG.

I first started by making my own NOH8 image. It wasn't the same as the site, but something eccentric and artistic for my facebook page. But that wasn't enough, I wanted more.

Hyped up on caffeine, adrenalin, and creativity, I wrote the following note in my facebook notes:

"I don't know if its because I'm an artist, or a rebellious young adult, but I believe that my body is a canvas (as can be seen with my tattoos and piercings). However, it can also be a slate, a billboard, a walking message. Girls (and some guys), most of you generally put on makeup everyday don't you? And at night you wash it off to go to bed.

I've decided to add one more bit of paint to my canvas everyday.

But let me back up for a second.

I was first inspired by my friend Angelica's link to this movie trailer called Modify! which talks about people using their bodies as a canvas, and how sometimes society doesn't see it as acceptable, etc, etc. That's where I get my first statement. But then I was brought to the attention of noh8campaign.com. It started following California's ban of gay marriage (hence the 8). There are a bunch of pictures of people: Californians, normal people, celebrities, couples, children...but they all have the same element. Duct tape across their mouths, and NO H8 written on their cheeks. It's beautiful, simple and clean. And silent, but at the same time it is screaming.

Every day until things change here in NY, I am going to write NO H8 somewhere visible on my body.

A bit of make up if you will, a decoration. And if someone asks why I look so crazy (or..crazier than usual), I'm going to explain to them why. Why something needs to be done. And maybe, it might stick in their head like a little barb, fun but at the same time meaningful. And maybe, just maybe someday they will decide, for just one day, to write it on themselves. And then it grows. And grows until there is a mass of voices silently screaming 'Hey! Senate! THINK AGAIN!!' because right now there are so many voices right now not being heard. Gays and straights alike. And maybe all we need is a visual ice breaker to take the whole thing down.

Now, I'm not gay. So you may ask: "Ally, of ALL the activism in the world, why this? It doesn't even pertain to you!"

In a way, it does. because it all boils down to equality and tolerance. I'm not gay, but I have friends who are, and I want to see them happy just as much as my so-called 'normal' friends. Why can't they walk down the aisle and experience the milestone we cherish in adulthood? Because it IS a milestone. get out of school, get a job, settle down, get a house, get married, have kids, grow old, retire. Who are we to tell someone they can't do that!?

And the thing is, it is so easy to flip the coin around. Say it wasn't gays who weren't allowed to marry. Say it was people who are left handed, or have blue eyes. Blue is a recessive gene, recessive can mean inferior. We don't want INFERIOR people getting married do we? They might, you know, be HAPPY. And, oh God, WHAT IF THEY REPRODUCE!? And left handed people, psh, what freaks. I mean, they just CHOOSE to be left handed, why can't they just, you know, decide to just be right handed like the rest of us? WHY do they have to be different? That's just weird, unnatural. ITS A SIN.

Take those sentences, and replace the words with gay. Do you get the picture?

That is why I'm doing this. Because everyone has the right to be happy.

I mean hey, it works for TWLOHA...why can't it work for equality?

That's my 2 cents."

So that's it. That's my goal, my own personal project. I've decided to document my journey with images and blogging so that other people can witness what I'm trying to do and hopefully (as is my goal) join in. I would like to ask of those who see me walking with the NOH8 branded in beautiful sharpie marker on my skin, to consider doing the same, if only for one day.

We have a voice, New York. America. LET'S USE IT.

-Ally