So I'd like to hopefully assume that many of the new readers of this blog attended the 3rd Annual Queer Asian Conference. It's definitely an invaluable opportunity for us to get together and meet in person without messaging and wall-writing and posting and poking involved. Every year, I feel so at home at this conference that I just want to live in Wheeler with all my friends and lovers and community members telling our stories every day. But that doesn't really seem possible, so I hope this space, wiqaable, can serve nearly as a substitute for this dream of mine. And that requires more posting...

As a blogger (though I consider myself a writer rather than a blogger) and a community organizer, I often wonder how much of our work can or should be done online. In other words, how much of our work--community development, outreach, socializing, politicization, coalition building, and so on--can and should be done in reality, face-to-face, with some handshakes and smiles and hugs and unity claps. The answer that I kind of found at this conference is not easy to practice because talking with someone in person takes much more than typing in some words on a computer screen. It takes time, money, energy, skills, and what may be called love. Of course it does, and we already know that because that is what movement building is all about. It's not about protesting or writing to legislators or occupying buildings or blocking freeways.

Today's so-called activism cannot happen without the Internet. From messaging to facebook events to tweeting to blogging and youtubing...and I wonder if this is really effective. Or more accurately, whether we are being successful in incorporating these tools to be effective. Now any liberals would say that "Of course, what are you talking about? We can do so many things online now, instantly and globally." As a radical, I would say: we must not downsize our movement just to fit some digital formats. I didn't want to write a simple report of the conference because maybe it would enforce the idea that we should have events just so that we can post them online. If we start doing this alibi-making, or believing that it's complete only when it's online, we will inevitably force our organic movement into the given shapes of facebook and blogs and twitter, while overlooking or neglecting more important stuff. In addition, there's also an issue of the digital divide, the idea that those without Internet access are becoming more and more marginalized and alienated from those who have easier access. How do we reach out to marginally housed Queer API youth in San Francisco? How do we build connection with older generations that don't use the Internet? That's why we need QACON and many other physical spaces. Wiqaable is not and should not be the goal or the end of our actions.

I'm not against social media as tools for community organizing (I'm a wiqaablogger, after all). I believe in the power of such tools; however, I'm critical of ourselves because when technology is so advanced, we're not even sure if we're consuming the technologies or the technologies are consuming us. Perhaps we're not even used to utilizing these tools. I can feel as accomplished as I like when I'm done writing this, but I can't possibly know what impact this post would make because not everyone comments, or even such comments might start pretending like it's meaningful when they're in fact mostly anonymous (the topic of anonymous writing among Queers is worth discussing, but that's not the point of this post). So I'm just trying to be critical of ourselves; it's rather pointless to criticize the tool itself.

I even think it's great that you've read this so far; I suspect that many people would look over this post and share it on their pages, without reading everything, let alone reflecting on it enough to make any meaningful comments or give constructive feedback. I know that because I'm often one of them. So I want to thank you for reading this. It means much more to me when you read this and think through it than when you just re-post it without really reading it.

So, that's my story for today. What's yours?