MUSINGS
These offerings and musings are currently taking place on the ancestral, traditional, stolen, and unceded lands of the Musqueam people the lands also known as Vancouver.
This newsletter was supposed to go out on 9/23, but that was my birthday and I had a host of other things that I needed to handle. Sorry for the delay. I will be celebrating my birthday all throughout Libra season. I am happily accepting love, affirmations, gifts, and cash :)
What is your vision of the future? When you are not allowing white supremacy to put a cap on your imagination what does freedom look like to you? What are you doing in this free place and space? Is the land free in your vision? Do all people have access to clean water? Does our Indigenous kin have their land back? Are Black and Brown transwomen being allowed to become elders because their life expectancy is no longer 35? Is your vision of freedom informed by feminism and if so whose feminism?
I was listening to a podcast over the summer where a white scholar who studies neo-Nazis asserted that if there was a pre-requisite for someone getting red-pilled aka becoming a neo-Nazi or alt-right enthusiast that the two things you would need to look for is a vehement transphobic ideology and a rabid hatred of feminist thought. Now, everyone who is not a practioner of feminism is not automatically a neo-Nazi, but everyone who is a neo-Nazi or member of the alt-right is definitely anti-feminism.
The definition of feminism that I am using these days comes from Imani Perry’s book Vexy Thing in it she defines feminism as a critical practice for understanding and working against gendered forms of domination and against the way gender becomes a tool of domination and exploitation. Perry goes on to talk about feminism being about gender liberation.
I find it hard to conceptualize how we can truly have economic, racial, and climate justice if gender liberation is not at the core. How we treat the land, children, the ideas that uphold rape culture, how we decide who we dehumanize, and whose life is worth protecting is deeply rooted in our understanding of racialized gender.
So again, I ask what kind of feminism are you practicing? Is your feminism informed by?
· Black feminist thought
· WOC feminism (incorrectly called intersectional feminism, if you went to my workshop over the summer then you already know that there is NO such thing as ‘intersectional feminism’)
· Third World feminism
· Indigenous feminisms
Does your feminism center disability justice? If you are not sure how to answer any of these questions then take this opportunity to seek the answer.
VIEWINGS/READINGS
I am currently deeply exploring polyamorous platonic love these two articles were super helpful:
Queer, Poly, and Platonic: Two Partners Discuss Their Unconventional love [link]
Relationship hierarchies: Defending queer friendships, community, and being single [link]
I found this essay by Kai Cheng Thom really helpful in thinking about the toxic dynamics found in the queer community “Why are queer people so mean to each other?” [link]
I recently revisited this talk by bell hooks and got my entire life [link]
I reread the book Ezili’s Mirrors Imagining Black Queer Genders written by Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley her work is going to be a huge basis of my dissertation
LISTENING
Secret Feminist Agenda – Living a feminist life with Sarah Ahmed(a great listen for feminist thinkers, scholars, and students)
The Cut -- Growing Up with Toni Morrison(Black women talk about Toni Morrison’s impact on them as readers, writers, and as Black women)
On Being – The Erotic Is an Antidote to Death(I have lots of complicated thoughts and feelings about the host of this podcast, but I am a devotee of Esther Perel. This is about the radical potential and healing power of the erotic. Think Audre Lorde)
Modern Love – My Platonic Romance on The Psych Ward(on platonic love my new favorite subject)
Still Processing – Yeehaw(this is about Black people and our relationship with country music and so much more)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
I have decided to start a book club in 2020. I am excited to put this plan into motion. Official announcement will come out sometime in November.
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