About
a college student, a writer, a poet, a poly kinky LGBTQ* atheist trying to figure shit out.
Fan of: Doctor Who, Sherlock, Lord of the Rings, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, The Hunger Games, Tamora Pierce, and many, many more.
Currently Obsessing Over
Show: Baccano!
Characters: everyone, tho
Ship: Klaine
I'm currently on hiatus from all RPing, but the Terre d'Ange Roleplay Boards are super rad! Send me asks for more information, or just come and join them!
See below for my tumblr RP blogs.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
The Challenge
The queer radical community is one that I have long identified with. Ever since I came out as queer, and later as trans*, it has been this community that I have been consistently drawn to. Regardless of what city I’m living in, I always seem to find the radical queers. I have organized with and marched along side with radical queers. From facilitating a workshop on queer activism to marching at Queer Bomb (in Austin) or the Dyke March (in Boston) to staffing a drop-in center for queer youth, I have done a lot of work with the queer community and I hope to continue. Not only because I am queer but also because these are my people and I want to work with them.
Which is why it’s so frustrating, not to mention problematic, when I’m the only trans woman of color in radical queer space. Over and over again, I find myself in a room full of cis queer women and trans men. Over and over again, I find myself in a room full of white people. The radical queer community positions itself as representative of all queer people and advocates for the needs of the queer community. It supposedly fights against those systems of power and oppression that keep all queers oppressed. And yet at the same time, trans women of color are nowhere to be seen; even though they are the most vulnerable in our community.
One has only to glance at the case of CeCe Mcdonald to see all the worst intersections and manifestation of white supremacy, patriarchy and capitalism. She was arrested and is being charged with second-degree murder, the same charge as George Zimmerman, for being the victim of a hate crime and fighting back. She is being charged, basically, for being a poor, black, trans woman. And while there has been a very strong movement of people organizing to free her, this is the exception to the rule.
The last 20 reported cases of trans* murders have all been trans women of color. What, than, does this say about the radical queer community when we are not centering the needs of the most vulnerable in our organizing? How can we purport to create a fully equitable world if we are not making space for them?
The reason for all this is that transmisogyny and racism is rampant and often unchecked in radical queer spaces. From TWoC lack of presence to their lack of “desirability” to their outright exclusion, it’s clear that the radical queer community is not accountable to us. They assume that since white cis queers are oppressed, they couldn’t possibly be oppressive themselves. Somehow, they think that people’s queerness excuses or erases the other ways in which they are privileged. But this is a myth that needs to be constantly challenged. The radical queer community needs to be aware in the ways that they are being oppressive, especially when it is unintentional. They need to know that there are reasons why trans women of color don’t show up to their functions or their rallies. And its because you don’t represent us.
How many black and brown trans women need to die before you put our needs first? In April alone, there have been 3 reported murders. 3 women killed in a community that is already small and nearly invisible. Coko Williams, Clay Paige, Brandy Martell. And if these are the reported murders, can you imagine the number of unreported murders? The unclaimed bodies and forgotten names?
So I challenge you, dear radical, to put your money where your mouth is. If you are really committed to this work, put us first. Be aware of our struggles, of our triumphs. Hell, be aware of our existence! Don’t just mourn us when we are murdered, but celebrate and work with us in life. Actively participate in making this world a safer place for us.
But most of all, I challenge you to see us. To know us.
Queer African American Women and the History of Marriage
This photo and headline accompanied an article from the October 15, 1970 issue of Jet magazine. They reveal that long before the recent struggle for marriage equality began, African American women who love women have engaged with the institution of marriage and have fought to make it their own.
Edna Knowles, on the left, and Peaches Stevens were wed in Liz’s Mark III Lounge, a gay bar on the South Side of Chicago, “before a host of friends and well wishers.” The article ended by noting, “although the duo has a type of ‘marriage license’ in their possession, the state’s official marriage license bureau reported it had no record of their license.” This ending serves to remind Jet readers that Knowles and Stevens’ union was not legitimate in the eyes of the state, as does the use of quotes around the word “married” in the headline.
However, decades prior to this bold public display of queer affection, African American female couples in New York strategized alternative ways to obtain marriage licenses in the 1920s and 30s:
“Marriage ceremonies were held with large wedding parties which included several bridesmaids, attendants, and other wedding party members. Actual marriage licenses were obtained by either masculinizing the first name, or having a gay male surrogate obtain the license for the marrying couple. These marriage licenses were placed on file with the New York City Marriage Bureau.” - Luvenia Pinson, “The Black Lesbian: Times Past-Time Present,” Womanews, May 1980 p. 8.
Also during the 1930s, popular performer Gladys Bentley was making a living singing bawdy tunes and playing piano late into the night at various clubs all over New York, including one named after her.
Bentley married her white girlfriend in Atlantic City in a ceremony to which she invited friends in the entertainment industry:
“Columnist Louis Sobol remembered Bentley coming over to his table one night and whispering, ‘I’m getting married tomorrow and you’re invited.’ When Sobol asked who the lucky man was to be, she giggled and replied, ‘Man? Why boy you’re crazy. I’m marryin’ ——’ and she named another woman singer.” - Eric Garber, “Gladys Bentley: The Bulldagger Who Sang the Blues,” Out/Look, Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 1988, pp. 52-61.
These examples show some of the various ways queer African American women have created public rituals to express their relationships and have therefore insisted on their rights to full citizenship, many decades prior to the current struggle for marriage equality.- Cookie
“It is a pity the young Pi was not nominated There’s not much you can do. He’s an Indian actor and nobody knows him so he was easily overlooked.
With peer voting, people will vote for their friends or based on their impressions. He’s a newcomer and we often said he had never acted before—that’s a disadvantage to getting nominated. But I do think his performance was the purest performance.”
Taiwanese director Ang Lee noting Hollywood’s tendency to overlook Asian actors to a Chinese radio station. Ang Lee was disappointed that Suraj Sharma was not nominated for Best Actor for his performance in The Life of Pi. Lee added that he felt Irfan Khan should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor, and that Zhang Ziyi was not nominated either for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, nor were any actors nominated for Slumdog Millionaire.
What’s a guy gotta do to get an Oscar? Here’s some trivia about Sharma’s work on the film, from FirstPost.com.
- Sharma beat out 4,000 other applicants (Ang Lee decided from the start the role would not be whitewashed.)
- Sharma had never acted prior to this so Ang Lee assigned him a pile of homework and made him act scenes from Teneesse Williams and other playwrights just for practice.
- Sharma didn’t know how to swim when he was cast for the role. When he first started out he could only hold his breath for 14 seconds. In the end he was able to go for one minute and a half.
- Sharma spent most of the movie filming in a pool emoting in front of a blue screen to an invisible tiger.
- Sharma lost 20% of his body weight for the role, eating a diet that mostly consisted of tuna fish, just like his character, so his ribs would show.
- Sharma cut himself up frequently while working on the boat and used those injuries in his acting. He would allow himself to get flipped along with the boat.
- The production was banned from speaking the Sharma. Ang Lee and Sharma agreed that he would not to talk to other people for almost two months so he would understand what isolation was like.
1. This kid is badass.
2. When white actors like Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio do stuff like lose 20% of their body weight or cut themselves and keep acting everyone cheers uproariously.
3. It is weirdly dismissive when films about characters of color get nominated but their actors do not. Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The Last Emperor, etc.
4. As FirstPost points out, a lot of the Oscar snubbed actors that people are talking about like Leonardo DiCaprio have plenty of other opportunities to star in other big movies. When is the next big project for an actor of South Asian descent coming up?
(via racebending)
(Source: m1905.com)
It was my friend’s mom’s birthday yesterday. Both our moms are single parents and I started thinking about how strong they had to be for us. Then I started thinking about women of color in general. Being a PoC ain’t a walk in the park by itself, but add being a woman in a patriarchal society? Nahhh. I can’t imagine how hard it must be for women of color. AND THEN people have the nerve to call em out on being hard and growing a thick skin, telling them to smile and be happy n’ shit. Fuck outta here. Women that face all that bull and STILL manage to come out on top amaze me.
These thoughts inspired this piece. A black Wonder Woman.
Why I almost defriended everyone who had an HRC logo as their profile photo this week
It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that, though I didn’t think about this at the time, I probably started a blog because I need somewhere to vent my boundless rage that is not random people’s Facebook walls. I mean, one thing among the many thousands of things that are guaranteed to raise my blood pressure is when folks get all “the internet isn’t real, and it’s not a viable platform for communication,” but also like, Facebook fights are dumb, I’m supposed to be an adult now.
So here’s the thing that got me all het up this week: gay marriage.
Specifically, these goddamn things:
this is fantastic. please read this.
Shoutout to the countless queer people of color that are killed every year with zero media coverage.
We Want You!
Are you a WOC ages 18-25?
Do you get frustrated from being left out of mainstream publications?
Would you like a place were you can fully embrace being you and your culture?
Then Rude Girl Mag wants you.
Rude Girl Mag is an online women’s magazine created by Bre Moore. Frustrated by constantly not seeing herself represented in mainstream publications she decided to create a space for her fellow women of color.
Rude Girl Mag is targeted towards women of color ages 18-25. It is a place were we can come together and celebrate ourselves. Our goal is for all women that identify as a WOC to find a place here.
We’re hoping to launch on January 1st and we’re currently we’re looking for editors, writers and artists.
So if you fit our demographic and are interested in getting involved please contact Bre at rudegirlmag@gmail.com
heavenscalyx replied to your post: heavenscalyx started following you Hi! Yes, let…
You are incredibly kind! Let us be friends in all social media! I’ve just been thinking about using this thing to do Wonder City stuuuuffff…
Ooh, that is a good idea, too.
TO ALL MY FOLLOWERS:
GUYS. THIS IS HEAVENSCALYX WHO DOES AMAZING STUFF OVER AT WONDER CITY STORIES.
I’ve blogged about Wonder City Stories before but I’m gonna do it again because I cannot recommend it enough.
From the Wonder city intro page:
Wonder City Stories is an ongoing serial that explores gender, race, and sexuality in a richly-populated superhero comic book universe, actively deconstructing the persistent themes of the genre through the eyes of a group of compelling characters who are unusual in that context: women, elderly people, POCs, LGBTQI people, and more.
It’s a universe where the equivalent of Superman is a short, round, middle-aged black woman, and its version of Captain America is a homeless, elderly veteran living out of her van. Where superpowers don’t guarantee special treatment, money, or success, and where time continues to flow forward so that most people age and have to live with consequences, with no reboots or retcons.
Wonder City Stories is a cyberfunded creativity project. Cyberfunded creativity allows writers and other artistic creators to sell their goods directly to audiences online, and further allows people to support creators they admire, which encourages those creators to produce more of what their audience members enjoy.
There are some truly amazing stories on there, so go check them out!
Wonder City Stories is on its third volume right now. There are two full volumes and numerous interludes which help to flesh out the world. GO. READ IT NOW. ALL OF YOU.
Feminism that’s inclusive of WoC and trans* women. Perfect.
Self-Defense and the Criminalization of Survival
It was just announced that CeCe McDonald, who was being charged with two counts of second-degree murder in an incident of self-defense, has just taken a plea-deal—second degree manslaughter with a recommended 41 month sentence. CeCe McDonald’s sentencing hearing will be in a month.
But Ms. McDonald isn’t the first young Black trans woman to be thrown in jail and aggressively prosecuted for surviving a violent attack on her life. Unfortunately, without real systematic change, she isn’t likely to be the last either.
It should be no secret that young trans women of color (TWOC) are being murdered at alarming rates. This is a social problem largely ignored by most people, including the media, the service/nonprofit sector and government. But this is something people in the affected communities can’t afford to ignore.
But attacks on the lives of TWOC don’t go without resistance, and when TWOC resist sometimes their attackers end up dead. This was the case with Ms. McDonald, but it was also the case last year with Akira Jackson, a Black trans woman currently serving a four-year sentence for “manslaughter” for stabbing her boyfriend in self-defense when he beat her with a baseball bat.
Jackson, a Detroit native, moved to the California Bay Area where she became an advocate for young TWOC. She was a Program Specialist from TLISH (Transgender Ladies Initiating Sisterhood), a transgender youth program where she spent her time counseling young women about housing, government assistance, and employment.
If Ms. McDonald and Ms. Jackson weren’t Black trans women it is likely that their cases might not have ended up differently. By being criminalized for their survival, these two women share something in common with many other women of color, including the New Jersey 4, a group of Black lesbian women who were attacked in the New York City’s West Village and later aggressively prosecuted for defending themselves. The attacker fully recovered, but the women were forced to serve time.
It’s a sad irony that we promote self-defense classes as a way of combating violence against women, yet many of the women of color, trans and cis alike, are currently imprisoned precisely because they fought back against violence in their homes and in the streets.
Too often trans and queer women of color survive violence in their homes and on the streets only to have the police, courts and prison-industrial complex come after them for having the audacity to survive in a world where, as Audre Lorde said in her poem “A Litany For Survival,” they “were never meant to survive.”
If it wasn't clear that the GOP HATES women, poc, queers...
You’d think that addressing the widespread domestic violence that affects homes across the US would be an issue both parties can agree on….
You’d be wrong.
A new battle over renewing the Violence Against Women Act has conservatives turning their backs on relationship violence victims, particularly those in same-sex relationships, immigrants, and Native Americans. Notice conservatives’ demands do not disadvantage straight, white, cis-men who are also a minority group when it comes to domestic violence. It’s clear that this dispute is over the same old sexist, homophobic, racist bullshit constantly coming from the political right.
It’s one level of evil to endorse a culture where relationship violence is not only commonplace, but constantly justified. It is another level to turn around and leave survivors of relationship violence without anywhere to turn for help.
Yeah. This.
Wonder City Stories
“Wonder City Stories is an ongoing serial that explores gender, race, and sexuality in a richly-populated superhero comic book universe, actively deconstructing the persistent themes of the genre through the eyes of a group of compelling characters who are unusual in that context: women, elderly people, POCs, LGBTQI people, and more.
It’s a universe where the equivalent of Superman is a short, round, middle-aged black woman, and its version of Captain America is a homeless, elderly veteran living out of her van. Where superpowers don’t guarantee special treatment, money, or success, and where time continues to flow forward so that most people age and have to live with consequences, with no reboots or retcons.
Wonder City Stories is a cyberfunded creativity project. Cyberfunded creativity allows writers and other artistic creators to sell their goods directly to audiences online, and further allows people to support creators they admire, which encourages those creators to produce more of what their audience members enjoy.”
GUYS. Wonder City Stories is fuckin’ amazing! Go read it!
#Arkh wants and NEEDS our supporters to spread the word in real life. Are you in any queer organizations, PoC organizations, QPoC organizations or just plain old human rights organizations? Are you in a major city and can just hand out flyers on the street?
WE NEED YOU.
Be a part of Arkh’s street team!
The street team is an attempt to get Arkh into the eyes of people who might not spend a lot of time online, but would have an interest anyway.
The best thing about joining the street team is that all it requires is your TIME and DEDICATION.The above is a flyer you can print and distribute at your leisure. You can download the PDF here. Distribute these flyers WHEREVER YOU WANT. Leave them in apartment buildings, libraries, stores, universities, and just plain hand them out on the street.
And if you want to, and you can? TAKE VIDEO! Send us video of your exploits and help us let the world know that Arkh is here and Arkh is EVERYWHERE!That said, Arkh is looking for people in NYC to be part of the NYC street team. We will specifically plan a Saturday or Sunday to hang out in Manhattan and hand out flyers. We also need someone to video us! Email thearkhproject@gmail.com and let us know if you’re available!
