to dopegirlfresh:

i look at you and i see a prophet
words of wisdom dripping from your lips
you speak to the core of my being

muscle and bone stop fighting each other in your presence
the pores in my skin open up to seep you in
the follicles of my hair sit rooted in deep held attention
everything within me listens to you

you are fly, you are divine
you are full

you are not to be pitied for any reason
you walk with the might of your ancestors
the foremothers are with you

give thanks always*

every conversation with you
is a poem
rising for air

i am left wondering
how many times we have to be told we are beautiful
until we believe it?

i believe it
and i am giving thanks
for you
always

* blockquote are her words, not mine

-
Habit Forming Love Challenge, 30 Days of Intentional Love. Check out She Speaks for more details and join us!

Dear organization I feel I should not name publically because of the content of this message,

I talked to your project director yesterday for over an hour. To see him working hard to create something so beautiful in an area that often feels so…hopeless makes me buzz with energy, like whatever we dream can be built. A huge reason I’m not that involved with state disability stuff anymore is because it often feels like we’re never gonna get it together, that it’s always going to be service provider-y and about money, never about coming together to be something. You wonder why youth are off doing their own thing (actually you probably haven’t noticed, it’s okay) and it’s because we don’t have time for your mess. We gotta get it together, people. We can live better than this. We have to. 

Anyways. Sorry for the preachy rant, this is supposed to be a love letter. Your project director is working, working hard. I hope you will trust his vision for community. He is able to see potential, grab it, and force it to grow between the cracks— that’s his style. I have a lot of respect for him; he had opportunities to make a name for himself, do the national stuff, and instead he is here, sleeves rolled up, trying to making something out of all of this. He believes in you. Let’s believe in us, too. 

Love,
cripchick

-
Habit Forming Love Challenge, 30 Days of Intentional Love. Check out She Speaks for more details and join us!

hey joe,

it blew my mind when you referenced something that happened 3 or 4 years ago while we were talking last night. besides the fact that 4 years can feel like eternity to a 21 year old kid, the path towards community has been filled with such growth it feels funny to look back a time when we were so…new, with so…much to learn.

do you know that every day, every single day, i am bursting with pride in you? not many people can say that in the last year alone, they’ve made huge strides in bringing a disability rights perspective to the bioethics field, have led take over of their senator’s office until she agreed to cosponsor a bill, organize book clubs that folks have traveled hours to be in attendance, and agreed to facilitate sessions on sexuality at their friends’ youth disability conferences. (…don’t you think it says something about you that when you came to NC, i asked you to lead our sex discussion, a bioethics talk around the movie x-men3, and a workshop on disability culture? smile.).

however, what i take most pride in is who you are as a person— that we’ve been able to grow so much together. i think this happens a lot with cross-cultural friendships but a huge aspect of our friendship has always been examining the world, whether this is our relationships with the academy, activism, privilege, the disability community, feminism, each other. i love that we can sit in the dark and hash out why we had a fight over something like the academy and didn’t talk for months because of it. i love that when i’m freaking out about whether i’m too crip to date someone, you assure me i am worthy. i love that when i am saying things like “we don’t have a community, just suits” you call me out and say, no. no, we are here, we are growing in numbers, we are the movement, believe.

from you i have learned the importance of using all the tools we have, of tapping into people’s strengths and passions. from you i have also learned that everyone is open for growth, that we are all unlimited in the potential for what we can become.

thank you for your friendship. i love you.

affectionately,

cripchick

–

Habit Forming Love Challenge, 30 Days of Intentional Love. Check out She Speaks for more details and join us!

the creator

the creator is the first to see art in this;
art in the way we move, love, live
our inherent creativity:
the birthright that comes with the outright deviancy
of living in these bodies

these
fat,
not fat enough
disabled
queer
yellow brown black
poor, “trashy”
genderrebelling
unconventional
outspokenly disobedient
bodies

yes those bodies

the creator reveres these bodies, knowing that they are sources of indelible power
call and responses begging to be written
and sung in chorus

the creator seeks guidance from these bodies, knowing that they are maps
written in the palms of our hands, quietly waiting to be opened
and begin giving direction

the creator cherishes these bodies, knowing that they are truth,
the resting grounds for foremothers, lovers, and dreamers
who are seeking home

the creator studies these bodies, knowing that they are throwbacks to the past,
these times, even the future
if you are brave enough to look

the creator sees these bodies
and sees art, our birthright
never brokenness

that’s the creator i know,
my girl alexis

–

Habit Forming Love Challenge, 30 Days of Intentional Love. Check out She Speaks for more details and join us!