cripchick's blog » queer http://blog.cripchick.com another shapeshifter living among the digital masses Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:57:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 kit yan’s letter to HRC http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229#comments Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:16:40 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=759 HRC had been invited, we were stared at. then when we spoke up against the group simply focusing on marriage advocacy with so much work to be done, they thought we were stupid southerners who were against gay marriage because of ignorance or overexposure to too much homophobia. needless to say, i left the meeting early, never having been talked down to so much.  kit yan, from the good asian drivers spoken word duo:
you’re a force with responsibility so listen, think, then act you’re an icon of equality so remember the colors of the community you stand for you’re the face that the devil trusts but you’ve become its reflection hear us, please. unfortunately we can not wait for you we’ll be here when you return, but we cannot wait for you in the meantime, we’ll fight for ourselves… -kit yan at 2:10
]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229/feed 0 for teish cannon http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227#comments Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:59:33 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=743 duanna johnson. a few days later, another trans woman of color has been killed. this wednesday thursday is trangender day of remembrance, i hope you will remember our lost and speak out. even after death they stuff our bodies into boxes ironing out the creases of our complexities they use blades, fists violence institutions and blood-tinged spit to fold us into the faceless other the soulless even after death, they refuse to recognize our names, our genders, our loved ones. even after death. have you no respect? no i don’t expect anything from you i know better than that but if not for who we are if not for our communities if not for the mourning families, at least for the dead? at least for the dead? who, with your mocking your open hatred your silence, have taken part in killing? have you no damn respect?]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227/feed 6 an open letter http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 05:47:50 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=732 Wheelchair Dancer, Hey sister--- thanks for your blog post on the elections, racism, prop 8. I’ve been in such a funny place lately after all of this and your writing really helped me in naming why. Sylvia posted a tweet the other day about wanting to wrap Obama in bubble wrap, Teflon, a condom, Fort Knox--- anything--- to keep him safe until January 20th. That’s kind of how I feel about my emotions. And I hate to sound cliché here, but also my hope. My head knows what this election means and what this election does not mean but I still want scream Yes We Can!, rock my Obama shirt in classes full of Republicans, and, well, just bask in the symbolism of it. I want to believe in what everyone else believes in for more than one night, even if a lot of it is compartmentalizing what I know and not thinking about things folks like Moya and so many others are sayin’. So I close my door, download all the free mixtapes people are producing for Obama, and bullshit around happily. But then it changes, right? At least it did for me, couldn't even last a week. I read a message from VivirLatino about another mass ICE raid where over 100 people are rounded up in Florida and separated from their families. I hear white racist gay folks getting time on the tv and then blame Prop 8 on communities of color! I get an email from someone I really care about saying someone she knows was being beaten to death from what seems like a hate crime. With tears in my eyes I read of Duanna Johnson’s death and then see talk show radio hosts trying to leave comments on my blog saying they're advocates while simultaneously disrespecting who she was. All these things tear me right from that cloudy good place. These things come at me like a million lightening bolts, reminding me of all the work that needs to be done and more importantly, who will be the ones doing this work. It will be us. We will do it cause there isn’t anyone else but us, the people, la gente. So like our dear friend asks in her blog--- as organizers, as artists, as community-builders, as dreamers, how can we learn from his campaign? How can we get the folks on the ground, many who weren’t believers in power of people before, to keep dreaming and ready to pick up other tools? How do we stay focused? Clear-headed? How do we build this bigger than non-profits, projects, campaigning? And what about when the evil, the hate, the bondage is internal--- How do we combat these things when they come in the form of our communities, people we love? I mean I didn’t truly understand what racism and white privilege really meant until I got involved in social movements, you know? Is it possible to take these conversations happening post-Prop 8 and turn them into something that lasts? Will there be room to sew close our open wounds, our mistrust? And is it even worth it, trying to work it out with gays and lesbians who will always choose marriage, gentrification, assimilation and capital building as priorities, when so many fellow queers are homeless, forgotten, oppressed, closeted, beaten, denied their humanity? I’m really hoping you have some answers, that someone has answers. In the meantime, thanks for being who you are, for our gchats, for the love… In solidarity and w/ love, cripchick]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223/feed 4 for duanna johnson http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:28:58 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=721 a picture of duanna johnson sister, i am angry furious at your death upset with my own foolishness in celebrating him while you die in the streets with beatings, with violence left on your beautiful brown skin with the names, the silence, the mainstream media lies they refuse to let us ever forget that guns penetrating our backs, we are always standing at the cliff of our own mortality sister, i am in mourning lighting a candle, i read this poem into the glimmering light my poem is a prayer for you, for the others i will never have the opportunity of knowing, and for the friends who mourn your death today we will not forget. we will speak your name. you said no!, you would not let police brutality and violence against transgender women of color fade into an invisible cloud of silence you said no… and now you are gone. you are gone but we will not forget. the anger, the connection, the injustice just cuts too deep. instead we will carry your name on our tongue your bravery in our own ribcage your memory in our work we will wear red everyday remembering you and countless of others we will not forget, sister.]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222/feed 6 re: a letter around anger and bravery http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177#comments Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:10:13 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=309 zach: love, thank you for your letter to me. in these last few weeks, i have found that having these open conversations about our bodies and our experiences with authority and capitalist industrial complexes [systems of prisons, schools, non-profit organizations that are about making money] have been completely liberating in how i view myself and how i am able to interact with others. i love you and am so thankful for your words, your honesty about wrestling with everything, your power. i feel like talking about our bodies is what made intersectionality “real” for me and not some buzzword misused by folks on the left (who use this word without ever recognizing where it came from or the power behind it). a good example of this is with the history of our bodies being owned. i strongly disagree with disabled [white, straight] people who use the word “colonize” loosely to describe their experiences with the capitalist system of medicine and science. however, recognizing that disabled people share something in common with people of color, women, and with queer people is powerful, especially when it is around our collective history of our bodies being bad and needing to be controlled. after this basic foundation is made, being able to recognize that this pain and loss of authority over what is ours is amplified when living on the intersection of multiple identities is even more powerful. mixed in with my anger and my frustration is hope and excitement for the organizing and conversations that are happening around this. you and i and many of our sisters are relearning, rewriting, recreating everything that we have been taught is true. i agree with you about people who stifle this---they are the same ones who have historically been denying what is ours. i don’t remember where i read this (it’s just scribbled down in my notebook) but alice walker once said “no person is your friend (or kin) who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow and be perceived as fully blossomed as you were intended.” i’m not sure of the context behind her words but it says so much to me. ownership of our bodies, our lives, our thinking is always about power. you are right--- our anger is righteous and constructive as a tool against injustice. i’m not sure where we go from here but am so moved by work that radical women of color are doing and the brilliance and passion of our community. the summer of our lorde project, the cyber quilting, all the writing, recording, organizing… with this work and the ways that we were (and are!) impacted by earlier generations of women of color activists, can you imagine what the future of our community will look like? love to you, zach. in community, cripchick]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177/feed 0 recap on the weekend http://blog.cripchick.com another shapeshifter living among the digital masses Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:57:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 cripchick's blog » queer http://blog.cripchick.com another shapeshifter living among the digital masses Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:57:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 kit yan’s letter to HRC http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229#comments Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:16:40 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=759 HRC had been invited, we were stared at. then when we spoke up against the group simply focusing on marriage advocacy with so much work to be done, they thought we were stupid southerners who were against gay marriage because of ignorance or overexposure to too much homophobia. needless to say, i left the meeting early, never having been talked down to so much.  kit yan, from the good asian drivers spoken word duo:
you’re a force with responsibility so listen, think, then act you’re an icon of equality so remember the colors of the community you stand for you’re the face that the devil trusts but you’ve become its reflection hear us, please. unfortunately we can not wait for you we’ll be here when you return, but we cannot wait for you in the meantime, we’ll fight for ourselves… -kit yan at 2:10
]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229/feed 0 for teish cannon http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227#comments Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:59:33 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=743 duanna johnson. a few days later, another trans woman of color has been killed. this wednesday thursday is trangender day of remembrance, i hope you will remember our lost and speak out. even after death they stuff our bodies into boxes ironing out the creases of our complexities they use blades, fists violence institutions and blood-tinged spit to fold us into the faceless other the soulless even after death, they refuse to recognize our names, our genders, our loved ones. even after death. have you no respect? no i don’t expect anything from you i know better than that but if not for who we are if not for our communities if not for the mourning families, at least for the dead? at least for the dead? who, with your mocking your open hatred your silence, have taken part in killing? have you no damn respect?]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227/feed 6 an open letter http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 05:47:50 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=732 Wheelchair Dancer, Hey sister--- thanks for your blog post on the elections, racism, prop 8. I’ve been in such a funny place lately after all of this and your writing really helped me in naming why. Sylvia posted a tweet the other day about wanting to wrap Obama in bubble wrap, Teflon, a condom, Fort Knox--- anything--- to keep him safe until January 20th. That’s kind of how I feel about my emotions. And I hate to sound cliché here, but also my hope. My head knows what this election means and what this election does not mean but I still want scream Yes We Can!, rock my Obama shirt in classes full of Republicans, and, well, just bask in the symbolism of it. I want to believe in what everyone else believes in for more than one night, even if a lot of it is compartmentalizing what I know and not thinking about things folks like Moya and so many others are sayin’. So I close my door, download all the free mixtapes people are producing for Obama, and bullshit around happily. But then it changes, right? At least it did for me, couldn't even last a week. I read a message from VivirLatino about another mass ICE raid where over 100 people are rounded up in Florida and separated from their families. I hear white racist gay folks getting time on the tv and then blame Prop 8 on communities of color! I get an email from someone I really care about saying someone she knows was being beaten to death from what seems like a hate crime. With tears in my eyes I read of Duanna Johnson’s death and then see talk show radio hosts trying to leave comments on my blog saying they're advocates while simultaneously disrespecting who she was. All these things tear me right from that cloudy good place. These things come at me like a million lightening bolts, reminding me of all the work that needs to be done and more importantly, who will be the ones doing this work. It will be us. We will do it cause there isn’t anyone else but us, the people, la gente. So like our dear friend asks in her blog--- as organizers, as artists, as community-builders, as dreamers, how can we learn from his campaign? How can we get the folks on the ground, many who weren’t believers in power of people before, to keep dreaming and ready to pick up other tools? How do we stay focused? Clear-headed? How do we build this bigger than non-profits, projects, campaigning? And what about when the evil, the hate, the bondage is internal--- How do we combat these things when they come in the form of our communities, people we love? I mean I didn’t truly understand what racism and white privilege really meant until I got involved in social movements, you know? Is it possible to take these conversations happening post-Prop 8 and turn them into something that lasts? Will there be room to sew close our open wounds, our mistrust? And is it even worth it, trying to work it out with gays and lesbians who will always choose marriage, gentrification, assimilation and capital building as priorities, when so many fellow queers are homeless, forgotten, oppressed, closeted, beaten, denied their humanity? I’m really hoping you have some answers, that someone has answers. In the meantime, thanks for being who you are, for our gchats, for the love… In solidarity and w/ love, cripchick]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223/feed 4 for duanna johnson http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:28:58 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=721 a picture of duanna johnson sister, i am angry furious at your death upset with my own foolishness in celebrating him while you die in the streets with beatings, with violence left on your beautiful brown skin with the names, the silence, the mainstream media lies they refuse to let us ever forget that guns penetrating our backs, we are always standing at the cliff of our own mortality sister, i am in mourning lighting a candle, i read this poem into the glimmering light my poem is a prayer for you, for the others i will never have the opportunity of knowing, and for the friends who mourn your death today we will not forget. we will speak your name. you said no!, you would not let police brutality and violence against transgender women of color fade into an invisible cloud of silence you said no… and now you are gone. you are gone but we will not forget. the anger, the connection, the injustice just cuts too deep. instead we will carry your name on our tongue your bravery in our own ribcage your memory in our work we will wear red everyday remembering you and countless of others we will not forget, sister.]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222/feed 6 re: a letter around anger and bravery http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177#comments Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:10:13 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=309 zach: love, thank you for your letter to me. in these last few weeks, i have found that having these open conversations about our bodies and our experiences with authority and capitalist industrial complexes [systems of prisons, schools, non-profit organizations that are about making money] have been completely liberating in how i view myself and how i am able to interact with others. i love you and am so thankful for your words, your honesty about wrestling with everything, your power. i feel like talking about our bodies is what made intersectionality “real” for me and not some buzzword misused by folks on the left (who use this word without ever recognizing where it came from or the power behind it). a good example of this is with the history of our bodies being owned. i strongly disagree with disabled [white, straight] people who use the word “colonize” loosely to describe their experiences with the capitalist system of medicine and science. however, recognizing that disabled people share something in common with people of color, women, and with queer people is powerful, especially when it is around our collective history of our bodies being bad and needing to be controlled. after this basic foundation is made, being able to recognize that this pain and loss of authority over what is ours is amplified when living on the intersection of multiple identities is even more powerful. mixed in with my anger and my frustration is hope and excitement for the organizing and conversations that are happening around this. you and i and many of our sisters are relearning, rewriting, recreating everything that we have been taught is true. i agree with you about people who stifle this---they are the same ones who have historically been denying what is ours. i don’t remember where i read this (it’s just scribbled down in my notebook) but alice walker once said “no person is your friend (or kin) who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow and be perceived as fully blossomed as you were intended.” i’m not sure of the context behind her words but it says so much to me. ownership of our bodies, our lives, our thinking is always about power. you are right--- our anger is righteous and constructive as a tool against injustice. i’m not sure where we go from here but am so moved by work that radical women of color are doing and the brilliance and passion of our community. the summer of our lorde project, the cyber quilting, all the writing, recording, organizing… with this work and the ways that we were (and are!) impacted by earlier generations of women of color activists, can you imagine what the future of our community will look like? love to you, zach. in community, cripchick]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177/feed 0 recap on the weekend http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229#comments Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:16:40 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=759 HRC had been invited, we were stared at. then when we spoke up against the group simply focusing on marriage advocacy with so much work to be done, they thought we were stupid southerners who were against gay marriage because of ignorance or overexposure to too much homophobia. needless to say, i left the meeting early, never having been talked down to so much.  kit yan, from the good asian drivers spoken word duo:
you’re a force with responsibility so listen, think, then act you’re an icon of equality so remember the colors of the community you stand for you’re the face that the devil trusts but you’ve become its reflection hear us, please. unfortunately we can not wait for you we’ll be here when you return, but we cannot wait for you in the meantime, we’ll fight for ourselves… -kit yan at 2:10
]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229/feed 0 cripchick's blog » queer http://blog.cripchick.com another shapeshifter living among the digital masses Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:57:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 kit yan’s letter to HRC http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229#comments Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:16:40 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=759 HRC had been invited, we were stared at. then when we spoke up against the group simply focusing on marriage advocacy with so much work to be done, they thought we were stupid southerners who were against gay marriage because of ignorance or overexposure to too much homophobia. needless to say, i left the meeting early, never having been talked down to so much.  kit yan, from the good asian drivers spoken word duo:
you’re a force with responsibility so listen, think, then act you’re an icon of equality so remember the colors of the community you stand for you’re the face that the devil trusts but you’ve become its reflection hear us, please. unfortunately we can not wait for you we’ll be here when you return, but we cannot wait for you in the meantime, we’ll fight for ourselves… -kit yan at 2:10
]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229/feed 0 for teish cannon http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227#comments Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:59:33 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=743 duanna johnson. a few days later, another trans woman of color has been killed. this wednesday thursday is trangender day of remembrance, i hope you will remember our lost and speak out. even after death they stuff our bodies into boxes ironing out the creases of our complexities they use blades, fists violence institutions and blood-tinged spit to fold us into the faceless other the soulless even after death, they refuse to recognize our names, our genders, our loved ones. even after death. have you no respect? no i don’t expect anything from you i know better than that but if not for who we are if not for our communities if not for the mourning families, at least for the dead? at least for the dead? who, with your mocking your open hatred your silence, have taken part in killing? have you no damn respect?]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227/feed 6 an open letter http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 05:47:50 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=732 Wheelchair Dancer, Hey sister--- thanks for your blog post on the elections, racism, prop 8. I’ve been in such a funny place lately after all of this and your writing really helped me in naming why. Sylvia posted a tweet the other day about wanting to wrap Obama in bubble wrap, Teflon, a condom, Fort Knox--- anything--- to keep him safe until January 20th. That’s kind of how I feel about my emotions. And I hate to sound cliché here, but also my hope. My head knows what this election means and what this election does not mean but I still want scream Yes We Can!, rock my Obama shirt in classes full of Republicans, and, well, just bask in the symbolism of it. I want to believe in what everyone else believes in for more than one night, even if a lot of it is compartmentalizing what I know and not thinking about things folks like Moya and so many others are sayin’. So I close my door, download all the free mixtapes people are producing for Obama, and bullshit around happily. But then it changes, right? At least it did for me, couldn't even last a week. I read a message from VivirLatino about another mass ICE raid where over 100 people are rounded up in Florida and separated from their families. I hear white racist gay folks getting time on the tv and then blame Prop 8 on communities of color! I get an email from someone I really care about saying someone she knows was being beaten to death from what seems like a hate crime. With tears in my eyes I read of Duanna Johnson’s death and then see talk show radio hosts trying to leave comments on my blog saying they're advocates while simultaneously disrespecting who she was. All these things tear me right from that cloudy good place. These things come at me like a million lightening bolts, reminding me of all the work that needs to be done and more importantly, who will be the ones doing this work. It will be us. We will do it cause there isn’t anyone else but us, the people, la gente. So like our dear friend asks in her blog--- as organizers, as artists, as community-builders, as dreamers, how can we learn from his campaign? How can we get the folks on the ground, many who weren’t believers in power of people before, to keep dreaming and ready to pick up other tools? How do we stay focused? Clear-headed? How do we build this bigger than non-profits, projects, campaigning? And what about when the evil, the hate, the bondage is internal--- How do we combat these things when they come in the form of our communities, people we love? I mean I didn’t truly understand what racism and white privilege really meant until I got involved in social movements, you know? Is it possible to take these conversations happening post-Prop 8 and turn them into something that lasts? Will there be room to sew close our open wounds, our mistrust? And is it even worth it, trying to work it out with gays and lesbians who will always choose marriage, gentrification, assimilation and capital building as priorities, when so many fellow queers are homeless, forgotten, oppressed, closeted, beaten, denied their humanity? I’m really hoping you have some answers, that someone has answers. In the meantime, thanks for being who you are, for our gchats, for the love… In solidarity and w/ love, cripchick]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223/feed 4 for duanna johnson http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:28:58 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=721 a picture of duanna johnson sister, i am angry furious at your death upset with my own foolishness in celebrating him while you die in the streets with beatings, with violence left on your beautiful brown skin with the names, the silence, the mainstream media lies they refuse to let us ever forget that guns penetrating our backs, we are always standing at the cliff of our own mortality sister, i am in mourning lighting a candle, i read this poem into the glimmering light my poem is a prayer for you, for the others i will never have the opportunity of knowing, and for the friends who mourn your death today we will not forget. we will speak your name. you said no!, you would not let police brutality and violence against transgender women of color fade into an invisible cloud of silence you said no… and now you are gone. you are gone but we will not forget. the anger, the connection, the injustice just cuts too deep. instead we will carry your name on our tongue your bravery in our own ribcage your memory in our work we will wear red everyday remembering you and countless of others we will not forget, sister.]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222/feed 6 re: a letter around anger and bravery http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177#comments Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:10:13 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=309 zach: love, thank you for your letter to me. in these last few weeks, i have found that having these open conversations about our bodies and our experiences with authority and capitalist industrial complexes [systems of prisons, schools, non-profit organizations that are about making money] have been completely liberating in how i view myself and how i am able to interact with others. i love you and am so thankful for your words, your honesty about wrestling with everything, your power. i feel like talking about our bodies is what made intersectionality “real” for me and not some buzzword misused by folks on the left (who use this word without ever recognizing where it came from or the power behind it). a good example of this is with the history of our bodies being owned. i strongly disagree with disabled [white, straight] people who use the word “colonize” loosely to describe their experiences with the capitalist system of medicine and science. however, recognizing that disabled people share something in common with people of color, women, and with queer people is powerful, especially when it is around our collective history of our bodies being bad and needing to be controlled. after this basic foundation is made, being able to recognize that this pain and loss of authority over what is ours is amplified when living on the intersection of multiple identities is even more powerful. mixed in with my anger and my frustration is hope and excitement for the organizing and conversations that are happening around this. you and i and many of our sisters are relearning, rewriting, recreating everything that we have been taught is true. i agree with you about people who stifle this---they are the same ones who have historically been denying what is ours. i don’t remember where i read this (it’s just scribbled down in my notebook) but alice walker once said “no person is your friend (or kin) who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow and be perceived as fully blossomed as you were intended.” i’m not sure of the context behind her words but it says so much to me. ownership of our bodies, our lives, our thinking is always about power. you are right--- our anger is righteous and constructive as a tool against injustice. i’m not sure where we go from here but am so moved by work that radical women of color are doing and the brilliance and passion of our community. the summer of our lorde project, the cyber quilting, all the writing, recording, organizing… with this work and the ways that we were (and are!) impacted by earlier generations of women of color activists, can you imagine what the future of our community will look like? love to you, zach. in community, cripchick]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177/feed 0 recap on the weekend http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227#comments Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:59:33 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=743 duanna johnson. a few days later, another trans woman of color has been killed. this wednesday thursday is trangender day of remembrance, i hope you will remember our lost and speak out. even after death they stuff our bodies into boxes ironing out the creases of our complexities they use blades, fists violence institutions and blood-tinged spit to fold us into the faceless other the soulless even after death, they refuse to recognize our names, our genders, our loved ones. even after death. have you no respect? no i don’t expect anything from you i know better than that but if not for who we are if not for our communities if not for the mourning families, at least for the dead? at least for the dead? who, with your mocking your open hatred your silence, have taken part in killing? have you no damn respect?]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227/feed 6 cripchick's blog » queer http://blog.cripchick.com another shapeshifter living among the digital masses Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:57:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 kit yan’s letter to HRC http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229#comments Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:16:40 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=759 HRC had been invited, we were stared at. then when we spoke up against the group simply focusing on marriage advocacy with so much work to be done, they thought we were stupid southerners who were against gay marriage because of ignorance or overexposure to too much homophobia. needless to say, i left the meeting early, never having been talked down to so much.  kit yan, from the good asian drivers spoken word duo:
you’re a force with responsibility so listen, think, then act you’re an icon of equality so remember the colors of the community you stand for you’re the face that the devil trusts but you’ve become its reflection hear us, please. unfortunately we can not wait for you we’ll be here when you return, but we cannot wait for you in the meantime, we’ll fight for ourselves… -kit yan at 2:10
]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229/feed 0 for teish cannon http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227#comments Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:59:33 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=743 duanna johnson. a few days later, another trans woman of color has been killed. this wednesday thursday is trangender day of remembrance, i hope you will remember our lost and speak out. even after death they stuff our bodies into boxes ironing out the creases of our complexities they use blades, fists violence institutions and blood-tinged spit to fold us into the faceless other the soulless even after death, they refuse to recognize our names, our genders, our loved ones. even after death. have you no respect? no i don’t expect anything from you i know better than that but if not for who we are if not for our communities if not for the mourning families, at least for the dead? at least for the dead? who, with your mocking your open hatred your silence, have taken part in killing? have you no damn respect?]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227/feed 6 an open letter http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 05:47:50 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=732 Wheelchair Dancer, Hey sister--- thanks for your blog post on the elections, racism, prop 8. I’ve been in such a funny place lately after all of this and your writing really helped me in naming why. Sylvia posted a tweet the other day about wanting to wrap Obama in bubble wrap, Teflon, a condom, Fort Knox--- anything--- to keep him safe until January 20th. That’s kind of how I feel about my emotions. And I hate to sound cliché here, but also my hope. My head knows what this election means and what this election does not mean but I still want scream Yes We Can!, rock my Obama shirt in classes full of Republicans, and, well, just bask in the symbolism of it. I want to believe in what everyone else believes in for more than one night, even if a lot of it is compartmentalizing what I know and not thinking about things folks like Moya and so many others are sayin’. So I close my door, download all the free mixtapes people are producing for Obama, and bullshit around happily. But then it changes, right? At least it did for me, couldn't even last a week. I read a message from VivirLatino about another mass ICE raid where over 100 people are rounded up in Florida and separated from their families. I hear white racist gay folks getting time on the tv and then blame Prop 8 on communities of color! I get an email from someone I really care about saying someone she knows was being beaten to death from what seems like a hate crime. With tears in my eyes I read of Duanna Johnson’s death and then see talk show radio hosts trying to leave comments on my blog saying they're advocates while simultaneously disrespecting who she was. All these things tear me right from that cloudy good place. These things come at me like a million lightening bolts, reminding me of all the work that needs to be done and more importantly, who will be the ones doing this work. It will be us. We will do it cause there isn’t anyone else but us, the people, la gente. So like our dear friend asks in her blog--- as organizers, as artists, as community-builders, as dreamers, how can we learn from his campaign? How can we get the folks on the ground, many who weren’t believers in power of people before, to keep dreaming and ready to pick up other tools? How do we stay focused? Clear-headed? How do we build this bigger than non-profits, projects, campaigning? And what about when the evil, the hate, the bondage is internal--- How do we combat these things when they come in the form of our communities, people we love? I mean I didn’t truly understand what racism and white privilege really meant until I got involved in social movements, you know? Is it possible to take these conversations happening post-Prop 8 and turn them into something that lasts? Will there be room to sew close our open wounds, our mistrust? And is it even worth it, trying to work it out with gays and lesbians who will always choose marriage, gentrification, assimilation and capital building as priorities, when so many fellow queers are homeless, forgotten, oppressed, closeted, beaten, denied their humanity? I’m really hoping you have some answers, that someone has answers. In the meantime, thanks for being who you are, for our gchats, for the love… In solidarity and w/ love, cripchick]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223/feed 4 for duanna johnson http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:28:58 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=721 a picture of duanna johnson sister, i am angry furious at your death upset with my own foolishness in celebrating him while you die in the streets with beatings, with violence left on your beautiful brown skin with the names, the silence, the mainstream media lies they refuse to let us ever forget that guns penetrating our backs, we are always standing at the cliff of our own mortality sister, i am in mourning lighting a candle, i read this poem into the glimmering light my poem is a prayer for you, for the others i will never have the opportunity of knowing, and for the friends who mourn your death today we will not forget. we will speak your name. you said no!, you would not let police brutality and violence against transgender women of color fade into an invisible cloud of silence you said no… and now you are gone. you are gone but we will not forget. the anger, the connection, the injustice just cuts too deep. instead we will carry your name on our tongue your bravery in our own ribcage your memory in our work we will wear red everyday remembering you and countless of others we will not forget, sister.]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222/feed 6 re: a letter around anger and bravery http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177#comments Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:10:13 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=309 zach: love, thank you for your letter to me. in these last few weeks, i have found that having these open conversations about our bodies and our experiences with authority and capitalist industrial complexes [systems of prisons, schools, non-profit organizations that are about making money] have been completely liberating in how i view myself and how i am able to interact with others. i love you and am so thankful for your words, your honesty about wrestling with everything, your power. i feel like talking about our bodies is what made intersectionality “real” for me and not some buzzword misused by folks on the left (who use this word without ever recognizing where it came from or the power behind it). a good example of this is with the history of our bodies being owned. i strongly disagree with disabled [white, straight] people who use the word “colonize” loosely to describe their experiences with the capitalist system of medicine and science. however, recognizing that disabled people share something in common with people of color, women, and with queer people is powerful, especially when it is around our collective history of our bodies being bad and needing to be controlled. after this basic foundation is made, being able to recognize that this pain and loss of authority over what is ours is amplified when living on the intersection of multiple identities is even more powerful. mixed in with my anger and my frustration is hope and excitement for the organizing and conversations that are happening around this. you and i and many of our sisters are relearning, rewriting, recreating everything that we have been taught is true. i agree with you about people who stifle this---they are the same ones who have historically been denying what is ours. i don’t remember where i read this (it’s just scribbled down in my notebook) but alice walker once said “no person is your friend (or kin) who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow and be perceived as fully blossomed as you were intended.” i’m not sure of the context behind her words but it says so much to me. ownership of our bodies, our lives, our thinking is always about power. you are right--- our anger is righteous and constructive as a tool against injustice. i’m not sure where we go from here but am so moved by work that radical women of color are doing and the brilliance and passion of our community. the summer of our lorde project, the cyber quilting, all the writing, recording, organizing… with this work and the ways that we were (and are!) impacted by earlier generations of women of color activists, can you imagine what the future of our community will look like? love to you, zach. in community, cripchick]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177/feed 0 recap on the weekend http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 05:47:50 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=732 Wheelchair Dancer, Hey sister--- thanks for your blog post on the elections, racism, prop 8. I’ve been in such a funny place lately after all of this and your writing really helped me in naming why. Sylvia posted a tweet the other day about wanting to wrap Obama in bubble wrap, Teflon, a condom, Fort Knox--- anything--- to keep him safe until January 20th. That’s kind of how I feel about my emotions. And I hate to sound cliché here, but also my hope. My head knows what this election means and what this election does not mean but I still want scream Yes We Can!, rock my Obama shirt in classes full of Republicans, and, well, just bask in the symbolism of it. I want to believe in what everyone else believes in for more than one night, even if a lot of it is compartmentalizing what I know and not thinking about things folks like Moya and so many others are sayin’. So I close my door, download all the free mixtapes people are producing for Obama, and bullshit around happily. But then it changes, right? At least it did for me, couldn't even last a week. I read a message from VivirLatino about another mass ICE raid where over 100 people are rounded up in Florida and separated from their families. I hear white racist gay folks getting time on the tv and then blame Prop 8 on communities of color! I get an email from someone I really care about saying someone she knows was being beaten to death from what seems like a hate crime. With tears in my eyes I read of Duanna Johnson’s death and then see talk show radio hosts trying to leave comments on my blog saying they're advocates while simultaneously disrespecting who she was. All these things tear me right from that cloudy good place. These things come at me like a million lightening bolts, reminding me of all the work that needs to be done and more importantly, who will be the ones doing this work. It will be us. We will do it cause there isn’t anyone else but us, the people, la gente. So like our dear friend asks in her blog--- as organizers, as artists, as community-builders, as dreamers, how can we learn from his campaign? How can we get the folks on the ground, many who weren’t believers in power of people before, to keep dreaming and ready to pick up other tools? How do we stay focused? Clear-headed? How do we build this bigger than non-profits, projects, campaigning? And what about when the evil, the hate, the bondage is internal--- How do we combat these things when they come in the form of our communities, people we love? I mean I didn’t truly understand what racism and white privilege really meant until I got involved in social movements, you know? Is it possible to take these conversations happening post-Prop 8 and turn them into something that lasts? Will there be room to sew close our open wounds, our mistrust? And is it even worth it, trying to work it out with gays and lesbians who will always choose marriage, gentrification, assimilation and capital building as priorities, when so many fellow queers are homeless, forgotten, oppressed, closeted, beaten, denied their humanity? I’m really hoping you have some answers, that someone has answers. In the meantime, thanks for being who you are, for our gchats, for the love… In solidarity and w/ love, cripchick]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223/feed 4 cripchick's blog » queer http://blog.cripchick.com another shapeshifter living among the digital masses Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:57:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 kit yan’s letter to HRC http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229#comments Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:16:40 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=759 HRC had been invited, we were stared at. then when we spoke up against the group simply focusing on marriage advocacy with so much work to be done, they thought we were stupid southerners who were against gay marriage because of ignorance or overexposure to too much homophobia. needless to say, i left the meeting early, never having been talked down to so much.  kit yan, from the good asian drivers spoken word duo:
you’re a force with responsibility so listen, think, then act you’re an icon of equality so remember the colors of the community you stand for you’re the face that the devil trusts but you’ve become its reflection hear us, please. unfortunately we can not wait for you we’ll be here when you return, but we cannot wait for you in the meantime, we’ll fight for ourselves… -kit yan at 2:10
]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229/feed 0 for teish cannon http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227#comments Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:59:33 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=743 duanna johnson. a few days later, another trans woman of color has been killed. this wednesday thursday is trangender day of remembrance, i hope you will remember our lost and speak out. even after death they stuff our bodies into boxes ironing out the creases of our complexities they use blades, fists violence institutions and blood-tinged spit to fold us into the faceless other the soulless even after death, they refuse to recognize our names, our genders, our loved ones. even after death. have you no respect? no i don’t expect anything from you i know better than that but if not for who we are if not for our communities if not for the mourning families, at least for the dead? at least for the dead? who, with your mocking your open hatred your silence, have taken part in killing? have you no damn respect?]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227/feed 6 an open letter http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 05:47:50 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=732 Wheelchair Dancer, Hey sister--- thanks for your blog post on the elections, racism, prop 8. I’ve been in such a funny place lately after all of this and your writing really helped me in naming why. Sylvia posted a tweet the other day about wanting to wrap Obama in bubble wrap, Teflon, a condom, Fort Knox--- anything--- to keep him safe until January 20th. That’s kind of how I feel about my emotions. And I hate to sound cliché here, but also my hope. My head knows what this election means and what this election does not mean but I still want scream Yes We Can!, rock my Obama shirt in classes full of Republicans, and, well, just bask in the symbolism of it. I want to believe in what everyone else believes in for more than one night, even if a lot of it is compartmentalizing what I know and not thinking about things folks like Moya and so many others are sayin’. So I close my door, download all the free mixtapes people are producing for Obama, and bullshit around happily. But then it changes, right? At least it did for me, couldn't even last a week. I read a message from VivirLatino about another mass ICE raid where over 100 people are rounded up in Florida and separated from their families. I hear white racist gay folks getting time on the tv and then blame Prop 8 on communities of color! I get an email from someone I really care about saying someone she knows was being beaten to death from what seems like a hate crime. With tears in my eyes I read of Duanna Johnson’s death and then see talk show radio hosts trying to leave comments on my blog saying they're advocates while simultaneously disrespecting who she was. All these things tear me right from that cloudy good place. These things come at me like a million lightening bolts, reminding me of all the work that needs to be done and more importantly, who will be the ones doing this work. It will be us. We will do it cause there isn’t anyone else but us, the people, la gente. So like our dear friend asks in her blog--- as organizers, as artists, as community-builders, as dreamers, how can we learn from his campaign? How can we get the folks on the ground, many who weren’t believers in power of people before, to keep dreaming and ready to pick up other tools? How do we stay focused? Clear-headed? How do we build this bigger than non-profits, projects, campaigning? And what about when the evil, the hate, the bondage is internal--- How do we combat these things when they come in the form of our communities, people we love? I mean I didn’t truly understand what racism and white privilege really meant until I got involved in social movements, you know? Is it possible to take these conversations happening post-Prop 8 and turn them into something that lasts? Will there be room to sew close our open wounds, our mistrust? And is it even worth it, trying to work it out with gays and lesbians who will always choose marriage, gentrification, assimilation and capital building as priorities, when so many fellow queers are homeless, forgotten, oppressed, closeted, beaten, denied their humanity? I’m really hoping you have some answers, that someone has answers. In the meantime, thanks for being who you are, for our gchats, for the love… In solidarity and w/ love, cripchick]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223/feed 4 for duanna johnson http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:28:58 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=721 a picture of duanna johnson sister, i am angry furious at your death upset with my own foolishness in celebrating him while you die in the streets with beatings, with violence left on your beautiful brown skin with the names, the silence, the mainstream media lies they refuse to let us ever forget that guns penetrating our backs, we are always standing at the cliff of our own mortality sister, i am in mourning lighting a candle, i read this poem into the glimmering light my poem is a prayer for you, for the others i will never have the opportunity of knowing, and for the friends who mourn your death today we will not forget. we will speak your name. you said no!, you would not let police brutality and violence against transgender women of color fade into an invisible cloud of silence you said no… and now you are gone. you are gone but we will not forget. the anger, the connection, the injustice just cuts too deep. instead we will carry your name on our tongue your bravery in our own ribcage your memory in our work we will wear red everyday remembering you and countless of others we will not forget, sister.]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222/feed 6 re: a letter around anger and bravery http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177#comments Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:10:13 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=309 zach: love, thank you for your letter to me. in these last few weeks, i have found that having these open conversations about our bodies and our experiences with authority and capitalist industrial complexes [systems of prisons, schools, non-profit organizations that are about making money] have been completely liberating in how i view myself and how i am able to interact with others. i love you and am so thankful for your words, your honesty about wrestling with everything, your power. i feel like talking about our bodies is what made intersectionality “real” for me and not some buzzword misused by folks on the left (who use this word without ever recognizing where it came from or the power behind it). a good example of this is with the history of our bodies being owned. i strongly disagree with disabled [white, straight] people who use the word “colonize” loosely to describe their experiences with the capitalist system of medicine and science. however, recognizing that disabled people share something in common with people of color, women, and with queer people is powerful, especially when it is around our collective history of our bodies being bad and needing to be controlled. after this basic foundation is made, being able to recognize that this pain and loss of authority over what is ours is amplified when living on the intersection of multiple identities is even more powerful. mixed in with my anger and my frustration is hope and excitement for the organizing and conversations that are happening around this. you and i and many of our sisters are relearning, rewriting, recreating everything that we have been taught is true. i agree with you about people who stifle this---they are the same ones who have historically been denying what is ours. i don’t remember where i read this (it’s just scribbled down in my notebook) but alice walker once said “no person is your friend (or kin) who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow and be perceived as fully blossomed as you were intended.” i’m not sure of the context behind her words but it says so much to me. ownership of our bodies, our lives, our thinking is always about power. you are right--- our anger is righteous and constructive as a tool against injustice. i’m not sure where we go from here but am so moved by work that radical women of color are doing and the brilliance and passion of our community. the summer of our lorde project, the cyber quilting, all the writing, recording, organizing… with this work and the ways that we were (and are!) impacted by earlier generations of women of color activists, can you imagine what the future of our community will look like? love to you, zach. in community, cripchick]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177/feed 0 recap on the weekend http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:28:58 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=721 a picture of duanna johnson sister, i am angry furious at your death upset with my own foolishness in celebrating him while you die in the streets with beatings, with violence left on your beautiful brown skin with the names, the silence, the mainstream media lies they refuse to let us ever forget that guns penetrating our backs, we are always standing at the cliff of our own mortality sister, i am in mourning lighting a candle, i read this poem into the glimmering light my poem is a prayer for you, for the others i will never have the opportunity of knowing, and for the friends who mourn your death today we will not forget. we will speak your name. you said no!, you would not let police brutality and violence against transgender women of color fade into an invisible cloud of silence you said no… and now you are gone. you are gone but we will not forget. the anger, the connection, the injustice just cuts too deep. instead we will carry your name on our tongue your bravery in our own ribcage your memory in our work we will wear red everyday remembering you and countless of others we will not forget, sister.]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222/feed 6 cripchick's blog » queer http://blog.cripchick.com another shapeshifter living among the digital masses Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:57:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 kit yan’s letter to HRC http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229#comments Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:16:40 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=759 HRC had been invited, we were stared at. then when we spoke up against the group simply focusing on marriage advocacy with so much work to be done, they thought we were stupid southerners who were against gay marriage because of ignorance or overexposure to too much homophobia. needless to say, i left the meeting early, never having been talked down to so much.  kit yan, from the good asian drivers spoken word duo:
you’re a force with responsibility so listen, think, then act you’re an icon of equality so remember the colors of the community you stand for you’re the face that the devil trusts but you’ve become its reflection hear us, please. unfortunately we can not wait for you we’ll be here when you return, but we cannot wait for you in the meantime, we’ll fight for ourselves… -kit yan at 2:10
]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229/feed 0 for teish cannon http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227#comments Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:59:33 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=743 duanna johnson. a few days later, another trans woman of color has been killed. this wednesday thursday is trangender day of remembrance, i hope you will remember our lost and speak out. even after death they stuff our bodies into boxes ironing out the creases of our complexities they use blades, fists violence institutions and blood-tinged spit to fold us into the faceless other the soulless even after death, they refuse to recognize our names, our genders, our loved ones. even after death. have you no respect? no i don’t expect anything from you i know better than that but if not for who we are if not for our communities if not for the mourning families, at least for the dead? at least for the dead? who, with your mocking your open hatred your silence, have taken part in killing? have you no damn respect?]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227/feed 6 an open letter http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 05:47:50 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=732 Wheelchair Dancer, Hey sister--- thanks for your blog post on the elections, racism, prop 8. I’ve been in such a funny place lately after all of this and your writing really helped me in naming why. Sylvia posted a tweet the other day about wanting to wrap Obama in bubble wrap, Teflon, a condom, Fort Knox--- anything--- to keep him safe until January 20th. That’s kind of how I feel about my emotions. And I hate to sound cliché here, but also my hope. My head knows what this election means and what this election does not mean but I still want scream Yes We Can!, rock my Obama shirt in classes full of Republicans, and, well, just bask in the symbolism of it. I want to believe in what everyone else believes in for more than one night, even if a lot of it is compartmentalizing what I know and not thinking about things folks like Moya and so many others are sayin’. So I close my door, download all the free mixtapes people are producing for Obama, and bullshit around happily. But then it changes, right? At least it did for me, couldn't even last a week. I read a message from VivirLatino about another mass ICE raid where over 100 people are rounded up in Florida and separated from their families. I hear white racist gay folks getting time on the tv and then blame Prop 8 on communities of color! I get an email from someone I really care about saying someone she knows was being beaten to death from what seems like a hate crime. With tears in my eyes I read of Duanna Johnson’s death and then see talk show radio hosts trying to leave comments on my blog saying they're advocates while simultaneously disrespecting who she was. All these things tear me right from that cloudy good place. These things come at me like a million lightening bolts, reminding me of all the work that needs to be done and more importantly, who will be the ones doing this work. It will be us. We will do it cause there isn’t anyone else but us, the people, la gente. So like our dear friend asks in her blog--- as organizers, as artists, as community-builders, as dreamers, how can we learn from his campaign? How can we get the folks on the ground, many who weren’t believers in power of people before, to keep dreaming and ready to pick up other tools? How do we stay focused? Clear-headed? How do we build this bigger than non-profits, projects, campaigning? And what about when the evil, the hate, the bondage is internal--- How do we combat these things when they come in the form of our communities, people we love? I mean I didn’t truly understand what racism and white privilege really meant until I got involved in social movements, you know? Is it possible to take these conversations happening post-Prop 8 and turn them into something that lasts? Will there be room to sew close our open wounds, our mistrust? And is it even worth it, trying to work it out with gays and lesbians who will always choose marriage, gentrification, assimilation and capital building as priorities, when so many fellow queers are homeless, forgotten, oppressed, closeted, beaten, denied their humanity? I’m really hoping you have some answers, that someone has answers. In the meantime, thanks for being who you are, for our gchats, for the love… In solidarity and w/ love, cripchick]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223/feed 4 for duanna johnson http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:28:58 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=721 a picture of duanna johnson sister, i am angry furious at your death upset with my own foolishness in celebrating him while you die in the streets with beatings, with violence left on your beautiful brown skin with the names, the silence, the mainstream media lies they refuse to let us ever forget that guns penetrating our backs, we are always standing at the cliff of our own mortality sister, i am in mourning lighting a candle, i read this poem into the glimmering light my poem is a prayer for you, for the others i will never have the opportunity of knowing, and for the friends who mourn your death today we will not forget. we will speak your name. you said no!, you would not let police brutality and violence against transgender women of color fade into an invisible cloud of silence you said no… and now you are gone. you are gone but we will not forget. the anger, the connection, the injustice just cuts too deep. instead we will carry your name on our tongue your bravery in our own ribcage your memory in our work we will wear red everyday remembering you and countless of others we will not forget, sister.]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222/feed 6 re: a letter around anger and bravery http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177#comments Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:10:13 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=309 zach: love, thank you for your letter to me. in these last few weeks, i have found that having these open conversations about our bodies and our experiences with authority and capitalist industrial complexes [systems of prisons, schools, non-profit organizations that are about making money] have been completely liberating in how i view myself and how i am able to interact with others. i love you and am so thankful for your words, your honesty about wrestling with everything, your power. i feel like talking about our bodies is what made intersectionality “real” for me and not some buzzword misused by folks on the left (who use this word without ever recognizing where it came from or the power behind it). a good example of this is with the history of our bodies being owned. i strongly disagree with disabled [white, straight] people who use the word “colonize” loosely to describe their experiences with the capitalist system of medicine and science. however, recognizing that disabled people share something in common with people of color, women, and with queer people is powerful, especially when it is around our collective history of our bodies being bad and needing to be controlled. after this basic foundation is made, being able to recognize that this pain and loss of authority over what is ours is amplified when living on the intersection of multiple identities is even more powerful. mixed in with my anger and my frustration is hope and excitement for the organizing and conversations that are happening around this. you and i and many of our sisters are relearning, rewriting, recreating everything that we have been taught is true. i agree with you about people who stifle this---they are the same ones who have historically been denying what is ours. i don’t remember where i read this (it’s just scribbled down in my notebook) but alice walker once said “no person is your friend (or kin) who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow and be perceived as fully blossomed as you were intended.” i’m not sure of the context behind her words but it says so much to me. ownership of our bodies, our lives, our thinking is always about power. you are right--- our anger is righteous and constructive as a tool against injustice. i’m not sure where we go from here but am so moved by work that radical women of color are doing and the brilliance and passion of our community. the summer of our lorde project, the cyber quilting, all the writing, recording, organizing… with this work and the ways that we were (and are!) impacted by earlier generations of women of color activists, can you imagine what the future of our community will look like? love to you, zach. in community, cripchick]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177/feed 0 recap on the weekend http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177#comments Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:10:13 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=309 zach: love, thank you for your letter to me. in these last few weeks, i have found that having these open conversations about our bodies and our experiences with authority and capitalist industrial complexes [systems of prisons, schools, non-profit organizations that are about making money] have been completely liberating in how i view myself and how i am able to interact with others. i love you and am so thankful for your words, your honesty about wrestling with everything, your power. i feel like talking about our bodies is what made intersectionality “real” for me and not some buzzword misused by folks on the left (who use this word without ever recognizing where it came from or the power behind it). a good example of this is with the history of our bodies being owned. i strongly disagree with disabled [white, straight] people who use the word “colonize” loosely to describe their experiences with the capitalist system of medicine and science. however, recognizing that disabled people share something in common with people of color, women, and with queer people is powerful, especially when it is around our collective history of our bodies being bad and needing to be controlled. after this basic foundation is made, being able to recognize that this pain and loss of authority over what is ours is amplified when living on the intersection of multiple identities is even more powerful. mixed in with my anger and my frustration is hope and excitement for the organizing and conversations that are happening around this. you and i and many of our sisters are relearning, rewriting, recreating everything that we have been taught is true. i agree with you about people who stifle this---they are the same ones who have historically been denying what is ours. i don’t remember where i read this (it’s just scribbled down in my notebook) but alice walker once said “no person is your friend (or kin) who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow and be perceived as fully blossomed as you were intended.” i’m not sure of the context behind her words but it says so much to me. ownership of our bodies, our lives, our thinking is always about power. you are right--- our anger is righteous and constructive as a tool against injustice. i’m not sure where we go from here but am so moved by work that radical women of color are doing and the brilliance and passion of our community. the summer of our lorde project, the cyber quilting, all the writing, recording, organizing… with this work and the ways that we were (and are!) impacted by earlier generations of women of color activists, can you imagine what the future of our community will look like? love to you, zach. in community, cripchick]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177/feed 0 cripchick's blog » queer http://blog.cripchick.com another shapeshifter living among the digital masses Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:57:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 kit yan’s letter to HRC http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229#comments Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:16:40 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=759 HRC had been invited, we were stared at. then when we spoke up against the group simply focusing on marriage advocacy with so much work to be done, they thought we were stupid southerners who were against gay marriage because of ignorance or overexposure to too much homophobia. needless to say, i left the meeting early, never having been talked down to so much.  kit yan, from the good asian drivers spoken word duo:
you’re a force with responsibility so listen, think, then act you’re an icon of equality so remember the colors of the community you stand for you’re the face that the devil trusts but you’ve become its reflection hear us, please. unfortunately we can not wait for you we’ll be here when you return, but we cannot wait for you in the meantime, we’ll fight for ourselves… -kit yan at 2:10
]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/229/feed 0 for teish cannon http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227#comments Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:59:33 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=743 duanna johnson. a few days later, another trans woman of color has been killed. this wednesday thursday is trangender day of remembrance, i hope you will remember our lost and speak out. even after death they stuff our bodies into boxes ironing out the creases of our complexities they use blades, fists violence institutions and blood-tinged spit to fold us into the faceless other the soulless even after death, they refuse to recognize our names, our genders, our loved ones. even after death. have you no respect? no i don’t expect anything from you i know better than that but if not for who we are if not for our communities if not for the mourning families, at least for the dead? at least for the dead? who, with your mocking your open hatred your silence, have taken part in killing? have you no damn respect?]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/227/feed 6 an open letter http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 05:47:50 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=732 Wheelchair Dancer, Hey sister--- thanks for your blog post on the elections, racism, prop 8. I’ve been in such a funny place lately after all of this and your writing really helped me in naming why. Sylvia posted a tweet the other day about wanting to wrap Obama in bubble wrap, Teflon, a condom, Fort Knox--- anything--- to keep him safe until January 20th. That’s kind of how I feel about my emotions. And I hate to sound cliché here, but also my hope. My head knows what this election means and what this election does not mean but I still want scream Yes We Can!, rock my Obama shirt in classes full of Republicans, and, well, just bask in the symbolism of it. I want to believe in what everyone else believes in for more than one night, even if a lot of it is compartmentalizing what I know and not thinking about things folks like Moya and so many others are sayin’. So I close my door, download all the free mixtapes people are producing for Obama, and bullshit around happily. But then it changes, right? At least it did for me, couldn't even last a week. I read a message from VivirLatino about another mass ICE raid where over 100 people are rounded up in Florida and separated from their families. I hear white racist gay folks getting time on the tv and then blame Prop 8 on communities of color! I get an email from someone I really care about saying someone she knows was being beaten to death from what seems like a hate crime. With tears in my eyes I read of Duanna Johnson’s death and then see talk show radio hosts trying to leave comments on my blog saying they're advocates while simultaneously disrespecting who she was. All these things tear me right from that cloudy good place. These things come at me like a million lightening bolts, reminding me of all the work that needs to be done and more importantly, who will be the ones doing this work. It will be us. We will do it cause there isn’t anyone else but us, the people, la gente. So like our dear friend asks in her blog--- as organizers, as artists, as community-builders, as dreamers, how can we learn from his campaign? How can we get the folks on the ground, many who weren’t believers in power of people before, to keep dreaming and ready to pick up other tools? How do we stay focused? Clear-headed? How do we build this bigger than non-profits, projects, campaigning? And what about when the evil, the hate, the bondage is internal--- How do we combat these things when they come in the form of our communities, people we love? I mean I didn’t truly understand what racism and white privilege really meant until I got involved in social movements, you know? Is it possible to take these conversations happening post-Prop 8 and turn them into something that lasts? Will there be room to sew close our open wounds, our mistrust? And is it even worth it, trying to work it out with gays and lesbians who will always choose marriage, gentrification, assimilation and capital building as priorities, when so many fellow queers are homeless, forgotten, oppressed, closeted, beaten, denied their humanity? I’m really hoping you have some answers, that someone has answers. In the meantime, thanks for being who you are, for our gchats, for the love… In solidarity and w/ love, cripchick]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/223/feed 4 for duanna johnson http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:28:58 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=721 a picture of duanna johnson sister, i am angry furious at your death upset with my own foolishness in celebrating him while you die in the streets with beatings, with violence left on your beautiful brown skin with the names, the silence, the mainstream media lies they refuse to let us ever forget that guns penetrating our backs, we are always standing at the cliff of our own mortality sister, i am in mourning lighting a candle, i read this poem into the glimmering light my poem is a prayer for you, for the others i will never have the opportunity of knowing, and for the friends who mourn your death today we will not forget. we will speak your name. you said no!, you would not let police brutality and violence against transgender women of color fade into an invisible cloud of silence you said no… and now you are gone. you are gone but we will not forget. the anger, the connection, the injustice just cuts too deep. instead we will carry your name on our tongue your bravery in our own ribcage your memory in our work we will wear red everyday remembering you and countless of others we will not forget, sister.]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/222/feed 6 re: a letter around anger and bravery http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177#comments Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:10:13 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=309 zach: love, thank you for your letter to me. in these last few weeks, i have found that having these open conversations about our bodies and our experiences with authority and capitalist industrial complexes [systems of prisons, schools, non-profit organizations that are about making money] have been completely liberating in how i view myself and how i am able to interact with others. i love you and am so thankful for your words, your honesty about wrestling with everything, your power. i feel like talking about our bodies is what made intersectionality “real” for me and not some buzzword misused by folks on the left (who use this word without ever recognizing where it came from or the power behind it). a good example of this is with the history of our bodies being owned. i strongly disagree with disabled [white, straight] people who use the word “colonize” loosely to describe their experiences with the capitalist system of medicine and science. however, recognizing that disabled people share something in common with people of color, women, and with queer people is powerful, especially when it is around our collective history of our bodies being bad and needing to be controlled. after this basic foundation is made, being able to recognize that this pain and loss of authority over what is ours is amplified when living on the intersection of multiple identities is even more powerful. mixed in with my anger and my frustration is hope and excitement for the organizing and conversations that are happening around this. you and i and many of our sisters are relearning, rewriting, recreating everything that we have been taught is true. i agree with you about people who stifle this---they are the same ones who have historically been denying what is ours. i don’t remember where i read this (it’s just scribbled down in my notebook) but alice walker once said “no person is your friend (or kin) who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow and be perceived as fully blossomed as you were intended.” i’m not sure of the context behind her words but it says so much to me. ownership of our bodies, our lives, our thinking is always about power. you are right--- our anger is righteous and constructive as a tool against injustice. i’m not sure where we go from here but am so moved by work that radical women of color are doing and the brilliance and passion of our community. the summer of our lorde project, the cyber quilting, all the writing, recording, organizing… with this work and the ways that we were (and are!) impacted by earlier generations of women of color activists, can you imagine what the future of our community will look like? love to you, zach. in community, cripchick]]> http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/177/feed 0 recap on the weekend http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/144 http://blog.cripchick.com/archives/144#comments Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:55:07 +0000 cripchick http://misscripchick.wordpress.com/?p=233 I feel hopeless when I’m supposed to be speaking on sexual consciousness but am feeling disconnected from my own body because I don’t look white, skinny, or able-bodied like the masses of queer people there

I feel like I’m misleading people and betraying my own when I talk about disability in a cross-disability intersectional framework and the only visual image people are getting is that disability=mobility because the only disabled people presenting (including myself) are wheelchair users

I feel home when I fly into North Carolina and am surrounded by bodies of all sizes, shapes and colors--- my, how one can miss this love/hate relationship with the South is surprising

Like this weekend, I sometimes feel invisible

Like this weekend, I sometimes feel like I talk about disability too much, but this is hard to balance when I feel like I am brought somewhere to only talk about disability

Like this weekend, I am unsure what the future holds or what community actually looks like for me

Here's to friends that remind me why I am in this, the spirit of community, and those disabled people and allies who through all this, made the sessions and trip worthwhile.

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