Context of the Need for a Liberated Culture We now live in a world in which corporations are finding new ways to make money off of our private lives. This is clear through apps like task rabbit, which show that some workers are so busy working that they have to outsource their errands to workers … Continue reading Preliminary Elements of a Liberated Culture
Capitalism
The Case For Inter-Personal Reparations
**Unlike most essays on the well examined life, this essay is in response to a series of specific conversations in which specific questions arose. This essay is written for Standing Up For Racial Justice’s DC chapter as part of our own going conversations about rethinking the white-allyship role and journey. Specifically, this is part … Continue reading The Case For Inter-Personal Reparations
What Black Queer Feminism Has Taught Me: Intersectionality, Nurturance Culture and Transformative Relationships
To get free we need more power, not less. We need more leaders not enfeebled followers. This idea that white people must give up their power is based on a white middle class and masculine limiting belief in scarcity. It presumes that either power is inherently bad [or at least bad in white people’s hands] or that it is a zero sum game. Intersectional transformative relationships teach us that power works in abundance. Just as standing in solidarity with my Black Trans siblings requires me to stand in my own transformative non-binary masculine power, not abdicate it, so too must non-Black people stand in their own transformative power. Yet in order for them to do it, they must first discover it and re-imagine their identities is a way that accepts my existence and my inherent humanity.
Femminist Reflections on My Spritual Sabbatical pt 3
We, beautifully flawed humans that can neither tolerate a world order that, in thinking we are worthy of its oppression, is beneath us nor wait idly by as it consumes itself, are headed towards the lands filled with the glorious black light of the power contained in the ocean of human imagination. We will not merely content ourselves to observe the effects of its absence.
Preliminary Materials on Collective Liberation and the New Material Reality
Some nights, after I force myself disconnect and I try to sleep, I am struck with the after images of all the disparate thoughts and emotions and data points of the day. Images of Black Lives Matter protestors, refugees from Syria, bombs in Beirut, body bags in Paris and the occasional loving messages and words of support. As a Black Lives matter organizer and artist, I am constantly concerned with state of “the movement.” At the same time, I see and empathize with my Muslim comrades who feel a similar, but perhaps even more omnipresent and ill defined, uneasiness. Flashes of protests, mass arrests, unlawful detainments and police states constantly mix with shared stories, laughter and organizing pot luck’s in my mind’s eye.
The 5 Pillars of White Supremacy in DC
At the end of the day, policy solutions cannot bring Black Liberation, nor can anti-oppression trainings. Both tactics can merely give us space to envision and articulate alternatives. Ultimately, we must create new co-operative systems and new models of social interactions that respect the inherent dignity of Black people. We must limit the power of the state to direct our lives, which means that Black communities and communities in solidarity with Black liberation must take responsibility for solving our own problems. We cannot ultimately rely on the police to make us safe or social workers and psychologist to make us whole. We must take care of our neighbors and empower our communities. We must teach each other and learn from each other new models of being our best, most gorgeous, most lovingly empathetic selves.
Translating Gov. Nixon’s “State of Emergency”
I know that some of you are confused by the comments on social media about a “State of Emergency” being declared in the State of Missouri. Many of you expressed disarray and confusion as to why there was a state of emergency being declared and so I thought I would spend some time to … Continue reading Translating Gov. Nixon’s “State of Emergency”
Life Before The Revolution
Booing Up When All Your Friends Are Lesbians...& You're Not Here it is...the moment [a few of] you have been waiting for. The debut of my play writing prowess...a comedy of queer proportions...the story my dating life as read by my friends...the hilarity that might could be the DC Queer DIY Punk … Continue reading Life Before The Revolution
Their Culture Is Capital
As my art and writing has expanded in recent months I've gotten really into recording my poetry and setting it music I created on acid pro. This is my first attempt at it with original words and original music. Though, the chorus is written by Pete Singer from his song "Little Boxes" as song in … Continue reading Their Culture Is Capital
Rich Is The New White: Reflections on Capitalist Class Culture and D.C Housing
So, a lot of things have been going on in the past few weeks. I've sort of jumped straight into housing advocacy here in D.C. It all started when my sister introduced me to the Housing For All Campaign here in D.C. I joined a Learning Circle on gentrification that they ran and meet some … Continue reading Rich Is The New White: Reflections on Capitalist Class Culture and D.C Housing
The Well Examined Life 