DREAMer Julio Salgado’s response to American Apparel’s awkward use of a “California Farmer” in its ads.
Check your privilege and follow him here.
SO FUCKING FRUSTRATED
I am about a week away from menstruation and I have had more rage and anger this week than I have in a long time. I have had fights with friends, my lover and now I am sitting in my room, writing in my journal all the feedback these people who care about me have given concerning how I talk to them and trying to figure out how I can be a better person. Both a good friend and my lover told me that I talk to them like I’m their mom. What a piece of feedback. Ahhh.
I would venture to say that I am generally a pretty bangin’ communicator. I would say my friends and lover would say the same about me. I have training and practice in NVC, accountability and taking responsibility for myself. I am usually a reflective listener, I practice patience and compassion, but this week my stick is short. I am moved to tears quicker than I normally would be, I am taking comments personally, I am nit-picking my partner, snapping, being passive aggressive and I can’t seem to stop.
I’m not sure if it’s that I need more space, less space, to be held and kissed and loved on, or none of the above. Is it that I need to go bike it out alone? Do some serious working out to release whatever is within me? Or do I just need a hug from a good friend, a hug and a kiss from my lover, a letter from an old friend, for my kitten to crawl in my lap and purr til I stop crying.
I know other people have experiences where they feel like this, too. What do they do in moments like this? I’m thinking the first step for me is going to Ward’s and getting some Vitex Agnus Castus to help with my hormones and emotions. Then maybe biking out to Payne’s Prairie alone. Trying to avoid drinking alcohol because it seems to aggravate it more.
Any advice?
I try so hard not to generalize men, you know? I try SO hard. But then the other night I went out with my friends and the car was full and I looked around and realized that every single one of the women in that car had been raped or sexually assaulted and it’s like, how can you not hate them? It’s not fair. But it’s not fair that they do this to us and then act like it isn’t a problem.
My friend Marissa, talking at the beach yesterday (paraphrased). (via bigfatfeminist)
Black woman tears up Oakland City Council
(in response to May Day repression of Occupy Oakland and a newly proposed law that would make it illegal for revolutionaries to carry shields and barricades during marches)
“You’re asking why we need our shields for self defense? After a grenade went off behind my head at 12 in the afternoon and gave me something [PTSD] that soldiers coming back from Iraq have? …The policy don’t need to be changed. We’ve got reform crammed so far up our ass it’s clouding our judgement. The police need to be held accountable… and I’m not a nihilist, but I wish I could BURN EVERY FUCKING THING DOWN, except for the houses, so that people could begin to understand that we don’t need this system to survive… There are people being arrested for trying to start farms…!
DON’T SILENCE ME, don’t you fucking DARE. I am SO TIRED… and if you cut off this mic, I’ll still have a mouth… what you’re dealing with is more than rage…
As a black woman, I’m telling you… you’re not serving the people! You’re only serving capitalism. And if you take our shields, the only thing we have left is our second amendment rights— SO IF WE SHOOT BACK…!
YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO ARREST ME!”
The “inherent” non attraction to PoC is always, always, always a product of embedded racism. I’ve seen people who say, “I’m just not attracted to ___” and then when they start opening their eyes and realizing, “Holy shit, we do live in a white supremacist world that has completely corrupted by views of darker skinned human beings.” They start to see that they actually are attracted to PoC. You can hold onto being the one exception, but you’d be wrong. Educate yourself and open your fucking mind.
We let Willow cut her hair. When you have a little girl, it’s like how can you teach her that you’re in control of her body? If I teach her that I’m in charge of whether or not she can touch her hair, she’s going to replace me with some other man when she goes out in the world. She can’t cut my hair but that’s her hair. She has got to have command of her body. So when she goes out into the world, she’s going out with a command that it is hers. She is used to making those decisions herself. We try to keep giving them those decisions until they can hold the full weight of their lives.
(On why he let Willow cut all of her hair off)
Read more: Will Smith On Allowing Willow To Cut Her Hair: ‘She Has Got To Have Command Of Her Body’ | Necole Bitchie.com (via liquidiousfleshbag)
See also: No Forced Kisses for Your Kids
(via librariesandlemonade)
Must remember this always.
(via quelola)
this is so beautiful
(Source: larepublicadedet)
