Make Smith Possible for Transwomen
Hey, everyone: I’m Calliope, a rising senior-gal in a Connecticut high school who is (just now!) discovering Tumblr for the first time. And I have a rather serious personal problem to share with you all that does not involve GIFs, cats, or BBC shows. My problem is with
my dream college
that superspecial place of ironwilled and astonishing women I want to be a part ofSmith College and its policies (rather: problematic UNpolicies) on accepting transwomen into its ranks.
fuck this. reblog the shit out of this and call/email:
Deb Shaver, Dean of Admissions at (413) 584-2523, admission@smith.edu, dshaver@smith.edu
Pamela Nolan, Director Institutional Diversity & Equity at (413) 584-2141, pnolan@smith.edu
No Language; or, Resisting the Trans Narrative Again and Again
What are the terms that describe me as a transman of color who has not had top or bottom surgery or taken testosterone? I find pre-op and pre-T to be offensive because it assumes that is the path that everyone will take. It is telling that there are no terms that define my existence… yet. I am going to ruminate on this for a minute and let you all know what I come up with.
I am thinking about this specifically because of the piece, “Interrogating the Protofeminism Espoused by Queer Men of Color”, which challenges queer men of color to respect and support the (academic/creative) work of women of color rather than trying to supplant it.
When I was a woman of color, works like This Bride Called My Back and Borderlands/La Frontera were the lynchpin for my emerging consciousness as a queer woman of color.
Now, as a transman of color who is seen as a woman by everyone except those who personally know how I identify, I walk a line between being the woman of color I used to be and the new identity/same body I am.
I will come back to these thoughts again and probably formulate some answers, but wanted to document the wonderings that are taking place…
Sir Lady Java: Why she kicks ass
- She was a trans civil rights warrior and popular illusionist, whose act consisted of singing, impersonations, and exotic dancing. As she said in the article about her performing for her idol, the late Lena Horne, “Lena is one of the three ladies I pattern my act after. I try to look like Lena, walk like Mae West and dress like Josephine Baker.”
- She was known as the ‘Prettiest Man on Earth’ for her natural 38-24-38 curves.
- Los Angeles had an anti-crossdressing regulation called Rule Number 9, which made it illegal for performers to ‘impersonate by means of costume or dress a member of the opposite sex’ unless they had a special permit issued by the LA Board of Police Commissioners. The LAPD decided to target the bars where illusionists worked, namely Sir Lady Java who had been working in the Los Angeles area for two years, and they told the principal owner of the club that if Lady Java appeared on the Redd Foxx club stage they would lose their license. Her act was dropped, and then she fought back. Rule Number 9 messed with Lady Java’s civil rights and her ability to get paid, so she teamed up with the ACLU (already immersed in civil rights legal work) and fought Rule Number 9. (The Rule was eventually removed, through her work, and the work of others. People owe a lot to her incessant fight.)
- She kept up the pressure by initiating a highly publicized October 21 rally which featured 25 people picketing outside the Redd Foxx Club, which got mentioned in the LA Advocate and the November 16, 1967 issue of JET magazine.
![Tie tutorial. Photo by Bo.
[Three queer people of color put on ties.]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/741220dc61fed7c048ab08f8e5383b7e/tumblr_mfu8d31Js91qccxv3o1_500.jpg)
Tie tutorial. Photo by Bo.
[Three queer people of color put on ties.]
Jordan was last seen yesterday (12/12/12) around 4PM in Downtown Oakland. We need help with shifts to look for her. Other ways to help are to spread this poster online and making copies/posting them around Oakland and Berkeley. Call us at the numbers above to coordinate. Thank you.
haaaay sistahmamaqueen! don’t make me blush!
To Lie Down with Dogs: A Queer Weekly Novela
“Before Alastair even met Alejandro, he disliked him.
Em…had dragged him, kicking and screaming, to Alejandro Golondrina’s reading, where he would be presenting his new collection of poems, “Flog My Ass But Not My Spirit: A Queer Chicano BDSM Exorcism.” Alastair hated poetry. He thought the title of the chapbook sounded ridiculous.”
Read the rest here!
“TransPanthers”.
If I see ANY non-Black trans people even THINKING this is a good or okay idea in ANY way, shape or form.
I swear.
To.
God.
SWEAR TO GOD.
…………. i just
Fellow trans people, you are fucking up. Please stop. Stop this shit now.
I got into a fight with the people who run the FB group more than a year ago. I asked them why they thought it was okay to have non-black people be a part of this group. They basically told me to shut because black panthers have said it is okay for them to have this group and then told me to read their manifesto or whatever. Fuck them.
Six Pillars of Love and Relationships
Formulated a few years ago in response to an illuminating conversation.
1. Love is the desire to build a world with someone in which you are both safe, strong, and growing to your fullest potential. Love is wishing and helping to facilitate for someone freedom, liberation and only those things that move them along a path towards greater self-realization and wholeness and love of themselves.
2. Love begets love begets love and is an end in itself.
3. You never know what can happen from one moment to the next. You can only know what you feel now, which is a reason to feel great joy and liberation, rather than fear and a sense of insecurity.
4. Love is infinite and wild and trying to limit how much, in what way, or to whom someone gives love is a tricky business, potentially stifling and, I suspect, essentially in opposition to #1, especially if you love them.
5. Choosing to love and believe in these ways is extremely brave and, for some reason, feels dangerous to most people. Therefore it has revolutionary potential.
6. Love, in its many forms, can build community and family in a way that is radical, transformative and ultimately healing for us as a people.
<3
