On 'Formation'

My Dear White People,

It is our job to love and support and be happy for Beyoncé and all of our Black sisters and brothers and other gendered folks who get pride and joy from this amazing time. This is not our moment, and not our place to "get in formation". We have plenty of movements and anthems and authentic stories represented in this world... Friends don't let friends make everything about white people. - either by saying black power is hate. it's not. or by making memes about white women quoting the song. please don't. DO - Cheer!!! Spread Joy, be happy, and keep in mind that this time is for stepping back. Imagine that it's how you feel when it's someone else's birthday that you love and adore to pieces smile emoticon

Love,
Your white sister. pass it on.

On my relationship to feminism

When asked to describe my relationship to Feminism in 1600 characters or less:

      "Feminism means social justice; it means advocating for all marginalized groups.  I believe that white feminists have the capacity to build greater awareness and increase the capacity for feminism to not just include other genders and women of color, but to transform feminism to expect that people bring their whole selves to feminism.  Knowing oneself, knowing history and knowing the nuances of privilege and oppression are the tools needed for a strong and empathetic movement.  Bell Hooks, Patricia Hill Collins, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, Gloria Anzaldúa, Dolores Huerta, and so many more have helped us to make meaning and momentum from the simple truth that, our race, our class, our gender, our sexual orientation cannot be separated. 

      As a white woman, a queer woman, a Jewish woman raised by Holocaust survivors, I have always known that to survive, we survive together.  We fight for one another and support one another.  Although I may not agree with every woman’s behavior, Feminism to me, means never calling another woman a “bitch”.  

On truth in ink

I stared at this page for about 20 minutes, then wrote and deleted for another 20, but that’s nothing compared to the years of thinking about thinking about writing. Every few minutes I come up with a new topic or experience to write about. Sometimes, if the mood and my energy level strike right, a stream of consciousness poem gets vomited out into a small idea notebook never to be seen by the human eye. In fact, sick as it may be, sometimes I think about when I die how people may read these cryptic pages, and I get too embarrassed to speak the whole truth in ink. I hide behind metaphor and deflect experience and feeling toward thought.

This blog is to get over my fear of the written word. The immortal carving. The commitment out loud. As ink bleeds into paper, I vow to, at least for now, just speak. No perfection, minimal editing, but breath life out with words.. and even some long phrases that resemble sentences. I will speak more truth and harbor less fear.