Audacia Ray's Blog, page 18

How I feel when Red Umbrella Project gets inquiries from...

How I feel when Red Umbrella Project gets inquiries from professors about Prose & Lore.

"Political projects of transformation necessarily involve a fundamental reconstitution of ourselves..."

“Political projects of transformation necessarily involve a fundamental reconstitution of ourselves as well. However, for this process to work, individual transformation must occur concurrently with social and political transformation. That is, the undoing of privilege occurs not by individuals confessing their privileges or trying to think themselves into a new subject position, but through the creation of collective structures that dismantle the systems that enable these privileges. The activist genealogies that produced this response to racism and settler colonialism were not initially focused on racism as a problem of individual prejudice. Rather, the purpose was for individuals to recognize how they were shaped by structural forms of oppression. However, the response to structural racism became an individual one – individual confession at the expense of collective action. Thus the question becomes, how would one collectivize individual transformation?”

- The Problem with Privilege by Andrea Smith (via hfml)

thesoundofonebrainthinking:likeafieldmouse:Iori Tomita - New...

thesoundofonebrainthinking:

likeafieldmouse:

Iori Tomita - New World Transparent Specimens (2005-)

Fisherman-turned-artist in Yokohama City, Japan, Tomita creates art using the skeletons of various dead marine specimens, which he preserves and then colors with bright shades of dye.

The process strips down each creature to the toughest parts of its remains and Tomita has dyed more than 5,000 dead creatures since 2005, which is amazing, considering each piece takes at least a few weeks to complete, and some up to a year.

"Although these are just transparent specimens, they’re filled with the drama of organisms which I have so much love for. I want people to enjoy the beauty of life, treat life with respect and understand that there is drama happening that is not centered on themselves when they look at the specimens. These specimens which you see here are actually animals that have died for some some reason or whose carcasses were discarded from pet shops or fishermen. I use those animals which passed away and repurpose them."

Gross and gorgeous!!

Ahhh, things in jars! bright colors! loooove

redupnyc:Save The Date!On November 14, 2013, RedUP will...

redupnyc:

Save The Date!

On November 14, 2013, RedUP will celebrate three amazing wonderful years producing the Red Umbrella Diaries with a grand event: the First Red Umbrella Diaries Gala!

This lively affair will host a variety of performers (all storytellers from previous Diares!) and the debut performance of an original piece of theatre from our trans*women’s improv theatre troop!

— tickets available October 1st —

The First Red Umbrella Diaries Gala
November 14, 2013
Joe’s Pub
425 Lafayette Street
NYC

In 1894 a lady set out to bike around the world and she...

In 1894 a lady set out to bike around the world and she did.

(via Annie Londonderry Takes on the World “Awheel” | BikeNYC)

I have mixed feelings about celebrating nineteenth century cis white ladies doing things (that said my namesake was one of those) but I am pretty excited about doing this bike ride with WE Bike. I hope my search for an awesome bike club ends tomorrow.

"I’ve been saying this for years, that gender identity and sexual orientation are different but so..."

“"I’ve been saying this for years, that gender identity and sexual orientation are different but so many people don’t know. I think that the reason for that is that we are in the LGBT community and we get lumped with gay and lesbian folks and bisexual folks, but [for us] it’s not about sexual orientation, but gender identity. I also think that a lot of the issues that folks seem to have with gays and lesbians, particularly when kids are bullied, are about gender. It’s about someone assigned male at birth not acting the way a boy should act. So much of it comes down to gender and this fear of femininity in our culture. Julia Serano talks about this so brilliantly, even in the history of feminist theory, femininity has been presented as something that’s artificial and masculinity is something that’s authentic, and even in a lot of feminist discourse until recently, femininity was seen as something that was artificial and fake. So there is this fear of feminine that we see in a lot of different aspects of culture that is punished. That’s a part of patriarchy. In a lot of ways we can’t talk about homophobia and transphobia, without talking about patriarchy."”

- Laverne Cox (via yomo7)

sexartandpolitics:bricksandmortarandchewinggum:Uh. Why does...

sexartandpolitics:

bricksandmortarandchewinggum:

Uh. Why does Dan Savage think Stoli has any control over Russian politics?

Also does Dan Savage know that the main Russian exports (58% of all exports) are oil and natural gas? Followed by nickel, palladium and iron?

Inside Dan Savages brain: Russia….communism? No. That’s the 80s…I have it! VODKA. WODKAH. Their entire government and economy runs on VODKA. Duh! I’m a genius. Make me a catchy logo.

My eyes just damn near rolled out of my head.

Photo

explore-blog:Young Mark Twain’s little-known and lovely Advice...

explore-blog:

Young Mark Twain’s little-known and lovely Advice to Little Girls – an irreverent gem mischievously encouraging girls to think independently rather than blindly obey rules and social mores, newly illustrated by the great Vladimir Radunsky – is now back.

Peek inside here.

Prose & Lore, Issue 1 (fka Pros(e)) and Issue 2, Memoir...

Prose & Lore, Issue 1 (fka Pros(e)) and Issue 2, Memoir Stories About Sex Work. Damn I am proud of this work. Subscribe at http://sexworkermemoir.org