Audacia Ray's Blog, page 23
April 24, 2013
redupnyc:
Yesterday we went to Albany to lobby legislators to...
Yesterday we went to Albany to lobby legislators to pass the no condoms as evidence bill in New York state! Here are a few pictures of advocates in Albany - 100 of us went, and we had meetings with more than 60 legislators. Team RedUP (at least, those of us able to be in Albany) is the last pic!
Red Umbrella Project is proud to be working in coalition with the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center, Streetwise and Safe, Make the Road New York, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Housing Works, the New York Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood New York City, Human Rights Watch, and many more who made this work possible.
We’re strategizing about the next steps and will keep you posted!
April 17, 2013
redupnyc:
The San Francisco District Attorney’s office has...
The San Francisco District Attorney’s office has announced that “we will no longer introduce physical evidence of condoms in our criminal prostitution cases.”
April 12, 2013
thespiritwas:
So excited about…
Life Chances: HIV...
So excited about…
Life Chances: HIV Criminalization and Trans Politics
IN CONVERSATION WITH CHE GOSSETT, DEAN SPADE, AND SEAN STRUBApril 24th, 7PM, FREE! Don’t sleep on this one y’all!
more info here
April 9, 2013
labyrinth-of-butts:
creepy but adorable cakes by Scott...
creepy but adorable cakes by Scott Hove
Just like vagina dentata… but with more frosting
April 6, 2013
Mailing postcards asking 85 NY state assembly members to pass...
Mailing postcards asking 85 NY state assembly members to pass #nycondom legislation that would ban use of condoms as evidence of prostitution by police and prosecutors. More info and form to send your own card : http://redumbrellaproject.org/nycondom
April 4, 2013
redupnyc:
Missed last month’s Red Umbrella Diaries? Don’t...
Missed last month’s Red Umbrella Diaries? Don’t worry… you’re in luck. It’s happening again - tonight!
Red Umbrella Diaries: Lessons Learned
7pm - 10pm *FREE*FREE*FREE*
Happy Ending Lounge
302 Broome Street
(photo credit J.M. Draven)
March 31, 2013
Profesh
So this week is my first week working full time for Red Umbrella Project, the org I founded that is an evolution of the almost ten years of sex worker rights activism I’ve been doing. I have some feels about this. I am equal parts excited and terrified, but sometimes the terror takes over. I want to be a good leader and fair boss and I don’t have a lot of good role models for that, but I am getting some support around these things. Still, the voice of my boss at my Feminism, Inc job two years ago telling me “I don’t think you have leadership potential” rattles around in my brain, even though I know she’s wrong and Feminism, Inc is oppressive bullshit.
At RedUP we have some bigdeal things happening this week and I am proud to be doing this work and motivated to grow it bigger and better and hope to have the strength and humbleness to always listen and shift the strategy when things aren’t working right. And I know, too, that I will fail at those things sometimes and that’s ok too. Though I will also beat myself up over my failures.
On deck for this week!!
Talking to folks at Brooklyn Law School about the issue of condoms as evidence on Monday afternoon
First class of the Spring Memoir Writing workshop! Taught by me, Monday evenings. I am excited and have writing prompts and readings all picked out for the first session. Can’t wait to meet all the folks in the class.
Also on Monday night, we are offering our first ever Spanish language workshop - its an advocacy workshop about condoms as evidence, in collaboration with Make the Road New York
Spending time researching grants on Tuesday, particularly to support our improv workshops with trans women
RedUP team members are going to a Wednesday press conference/rally in support of the Floyd stop and frisk court case happening in NYC right now
Release a new episode of the Red Umbrella Diaries podcast on Wednesday
Thursday night is the monthly Red Umbrella Diaries live event in NYC, hosted by Josh Ryley
Saturday is a full-day advocacy training with Streetwise and Safe, prepping folks to do advocacy in Albany on the no condoms as evidence bill
Also two meetings/conference calls with the No Condoms as Evidence Coalition as we prep for our lobby day in Albany on April 23… and a million other phone calls, emails, and hours in front of the computer
I’m doing this. I mean, I have been doing this for years, but I think I’m really learning how to get shit done now. And also feeling a scary amount of pressure around it all. Hopefully over the last two years (since that horrible “leadership” comment) I have developed the tools I need to do self-care, set limits, have a life outside of activism, and be awesome at my work. It’s a tall order.
March 30, 2013
ebookfriendly:
Goodreads’ success story [infographic]
This is...
Goodreads’ success story [infographic]
This is fascinating. I am a lover of goodreads, it’s def my fave social networking site. And I gotta say, I know there are problems with the recent acquisition of goodreads by Amazon, but as a writer and publisher I’m really interested to see what the next iteration looks like.
housingworksbookstore:
“So I prefer: Write what you can learn...
“So I prefer: Write what you can learn about. Alternately: Write what interests you. Because it interests you for a reason, and that reason probably has to do with the rough stuff of your inner life. Put differently, writing about things you don’t know seems a useful, albeit sneaky, gateway to material you cannot access otherwise. This is especially true of people who resist confrontation with their darker selves. I submit that I am one of those people, which is probably why my latest novel is about cults and cloud seeding, spies and disguise, the Department of the Interior and, in some measure, North Korea, which was not only unknown to me but in many ways unknowable.”
—Fiona Maazel on Google Earth and Google Maps in the writer’s process (via A Crack in the Darkness - NYTimes.com)
