BAM & Greenlight Bookstore feature Orhan Pamuk in next Unbound event

One of my favorite novelists of all-time is going to be in my hometown, reading and discussing his newly translated work (albeit his sophomore novel), AND… AAAAAND the local bookstore that is partially sponsoring this event (that I lovelovelove) is offering a 25% discount off the featured work.

CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW THIS IS ORHAN PAMUK?!?!?!

CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW HE’S GOING TO BE AT BAM FOR ONLY $20-25‽‽‽‽‽‽‽

Go, enjoy it, rub the fun you had and I didn’t in my face, then mail me the book plz??? :3

-xo

When I am too sad and too skinny to keep keeping, when I am a tiny thing against so many bricks, then it is I look at trees. When there is nothing left to look at on this street. Four who grew despite concrete. Four who reach and do not forget to reach. Four whose only reason is to be and be.

Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street (via simplypondering)

I read this story four or more years ago, and it just might be time for me to revisit it. This quote brings to surface the way Sandra’s writing affects me, moves me forward.

(via teachingliteracy)

Source: simplypondering

Jill Stein has proven herself not only a capable debater, but a strong, vital one—watching her against Romney in the 2002 Massachusetts Gubernatorial race is something special. We need a voice who can a) ACTUALLY ANSWER QUESTIONS (Democratic and Republican candidates alike will take one word from a paragraph-long question to prompt unrelated tangents that make their platform sound interesting, not to address an issue), and, b) intelligently oppose the corporatocracy of Obama-v-Romney, offering alternative solutions to the mainstream hoopla. If Jill Stein makes it into the Presidential Debates voters across the United States will be forced to confront the pick-your-poison-ism of the two-party system, and some will certainly realize that other options are available to them. Voting Green will catch on like wild-fire if only Jill got the media attention she (and her INCREDIBLE campaign) deserve. My series “A Case for Green” is ever-drafted and never published. I won’t let this election season go by without more updates, though, and in the meantime I urge you to help us Occupy the CPD.
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Jill Stein has proven herself not only a capable debater, but a strong, vital one—watching her against Romney in the 2002 Massachusetts Gubernatorial race is something special. We need a voice who can a) ACTUALLY ANSWER QUESTIONS (Democratic and Republican candidates alike will take one word from a paragraph-long question to prompt unrelated tangents that make their platform sound interesting, not to address an issue), and, b) intelligently oppose the corporatocracy of Obama-v-Romney, offering alternative solutions to the mainstream hoopla. If Jill Stein makes it into the Presidential Debates voters across the United States will be forced to confront the pick-your-poison-ism of the two-party system, and some will certainly realize that other options are available to them. Voting Green will catch on like wild-fire if only Jill got the media attention she (and her INCREDIBLE campaign) deserve. My series “A Case for Green” is ever-drafted and never published. I won’t let this election season go by without more updates, though, and in the meantime I urge you to help us Occupy the CPD.

On Women’s Oppression

I am sick and tired of dealing with “harmless” participants in rape culture. I am sick and tired of dealing with those who pander psychologically violent men and ally themselves with the deprivation of women’s rights. I am not asking for much: Respect as a human being. Women’s bodies are not sex objects, nor the object of political debate.

Representative Akin is disgusting by not only suggesting, but insisting that rapes (that result in pregnancy) are legitimate. He is as unconscionable as a street harasser, and as damnable as if he were a rapist himself (with this dedicated talk, I’m sure he is). His request for “forgiveness” is absolutely too little too late. As a public figure and a politician, he doesn’t have the privilege of using the “wrong words in the wrong way.” He gave voice to a sentiment rampant in our country, our culture, and our politics, and needs to take responsibility for the rage he is invoking.

If you don’t give a shit about women’s rights (granted, I don’t give a shit about you either), maybe you’ll think about your pockets. In a little less than two months of congressional battle, almost $0.25 billion of taxpayer dollars went directly to the fight over women’s bodies and women’s rights. Who in their right minds thinks this is an acceptable expense when so many people in our country go hungry, without homes, or without health care? Who cares so much about legally enforcing rape culture that they will condone our Congress spending 76% of its time doing so? Especially when we have SO MUCH ELSE we need to be dealing with!

I am tired, but I am relentless. I will never stop speaking out against rape or the culture that incubates, facilitates, and appreciates it.

Summary of Thoughts on the Word “Partner”

  1. Allies should use the word “partner” to describe significant others when they might otherwise have used the word “husband,” “wife,” “boyfriend,” “girlfriend,” or “fiancée” so that when LGBTQ+ folk do, we don’t immediately out ourselves.

    Example: “How was your weekend?” “Great! My partner and I finally checked out the new restaurant on Main Street!” “Really, how did you guys like it?” (etc…) <—THIS SHOULD NOT BE A CONVERSATION THAT SAYS “How was your weekend?” “Great! I’m gay.” Use your privilege and your human experience to make relationships of all kinds equal and healthy.

  2. Queermos should not use the word “partner” because they are afraid of outing themselves. I say this knowing I have NO RIGHT to tell anyone (other than maaaaaybe my partner) how to define their relationships. Nevertheless, when you are a teen in an insecure, unhappy, lalala relationship of any kind, don’t use a word that describes a deeper association and bond. It takes meaning from the word and deprives you of your own experience. (I say as someone who has personally used this word inaccurately before.) You’ll know when you have a partner. That person will be at your side, supporting you as you do them, and you will be proud and happy and maybe even fulfilled by the roles you play in each other’s lives.

    Example: ”Hey Jo, how was your weekend?” “Um, not bad! My partner played a gig down on Main Street. It was fun.” <—COULD BE REPLACED WITH: “This chick I know,” or “a friend” (culturally appropriate in most languages but ours anyway)… Take your pick.

  3. Allies should not use the word “partner” to describe a significant other they are not particularly partnered with just because they don’t want a queer to feel uncomfortable. See above point: Using this word inappropriately only makes things worse, because it means you don’t actually acknowledge your privilege.

P.S. My partner, reading over my shoulder, says I want to have my cake and eat it, too (even though she’s vocalized similar sentiments in the past).

All is love.

Also, her new blog is up! Check it out! <3

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better;
Whether by a healthy child, a garden patch […]
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived[;]
This is to have succeeded!

“Success,” by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

A quote we have in our room that speaks to so much of why we live our life the way we do. This has always been our individual model, but it’s something we deeply share. Something to get me out the door today, I suppose…

Born My Way, Making My Way (LGBTQ-QITTAPPP Agency)

I am partnered with a really incredible thinker. Even before we were partners, I appreciated this most in her—She’s a big part of why I started writing so many essays on this blog in the first place. Recently she wrote a little ramble on choice, and why “Born This Gay” doesn’t speak to our relationship. She says I am the best possible choice for her, and that the choice she makes in being with me is MANY things, not just the choice in having sex with me.

Back at the Lesbian Herstory Archives, I had the pleasure of finally understanding the issue of choice in our community. I have long had thoughts on “Born This Way,” and my partner and I of course take it up by the day (oh the discussions we have!), but I feel the energy is right for really fleshing out these ideas.

(“Gem of a Runagay Spring.” Photographed by Nikitta Parrox, partner of Marie Pascal, in our first Spring, and one of the last I photographed before we left Brooklyn in pursuit of the rest of Our Life. Deviant Art gallery here.)

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Greywater Action

This is such a useful guide! I used greywater in my organic garden last year and never looked back. For any of you homeowners out there, i suggest you seriously consider this website, and for you gypsies out there, i hope you’ll realize (if you haven’t already) that even when you’re not actively saving the water, you are actively impacting your local water table, and thus your local flora and fauna. Even when you’re showering in a different stall every night, you can use insights from greywater systems to lessen or eliminate the damage done. (Consider soaps without sulfites (salts), soaps without sulfates (sulfurs). soaps from vegetable bases, soaps that are completely biodegradable, or ones that are all of the above, for example.) I’m excited that there’s still so much more for me to learn, and really happy to have stumbled upon a complete resource on like this. (It could be i just love any site that has an article about water justice. I can’t wait to be learning more about sustainable irrigation on a farm!)


Yei! I love it when i can take grassroots activism literally. ;)

Farming for the Future! (This is a Food & Farm Bill 2012 post)

Become a citizen endorser of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s (NSAC’s) REALLY EXCELLENT Farm Bill 2012 platform, aka “Farming for the Future!” (The title here is the link, but in case you can’t get to it: click here.) Now, it’s just a petition, nothing too involved. Simply add your name, and, wootwoot!, participate in earth justice: An environmental, economic and social (and maybe personal, hmmm?) do-good. With this petition you’ll be saying, “Protect our natural resources; train (inspire+invest in), empower, and protect farmers; get GOOD (if not clean and slow) food on everyone’s table; and GIVE A DAMN!” Our communities need programs like SNAP (hey, people with food stamps deserve health, too!), the Casey Farm-to-School Ammendment, the Brown Employment and Training Ammendment, et al.

Want a Food & Farm Bill 101? Check out Food & Water Watch’s “Who Will Be the Biggest Farm Loser?” video.

Then say, “We don’t want nothin’ to do with nasty agro-pharma b.s.”

Say, “I support my LOCAL farmers, and thus the country’s food system infrastructure.”

Be informed, stay active, and sign, sign, sign! This platform is in Congress right now! Let’s make change happen!!

(And heart, heart, heart to NSAC for continuing to do such great work. I’m still sad i missed the opportunity to lobby with them earlier in the year…)

P.S. If you’re in the NYC area and you want to stay updated on the Bill’s progress and local action alerts, check out the F&FB Working Group page (link courtesy of Just Food newsletter). And, Slow Food NYC is hosting a “Why the Farm Bill Matters to All of Us” event THIS AFTERNOON (Friday, 4 May, 2012), at the Union Sq. Market, to boot. (For more information, read here.)

Ten Key Values of the Green Party [USA]

This is the first of my Case for Green series here on Fikira. The Ten Key Values of the Green Party values speak volumes. Any case for any party should start with the foundations and active workings of that party, but these i find particularly trust-worthy and motivating. And it’s not just scribble, either: This is what Green voters hold our party accountable to, and are what all of our platforms and programs are based on. I am extremely proud to be a Green voter because of these values. Thus here we have an appropriate introduction, an impressive set of progressive politics, and a very personal list. “What the Ten Key Values Mean to Me” is soon coming.

“There is no definitive list of the ten key values. They were first adopted as a discussion paper in 1984 and have been modified several times. Many state and local parties have adopted their own versions*. Perhaps the most widely used version is the one ratified at the Green Party Convention in Denver, Colorado, June 2000, which is reprinted below…”

[Excerpted from: (2006). Hawkins, H. Independent Politics: The Green Party Strategy Debate. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books. (pp. 9-11).]

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Why I’m Voting Green (A Case for Green)

Hey y’all! Long time no write! I am going to be publishing a brief series of resources for those of you interested in independent politics and voting Green. I am an absolute Jill Stein supporter and registered Green Party New York State voter. I will be a first-time voter this fall and so i have a special interest in young voters. I believe we can start a surge of anti-corporate, pro-social justice ballots in 2012. I believe we can make a statement about what we actually want as liberal voters. I want to speak up about my Green vote and give it an even more far-reaching impact.

I am not claiming now, nor will i claim later, that i am offering all sides to the Green debate. I am always open to debate, but i will be dedicating my ‘blog space to arguments for an independent and Green vote. There’s enough out there to convince us not to vote with our conscious: I want to help give the Green Party USA, and Jill, a real chance at affecting change. I want young people to have a convincing stance, complete with resources, for participating in Green liberal politics. I am unabashedly critical of the DMC, and have a smaller goal for this series to convert Democratic voters with both example and reason. My Fikira of the moment is to make A Case for Green.

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That Good Pillow Talk

In an effort to minimize how much i reblog on [IDEA] i am now starting a new blog. It’ll seem like most every other blog on this site, and there’s not much i can do about that. There are SO MANY things that i come accross and really want to collect in one place, not just ‘heart’—especially when i talk about half of it with people i love and can’t find the sources later on. My darling and i meet minds just as much as hearts, so there’ll be political and mushy gushy stuff; in the end, i want the blog to read like one long letter to per. I’ll probably add a few quotes and songs of my own along the way, but i’m going to try to keep the original posts here, at yours truly, and funnel most of my reblogging to the new Darling Dear. ((Peace))