Just Following People Whom I Love

gorgeous… nezua: (via fuckyeahblackbeauties)

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:13:52 -0600

gorgeous…

nezua:

(via fuckyeahblackbeauties)

formspring.me

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:08:33 -0600

do you remember your dreams? if so what do you think of them?

i don’t really; i think i am scared of how disappointed i might be.

Ask me anything

formspring.me

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:04:26 -0600

what messages did you receive growing up about menstruation? who told them to you? what were your reactions? what did you learn? did you have to unlearn anything as you grew?

I learned that it was dirty and offensive. I talked about all that here: http://elleabd.blogspot.com/2008/08/oh-no-na-na.html

Ask me anything

formspring.me

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:59:20 -0600

now that i asked ya’ll about how you learned abt menstruation (if i didnt let me know); were there options over which method to use for flow/protection? Do you think there’s a stereotype that WOC don’t use tampons? why or why not?

My mother was so very opposed to my using tampons, but I thought of menstrual blood as nasty, smelly, something I wanted as little contact with as possible, so I use(d) them. Re: the stereotype, my anecdotal evidence is that, yeah, amongst my menstruating friends and relatives, I was rare, but now I know many younger WoC who use them.

Ask me anything

formspring.me

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:56:37 -0600

saw this q on someone’s tumblr-ask and ganked it: If you could tell your younger self some things, what would they be?

Don’t be a fool. Don’t give all of yourself away. Don’t seek validation through others. Learn to love yourself and recognize yourself as worthy of the love/affection/time/care of others. I still struggle with the last one.

Ask me anything

formspring.me

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:54:22 -0600

how has your relationship w/your body shifted/changed/improved/[insert term here] as you’ve aged regarding menstruation? Do you look forward to it each month/weeks w/o it/menopause?

I don’t think of it as “nasty” anymore, but I still am caught up in the ideas of it as “bothersome” and have thought of going back on the pill just to reduce the number of times I have it. So still lots of baggage.

Ask me anything

thingsimreading: charredcoal: My mother told me that virginity is the MOST important thing a woman...

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:36:30 -0600

thingsimreading:

charredcoal:

My mother told me that virginity is the MOST important thing a woman possessed, once you lose that, you are nothing. Nothing.

I wanted to ask, even after marriage? I had the suspicion that she would have said yes.

Anyway, when I finally told her about the sexual abuse in my past, she wept as if I was murdered, or rather part of me was murdered. She kept asking if I was still a virgin, to give any details (actions he had taken) that could give clues to the status of my virginity. She set up a doctor’s appointment for me (I ignored that action).

I was not sure if she was weeping for the pain I had undergone all these years, the after math, or because of the possibility that I was no longer a virgin.

I will always be suspicious that she was crying for the loss of my virginity.

I told her for comfort but all I got was judgement. I kept telling myself that she did not know any better, but the betrayal I felt never went away and I wish I hadn’t talked at all, because the burden was heavier after I talked.

Oddly, my father (who I was never closed to) came to me one night and told me that what happened was in the past and I should not let the abuser win by feeling any less human.

formspring.me

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:31:16 -0600

if you were on any different world episode which would it be and what would your character do?

i’d be kim’s bff when kim found out about ron and freddie. kim was tooooo calm. i’d be the friend starting sh*t

Ask me anything

formspring.me

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:27:08 -0600

what songs are on your “going out”/”gettin ready” soundtrack?

get me bodied, check up on it, get low, bad bitch, bottle action, thug passion, motivation, bring ‘em out, old ugk, and lots of little wayne and queen. you mustn’t tell anyone, for i am greatly ashamed.

Ask me anything

formspring.me

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:22:21 -0600

do you own a record player? if so what album do you LOVE to hear on it? if not what album would you LOVE to hear on vinyl?

I don’t. But I used to love my parents little Motown records, particularly the Jackson Five

Ask me anything

Haiti

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:33:20 -0600

zuky:

It’s not just a natural disaster, it’s a disaster of the modern neo-colonial social order. Earthquakes need to happen, but this doesn’t need to happen. It’s a devastating unfolding of institutionalized racism. Not only rhetorical or interpersonal or representational aspects, but perhaps more importantly the vital economic, infrastructural, and human consequences of several centuries of the very gunships-n-slaves imperialism which generated the modern concept of race.

formspring.me

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:52:30 -0600

What was the happiest moment in your life?

I haven’t really had one in my adult life. Some worry or concern or what if is always in the back of my mind.

Ask me anything

formspring.me

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:50:38 -0600

how long will you be there?

until i realize i already have what i went there for.

Ask me anything

formspring.me

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:50:04 -0600

If you could wake up as anyone tomorrow, who would it be?

Me… but academically published. **sigh**

Ask me anything

formspring.me

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:48:46 -0600

Do you like any cartoons? Old and/or new?

Not a big cartoon fan. I love political cartoons as primary sources, so I’m a fan of Herblock (Herb Lock) and Thomas Nast’s work on Boss Tweed.

Ask me anything

formspring.me

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:47:29 -0600

what was the worst film you ever saw? what made it so triflin’?

Soul Plane for being made; The Family that Preys for taking stereotypes and ableism to the next level (and that’s saying something for Tyler Perry); I’m sure I have some more; let me think…

Ask me anything

formspring.me

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:28:52 -0600

Who are your heroes?

Aside from family members, I really love Fannie Lou Hamer, Diane Nash, and Dorothy I. Height. Also, the black women historians who paved the way (Jacqueline Jones work on labor and Darlene Clark Hine’s ability to do EVERYTHING, for example, but so many more). I’ve been reading a little about Pauli Murray and wow. Alexis Pauline Gumbs who is amazing and inspiring. I think of her on days when I don’t even want to roll over! Is that enough?

Ask me anything

Latest Tragic Symbol of an Unhealed Congo: Male Rape Victims - NYT

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:28:34 -0500

Latest Tragic Symbol of an Unhealed Congo: Male Rape Victims - NYT:

wocsurvivalkit:

igather:

hman:

Horrifying stuff here…

“According to Oxfam, Human Rights Watch, United Nations officials and several Congolese aid organizations, the number of men who have been raped has risen sharply in recent months, a consequence of joint Congo-Rwanda military operations against rebels that have uncapped an appalling level of violence against civilians…

Aid workers struggle to explain the sudden spike in male rape cases. The best answer, they say, is that the sexual violence against men is yet another way for armed groups to humiliate and demoralize Congolese communities into submission.

But nobody knows the exact number. Men here, like anywhere, are reluctant to come forward. Several who did said they instantly became castaways in their villages, lonely, ridiculed figures, derisively referred to as “bush wives.”

The male rape cases are still just a fraction of those against women. But for the men involved, aid workers say, it is even harder to bounce back.
“Men’s identity is so connected to power and control,” Ms. Walker said.
And in a place where homosexuality is so taboo, the rapes carry an extra dose of shame.
“I’m laughed at,” Mr. Mukuli said. “The people in my village say: ‘You’re no longer a man. Those men in the bush made you their wife.’ ”

(NYT)

Thanks, Noemi

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:51:19 -0500

y porque no?: http://is.gd/1ikzy

Demand MS Reunite Mother & Baby Daughter!

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:27:09 -0500

Via BfP, this Request for Action from the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA):

Cirila Baltazar Cruz gave birth to her baby girl in November of 2008 at Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula, MS. She speaks very little Spanish and no English, as her native language is Chatino, an Indigenous language from Oaxaca, Mexico that is spoken by some 50,000 people.

The hospital provided her with an “interpreter” who is from Puerto Rico and does not speak Chatino, the language of the mother. Because of the language barrier and the misunderstanding by the hospital’s interpreter who only spoke Spanish and English, a social worker was called in.

The hospital’s social worker reported “evidence” of abuse and neglect based on the following:

* The “baby was born to an illegal [sic] immigrant;”
* The “mother had not purchased a crib, clothes, food or formula.” (Most Latina mothers breast feed their babies).
* “She does not speak English which puts baby in danger.”

Ms. Baltazar Cruz’s baby was snatched from her after birth at the hospital and given to an affluent attorney couple from the posh Ocean Springs who cannot have children.

The authorities made no effort to locate an interpreter in her native tongue. MIRA located an interpreter who is fluent in Chatino in Los Angeles CA and has interviewed the mother extensively with the interpreters help. The mother has been accused of being poor and not being able to provide for this child. No one has asked the mother to provide evidence of support. She owns a home in Mexico and a store which provides both secure shelter and financial support, not counting the nurturing of a loving family of two other siblings, a grandmother, aunts, uncles and other extended family.

Meanwhile, there is word in the Gulf Coast community that the “parents to be,” have already had a baby shower celebrating the “blessed arrival” of this STOLEN child!

PLEASE MAKE CALLS & WRITE LETTERS DEMANDING THE SAFE RETURN OF BABY & REUNITE WITH HER MOTHER

If you believe this is unjust and outrageous and goes against all moral and religious beliefs and values, please call or write to the presiding Judge and the MS Department of Human Services to STOP this ILLEGAL ADOPTION! Stealing US born babies from immigrant parents is a growing epidemic in the United States. Many Latino parents have lost their children this way!

Honorable Judge Sharon Sigalas
Youth Justice Court of Jackson County
4903 Telephone Rd.
Pascagoula, MS 39567
(228)762-7370

Children’s Justice Act Program
MS Dept. of Human Services
750 North State Street
Jackson, MS 39202
Call (601)359-4499 and ask for Barbara Proctor

For more information please call MIRA at: (601) 968-5182

MIRA Organizing Coordinator
Victoria Cintra at (228) 234-1697 or Organizer Socorro Leos at(228) 731-0831

This made me so angry and reminded me about this article I’d seen some time ago—different circumstances, same disregard for/devaluing of immigrant women’s mothering.