February 2012
59 posts
The Education of Too $hort: Raunchy Rapper Gets ...
Public Statement - For Immediate Release Thursday, February 23, 2012
The Education of Too $hort: Raunchy Rapper Gets Womanly Advice On Sexual Assault and Violence. Feminist Coalition Is Pleased With What Appears To Be the Beginning of a Transformation
Earlier today, AllHipHop.com posted an interview with rapper Too $hort about the XXL.com controversial video that featured him advising young...
Feminist Care Packages: A Feminist Care Package... →
Bam! Happy to know so many dope women coming together to address these issues. We’ve included this in a classroom curriculum that addresses violence, identity and power as a case study examining how activists have responded to negative media and press. Powerful.
feministcarepackages:
Dear Too $hort, We are a collective of people of color who are angered and saddened by your comments in...
Beware of Energy Vampires!
Energy vampires drain positive energy in many ways, such as:
Intruding on your life, ignoring boundaries and privacy (energy vampires don’t think of you).
Making big deals out of nothing. Energy vampires are often called “drama queens” because they can turn a broken nail into a Shakespearean tragedy.
Complaining constantly about their partners, jobs, children, bad luck, and...
khaliahp asked: As I go to add or share something brand new from my mind into the online world, I stop and remember how you said the people you love tell you to keep some of yourself private. And here I hinder the premature birthing of ideas, thanks love :-)
PANK MAGAZINE review of The Letter All Your... →
wellandoftenpress:
“Like two birds in flight, their patterns are varied, their wingspans diverse, yet the tempo between these two poets is an opera, formed from contrasting sounds, blended together to make whole the orchestra of shared experiences… I had to put it down and walk away. I had to catch breaths in the pocket of the ladies room at work, before I could come back to these words...
Fight Like a GRRRL!: Fetishizing People of Color /... →
bookishbutch:
I have posted before on the way that black people are fetishized in the U.S. It is as if they are, literally, more colorful, more interesting, cooler, hipper, even spicier than white people. Whites, in contrast, can seem bland, boring, vanilla, even whitebread. From this…
This weekend is an exercise in feeling wholly alive. No matter what fuzz or background static plays, there is still so much to feel enlivened by. Jumping into the pool with all your clothes on. Swimming in that cool. You know what I mean, allowing yourself to be engulfed by feeling.
Life this particular weekend: opening the room on stages from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe to the Highline Ballroom....
Tonight I shared with the visionary Adam Falkner, poet/educator and all around inspirational force, the way I measure my success:
Would 14 year old Caits, buried in her bedroom creating poems, zines and dreaming about changing the world through social justice work, be proud of adult Caits?
The answer is yes. The answer is a resounding YES. This is all that matters.
What happens when Caits gets outspoken
Sometimes I offend when I mean to protect and uplift. This is not the first time I’ve opened hurt through my actions, even when my intention is good. Beebee affirms my spirit, tells me my voice is caring and necessary. She, too, is someone who speaks openly based on her convictions, ethics and huge heart. But sometimes I wonder.
Watching the world and it’s supreme unfairness can jolt...
Response. →
As we’re in a public space, and clearly this pointed message was directed at me, allow me an equally public apology to this young woman, who once admired my work and showed me a lot of heart and love.
I am not in my early 20’s anymore. I teach students who are 17-21 years of age. I have become a funny matron to a group of young people whom I fiercely love and seek to protect. This is...
the seven stages of being lonely →
download my dearest love’s project, warsan versus melancholy: the seven stages of being lonely. proceeds go to famine relief. though my contribution was tiny, i am pleased to have been the one to place that faint text on the graphic. i believe in this woman so much, and her power to make change. http://warsanshire.bandcamp.com/
“Even after all this time,
the sun never says to the earth,
”You owe me.”
Look...”
– Hafiz of Shiraz
Imagine if each of us in Whitney, Don and Etta’s honor donated to a cause to keep young people alive in say, Somalia. Transform the sadness. Let’s take that energy while we’re moved, and do something positive with it.
Rest in peace to another sparrow-voiced woman. Whitney, you were among my first cassette tapes, dancing in my bedroom to “I’m Every Woman.” Thank you for what you gave. To the rest of us, fame can be dangerous. Please take care of yourselves.
Sarah White | Limitless
themintcollective:
Sarah White’s voice is giving us goosebumps. Couple that voice with a rad production from Hadyn, and you have “Limitless”. This beautiful video created by Neglakay and cast by Sarah and her family [yes, those electric-eyed girls are her daughters and the dude is her partner] setup such a nice scene. Enjoy!
Sarah White - “Limitless” from Neglakay Productions® on...
soulwrks
Whomever the dear soul is behind this new blog graciously asked me to use a collage I created for their icon. Of course, I said yes! I dig their mission. Submit to them. Welcome into the world, soulwrks!
soulwrks:
Soulwrks. A blog dedicated to servicing all truthful, heartfelt, zealous agents of the soul. Whether the content is creative, intellectual, or in another language, Soulwrks pledges to...
Lick (Flash fiction by Caits Meissner)
At the bus stop there is this woman. 7:45 pm. It is not my busstop, but I walk by it every evening to the corner after the next. I work late every night. It’s killing me slowly. I know that soon I will be dead and what will I have to show for it? A brief case that matches my shoes. I feel ashamed of my business suit and the way my hair is combed to the side like rows of cornfields....
“That’s right, I am a book kisser. Maybe that’s kind of perverted or maybe it’s...”
– Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
(Alexie just has the best quotes, no?)
“She could walk through a lightning storm without being touched; grab a bolt of...”
– Gloria Naylor, Mama Day
She must be talking about my girlfriends.
Object As Performer
The feeling of being on the verge of a breakthrough. I think this is what I experienced tonight at my dear friend Sarah Dahnke’s dance performance show (she acted as curator), Object As Performer.
Sitting in the gallery, two women sewed the torsos of their shirts together in a dance exchange. Mouths nearly touching, pulling the other close to loop the thread through the two thin fabrics...
It was like a sign. Today at work went like a quick dream, busy and exciting and engaging. Then: Maya and I at a wine shop, tasting grapes, Strawberry Fields on the speakers playing through the veins of the store and everyone singing beneath their breath: first, me, then Maya waiting for change, then each cashier. I am sure the rest of the customers were singing beneath their breaths, too.
We...
