Patriarchy. It’s a whole lot more terrifying than the whir of a fictional chainsaw echoing down a fictional Texas highway.
This Halloween, how about we confront what’s truly scary by naming the problem?
Helping Homeless Women in NYC
The goal of this project is fundamental: I’m raising money to buy supplies I can hand out in person to homeless women in NYC.
I’ve done it before on a smaller scale out of my own pocket, but now I want to help as many women as possible. To do that, I need your help. Woman are most often victimized. Homeless people, in general, are ignored or dehumanized. Homeless women? They might as well be invisible.
This is where Female-Oriented Relief (FOR) comes in.
FOR women
FOR homeless women
FOR homeless women in NYC
All funds donated here will go directly towards to purchasing supplies and durable bags for those supplies (along with subway fare for me so I can cover as much ground as possible). If you live in NYC and would rather just hand me stuff, that works, too!
What am I looking for? Anything and everything a woman mau need – that can fit into a large purse or fanny pack. Gloves, hats, scarves, hand sanitizers, tampons and pads, foot and hand warmers, toothbrushes and paste, Q-tips, band-aids, and more! In terms of food, I’d happily accept donations of durable packaged goods like power bars.
Thank you in advance for your donations and for spreading the word. This is a collective project so let’s team up to offer some temporary relief FOR women in need this fall and winter. Help spread the word!
That time I radicalized (and de-platformed) myself
We currently hear so much about the concept of becoming “radicalized” and it’s usually within the context of “terrorism.” But I’ve never seen anyone explain how within a system of insidious privilege, it requires a dedicated program of constant un-learning and re-learning to become and stay “radical” in a more social-justice-y way.
stain red
stain red is a novel, told primarily via screenplay format. It’s not a script. Really. (But think about how easy the movie rights will be to sell!) It also has unlimited potential as a graphic novel.
stain red is Magical Realism meets Street Lit. Not surprisingly, it can also be described within the context of cinema. Its template is unashamedly Citizen Kane. Its lead character is Calle, sort of a female, Puerto Rican, modern day Shane. So, let’s call it Citizen Shane…with a salsa soundtrack.
stain red feels at times like a Western, like the stories—the legends—you’d only hear about in whispers. It takes place in the late twentieth century, at a time just minutes before everything changed. stain red is story-telling back when it traveled by word-of-mouth, before our every move was documented in real time. In fact, 1997 might be one of this novel’s most important characters.
stain red is told, in retrospect, by a dude named Alphonse (who, in turn, creates a fictional reporter named Jane to try making all the connections). Since this is the legend of a strong female urban leader, Alphonse’s version is flawed by default. As he himself explains: “Someone’s gotta tell her story. A white male high school dropout/wanna be screenwriter may not be the logical choice to produce a book (or is this a screenplay?) about a virtually forgotten Latina street legend, but someone’s gotta do it before all that’s left is rumor and hearsay.”
stain red (like Citizen Kane) provides us with so many conflicting versions of the same story, we end up with only “a little idea” of the truth. But, as Calle reminds us over and over: “Some mysteries weren’t meant to be solved.”
Alphonse again: “I mean, what can I say about a story that provides more questions than answers? I guess I can assure you that it’s not because I’m holding out (well, maybe a little) but rather because I’m left with mostly the same questions as you!”
stain red features strong female characters who are not hyper-sexualized and do not spend the entire book talking about men (except when plotting revenge). stain red also offers riveting action/martial arts sequences, dynamic dialogue, complex characters, and so much more—all without the benefit of a single hashtag, smart phone, or LOL.
In male supremacist culture, kindness is not rewarded
Growing up where I grew up when I grew up there required the rapid acquisition of street smarts. Even your own crew, if bored, could turn into enemies in a heartbeat. (I was reminded of this reality when I took the photo in the middle of this article below.) When I was 14—the height of my street crime days—my friends and I would do almost anything to impress the older guys. They basically liked us but also took sadistic pleasure in fucking with us. #lesson
One night, we were all standing around. Probably high. About 5-6 guys, either 14 or 15 years old. Another 5-6 guys, 17 and up. Gary, maybe 19 and sort of a leader of the older dudes, spontaneously announced: “I’m gonna start counting and when I reach 30, all of you are getting your asses royally kicked.” He, of course, was looking at us.
Another fur season, another round of animal whites “activism”
Yet another fur season approaches and you know what that means. Yep, your local animal whites crowd has commenced yet another round of anti-fur virtue signaling.
As I peruse the social media posts of NYC animal “activists,” I suppose I should be flattered to see some of my “protest” photo style has caught on, but let’s be real: It’s the same signs, same chants, same locations, same permits, same “leaders,” and same utter lack of results.
As Einstein may or may not have once said: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Speaking of insanity, one animal whites “activist” has raised over $15,000 to put up “anti-fur” billboards in NYC!
In attempt to make sense of all, I’ll try to answer three questions:
- What’s wrong with fur?
- Why focus on fur?
- Is all this protest/billboards/fundraising working?
I speak for this tree…
When I moved into my current apartment, an unexpected perk was having a beautiful and immense tree just two backyards away out my kitchen window. When I’d come home, almost immediately, I could see straight through into my kitchen and a wall of green would be visible. This vision became the norm (but never taken for granted) for more than 6 years. And I was far from alone. Countless birds, squirrels, and even raccoons shared time with this majestic tree.
