I’m very touched, humbled, & excited about the attention the posts in this blog are getting lately. It is especially touching to hear that this work is resonating for other folks with disabilities & chronic illnesses, and that it is simultaneously striking chords for non-disabled people, too. I wasn’t expecting such a big (and positive) response to the work I’ve been posting, esp. because much of it still feels so drafty & in-process for me.
The support is heartening, and I am grateful. Thank you, all of you.
<3
I believe in giving thanx where thanx is due.
You know, the one that gives housewives/full-time mothers a pension— wages for housework?
It’s ONLY A HUGE VICTORY FOR FEMINISM, SOCIALISM, AND WOMEN OF COLOR. Not a big deal or anything. Tumblr is mysteriously silent about this.
http://rabble.ca/columnists/2013/05/venezuelas-new-labour-law-best-mothers-day-gift
Ms. DeVries was *JUST* telling me about this shit tonight!! This is *AMAZING!!!!*
Isn’t this the coolest thing?! Damn.
Rediscovered this gem on youtube tonight. For the record: I am not above singing this song to myself in the shower.
— Gina de Vries (queershoulder, how to have a body)
Fish ribs are obviously the new untapped hipster food market. Actually, if we really wanted to do it right, we should open up a fish rib food truck.
So I cannot stand the Rolling Stones. But I love Patti Smith, and this is a pretty fabulous cover.
Wait. Since I have two Master’s Degrees now, does that make me, like, a Double Master? I kinda like the PURE ABSURDITY of referring to myself as Double Master de Vries.
I am spending the second day after graduating from gradskool not resting, but working on a DreamJob application that is due tomorrow at 5pm on the nose. It needs doing, so I am doing it, but I am worn the hell out and I am not especially happy about it.
I think the cats can tell that I am stressed out and need Extra Kitteh Support. They pretty much only ever flank me like this when I am not feeling so hot. That is Tilda on the printer to the left, and Vajra in the window sill to the right. They normally kinda hate each other, so the fact that they are sitting this close to each other while flanking me is pretty funny. I feel especially loved right now.
Oh, man, how could I forget to include this in the MFA photos I posted a couple days ago?
Mea culpa, sweet editors. I couldn’t have done it without you.
Wow. I noticed just now that this quote from the How To Have A Body blog has hit 50 notes, most of them reblogs & “hearts” from people I don’t know at all.
I’m a little amazed. I wrote it in a 2am fit of pique last winter, and the MFA workshop I took it to for critique had a lot of issues with/questions about it. I posted it this week wondering if anyone would notice it at all (especially on such a low-traffic blog).
Point being, I’m very touched that it is resonating with people. Thank you.
This is me today, pretty much.
Master of FIIIIIIIIIINE Arts!
Do not mistake me for being good at this whole having a body thing. Please, please don’t. Do not mistake me for being an Expert or a Good Example. Do not mistake me for a Role Model. For every yoga class I have ever taken there are a hundred more times I’ve stayed home, in pain or cranky,…
I’ve posted a bunch of work over at the How To Have A Body blog in the last 12 hours, to celebrate (nearly! nearly!) being done with my Thesis.
I go in to get the book bound at the school print shop in a couple hours. Wish me luck.
Oh, GOOD LORD. There have been some really dumb tech glitches in my Thesis process and I am currently trouble-shooting solutions. I really wanna SCREAM right now.
I am resourceful & it will all be fine, I know, but if y’all could send the internet or text message equivalent of hugs & kittens, I would appreciate it.
These are the words in my Thesis that spellcheck doesn’t understand:
thrifted
caprese
Zoolander
Philz
Temescal
goth
popos (as in “grandmas,” not as in “police”)
moonage (as in “Moonage Daydream”)
genderqueer
switchy (really spellcheck?!)
misgendering
smushed
heyyy
hella
Quintara
tacqueria
cis
bad-assery
wanna
hostessing
kinda
stonedly
stonedness
gonna
safeword
hurtiest
crip
rockstars
outta
pozole
cruisier
talkier
Duboce
leatherfag
dailyness
back-burnered
fumbly
throbby
CalTrain
dysphoria
ragey
ruffly
unwanting
tenderest (really?!)
liminal (really?!)
dozenth
screamy
Edgefest
grrrl
peacing (the fuck out)
botanica
Klonopin
strega
Paisanos
omertà
kippah
kinda
Sephora
tween
Fudgecicles
bouffants
completist
pruney
stabby
Qwo-Li
cannoli (for reals?!)
muscley
whipsmart
As I get older, as time goes by, I care less and less and less about whether someone can talk pretty. I care about action. At the end of the day, I don’t care how well you can articulate your perfectly punctuated anti-oppressive political points, I don’t care how many buzzwords fall from your mouth, I don’t care if you name-drop a thousand acronyms or theorists – I care if you will show up. I care if you will fucking show up.
And I know that showing up is complicated when you struggle with whether or not you can get outta bed. Sometimes showing up means biking to a friend’s house with coconut water & ginger ale & Saltines when she has stomach flu. Sometimes it means sharing your leftover pain meds from your emergency root canal when a friend has a pain spike. Sometimes it means making soup in a friend’s kitchen, stocking his fridge & freezer, blowing him a kiss across his bedroom & miming tucking him up under his sheets, because you can’t actually tuck him in or kiss him good-bye, because your own immune system is fragile enough as it is. And sometimes it means texting a little emoticon heart from your own sick bed, where you are laid up with a shoulder that aches so bad when the weather gets damp (which is a lot in San Francisco), or stomach that can’t digest a fucking thing, or clogged-up sinuses, or a throat on fire, or a wet raspy cough. Sometimes it just means saying Honey, I love you. Honey, my sick heart reaches out to your sick heart. Honey, I wish I could be there, and I can’t, but I can do this. You mean the world to me. Sister. Brother. Love.
”(via howtohaveabody)
I’m dealing with my stress about turning in my Thesis tomorrow (!!!!!!) by posting bits I like on the blog as I read through/edit/format. Enjoy!