Dakota!!

and now mourning is political, too.

i'm so sorry, murry foust. i keep thinking about how tired you must have been. how tired all of us are. how humiliating it is that even when we die alone, people still laugh and debate whether we deserved to live a happy, dignified life at all.

there are trans kids online right now learning your name – and the names of juniper blessing, lucas redbeard knapp, aleanna belcher, and davonta curtis – through grief. through fear. through that horrible, familiar ache of "that could've been me." and i hate that this is part of our inheritance from one another. not just chosen family and resilience and beauty – but memorials. vigils. apology letters to ghosts.

According to the Covington Police Department, Murry Foust was last seen on April 27, captured on surveillance footage in the city’s Latonia neighborhood walking down a sidewalk wearing a yellow backpack. Friends of the student told local ABC affiliate WCPO that Foust was planning to go to class but left their phone at home. The backpack was later found on campus, per WCPO. Charlie King, a close friend of Foust’s, noted in a Facebook post that Foust’s car was found a block from their apartment in Latonia.

The CPD and most media sources currently refer to Foust using they/them pronouns. In response to a request for comment from Them seeking clarity on how Foust identified, an NKU spokesperson referred to social media posts made by friends of the student.

Those posts note Foust is a trans man early in his transition who uses he/they pronouns. (In the interest of facilitating the search, we will mention here that Foust’s legal name is Alexis.)

“I encourage people to respect that,” King wrote in a follow-up to his initial post, referring to Foust’s he/they pronouns. “I frankly don’t really give a shit what you insist on calling him though; I care that he is found and people are looking out for them.”

You may rest now, Arthur

Yap + closeup under cut (click 4 quality)

felt like treating myself to an incredibly self-indulgent stylish jon……..

[poem: part of "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge]

full canvas, close ups and verses below the cut

This comes after more than 50 days (and counting) of Israel's complete closure of the borders, preventing food and medicine, among other life essentials, from entering Gaza. There are children crying out of hunger with trucks loaded with over 100,000 tons of food mere minutes away from them, which Israel continues to prevent from entering besieged Gaza.

This also comes after Israel had deliberately destroyed swaths of farmlands in Gaza, specifically targeting them with bombs and chemical weapons that destroy the chance of growing crops. Israel also made sure bakeries are destroyed as well as water sources.

Diabolical is an understatement when it comes to the Zionist entity.

There are still things you can do. On top of raising awareness and protesting when possible, independent organisations like APN are working directly with farmers in Gaza to rehabilitate the agricultural sector and restore local food systems to combat famine, counter the blockade and build food sovereignty. You can donate to their Revive Gaza's Farmlands initiative here.