you have pretty eyes.

Today, my hella badass little sister Elizabeth graduated from the Rollins College honors program. Not only that, but she was one of five valedictorians who had a perfect 4.0 GPA, and she gave the valedictorian address! As many of you know, Elizabeth has non-speaking Autism, so she communicates mainly with AAC devices such as her iPad app, and she typed out her whole speech using a text-to-speech program. She spoke about her life changing experiences at Rollins, ableism she experienced over the years, how she overcame it, and how she is helping other non-speaking Autistic people gain access to communication tools and learn how to use them through her non-profit @communication4allorg, which she will be working at full time after graduation. She presented her thesis about C4A a couple weeks ago, and had an amazing launch event in the beginning of April. To say we are proud would be a massive understatement. 🥹 Let’s show this girl some love! She beyond deserves it! 🎓🎉💕 You can support @communication4allorg by: - following (of course!) - referring any non-speaking Autistic people you know to Communication 4 ALL; yay power in community! - signing up for updates at communication4all.org - donating, if you have the means, again at communication4all.org - listening to and sharing Elizabeth’s two songs, “I Am In Here” and “Silent Cage,” on streaming services if you have them. Just search for Elizabeth Bonker & The Bleeding Hearts! (Btw Tom Morello is featured on “Silent Cage” 🤯🎸) Elizabeth is truly a bright and shining example of the “Life is for Service” ethos. Activism, and communication, come in all forms! ❤️🌈♾💛 love Love LOVE! ❤️‍🔥 (at Rollins College, Winter Park FL 32788) https://www.instagram.com/p/CdUod7ttjER3r-VJEGARLX0-nRM3W2ON3WeVZQ0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

fun fact: @reluctant_hero1 likes to call me Willis and ask me what I’m talking about. ❤️ not-so-fun fact: it appears to be a bit of an activism desert down here, in my recent experience 🌵 if you have comrades in central FL send them my way PLS 🙏🏻 (at Maitland, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/CctgeIrL1omplb2YLi84b8eA2lxSq_g30xf_G00/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

@charlesbonker and I picked up some trash on New Smyrna Beach for an early #EarthDay last weekend, because it’s #earthdayeverydamnday 🌍🌏🌎 certainly not my typical musical screaming about the climate crisis into the concrete jungle void, but hey, sometimes your lane of the revolutionary highway has some traffic jams. fuck cars tho, but u get me. yay harm reduction, or something! 🌊 (at New Smyrna Beach, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/CcpERnLMqd5o20HHkJOvu20pI_AMcgtEF-CsSY0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

As part of #AutismAcceptanceMonth (and also just because), I’d like to uplift my amazing sister Elizabeth, and some of her remarkable recent accomplishments. Elizabeth has non-speaking Autism, which means that she communicates primarily using either a letterboard or iPad apps. An estimated 40% of people with Autism are non-speaking – 31 million people worldwide. Elizabeth, among countless others, has had troubles (to put it lightly) in the past accessing and learning to use this technology that allows her and other non-speaking people (with Autism and/or other conditions) to communicate in a way that works for them. To combat this, this week Elizabeth launched a non-profit, @communication4allorg, whose mission is to champion efforts to ensure communication is available to all non-speakers with Autism, through political advocacy, films, music, art, books, and many other avenues. As part of this effort, Elizabeth has partnered with a band called The Bleeding Hearts, and they are releasing their first two singles, Silent Cage and I Am In Here, today on all major streaming services (ie. Spotify, Apple Music, etc.). Both songs are about Elizabeth’s experiences with non-speaking Autism, and are based on poems that she has written. More songs will be released in the coming months. (Fun fact: I sing backup on both of her released songs, and @tommorello is featured on Silent Cage!) If you know any non-speaking people, please send them Elizabeth’s way! You can also support Elizabeth and the non-speaking Autistic community by streaming her songs (if you have streaming services), following and/or sharing @communication4allorg, and, if you have the means, donating at communication4all.org. Thank you in advance for your support in any way. Let's keep making the world a better place for Autistic non-speaking people! #autism #autismacceptance beyond #autismawareness #communication4all #IAmInHere #nonspeakingautism #autismempowerment #neurodiversity (at Rollins College, Winter Park FL 32788) https://www.instagram.com/p/CcLhgBKJH8SnLt_ySkJ7m5TCAtguroMnIqVzhI0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

ski trip with @reluctant_hero1 ⛷🎿☃️💙 who knew black bloc came in a snow gear edition?!? 🏴❄️ thanks @kitlender 💁🏼‍♀️ sometimes in life you just need to get away somewhere where the only reminders of the world’s many interconnected crises is the $4.49/gallon gas price next door to your hotel room, that thankfully, you didn’t pay a penny for, and the many unsolicited comments from strangers when you verify that the food you’re ordering is vegan. (and yes, all of this is a privilege.) don’t worry y’all I’m back at it again now that we’re back #cantstopwontstop ✊🏻 not pictured: my and Shawn’s wipeouts, me going down green and blue slopes as alas I do not have a GoPro, lots of really great food that for once in my life I didn’t cook, a very comfy king size bed, free actual good hotel coffee, and seeing Batman in a tiny cute local theater! 🖤 (at Windham Mountain) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbEAQgorNnEbOcapJs8JrOKk8LARAh4-6_MlV80/?utm_medium=tumblr

Another sign making day down at East River Park in occupied Mannahatta, Lenapehoking 🪧🌳🌲🌎 A few friendly reminders and recent learnings: ▪️@1000people1000trees is still gathering at 1pm every day, 7 days a week, at the park to resist this racist ecocide. Follow them, along with @eastriverparkaction and @friendsofeastriverpark for updates. ▪️Land is worthy of defense even if it’s in the middle of a capitalist, post-apocalyptic metropolis, even if it’s been polluted and dumped on and all but dead. @phaggot.planet has a really amazing post about this. ▪️Ecocide anywhere is ecocide everywhere. ▪️Gaia is incredibly resilient, but even more so with our help. Earth care is community care is self care! #saveeastriverpark #landback #landdefense #noecocide P.S. fuck the so-called “march for life” b.c. abortion is healthcare and healthcare is a human right ⚕️💕 (at East River Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CZFtsuPFk4XFdcxesBFBs5NxG5CanterdrMQ-I0/?utm_medium=tumblr

In case you haven’t heard, the situation at East River Park is dire. They’re cutting down trees and destroying community spaces such as the amphitheater so that they can build a flood wall and fill the area with landfill (that’s right, LANDFILL as in GARBAGE) and therefore be MORE prepared for the climate crisis… 🥴‼️ Makes SO much sense RIGHT?!? Because trees and the ecosystems and PEOPLE they provide a home for are totally useless when we’re trying to combat the climate crisis RIGHT?!?? And landfill isn’t toxic and doesn’t emit any greenhouse gases at all RIGHT?!?!? 😡 Not to mention many NYCHA residents live nearby and have not been adequately consulted or listened to in this whole situation. This is gentrification and environmental racism at their worst! 🤬 The good news is that there is a vibrant community gathering at the park every single day, 7 days a week, to build connections among ourselves and organize to fight back against this atrocity. Follow @eastriverparkaction and @1000people1000trees to get involved! We need local residents, artists, musicians, direct actions, healers, lawyers… anyone and everyone who loves Gaia and all who live among her! 🌲🌳🌎 #saveeastriverpark #werefuseescr #landback (at East River Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CYpzYhWtEHdyCOp1j_2jcYYGt1RSwPmon1tQd80/?utm_medium=tumblr

🏠 NO EVICTIONS! NOT NOW! NOT EVER! ♾ NYC’s eviction moratorium is currently scheduled to end on January 15th. The landlords got mortgage forgiveness, but rent for tenants has yet to be cancelled. Yet another example of the government, rich, and police protecting property and capital while tenants have to fight tooth and nail to remain housed, nevermind the fact that it’s winter, nevermind that we are in the middle of yet another COVID surge! ☠️ If there’s one thing that the mayor should have learned during the pandemic, it’s that housing (and healthcare) is a human right! And that’s why we fight fight fight! Abolition means providing resources like housing and healthcare, and not eviction-happy police! 💥 Thank you @crownheightstenantunion for your invaluable organizing work; please follow them for updates and more actions in the near future! and thank you @ohmeohmicah for inviting @musiciansunitednyc to this powerful action yesterday! Community gives me the most hope during these dark times, and I believe that we will win! 🥁🔥 📷: @weunfucktheworld (at Housing Is A Human Right) https://www.instagram.com/p/CYhu8trF6p-JSRHKiUjM0lHwnQIO_ooOI_tjJ80/?utm_medium=tumblr

Justice for Eudes Pierre. Justice for Mikey Rosado. Justice for Antonio Armstrong. Justice for Eric Garner. Justice for Shirley Fontanez. Justice for Amadou Diallo. These are only a handful of names that the biggest, most overfunded gang in the world, the nypd, have ruthlessly killed in cold blood. I don’t wanna say another mother fucking name, but I’ll keep saying their names and drumming these chants in the streets until they get justice. Not accountability for these scum officers, but real justice, in other words, abolition. #blacklivesmatter 📷🎥: @danmayers1 (at Black Lives Matter) https://www.instagram.com/p/CYF6XhZt5qT8p-psi3HHJdzAGrXsAUBgHlsWp00/?utm_medium=tumblr

Every once in a while, I do non-music art stuff 🎨 Every once in a long while, one of my projects turns out pretty 🆗 I had been working on this one for about 2 years on and off, and a couple weeks ago I finally finished it and gifted it to my sister 🖼 I’m calling this one Skywoman. Inspired by the first chapter of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s invaluable book Braiding Sweetgrass, a must-read for any and all settler accomplices 🌾🐢🦆🐟🦫🦦🦢🪶🌿 (at Turtle Island) https://www.instagram.com/p/CX7AIGKF4tJc8MXKALLKFjHlCaTLyNDL5SUv1s0/?utm_medium=tumblr

Every once in a while, I do non-music art stuff 🎨 Every once in a long while, one of my projects turns out pretty 🆗 I had been working on this one for about 2 years on and off, and a couple weeks ago I finally finished it and gifted it to my sister 🖼 I’m calling this one Skywoman. Inspired by the first chapter of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s invaluable book Braiding Sweetgrass, a must-read for any and all settler accomplices 🌾🐢🦆🐟🦫🦦🦢🪶🌿 (at Turtle Island) https://www.instagram.com/p/CX6--egFhrzsuQUXsCW-YAU80psdG-SQcBTXPg0/?utm_medium=tumblr

🥁💥😷 happy solstice 🌖❄️✨ even for those of us who live in the #antifascisttown of #lessconcretemorejungle, may we never lose sight of why we do this sacred work of decolonization 🌳🌲🌎🌍🌏 📷: @weunfucktheworld #stopline3 #wintersolstice #unfucktheworld #decolonizeeverything (at Mannahatta) https://www.instagram.com/p/CXw8hvItOhXv9Zl65dk_VbVk6wfqq3nV_XTbxw0/?utm_medium=tumblr

🔗 LINK IN MY BIO! 🖤💚 Repost from @rudemechanicalorchestra Hey comrades! Rude Mechanical Orchestra and Make the Road NY are launching an art fundraiser! Our bandmate Noah has created many works of art for this fundraiser on his Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/noahapple (link in bio)! All sales are being split 50/50 with @maketheroadny and the Rude Mechanical Orchestra to help pay our practice space's rent. This is a sliding scale fundraiser. With your donation of $55, $25 goes to each organization and $5 covers shipping costs. Use coupon code THIRTYFIVE to donate $35, or TWENTYFIVE to donate $25. ABOUT MAKE THE ROAD: Make the Road integrates four core strategies for concrete change: 1. Legal and Survival Services to tackle discrimination, abuse and poverty; 2. Transformative Education to develop community members’ abilities to lead our organization, our movement, and society; 3. Community Organizing to transform the systems and power structures impacting our communities; and 4. Policy Innovation to rewrite unjust rules and make our democracy truly accountable to all of us. Make the Road’s staff and members say: “Make the Road is my second home.” Regardless of immigration status, race, or gender identity, all find safety, support, and solidarity, building the power to change not just one case, but entire systems. ABOUT RMO: Formed in 2004, the Rude Mechanical Orchestra is an NYC-based radical marching band. Through performing music and chant support at rallies, protests, marches, picket lines and more, RMO serves the efforts of progressive and radical causes, including but not limited to: racial equality, feminism and women’s rights, immigrant rights, trans and queer rights, labor, the environment, peace, community self-determination, and social and economic justice. Internally, RMO members work to create a safe, welcoming place for all genders and gender identities, ages, races, backgrounds, sexual orientations, and abilities by functioning through consensus-based decision-making and not discriminating on the basis of musical ability. RMO pays tribute to the revolutionary role music has played throughout history and today. Thank you for your support! (at Link In Bio) https://www.instagram.com/p/CXoo8VPlmEWYqu-Oo4TT4jy3Nxrpf_Q72jXkyE0/?utm_medium=tumblr

happy 3️⃣ year anniversary @reluctant_hero1 ❤️ so blessed I got to spend such a rejuvenating long weekend with you 🥰 thank you for all your support, for always keeping me grounded, and for helping us both prioritize our mental health 💕 love you and cheers to many more anniversaries and adventures 🤗 (at Amagansett, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/CW3nqUMlhQ4DTh9G2e8R8szgBRCaHLmQVEox600/?utm_medium=tumblr

people often ask me about my VALVE TROMBONE 🎺 “what is that?” “is that a trombone or a trumpet?” “does it sound like a trombone?” in 4th grade, i played clarinet. in 5th grade, my mom was like JK LOL you should play a low brass instrument instead! colleges always look for them; trombone is a better choice. BUT trombones have slides! slides are hard; where does the slide go for the notes? valves are easier. can a trombone have valves? turns out they can. just like that, she got me not a slide trombone, not a baritone horn, not a euphonium… but a valve trombone. my peers teased me. even the band kids made fun of the ultra band nerd with the ultra weird hybrid instrument. all this othering took a toll on my musical confidence. i played really quietly for YEARS because my instrument felt cursed. it felt like because this instrument was so odd, i wasn’t worthy of being heard, and if i played too loud, people would mock me even more. in high school and college, i switched to a loaner baritone horn. having others who played the same instrument was a sigh of relief. marching band was a whole other world. the post-grad world seemed void of marching band opportunities. after all, usually you need to BYO instrument… when i moved to nyc, @liberateyoself told me about the radical protest marching band @rudemechanicalorchestra. it was time to dig out the valve trombone that was collecting dust for 10+ years. at my first RMO practice, my valve trombone and i were met with affirmation. after practice, i explained to @andrea_ladida that i used to be bullied for this instrument which led to confidence issues. she told me RMO is a place to heal from such trauma. wherever RMO plays, we are met with gratitude. sometimes people still tell me i need to play louder out of support. progress, not perfection. so yes, a valve trombone sounds the same as a slide trombone. yes, baritone horn and euphonium have the same finger positions and it’s easy to switch between them. to the band kids contemplating quitting because of bullies: don’t. it really does get better. thanks @ginnie.breen for helping me turn into a weird-ass musician, and thanks RMO for adopting me into the fam 💚 (at One Time At Band Camp) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWpR7RZNeU0h4cfAoxvZ2VwxAaryKAdLSpqK4Q0/?utm_medium=tumblr

Y’all already know you can always count on @atptheband to bring that Big Abolition Energy 🎵🎶🎸🥁🎤💥🐆💛🖤 WOW what a fuckin’ show @youngethels last night! Thank you @astonhollins for hosting, you and Steph and @themelgoexperience killed it! ❤️🔥 #abolishthepolice 🚫🚓❌ 🎥📷: @noelledoesartstuff 🖤 (at Young Ethel’s) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWOsQILlBEZ0iJrsum2zrB2A1pCGSVTRPZmOD40/?utm_medium=tumblr

@atptheband is back for our second-ever gig this Friday 11/12 at 8pm! 🖤💛🐆 this time we’re @youngethels with @themelgoexperience & @astonhollins! 🎸🥁🎵🎶🎤 Proof of vaccination required 💉 It shall be a Night Of Amazing Bands™️ indeed 🎉 pull 🆙 (at Young Ethel’s) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWHwU_btn7P5Mt9iOLqnmXcG94c5rxOuyTrqEE0/?utm_medium=tumblr