do not go gentle into that good night

Last time I seen my brother. Last time I seen the sun. And just for a few hours... we was free.

To the asshole that commented on my post about the KKK rallying on my campus last night, saying ‘pics or it didn’t happen’: go fuck yourself.

Racism is alive and well in West Virginia. Racism is alive and well in the United States. Prentending that it doesn’t exist is ignorant and hurtful to so many people.

Here is my reality after the election: my friends and I cried our eyes out after Trump was announced as our new president. Not even because we were upset that Hillary lost, though that too was disappointing. We cried because of what Trump and Pence represent. I literally cried myself to sleep thinking about what hate crimes and terrible things were to come. I cannot stop thinking about the fact that Pence wants to psychologically torture kids like me with conversion therapy. My friend Ethan was so upset the day after the election that he missed all of his classes. Later that night when he Facetimed his boyfriend, he could barely form a sentence, he was crying so hard. We fear for our rights, our loved ones, and our lives.

Our international students were advised not to come to classes the day after the election because it was deemed unsafe. Some of the Muslim girls that I know have taken off their hijabs because they’re afraid of what might happen if they wear them. Our new LGBTQ+ center, a safe space, was defaced by a Trump supporter, who then entered the lounge and began harassing the kids there. And last night, in front of Colson Hall, our English department building, there was a KKK rally.

This is America. These are things that have been happening for years, except for now people are getting more bold with their actions. Because hatred has become commonplace, and people tolerate it, embrace it even. Because the presidential elect is a sexual predator, racist, xenophobic, misogynistic piece of trash who endorses a policy of fear and hatred.

I'm once again living in my undergrad college town at age 27 after getting my both my BA and MA degrees. I came back home after living in NYC to be closer to the people I love.

I'm still surrounded by those queer friends from back then. I live with them. I was part of their weddings. We've grown into adults with one another, experienced joys and terrors and the most mundane days imaginable side by side.

The result of this election was not as much of a shock as it was to that 19-year-old kid. It's a grim reminder of the festering hatred that walks among us daily, salivating for all that is different to be crushed once and for all under the boot of fascism, misogyny, racism, homophobia...the list is endless.

And yet, so are we. Our love, our grief, our hope, our rage- it transcends. It evolves in new ways. It uplifts our communities and holds us together in the darkest nights. It saved me before, when I was a newly out 19-year-old who believed we could overcome the worst of this country to take steps toward something better.

if you personally cannot protest in public for whatever reason it may be, at least voice your support for protesters who are and also voice your support for palestinians. they need your voice. their voices are getting silences constantly online whether through suppression or the IOF marytering them along with everyone else.

i stand with every palestinian in the world. i stand with every protester in the world speaking for palestinians.

Of course we are focusing on Palestine, Gaza, and especially Rafah as the genocide continues but as one of the students at the press conference said today,

As they (the governments, the police, the armies, the politicians) show unity against Palestine, we (Palestinians and everyone who protest, support, and fight for a just and free world) show that we are more united than they will ever be and we will see Palestine free.

So, I'm literally on the opposite side of the globe from the USA students and we stand together for Palestine. Sharing/posting/donating/commenting etc. etc. makes a difference in our attitudes and hearts, even if you can't be there in person.

Mother and baby viewing Van Gogh's Madame Roulin and Her Baby at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, US. By the Boston Herald

GIFTOBER 2023

DAY THIRTY-ONE: FREE CHOICE

A timeline of DONALD GLOVER and MILES MORAELS