We Are The Universe We Hold Inside

Being passionate about gender issues is great! However, if you're someone who interacted with that post but usually just quietly reads the other posts on this blog, this is a good opportunity to think about why that might be the case.

Does the idea of interacting with or sharing posts about racism make you feel nervous or uncomfortable? What are you worried will happen if you do so? Are you subconsciously trying to hide the fact that you're learning about antiracism because knowing you have things to learn/unlearn makes you feel guilt or shame? Do you think you aren't allowed to share content that doesn't apply to you? Are you afraid of the social repercussions of openly discussing the existence of racism around other white people? Are you worried about losing friends or followers or having to have an uncomfortable conversation with someone?

If it's the latter (and don't lie to yourself about which it is! nobody but you is gonna know!), congrats! You are experiencing white fragility. That's extremely normal and part of the antiracism process, but it's something you should actively work toward unlearning. We are all a team here, calling each other out on stuff is how we help each other so tempering your tendency to feel defensive when that happens is how you grow :)

"First, we must create a VESSEL."

"The CAGE, with human SOUL and parts!"

"Copies are monochrome, but you colored each of us in with care."

"Why don't you photocopy a Kris to play with us?"

"Between your fingers, a faint gray crease glittered stubbornly. You can never wash it all away."

"No one can choose who they are in this world."

"Who do you think taught you how to laugh? How to cry?"

"...When did you start being yourself?"

i just had a professor read the first chapter of something and go on and on about how i must relate a lot to a character, because her disability resembles mine (i had not been injured at the time of writing it), and i get this dreadful feeling like people are going to make assumptions like that again and again.

I kind of hate it!

But it's very difficult to be like, "The author is dead! Do not pay attention to the author! Do not interpret the text into the author's life! But do follow the author on tumblr!"

Like, there is something fundamentally out of whack with the entire affair, which is kind of what my new book HOLLYWOOD, ENDING is about.

For a hot minute, a lot of people had opinions about me who did not actually know me, which was extremely disorienting and much less pleasant than I'd assumed famed would be. So I spent the last eight years writing about that.

Being passionate about gender issues is great! However, if you're someone who interacted with that post but usually just quietly reads the other posts on this blog, this is a good opportunity to think about why that might be the case.

Does the idea of interacting with or sharing posts about racism make you feel nervous or uncomfortable? What are you worried will happen if you do so? Are you subconsciously trying to hide the fact that you're learning about antiracism because knowing you have things to learn/unlearn makes you feel guilt or shame? Do you think you aren't allowed to share content that doesn't apply to you? Are you afraid of the social repercussions of openly discussing the existence of racism around other white people? Are you worried about losing friends or followers or having to have an uncomfortable conversation with someone?