So, it’s that time of year again. Time to take stock of the ways the dominant culture crushes all the parts of our selves and our spirits that don’t fit with dominant paradigms, and makes us feel ashamed and wrong to be in the world with/in the unique ways that we are. Recently, I’ve been… Continue reading Inhabit Your Weirdness*
Chag sameach to everyone celebrating Chanukah. And happy holidays to all of you celebrating whatever is meaningful to your heart this time of year. Especially marginalised queer & trans folks. May warmth & love & hope & kindness & gentleness & softness & understanding & self-acceptance show up as guests for your feasts & never… Continue reading A Short Love Letter on the 1st Night of Chanukah
So this weekend is the second annual Naked Heart: An LGBTQ Festival of Words (basically, a queer/trans literary festival), and I am sooo excited to be attending and performing/speaking at it. I’ve already carefully planned my best spoon-usage and spoon-support for the weekend, so I can take in as many events as I can, enjoy… Continue reading Naked Heart!
I’m doing 2 poetry readings for Pride in Toronto: As part of Too Queer: A Bi Visibility Cabaret, the brilliant, captivating brainchild of Katie Sly. Saturday June 25, 7:30pm, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander Street. http://www.blogto.com/events/too-queer-a-bi-visibility-cabaret-at-pride-2016/ http://buddiesinbadtimes.com/show/too-queer-a-bi-visibility-cabaret/ https://www.facebook.com/events/536955696483123 As part of Proud Voices, organised by Glad Day Bookshop, at the Poetic Justice event. … Continue reading Upcoming Pride performances
(Notes for the Disability Justice Panel at the Third Annual Gender and Sexuality Alliance Forum for high school youth, held at Glendon College on May 14, 2016) The need for disability justice Our society treats disabled folks like trash, as if we are disposable. (That, sadly, is not a hyperbole.) It doesn’t judge us worthy… Continue reading Disability Justice and Self-Advocacy
Last year, during a challenging experience of having to trial-and-error solutions to disability access while staying somewhere overnight, I realised I often exhibit an attitude I’ve started calling Apologetic Disability. (When I talked this afterwards over with my spousefriend, who is a lifelong disability activist, she said that most disabled folks perform Apologetic Disability some… Continue reading On Apologetic Disability
This list is grounded in my experiences of several decades of living with chronic illnesses, which bring both chronic pain and short-term episodes of intense pain. During that time I’ve experienced some not-so-useful support, and a lot of quite excellent support (due to: my learning what works & what doesn’t for me, talking with/reading other… Continue reading How to support a loved one dealing with (chronic and/or intense) pain
