Writing is an act of resistance
-
Scheherazade
By Phyllis Wax The tales she told night after night for a thousand and one nights— fascinating enough to keep the king entranced and to save herself from beheading. But bedtime stories from today’s Persia, women targeted like wild game— pheasants or pigeons, squirrels, rabbits— men taking aim at faces, breasts, genitals to cause…
-
Batasan ng Lansangan — Street Parliament
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” parallax_speed=”0.3″ video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” overlay_color=”” video_preview_image=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” padding_right=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” center_content=”no” last=”no” min_height=””…
-
When Ruby Falls
By Marjorie Gowdy “Have you been targeted by the President of the United States?” Lady Ruby Freeman in chalkboard-white suit, crimson hat, asks The Man. Swept aside like yesterday’s ashes, Our Lady. Stalwart Georgia pine, poll counter, valiant, precise. Slandered on screen by a middling mayor-madman. Chased like a fox by hungry hounds, rushed…
-
Twin Pandemics, Twin Cities
By AJ Donley They warn you about the dangers that you’ll be feverish that your throat will hurt that it’s contagious that you won’t be able to breathe they try to scare you away from action with the risk of symptoms that have always been there because COVID is new but racism is not…
-
Questions/Answers (for Black U.S. citizens applying to register to vote in Selma, Alabama, in 1963—based on actual exams)
poll tax, Poetry, Ellen Girardeau Kempler, right to vote, voter suppression, Black suffrage, Jim CrowBy Ellen Girardeau Kempler After you pay your poll tax, Boy, I’ll ask you how many jellybeans are in the big jar I keep on my Registrar’s desk? How many bubbles are in this bar of soap? How many seeds are in a watermelon, any watermelon? (An answer you should naturally know.) How many…
-
Bipolar
By Angel T. Dionne “But you don’t look bipolar,” as if bipolar is screaming at cars from the sidewalk as if bipolar is hopping up on tables to proclaim that I’m the Messiah as if bipolar is no career and no relationships. “But you don’t look bipolar,” as if being happily married means I…
-
The Crucible
By Christie M. Buchovecky An old friend messaged today. Told me “Got a funny story if ya have time . . .” and sent a clip: riding by an old Colonial I recognized, despite a view obscured by rain and the barred windows he’d had to film behind. “Nothing like riding down your old…
-
Out-of-Pockets to Pick
Poetry, David Icenogle, for-profit healthcare, universal healthcare, socialized medicine, pharma ripoffsBy David Icenogle They tell me the copay for my medication is only a hundred and fifty dollars. The best way to measure privilege is the way people use the word “only.” They tell me I should be relieved because without insurance it would’ve been eight-hundred. Why not make it a million? They tell…
-
Emma Thompson Full Frontal at 62
bodily autonomy, Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You Leo Grande, Poetry, Angelica Whitehorne, body positivity, body imageBy Angelica Whitehorne (found poem from Emma’s interviews for the film Good Luck to You, Leo Grande) It’s challenging to be nude at 62. The age that I am. Nothing has changed. Can’t stand in front of a mirror, always pulling something, judging it. The neural pathways of eight-year-olds going, “I hate my thighs.” I…