I’m writing a lot about my mom’s post-breakup music tastes in my zine about childhood. I really want to get into the really funny period in which my mom was all about the Lilith Fair and sisterhood, until she married my stepdad and hated women all over again. I think she’s coming full circle though, now that she’s unemployed and has time to read all the feminist books I left her at home.
I was on the phone with my mom (who’s also a freelance writer) and she talked about how difficult it was to write memoir, because she had an ethical conflict about writing about her parents and my dad and their abuse towards her. And I said, “Look, the fact is they did what they did. They hurt you. This is not about their feelings. This is about helping you move on, and it’s about holding them accountable. They might not like it, but that’s not what your writing is there for. You owe them nothing but the truth. And if it’s going to help you heal by writing about it, then do it. And go read some Dorothy Allison if you get the chance.”
And this is one of the reasons why I’m sitting in my bed on a Saturday night with my unfinished zine about the women in my family and a bottle of cider. Everything is too heavy to keep to myself for the rest of my life.
Today in feminist revenge: a reportback from Tallahassee comrades
After getting harassed by some frat boy at a party this weekend, my cousin filled a cup with her own piss and got her friend to pour it on him while he was making out with a drunk girl. He was mauling her face so hard that he had no idea that he was marinating in piss. Thankfully, this left my cousin and her friend ample time to run away, cackling triumphantly.
“Voy a ponerle green paint en mi papá’s toothpaste” - cuz, saying she’s going to dye her dad’s teeth, in Spanglish.
“Voy a ikpax” - sister, saying she’s going to take a shower, in Totoñol.
“Identity is not a bunch of little cubby holes stuffed respectively with intellect, sex, race, class, vocation, gender. Identity flows between, over aspects of a person. Identity is a…process.” - Gloria Anzaldúa.
Hahahaha tu prima y yo are like totally en lo mismo level. I also got my mom into Gloria Anzaldúa recently, y ella lloróporque estaba tan feliz que somebody finally got what she’d been feeling for ages after moving to the States. No more borders, no more static notions of identity.
On zines, overcoming abuse and disclosing the dirty laundry of the people you love
do you keep getting letters from the new school in the mail asking for more money? it's like every other week I wanna reply with GIVE ME A JOB AND MY GODDAMN DEGREE YOU FUCKS AND THEN WE'LL TALK MONEY
HAH! I don’t get them, but my mom does. She keeps asking me to change my address on the website but it means I have to register as an alumni. And like hell I’ll give them any money. It’s like I told you, I got out of Florida so I didn’t have to raise my mom’s kids anymore… And one Bachelor’s degree later, here I am raising somebody else’s for a living!
I mean, whatever. I tried. If anything… Those 4 years spent as an office mule for a paltry work-study salary probably helped me more than my degree in Journalism ever will. I’ve been saying this a lot lately, but I just wish I didn’t go to college at all. #gradproblems
Barbara Lynn, “You’ll Lose A Good Thing”
Arguing with family members about their islamophobia makes me feel all the better about NOT going back home for the holidays.
Nope, I don’t care. My sister and I will be chilling/pet sitting in somebody’s swanky apartment in SoHo, with good, cheap wine and Netflix all weekend. We don’t need your shit this year.
96-What’s your relationship like with your family?
Tumultuous. I love them, but everyone seems to have their own issues and I often find myself at the front lines trying to help, like the typical Virgo I am. Some of my family members are very codependent, and that’s what I grew up to be as well. I’m still healing from years of abuse, plus I’m queer, and I have only recently opened up about these things with my family. I’m still really resentful, and sometimes I don’t want to deal with them at all. But I’m too afraid to let go.
184-What was the first concert/show you attended?
The KC and the Sunshine Band reunion show. Believe it or not, Republican Dad is a sucker for disco. It was at a park next to a McDonald’s in Miami. I was 5 years old.
212-Why you follow me?
Because I consider you a good friend and ally! It’s weird not living across the hall from you anymore. Too bad we didn’t get to hang out much then.
That moment of relief when
…You see your cousin after a 10-year hiatus, and find out that she’s queer too.
Telemundo is planning to show English-language subtitles in an effort to attract viewers among the skyrocketing number of second- and third-generation Hispanic-Americans.
Someone say something smart about this. That is so crazzzzzzy. Can you imagine Luz Clarita with subtitles? I’m just saying. Also, have you watch a spanish novela? you don’t have to speak english or spanish to figure out what’s going on.
A part of me is kinda bummed about this. Since my mom left my dad/married my American stepdad I stopped speaking Spanish regularly, but I managed to keep up my comprehension by watching novelas. (Betty La Fea, Rebelde, Yo Amo a Juan Querendónwere my all-time favorites— I know I have bad taste!) But I think I’d get lazy if there were subtitles; I just wouldn’t bother trying to understand what I heard. Instead I’d rely on the subtitles to get the job done for me. Not to mention there are certain jokes and references that I don’t think would translate well in English.
Im gonna get on Tumblr now. 
