The descriptions that follow may be triggering, but please read and watch. People have asked me, “What can I do?” and it will be in the context of this violence—including sexualized violence–that this call to action is situated.
***
Last November 23, fifty-seven people were massacred in the Southern Philippine province of Maguindanao. They were on their [...]
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Last week, three young women from the Feminist Majority Foundation visited the large Intro to Women’s Studies class that I work as a TA. They did what I take to be a standard invitation:
FMF member: Okay! So who here is a feminist? Raise your hand!
(a smattering of hands go up)
FMF rep: Okay! So who here [...]
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Last spring, I spent a lot (to me) of money on a mountain bike. I have spent the past few months happily developing my climbing legs and literally soaring to new heights.
I’ve also spent a lot of time feeling guilty. That I, a woman of color grad student from the Third World, could possibly spend [...]
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Posted in Body politics and representations, Philippines, colonialism/postcolonialism, human rights, social justice, tagged bayougin, Caster Semenya, colonialism, gender testing, Nancy Navalta, Philippines on August 23, 2009 | 11 Comments »
[This is an expanded version of a comment prompted by this insightful post from Prof. Sussuro.]
Caster Semenya won the women’s 800-meter race by 2.45 seconds over her nearest rival. I want to start with that fact, because that win is amazing. She is amazing. And this being lost in all these rumors and speculations about [...]
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I’ve been thinking of a comment bfp left here a few weeks ago
…because of borders, I became “mexican” rather than indigenous…
and reflecting on how maps and borders classify people, instead of the other way around.
In Imagined Communities, Benedict Anderson studied how cultural instruments such as maps, the census, and museums were not only a result [...]
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In 2002, Elena Garcdoce Francisco, a 102-year-old Tumandok woman, journeyed to Iloilo City from her mountain home in Panay. She sang an ambahan, protesting the destruction wrought by militarization in her ancestral lands. These military incursions date back to at least 1962, under then President Diosdado Macapagal.
This practice of telling stories through poetry and chants [...]
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Last semester, members of my grad cohort had dinner with a very cool queer theorist who was guest speaking at the university. We were thrilled to meet her and discuss her work. We were even more thrilled when advisors later told us, “Professor G loved you! She said you were so [inset gaggle of compliments].” [...]
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I used to think that I loved running because it made me free.
But lately, the runs have been harder. Not any less satisfying, just harder to get into. Harder to enjoy. It’s not that my runs have changed, but the purpose.
Lately, I’ve been running to get away [...]
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That sign, “This is not a trail,” drives my dog crazy. Because right behind the sign is. . .a trail.
Apparently, it’s a trail full of coyote scents and potato bugs and other curiosities that his mama won’t let him explore. There was a beautiful trail just waiting to be sniffed, he could see that. No [...]
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(Late reflections for Mother’s Day)
Of all the made-up commercial holidays, Mother’s Day, for me, is the least irritating. After all, if I was going to be guilted into blowing money on cards, flowers, and the obligatory brunch, at least it was going to be for Mom. So to moms everywhere, y’all rock.
And this goes double [...]
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