Author: kate
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An Open Letter to the Chancellor of The University of Pittsburgh
[Content note: transphobia, suicide] Yesterday I returned my diplomas to the University of Pittsburgh, along with this letter to the chancellor. In time, I’ll probably have more to say, but for the moment, I’m simply too drained. Here’s the letter, with hyperlinks added for context. Dear Chancellor Gallagher: I hope this letter finds you well.…
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Heirloom Tomato or Type of Pot?
Which of the following are tomato varieties and which are types of marijuana? 1. Hillbilly 2. Cosmonaut Volkov 3. AK-47 4. Perma Frost 5. Cobra 6. Aloha 7. Harmony 8. Pink Lady 9. Nova’s Private Reserve 10. Katana 11. White Widow 12. Bobcat 13. Blueberry 14. Jersey Devil Answers below
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Dysphoria Corner
Content note: Potentially triggering, TMI discussion of depression, anxiety, self-harm, sex, and being trans] Earlier today, I wrote a [TW] series of tweets on what my past dysphoria’s been like the past few years. You should read it if that’s your sort of thing. I’d been meaning to write this into a bad-ass essay, but…
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Cis Allies and Trans Suicide
[Content note: suicide and transphobia] On December 28th, Leelah Alcorn, a 17-year-old transgender girl took her own life. On Tumblr, she left a suicide note that discussed being rejected by her parents. From USA Today on December 30th*: “The only way I will rest in peace is if one day transgender people aren’t treated the…
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Benzomania!
[Content note: Anxiety and PTSD] I don’t want to alarm anyone, but the folks at NPR just figured out that drug abuse has consequences. I’m not saying that drug abuse isn’t serious business. I just think that this: Sayra Small says that in her early 20s, it was easy to find a doctor willing to…
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Monica Jones
[Content note: misogynoir, violence] I haven’t said much on Monica Jones, mostly because I don’t have anything new to say. I sure as hell hope the magnitude of the injustice isn’t up for debate. If you haven’t read this post over at Prison Culture, I encourage you to do so.
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On Ru
[Content note: discussion of transphobic language] It’s clear to me that my thoughts on RuPaul’s use of transphobic slurs differ quite a bit from a lot of the trans folks I know. I’m not lining up to take a side for or against, because I don’t think this is one of those either-or issues. I…
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An Open Venn Diagram to Joss Whedon
[Content note: Transphobia] On Monday afternoon, Joss Whedon responded to a fan’s tweet: [The first tweet to Joss Whedon is: Joss, any advice on writing strong female leads in a comic book?#lovebuffy, to which Whedon responds: Must value #strength but also #community & not have penny/balls] Obviously, the quickest way for me, a trans lady,…
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Nice Device. Very Temperature.
Fourteen years ago, I visited Uppsala, Sweden. Uppsala is the closest thing Sweden has to a college town. Think of it as a Swedish Champaign-Urbana. If you haven’t been to Champaign-Urbana or don’t know much about Sweden, picture Gävle. Uppsala is like Gävle, only instead of a massive Gevalia coffee factory, it has one of…
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I Still Need to Go to the Store
[Content note: transphobia, racism, violence, guns, anti-choice rhetoric, homophobia, fat hatred] Earlier today I tweeted: The most terrifying thing about the Grantland fiasco is that sooner or later I’m going to need to go out and buy groceries. In my case (in large part because was not Essay Anne Vanderbilt and did not know her),…