Category: Writing

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Upcoming Speaking Events Calendar and Access Info—Wear a Mask!

SCROLL DOWN FOR DATES AND ACCESS INFO

My new book is coming out and I am doing a bunch of conversations about it. I will keep updating this list as they get confirmed, but for now, mark your calendar, and use the links below to get tickets when relevant (I’ll update the links with specific event links as my hosts make them ready).

I’m asking that everyone wear KN95 or N95 masks to in-person events and please test before you come, in hopes of making these events more accessible to more people. Masks will be provided at events, and people will be asked to wear them unless an access need prevents it. If you have other access questions or requests about these events, please contact the people hosting the events, since they know more about their venues than I do.

November 21 Mills College, Oakland, CA

November 21 St. Mary’s College, Moraga, CA

November 26, Portland State University, Portland, OR

December 4 Online Mutual Aid Workshop

January 17 Elliott Bay Books, Seattle, in conversation with Angela Garbes

January 19 Powells Books, Portland, OR with Demian DinéYazhi

January 24, Creating Change Conference, Las Vegas, NV, in conversation with Jaime Grant

January 29 Possible Futures Bookstore, New Haven, CT

January 30 Yale Law School, New Haven, CT

January 31 Making Worlds Bookstore, Philadelphia, PA

February 2, The Word Is Change Bookstore, Brooklyn, NY

February 3, Bluestockings Bookstore, NY, NY in conversation with Mariame Kaba

February 4, Brooklyn Heights Branch, Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, NY

February 12, Online, hosted by Seattle University School of Law.

February 14, Fireweed Collective, Online

February 26, Online, Barnard Center for Research on Women

February 28, California Institute for Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA

March 3, University of California, Berkeley

March 7, Stories Books & Cafe, Los Angeles

March 12, Online, hosted by University of Maine

April 4, University of Wisconsin, Madison

April 4, A Room of One’s Own Bookstore, Madison, WI

May 1, Cleveland Park Library, hosted by Loyalty Books, Washington, D.C., with Jaime Grant, author of Polyamory for Dummies

May 3, Red Emmas, Baltimore, MD

May 7, Chicago, IL, co-sponsored by Haymarket Books, Pilsen Community Books, and In These Times.

Further events still being finalized for Madison, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Chicago, D.C., Olympia, Los Angeles, Bellingham and more.

ACCESS INFO

Most of the events above are spaces I cannot visit beforehand and have never been to, so I’m trying to think about how to maximize transparency about access, and also support COVID safety to the best of my ability. There is no doubt that these events will be imperfectly accessible, and I am making efforts to increase access where I can. I am grateful to friends at various Mask Blocs and Clean Air Clubs, especially Mask Bloc Seattle and Seattle Clean Air Collecitve, as well as to Emi at Long COVID Justice, for advice in developing this approach.


I hope my approach will build awareness around COVID safety and other access needs, and provide transparency for people considering attending about what to expect. Here’s what I’m doing:

  • I am telling people to mask at my events even if the venue does not require masks, and I will ensure masks are provided. If you want help get masks and clean air devices to the space, please contact the venues! That’s a huge help.
  • I am telling people to test before coming.
  • I am asking all venues that will be hosting me to fill out a survey, the results of which you can view HERE to see more detailed access information about the venue and event and how to contact the venue with access questions.
  • I do not have capacity to make all these events high-quality hybrid events, so instead I am planning several high-quality online events, which can be found in the list above.
  • I’m working to connect venues with Clean Air Clubs so that they can get UV devices and air filters in the space.
  • I have purchased a UVPro device from Bioabundances which I intend to bring to events to help clean the air. Many thanks to Bioabundance for collaborating with Clean Air Clubs and for giving me a discount on this device to support this book tour.

Please contact the venues for follow up questions–they know more than me about what is possible in their space. I hope these efforts increase the chance of people connecting to these events, and I look forward to being with you all online or in person!

P. S. I sent the access survey form to the venues on Jan 10, it may take some of them a little time to fill it out. Many are volunteer-run spaces.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSptWmkdRFR1beW9DAUe9LLmpl3p_zimwvnmltjwYOt4eWGnf9b-QwSuqgRONPUfB6_N65z0zpu040t/pubhtml?widget=true&headers=false

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New Book! Out January, Pre-Order Now

Cover image of Love in a F*cked Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell, Together

My new book will be out January 14, 2025!

Around the globe, people are faced with spiraling crises, from the pandemic and climate change-induced disasters to the ongoing horrors of mass incarceration, genocide, racist policing, endemic gender violence, and severe wealth inequality. More and more of us feel mobilized to fight back, often dedicating our lives to  collective liberation. But even those of us who long for change seem to have trouble when it comes to interpersonal relationships. Too often we think of our political values as outward-facing positions again dominant systems of power.  Many projects and resistance groups fall apart because people treat each other poorly, trying desperately to live out the cultural myths about dating and relationships that we are fed from an early age. How do we divest from cultural programming that gives us harmful expectations about sex, dating, romance and friendship? How do we recover from the messed up dynamics we were trained in by childhood caregivers? How do we bring our best thinking about freedom into step with our desires for healing and connection? Love in a F*cked-Up World is a resounding call to action and a practical manifesto for how to combat cultural scripts and take our relationships into our own hands, so we can stick together while we work for survival and liberation. Pre-order through Bluestockings and get 15% off with the code F*CKED<3.

Click here to watch the webinars I did with Fireweed Collective over the last four Valentine’s Days about dismantling the romance myth, which capture some of the themes of the book.

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New Interview with Them about Why I Oppose Trans Military Inclusion Advocacy

https://www.them.us/story/case-against-lgbtq-military-inclusion-explained

Just five days after being sworn in as the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden signed an executive order overturning former President Trump’s ban on openly transgender Americans serving in the military. “All Americans who are qualified to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States should be able to serve,” it read, going on to argue that an “inclusive military strengthens our national security.”

Biden’s executive order, one of a flurry he signed during his administration’s first week, marked the fulfillment of one of his foremost policy proposals regarding the advancement of LGBTQ+ equality in America. More specifically, the order counteracted a 2017 directive by the Trump administration banning openly trans folks from the armed services — itself a reversal of the Obama administration’s 2016 order that paved the way for trans Americans to serve in the military without hiding their gender identity.

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Mutual aid will help us survive the Biden presidency

Roar Magazine just published this adapted excerpt from my new book.

The only thing that keeps those in power in that position is the illusion of our powerlessness. A moment of freedom and connection can undo a lifetime of social conditioning and scatter seeds in a thousand directions.

— Mutual Aid Disaster Relief

Many people are feeling great relief that Trump has been voted out and are rightly celebrating the efforts so many people have undertaken to make that happen. But even as we celebrate, we must ensure we do not demobilize, hoping that the new administration will take care of our problems. Unfortunately, we can be certain that the Biden/Harris administration will not address the crises and disasters of climate change, worsening wealth concentration and poverty, a deadly for-profit health care system and racist law enforcement.

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Collaboration with Colin Kaepernick on Abolition

In case you missed it, Colin Kaepernick recently invited a bunch of abolitionist activists to write essays for a collection that his publishing platform has released over the course of the last four weeks in collaboration with Medium. The essays are really really really good–the whole collection would be a great syllabus for a class or reading group. I was honored to be included.

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Stonewall Was Not a “Peaceful Protest”

For Pride 2019 and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion, I wrote an op-ed for Out Magazine. 

Op-ed: Honor Our Stonewall Veterans by Being Your Most Queer Militant Self

The Stonewall rebellion was not a “peaceful protest.” Queer and transgender people threw shoes and bottles at cops who routinely raided gay bars, beat and raped queer and trans people. Today, under the direction of a multi-million dollar Pride industry, Stonewall is celebrated with big parades where police, the military, banks, and politicians wave rainbow flags. In some cities, the cops roll out special rainbow-painted police cars. The radical acts of rage and disobedience against illegitimate authority that erupted at Stonewall are now reflected back as a story about “progress” in which the institutions that run our lives through coercion and violence claim to be “gay friendly.” 

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