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-Marvin K. White "our name be witness"
Someone is watching. Beyond the closed circuit camera social-networking surveillence model of life that we are techno-living you are living in public. Someone is watching. It may be your little cousin who keeps wanting her hair to look just like yours. You neighbor across the street who tells her friends you are weird, but keeps wondering just how many things it really is possible to do on a front porch with a tribe of intergalactic travelers seen and unseen. Your mom who learned from you about yoga and how to phone-a-friend. People on public transit pretending to be texting. Your students, your colleagues. Your life is a private miracle and a public proof. Quirky Black Girls our name is a witness to the fact that the meaning of life is shifting in a good way towards more and more brazen brilliance.
I love you for this. And it helps to remember. We were not only sent here as sentinels, we were sent here as symbols for transformation. Cymbals for the end of a scene of scarcity and the beginning of a dance party of love. Last week, during the Juneteenth Freedom Academy weeklong intensive for educators we made affirmation talismans and I found my self writing free on a tiny salmon-colored ribbon again and again. Here to remind people of free. You tie it around your shoelaces, run it through ripped stockings, shave curls of it off your head, loop it with a knitting needle and a cursive signature on a real life paper love letter. Reminders everywhere of sweet satin survival. The way our lives are not just the substance of life but the content of the concept of life itself. Flesh out the skeleton with deep breaths and great smells and delicious dinners made as an excuse to eat at home with friends. As an early morning date with the ancestors. As time built into the day to dream what you didn't know your were dreaming.
Help me remember free.
I believe that a free QBG does not need regret. S/he may contradict herself in public because s/he is growing so fast that she gotta change her mind. S/he may miss a deadline in favor of a lifeline. S/he may show up in bedroom slippers. S/he is a challenge to anyone paying attention (and anyone is) to remember free. To forget to conform and remember to transform. To forget isolation and fall in love again.
Thank the Lorde (Audre) and shame the devil (capitalism) for the bright example of the QBGs!
And in case you were needing a ribbon to tie, a post it to post, a reminder to wear like a sharpie on your middle-school sneaker...here are some upcoming delicious QBG projects coming your way:
SAVE THE DATE HITCH A RIDE for the BEST WEEKEND EVER!!!!
Regenerate Weekend: The Quirky Oasis during Atlanta's Black Gay Pride Weekend including
Saturday Sept. 3rd 4pm-10pm. RE:GENERATE @ Queer Station!
Join the Mobile Homecoming Project and Quirky Black Girls for an intergenerational day-retreat including a love-filled discussion about sustaining queer black brilliance across the decades, self-care and mutual healing stations all day long, the joy of cooking together and a dance party of healing!!! RSVP to mobilehomecoming@gmail.com and let us know if you want to volunteer, bring food or donate towards this event!!!
Sunday Sept. 4th in Perkson Park in Atlanta, GA The 4th Annual QBG Queerky Cookout!!!
We are playing spades, eating, cheesing, caking, this pride at Perkerson Park. Come join your favorite QBG's and Co. for House in the Park!
http://www.evite.com/app/
Oh my gosh it's going to be unforgettable. Can't wait to see you all!!!!!!
Until then...
* Sunday August 21 @ 2pm: Mobile Homecoming Back to School Brunch @ Queer Station
Come eat QBG Moya's decadent cupcakes, QBG Mama Pauline's delicious broccoli surprise and your favorite breakfast standards and hear about the victorious and hilarious journey of the Mobile Homecoming project as we gear up to keep amplifying queer black intergenerational brilliance this Fall!!! Sliding scale fundraiser $10-30. RSVP at mobilehomecoming@gmail.com for address.
*Sunday August 28th: Butterflies and Bad Girl Legacies potluck @ 5pm Inspiration Station in Durham NC (rsvp to brokenbeautifulpress@gmail.com for directions)
Dedicated to your sacred sassy self! This session is for women of color and and feminists of color who do not conform to the gender binary to talk about sex, survival, revenge and healing on our own terms. We deserve as space free from the policing and criminalizing norms about our sexuality as people of color and as gender transforming revolutions.
*Black Pride Literary Salon @ Charis Books and More in Atlanta, GA 1189 Euclid Ave. NE Atlanta, GA 30307 (404)524-0304 info@charisbooksandmore.com
Start your Pride off right with Fiona Zedde, Ifalade Ta’Shia Asanti, and Alexis P. Gumbs who will read from their lastest works and discuss black lesbian literary legacies what it means to be a black lesbian writing today. Don't miss this fabulous discussion with some of our favorite writers and thinkers.
And ongoing...:
QBG Feminism meets Masculine of Center visibility!!! Contribute to Bklyn Boihood
Haaay QBG family, bklyn boihood is looking for a collection of voices from across the qpoc diaspora to contribute to the 'bois will be bois' blog starting in the fall. as always, our focus is on championing the voices of masculine-of-center people of color. we're on the prowl for ranters, essayists, comedians, interviewers, storytellers who at their core are sharp, committed writers with a passion for promoting visibility and empowerment. We're open to people around the world and look forward to building an even awesomer(!) community. For information hit up Mo, Head Writer at bbh @mwillis@bklynboihood.com.
And don't forget to email mobilehomecoming@gmail.com or brokenbeautifulpress@gmail.com if you are interested in internships for the coming semester!!!!
You remind me to be me (spelled "free").
Love always,
QBG Lex
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