Keeping House - the Mountain Goats
And the ghost on your doorstep is soaked wet with rain
And he clutches his stomach and howls at the pain
And you can stay busy all day
He’s never going away
To all the girls whose thighs touch, with stretchmarks laid like gold across their backside, with bellies too full for any inadequate hands, thank goddess for your abundance.
“
| — | Kim Crosby (via dragon-woman) |
Megan Falley - A Final Letter to His Writer Wife
“Persona Poem from the perspective of a future husband in the alternate universe where I am a rich and famous writer” From the AWP all Star Super Ridiculous Reading. March 9, 2013
i am so thrilled that someone finally caught a video of this poem. especially when adam falkner’s genius is accompanying it musically. thank you for watching!
petition to turn “day of silence” into “day of screaming”
just talk about gay things all day
point out oppression whenever you see it
scream at homophobes until your throat goes raw
get loud
get aggressive
refuse to be silenced
make them fuckin listen to you
Pretty pleased with my new band bio.
Feels a little early but FEST 12 tickets go on sale soon. I’m very excited to see that NONA is playing this year. I’m excited to already be daydreaming about going to Epcot Center.
Melissa Harris-Perry’s Open Letter to the Steubenville Survivor
Dearest Beloved Girl,
This letter is an apology. An apology for being an adult who has failed to make the world safe for you. Because you should be safe. Even when you make the sometimes stupid, often naive choices that teens make, you should be safe.
Your vulnerability should not invite assault and attack of your body or your spirit. And so I am sorry, because we have failed to teach your male peers that they have no right to touch you without your consent or to use you to meet their needs or to discard you if your victimization does not fit their life plan. I am sorry we have failed you.
This letter is also a note of gratitude for your willingness to report this crime, to take the stand, and to endure the viciousness hurled at you this week. I know the words that run in a loop in your mind. Don’t tell. If you tell, no one will believe you. If you tell, everyone will think you are a whore. Sometimes he is the one who says them first, spewing the words like mold spores that grow in the darkness of your silence. Sometimes it’s your own voice telling you, I can’t tell. No one will believe me. It’s the reason 54% of survivors never report the assault. It’s the reason I kept my secret for nearly a decade. But not you, beloved. You demanded the right to be heard.
You may have lost your voice that night, but you found it again when you told the truth–even though you knew, didn’t you? You knew just how relentlessly they would try to silence you.
You knew that neighbors, and friends, and even members of the national media would mourn the loss of your attackers’ football careers more than the loss of your innocence. You knew that even those who claimed to be sympathetic would pass along the pictures of your assault with a tone deaf voyeurism that seeks to make you a thing instead of a person. I think maybe you knew, or suspected these things, but you spoke out anyway.
And that…that is astonishing. And I want to say thank you, because you did what so many of us never find the strength to do. You spoke for yourself. You spoke for the 44% of rape victims who are under 18–and you spoke for my 14-year-old self, who still hears that threat echoing in my head, “Don’t tell. No one will believe you.”
So, this is my apology and this is my gratitude. This is me saying, “I believe you.”
And I believe you are inherently valuable. Not as a character in some grotesque news cycle where your assault is all we know, but as a girl with hopes and dreams and ambitions and vulnerabilities and so much more growing up to do. I never need to know your name, but I need you to know you are not alone. Surviving is not a single occurrence, it is a lifetime of making choices that honor you and your right to speak. You have begun surviving. You will continue surviving. And if you ever get down, or wonder how you will go on, take out this letter and read it to yourself.
I believe you.
Sincerely,
Melissa
If this were her commentary on the Harlem Shake, it would have a lot more notes.
Forever reblog
Yes! Thank you! Thank you Melissa Harris-Perry for this commentary!
Someone desperatey needed to say this.
That voice in your head that aims to silence you is extremely loud and for that child to ignore it and boldly tell her truth is inspiring.
well would ya look at that, i’m crying
