elelopez

[elelopez]

Please remember disabled people in your body positivity. Basing it around loving yourself and your body because of what it can do and how it operates is ableist and alienates a huge group of people from your movement.

[elelopez]

Sins Invalid pulls film out of Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF) due to festival's pinkwashing ad

Sins Invalid’s Statement re the Vancouver Queer Film Festival 2014

Sins Invalid is a disability justice-based performance project centering disabled artists of color and queer / gender non-conforming disabled artists. Our work celebrates the embodied, erotic humanity of disabled people, and we understand all bodies live in a multitude of very real social, political, economic and cultural contexts.

We cannot separate the sexuality of people with disabilities, and our right to sexual self-expression and human connection, from the rights of all people to eat, drink, have shelter, medicine, breath, sovereignty, and peace.

We are proud of our work, and had been excited to curate an evening of films and discussion for the Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF), including a screening of our documentary film about our performances. It was a valuable opportunity for us to share our work with new audiences.

However, we were angered and disappointed to see the print ad accepted by the VQFF that attempts to portray the state of Israel as a friend to LGBTQ communities, particularly in the current moment as the people of Palestine are living through hell and dying in staggering numbers daily.  We recognize that such ads are part of a global effort to “pinkwash” Israel’s image, to persuade LGBTQ people in other countries that the privileges enjoyed by queer Israelis are reason enough to be silent about the inhumane treatment of Palestinians of all orientations.

Palestinian civil society has called upon the world to exert political pressure and moral persuasion on Israeli society through the nonviolent tools of boycott, divestment and sanctions, and we are answering that call.

As we write these words, the Israeli military continues to kill scores of Palestinian civilians every day in Gaza, including queer Palestinians. The Israeli military is disabling thousands of people, while it continues to bomb hospitals, fire on ambulances, and destroy disability rehabilitation facilities. Of the thousands wounded from this current assault, many will be permanently disabled in a place where the basic necessities of daily life are stopped at the border, and basic medicine – much less adequate medical care, physical therapy, and adaptive technology – is beyond reach. These newly disabled Palestinians have been described by some as a “burden” to Palestinian society.  In fact, these are the Palestinians whose bodies most directly bear the burdens of occupation and state violence, and most obviously show its scars. 

As a result of the ad, we have decided to withdraw from the program and decline to screen our film, Sins Invalid, at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. We will be screening it at an alternate location in Vancouver on Mon Aug 18th at 7pm PST. All tickets purchased for the VQFF program will be honored at our alternate event.

We urge the festival to consider that the issue is not about its lack of advertising policy, but about its unwillingness to acknowledge settler colonialism and the violent occupation of Palestine. We urge Festival goers to stand with us by asking the Vancouver Queer Film Festival to agree to refuse “pinkwashing” funding in the future, and to stand in solidarity with all queer and gender non-conforming peoples, wherever they may live.

Image Description: Painting of a dark-skinned disabled woman on left in a jail cell clasping hands with olive-skinned disabled woman on right in a warzone. Woman on the left uses a wheelchair and is wearing orange prison clothes with bars in the background.  Woman on the right is wearing a hijab and her left arm & left leg are newly amputated & bandaged. Image on text reads: "Disability Justice means resisting together from solitary cells to open-air prisons.“ Art by Micah Bazant & Sins Invalid. additional letters from others to the VQFF: * QuAIA Vancouver statement on VQFF pinkwashing * SFPIRG’s public letter to VQFF re pinkwashing Disability Justice for Palestine solidarity video:

[elelopez]

White Supremacy in QTPOC Spaces

Just cause I'm queer doesn't mean I'm down with all queers. I'm not down with the anti-Black, tone-policing, brown queers, queers who literally pushed me out of the conference afterparty because I voiced my fustrations around police brutality and white folks taking up space at the conference. Saturday night was horrifying. As usual there was an afterparty for attendants of the conference. The party was chill, until the pigs arrived to the front door and approached a black queer person and questioned their identity as a student. The cops asked for their id. None of the white people in the space took the intiative to speak to the cops, until later. I spoke up about the need for white folks to get it together and not always let poc do the work because we sure will do it, but there can be dire deadly consequences. yes, there were white people taking up space at the conference during the workshops, and also at the party. my friend crying about almost being arrested. i was told to shutup and that it wasnt the space to talk about this. im like wtf really? this isnt the space to talk about police brutality? anti-Black racism? white folx taking up space? at a queer trans poc conference? its not the space? so where else is this conversation supposed to be held? where else can i voice my fustrations? extremely dissapointed with the queer community at santa cruz. i was told to leave repeatedly, boo-ed out and so I did. The entire Davis delegation left. Apparently, my opinions weren't valid because it wasnt in a classroom setting or at a workshop or there wasnt a professor facilitating the conversation. Ya'll want to fight the power but not the white power. Fuck respectability politics. I'm "rude". So be it 💁🏽 I will always be the brown hoodqueer born and raised in South Central, LA. White supremacy is in qtpoc spaces and we need to actively work on that. This weekend was a perfect white example. Yes, even within my own community we have issues. Every community does. Also, ya'll sure as hell were dancing to Beyoncé tho! 😒😒😒😒

[elelopez]

LatinX:

So many "Latinos" get overworked about using "Latinx" instead. Like I prefer using "Latinx" because it challenges cis-hetero patriarchy. It's gender-neutral. It is realistic about the fact that trans, genderqueer and gender-nonconforming folx in the Latinx community exist. Language is important and it should change as we find ways to describe our reality. Decolonize.

[elelopez]

The Lazy Millenials

I was having a conversation with a brown man in his late 30's the other day and he told me that millenials are probably the "laziest" out of all generations. I told him that we are not lazier and I personally work three jobs to make ends meet. He laughed and walked away. After the convo, I thought to myself that "lazy" is such an ableist term. Not everyone can meet the 8-5pm demand. Not all work spaces are safe for trans, queer, disabled folx. Discrimination in the work space is real and buildings, institutions are inaccessible a lot of the time. I think us as millenials demand to be treated better and really care and to others that may seem as wanting "handouts" and "the easy way out". I think its okay to be critical about oppressive institutions, and to voice our opinions and I also think it's okay to want a more inclusive and healthier society for folks in the margins. I think it's okay to be anti-capitalist, want free education, to want to break down borders, have reproductive rights and to strive towards a gender equitable world. It's not "complaining" it's being critical and wanting to be a better humxn at the end of the day. I shouldve said something snarkier but my boss was looking right at me. I'm also generalizing so it's okay to not identify with what I just shared.

[elelopez]

The Best of Twitter dragging Pepsi™ and Kendall Jenner’s ignorant ass for that horrendous new ad they just released.

[elelopez]

apologize to your body. maybe, that’s where the healing begins.

Nayyirah Waheed, “Starting” (via wnq-anonymous)

[elelopez]

Reblog if you're a girl who snorts when you laugh, if you like girls who snort when they laugh, or can't wait for the inevitable fall of capitalism.

[elelopez]

[elelopez]

Watch: President Jimmy Carter tells Oprah America is no longer a democracy, it’s an oligarchy — and he’s not wrong.

[elelopez]

for cishet aro/aces who want to “reclaim” the word queer, let me tell you about the history of the word queer’s reclamation. the q slur first started being reclaimed by LGBT people in the late 80s, during the AIDs epidemic. in May 1990, the organization Queer Nation was formed and they passed out flyers at New York’s Gay Pride Parade that read:

“Ah, do we really have to use that word? It’s trouble. Every gay person has his or her own take on it. For some it means strange and eccentric and kind of mysterious […] And for others “queer” conjures up those awful memories of adolescent suffering […] Well, yes, “gay” is great. It has its place. But when a lot of lesbians and gay men wake up in the morning we feel angry and disgusted, not gay. So we’ve chosen to call ourselves queer. Using “queer” is a way of reminding us how we are perceived by the rest of the world.”

their explanation for reclaiming the q slur was their anger with being persecuted for being gay, labeled as disgusting and sinful for being gay people during the AIDS epidemic. they were reclaiming “queer” to remind themselves of every time they heard “queer” while being bullied and beaten by their family+peers for being LGBT and therefore, remind them of the harmful bigotry cishets portray. they were outraged by all the violent hate crimes happening to LGBT people every day. Queer Nation’s goal was to eliminate homophobia, and the increase of gay, lesbian and bisexual visibility. they wanted to make it clear to straight people that queers would not be restricted to gay bars for socializing and for public displays of affection, and to call attention to the fact that most “public” space was in fact hetero space. through parodying straight behavior (such as “spin the bottle”) at these events, queers refused to be invisible while publicly questioning the naturalized status of hetero coupling activity. queer people were LGBT people standing up against the bigotry and violence due to the increased homophobia and transphobia during the AIDS epidemic. they were making a political statement that they did not deserve to hide or be ashamed for being LGBT, did not deserve to hide or be ashamed for being sexual and LGBT. that cishet people would have to deal with LGBT people and their affection, whether bigoted cishet people liked it or not.

throughout the years, trans and sga/mga people have been attacked with the q slur, had it muttered in our direction in passing or yelled at us while being beaten. queer is still a slur for so many LGBT people, they’re still being harmed by it every day. not for being perceived as “weird” or “not the norm”, but for specifically being LGBT. for being trans and/or for being sga/mga. queer has been and continues to be a word that LGBT people have exclusively been attacked with by cishets. and if you’re cishet, you can’t “reclaim” a word that didn’t harm you in the first place, that doesn’t only have a history of not harming you..but a history of you harming others with it. 

[elelopez]

This is NOT a New Year’s Resolution Post

**Mandatory End of the Year Post**

I have a lot to be upset about this year like *insert all the sh*tty things here*, BUT I want to take this moment to acknowledge the things I’m proud of for a second. This post is just another act of self-preservation. A reminder that, I am the result of generations of womxn of color resistance. Here are some things to be proud of thus far:

Be proud of building up the strength to get out of bed the mornings you were able to. Be proud of cooking homemade meals more often. Be proud of moving away from home at the age of eighteen to create your own home. Be proud of graduating college despite all the heartbreaks and failures. Be proud of your bravery for getting back into the capitalist work force that tends to be very toxic for queer & trans people of color. Be proud of taking small steps to get your life back on track. Be proud of gaining the strength to openly reject toxic masculinity, white supremacy and cycles of violence. Be proud of sticking to your goals even if you were anxious to death about the future. Be proud of pushing through the lie that you are a disappointment and worthless. Be proud of insisting that there is something beautiful about you, inside you, that the world needs, even if you don't want to believe it yourself. Be proud of vocalizing what hurts you, makes you happy, makes you feel good and makes you sad. Be proud of seeking the love you deserve. Be proud of working through your endless insecurities. Be proud of asking and receiving support when you physically or mentally could not manage. Be proud of crying unapologetically all year long. Be proud of surrounding yourself with radical caring community. Be proud of choosing the healthiest path for your body, mind and spirit despite the pain, guilt and shame that comes along with that. Be proud of being vulnerable in a world so guarded. Be proud of making space for your own personal growth, learning/unlearning and healing process. Be proud of giving yourself a chance every single day because you deserve it more than anyone else. Be proud of writing, owning and living your multiple truths. Be proud of believing in yourself enough to keep going. Here you are, still. Be proud. Be proud. Be proud.

To all my femmes, womxn of color, queer & trans poc fam struggling through chronic mental illness. I want to continue to do better for us. We have survived so much. I am humbled to experience this life with you. We are strength and resilience. I hope we never lose each other. I am proud of you - I am proud of us.

#LaLuchaSigue #TheFightContinues

[elelopez]

Are you a woman of color who needs money for college or grad school?

Here are 100 scholarships to choose from:

Unless otherwise stated, all minority scholarships are applicable to women from underserved ethnic groups, including African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and Asians.

Arts Scholarships

Girls* Who Illustrate Awesomeness Scholarship 

Apply here.

Blanche E. Coleman Foundation Scholarship 

For more information contact the foundation using this information.

National Society of Arts and Letters Scholarships

Apply here.

Bev Sellers Scholarship

Learn more here.

BMI Foundation: John Lennon Scholarship 

Apply here.

Worldstudio Foundation AIGA Scholarship

Apply here.

Women in Film Foundation Scholarship Learn more here.

Education Scholarships

Nancy Larson Foundation College Scholarship Apply here.

Minority Doctoral Loan For Service Apply here.

National Academy of Education Spencer Dissertation Fellows Apply here.

STEM Scholarships

Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship Apply here.

Software Testing Scholarship Apply here.

ASM Undergraduate Research Fellowship Apply here.

Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Apply here.

AWG Minority Scholarship Apply here.

National Institutes of Health Undergraduate Scholarship Program Apply here.

Stan Beck Fellowship Apply here.

APS Minority Scholarship Apply here.

AICPA Minority Accounting Students Scholarships Apply here.

Mae & Mary Scholarship Learn more here.

The Generation Google Scholarship Apply here.

Microsoft Minority Scholarship Learn more.

Charles Shelton Veterinary Medicine/Technology Scholarship Apply here.

Brown and Caldwell Minority Scholarship Apply here.

Surety & Fidelity Industry Intern and Scholarship Program Apply here.

¡Adelante! Fund Scholarships Apply here.

Elliott C. Roberts Scholarship Apply here.

P.L.A.Y. Scholarship Apply here.

Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Scholarships Apply here.

Gates Millennium Scholars Program Apply here.

National Medical Fellowship Scholarships Program Apply here.

SanDisk Scholars Fund Apply here.

Hispanic Scholarship Fund Apply here.

General Merit Scholarships

Udall Undergraduate Scholarships Apply here.

Fulbright Scholars Program Learn more here.

Courage to Grow Scholarship Apply here.

BUICK Achievers Scholarships Apply here.

Coca-Cola Scholars Apply here.

Xerox Technical Minority Scholarship Apply here.

Burger King Scholars Apply here.

Roothbert Fund Scholarship Apply here.

Liberty Mutual  Scholarships Apply here.

State Farm Good Neighbor Scholarship Apply here.

LPGA Foundation Scholarship Apply here.

NCAA Minority and Women’s Enhancement Graduate Scholarship Apply here.

Discover Student Loans Scholarship Apply here.

Scholarship America Dream Award Apply here.

AXA Achievement Community Award Apply here.

Catharine Lealtad Scholarships More info here.

Marine Corps Scholarships Apply here.

La Unidad Latina Foundation Scholarships Apply here.

Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholarships Learn more here.

GE – Reagan Foundation Scholarship Learn more here.

Fundación Kinesis Scholarships Learn more here.

Jackie Robinson Foundation Scholarship Apply here.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Apply here.

Ronald McDonald House Charities African American Future Achievers Apply here.

The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans Apply here.

Omega Phi Beta – Reach for the Gold Scholarships Apply here.

Questbridge Scholarship Learn more here.

Ron Brown Scholar Program Apply here.

United Negro College Fund Learn more here.

DAR American Indian Scholarship Learn more here.

Frances Crawford Marvin American Indian Scholarship Learn more here.

Business Scholarships

American Bus Association Diversity Scholarship Apply here.

FormSwift Scholarship Apply here.

17oxen Digital Marketing  Scholarship Apply here.

Les Dames d’Escoffier International Scholarship Apply here.

AICPA Minority Accounting Students Scholarships Apply here.

Morgan Stanley Richard B. Fisher Scholarship Program Apply here.

National Society of Hispanic MBAs Scholarship Program Apply here.

Herman J. Neal Scholarship Apply here.

HACU Scholarships Apply here.

National Black MBA Association Scholarships Apply here.

Surety & Fidelity Industry Intern and Scholarship Program Apply here.

The Hyatt Hotels Fund for Minority Lodging Management Students Apply here.

Minorities in Hospitality Scholars Program Learn more here.

RICOH Scholarship Program Learn more here.

Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Learn more here.

Social Science Scholarships

ASA Minority Fellowship Program Apply here.

Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program Apply here.

Harry S. Truman Scholarship Amount: $30,000 | Application Deadline: February Apply here.

American Library Association Spectrum Scholarship Apply here.

Fellowship on Women and Public Policy Amount: $31,000 | Application Deadline: September Apply here.

Jennings Randolph Peace Scholarship Dissertation Program Amount: $20,000 | Application Deadline: November Apply here.

Judith McManus Price Scholarship Apply here.

Thomas R. Pickering Undergraduate & Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship Amount: Up to $37,500 | Application Deadline: December Apply here.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Award Learn more here.

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Scholarship Learn more here.

Law Scholarships

American Bar Association Jeanne P. Gray Diversity Scholarship Learn more here.

Backfire & Backfire, P.C. Law School Diversity Scholarship Apply here.

NALP Diversity Scholarships Amount: Up to $30,000| Application Deadline: Varies here.

Sidney B. Williams Scholarship Apply here.

Communications Scholarships

The Jacqueline Woodson Fellowship for a Young People’s Writer of African or Caribbean Descent Learn more here.

Proofreading.com Scholarship Apply here.

The LAGRANT Foundation Scholarships Apply here.

Leonard M. Perryman Communications Scholarship for Racial Ethnic Minority Students Apply here.

National Press Club Scholarship for Journalism Diversity Apply here.

Chips Quinn Scholars Program Apply here.

Allison E. Fisher Scholarship Apply here.

Emma Bowen Foundation Fellowship Learn more here.

source

The list with more art scholarships – here: http://www.scholarshipsforwomen.net/art/

I’m so happy more opportunities are coming up! Scholarships are in effect a gift of free cash. Free cash is very popular in every society and nation. So the applicant and recipient of scholarship money has worked very hard and has much to offer our society and is a deserved winner. It is still a free cash gift… GET IT! 

These presentations shows you how to write a winner scholarship:

application:http://www.thefreeschool.education/scholarships.html

#BlackGirls #EducatedBlack 

[elelopez]

You deserve shelter at no price You deserve water and food at no price You deserve healthcare at no price You deserve education at no price

You deserve to live your life regardless of money. You deserve to live your life whether you “contribute” or not. You should be able to live with no strings attached.

[elelopez]

Thinking about the revolution

I am realizing that in this world I am forced to use both "respectable" and "unrespectable" ways to dismantle oppressive systems like racism. The problem with these so-called "respectable" ways is that they are not accessible to everyone. This may include getting degrees (which is supposed to give me credibility but we all know even with a degree as a queer womxn, does not rid me of racism, homophobia, sexism), knowing how to write, knowing how to "articulate" yourself in a emotionless manner, using references, knowing where to find statistics, facts, knowing how to look through government documents/ archives and etc., knowing how to do research and etc. And tbh sometimes I do not feel like articulating myself in these "respectable" ways because I am so personally impacted by these oppressive systems and so are my friends and family. Sometimes I just want to scream and protest. And say "Fuck Donald Trump" but really meaning "Fuck this able-bodied white supremacist cis- het patriarchial government I am being oppressed by". Sometimes I do not feel like educating others about my oppression. Thats the thing I should not have to but I am. I have to because thats the only way I will make space for myself and many others like me. And also, the many spaces that supported me to graduate like EOP and the WRRC were spaces that students protested to have so I would be a hypocrite to say that protests are useless because they are not. Protests have meaning, they are valid, they are important to enact change and is where we can find the people who know what is failing in this country and who the country is failing. It would be nice one day to title my thesis for my Masters: "Fuck Donald Trump: How the U.S keeps fucking over People of Color" hahaha Sending you all love today 💛

[elelopez]

[elelopez]

A lesbian couple and their son were murdered in Oakland last week. :(

RIP Patricia Wright, Charlotte Silby, and Benny Wright.