all at once, there’s nothing in the middle

I have been working on playing catch up over here. I spent my day off yesterday resting and recovering from my stuffy head. But I also had to do some work on the insulation in the garage so while I was down there putting my tools away I decided to clean a few totes of photos. That lead to me going upstairs and sorting more photos.

A friend of mine recently told me that I should probably find the original "Three Butches work in my basement" photo and make sure it is safe since it is such an important image. I kinda laughed it off but then thought of all the women, all the young butches, the lesbians and people of all ages who have viewed that photo.

I realized that many people found me through that photo and I have made so many connections, some were quick interactions and others resulted in long term friendships and life changing converstations.

I tried to figure a rough count on the views across the many platforms it has been shared on and I think it is possibly in the millions. I asked the three women to permission those many years ago before I posted it on tumblr and just wanted to share it because I loved the image of my friends so much. Turns out lots of others love it too.

I dug around and found the original. Now I am deciding if I put it in my safe, leave it in the scrap book where it is or seriously consider asking a lesbian archive to safe keep it for me as a lender to their collections.

I am not sure any traditional lesbian archive is going to understand what I am talking about in relation to this photo. But i know how much affect it has had and that makes me happy.

they should make a pill that makes people in their 20s feel good about where their lives are going

The Israeli army opened up a mass grave in al-Shifa hospital and dug up 130 bodies of dead Palestinians and took them.

Reported by journalists in gaza and news outlets as well as the health ministry spokesperson.

Thinking about Israel's skin banks that are filled with stolen Palestinians body parts, do your research if you don't know what that is. This should stop, even the dead aren't left in peace.

Here's an article you can read about Israel's skin banks.

There are also plenty of documentaries where israeli doctors talk about it openly. The article also includes some names of Palestinians who had their organs stolen and trafficked especially in the West Bank. Such as the case of Belal Ghannan, a 19 year old who lived in the west bank, when he disappeared and was returned to his family with a closed coffin with an urgent message from the Israeli forces to bury him without a funeral. His family found his body missing inside organs from his neck into his abdomen.

There are also the investigations in 2001 and 2009 by many journalists, as well as a 2009 documentary that you can search for to know more about it.

Reminder that Israel has the largest skin bank in the world, bigger than America even though it was created 40 years after, and Israel being a much smaller population. Also the israelis beliefs against donating organs/skin after death and their reluctance towards all campaigns held by Israel forces. So the main resource for this bank is Palestinians skin and organs who were taken without their or their families consent.

Doll Parts by Petra Collins

violet was so fucking funny for this

A gentle path in the marsh

@seanmurphyjpg

Boycott Israel Cheat Sheet: Cosmetics, Health and Personal Care

When I began this blog, it was my intention to keep it strictly focused on the art of Palestine, and not to use it as a sounding block for pro-Palestinian politics. This is not to say the two things are unrelated – to the contrary, the art coming out of Palestine and from those living in exile is often explicitly political, and in all cases is shaped by the ongoing occupation of Palestine. My feeling was, and largely still remains, that this is a place for contemplation rather than debate. In light of the latest assault on Gaza, however, I have been doing a lot of talking with friends about BDS. What started as a conversation bemoaning the affiliation of MAC cosmetics with Zionist causes rapidly turned into a project; I spent the better part of a day compiling a list of cosmetics, health and personal care brands to avoid if you’re boycotting Israel, along with alternative products to use.

The process was abysmal. Surely, I have taken care never to underestimate US corporate ties with Israel, but even so, the explicit connections and the vast scope of products involved is frankly demoralizing.  That said, the boycott of Israeli goods is a vital step towards liberation for Palestine, and if you are interested in learning more, visit the BDS website and consult the list below.

A note about the scope and content: I focused on health and beauty items because they are the items I use most in my daily life, and because my friends – who seem disproportionately to be incredibly beautiful and well-groomed femmes – wanted to know about the products they are using. To do an exhaustive list is impossible at this juncture, though I hope to make lists focused on different sales arenas in the future. Topically, it bears repeating that Palestine is a feminist issue – we as women and/or feminist advocates should remember this as we make choices about the kind of products we buy for our bodies.

The list is after the cut, please share widely! 

Keep reading

Suzanne Shifflett (prints currently 15% off to raise funds for her sick dog)

The Watermelon Woman (1996)

Anthony Skellern

sees a cigarette butt with lipstick on it on the sidewalk and gets so hard that i walk directly into a streetlamp

Dykes n their cars by Chloe Sherman

Gab Bois

Cigarette packing machine, Pécs Tobacco Factory, 1980. From the Budapest Municipal Photography Company archive.

Members of Boston’s Lesbian Avengers eating fire at a reproductive rights rally | 1995

[The fire-eating] grew out of tragedy. Last year, a lesbian and a gay man, Hattie Mae Cohens and Brian Mock, burned to death in Salem, Ore., after a Molotov cocktail was tossed into the apartment they shared. A month later, on Halloween, at a memorial to the victims in New York City, the Avengers (then newly organized) gave their response to the deaths. They ate fire, chanting, as they still do:

“The fire will not consume us. We take it and make it our own.”

[ID: a black and white newspaper headline that reads, "Burning butch / Lesbian Avengers aim to educate" with a photo of multiple lesbians eating fire in the middle of a crowd in the city. end ID]

— tanya olson, amo, amas, amat, amamus

some recent reads: (faves are bolded)