Sun's Out Guns Out

Reader, have you heard the phrase "sun's out guns out" before? Here's an example to demonstrate the meme.

Woman who is very jacked posing with the caption "sun's out guns out."

Ok. So here's the thing. I'm sometimes nervous about taking my guns out because I'm fat. One thing that helped me feel more excited about getting dressed in less clothing for the summer was this article by Justin Hubbell. Another thing that helped me was the fact that I just dyed my armpits turquoise. A third  thing that helped is that it's horrifically hot out today (and yesterday, and apparently tomorrow too). And the last thing that helped was the fact that I spent all day with Secondo, who was home from school with a stomach bug. Secondo doesn't care what I look like.

So yeah. This entire post is basically here to say: I got my guns out today! Sadly I did not take any photos. You'll just have to imagine it instead.

Deaf Slam Time

Ok. This is my final slam poetry post. At least, for now.

All of my other slams were videos with speaking and since they weren't captioned they were horridly inaccessible. For today's slam I'm going in the opposite direction and posting a very famous ASL poem by Clayton Valli called "Dandelion":

Basically the poem describes someone removing dandelions, mowing them over, etc but every time they do the seeds scatter and create more dandelions. The dandelion remover in the poem represents the hearing community and dandelions are the Deaf and Deaf culture. Every time the hearing try to mow over them, the Deaf not only come back but spread. The poem echoes attempts to get rid of ASL in deaf residential schools.

This poem reminds me of a Mexican proverb I really love that's used a lot by the Zapatistas: "Quisieron enterrarnos, peru no sabian que somos semillas." In English it translates to "They tried to bury us, but they didn't know that we were seeds."

Black and white photo of a protest sign that says
"Quisieron enterrarnos, peru no sabian sue somos semilla."

Aquarium Day

This weekend was full of highs and lows. The highs included wonderful things such as brunch with friends and gardening and library book sales and cute men. The lows can all be contained in two words: stomach bug.

I found a copy of "Wuthering Bites" at the library booksale.

The backyard mystery bush is in bloom - it's a lilac!

So yeah. Today I used a library pass to go to the New England Aquarium with Joy and Mini T. It was awesome! And I think we picked a good day to go since it's a week day and Boston Public Schools are still in session until June so it wasn't very crowded. I don't own any ocean-themed clothes, but I did my best to dress for the occasion by wearing a bunch of blue colored things.

My favorite parts of the aquarium are the jellyfish, the seadragons, the touch tanks, the octopuses, and the giant ocean tank. The touch tanks are awesome for obvious reasons - who doesn't love being able to actually touch the animals? I like the jellyfish because they look so cool and otherworldly when they're floating about. I like the seadragons because they have the most amazing camouflage - it's really hard to find them in the tanks! Octopuses are just plain fascinating and I'll tell you a true octopus story at the end of this post. The other thing that's really cool about this aquarium is that it has a ginormous 200,000 gallon salt water ocean tank running up through the center. The tank is so huge it actually had to be built first and the rest of the building was built around it. I remember going here with my family as a kid and riding the back of my brother's wheelchair down the ramp that spirals around this tank.

Here are some pictures from the aquarium:

Mini T learns about horseshoe crabs.

Unidentified fish.

Aren't these cool?

Mini T and me at the touch tank.

Joy and me.

Eel.

Seahorse.

This camouflaged fish scared the crap out of me.

Penguins with their egg.

Weedy sea dragon.

Octopus.

Joy and Mini T at the ray tank.

Joy and Mini T touch a ray.

Isn't this pretty?

Ok here's the promised octopus story. When we were looking at the octopus tank, we spoke to a random older gentleman who was also visiting the aquarium and he told us about an octopus escape that happened at our same aquarium in the 1980s. The man we spoke to said that the escape was caught on the security camera footage. I couldn't find any video online but I was able to go back and verify his story - it's basically true. Apparently, the aquarium workers were growing increasingly confused and concerned because some of their fish were going missing (in the man's version it was sharks but I can't find anything specifying which fish were missing). Nobody could figure out where they were going or how they were disappearing. Then one day a researcher showed up to work really early and found the octopus climbing into the fish tank across from it for a snack. It turns out the octopus had been waiting until nobody was around and then climbing out of the tank, sliding across the aisle, and scaling the other tank to grab some extra food. It would eat its fill of captive aquarium fish and then come back the way it came - a total distance of about three feet.

Now we know that octopuses are smart. In fact, they've got the largest brain to body mass ratio of all of the invertebrates humans have studied so far. They can find their way through mazes, solve problems, and remember the solutions. They can unscrew lids, undo fasteners, open boxes, and because they have no bones they can squeeze through any space large enough to fit their beak. Back then nobody knew that octopuses were capable of all of that so the tank wasn't nearly as secure. At the aquarium now they have multiple locks and latches securing the octopus tanks. 

Fierce Friday: The Big Hair Reveal!

Ok. It's the moment you've all been waiting for. My big hair reveal! And the color is….

Me with turquoise hair.

Back of my head.

TURQUOISE!!! Woo!

All I have to say is thank God I'm blonde because this involved way too much effort on my part. Particularly my armpits which meant hanging out with my arms up for way longer than anyone should have to hang around with their arms up. Here's a process picture in which I look disturbed because it looks like I've killed a smurf by squishing its head in my armpit.

Me making a disturbed face while holding Manic Panic hair dye. My hair and armpits are being dyed.  

And here are Plum and I - she was dying her hair blue.

Plum and I dying our hair.

The finished hair colors of me and Plum. 

Anyway, since it's Fierce Friday I figured I'd choose some sort of Fierce Friday look to coordinate with my new turquoise hair. And that look is - PASTEL GOTH!

What? Pastel goth? What kind of weirdness is this?

Yes, friends. It's actually a thing. People dye their hair pastel colors and then pair pair feminine and pastel clothes with black and goth-themed clothes. It's sort of a girly take on the goth aesthetic. Think creepy and cute. I saw an article on buzzfeed describing the look as "if Lisa Frank puked on a pair of combat boots" and I think that's a pretty accurate descriptor.

Asian woman pastel goth with long light purple hair, black sweater with white crosses,
black bowler hat, black tights, black short skirt, white shirt, and black bondage harness.

White man pastel goth with light blue hair, pastel blue spiky jacket,
white and pink shirt with large black cross, black pants, and a pentacle necklace. 

White woman pastel goth with grayish white hair, black lace corset,
large black fake diamond shaped necklace, black lipstick and eye makeup, and white contacts. 

Black woman pastel goth with light purple afro, black halter top, black leather jacket with spikes, purple chunky necklace and earrings, and round black sunglasses. 

Pastel goth man with light purple hair, black leather jacket with spiky collar,
white t shirt, pentacle necklace, and diamond shaped sunglasses. 

White woman pastel goth with white hair, black fascinator,
white shirt with large black cross, thigh high black boots, black shorts,
and tights with a black lace design on them.

For my pastel goth look, I'm wearing a pink dress shirt I doctored up. I found the shirt at a thrift store and wore it on this Fierce Friday. Now I've swapped out the collar buttons and added craft studs to the collar and shirt pocket to make it more funky. Here's a process picture of my dress shirt and one of the craft studs:

Dress shirt in progress.

Crafting studs. 

You were able to see the back of the collar in the photo of my hair. Here's a closeup of the front of the collar and the pocket:

Collar.

Pocket.

I'm pairing the DIY dress shirt with grey pants, a black tie, my favorite black boots, my axe earrings, and light blue nail polish. 

Me and my cat Esh.

Body shot.

Pants, shoes, and nail polish.

Me.

Me again.

And a picture of my cat Esh. 

Transracial Adoption

I just attended a seminar on transracial adoption. While I don't feel committed to adopting any particular race of child, statistically the majority of kids in foster care are minorities and the majority of those kids are black. So I'm prepping for the most likely possibility, which is that I wind up with a black child (or children). Plus I've thought about it, and I think in terms of my life and living situation, children who are black or biracial black/white would fit in pretty well.

Graphic from 2013 showing percentages of children in foster care by race.

Why do I think this? Mainly because of how racially integrated my life is already.

I'm white but I have a decent amount of black people in my life. My housemates Joy, Mini T, Primo, Secondo, and Terzo are all black. My brother's fiancée and her family are black. I have black friends, white friends have adopted black children, and white friends who married black partners and had children with them. I think if I adopted black or biracial kids they would fit right in with my community.

As far as my religion goes, I think it should be no problem. I go to First Baptist Church in JP and the leadership of the church is racially diverse, as is the congregation. I'd say it's about half white, with the remaining half about three-quarters black and the rest mostly latinx. It's also very child and youth friendly. They have Sunday school, a children's circle, weekly church dinners, a kid's "music and mission" program, a youth group, and a monthly youth open mic night. On a side note, the church is liberal, queer friendly (they're members of the Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists, which is the national GLBT Baptist organization), and really into social justice. I found out about them at an affordable housing rally, which basically proves my point. They're involved in the black lives matter movement (that's a black lives matter sign on their lawn), they've partnered with black and pink which is a GLBTQ+ prisoner pen pal program, and they have some really cool programs like weekly meals for the elderly and homeless and a T pass program to cover transportation costs for their low-income and homeless members so they can come to church (and go everywhere else).

My church: note the black lives matter sign on the lawn. 

In terms of schools, I live in a racially diverse city and the public schools reflect that. Any kids I adopt will be in a diverse school environment just by virtue of the fact that they'll be in public school in my city. On a side note: the public schools here seem pretty decent in general, with a good teacher to student ratio and staff that seem willing to communicate with parents. They also have a universal free breakfast program and an after school program, and the elementary school includes Italian as a foreign language which makes me happy since I'm half Italian and want to teach my kids the language.

How about my house? Obviously my housemates are a diverse bunch. Built in playmates! Yay! I've got a bunch of racially diverse kids' books and movies, and the kids I live with have black baby dolls, a dollhouse with black people, and other diverse toys. We eat all kinds of tasty vegetarian and vegan food from different cultures. We have a bunch of friends and family coming in and out for visits as well and they're all sorts of different races and ethnicities.

The other big thing I go to is the French Cultural Center. They have children's classes, a children's library, summer camp, and a bunch of family friendly events throughout the year. They're also fairly diverse because they serve all francophone people. For example, they seem to have a fair amount of Haitian members. Their teachers and staff really do come from all over the place. I've taken classes with people from France, Belgium, Algeria, Egypt, the Ivory Coast, and Congo. If I want to put my kid into private lessons I can easily ask for one of the really great teachers I've had who are black and if I put them in one of the other classes I can be fairly confident that they'd not be the only child of color there.

The French Cultural Center.

My city is diverse. Any kids I adopt will run into other black people (and people of a bunch of different races and ethnicities) everywhere. I'll have no problem finding black babysitters. If I search them out, I should easily be able to find professionals who are black so my kids can have a black primary care doctor, a black therapist, etc. There's a playground right near my house with a diverse bunch of kids there whenever we visit. The local library is walking distance and has lots of free kids events. Basically I think I'm living in a good setting for this.

The other really big thing that I think will help is that I'm someone who values diversity in general. I find learning about other people fascinating. I grew up with foster siblings of different races and ethnicities. [Like the older black foster sister who taught me how to braid, so yes I've got the hair care thing down.] I feel deeply connected to my heritage and am excited to share that with my kids and to learn about their heritages as well. Although I don't have the experience of being racial discrimination, I've faced discrimination as a queer and gender non-conforming person and have developed the thick skin necessary to handle it. I know what it's like to be seen as less than others because of being different, and how to work to develop pride in yourself despite that. Those are lessons I can certainly pass that on to my kids. I'm also someone who is humble enough to know when to ask for help. I want to make sure my kids connect with adults of the same race who can teach them the things I can't. Because of my friends and my community I'm in a good place to be able to do that.

Slam of the Week

This week's slam is Keith Jarrett performing "A Gay Poem":

Happy Birthday Plum!

Today is my housemate Plum's birthday. Happy Birthday Plum!

Plum wearing a plum colored dress at the Fenway Women's Event. 

Today I put my library card to good use. I got a library pass and spent the day checking out the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester MA. The museum is dedicated entirely to photography which is really neat as far as I'm concerned. The museum opened at noon, but I went to Winchester early so that I could hike around the Middlesex Fells Reservation and eat a picnic lunch beforehand. In my aimless hiking I discovered that there is a pond in the reservation called Spot Pond with three tiny islands in it and - even better - Spot Pond Boating does boat rentals. So next time I go I'm renting a kayak and paddling about.

Picture from the internet of Spot Pond that I found online.

Anyway, I had my picnic and spent the afternoon hanging out at the photography museum. The first exhibit I looked at was The Human Landscape by Karin Rosenthal, who has dedicated her career to photographing human nudes in landscape. My favorite photograph from that exhibit was "Contemplation."

"Contemplation" by Karin Rosenthal.

The other exhibit was the 37 Photographers / One Model exhibit, in which the same male model (a 50-something year old white male dancer named Jim) was used in all of the photographs. My favorites from that exhibit were  "Jawbone Pond" by Jim Baab, and "Transposition #1," "Transposition #2," and "Transposition #3" by David Weinberg.

"Jawbone Pond" by Jim Baab.

While I was at the Griffin Museum of Photography I noticed a flier for the Boston Camera Club. They hold meetings on Tuesdays at All Saint's Parish Church in Brookline. It does involve paying dues but it looks really neat! Maybe I'll check it out next week.

Me in front of the Griffin Museum of Photography.