echoing

Echoing Ida ! 


and this by Jenn Jackson: conditions of consent: teaching children body autonomy 

and this by Yvette Dionne.

changing the beauty standard

The Lip Bar, Detroit.

THE DESIGNER WHO TOOK TIME: Azzedine Alaïa

Fashion's most independent designer, whose work was more architecture and sculpture ("I dress women directly on their body, by intuition") than fashion. 

He dedicated his life to the belief that fashion was more than just garments; to him, they were as much an element in the empowerment of women and of a broader cultural conversation. He used leather and knits to shape and support the body, transforming it into the best version of itself. He eschewed external decoration for internal integrity, weaving pattern and adornment into the weft of the garment itself in ways that were almost undetectable to the outside eye.

His introduction to art came from Madame Pinot, a midwife who helped birth the children in his family, including him. "She gave me books and pamphlets to art exhibitions" and, against his father's wishes, registered him at the School of Fine Arts in Tunis.

AA passed away suddenly last weekend at age 82.


watch a 26 minute untitled homage to Azzedine Alaïa. 

Simon Moya Smith

Native American Heritage Day falls on the one day each year when Americans ravenously indulge in material possessions — Black Friday. So is this an insult to Native Americans? Of course it is. How could it not be?

If Native American Heritage Day fell on Nov. 5, for example, then students would be in the classroom and teachers could offer lessons about the Native American today. But no. Instead, streams of bundled-up shoppers are standing in line to make their purchases, with the class the last thing on any kids’ minds as they sit watching TV.

If we’re going to choose a day for Native American Heritage Day when school is out, then how about Thanksgiving Day itself? Why not? That way we could learn about the real history of the holiday, and not the romanticized version we all hear about.

Simon Moya Smith Essay on CNN

Winona LaDuke

There is this magical made-up time between Columbus Day (or Indigenous People’s Day for the enlightened) and Thanksgiving, where white Americans think about native people. That’s sort of our window.

November is Native American Heritage Month. Before that, of course, is Halloween. Until about three years ago, one of the most popular Halloween costumes was Pocahontas. People know nothing about us, but they like to dress up like us or have us as a mascot.

We are invisible. Take it from me. I travel a lot, and often ask this question: Can you name 10 indigenous nations? Often, no one can name us. The most common nations named are Lakota, Cherokee, Navajo, Cheyenne and Blackfeet — mostly native people from western movies. This is the problem with history. If you make the victim disappear, there is no crime. And we just disappeared. When I travel, I get this feeling someone has seen a unicorn in the airport.

Winona LaDuke Essay in Inforum

Sherman Alexie

Q. Do you feel like you’ve been able to make Thanksgiving your own?

A. You take the holiday and make it yours. That doesn’t strip it of its  original meaning or its context. There’s still the really sad holiday as well.  It is a holiday that commemorates the beginning of the end for us, the  death of a culture. I guess you could say Thanksgiving is also about survival,  look how strong we are.

Q. How do you talk to your kids about the Thanksgiving story?

A. You just tell them the truth, the long historical nature of it. They’re  quite aware of what happened to us, the genocide and the way in which  we survive and the way in which my wife and I have survived our individual  Indian autobiographies.

I guess it’s trash talking: “Look, you tried to kill us all, and you couldn’t.”  We’re still here, waving the turkey leg in the face of evil.

Sherman Alexie Interview in Bitch Media

radish tips in the sink.

parler parlay

a friend in India sent this to me today.

Anita Hill

“I was able to tell the truth of what happened in the face of all those people trying to completely silence me."

+ this

Julie Flett !!!!!!!!

Julie Flett and David Alexander Robertson have just won the Governor General's Literary Award for their exquisite book When We Were Alone. 

Listen to the interview with Carol Off. 

Congratulations, Dear Julie xoxoxo !

radical aftercare for revolutionaries

Liv Strömquist

Liv Strömquist
+ this too.

Dee Rees

Dee Rees.

Pariah (2011) with Adepero Oduye as Alike
Bessie (2015) with Queen Latifah as Bessie Smith 
Mudbound (2017) with Mary J. Blige as Florence Jackson

tautog