The Dead and The Dark Review

As a black reader, I would be remiss to mention that in The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould, there are too many connections between evil and black for my liking. Though the tale of light vs. dark is as old as time, it doesn't mean the way we've categorized who falls into the light and dark categories isn't extremely harmful. I understand that this is something we believe is inherent, that you always have to walk towards the light/the dark is something to fear, but if readers aren't discernin
Autostraddle •

100 of My Favorite Poets For Your Survival Pack

When my sister and I were little, my grandma would pack us survival packs for the ride home from her house. Filled with food and toys and little notes, they made me feel like I could carry safety with me. As an adult, and as a not-rich mentally ill black traumatized queer person, leaving home feels close to impossible. But building and carrying my own survival pack helps me remember that even if you can’t leave, you don’t have to always be stuck. In times of chaos, I often forget what helps me
Autostraddle •

The Harassment of Young M.A and Including Black Butches When We Talk About Violence

I want to be very intentional about this piece. It’s about the black community and my struggles within it, particularly with straight and cis black people. Though I’ve definitely got many opinions about my community, these are the precise moments that it’s most difficult to talk about them publicly, especially in non-black spaces. Last month, rapper and person I really just want to fucking fight right now Kodak Black left a comment on an Instagram of masc lesbian rapper Young M.A and Nicki Min
theshadejournal •

THE HOLY THEATRE by Alexis Smithers

Everything is a horcrux if you sing hard enough. I whisper the empty, I could’ve rescued myself. Not just from Carrie cuts but vibrato too if I had opened the office door sooner. I can be honest here. I owe apologies but no one checks the post office when you’re famous. I’m terrified all the time because it’s in the director’s notes. I slow dance with broken streetlights and our haunting sounds like I’m stepping on your toes. I can be honest now. I sing the truth in my sleep. All the you ar
Winter Tangerine •

I'm So Fine, Khadijah Queen —

My grandmother, his wife, has a more subtle way of sharing stories. She didn’t command a room like my grandfather, all six feet and some change with booming voice; no, she stayed in a room quietly with her barely five foot frame and voice that strained with effort to be heard over our family. Whereas my grandad was more active volcano, my grandma was the reminder of rupture, the bubbling underneath the surface that you feel when you walk, something you don’t notice until it’s lost forever. I had
Autostraddle •

The Black Lesbian Movie Project

As we know, I’m a huge fan of black culture. I also think that almost anything can be made better if it were gayer, so Autostraddle (bless their hearts) is giving me the chance to be the change that I want to see in the world. Allow me to butch up our favorite black movies, thereby even making them even MORE fantastic than they already are! Original Stars: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall Original Plot: Eddie Murphy stars as the Prince of Zamunda, who convinces his father, James Earl Jones, to allo
Monstering •

ONE ACT PLAY IN WHICH WE REVIEW DALTON DAY'S EXIT, PURSUED —

[ME sits in the middle of the high school stage. The house lights are off and there is a dim light coming from the production shop behind the curtain.] ME: Do you have time for this? [YOU's footsteps that were trying to be undetectable have been noticed. YOU's footsteps have poked holes in the silence ME has gotten used to. YOU considers lying. YOU decides not to, not all the way at least.] YOU: I have to get going but not yet ME: I didn't know it could look like this YOU: What? ME: Univer

A Story in Parts – Jaded Ibis Press

A list of things I thought of and had to restrain myself from doing before my grandmother’s funeral Pack shorts and sneakers and a hoodie and my my BLACKLIVESMATTER bracelet and a book into a survival pack because she said ​It’s 2017, come as you are​ and I didn’t have slacks because I don’t look right in them or sometimes I don’t eat right or enough or at all so who knows if they’d fit or I don’t get my clothes ready ahead of time because I keep hoping I won’t need them or Telling my family t
BOOK RIOT •

7 Books For Curious Kids To Read

According to CNN, children’s books that focus on tough subjects such as divorce, racism, and bullying can not only be a proper starting point in conversations with kids, but can also strengthen kids’ relationships with books, their curiosity and health, and their relationships with the adults sharing the books with them. Children’s books offer a safe space for children to ask questions, use critical thinking skills, and learn compassion and empathy. For adults, children’s books can help them app

Alexis Smithers | A Nightmare After Pulse | Pulsamos: LGBTQ Poets Respond to the Pulse Nightclub Shooting | Glass: A Journal of Poetry

ISSN: 1941-4137 POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS After recess one day we have to go around the room and say what we wanna be when we grow up and all the kids say they wanna be firemen and doctors and mechanics and golden retrievers and I say I want to be loved and my teacher takes me very seriously so she helps me peel back my skin and slide bulletproof pads all over my bones double pad them around my heart and fluffs them up around my brain (cause there are
Autostraddle •

14 Music Videos That Confirmed My Sexuality

Growing up, there weren’t many ways for me to figure out my sexuality. Picking up books with obvious lesbian themes, going on certain sites when we shared a family computer, etc. were out of the question. Music videos gave me a chance to explore my sexuality without alerting my family and friends that I was gay before I was ready to come out. If someone walked in during a music video, regardless of the content, you can say you didn’t even know it was on and feign disappointment and anger at what
Autostraddle •

Going Back Outside After the Streetlights Come On

TO CREATE A SELF YOU NEED: Soil Seeds Water Food Sunlight Attention Care (This is not the same as attention) You start out with soil and seeds and as you go along you nurture what you want to become. I wanted to be a forest. And, in the beginning, I was on my way. My family, bless their hearts, are a physically active bunch who believe they aren’t because we don’t look like Sports Illustrated covers. But all we’ve been doing is moving our bodies. At least as far as my grandparent
Autostraddle •

FRIDAY OPEN THREAD: What Are You Bringing To The Apocalypse?

What’s up homies, I want to talk to you about a super chill subject (like I always do) this good Friday: the apocalypse. Stay with me here (I say this a lot, don’t I? Mean it every time though)! After getting strep throat like two weeks ago, the first time in a literal decade, I got really existential which always happens when my physical health goes down even -5 health points. But instead of having my moment where I’m like we’re doomed for Hunger Games what’s the point anymore!!!?, after readin
Autostraddle •

Musicals Won't Save the World but "The Prom" Is Gonna Try Anyway

The Prom is a new musical from Alliance Theatre (Atlanta, Georgia) that’s coming to Broadway in November 2018 and it’s about lesbians and we need to talk about it right now. Emma Nolan, a teenage lesbian in Indiana, wants to go to prom with her girlfriend. She soon becomes the town outcast when her PERFECTLY REASONABLE request results in the PTA cancelling the prom for everyone. Because if the gays want it, the straights must destroy it. But do not despair! A bunch of ex-Broadway stars who want
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