feature image of Sarah Schulman by Arturo Holmes / Staff via Getty Images

I JUST GOT MY BARBIE TICKETS I’M SO EXCITED!!!! 🎀 Also, I really want to watch a movie tonight — what movie should I watch? Preferably something that came out in the past year.

Queer as in F*ck You

Gentrification of the Mind: Revisiting Sarah Schulman’s Book on NYC’s Queer History and Community. In an interview with Teen Vogue, iconic lesbian author and thinker Sarah Schulman talks about the ongoing relevance of her book The Gentrification of the Mind, but even more interesting are the parts of the interview about just how hard it was to get this book out in the world at all — a symptom of some of the systems of homogenization the book itself critiques. It took her a decade to get it published, and she also had to remove a chapter (which eventually went on to become its own book). Schulman talks about the evolution of gentrification, why we should all be reading queer history, the fact that we need to be TAXING THE RICH, and the problems with MFA programs. She also zeroes in on the importance of engaging with the history of queer literature to undo assumptions about the literary canon then and now, which I personally find very interesting! I do want to push back a little bit on the lines she draws between her generation and now, particularly when it comes to the idea of her generation growing up in the context of illegality, which I believe is still true for trans queer folks, which seems missing from that analysis, but it’s a short magazine interview so I understand it’s not going to cover everything fully!

This Florida Activist Makes “Build-a-Queer” Kits for Trans Folks. He Won’t Let DeSantis Scare Him.

Chongis Have Always Been Queer: 6 Miamians on What the South Florida Subculture Means to Them. Looooved this for a lot of reasons! If you’re gonna cover the fucked up shit happening in Florida, you also should be balancing it out with LGBTQ+ stories of resistance like the above and human-interests stories, like this one, which celebrates queer and trans chongi culture and aesthetics in South Florida. I loved these words from Christina Abanto, a nail technician who contributed to the piece:

“Despite the current sociopolitical climate of South Florida, specifically attempts to censor and erase queer culture and to control our bodies, it’s important to note that we are still here. Chongi culture isn’t a caricature. It’s who we are. It’s the art, the history, and the embodiment of our aesthetics. It’s the confidence and audacity to be who we are despite what others may try to do to take it away from us.”

How Queer Restaurants Keep Their Money In Their Community.

How the Complicated Tank Top Became the Unofficial Queer Going-Out Top. As a complicated bottom, I appreciate a complicated top, but I prefer my tank tops simple tyvm.

Hair Care Company Bans Transphobic Salon Owner From Selling Their Products.

Saw This, Thought of You

The FDA Just Approved the First-Ever Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill in the United States.

Why Regency Romance Needs to Give Its Characters of Color Greater Agency.

Political Snacks

I know we all saw this coming but 😩: A Texas Judge Is Citing the Supreme Court’s 303 Creative Decision to Refuse Same-Sex Marriages.

Shield Laws for Abortion, Gender-Affirming Care Need Better Protections Against Extradition.

One More Thing

I like ending these with a poem, so I’m going to keep doing it!

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Also, this is all I have to say about the “girl dinner” discourse:

girl dinner? oh do you mean the show yellowjackets

— Kristen Arnett (@Kristen_Arnett) July 17, 2023

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