The Advocate

(Source.) There are times when I feel as if I cannot trust myself. There are times when I feel as if my own judgement is insufficient to conquer my doubts, the internalized fear that has been with me since childhood. There are times when I fall into the trap poignantly stated by William Butler Yeats, Bertrand Russell, and even Charles goddamn Bukowski. These times are often no more feverish than when confronted with antisemitism... Here is paraphrased excerpt from Irena Klepfisz's "Anti-Semitism in the Lesbian/Feminist Movement" (pgs. 49-51), offering a series of questions that "both Jewish and non-Jewish women might consider asking in trying to identify in themselves sources of shame, conflict, doubt, and anti-Semitism." (H/t to The Debate Link for their summary and sourcing.) 1. Do I have to check with other Jewish people in order to verify whether something is antisemitic? 2. Do I distrust my own judgement on this issue? 3. When I am certa...

It's important for me that anyone reading this to remember that this is a creative space I have created. It exists solely for the purpose of exploring myself, my art, my connections with the world and within myself. It's purpose is to constrain me within a specific medium in order to free me from the distractions that would see the amalgamation of thoughts swirling around my grey matter don't disappear into some subconscious escape-hatch. It's also important for me that anyone reading this to remember that I use a pseudonym in order to distance the Me that exists within this pocket dimension from the Me that exists outside it. I'm both those people, but the former is, only a very specific presentation of Me. The latter is Me with and without filters, the flesh and blood, the purposeful and the fallible. The former is Me as I am creating myself, exploring myself, swimming amid the breadths and depths of life in order to understand, to empower my artistic express...