We finally have a GoFundMe to cover the costs of Adela’s funeral, and deal with her remaining papers. Any additional monies will be used to help the many transLatinas in the community who also need support. Help if you can.
Class is what we never talk about in Academia. I remember going to lunch with another grad student and having to spend my entire week's food budget on a bowl of soup at this fancy place she chose. That was the last time I accepted a lunch invitation.
She is finally here.
@DukePress
she is stunning. I gave your team full creative license (only suggesting Vanessa’s beautiful self portrait for the cover) and I am over the moon happy with how beautiful she is inside and out. Thank you.
Can we also acknowledge that lots of white people teach Ethnic Studies and African Diaspora Studies from a place of whiteness, which is its own challenge. And that they choose to be honest about claiming intellectual and political commitments w/o grounding them in Identity.
4 years ago I stepped away from someone who made 4 x my salary & convinced me I could never have nice things without him, that I was pretty but incompetent & that my kid was a burden. Living well is the best revenge.
As someone who is tenured, I see being kind, & supportive to junior scholars, to grad students, to folks new to the profession, to contingent faculty, and the staff who support us as part of my job. Are you doing your job?
I am beyond honored to announce that I have been awarded the Kessler Prize in LGBTQ Studies. And I’m really hoping I get to visit NYC to celebrate with all my NYC crew. Thank you CLAGS!
No one outside the academy understands how we do so much invisible unpaid work—we do it because others did it for us—but a system built on that many hours of uncompensated labor is just wrong.
"Students who come into my office crying, they’re not crying about their papers, or their grades. … They’re coming in talking about microaggressions, about things that happen on campus, things people are saying to them."
In case anyone in
#Academia
or anywhere else needs to hear this—outting Sex Workers for ANY reason is always wrong. It threatens their employment, safety, and health; it is dangerous and unethical regardless of how YOU feel about sex work.
PSA: Edited volumes take time. If you are a grad student or untenured, it is always better to submit to journals, they count more professionally, circulate more & emerge faster. It might be “flattering” to be asked, but don’t park your signature scholarship in an edited volume.
Let me be absolutely clear, I am going to continue to protest every elected official about the occupation of Palestine. But I will not spread info that discourages people from voting. At least under a Kamala presidency, we might still be able to protest.
It’s my birthday bitches. This is 65! I’m stepping into my next spin around the sun ready to fight fascism & injustice, love & fuck queerly, & bask in the friendships & communities that sustain me. Thank you Sunny Leerasanthanah for the pic y a les Orishas por esta vida. Aché💕
Late in her life, Lauren and I sparked a strange, surprising, and delightfully quirky connection. And my life was forever enriched. Rest in Poetry Lauren.
As we all try our hardest to touch fewer surfaces can we thank Disability Rights Activists for automatic door openers that you can hit with your elbow, ramps, curb cuts, & a bunch of other stuff we all benefit from. Accessibility is a common good.
Here’s a smart, sexy and thoroughly engaging text that you haven’t heard of. With fresh takes on inter-generational intimacies, age of consent, & colonial temporality —these are conversations we don’t have enough of in queer circles.
The Modern Language Association President Judith Butler just issued a statement from MLA's Executive Council in support of striking students. Thank you!
Greetings from Berkeley’s encampment where students & faculty are holding classes, reading, sharing food & resources and peacefully abiding by shared community made agreements. 🍉❤️this is what happens when you don’t call the cops.
#Berkeley
Sex worker rights are always about immigrant rights, worker rights, queer, & trans rights. The stigma and shame that surrounds sex work fuels the racist erotophobic misogyny that we see on full display. Let’s also care about SW that are alive.
This just in...
@UCBerkeleyLib
just made available a new Database of Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984. it includes FBI files on surveillance conducted on Black Americans, civil rights organizations, and other institutions. Researchers start your engines.
Academics: Let’s face it, we know that signing a petition in support of Palestine, attending a rally, giving voice to injustice DOES have a professional price in terms of jobs, opportunities, invitations etc. That fear is central to the calculus of repression. SPEAK OUT ANYWAY!
Just popping in to say that I handed in my manuscript today.
#PutaLife
is circulating in the world. I'm sure there is tinkering yet to come but I'm done for now and feeling good, humbled by the task I undertook but proud of my efforts. Despite chairing, despite pain, I did this.
I'm teaching a grad class on Queer Nightlife (by which I mostly mean QBIPOC life) & my syllabus is filling up fast! But go ahead --tell me what to add. Esp work that centers dykes, femmes, fatness, disability, women, transmasculinity, age. Historical perspectives welcome!
In "Puta Life," Juana María Rodríguez
@RadioRodriguez
probes the ways that sexual labor and Latina sexuality become visual phenomena. Read the introduction for free on our website now.
#LatinxStudies
#LGBTQBooks
The Art Department
@DukePress
finally approved my images, my text is done and done, and now it all starts rolling forward.
#PutaLife
is coming your way.
@jelani9
Peer-review used to be the basis of academic gatekeeping. Now that there are actually full distinguished BIPOC Profs at distinguished places, we see that is no longer enough. At the end of the day, these institutions simply refuse to accept Black and Brown scholars as peers.
For those that know or have read the foundational work of queer theorist Elizabeth Freeman, I share the sad news that she has left this earth & joined the radiance of the Universe. She spent her last moments surrounded by her loving partner, family & friends. She is missed. 💜
When academics rightly critiqued ideas of hybridity, syncreticism & mestizaje that circulated in the 1990s bc of the ways some erased Blackness, Indigeneity & their role in projects of nation building, folks discarded lots of really good bath water. Just saying.
In case anyone is following the Lorgia Garcia-Peña’s denial of tenure at Harvard and wants to know the research that was deemed “not worthy” here is a link to her 2016 Duke UP Book, check out the rave reviews, from scholars in the field.
🎉🎉My oh my, she is alive!
#PutaLife
has a gorgeous cover with a self-portrait of mi queridísima Vanessa del Rio.
@VanessadelRio
💋💋 Thank you
@DukePress
for bringing this work to life. 🖤 Now I wait to rub my face in it.
@aliciaandrz
@AcademicChatter
I spent my first week of undergrad hearing the word “syllabus” and not knowing what that was, or how to spell it to look it up.
Thrilled to share this huge, unruly, collective Wikipedia page that my students did for Sex Worker Movements. I'm so very proud of their work, especially the 55 citations they added. I trust that others will add to make the page even more comprehensive.
I’m both delighted & a bit terrified to announce that Judith Butler will be introducing my talk at the
@AmericanAcademy
tomorrow via taped comments. The link to register is below.
A link for my November lecture
@AmericanAcademy
in Berlin "Seeing, Sensing, Feeling: Sexual Subjects, Precarious Lives" about the amazing life of trans diva Adela Vazquez is up on their website and folks are invited to register for it via Zoom.
-
It is official—I’m going to spend Fall semester in Berlin. I’m over the moon. Send me all your best recommendations, connections, and tips. And I’m still single so point me in the direction of sexy Berliner studs.
@inlandemperor
@jizlee
@cdunye
@EvRedecker
The American Academy is proud to announce the fall 2021 and spring 2022 Berlin Prize Fellows! We look forward to welcoming yet another class of outstanding scholars, writers, and artists to the Hans Arnhold Center.
"I think most people are lonely, even people who are in relationships, even people who have been married for most of their lives. I think loneliness is part of the human condition."
I just officiated our Ethnic Studies Graduation, my last official act as Chair. In those 3 years I oversaw our 50 year anniversary, a 10 year external review, 8 searches, oh yeah and a Pandemic. This drink is called an inflatable raft. Yep, I’m out.
The right to engage in sex work, have an abortion, and transition are all connected to our right to own ourselves. Their struggles should be connected too.
As a professor, I have often seen students in moments of crisis, depression, and self doubt. To then see them years later thriving and discovering new joys is one of the most enduring rewards of this career. 💨🎈
As a scholar of a certain age and generation, reading through this Trans syllabus, (produced in part by Toby Beauchamp who is a former student), I almost cried at the abundance. Not enough, but so so much. I’m so proud of every author on that list. Read, share, assign.
Up now
@abusablepast
a new syllabus 'Trans Studies for Bullshit Times' a timely and necessary curation and contexualization of trans studies scholarship that helps makes sense of the history and present moment of global anti-trans violence
Heard the most amazing gossip today—turns out Hortense Spillers had an on campus interview in English
@UCBerkeley
, gave “Mama’s Baby...” as her job talk and she didn’t get the job. They didn’t even take her out to dinner. Damn.
When you read a beautifully written academic text, the aesthetics of the prose makes the argument land differently. In a world, where so many of us have been terrorized by language instruction how do we teach the love of a language that was meant to annihilate us?
It’s Noche Buena & I’m dining alone. Rather than eat whatever. I chose a lovely upscale Turkish place to celebrate my time living solo in Berlin. Lemon lentil soup, octopus salad and a spicy Primitivo. Feeling my own BadBitch self. I built this life and I like it. Cheers Queers!
Sending love to all my trans friends, lovers, colleagues, students, and acquaintances during this period of intense hatred & violence. I promise to keep standing up for your rights, your dignity, your humanity, and your joy.
My favorite graduation slogan was: You can't write Scholar without "chola." Here's to all the cholas, chulas, chongas, and 'chachas who are graduating this year. 💋💋
It keeps feeling a little unreal to say this out loud but I plan to retire from the academic hamster wheel within the next 2 years and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Yes, I really did just cite my ex's new GF because I'm not that petty and honestly that girl did me a favor. (And mostly because as a scholar, I believe in offering all the receipts).
#PutaLife
Read my latest piece" Queer of Color Critique and the Decriminalization of Sex Work" in GLQ. Also
@DukePress
thanks for keeping the link's name as Twitter--signed Y.
When a former student finds a copy of a reader you made in 1998 as a first year Assistant Professor and let’s you know it meant something to them. 💕 I adored teaching at Bryn Mawr —luxury teaching to be sure.
CS 190 Latinx Gender & Sexuality new Wikipedians! Committed to making knowledge more accessible, to write for the world. And they did!! Adding hundred of new citations, new words, new entries.
@EthnicUc
#EthnicStudiesPride
❤️
@WikiEducation
@UCBerkeley
My new superpower is asking (politely) for the things I want. After noticing that other Fellows had bathtubs in their apts, I asked if I could get one too. And now I’m in a new space—my lucky
#5
and they added the accents to my name Yeah!
@NicoleFleetwoo2
I applied to that PhD program when I finished at San Francisco State, I didn’t get in. And it took applying twice to the PhD in Ethnic Studies to get admitted. Living well is the best revenge. 🪓 Slay Sister Slay!
Teaching @ Berkeley - a thread. Maybe it’s the mezcal, or the come down from being “on” for 90 minutes, but I love teaching at Berkeley. Even on Zoom, even with 180 students. I see them, they want to connect and so do I. And Berkeley students—omg—these students are EVERYTHING!!
My department is not perfect, and neither was my graduate training. But every day I am glad that I decided to pursue a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies, to make that commitment to the field and what it stands for my academic North Star; I'm still learning, still teaching, still growing.
I have the pleasure of teaching Jillian Hernandez’s Aesthetics of Excess in a grad seminar and realized so few students had the physical copy. I get it —money is so tight, but some books really are experienced differently as material objects.
I wear my keffiya everywhere including when I fly, mostly I get “I like your outfit” (TY to flight attendant on my flight)— once walking in Berkeley some woman called me a terrorist. Normalize solidarity. Risk something for what’s right. Take a stand.
For my Queer Nightlife graduate class I am going to propose the class curate an event accompanied by shared keywords or concepts. Am I out of my mind? (Curate an event sounds so much more academic than throw a party.)
Femme is not just feminine people. Femme is about caring for other femmes, being extra tender for our genderqueer friends, lovers, y familia, it is about standing up to the patriarKKKy in killer heels or fly-ass tenís, and saying FU to heteronorms. Does your mascara do that?💄
With my longtime colleague & buddy — the amazing movement historian Ula Taylor (who still owns a flip phone). Faculty in solidarity with Berkeley encampment. ¡Presente!✊🏿✊🏽✊🏾✊🏼✊🏿🇵🇸🍉 🇭🇹 🍉🇨🇩
I’m a queer transloving poly pervy parent; try as I might, my kid is still cis & straight (so far). All those rainbows, queer pride events & efforts at encouraging nail polish did nothing!!
Some of the most brilliant, dynamic & intellectually attentive people I know are not academics, I talk non-academic career paths with all my mentees. Not bc I think less of them as intellectuals but bc I see all the different ways people create worlds of ideas that have impact.
Stop giving
#TERFS
including WOC a pass just cause they from “back in the day.” That’s agist AF. They learned to Tweet, now learn to respect trans, bi & nb folks. I’ve lost a lost of friends from “back in the day” over this—happy to educate but I don’t tolerate.
#HateKills
Hive Mind: Teaching a Latinx Gender & Sexuality in Pop Culture class this semester, what should we read? Also, I'm having them do Wikipedia entries, what artists, activists, historical figures should I have them document or research?
Friends I have spent July as the scholar in residence for the Fire Island Artists Residency. Among the perks was this sunset portrait of me looking like a moon goddess by Guggie winner Leonard Suryajaya. I already miss the sunrise/sunset magic of that place.
Can those of us in positions of influence collectively agree not to hold this against the students she writes letters for? Those students must be freaking out right now.
My 19 year old just texted me to show me the “A”he got on his first big research paper in college. I’m over the moon!! He is more a video game/soccer type of kid so this hits extra special. And thank god for small liberal arts colleges & those who teach there. Go Poets!
What an adorable little gift. 🌸🌱🌼This is from Jenn Tyburczy, a lovely friend and interlocutor who is also a former student of my ex’s new wife.
#QueerAcademicRelations
This book is so damn honest & real—it goes to those places we go in our heads but rarely see sussed out in print. And the writing…like kicking it over cocktails with your BFF who is also a mad poetic genius, a deep close reader, & an archivist extraordinaire. Aché!
@jafariallen
I am reading an advance copy of Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration by
@NicoleFleetwoo2
and am already in tears, this book is so eloquent and urgent, so tender and real. This is Black feminist praxis as world-making scholarship.
20 years ago, I wrote Queer Latinidad, as part of JE Muñoz field defining Sexual Cultures series with
@nyuniversity
& the outstanding
@ericzinner
. The first time I went to
@AmerStudiesAssn
was in 1996. I’ve been here more than a minute. See you soon Montreal!
#TimeFlies
Here is a picture of me circa 1991 somewhere in Queens at a goodbye party just before returning to SF. I go back to the Bay in 14 days and I am not ready. (And yes I can see you laughing at my outfit, it was a moment).
Talking to a former student—reminded of what I already knew. A lot of these Ivy’s “think” they want radical cutting edge scholarship, until you start doing it. Don’t let them steal your soul before you are tenured and can defend yourself.
Identity enters the classroom in all kinds of ways. Being of a certain class, passing or not as white, has material consequences regardless of origin, how can our students engage these complexities if we don’t model that when we discuss our own identities?