From Atti’s youngest days, I have had him out in the streets, raising his fist to the air from his stroller. That’s what comes with having a community organizer for a mother. We have attended protests on everything from student’s rights, to LGBTQ+ protections, to gender equality within religion. It’s a holy thing to me,…… Continue reading Body Protest
When you start up therapy, one of the first things the therapist will do is warn you that things may get intense and they may get worse before they get better. This is part of the ‘informed consent’ medical practitioners need to provide to patients or clients prior to providing services. In my experience, it’s…… Continue reading When your healing becomes a threat
I’ve been in plenty of liberation spaces and recovery spaces with fat people and the stories I’ve heard make me angry and heartbroken and determined to keep working. The one that I don’t think I’ll ever forget is when someone told me how they are careful exerting themselves in public because they didn’t want to…… Continue reading Body Cops and Gatekeepers
Because I live in Disability World – the place where people with disabilities are exiled to so that society doesn’t have to think about us – I come at things from a different perspective than non-disabled folks. I do not have the expectation of health or ability. It is never far from my thoughts that…… Continue reading The reality of bodies
Like a lot of activists and community organizers, I got into the game to solve my own problems. I had experienced unjust treatment and as part of my healing journey I wanted to create justice by changing things for other people. This is a beautiful impulse, but if you stop there, you’re going to be…… Continue reading My liberation is bound up in yours
Back in the day when I used to say, “I’m an activist,” there were always a number of people who interpreted that to mean: confrontational. A lot of people would expect me to be really harsh towards people who don’t share my beliefs. They would react with surprise when I wasn’t spoiling for a fight,…… Continue reading Blame the System
I started engaging with the disability community when Atti was a toddler. It was starting to become clear that he was going to be significantly impacted by Cerebral Palsy and my work as a community organizer showed me that if you need to meet some needs you should talk to the people directly affected. So…… Continue reading Lessons from the disability community
A while back my former business partner and current friend Meredith and I started a company called HavenTree that sold self care subscription boxes. It was the heyday of subscription boxes and we thought it might be a funding model for the other creative projects we had planned. People were universally intrigued and supportive, until…… Continue reading What makes self care so hard?
I tried everything. Isn’t that how every testimonial starts? “I tried everything until I found this one solution that I just happen to be selling to you now for the low price of…” But you cannot buy self love. You can buy pleasure. Or luxury. You can buy access to medical care. You can buy…… Continue reading New values to fight for us all