janet mock diary

I don’t think reina and I could laugh any bigger while...

Sat, 18 May 2013 20:23:54 -0400

I don’t think reina and I could laugh any bigger while sharing space at SRLP’s super successful art auction, “Small Works For Big Change.”

Beyonce says one can wear cropped tops, so cropped tops will be...

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:41:18 -0400

Beyonce says one can wear cropped tops, so cropped tops will be my summer uniform.

The Queen gets what the Queen wants.

Help a TWOC survive summer

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:58:00 -0400

Help a TWOC survive summer:

mocosyamores:

Hi everyone,

I’m getting over my shame and internalized ableism and asking for help. I’m a chronically ill unemployed trans gurl who just left sex work (as in, yesterday) because I finally lost my shit. I’m also moving out of my abusive household in June, around the 15th or so. I don’t have a place to stay yet so the more money I have saved up, the more likely someone is going to trust me to move in with them.

Thanks to sex work and friends donating, I’ve saved up $2,000 for deposits, first/last month’s rent, housing applications, etc. I’m trying to raise another $2,000 to get me through the summer. Starting September/October, I should be receiving financial aid from my university, so that will help.

To give you an idea of where the money is going:
- Rent for a shared room is $500-$550/month
- Utilities are anywhere between $20-$60/month
- I’m limiting myself to $100-$125/month for food
- Gas is $40 a full tank, so about a $80/month if I do this right

I’ll also be looking for a job at this time. I have an open interview tomorrow so hopefully I’ll get called for a second interview!

Important to note! My memoir, Trauma Queen, is aiming to be published on May 31st, 2013. It’s going to cost $20, so if you want to hold off donating to buy the book, that’s totally understandable. I have a collection of writing and art here (x) that you can read/watch, and a zine here (x). I’ll also be selling various articles of clothing, shoes, collector’s items, etc. in the next week or so.

Signal boosting would be appreciated, and any donations would be very helpful. <3

¡Gracias! / Thank you!,
Lovemme/Sirena

-

P.S. (if the link doesn’t work, there’s a donate button on my page.)

Give what you can in love + solidarity + struggle. Can’t wait for Trauma Queen when its release this month!

How I Broke My Puppy's Leg (Accidentally) And Had A Major Breakthrough

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:50:29 -0400

How I Broke My Puppy's Leg (Accidentally) And Had A Major Breakthrough:

My latest piece for xojane.com about the time I broke my baby Cleo’s hindleg!

An illustration on “Femme Queens” sent to me...

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:42:00 -0400

An illustration on “Femme Queens” sent to me anonymously from a sister of mine.

I asked her where she got it [No official source] and she said, “On some page for us girls on Facebook.”

What I love about the illustration is it realness, and that fact that trans women of color are illustrating how others see us and how we in fact see ourselves.

We are many distorted things to many people, but we are who we are to ourselves.

I’m PROUD to be seen by my sisters as an example of “how we really are : )” alongside my sister Isis King.

sistahmamaqueen: The L&L Show Episode 3 - Follow Up...

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:33:00 -0400

sistahmamaqueen:

The L&L Show Episode 3 - Follow Up Questions to Janet Mock

1. How do you feel about RuPaul’s Drag Race?

I enjoy it as a form of entertainment. I practice being a critical fan (I discuss it here) which involves me not promoting the show or live-tweeting due to its problematic issues involving trans women (this could be a dissertation, I’m sure) - though I do think RuPaul is expanding his idea on trans women, realizing that the lines between drag and trans womanhood does in fact blur, with fierce ladies like Carmen Carrera and Monica Beverly Hillz, who come from that world. We must also as a trans women’s community begin embracing our sisters who do work as showgirls or perform the art of drag. They are our sisters too.

2. re: TrannyPowah How do you feel about the T-slur? Will you submit?

I actually don’t use the word personally but do believe in its reclamation. My issue comes in when others, who may know a trans woman who reclaims the word or is friends with a drag queen (or merely watches Drag Race), believe they, despite NOT being a trans woman, can freely use it. I believe in self-determination and self-identification so I would NEVER tell another trans woman that she cannot call herself tranny, yet I would be careful of another trans woman calling other trans women trannies. (See how murky the waters are). Basically I believe this: Call yourself whatever you want, and call others what they want to be called (which may or may not be tranny).

When my book is completely done, I promise to submit a piece to TrannyPowah.

3. Did you get tickets to go see Beyonce’s concert this summer?

FUCK yeah. I will be there at Barclay’s in Brooklyn in August. I am hoping that the pregnancy rumors are just rumors because my entire summer is centered on this concert. I’ll be attending with my best friend Wendi and we are going to twerk all night. Plus, I’ve already seen Bey perform with Blue Ivy in her belly at the Roseland - a week before she announced she was pregs.

4. What are some of your guilty pleasures?

Channing Tatum, Ryan Gosling and TV! I watch too much TV: Scandal. The Real Housewives of (all of them except Orange County & Miami). Braxton Family Values. Homeland. The Killing. The Mindy Project. Mad Men. Currently marathoning The Good Wife.

Yes, I have issues.

5. What are some longterm goals for yourself and for your project #Girlslikeus?

My longterm goals include but are not limited to the following: Successfully launching the release of my book (which will be out in Feb. 2014) and ensuring that it (and I) reaches young women around the country; setting up a TWoC collective in NYC with my dear sister reina gossett to establish communiTIES; networking nationally and intergenerationally with TWoC; and continuing to contribute to mainstream media to further amplify the voices of trans women. My spiritual guide has always been Oprah - so I’d love a conversation TV series one day.

As for #GirlsLikeUs: What #girlslikeus has done for me is create a pro-sisterhood space of visibility. I’ve seen it help women in their communities connect to one another. That has always been the goal: to get us out of our isolation and into pro-sisterhood relationships and spaces. I also hope to launch T-shirts (on my never-ending to-do list), which will fund smaller trans women-created websites, blogs + media projects that speak on intersectionality (all those DONATE buttons).

#Girlslikeus is a visibility tool so I want it to be visible beyond Twitter. I see occupying space on Tumblr, Instagram, etc…so that’s great. But it also needs to spark real-life space. I don’t know if I have the bandwidth to create such a space but it is marinating.

THANK YOU both for the follow-up questions.

In love, sisterhood, solidarity + struggle,

Janet

cordjefferson: James Baldwin in Turkey, tho. His brilliance...

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:49:21 -0400

cordjefferson:

James Baldwin in Turkey, tho.

His brilliance can’t be denied. Epitome of black cool.

Happy birthday to the woman whose album The Velvet Rope made me...

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:45:35 -0400

Happy birthday to the woman whose album The Velvet Rope made me feel a little less alone in this world as a 14-year-old girl embarking on one of life’s many transitions.

I love you Ms. Janet Jackson for giving me art and a name.

Follow the passion that’s within you. Living the truth will set you free. -Janet Jackson

TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:13:48 -0400

TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly:

elsabordelamorydeldolor:

TSQ is a new interdisciplinary academic journal that will change the way the world thinks about transgender issues.

Folks, I’m proud to be on the editorial board of this journal, please support this project and share with your networks.

Yes! We need more for us, created by us publications.

This is how I’ll always remember Whitney Houston, floating...

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:46:00 -0400

This is how I’ll always remember Whitney Houston, floating around in glitter with the voice of an angel.

Cinderella: It’s possible for a plain yellow pumpkin to become a golden carriage. It’s possible for a plain country bumpkin and a prince to join in marriage. Fairy Godmother: And four white mice are easily turned to horses Such fal de rah and fiddle dee dee of courses Quite possible! Both: It’s possible! Cinderella: For the world is full of zanies and fools who don’t believe in sensible rules and won’t believe what sensible people say. Both: And because these daft and dewey eyed dopes keep building up impossible hopes Impossible things are happening every day.

Just got the new issue of GOOD magazine, in which I’m...

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:48:52 -0400

Just got the new issue of GOOD magazine, in which I’m recognized as part of the GOOD 100 2013, “our list of 100 individuals we should rally behind.”

Says GOOD: “The dazzling array that follows, curated from your submissions, consists of trailblazers and truth-tellers, defenders and disrupters, inventors and inciters, but they all share one basic trait: They are DOers.”

I’m part of the “disrupters” section.

"We are all victims of violence and the injustices and oppression of a faulty legal system and the PIC. And in memoriam of all our fallen sisters, this is for you! Our flames of resilience and tenacity burn bright in the efforts of a revolution for women. We will not give up until there are the necessary changes in this world for better protection and equality. And it is up to us to show that we are concerned and that none of our struggles will go in vain."

Mon, 13 May 2013 11:12:59 -0400

"We are all victims of violence and the injustices and oppression of a faulty legal system and the PIC. And in memoriam of all our fallen sisters, this is for you! Our flames of resilience and tenacity burn bright in the efforts of a revolution for women. We will not give up until there are the necessary changes in this world for better protection and equality. And it is up to us to show that we are concerned and that none of our struggles will go in vain.":

CeCe McDonald, in her new piece called, “Violence Against (Trans) Women Today” in which she discusses street harassment and violence and her being criminilized because she dared to defend herself.

You are so loved, CeCe. Thank you for your leadership.

On Wednesday, I delivered the commencement address at Columbia...

Fri, 10 May 2013 10:14:00 -0400

On Wednesday, I delivered the commencement address at Columbia University and Barnard’s Lavender Graduation Ceremony for the Class of 2013. Here’s a photo of me with active and graduating members of PROUD COLORS, a fly collective of queer students of color who are actively creating space for intersectionality on their campus. You can download their zines here.

Elated to hear that my dear sister reina gossett was a member during her time at Columbia. The legacy of fly brilliance is alive and well, y’all.

FROM Tranny Power: Step Off: Trans women of color own these intersections; an inaugural post

Fri, 10 May 2013 10:09:03 -0400

FROM Tranny Power: Step Off: Trans women of color own these intersections; an inaugural post:

trannypowah:

TW: transmisogyny, racism, violence directed at camab trans people of color

There is a place in this world full of horror, untranslatable. Here, in the midst of violence inconceivable, we struggle. Would you envy us, if you knew?

As trans women and camab trans people of color, we inhabit a…

Learn it, and learn it well - from the brilliant minds behind a new space called Tranny Power which is ”a Take-Shit-From-No-One TWOC (trans women/femmes/genderescents of color) blog.”

And yes, this blog is a reclamation of a word that still stings many women - so please if you’re not a trans woman don’t go around shouting “Tranny” as your own.

TAKE ACTION: Help Seek Justice for Lorena Escalera Xtravaganza + TWoC Everywhere

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:24:21 -0400

On May 12, 2012, the New York Times reported on Lorena Escalera’s death in the midst of a fire in Brooklyn apartment. It was a highly problematic and glaringly dehumanizing article that focused on her body, her alleged sex work profession, her sexuality and much more. GLAAD organized a meeting with some editors of the Times - a meeting they only agreed to after being publicly called out for writing another dehumanizing piece on trans and queer youth of color on Christopher Street. But that’s besides the point.

Nearly a year after Lorena’s death, her family, friends, activists and community members have rallied around Lorena, whose death was surrounded by sketchy details, yet was not investigated by NYPD. Those who knew and love Lorena are seeking justice.

Here are a few ways YOU can help. Please complete at least one of these action items in solidarity with the grassroots efforts being organized for beloved Lorena:

1. Write a message about Lorena to Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz via:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/martymarkowitz

Twitter: @MartyMarkowitz (suggest hashtags: #LorenaEscalera #TWoC #girlslikeus)

Email: askmarty@brooklynbp.nyc.gov

Mail: Brooklyn Borough Hall | 209 Joralemon Street | Brooklyn, New York 11201

2. Attend the May 12, 2013 rally in New York

3. Sign and SHARE this petition

I post this message in solidarity with Lorena, with Cemia Acoff, with Brandy Martell, with Paige Clay and with thousands of other trans women of color, whose lives have not warranted those who are charged with “protecting us” to utilize their resources to seek justice.

Video, June 2, 2012: In which I channel my anger to call out the dehumanizing, victim-blaming NYT article about Lorena’s death

Hello, Miss Major! Get into her everything. Visited the living...

Tue, 07 May 2013 16:30:00 -0400

Hello, Miss Major! Get into her everything.

Visited the living legend, the Stonewall Riots veteran, the self-proclaimed Glamour Puss, the prison abolitionist, the Executive Director of TGI Justice in her NYC hotel room.

We shared space, talked shoes, discussed our girls, our future, our struggles, her living legacy, and what our collective lives as trans women of color really look like.

If you don’t know her, I’m judging. (Google is your friend).

Miss Major: "You say 'get a job' like we can get one, but there’s no such thing if you can’t get work to maintain yourself, wash your body, have clean clothes, and feed yourself. What are you going to do if you have no way to pay for these things? You have to find something that’s outside of the law. Having to deal with all that puts more pressure on you. The best way [for many] to deal with that pressure is to do drugs. Because if you’re high, you don’t give a shit. Sex work was the most common thing for me because that’s what the older girls taught you to do. But this is because you don’t give us the opportunity. All of us do not hook or prostitute. But the concept is that we all do. So we’re at [the police’s] beck and call. If something happens and we’re in the vicinity, we get it. Someone attacks us, and we call the police, we end up going to jail, not the person who assaulted us. We’re profiled. You can’t even have a party with your friends without [police] pulling you over for hustling or loitering. What do you think that tells a person? That you have no meaning. Society doesn’t give a damn about you. You’re the one who goes to prison and does time."

Mon, 06 May 2013 15:52:44 -0400

Miss Major: "You say 'get a job' like we can get one, but there’s no such thing if you can’t get work to maintain yourself, wash your body, have clean clothes, and feed yourself. What are you going to do if you have no way to pay for these things? You have to find something that’s outside of the law. Having to deal with all that puts more pressure on you. The best way [for many] to deal with that pressure is to do drugs. Because if you’re high, you don’t give a shit. Sex work was the most common thing for me because that’s what the older girls taught you to do. But this is because you don’t give us the opportunity. All of us do not hook or prostitute. But the concept is that we all do. So we’re at [the police’s] beck and call. If something happens and we’re in the vicinity, we get it. Someone attacks us, and we call the police, we end up going to jail, not the person who assaulted us. We’re profiled. You can’t even have a party with your friends without [police] pulling you over for hustling or loitering. What do you think that tells a person? That you have no meaning. Society doesn’t give a damn about you. You’re the one who goes to prison and does time."

fyqueerlatinxs: TW: sex work, anti-LGBTQ violence, drug use,...

Mon, 06 May 2013 15:31:43 -0400

fyqueerlatinxs:

TW: sex work, anti-LGBTQ violence, drug use, rape

Trans Afrolatina Monica Beverly Hillz talks about her life prior to entering RuPaul’s Drag Race

“I had a lot of friends around me that did [escorting]. To me it was just like, ‘Who wouldn’t want to go out with a guy. He can pay you all kind of money. It’s fierce.’ First it started off with a sugar daddy, then when the sugar daddy gives up then it starts off with a trick then one trick turns into to two tricks. Then, ‘Ohhh I’m going to stop this week.’ And then you’re doing it, and you’re doing it to get all this money to get high. None of this is making sense. Something has got to give…I have a huge then where I don’t really like to talk about it because the more I talk about it I start to relive it again. I just want it to go away. I don’t want to keep thinking about it. I’ve learned from it. There was a point, a time in my life where I didn’t even love myself. I was really in a bad bad place. And I didn’t care what would happen to me. I could care less. I gave up everything. I lost everything. Most importantly I lost myself.”

-Monica Beverly Hillz, sharing the truth behind engaging in survival sex trade/work as a young trans woman of color. Thanks for sharing yourself with us and also offering safety tips to other trans women on “surviving in this world.”

thespiritwas: Isis King snapped this photo of the Isis, Janet...

Mon, 06 May 2013 15:18:15 -0400

thespiritwas:

Isis King snapped this photo of the Isis, Janet & me having a power kiki -the first step to girlslikeus taking over the world!

These women give me life. Yasss!

Help kickass trans activist and singer KOKUMO fund her second...

Mon, 06 May 2013 15:06:58 -0400

Help kickass trans activist and singer KOKUMO fund her second annual T.G.I.F. (Trans*, Gender Non-Conforming, Intersex Freedom) Pride Rally in Chicago. It’s rare for our movement to support spaces created by trans women of color. Let’s make a change.

Contribute funds here or reach out to T.G.I.F. organizers in Chicago (kokumomedia[AT]gmail[DOT]com) for opportunities to help with organizing or assisting with the 2013 rally.