June Footnotes| The Overworked and Afraid + Final book of June: Redefining Realness by Janet Mock

Boo did the month of June really take it out of me. I have gotten really into the swing of my real adult job. In the attempt adult better than I’ve ever adulated before I’ve taken on so much more responsibility than I ever thought I would this year. And it’s only increasing by the second. Many nights this mont I’ve spent stuffing my face with pizza in front of a work computer just attempting to get shit done. And it’s really made my writing and this blog suffer. I can barely stick my head outside to see what really is going on in the world. and boy how the world sucking this month. Here’s a couple of things that had me reeling through work

1. The immigrant separation news killed me as a child of immigrants, my mother being first generation, my grandmother and her family braving across oceans to find a better life. My dad braving the same fate crossing from islands to come here and find scanturary. The idea that our government would tear and terrorize people like this does not surprise me. I’ve heard the stories from my elders of other times in this country they did the same, but it sickened me to see it so vividly. it sickened me to know these dentention centers with children have been around since the Obama era and exist right here in New York City.

2. Lesandro ‘Junior’ Guzman-Feliz, a 15 year old boy was brutally murdered by a gang of knife wielding assailants right here in NYC, in the Bronx. Apparently it was a case of mistaken identity or maybe a set-up, but they attacked this young boy in a bodega and bodega owner did nothing to prevent it. Instead yelling at him to leave as he bled out on the floor. He dragged himself to the hospital and died there. No one in the area called for help. What’s even crazier is there is a video of this event in graphic detail. One I refuse to watch, one that I turn off when it comes on the news. I haven’t seen the video. I refuse to watch people dying and it upsets me that we live in a world were everyone’s death can be recorded and distributed like its nothing. The story really hit close to home because he reminds me so much of my family. My cousins. Young people I have in my life. He actually looks like so many of my family and to imagine that someone so young could be taken for nothing just hurts me deeply. Luckily the majority of his attackers were caught, but more needs to be done about the violence in our neighborhoods and that shouldn’t be over-policing and underfunding. #justiceforjunior

3) Our despicable government for the second time in a row failed to recognize Pride month. In an act of blanat disregard and disgust they honored this month was sent to me as a message to undermine and erase our existence. I of course observe Pride month to the best of my ability and even dedicated this month to only reading works of LBGTIA themes. Since I missed one with how busy I was, I’m extending that theme to include some works of LBGTIA themes within our new theme this month. I’ll also be reading two books this week, one to complete June’s theme and one for the new July theme. The third book to complete our Pride theme is memoir actually, one that I’ve been meaning to read for a long time. Its by someone who inspires me everyday to fight for the betterment of oppressed groups. Her visibility as a black trans woman and an advocate for LBGT and black issues as been eye-opening while her entertainment work and writing as been inspiring for a whole host other reasons. I’m of course talking about the unmatched Janet Mock and her NYTIMES bestseller Redefining Realness.

We will follow Janet from her birth growing up multicultural poor and trans in America offering insight into the world of trans-youth and POC alike. With her accessible language, she will show all her strengths and weakness in the quest for realness. With June turning into July there was no way I wasn’t going to read this memoir. It is so important for me to uplight these voices in our trying times.

Normally I would be a cute quote here overlooking the month and I could only think of one cliché:

-Better late than never,

Thriced

 

FOOTNOTES [MAY] ||RAIN OR SHINE

May was for lack of a better word: pretty lit. It’s a double entendre you see? I had a great time and read a bunch of amazing literature. No but seriously my personal and professional life has been as good as its ever been. I got a new job! I’ve been hanging out with some really cool people! I’ve turned off the news to try to stay away from all the terrible news. And the books I’ve read this month were all pretty good and hopefully more to come! The beginning of summer has never looked so good! Except for all the rain, all the goddamn rain! I thought April Showers bring May flowers not May rains everyday until you drown.

Which could totally be a good thing for the reader in all of us no? So for May Footnotes in honor of the rain, I thought I would be awesome to list some great books to read in the rain. Here are three

1. Hunger- Roxane Gay: Feminist bestseller and personal hero, Roxane Gay wrote Hunger a personal essay collection about her body discussing body shaming, fatness, and herself. A moving collection that both challenges and pulls the mirror on ourselves when it comes to complexity of body shaming issues. A perfect read for the intellectual stuck inside on a rainy day
2. Into The Water-Paula Hawkins: Bestselling spooky author Paula Hawkins is back at it again with another page-turner. Synopsis compliments of Goodreads: In the last days before her death, Nel called her sister. Jules didn’t pick up the phone, ignoring her plea for help. Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules has been dragged back to the one place she hoped she had escaped for good, to care for the teenage girl her sister left behind.
3. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs- Judi and Ronald Bartnett: SELF EXPLANATORY! No seriously, one of my favorite books growing up. It always warms my heart to read especially on a chilly day.

There you have it! Another month bites the dust. Let’s hope June is filled with sunshine and fun days ahead, but if rain does persist at least I’ll have some books to read!

-THRICED

FOOTNOTES [APRIL] ||PROBLEMATIC (FORMER) FAVES AND BOOK HAZE

Another month bites the dust! We are four months into the year and phew 2018 has already been kicking ass or just kicking my ass I’m not sure. Every other week this month some man I use to love disappointed me (i.e: Kanye West, Chance the Rapper). I won’t go into long details about this, but I will say this: you don’t need to support people who don’t support you. Whether that means they support people who are actively trying to take your rights away or they disrespect groups you belong too, you don’t need to give monetary recourse to motherfuckers who directly or indirectly treat you like shit. Sure, College Drop-out was a bop and I was saving up to buy some Yeezys, but is that worth my dignity? Emma Gonzalez was not impressed and neither am I.

Luckily, I was able to literally totally shove my face into some books this month and get off the goddamn internet away from the baddies. I’m calling this month book haze: a) because 420 blaze it woohoo b) this month I lost my damn mind and read so many books that weren’t on my monthly list, a couple that I won’t even be reviewing this year. I immersed myself into some pretty crazy grainy worlds and it really put things in perspective. From this, I managed to actually for once get ahead of my TBR and can now focus on more writing! I’m hoping that May will be filled with more blogposts: at least three a week, but fingers crossed! We’ll see how busy the world ends up getting.

Until next month I’ll leave with this perfect quote from my Drake:

“That’s a real one in your reflection, without a follow, without a mention!”

-THRICED

FOOTNOTES [MARCH] || THE LAZY SNOWY SPRING

March was jam-packed with fun and crisis. It’s like our theme “Nevertheless, She Persisted” was actually just applying to me. So hello, breaking the fourth wall now, the women behind the persisting words of Thriced, Natalia had to persist this month. March is my birthday month and you going get to turn one age once, so I lived it up as much as possible this month. I went to concerts I was too old for in the disgusting snowy spring. I saw movies from books I’ve read (and I had some SERIOUS issues with Annihilation, more to come on that). I passed through protests I didn’t realize were happening with shame and enlightenment. I drank a little too much and read books that weren’t on our list. But you know what I have fun, despite all of the bullshit that happened this month.

One thing I tried to avoid without a little bit of failure this month was the news. The news is so grim, based and just awful. I’m sick of hearing Republican representatives back our cheddar in chiefs horrible polices. I’m sick of liberal celebrities who claim to be on ‘our side’ talk about separating the artist from the art: i.e Rosanne. I’m sick of seeing innocent black people killed by the police all over the internet. I’m sick of people trying to demonize the Parkland students/victims. I’m also sick of the overwhelming outcry for certain causes and the dismissal of others. I’ve just been so sick in this climate. So the entire month I attempted to avoid with a vigor and I failed. But you know what? I didn’t let the news bog me down. Instead I clung to the positive stories.

Particularly the one of 11 year old Naomi Wadler who spoke at the March for our lives protest in Washington, DC. A young black girl who organized a walk-out at her elementary school and spoke to honor the young African-American girls who are subjected to gun violence and do not make the evening news, but rather statistics #NEVERAGAIN for those girls too.

I’ll leave you with this, the amazing Naomi quotes my favorite writer Toni Morrison elegantly “if there is a book you want to read and it hasn’t been writer yet, you must be the one to write it.” Naomi and the young black women coming in in this movement, will be the ones to write it.

I pray that we all make it to see the day that young Naomi and others shine,

With hope and love,

-THRICED

FOOTNOTES [FEBRUARY] || TWAS THE BEST OF TIMES & THE WORST OF TIMES

February has always been a confusing month for me. The shortest month of the year, we celebrate black history each day to the fullest. With #blackgirlswrite I wanted to celebrate some of the most underserved writers, black women. Something this important needed extra attention and time and although, I did achieve some of what I wanted to accomplish, I didn’t do everything. There were times were I felt like I could’ve done more, but life really got in the way. As it always does.

Back in 2016, I first heard that the long appointed comic book franchise Black panther would finally be coming to the big screen. The black empowered world of Wakanda is a hyper-techonolgized advanced society protected from the outside world and guarded by the enigmatic King Black Panther. With black woman in prominent developed leadership roles, it was slated to not only be the blackest marvel movie ever made, but also the most feminist. Black people were hyped for three years as each news development from Ryan Coogler being the first black director of the Marvel universe to fan-favorites such as Lupita N’yong and Micheal B. Jordan signing on, we were waiting with baited breath. Finally we had a confirmed priemere date: Feb 16th. Rejoicing commenced all over the world. I was excited and ready to go. I preordered tickets two weeks in advanced. I didn’t care who was going with me. I was going to go. That is until that Valentines Day.

On Feb 14th 2018, a small low-crime area of Florida, Parkland experienced something that is way too common in Untied States: a school shooting. Two words that should never exist together as much as they do in our society is an upsetting very easily changeable narrative. Massacres in public places, especially involving children really scare me. As someone who lives in a giant city were you are forced to spend a lot of time in crowded public places, the idea of mass shootings are a horrifying reality. Every-time one of the tragedies happen, we hear the same rigid socio-political fodder:

#prayforvegas #prayfororlando #prayforsandyhook

Pray. Pray. Pray. Because you know, nothing could’ve been done to prevent this. I was no longer excited for Black Panther. I was horrified. Did I really want to go to a crowded NYC theatre and sit in the dark at an action movie with loud gunshots abound? Anyone could rush into the theatre and end the lives of every movie goer, every innocent black kid who just wants to themselves on screen. I cancelled my tickets and instead watched from the sidelines on all fronts.

Emma Gonzalez, a survivor of the Parkland shooting isn’t the first teenager who’s made to cry and surely won’t be the last. As I heard Emma Gonzalez, a teenager girl call out the president, the senators, and the NRA. She taught me things I didn’t know, but wasn’t surprised by like how Trump received 30 million dollars from the NRA. Like how there has never been a school shooting in Japan because of their gun laws. How their was only one school shooting in Australia before they gave them up. She spoke with passion, grief, and she vowed to have the Parkland shooting the last. She called BS the lack of regulations we have. It didn’t make me feel safe, but it made me feel hopeful.

The kids will save us all. The kids will be alright.

I finally saw Black Panther last Thursday in a late night pretty empty theatre. I’ve never seen black people portrayed as such fully fleshed out beautiful human beings. I’ve never seen woman who look like me who are this respected. Black leaders who also looked down on guns while their enemies reached for them. Black people who are the main characters and not just sidekicks. I loved it. It was everything I needed.

However, I  kept looking over my shoulder at each loud turn. I mapped out my seat based on were the emergency exits were. I kept looking at each person who stood up and left. I watched everyone and everything with such scrutiny. I had to be suspicious. I had to be careful. And that is sad. I shouldn’t have to be worried about being killed when I just want to celebrate black film achievement. but I do.

We are living at the best and the worst of times: I only pray for policy change.

-THRICED

 

 

 

FootNotes [January] || New Year, Same Feels

Calling all Bibliophiles, Savants, and Casual Readers: We’ve all made it! If you’re reading this right now: you is beautiful, you is kind, and you have survived. Congratulate yourself on completing the first month of 2018, not an easy fete. How many of us have stuck to those pesky New Year’s resolutions? How many of us have gone to the gym more than twice? How many of us really stopped swearing? How many of us have added a million and one new books to our to-read list when you haven’t even finished the list from last year?

Just me? Okay I’m projecting.

The truth is January was tough for me and probably tough for you too. January is heralded as a month of renewal and new beginnings. It’s the perfect time of year to get your shit together. Create that business you wanted, start that project you’ve wanted, watch those movies you wanted, read that book you’ve wanted. Learn to adult.

However, throughout the month I felt plagued with a borage of terrible news stories coupled with terrible weather and a terrible government. It took a lot for me to turn down the noise and get focused. But eventually I did it. My motivating factor was simple: there is a beautiful bubbling of change and progress in the air despite all of real problems we have. I want to be a part of it. I have been so inspired by all of women speaking out about the sexual abuse they have experienced which previously silenced them #metoo. This sentiment came to a head at the 2nd annual Women’s March. Hearing all of those brave people speak about the strife women have faced and are currently facing while seeing an array of people calling for change really inspired me. It propelled me push forward in my goals. 

But it isn’t enough. Black Women’s stories need to be told. Trans Women’s stories need to be told. So many people’s stories are left without shine on them or not told at all. What happens after the marching, after the pussy hats, after the #metoo pins? What happens? We need to do real work.

One of the many reasons, I started Thriced was to celebrate the diversity of stories especially those in women and POC. I want to read stories that bring new perspectives into the fold and are celebrated for it. Let’s face it: The publishing industry can be one-note despite the big world we live in. Someone needs to showcase stories that bring agency to different types of lives. All genres are important, but particularly diversity in fiction is much more important than some of us realize. Allowing disenfranchised communities to creativity express their truths saves lives. It saved mine.

And thus, this real new-new resolution has stuck. The only truth resolution I made: read and review three books a month. Some tumbles were made and will continue to be made, but we’ve found some footing haven’t we?

So here’s to 2018: the year we dedicate ourselves to reading lots of amazing books while helping to do our part in creating a better future.

New Year, Same feels.

-Thriced

January Report: We’ve read 3 books. Almost 1000 pages. 33 more to go!