Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Your Celebratory Quote
FEATURED
Gloria Anzaldúa Uses Her Many Identities to Give Voice to Millions
One identity is never enough. People evolve and grow everyday, and different parts of who they are affect how they view the world. On that same note, Gloria Anzaldua described herself a Chicana, Tejana, lesbian, dyke, feminist, writer, poet, and cultural theorist. Her theories helped push the Chicana, feminist, and queer movements forward.
Her first book called Borderlands/La Frontera discussed so many parts of who she is: Mexican-Indian, a woman, and a lesbian. The book was considered to be groundbreaking in cultural, feminist, and queer theories.
When Anzaldua committed herself to a life of writing to raise awareness, she found out that there weren’t many writings about women of color. So she used language to her advantage and found a way to include Latinxs by inserting the use of Spanish in her books.
She not only continued to educate herself by seeking answers to cultural and social questions that nobody seemed to ask, she also wanted to answer them by educating others through her writings and teachings. It was important to her to pass along these messages because in her words, “What we say and what we do ultimately comes back to us so let us own our responsibility, place it in our hands, and carry it with dignity and strength.”
While she was working on her doctoral dissertation, she was going through major health issues and died in 2004 of diabetic complications. But it wasn’t all for naught. UC Santa Cruz gave her a posthumous PhD and in her life, she was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Fiction Award, the Lambda Lesbian Small Press Book Award, and was on the Journal’s list of best books.
ARTICLES
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The Sikhs with a Mission to Feed the World
Ravi and Jacquie Singh took a trip to India’s Golden Temple and came home with the idea to feed the world. Ravi said, “The langar system at the gurdwaras is meant to teach us sharing, but the real sharing happens when we go out into the community and go where the need is.” So they started Share a Meal, also known to Sikhs as “langar on wheels” where they pass out 1,000 Indian-style burritos a week to the homeless.
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God Loves Queers
Growing up queer in a religion can be difficult—especially the religions that tell you that being gay is a sin. But there are more Queer Christians than you think. And together, they are building a community based on their shared experience. Religious institutions definitely needs to work on inclusion, especially since God is love. Thankfully, there are several religious groups that are welcoming the queer community fully and the message of love is building!
SHOUT OUTS
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Mending The Sacred Hoop
This week we are shouting out Mending The Sacred Hoop. With much discussion happening in the news regarding sexual assault and violence, we believe it is critical to uplift those doing the work on the ground with communities. This organization works to support Native women and children through technical assistance to grantees of government funding and organizing survivors to build their own capacity for action. Learn more about this organization and how you can engage!
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