grief

i keep seeing this girl who wears your leather bomber jacket
it makes me think of the way your hair smelled when it started pouring down rain in the park
i smile, because the memory is beautiful
even if the moment was impermanent--
all beautiful things are.

the bittersweetness arrives in the question:
am i missing someone who isn't anymore?
or am i missing someone who never was?

The Pro-Child, Pro-Choice Manifesto

I value reproductive justice in large part because parenthood will never come easily for me. It can't happen by accident. I value children, and I do not take the opportunity to raise them for granted (in fact, I resent that there are people who have that luxury). It seems unfair to them, to the children themselves, that so many people who desperately want them can't raise them, and so many who have neither the resources nor the inclination to do so are faced with raising them.

Reproductive justice means more than abortion. It means the right to choose how, whether, and when you raise a family. It means better lives for children. It means parents who are more prepared. It means not just the ability to say no, I will not have a child, regardless of how I express my adult relationships. It also means the freedom to say yes, I want to provide a loving home for a child, to foster them into independent adulthood.

Reproductive justice is about repairing the world. It means creating better homes and stronger families. It means children who believe that they are gifts rather than burdens. It means having the choice to begin and sustain a healthy pregnancy, to prevent pregnancy, to terminate a pregnancy, to avoid and treat life-threatening conditions, to raise a child, to know one's partner thoroughly before embarking on the shared adventure that is parenthood, or to know oneself thoroughly before embarking on it alone. Reproductive justice is the creation of a world where everyone is loved, by others and by self. Reproductive justice is a world in which education precludes abortion--abortion, which is an indignity not just for the child, but for the mother. Reproductive justice is dignity. It is the empowerment of women and the education of men. It is the equalization of heteros and homos, single and married, parent and childless, cis and trans. Reproductive justice is justice.

revelation:

sometimes, the kindest thing you can do for someone is to destroy them completely.

mix tape x: MOVING

going through old posts, including one on which B made a request that i post my EPIC playlist from the road trip this summer, i realized i never did! here are the songs that are on my iPod under the playlist name MOVING:

1) "Boston" - Augustana
2) "All I Want" - Joni Mitchell
3) "Times Like These (Acoustic)" - Foo Fighters
4) "Home" - Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
5) "No Rain" - Blind Melon (which is obligatory on any mixtape of significance i've made since 2003)
6) "The Weight of Lies" - The Avett Brothers
7) "What I Got" - Sublime
8) "Don't Stop" - unknown artist, discovered on a mix cd per chance ;)
9) "Come On Get Higher" - likewise
10) "Porch Songs" - Chris Pureka
11) "The Boys of Summer" - The Ataris
12) "Yoü and I" - Lady Gaga

confession:

i've been reluctant to post here lately because i dread YeamieWaffles's comments and ignoring him hasn't made them go away.

realisation:

i have been the ungracious recipient of unconditional love on more occasions than i am only beginning to become aware.

reminder:

i told someone else at the bar last week that even when you know someone is bad for you, ending a relationship is hard, "but the hardest thing you have to do is absolutely nothing." right in the middle of re-learning just how true that is.