Photo: Firmm Dear Gladis Blanca, Thank you for ramming into my silence and pushing me into a head-on collision with the rudder of enough. As in the revolutionary energy of “Enough.” As in plenty. As in this must stop. As in fuck that shit. As in am I doing enough.
Thank you for this. I'm an old, white man; so, while I can't truly empathize with what you have been going through, and I certainly can't imagine how your brain works, what I can empathize with is the issue of aging that you start to raise here.
I'm a little more than a decade older than you are; so, I want to warn you that while aging does allow one some amount of freedom from constraint, it also renders one invisible eventually. which in this society is dangerous to one's continued existence.
I have been well aware of how much privilege my sex grants me for most of my life. I was subjected to abuse by my privileged, white male father when I was a boy; so I got that once I reached maturity, for no good reason, I would be granted enormous power in my culture, usually while entertaining murderous thoughts towards that man.
And seeing the way my father and mother related to their parents, I was also made aware that after I passed my "prime," as defined buy a society that maintains a timeline of relevancy for all of us, I would very quickly loose that power unless I had accomplished cementing myself into some setting that allowed me to fend off my younger competitors for supremacy.
Being a queer man and a product of the 1960's, that pursuit of supremacy just seemed empty and exhausting to me. I was are though that in our "market" economy, power is required in order to ensure one's existence, and that loss of power is dangerous for one, because in this society that means that one is left vulnerable to being exploited or discarded by those who do hold power.
Patriarchy is murderous at its core.
I know that you are already well aware of this truth, and I am not writing to cast a pall on what you write here; but I do want to urge you to stick it out with us. We need you to continue to poke your finger in the eyes of the ruling patriarchs. It's hard work. I am grateful that you are doing it. Please, keep on with it. Those beautiful orcas attacking yachts in the ocean would be dead already were it not for laws and treaties that protect them. Those laws and treaties would not exist without people like you who were willing to poke fingers in the eyes of the patriarchs running the show back when. We need people like you to continue the fight into your old age, because we old people live very close to annihilation. We are old and considered without value according to today's patriarchy.
James thank you for taking the time to post such a thoughtful reply. I so appreciate it as well as your support of my work. Patriarchy, especially the cishet version, tries to erase and marginalize so many of us. We must fight it with all that we have. Love and solidarity 💜✊🏽❤️
Mona,
Thank you for this. I'm an old, white man; so, while I can't truly empathize with what you have been going through, and I certainly can't imagine how your brain works, what I can empathize with is the issue of aging that you start to raise here.
I'm a little more than a decade older than you are; so, I want to warn you that while aging does allow one some amount of freedom from constraint, it also renders one invisible eventually. which in this society is dangerous to one's continued existence.
I have been well aware of how much privilege my sex grants me for most of my life. I was subjected to abuse by my privileged, white male father when I was a boy; so I got that once I reached maturity, for no good reason, I would be granted enormous power in my culture, usually while entertaining murderous thoughts towards that man.
And seeing the way my father and mother related to their parents, I was also made aware that after I passed my "prime," as defined buy a society that maintains a timeline of relevancy for all of us, I would very quickly loose that power unless I had accomplished cementing myself into some setting that allowed me to fend off my younger competitors for supremacy.
Being a queer man and a product of the 1960's, that pursuit of supremacy just seemed empty and exhausting to me. I was are though that in our "market" economy, power is required in order to ensure one's existence, and that loss of power is dangerous for one, because in this society that means that one is left vulnerable to being exploited or discarded by those who do hold power.
Patriarchy is murderous at its core.
I know that you are already well aware of this truth, and I am not writing to cast a pall on what you write here; but I do want to urge you to stick it out with us. We need you to continue to poke your finger in the eyes of the ruling patriarchs. It's hard work. I am grateful that you are doing it. Please, keep on with it. Those beautiful orcas attacking yachts in the ocean would be dead already were it not for laws and treaties that protect them. Those laws and treaties would not exist without people like you who were willing to poke fingers in the eyes of the patriarchs running the show back when. We need people like you to continue the fight into your old age, because we old people live very close to annihilation. We are old and considered without value according to today's patriarchy.
James thank you for taking the time to post such a thoughtful reply. I so appreciate it as well as your support of my work. Patriarchy, especially the cishet version, tries to erase and marginalize so many of us. We must fight it with all that we have. Love and solidarity 💜✊🏽❤️
I love this essay! I have been so impressed by the story of these orcas, but this spin on it is brilliant!
Thank you.
Thank you, Yvette! Thank you for your kind words and support of my work. Much appreciated 💜✊🏽❤️ love and solidarity