Rachel Martin

I have no animosity toward Boy Scouts, I'm sure it suits lots of people! I have trans women friends now who loved it! It just wasn't for me, I was always envious of the girls and the activities they were enjoying, which were much more in line with my own interests. I'm glad kids have access to both.

I was appointed the troop scribe, which suited me. And I earned one merit badge, for cooking, the scoutmasters said my camp meal (the final test) was the best they'd ever had! Plus, on the drives back and forth to camp, the asst scoutmaster introduced us to Johnny Cash nonstop on his 8-track player.

I slept outside by the embers of the campfire, and in fact woke up one morning and discovered my cloth sleeping bag had burned up around me in the night. So I spent the rest of the campout nights shivering. I wasn't entirely unsuccessful as a scout, though. I did earn my knife and hatchet card, and

But I recall like yesterday it was hot, dry, buggy, and sand got into everything. Snakes, too, despite the lack of water. The opposite of my ideal habitat and the memory of those long, hot, dirty, thirsty days are still fresh. Since I had no friends, I didn't sleep in a tent with the others.

My most vivid memories of those couple years were the "camp." Someone had donated some acres out in the piney woods of central Florida and our Scoutmasters put us to work building what seemed to me a mini-fort. They cut down trees and we hauled and stacked logs, what was accomplished I can't recall.

As part of the never ending project to turn me into a boy/man, my Dad put me into Boy Scouts for a year when I was about 10, and later at 14. My Dad wasn't harsh, but it was always clear I was never boy enough, nor did I try to be. I had my interests and wasn't bothered that they weren't "boyish."

Since BSA Scouts are in the news and GSUSA cookies are making the rounds, I thought I might tell my story of being a trans kid and scouting back in the 70's. Of course I didn't have that language, I just knew I was "different." And everyone else knew I was "different," too.

Posted for protest

Stop the War on Iran Rally at 6 PM today in Anchorage

This is very short notice of course, but if you're angry at what's happening right now then here's a potential outlet for that being put together by PSL Anchorage.

Mirroring History This silver-plated tea set may appear on the surface to be a simple assortment of serving containers. But what has this set seen, what has it heard?

"By serving tea in her home, Joanna Howard could meet with the prominent abolitionists with less fear of violent retribution. These acts helped knit together a network that survived and spanned many generations, involving their own children." - I loved reading about tea & Black history.

hands off I ran Saturday, February 28 2:30 PM Pike Place market 85th Pike Street lots of sponsors

#Seattle please join me at this protest. The US and Israel are bombing schools again this time in Iran.

Yay!!!!!

The weakest & most vulnerable out here are confronting the world while the strong complain how it could make them uncomfortable. The brokest out here are distributing resources to each other in network to survive white the comfortable pinch pennies.

Hope your trip goes without a hitch!

transvestigation is a punishment that happens to cis women who say anything a transphobe doesn't like. they don't even have to actually think you're trans, because the accusation itself is meant to be the insult. it happens to me a lot

Picture of Marjane Satrapi alongside a quote from her. The quote reads: The world is not divided into countries. The world is not divided between East and West. You are American, I am Iranian, we don't know each other, but we talk together and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same... - Marjane Satrapi, Iranian-French graphic novelist

Thinking about this quote from Persepolis creator Marjane Satrapi again.

Join us tomorrow 3pm Twin Falls, #Idaho

It's pretty weird to me that Idaho's legislative priorities are dictated now by Heritage and ADF. Partly lack of awareness, I know a lot of people who vote R who didn't know of these bills. But also "this is fine," as having learned, they have no interest in intervening or voting differently.

I can't guess what the ID leg might have in store for trans people next after they get their vigilante/bounty and felony bathroom bills. Depends on what the Idaho Family Policy Center dictates as the next priority. I used to have hope they might slow down, but they won't stop till they're stopped.

Boise City Hall - Stop War on Iran tonight, 2/28, 6:30pm

If you've grown up having to deal with the weirdest and most unsettling of church goers (often white and republican, lets not mince words) you know how true this is. Christian Nationalism is just that mind bending and dangerous. Its basically no different from a turbo cult but now they have power

It is remarkable to me how tranquil my life really is in the midst of all. I had always imagined that by age 67 our society and civilization would have progressed so much further. I'm surprised to be contesting the same injustices. And at the same time my life is full of comfort and privilege.

Sketch of a beach with a little building on the right witg a street light above it. On the sea, far away on the horizon can be seen some mountains or ships or.... what you want. In the dooreway of the building stands a little samurai silhouette and somewhere hides a cat. Indian ink and acrylic pens on a4 paper.

Daily sketch 🏢🥷🐈‍⬛️

Can you spot the cat ?

The samurai and the cat are peacefully living their lives and they're happy to share some peeks with you. I hope it can bring you a smile and some warmth. Take care of yourselves 🩵

(Zoomed out version below)

#art #artsky #ink #sketch

This is why I’m here:

🧵Trigger warning: suicide

I am the proud mum of a trans woman, Alice.

Alice came out to her best friend, Lucy when she was sixteen, to her sister, Kate a few months later. She didn’t come out to me. Why not? Probably because I’d absorbed media transphobia 1/10

Well I’m one then! 😁 Octo Octa and Eris Drew were an important part of my gateway into recognizing that I really was trans.

Does EDM count?

I had a co-worker say they liked me because I was pretty even keeled and he’d “known a lot of trans women who are angry all the time.” And I said, “ya know, there might be a reason why they’re angry!”

Cliff Hohman, fighting extremism in Idaho politics, running in Nampa, District 13A. By extremism, I mean Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. Seriously, our legislature is off the charts with an anti-cannibalism bill, machine gun bill, the infamous bathroom bill. Meanwhile, we’re out of money. Vote blue, kids!

RIP Neil Sedaka, who was always extraordinarily kind when he’d visit the Today Show set. 💔

“My mother wanted me to be a classical pianist,” he said. “But I loved pop music. I loved melody. I loved the idea of three minutes that could change your life.”

“Laughter in the Rain” (1974)

A digital drawing of author Maia Kobabe, a white nonbinary person with short brown hair wearing a patterned blue shirt, who scowls while holding up a copy of eir book GENDER QUEER: A MEMOIR. Maia is saying: H.R. 7661 is a national book banning bill which seeks to remove any book that "involves gender dysphoria or transgenderism" from all public schools in the US. This would ban my books, and any other book with trans themes, from public schools. PLEASE call your House Reps and say: NO ON H.R. 7661!

H.R. 7661 is a national book banning bill which seeks to remove any book that "involves gender dysphoria or transgenderism" from all public schools in the US. This would ban all my books, & any other book with trans themes, from public schools. PLEASE call your House Reps & say: NO ON H.R. 7661!

A Message to My Transgender Friends To My Transgender Friends Throughout This Country,

There's no way to place myself inside your shoes or your skin or to begin to understand how much it hurts to be the target of the scalding hatred of strangers simply for existing; the way that must wound your heart, alter your days, and hinder your joy...

johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/a-message-...