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I’ve been anxious my whole life long, but I haven’t always been afraid. There have been individual moments, of course, including my experiences with violence and assault. But what I feel now is different, dare I say more of an existential fear about my actual existence? I do not have much family. My parents and […]
On Thursday December 8, Carlisle Borough in Eastern Pennsylvania voted 5-2 to approve a local non-discrimination ordinance that includes sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression as protected classes. Carlisle is the 37 municipality to take action to protect LGBTQ residents while the PA General Assembly remains unable to move forward on similar statewide legislation […]
I’ve been savoring my surprise nab of the Best Local Blogger category in the Pittsburgh City Paper’s 2016 ‘Best of Pittsburgh’ awards. By savoring, I mean that I agonized over how much I hated the accompanying photo, missed the award party because of anxiety and have awkwardly inserted the factoid into as many conversations as possible simply because Ledcat dared me to do so. I said it at least 10 times when I was in a blogging panel. Yes, I did use the phrase, “I traffic in the currency of exposure.”
There is no opening sentence that will accurately describe my emotional mindset right now. How about “my month has been a delightful Panoply of precursors to the next four years as well as most of what’s been happening forever that I never thought about?” I started out after the election feeling numb and cutting myself […]
A few minutes ago, Marie Bricker Furlong posted a comment in response to the Giant Eagle posts. I confirmed her email address and that Marie Bricker is the owner of the Cedar Avenue location. No one has reached out to me directly to discuss either from Giant Eagle corporate or from the local independently owned […]
Her name was Shanique Sanders.
Pittsburgh Stud Shanique Sanders
Shanique Sanders via Facebook
She was 23 years old and a resident of Homestead. Wednesday afternoon, she became the latest fatality in the epidemic of violence when her body was found at 1:45 PM on McKinley Street in the Knoxville neighborhood of Pittsburgh. She had been shot at least one time when she was found and transported to UPMC Mercy where she later died.
Shanique used the name Loyalty Fashigg in social media and self-identified as a stud, according to local LGBT activist Amber Sloan who was a friend and mentor to Shanique. Amber told me that Shanique was born in Garfield, grew up in Homewood and was a graduate of Westinghouse High School.
(I am posting this letter to be transparent about my concerns around microaggressions, trolling and corporate influences. You can read my original post here. – Sue) To Whom It May Concern, My name is Sue Kerr and I am a Pittsburgh based blogger at pghlesbian.com. I wrote a blog post describing a positive interaction I had […]
We’ve been crouched in fear for over three weeks and with good reason as the hate and ugliness are fully unleashed on us. I’ve been struggling to use my tools, to find meaning and to figure out how the heck I’m going to survive for four years like this. Elizabeth’s work ethic reminds me that there are a lot of good people here in Pittsburgh who will continue to be good people, come what may. There are people who live their values and walk the walk every single day, regardless of whether we are an older black man who forgot a pin number or a middle aged white lesbian who picked up the item without a price tag.
Elizabeth made me realize that, at least sometimes, it might be okay.
Today is #GivingTuesday. We ask you to consider a donation to #AMPLIFY – we are trying to raise $600 to produce tee shirts. It is a modest goal to support a community project. We are about 15% there already! And this is our starting point – a pink crew neck shirt in sizes XS to […]
So I’m going to document the microagressions on this blog. I’m going to make sure you, dear readers, have a glimpse into how the world has shifted for a white, middle aged, middle class, gis gender lesbian on a day to day level. Because it is everywhere, it always has been and I’ve usually been able to acknowledge, but move on most of the time.
But there are too many Confederate flags waving over the trucks and homes of friends of my friends. There are too many Catholic-lite folks who deny the racial divides in Pittsburgh while swigging a craft brew at their favorite food truck. There are too few women in elected office and too many kids not part of the ‘412’ culture. Too many good intentions making things worse while demanding validation for trying. It is the participation trophy demands in social justice work that are draining our resources and preventing us from lifting up the actual contributions from people of color, queer and trans folks, bisexual folks, disabled people, etc. We have too many sacred cows and not enough kleenex for the white tears of indignation and outrage.
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