Riding Out Hurricane Andrew: 25 Years Later

As I’m watching the media coverage of the impact of Hurricane Harvey, I keep flashing back to my experiences with Hurricane Andrew. In August 1992, I had just relocated to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for graduate school. I knew exactly one person, a classmate from undergrad. I wasn’t especially enamored of post-graduate work and not especially […]

Remembering Things The Wrong Way

Remembering Things The Wrong Way

My mind is sort of stuck in low-gear these days, so I’m using blogging prompts to plow through while creating content. Write about a time you realised you were mistaken. I have a very clear and distinct memory of the first time I remember an adult in my family dying. My maternal grandfather had died […]

The Story of My Life: Coping With The Dark Tales That I Can’t Explain

The Story of My Life: Coping With The Dark Tales That I Can’t Explain

Content Note: Catholic priest sexual abuse, sexual assault I’ve learned not to say ‘well, it can’t get any worse’ when it comes to genealogy. Knowledge is power and sometimes learning the truth about your ancestors (and living family) can be harmful. Nonethless, it is truth. It is the story of my life. I have over […]

My Family Story: The Unknown Legacy of Anna Gottheld (1874-1949)

Perhaps that is her story, her legacy even. She like so many women in history are lost to us in terms of details, but real to us in terms of having actually been here and part of the tapestry of our lives. She existed in all of her unrecorded, complicated and stark reality. Her legacy is real even if the details are shrouded. Perhaps this post will unearth more details or perhaps it will simply honor the life story that we know.

Rest in power, Grandma Annie.

One Angry Queer Responds to the Trump Trans Military Ban

Reposted with permission from One Angry Queer written by my wonderful friend and colleague, Ian Awesome.  Follow them on Twitter @OneAngryQueer ~ Sue OK. The Trump trans military ban. If you know me you of course know two things about me: I used to serve in the military and that I’m some kinda wacky kinda trans that […]

Roots Pride Organizes Final Edition Weekend June 3 & 4

Roots Pride will host their final events this weekend to highlight the success of the past three years and the transformative power of resistance. We hope to see everybody that worked so hard to make Roots Pride a reality and all those who will carry on the legacy of standing up for queer and trans […]

#AMPLIFY Lesbian Visibility Day with 59 Lesbian Voices from Western PA

Lesbian Day of Visibility

Today is the day we celebrate the lesbians in our lives – Lesbian Visibility Day. According to Wikipedia. I’ve been diligently trying to track down other sources for this so-called visibility day that started in 2008, but I’ve had little in the way of luck. Google seems to indicate it has not been ‘a thing’ […]

Sometimes I Flinch

Earlier in the month, I had a little Facebook spat with another woman in a local progressive women’s group. She objected to my framing of the killing of Sean Hake and we went back and forth for a while. I had the impression she was connected to  law enforcement officer and was taking my analysis […]

Two Women’s Marches Illustrate The Two Pittsburghs

Two Pittsburghs

(This post grew out of a Facebook post I wrote on Sunday morning.) I think having two marches/rallies centering women in Pittsburgh was a positive thing because it shined a light on the reality that we live in two Pittsburghs, divided by race. There’s an honesty there that is so rarely evident or acknowledged elsewhere. […]

Our Cat Has Pancreatic Cancer and Three Months to Live #NaBloPoMo

Emberly came to live with us in late September 2015. He had been living on the streets near a friend’s home in Brighton Heights. My original thought was that we would take him to the shelter when it was open, but a night in our bathroom was better than another night on the streets. Then […]