What are Tiny Violences?🔪🤏🏿

It’s a phrase that I made up! It started as a list of complaints, some urgent & cultural others, specific & vague, others, general & niche, but all small acts of harm, many external, and others self-inflicted.  Like…

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Reading a text message from a friend of a friend, who only really “knows” me from social media, sharing a photo of her daughter’s newest hair cut with the caption, “it’s like your wig.” Immediately I think, “you don’t know me like that.” I don't reply.

Reckoning with slights and the meaning assigned to how they’ve made me feel, and perform has offered me companion to thinking through some of the consequences of existing and belonging.

Tiny Violences is my attempt to examine some of those instances, and also to experiment my way through prose. If you’re new to the space, I recommend checking out the archive - there are dozens of posts from back when I had a crazy amount of stamina (and more time) to post weekly.

I Think You Should Subscribe🤳🏿

I mean, you’ve made it this far, you might as well.  Tiny Violences a monthlyish newsletter that’s about identity politics, style, beauty culture, Black visibility, Queer desire, shadiness, literature, and self-reflection.  I like to play with forms in this space (short & longish essays, lists; my fave, photo stories and the occasional audio clip), so I’ll never be bored and neither will you. If you like writing-personal, irreverent writing-writing by a Queer Black Baddie from NYC then this is your home. You should also consider becoming a paid subscriber, it’s good for the economy and you can tell your friends that you’re a patron of the arts!

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How’d I Get Here?🔍

I’m one of three of the inaugural Joel Gay Creative Fellowship, sparked by the imagination of (ICON) Roxane Gay, and in honor of her brother. Three friends encouraged me to apply, so I did, and bloop here I’m is.

A Lil About Me 💄🔪

I’m a writer, community organizer, muse, stylish-fashion industry dropout (or exile) who’s still trying to make peace with the reality that I won’t just do or be one thing. I’m essaying my way through publications I love and trust and writing, revising and wringing my hands through my first essay collection. I have an MFA in Creative Writing, I facilitate workshops, support local womanist literacy initiatives, organize queer black women, femmes and our women of color allies and have been published in some really cool anthologies. I write about my family a lot, and sure they’re proud but also likely embarrassed and well I guess that means I have moxie.  I’m also pretty cool on Instagram.