Lists (Against the Law)
This is Friday Letters, an AGAINST THE LAW edition.
First off, thank you not just because it’s the holiday week that it is and when that’s expected, but thank you because with all of your support, I’m able to move Friday Letters to a new platform. It may be a few weeks yet still before the move is complete, so stay tuned here—once the move is done, though, you won’t actually have to do anything: your subscription (both free and paid) will continue seamlessly.
It has been a very tough last few days—the death of Carol Leigh and the massacre at Club Q (and the ongoing “purge” alongside the re-platforming of fascists on Twitter) are each weighing heavily.
But what I want to share today is:
IN LIEU OF A GIFT LIST
A curated selection of some ways to give
Folks who work at Club Q are going without work and pay, and will until they are able re-open after the mass shooting. Del Lusional, who was performing that night, has shared this list of how to help them all out.
Whose Corner Is It Anyway—the sex worker-run mutual aid org through which “low-income sex workers have created a regular community and organizing meeting for ourselves—a haven” is always in need of financial support, especially monthly donors, and especially now, when they have been operating with a skeleton crew, “distributing cash honoraria, food, drink, cigarettes, reproductive health items, hygiene items, informational handouts on harm reduction/health and sex work topics, lockboxes that clinics mandate for COVID-19 methadone take-home bottles, and a stockpile of harm reduction supplies to members instead of holding meetings.”
zine illustrated by Ally Shwed Digital Defense Fund has been doing critical work since Dobbs to meet the vastly expanded needs for infosec as individuals and communities facing the criminalization of abortion and pregnancy. Their zines and other cybersecurity resources are free to download. (Hacking//Hustling also has this free self-directed Doxxing Harm Reduction Training.)
Indie co-op bookstores Bluestockings and Red Emma’s—who have been maybe the singularly most supportive bookstores in the US re: sex workers’ rights—each have monthly membership programs, where you can help them keep events accessible and offer everything from harm reduction supplies to community education and many other free resources. (You can also directly support the Bluestockings/Project NIA free store.)
- No More Police authors Mariame Kaba & Andrea Ritchie have merch now to celebrate the book’s release, with “all benefits going to Survived & Punished, a grassroots organization that works to end the criminalization of trans and queer survivors, defend survivor self-defense, and advocate for criminalized survivors.”
In the spirit, though, of also recognizing that there’s room for glamour and lightness in the midst of all of this, a few things that have been keeping that going for me despite everything are:
… the Silent Films perfume from Goest (love the reviewer who says “Def more of a night time scent, it feels weird to put this on after you get out of the shower in the morning, like how it feels weird to watch dramatic TV during the day.” even though I disagree on both counts) … this Le Creuset mug in “Sea Salt” (for the mornings I do need to calm) with Revelator’s “Misfit” coffee … the reMarkable tablet which is what I read on the most for my book (you can draw on documents!) and everyone always asks about it if you take it out with you … and always black post-it’s with white ink for making notes, mostly of the problems re: the book to sort out tomorrow.
Before I go, if you are moving off Twitter to a similar platform, the only one I’m using at all right now is Mastodon and you can find me at @journa.host/melissagira.
And if you’re brand new here, I’m writing a book and it’s called A Woman Is Against the Law and it’ll be out from Little, Brown in 2024.
FROM THE PLAYLIST //
As of this writing, the book’s playlist is five years old and clocks in at 7 hr 43 min. This is George Michael’s “Freedom! ‘90.”
STATION IDENTIFICATION //
This is Friday Letters, by Melissa Gira Grant (me).
Subscribe now, if you haven’t already, and thanks for reading.
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MGG
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