Some listening and gifting resources-

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Trans Artists Have Always Shaped Music. TRANSA Pays Tribute to Their Power

Perfume Genius, Yaeji, Teddy Geiger, and more on the power of the compilation album.

Queer artists have always subverted musical boundaries, shaping the sound of culture itself. That truth is the guiding ethos behind TRANSA, an astounding new compilation from the nonprofit production company Red Hot that puts a spotlight on trans, nonbinary, and queer artists, celebrating the unique gifts they have brought to the world. Artist, model, and trans activist Massima Bell, who produced this compilation alongside senior Red Hot producer Dust Reid, puts it best. “I see in the quality of music trans people make this ability to create a portal out of their music and take you to a different place in a way that is really powerful,” Bell tells me.

TRANSA provides precisely that kind of transporting experience. Featuring 46 collaborative tracks with over 100 contributing artists, the compilation was inspired by Bell and Reid’s love of the music of Beverly Glenn-Copeland and the natural world. The passing of trans musical visionary SOPHIE in 2021 prompted the pair to focus on a project which they now describe as a “spiritual journey in eight chapters.” Individual chapters with titles like “Womb Of The Soul,” “Awakening,” and “Reinvention” serve as a blueprint for a winding musical narrative with multiple missions, one of which is to be a living document of contemporary music by trans and nonbinary artists. “We often don’t get to understand our history and the long legacy of trans people,” Bell says, “both in music, but throughout time and human culture.”

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Gifting:

Queer Handmade Home Decor Gifts for Everyone on Your List

These queer creators make the kinds of artful, colorful, and unique gifts you won’t find at big stores.

BY MANDY SHUNNARAH

Queer artists and makers work hard all year long, but due to the seasonality of product sales, many only make the majority of their income during the final three months of the year. So this holiday season, instead of buying from mega-retailers who love to slap rainbows on their merchandise for Pride month, you can put your dollar to better use by shopping small and buying direct from LGBTQ+ sellers.

Plus, with your house being such an important space for relaxation and recharging, what could make a better gift for queer loved ones in your life than handmade home decor? It’s a win-win: Your friends and family will get quality things to beautify their abodes, and you’ll help pay a queer person’s bills.

If you want to help your friends and loved ones jazz up their space, here are some incredible options for handmade home decor made by queer artists. (Buy something for yourself, too. We won’t judge.)

For plant parents

The thing about adopting plants is that it’s too easy to go from having a few here and there to an apartment full of aloe, monstera, and pothos. If you know someone whose home is overrun with greenery, you can never go wrong with the gift of a new container, so get the plant parent in your life a bright, 3D-printed flower pot to really make those leaves look good.

Plum + Lime Wavy Planter

~~$36~~ $34

ETSY

Made by the completely queer-owned design shop Object Lover, these pots are constructed from recyclable, biodegradable corn-based plastic, so your eco-conscious friends can feel good knowing their plants are helping the planet.

For candle lovers

Nothing is more synonymous with the holidays than a good candle, especially as the days get shorter and darker during winter. But there’s no one-size-fits-all candle, so here are two very different options:

Queer Candle Co. is your go-to if you’re buying for someone whose style is a little more subtle. The glass jar and black-and-white label are both fairly nondescript, but the scents spill the tea. You’ll find blends like their astrological bundles for Fire Signs, Water Signs, and Air Signs as well as decadent scents like dark plum — all of which are tastefully designed by a queer-owned company who wanted to “promote visibility and amplify the voices of members of our community.” The company contributes 10% of their profits to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project.

Campfires & Carabiners Candle

$18

VIOLET&JADE

If you’re looking for another candle company with product names that elicit some queer rebellion and cheekiness, look no further than Violet&Jade. With scents like Leather Daddy, Campfires & Carabiners, and Drag Brunch, these candles will make a great addition to any queer person’s mantle or side table.

For people who like to burrow in a nest of blankets

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Nov. 30’s Poem On Sunday

A Cry from an Indian Wife Emily Pauline Johnson

Please click through to read more about this poet, and her poem (especially in light of some terms she used in her work. It is fine history.)

My Forest Brave, my Red-skin love, farewell;
We may not meet to-morrow; who can tell
What mighty ills befall our little band,
Or what you’ll suffer from the white man’s hand?
Here is your knife! I thought ’twas sheathed for aye.
No roaming bison calls for it to-day;
No hide of prairie cattle will it maim;
The plains are bare, it seeks a nobler game:
’Twill drink the life-blood of a soldier host.
Go; rise and strike, no matter what the cost.
Yet stay. Revolt not at the Union Jack,
Nor raise Thy hand against this stripling pack
Of white-faced warriors, marching West to quell
Our fallen tribe that rises to rebel.
They all are young and beautiful and good;
Curse to the war that drinks their harmless blood.
Curse to the fate that brought them from the East
To be our chiefs—to make our nation least
That breathes the air of this vast continent.
Still their new rule and council is well meant.
They but forget we Indians owned the land
From ocean unto ocean; that they stand
Upon a soil that centuries agone
Was our sole kingdom and our right alone.
They never think how they would feel to-day,
If some great nation came from far away,
Wresting their country from their hapless braves,
Giving what they gave us—but wars and graves.
Then go and strike for liberty and life,
And bring back honour to your Indian wife.
Your wife? Ah, what of that, who cares for me?
Who pities my poor love and agony?
What white-robed priest prays for your safety here,
As prayer is said for every volunteer
That swells the ranks that Canada sends out?
Who prays for vict’ry for the Indian scout?
Who prays for our poor nation lying low?
None—therefore take your tomahawk and go.
My heart may break and burn into its core,
But I am strong to bid you go to war.
Yet stay, my heart is not the only one
That grieves the loss of husband and of son;
Think of the mothers o’er the inland seas;
Think of the pale-faced maiden on her knees;
One pleads her God to guard some sweet-faced child
That marches on toward the North-West wild.
The other prays to shield her love form harm,
To strengthen his young, proud uplifted arm.
Ah, how her white face quivers thus to think,
Your tomahawk his life’s best blood will drink.
She never thinks of my wild aching breast,
Nor prays for your dark face and eagle crest
Endangered by a thousand rifle balls,
My heart the target if my warrior falls.
O! coward self I hesitate no more;
Go forth, and win the glories of the war.
Go forth, nor bend to greed of white men’s hands,
By right, by birth we Indians own these lands,
Though starved, crushed, plundered, lies our nation low . . .
Perhaps the white man’s God has willed it so.

The “Chatty Chicken”

Plain Chachalaca

2Fer Poetry on Saturday

Click on the titles to read more about each poet, and their poem.

Wooden Window Frames Luci Tapahonso

The morning sun streams through the little kitchen’s
wooden panes; its luminescence tempts me to forego coffee.
But I don’t. The dark coffee scent melds with the birds’
chirping along the hidden acacia. Then, a small bird
alights on the cross of the wooden clothesline.
Its tiny head turns from side to side, then as if sensing me,
it gazes at me through a window square.
We ponder each other, then remember our manners,
and it flies off into the clean, cold air.

My Kiowa friends say a visit from a bird
is the spirit of a departed loved one.
I think again of Marie, my friend, my comadre –
the many feast days, powwows, and trips we shared.
We cruised down Taos’s one main street,
and rushed to Smith’s grocery for last-minute necessities,
or Walmart for the white cylinder candles for wakes.
We hauled huge, bulging bags to the town dump.

Oh, sister, this entire town brims with memories
of our long sisterhood, since our early twenties
when we were young mothers,
but that was in the last century.

This quiet casita is surrounded by tall stands
of elm and cottonwood trees, their bare, brown
branches stark against the deep, blue sky.

Every other week, snow falls in thin waves
onto the flat ochre houses
that seem anchored to the ground.
Outside of these thick adobe walls, a stillness settles upon everything.
As memories drift all around, I gather ingredients for a stew,
scents of coffee and toast linger around the arched doorway,
and the warm air in the kitchen lightens the chopping of vegetables.
Soon, the windowpanes are damp from the simmering stew.

All there is now, is to wait, sip coffee, and watch the snow
fall in layers on the roofs, trees, fences, and cars.

I am in a serene cocoon of memories.
All our conversations and laughter are silent now.
Somewhere north of here, dogs bark playfully,
probably romping in the fresh snow.
Just up the road at the pueblo, your family gathers.
They replenish the fire, stir pots of red chile
and place potato salad and platters
of sliced oven bread on the table.

Untitled Lance Henson

Here is a place where nothing can die
Darkness that lives beneath the leaves

We bring our nights there without knowing
We bring our fear there before the singing begins
We bring our silent names there hoping we are forgiven

We bring our hands there scented of a river

We bring our prayers that hide and watch us
The landscape where we have held the loose feathers
Of a fallen bird

And awakened in the land of the unseen

Here is a place where nothing can die …

Peace & Justice History for 11/30

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorynovember.htm#november30

Fun, beautiful

Maybe the other way around. Dance, dance! I don’t know a lot of Dua Lipa’s work, but I really, really like the work that I’ve seen and heard of hers. She’s quite talented, and has a neat attitude, too-