Reshaping Reality

July 6, 2021

My Open Letter to City Designers

I originally wrote this email for the Des Moines City Council. For the past year, I’ve adjusted the verbiage to reflect what I’ve heard in their City Council Meetings with the Public. I also adjust the bullet points and actions I (and others) wish to see them take. Otherwise, most of the letters are verbatim Continue reading

activism, Author, disability, Race, transgender

ableism, access, accessibility, Accessible Cities, disability, disability justice, Disability Pride, Fight Ableism, Homelessness, No More Ableism
April 11, 2016

Review: Zootopia

My partner and I decided to see Zootopia, mostly because it had astronomically high good ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, and its trailer revealed an possibly cute story about an animal world that struggles with discrimination. Most of the marketing made it seem like a B-Disney movie. What we discovered instead was an incredibly deep story Continue reading

movies, Reviews, Writing

action, animated, comedy, disney, movie, reviews, zootopia
March 10, 2016

Oh, how Sgt. Quark Amaya McFluffers loves pizza boxes, but then came the day when we had to throw them out. We lured him away with Greenies, and then threw them out while doing our annual apartment clean. His sorrow knew no bounds, until the next pizza box came, and there he was again, lounging Continue reading

Author

cat, kitty, pizza boxes
January 18, 2016

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today is my birthday, and this year it falls on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Today our media portrays him as a Civil Rights Activist, who led the movement for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. We are taught about his non-violence campaigns for equality, but we were not taught about how he critiqued Capitalism. Continue reading

Author, Blogging

civil rights, democratic socialism, economic justice, income inequality, martin luther king jr, mlk, wealth disparity
January 11, 2016

TDOR Spoken Word Video

I meant to post this a few weeks ago after my partner finished the video edits. It was performed December 11, 2015. I was the first performer. The rest of the event was also recorded, but has been kept private due to the performers concerns about privacy. I don’t mind sharing my portion though, so Continue reading

Writing
January 4, 2016

The start of a new year

Every year in January, people I know talk about their new years resolutions. Many of which we will forget by February or March. Why do we do this ritual every year? Where we dissect our lives, ponder all the things we failed to do or should have done better, and then seek out ways to Continue reading

Author, Philosophy, Writing

existing, labels, new year, reflections, thoughts
November 20, 2015

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Here is the memorial of the trans folks who died in 2015. Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, where us trans folks remember those of us who have died. This year has been a brutal year, where the the number of us murdered rose higher than any other year in the last four decades. The Continue reading

Writing
November 9, 2015

Cat Scans

Mandatory Overtime has engulfed my life. I also attempted to do a writing class and work on my novel — at all once. This has worn me out, so I haven’t had the energy to write much for my blog. Instead, I leave you with a scan of my cat done a few months ago. Continue reading

Writing
September 22, 2015

Creativity

The world has settled around me, slowly but firmly, the glove finally fitting after weeks of adjusting and fine-tuning. Never one for sewing, the stitches were haphazard but determined, inching along the seams, until the glove grew to fit the hand, snug and warm in the growing darkness of the yesteryear. The onset of fall Continue reading

Author, Philosophy, Writing
September 1, 2015

Why Black Lives Matter is Crucial, All Lives Matter is Unnecessary, and White Lives Matter is just Racist

Originally posted on Justin DaMetz: So Black Lives Matter has taken over my newsfeed of Facebook again this week. It all started with this picture, posted on the page for my employer, United Campus Ministries at TU, after we put a BLM sign out front of our building, and it was subsequently stolen Tuesday night… Continue reading

Writing
August 20, 2015

20 trans people were murdered this year. This is what happened.

This is an epidemic. Continue reading