Happy Friday REVOLUTIONARIES! We know that posts have been a bit off kilter (and off schedule) here in our tiny little loving space on the inter webs. There's has been travel, conferences, exams and general life that has been taking up a lot of our brain, body and heart spaces recently. We're ready for some slow cooked, cell phones turned off, shoes left at the door, sleeping bags thrown on the couch for unexpected sleepovers, alarms snoozed, 2pm brunches, super low pressure hangout/chill time this way. We hope that along with all the wonderful revolution everyone is stirring that you're also making a little space for the all important deep slow breath this weekend. If you're looking for a little COM|PASSionate trouble, as always, here is our event round-up and announcements for upcoming fun community loving!!! :)

EVENTS

Get out, take care of yourself and heal in community!

SATURDAY 3.7.15 Greet the Day Yoga, Deep Dog, Yorba Linda*
MONDAY 3.9.15 Acoustic Flow Yoga, Deep Dog, Yorba Linda*
WEDNESDAY 3.11.15 Midweek Mindfulness Practice, Deep Dog, Yorba Linda*

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Don't forget there's lots of upcoming ways to get involved!

A friend of COM|PASSionate REVOLT, Maryam Rasouli, is offering counseling services for anyone that needs extra support during this difficult time that Muslims are going through via phone/in person/Skype. You can contact Maryam at 657-201-7508 or email her at mrasouli@gmail.com. Read more about Maryam on our Mental Health Resources page here and read her full bio in the post notes at the bottom of the page.
Lewis and Clark's Gender Symposium is coming up 3/11-3/15 and we'll be dreaming of Portland. The theme of this 34th annual conference is, Material Conditions: Gender, Sexuality and Capitalism. All lectures, sessions and art shows are FREE and open to the public! Get your deconstruction on REVOLUTIONARIES!**

RECOMMENDATIONS

Feeling like some quiet time at home is what you need?

DARK MATTER: Courtney Klink, the Butch Goddess and our contributor of Isn't it Queer, reminded of us of some of our favorite poets/activists/all around amazing humans in her last post: Poetry Soup for Achy Souls. Dark Matter is a South Asian performance art duo comprised of Alok Vaid-Menon and Janani Balasubramanian. They will make you laugh, cry, think, get inspired and get accountable-- a tall order for any artist. Need a pick me up? Need some fire for movement? Need to simultaneously laugh/cry about the intersectional journey? Fall down a glorious Dark Matter bunny hole…

Dark Matter Website

Dark Matter YouTUBE

Return the Gayze (Alok Vaid-Menon)

Queer Dark Energy (Janani Balasubramanian)

In solidarity,

COM|PASSionate REVOLT

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*Events are put on by the CR Community/CR Community members. Other events are by friends of the CR Community or of interest to the CR Community. Feeling a little nervous about getting out and involved? Email us and if we can we'll make some introductions so you have a friendly face to say "Hi" to when you get there!

**Most of these events will be local to Southern CA (unless we notice an event that sets us off into road trip dreamland.) If you want to do a COM|PASSionate event round-up for your local area let us know!

***Are you an individual, meet-up or community group that has some COM|PASSionate events of your own? Email us for details on how to submit your event to our calendar!

compassionaterevolt@gmail.com

****More about Maryam****

Maryam is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT#84366.) She received her master’s degree in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy from Argosy University, Maryam has worked in various organizations dealing with issues such as trauma, abuse, domestic violence, depression, anxiety, premarital and marital matters in Orange County for the past six years. She has also provided school counseling services for the past three years. Maryam has provided counseling and case management services to diverse communities including immigrants and newly arrived refugees. She has provided counseling services for youth, adults, couples, families, and groups. Maryam also speaks on various topics dealing with psychology and counseling at colleges, high schools, elementary schools, and community events. Maryam is fluent in Farsi and Dari and is conversational in Urdu. Orange County. She received her bachelor's in Sociology with a minor in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Irvine. Additionally, Maryam is a certified Prepare and Enrich Facilitator for premarital counseling, and a member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. You can reach Maryam at 657-201-7508 or email her at mrasouli05@gmail.com

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There are photographs in this post that were borrowed lovingly from the internet and do not belong to us. All are linked and credited to the best of our abilities in hopes of attracting more traffic to the photographers and websites who have blessed us with this imagery. The inclusion of a photograph here should not be interpreted as an assertion of the subject's or artist's identity or beliefs. If there is a photo included here that belongs to you and you want it removed, please email compassionaterevolt@gmail.com and it will be removed promptly, no questions asked.

We may be living in a culture that worships doctors and Barbies. It may be kind of shitty. We are perpetually inundated with media that is "by the cis-male for the cis-male," "tits, ass and football!" and trying to live and thrive as a marginalized identity can lend itself to feeling lonely, invisible, disenfranchised and ostracized. Sometimes our ability to swiftly jump the gender binary, despite us knowing how talented and strong that makes us, can instead make us the target of unnecessary scrutiny by the painfully uninformed. Sometimes being a person of color who embraces your hair and the darkness of your skin, rather than adopting white norms of beauty can make you an outsider, rather than the fashion pioneer that we know you are. For those of us that work in industries where the main topic of conversation with co-workers is barely able to surpass the Super Bowl commercials or whoever is currently arguing with Kim Kardashian on Twitter, it can leave us hungry for more substantial interactions and more meaningful dialogue. This is especially true for those of us living alternative lifestyles because we are already combating an un-inclusive cultural environment on top of the job problems, the I-had-a-fucking-crazy-childhood-problems, and the I can't-fucking-afford-gas problems, that everyone else is dealing with. We all need small talk to blow off steam, don't get me wrong, but how often is that small talk affirming of our non-cis, lgbtq, or poc identity? Never? Yeah me too. So for today's episode of, Isn't it Queer? I will be showcasing poetry exclusively from women of color, queer/trans/non-cis individuals, and individuals with alternative love preferences, with the intention of bringing healing food to your achy soul. Poetry is the keyhole we peer into, to find where our soul hides out when it is injured. These poems come from the pain, passion and struggle of their authors and are born with a variety of intentions. Poetry can be built with the intention of healing, of commiserating, of illuminating or of vocalizing a point of view that is overlooked by the mainstream ear. So, with love and compassionate revolution, I bring you poetry to sooth of the achy soul:

Donna Kate Rushin

I highly recommend that every person on the planet read this incredible, groundbreaking collection of poetry and essays. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. Here is a sample by Donna Kate Rushin, The Bridge Called My Back:

I've had enough I'm sick of seeing and touching Both sides of things Sick of being the damn bridge for everybody

Nobody Can talk to anybody Without me Right?

I explain my mother to my father my father to my little sister My little sister to my brother my brother to the white feminists The white feminists to the Black church folks the Black church folks To the Ex-hippies the ex-hippies to the Black separatists the Black separatists to the artists the artists to my friends' parents...

Then I've got the explain myself To everybody

I do more translating Than the Gawdamn U.N.

Forget it I'm sick of it

I'm sick of filling in your gaps

Sick of being your insurance against The isolation of your self-imposed limitations Sick of being the crazy at your holiday dinners Sick of being the odd one at your Sunday Brunches Sick of being the sole Black friend to 34 individual white people

Find another connection to the rest of the world Find something else to make you legitimate Find some other way to be political and hip

I will not be the bridge to your womanhood Your manhood Your human-ness

I'm sick of reminding you not to Close off too tight for too long

I'm sick of mediating with your worst self On behalf you your better selves

I am sick Of having to remind you To breathe Before you suffocate Your own fool self

Forget it Stretch or drown Evolve or die

The bridge I must be Is the bridge to my own power I must translate My own fears Mediate My own weaknesses

I must be the bridge to nowhere But my true self And then I will be useful

I personally adore this piece because of it's affirming nature. The message that we are not obligated to be people's interpreters or curators but they are instead obligated to research and explore the things they do not understand. Sometimes I read this one mid-workday to remind me not to take on other people's ignorance as my personal battle.

Janani Balasubramanian

Now, dear readers, let's hear some spoken word. Go on Poet, don't be nice! Poet and author, Janani Balasubramanian's, “trans/national,” illustrates the plurality of masculinity through his family's response to his transition, he ties in colonialism, white masculinity, and misogyny and in general just kicks a bunch of ass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfTEE3LYqiM

Balasubramanian's visceral expression is a powerful commitment to resist male and white privilege, to hold and embrace his culture and family, and to be authentically him. What commitments do you own enough to announce them boldly?

Nayyirah Waheed

Holy Shit buy Salt, by Nayyirah Waheed. I was introduced to this incredible woman's poetry by my co-blogger Lyneonme. Her poetry has the purifying power of it's clever title and it will open and heal you. Waheed's, Salt, is a series of short poems that builds a fertile soil for your empowerment and personal growth, and if ever there was a poet that will incite your healing, she is that poet. With gratitude, I bring you a few of her gorgeous missives:

"if the ocean can calm itself, so can you. we are both salt water mixed with air."

“i love myself.'

the quietest. simplest. most powerful. revolution. ever.”

“remember, you were a writer before you ever put pen to paper. just because you were not writing externally. does not mean you were not writing internally.”

“you not wanting me was the beginning of me wanting myself thank you”

“expect sadness like you expect rain. both, cleanse you.”

-To your personal revolts and riots and especially to your learning,

Cory

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Cory is a poet and novelist in the Los Angeles area. They have worked in mental health, education, social justice and fashion blogging and they aim to lead by example by bravely living an examined lifestyle.

"The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot."

Audre Lord