Last year, I asked artist Andrew Lyko to paint my old motorcycle jacket so that it would be appropriate for cold-weather protesting. I requested a tribute to Never Again Action, a grass-roots collaboration between Jewish and immigrant-rights activists that started protesting U.S. concentration camps last summer. I wear the jacket to other protests too, so…
Like Audre Lorde Said, Find Your Work and Do It
Nearly every day, someone asks me if I have hope, and shares that they feel hopeless. I wish I could pour people a serving of hope the way I might supply an imaginary neighbor with a cup of sugar. (Do people still do that somewhere? “Borrow” sugar?) To be honest, I feel low on hope…
19 Years Later: Hypocrisy and Community
Nineteen years ago today, I was working at a building complex across the street from the World Trade Center. I was supposed to go to a meeting at my company’s WTC offices, but I decided I’d participate by phone instead. That was a stroke of luck, because that morning, 19 men — 15 of them…
Guess Who’s Back … With a Trump-Rat GoFundMe!
Hello? via GIPHY Is anyone out there? It’s been a long time since I’ve been on the blog, though I thought about it guiltily every day since my 13th-blogversary post in July. (By the way, unproductive, self-inflicted guilt: zero out of 4 stars, do not recommend.) If you follow my personal Instagram, you know that…
Meet the Rightful Queen on My 13th Blogversary
In honor of my 13th blogversary today, I’ve overcome some long-running technical problems and broken into my own blog in order to say hello. My dire need for a new website/blog developer (comment with your resume!) reminds me of the good old days of my blog’s random removal from listings by the now-defunct search-engine Technorati…
Throwback Thursday: The Man, the Dog, and Liza
I’ve been away from this blog for 2 1/2 weeks — the longest I’ve gone without posting since I started on Blogger in July 2007. If you’ve visited me here at least a few times since November 2016, you can probably guess what I’ve been up to. I’ll get into the ultra-serious stuff in the…
RIP, Larry Kramer
Larry Kramer, a writer and one of the earliest AIDS activists, died today at age 84. You can read his full resume in the many obituaries that have been and will be published but, in short, Kramer was a co-founder of two AIDS activism groups — Gay Men’s Health Crisis, in 1982, which provided support…
White Supremacy Is Terrorism
Yesterday, a black man named Christian Cooper asked a white woman named Amy Cooper (no relation) to put her dog on a leash in Central Park’s Ramble, where dogs are required to be leashed to protect the wildlife and plants. In response, Amy Cooper called 911 in fake hysterics and told the dispatcher that an…
Throwback Thursday: Arrowhead Jewelry on 1stDibs
Remember when I used to blog about jewelry? Those were the days! I used to create new designs on the regular too. Here is evidence: The wax model of an arrowhead ring I never made. This ring would have been part of my mini-collection of arrowhead designs, all cast from an arrowhead found in my backyard…
Taking to the Streets to Mourn COVID-19 Deaths
More than 90,000 people have died of the novel coronavirus in the U.S., but the White House hasn’t called for national mourning. To make up for that, grass roots activist groups arranged a Day of Mourning today to call attention to our losses. As #COVID19 infections in the US increase to over 1.5m and deaths…