The Main Event, by stacy-marie ishmael

They call you black because

$ · February 24, 2019

Sometimes words flow out of me, and this newsletter writes itself. Sometimes, like today, I’ve stared at the blinking cursor on the white screen for 45...

The dwarfs found out how to turn lead into gold by doing it the hard way.

February 17, 2019

It is easy, these days, to give up. Everywhere you look: horror, tragedy, violence. It is easy to despair. It is human to despair. Have I mentioned the...

Self-awareness is not the same thing as peace

$ · February 10, 2019

This weekend I got to spend an unusual amount of time in the company of people I love, and the notion of showing up came up over and over again. I am trying...

Somehow, blackface wasn’t even the worst of it

February 3, 2019

There are weeks (months, years) when you *gesture broadly at everything* *make glib comments about challenges being great for building character*...

Never again is now

$ · January 27, 2019

It’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which means I am thinking more than ever today about all the people who died because their neighbours looked...

Instructions for living a life

$ · January 20, 2019

Every day, every day a reminder that people in your industries, people you know by professional association, are more likely to defend and excuse casual...

What is the work that moves you?

$ · January 13, 2019

Today I got to talk to someone, let’s call him David, who is both one of the best listeners I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting and one of the most...

Imagine everything you ever wanted

$ · January 6, 2019

I have on my desk a notepad, a gift from a friend; on each page is the prompt: “imagine everything you ever wanted below”. I have not written anything on the...

Bask in your own heartbreak

December 30, 2018

I cannot remember when I first began to hate December, but it was at least a few years before the Counting Crows released their interpretation of that...

"What if everyone disobeyed the law?"

$ · December 23, 2018

I am packing for 9 or so days in Mexico, which means there are bags and clothes and shoes strewn about as I whittle the options down into whatever will fit...

we protested but not enough

December 23, 2018

It was one of those weeks when I didn’t so much consciously leave the office as find myself collapsing into my apartment at 9pm, 10pm. On Friday night I...

To all the tweets I didn’t send before

$ · December 16, 2018

And in their mentions, well you can guess. I will never forgive the “well it would be an interesting thought experiment if someone who campaigned on explicit...

i'm just doing my job

$ · December 9, 2018

“Why are you doing this?” someone asked me today, at the beginning of our conversation. “Why are you reviewing people’s resumes for free?” Suspicion, sure....

if you can’t make your own neurotransmitters

$ · December 2, 2018

I baked those cookies again, one of my contributions to a friendsgathering / strategy session I have had the privilege of sharing with a handful of brilliant...

Good year to hate lettuce

$ · November 26, 2018

I have three strong cues that I am successfully taking a vacation: no alarms setno smart devices on my person; especially not one that doubles as a “fitness”...

these are the answers, you feel me?

$ · November 18, 2018

I spent this week wearing a mask, trying to avoid an asthmatic spiral despite the smokiness of the California air. I was mostly successful; and I have...

what are you doing to make revolution irresistible

November 14, 2018

Sometimes the answer is one cup of tea after another and the songs that remind you your grief is not novel. Sometimes the answer is books and poetry....

& who, this time, will serve the reminder

$ · November 11, 2018

I said last week that I’d tell you about a lie I tell myself, that I have recently stopped telling myself. That I have mostly stopped telling myself. It is...

are you ok is code for we are not ok

$ · November 4, 2018

What you do, when you are not allowed to vote and the issue at hand is whether you deserve to live, is buy art that reminds you how to survive. What you do,...

The striking aphorism requires a stricken aphorist.

$ · October 28, 2018

For some weeks I have had in my head a quote, “It is not incumbent upon you to complete the work, but neither are you at liberty to desist from it”. I cannot...

Go the way your blood beats

October 27, 2018

Still in bed, barely awake, I realize my heart is thrumming in my ears. I am reading the notifications about a fatal shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. I...

I am splintered by great waves

$ · October 21, 2018

Some years ago I decided to retrain myself from reflexively and excitedly asking the question, “oh boy or girl?” whenever a friend or colleague announced...

Instead of stressed I lie here charmed

October 20, 2018

I’ve spent several hours of the past two nights sleeping on the floor. Not because of visiting guests or temporary domestic dysfunction, but because of my...

Do inconvenient things

$ · October 14, 2018

In 2017 the San Francisco Public Library chose Black Against Empire for their “One City One Book” campaign. A year later I am finally getting around to...

Let the horizon be what it is

October 11, 2018

.Issue One. You may have the privilege of deciding what you will risk. Or you may have no such agency; losing everything, regardless. Sometimes these look...

Welcome to the Main Event

July 1, 2018

Hi. Would you like to stay awhile? If you’re getting this, it’s very likely because you’d previously subscribed to #awesomewomen. I’ve sunset that newsletter...