“I have self-esteem, which is pretty amazing because I’m probably someone who wouldn’t necessarily have a lot of self-esteem because I am considered a minority. And it’s gonna be really hard to find messages of self-love, and support anywhere, especially women’s and gay men’s culture. It’s all about how you have to look a certain way or else you’re worthless. You know when you look in the mirror, and you think, ‘Ugh, I’m so fat, I’m so old, I’m so ugly’, don’t you know that’s not your authentic self, but that is billions upon billions of dollars of advertising, magazines, movies, billboards, all geared to make you feel shitty about yourself so that you will take your hard-earned money and spend it on some turnaround cream that doesn’t turnaround shit.
When you don’t have self-esteem, you will hesitate before you do anything in your life. You will hesitate to go for the job you really wanna go for. You will hesitate to ask for a raise. You will hesitate to report a rape. You will hesitate to defend yourself when you are discriminated against because of your race, your sexuality, your size, your gender. You will hesitate to vote. You will hesitate to dream.
For us to have self-esteem is truly an act of revolution. And our revolution is long-overdue.”
— Margaret Cho
This is Patti Smith
Patti Smith is raw power. She’s not a knife, she’s a scalpel. Before Patti began blowing the doors off of legendary NYC punk venue CBGB on a nightly basis in 1976, there had been a noticeable dearth of female representation in punk rock. Patti’s first album, “Horses”, is widely recognized as one of the classic albums of the early NY punk rock scene and was recently added to the library of congresses’ permanent collection (no small feat for a punk record). A diverse group of artists ranging from Michael Stipe to Morrissey to Sonic Youth, Bruce Springsteen, and Bradford Cox all cite Patti as an important influence in their work. Patti’s records all display her remarkable prowess at blending visceral and intense poetry with the immediacy and power of rock and roll, something she has continued to do for over 35 years.
Patti hasn’t done much recently, other than being named a commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in France (2005), winning the national book award for her memoir Just Kids(2010), winning the polar music award in Sweden(2011), and gaining entrance into the Rock and Roll hall of fame(2007). Ho-Hum.
The fierce ladies you see above are, on the left, Marnie Stern, and on the right, Annie Clark. See those things strapped around their necks? Those are guitars. They kill fascists. They are not props. They are not phallic symbols. They are not fashion accessories. Thank you Marnie. Thank you Annie. Keep on rocking* in the free world.
*and sweep picking arpeggios
Virginity Test by Dania
You couldn’t find the fear you sought in my eyes
So you spread my legs to see if you can find it in my vagina
What did you see in there?
Did you hear the screams of those you tortured?
Did you hear the souls of those you murdered?
Did you see my vagina stare right in your eyes and tell you to go fuck yourself?
Did you see my dream of a better life in its first trimester?
Did you see how resilient it is?
Did you see the sun of a brighter tomorrow shining from it?
I bet you couldn’t look right into its bright light!
What did you see in there?
Did you feel it when my pussy curled its lips and spat in you face?
Pushing through the soft tissues and the discharge
Did you take a sneak peak at what’s to come you way?
Did it scare you?
Did you see lady justice in there?
Did you see how my uterus took the shape of a balanced justice scale with truth on one side and fairness on the other?
Did you honestly think you were humiliating me?
Violating me?
Ohhh you are mistaken my pathetic dear!
There is nothing in the world I wanted more than you to see the rage in me
And there is no better place to see it than deep down where you were looking.
(via seeyash)
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Nina Simone performing at the Pan-African Festival in Algiers (1969). Photo by Guy Le Querrec.
“Did you know that the human voice is the only pure instrument? That it has notes no other instrument has? It’s like being between the keys of a piano. The notes are there, you can sing them, but they can’t be found on any instrument. That’s like me. I live in between this. I live in both worlds, the black and white world. I am Nina Simone, the star, and I am not here. I’m a woman. My secret self is between these worlds.” (via)
Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi Makes History with Parliamentary Oath
Burma’s long-time democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has officially been sworn in as a member of parliament, taking public office for the first time after spending much of the past two decades under house arrest.
In 1936, Margery Booth began her singing career in Covent Garden, London, but moved to Germany in the late 1930s and achieved fame with the Berlin State Opera. At the outbreak of World War II, Booth was positioned at a camp for potential recruits to the British Free Corps by the Nazis. There, she worked was a British spy working with agent John Brown and obtained details surrounding British traitors. During the war, Booth helped prisoners of war send coded messages back to their chiefs in London.
On one occasion, Margery Booth met and sang for Adolf Hitler at a British prisoner of war camp. While singing for the Fuehrer, Margery had a collection of secret ciphers hidden inside her undergarments. Hitler was so taken by Booth’s performances that he once visited her dressing room, and sent her 200 red roses wrapped in a sash with a swastika on it. After being discovered as spy, Booth endured torture by the Gestapo, but kept her silence. At the end of the war, Margery escaped to Berlin and fled to Bavaria.
Meet Charlotte Bronte.
Charlotte typed up the manuscript for Jane Eyre in a small lodging at London, within six weeks flat, having been rejected by various publishers who much preferred her sisters’ works. She is also said to have been suffering with excruciating tooth-ache, and wrote the three-volume novel anyway, while caring instead for her father, after having set aside money for (and attending) his cataract operation. Of course, operating during the Victorian era meant no anesthetic. So in addition to everything else, Charlotte was probably, at least, mildly traumatized after having watched someone take a blade to her fully conscious father’s eyes.
