Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons”

I saw my old high school’s production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons tonight, and it was outstanding. It was the first real show by them, from the house (not as part of the cast/crew), in eight and a half years. I was a little apprehensive because, well, it’s high school theatre, and I’m used to professional theatre — and I no longer even recognize the names in the program (with the exception of my much-loved former theatre director and tech director’s son) — but I was truly impressed and proud. The set was fantastic (not that I would have expected any less, given that the tech director is brilliant), and the cast made me forget that they’re little high-schoolers (my frosh’s frosh and younger). The play itself also seemed very relevant.

CeCe is out of Jail!

Good news: CeCe McDonald has finally been released on bail! After four months of CeCe being unjustly incarcerated, the community has managed to raise enough money to meet bail (after her bail was lowered from $150,000 to $75,000 on the 22nd of September), and she is out! 

The New Jim Crow: The #1 Book I Recommend

Go buy Michelle Alexander‘s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Or check it out from the library, or borrow it from a friend — I don’t really care how you obtain it, but you absolutely should read it. I know I recommend a lot of books, but of all the books I own — of all the books I’ve ever read — if I could only suggest one book, it would be The New Jim Crow. 

Meeting the Authors of Queer (In)Justice

Joey Mogul, speaking about Queer (In)Justice at DePaul Law School

A few months ago, I went to a reception and reading of Queer (In)Justice at DePaul Law School (after another successful name change mobilization by TJLP). It was amazing. Two of the authors, Joey Mogul and Andrea Ritchie, spoke, and they were awesome. 

My Reading Lists: What I Want To Read

I’ve never been very good about reading one book at a time. There are so many books, and there’s so little time — I’m nearly always in the middle of several books at a time. I’ve recently finished Queer (In)Justice (written by Joey Mogul, Andrea Ritchie, and Kay Whitlock), which I’d strongly recommend to everyone, and I just started Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness yesterday (I can already tell it’s going to be excellent). I’m also in the middle of The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, which I’ve been working my way through it for a while now. 

I Just Hugged Joey Mogul

The Dream Team (photo by Carrie Maxwell of The Windy City Times)

Joey Mogul, if you didn’t know, is the author (well, along with Andrea Ritchie and Kay Whitlock) of the new book Queer (In)Justice, about which I will blog once I have finished it. She is also an adjunct professor for DePaul University College of Law’s Civil Rights Clinic and an attorney for the People’s Law Office. In short, Joey Mogul is awesome.

I spent roughly ten hours today at the Chicago-Kent Lambdas 2011 LGBT Civil Rights Conference. The absolute highlight (well, along with Owen’s part of the Transgender Rights panel about trans prisoners’ rights and drinking wine with a few awesome people at the following reception) was the panel “Policing, Prosecution, and Punishment of LGBTQ People” with Joey Mogul, Owen Daniel-McCarter, and Avi Rudnick*. It. Was. So. Fierce.

I Love TJLP

“Dream big about how fierce and beautiful we want the world to be.”

I’ve only been interning with TJLP* (the Transformative Justice Law Project, about which I’ve blogged previously) for a matter of months, but it has already been one of the most outstanding experiences of my life. There is something really magical about TJLP — a combination of the people, the clients, the values upon which TJLP was founded, and maybe some kind of special TJLP essence.

The Most Amazing Person I’ve Ever Met

Owen Daniel-McCarter

Seriously. I know I’ve gone on in the past about various fictional characters and people (David Tennant, Blaine from Glee, Sam Tsui, and the like), but this time, I really mean it. Owen Daniel-McCarter is the most incredible person I’ve ever met (including Dean Spade, and those of you who spent any time near me around the last month or so of my senior year of undergrad know that’s saying a lot). He is just an absolute joy to be around, and he inspires me to be a better person.

Owen founded the Transformative Justice Law Project (TJLP), which provides “free, zealous, life-affirming, and gender-affirming holistic criminal legal services to low-income and street based transgender and gender non-conforming people targeted by the criminal legal system” in the state of Illinois.