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. 

TJLP: “I Have Been Changed For Good.”

As I think about the time I’ve spent involved with the Transformative Justice Law Project (TJLP), the song “For Good” from Wicked comes to mind. Absolutely, the incredible people I’ve met through TJLP have truly impacted who I am and informed how I think. TJLP — as a community, as a law project, and simply as a space in which I’ve been has definitely allowed me to grow and learn and flourish.

I’ve heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return

The Chance to Make a Difference: Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois

If you’ve followed my blog at all, you’ve likely heard of the Transformative Justice Law Project (TJLP), as I’ve blogged about it numerous times before. (I would like to state for the record, however, that anything on my blog other than the following letter is my own opinion and not necessarily reflective of TJLP.) TJLP is an amazing organization and really has changed my life. Please read the following letter from TJLP, reposted with their permission, and consider making a donation.

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.