#deathphobia

[rachaelrice]

New interview out on Last Born In The Wilderness Podcast with my dear friend @patterns.of.behavior. Tune in for some insights around how #deathphobia shows up everywhere - even in radical spaces - and what death work really serves to teach us all. I also reveal my favorite kind of pen. ••• Artist, writer, and death worker @rachaelrice joins me to discuss death practice, entitlement, and honesty in our time of collapse and extinction. “At the root, this discussion is about death — the shades of acceptance, and fear, of it. That’s what this conversation encircles and embraces. Death — as the event that unites all living beings; as a practice; as the elephant in the room; and finally, as the ultimate teacher.” Support the podcast and listen to this interview before the public release: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness #linkinbio ✨ or visit rachaelrice.com/interviews https://www.instagram.com/p/CijeJTzuKZh/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[rachaelrice]

Seems like a good day to post some photos of queer, mixed-race, disabled, openly Communist artist and political agitator #FridaKahlo from the recent exhibit at the @PortlandArtMuseum. Seen here are some allegorical sketches denouncing US imperialism: “Lady Liberty” (Workers of the World Unite, 1945). From the exhibit: “In these drawings, Kahlo articulated her opposition to political and military developments in the United States, calling on workers to unite against the loss of freedom and what she considered a rising new Fascism. The surviving sketches, though never realized as a finished painting, speak to Kahlo’s interest in the potential for her work to spark political change.” The show also included many rare photos of Kahlo in her wheelchair, with her doctor, in bed making art, at anti-fascist and workers’ rights events. “Kahlo wrote in her diary, ‘I’ve been sick for a year now. Seven operations on my spinal column. Doctor Farill saved me. He brought me back the joy of life.’ Here, she poses with her surgeon, Dr. Juan Farill. Despite being physically depleted, Kahlo holds her palette, showing strength and determination. On the easel is her last signed self-portrait, painted a few years before her death in 1954.” All nation-states are the product of super limited imaginations haunted by #deathphobia and the foundational #queerness of existence. Watch out for all that anti-Communist propaganda out there around the current war with Russia and ya know, Stranger Things. Also, July is #DisabilityPrideMonth so put your masks back on if you want to actually “center the most marginalized” among us. #DisabilityJustice #Communism #WorkersRights #Artist #AntiFascism #July4th #StatueOfLiberty #WearAMask (at Portland, Oregon) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cfm4UHkvvC4/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[rachaelrice]

Just a few weeks ago, my kids found out one of their parents has Stage IV metastatic colorectal cancer, at age 34, just after his son, their little brother, was born. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Staggered by the news and the reality that the best case scenario is wildly harrowing, I am now in the growing camp of humans in the US who leverage social networks to meet our healthcare needs.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Which is a thing that deserves to be named as deeply destabilizing to our individual and collective nervous systems: knowing your culture puts more value on money than on life.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ So here we are.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ My girls' stepdad Diego Rojas is raising $100,000 to cover at least three invasive surgeries and ongoing treatment like radiation and chemotherapy, which he started around Christmas.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ http://bit.ly/diegoscancergofundme (link in bio).⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ As you might imagine, this is in some ways very new territory, and in other ways, I've been here before.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ But not like this, and it's a lot to navigate as a parent working in the world of #griefliteracy and #deathphobia.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ It's also expensive, time-consuming, scary, and painful. We are all tired and we've just barely stepped onto this rocky road into the unknown.⁣ I personally am now evaluating more rigorously where I put my focus and energy. ⁣ ⁣⁣ If you're in #PDX, and are into food, there are a number of restaurants donating a portion of sales:⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Today 1/15 @laurelhurstmarket 5-10pm⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Tomorrow 1/16 FUNDRAISER @clydecommon Mezzanine 7-9:30pm, afterparty @acehotelportland⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ TICKETS, INFO, + DONATE: diegooutshinescancer.com⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Thanks, friends. (at Portland, Oregon) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7W7pLXAP4N/?igshid=axv3f8g86rtd