#reference room

[transfemradical]

there is nothing more I can say about this situation that is not covered in what she most recently posted. so go read that instead:

Taking the Dog Out for a Walk

Because sometimes she needs a break

[transfemradical]

You should all read "The Social Theory of Neutrality" by Sam Popowich by the way (you can read it here) . Would go so far as to say it's required reading for my blog.

[transfemradical]

And years ago, when I lived in New York [...] I would have said that it’s Bad and Wrong and False Consciousness or something, to want to be sexually and emotionally validated by a normatively hot person. But now I know it’s just part of trying to make sense of my own body in oppression, [...] and what I am actually hungry for is some kind of counter-narrative, some notion that the oppressor would deign to touch my body, sweat with my body, commune with my body, etc.

Hannah Baer, trans girl suicide museum

[transfemradical]

"For, of all the people convicted of rapes and murders in 1967 and 1968, many just as reprehensible as these, the petitioners are among a capriciously selected random handful upon whom the sentence of death has in fact been imposed. My concurring Brothers have demonstrated that, if any basis can be discerned for the selection of these few to be sentenced to die, it is the constitutionally impermissible basis of race....But racial discrimination has not been proved, and I put it to one side. I simply conclude that the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments cannot tolerate the infliction of a sentence to death under legal systems that permit this unique penalty to be so wantonly and so freakishly imposed."

an excerpt from the official opinion of Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in the case of Furman v. Georgia, 1972

[transfemradical]

"[...] we are fixating on the wrong issue. Although the subject of innocence receives all the attention, ultimately it is a distraction. Innocence disguises something else.If you support the death penalty but are worried that innocent men are being executed, then you are really worried about something else: injustice. And injustice [...] is quite common."

-David R. Dow, Executed on a Technicality: Lethal Injustice on America's Death Row (2005)

[transfemradical]

Welcome to my blog.

Hi! My name is Woodstock, or "Woods" for short. I'm a white trans woman who wanted a separate place to talk about politics, theory, transfeminism, etc., so I made this little "newsletter". Everything I write is first and foremost personal opinion, though I take pride in having my opinions be informed my material analysis and actual interaction with the history and theory of whatever I am opining on. While I hesitate to ascribe myself any political label (as theory changes and labels are often meaningless virtue-signalling, especially on this website), I am confident in describing myself as a queer liberationist, prison abolitionist, and staunch transwomanist.

Feel free to ask me questions about what I have (or have not) written. I will answer whatever I choose to be submitted in good faith and in actual conversation with my work. My ask tag is "#dear woodstock". Other tags include:

#tfrn - my (rare) fully edited pieces of work #letter from the editor - my (much more common) unedited and short-form thoughts on things #reference room - mostly for my own sake, posts that I think are particularly poignant, useful, or well-written #reading room - my suggested reading material

If you'd like to read my earliest and longest piece of work, here's a link:

The New Chaser: Objectification of Trans Women in the Age of Performative Allyship

[detroitlib]

View of library customers studying in the General Information Dept. of the Main Library, Detroit Public Library. Room is furnished with bookshelves, tables and chairs. Light fixtures are suspended from decorative ceiling. Typed on back: "General Information toward stacks from Philosophy, Religion and Education. Detroit Free Press." Handwritten on back: "Reference room."

Courtesy of the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

[detroitlib]

Reference Room of Detroit Public Library, old building located on Gratiot Avenue. Small wooden tables and chairs line floor, with door in back leading to stacks. Twin staircases rise to balcony above main floor, bookshelves lining walls of first and second floors. Large round clock hanging from balcony gate. Lamps hang from ceiling. Handwritten on back: "Detroit Public Library, Reference room, door into stacks, about 1900."

Courtesy of the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library