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Enjoy this week’s Sinister Snapshot, Sinister Wisdom’s biweekly newsletter with a featurette and lots of links. If you have suggestions for future editions of Sinister Snapshot, send them to info@sinisterwisdom.org.
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Sinister Wisdom is sad to learn of the death of Dorothy Allison’s long-time partner, Alix. We collectively send Dorothy our communal sympathy and cannot fathom her profound loss. Sinister Wisdom will gather notes and letters for Dorothy for people who want to express their condolences and/or share with Dorothy what her work has meant to them. Send snail mail letters to 2333 McIntosh Road, Dover, FL 33527, or email info@sinisterwisdom.org.
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Sinister Wisdom will be auctioning off a special piece of Sinister Wisdom herstory soon as a part of the fall fundraising campaign. More information will be provided on Sinister Wisdom's social media channels.
Are you a Lesbian with a Trans partner? Sinister Wisdom seeks submissions for an upcoming thematic issue highlighting Lesbians with Trans-identifying partners. Guest editor Allison Blevins is accepting work until November 30.
Scrawl sapphic schemes on Sinister Wisdom’s Notes for a Revolution Notebook. The unlined pages mean this coil-bound stack doubles as a sketchbook. Gift it to that powerful woman whose thoughts go beyond the page!
Lesbianism is a gift! Give it back by gifting someone a subscription to Sinister Wisdom. Simply purchase a subscription and leave the recipient's name and address, as well as any message, in the notes. Sinister Wisdom will take care of the rest.
Sinister Wisdom beckons for Lesbians passionate about being Lesbians to fill internship positions in the Winter and Spring. Undergraduate or graduate students will work intimately with Sinister Wisdom's editor on various editorial tasks or with the associate editor on developing a social media/marketing plan. Email Julie R. Enszer your resume and intent for consideration. Watch intern testimonials if you need more convincing.
Julie is reading Lesbian Death: Desire and Danger between Feminist and Queer by Mairead Sullivan (and loving it! More about it in future newsletters!), completed the new season of The Handmaid's Tale (what an incredible feat of feminist storytelling!), and listening to Waxahatchee.
Sierra is reading The World Keeps Ending and the World Goes On by Franny Choi and Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid (there are a lot of classics that they have admittedly not read), and listening to Alice Longyu Gao.
Ivy is reading wild wild Wild West/Haunting of the Seahorse by Jonathan Lyndon Chase, watching a lot of crochet tutorials to prepare for holiday gift giving, and listening to Rio Romeo.
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Follow this link to watch five Sinister Wisdom 2023 Calendar contributors speak about their work, lesbian identities, and the theme of "Revolutionary Optimism."
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Dear Sisters,
When Editor Julie R. Enszer approached me to ask if I wanted to curate the Sinister Wisdom 2023 calendar, I was ecstatic. She warned me that it would be harder to curate a theme. At the time, I was writing a thesis about Jewelle Gomez’s The Gilda Stories as a part of the fulfillment of my English degree at a local Catholic university. I was intrigued by how contemporary cultural movements, including the Black Arts Movement and the rise lesbian-feminist writing, were reflected in Jewelle Gomez’s vampires and the novel’s end. As a work of Afrofuturism, a genre that typically depicts a future that privileges and centers around the Black experience, The Gilda Stories’ end in ecological ruin and anarchy subverts genre norms to warn of the societal consequences of ignoring identity-based oppression.
This resonated with me as the university I attended was (is, and always will be) negotiating the practical implications of its stance on the tolerance/acceptance of LGBTQ students. This pitted the professors who are in favor of measures like the Lavender Ceremony, Gay Straight Alliance, and Coming Out Day festivities against those who aren’t. While my experience is not comparable to Gilda’s or Gomez’s experiences, reading about their and other Lesbian ancestors’ successes made me more hopeful for a future where I didn’t have to be prepared to defend my Lesbianism. To finish my thesis, I researched The Black Panther Party, Audre Lorde, and Speculative Fiction, which inspired me to ask, “What about Revolutionary Optimism?”
Thank you to Mel Tychonievich, Angela Davis Fegan, Verlena Johnson, Hillary Neal, and Julie Phoenix for participating in a special video promoting the spirit of the Sinister Wisdom 2023 Calendar: Revolutionary Optimism Lesbian Futures!
I’ve learned so much in the year that I have worked with Sinister Wisdom. I’m extremely grateful for all the amazing wimmin that I have met and thank all of the people who have welcomed me into the Sinister Wisdom community with open arms. I hope that you will consider donating to Sinister Wisdom during Sinister Wisdom's fall fundraising campaign to keep this vehicle of intergenerational Lesbian learning and community alive.
In Revolution,
Sierra Earle, Associate Editor
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Happy Jewish Book Month! Celebrate by ordering working-class, Jewish, activist Joan Nestle’s newest collection A Sturdy Yes of a People: Selected Writings. Sinister Wisdom has a long and proud history of publishing and stewardship by Jewish Lesbians such as Elana Dykewomon, Irena Klepfisz, Judy Grahn, Judith Katz, and many, many more!
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The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. used a $10 million gift from a former trustee to purchase work by women artists.
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Rachael Zafer wrote a teaching and writing guide to go along with The Sentences That Create Us (you may remember that we wrote about this title being banned in Florida prisons). It is full of writing exercises and advice. Read it for free.
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Suzette Mayr talks about being the only Black Woman in a lesbian bar and discovering connections between her ancestors and Queer figures in “Finding Black Queer Life Between the Lines of History.”
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If you would like to support Sinister Wisdom's thriving Lesbian community, please consider donating or subscribing. Your support is vital to our mission of profiling, supporting, and nurturing Lesbian culture as well as providing educational resources to women and Lesbians. Thank you to our sustainers for supporting the advancement of Lesbian art and culture!
Curated with community, history, and an understanding that every present moment is a nexus of many pasts. May these stories of Queer culture inspire, enthuse, and rouse you to Lesbian actions. We hope you've enjoyed this installment of Sinister Snapshot! Have a lovely weekend.
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