Feminism

My avatar is a picture taken of me this past summer during my work at the William Way LGBTQ Community Center. Bryn Mawr sent a photographer to take pictures of me for the upcoming November issue of the Alumnae magazine. In addition to my work at the center I am one of the head organizers of the Philadelphia Dyke March. The William Way Center honored us this past year by allowing us to create a physical "15 years of the PDM" exhibit. The space was amazing and was on display for three months. When Bryn Mawr contacted me about sending a photographer I knew I wanted the pictures to show my more radical work like Dyke March. This shot is definitely my favorite. 

In the search for an avatar I thought I would Google photos of Lisa Simpson, a character from one of my favorite TV shows who I've always admired and identified with. She is the competent, ever-learning little sister in a family that is hilarious and strange and, more than occassionally, hard to live with. I stumbled across this image of Lisa in a witch's hat saying, "Why is it when a woman is confident and powerful, they call her a witch?" The scene and quote stood out to me, and not only because I thought I was a witch for a majority of my childhood. I think it speaks to the lives of many strong women in my life who have faced opposition and hate when they prove themselves to be intelligent individuals who refuse to be quiet for convention's sake.

I need time in nature as much as I need time to sleep. The moments I feel most whole and at peace with the world are when I'm surrounded by trees, far from the noise of busy streets. Sometimes my head gets so full of worry and fear that I can't pull myself out of my unhappy rut. But after spending just five minutes sitting alone among trees, I'm restored, relaxed, and grounded. I chose a picture of a forest for my avatar because it's my happy place. It's where I think most clearly, and it's where I'm able to be myself to the fullest extent.

Picking an avatar was a completely ridiculous journey for me.

At first, I was just searching through images I've saved or marked. As I looked through them, though, the pictures seemed too surface. Like, yes, that dog is absolutely adorable, and yeah it is completely caught in that shirt -- and I identify with being fluffy and doofus-y and tangled up something I probably got myself into. But so many people could identify with that, or at least just think something along the lines of, “Oh yes, what a cute avatar that has little to do with anything else but cuteness.” (Which is completely valid, just not what I was going for.)