WYMYN BYTE

People love boxes. The difference between collectors and consumers may be a matter of boxes. Collectors save, and consumers, throw away. As an artist and educator, I collect too many things, objects, books, and supplies all waiting for some yet undreamed of use. There are a plethora of container options. Some people believe, that if things can be categorized and safely stored in a box or a drawer, all is well. In a similar vein, we can thank “ The Baby Box Lady, Monica Kelsey ,” for a neat third-world solution to unwanted babies. Conceived as a child of rape, her 17-year-old, (prior to the age of consent) birth mother carried her for 9 months and gave birth only to surrender her two hours post-partum at a hospital. How traumatic was carrying a child born of rape? How did the birth mother manage the rest of her reproductive and relationship life? How did she feel about her daughter finding her? Are they in reunion i.e., have a relationship now? Was the birth father charged with rape? Di

Feminists and Barbie have never sat well together. The rise of pink by the gendered Toy industry kept me and others from the color for years. It was not until the Women’s March in 2017 and the signature  Pink Pussy Hats that many of us took back the color pink. The disturbing fashion trend of #barbiecon hot pink on the fashion runways and the hailing of Barbie as a model of feminine “empowerment?’ has me gagging. Once upon a time, women questioned the standards set by the Barbie generation and asked for more, and better. In the 2018 Hulu documentary, “ Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie ,” Gloria Steinem said, “ I am so grateful I didn’t grow up with Barbie. Barbie is everything we didn’t want to be and were told to be.” Thank you Katie Branch for the astute Barbie run down in Vogue, How America’s Favorite Doll Created A Beauty Complex. In a time when we truly have been set back and need to fight for our rights to bodily autonomy, the American culture has dangled her candy-coated dol

Choice = Freedom, Digital collage, Psuedo Pompous co.2022 My love of visual art began with Sargent . At 16 with dreams of becoming a fashion designer, during visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art , I would spend my time swooning over the painting of the textiles and the glamour of silk fabric. My mother a lover of the impressionists, hung reproductions of Renoirs and Monets in our house. Two prints of Degas ' ballet dancers also graced my childhood bedroom. The dancer’s haunted me. I had recurring nightmares of a pair of ballet slippers in my closet that transformed into dirty sneakers. They exuded black smoke and stank of garbage. I would wake sobbing filled with horror, fear, and self-loathing. As a transracial, intercountry adoptee in a family with six kids there was neither money nor thoughts about ballet classes. The art reproduction had to suffice. Dreams were hung on the wall.  At 20, after begging my mother for 200 dollars to take advantage of a flight layover, I was a

  "The GOP's Wildest Dream," an article posted in the New York Times by I.P. Philbrick documents the alarming shift of Latino voters to conservative Republican and Trumpian politics. More than anything it is clear, Religion and Racism will kill and continue to kill far more women in America's future. Why do people vote for systems that oppress them? Reproductive health care, domestic abuse support, child care, and welfare, these are things that Democrats have created, not Republicans. They are not immediate lollipops that voters get to suck on, but they have made a huge difference for women across America and were propelled by the Feminists. Yes, the Feminists actually have made a difference in the lives of women in America. Amy Coney Barret can thank them for her law degree and the possibility of her seat on the bench. For well-established immigrants, I have heard this more than once, we are the ones who came the "right way. " There is a tone of self-right