Democratic Socialist Assembly

Mini-History: Audre Lorde - "Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,"

CW: mention of a suicide, an abortion, and cancer

Also, Audre Lorde did so much stuff but this is long enough as is so I could not include all the cool stuff.

Childhood and High School

Audre Lorde was born in Harlem, New York City, on February 18th, 1934, to immigrant parents, her father from Barbados and mother from Grenada. She grew up not feeling close to her family, feeling like her two older sisters were distant and that her mother was stifling her creativity and her father was busy with his real estate business. She was nearsighted to the point to be considered legally blind and attended schools for vision impaired children. As a child, she was quite stubborn and inclined to challenge the status quo, early example being challenging catholic doctrine when she attended catholic school. She was interested in poetry at a young age, memorizing many poems and writing her first poem in 8th Grade.

After 8th grade, she entered Hunter College High School where she flourished and made friends, including forming a group of friends that called themselves "The Branded" (no context for the name) with whom she shared her poetry. While at school, she met a girl named Genevieve Johnson and became friends and Audre would go on to say that she was "the first person I was ever conscious of loving". They did a variety of things, from skipping school to dress in costumes and roam the streets to just hold hands and cuddle on Genevieve’s couch.

Early Adulthood

In 1951, Audre graduated from Hunter High and moved out of her parent's house soon after, got a night shift job as a nurse's aide, and would attend Hunter College (the college that owned her high school), studying English and Philosophy. First person she dated was a man named Jerry, not necessarily because she liked him but because it seemed right, but their sexual desires didn't align and they broke up. Soon after, she found out she was pregnant because of him and she received an abortion, sinking into a depression after and losing her hospital job after being unable to get out of bed for 3 days. Getting a new job later, she moved into a better apartment where The Branded would hang out a lot. In the summertime, the apartment was hot and her and her friends would lounge in their underwear and drink brandy and Audre attributes this to helping her realize her sexuality. The combination of her depression and drinking with her half naked friends all the time led to her failing her classes and dropping out.

She moved to Stanford, Connecticut, and got a job at a quartz factory which exposed her to radiation and contributed to cancer later in her life. While here, she had a female coworker named Ginger and they quickly became friends, soon developing a sexual relationship with each other. During this time, her father has a stroke and she returned to New York City to be by his side when he died, eventually coming back to Stanford. With Audrey not intending to stay in Stanford forever (and later being fired for faking her production numbers to get bonuses) and Ginger not intending on getting into a longer term relationship, the relationship was temporary.

Mexico, Lesbianism, and Marriage

Returning to New York City, she became involved in activism, including trying to get a pardon for the Rosenberg couple that were charged for spying against the US for the USSR. After their execution, she didn't want to be in the US anymore and moved to Mexico City in 1953 despite not knowing much Spanish. Being unable to find a job, she returned to New York in 1954, returned to Hunter College, and became involved in the New York City lesbian bar scene. She often felt like an outsider in lesbian circles mainly due to how her race interacts with the community and from heteronormative standards being applied to the community, including the "Femme or Butch" binary among lesbians at the time as well as monogamy.

She entered a relationship with a woman named Marianne (who she met through Ginger) and lived together with a pair of black cats named Crazy Lady and Scary Lou (it is essential for you to know about kitties). In 1959, she graduated from Hunter College and got a degree in library science from Columbia University in 1961, becoming a librarian at a children's library. Her relationship ended with Marianne and, at 27, she met a gay man named Edwin Rollins (imagine him looking like Oscar Wilde and you'll get his vibe) and became close. They got married in 1962, marrying not for love but because they both wanted to be parents, and they had two children named Elizabeth and Jonathan. Their marriage was not very good, with Audre being very open emotionally about her relationships and Edwin not being very open about his relationships and the both of them ending up in heteronormative gender roles that they both were trying to avoid.

Poetry and More Lesbianism

In 1968, Audre published The First Cities, her first volume of poems. It was edited by Diane di Prima, one of the members of The Branded, and her poetry was well received. Following, she was invited to be a poet-in-residence at Tougaloo College in Mississippi where she was able to make poetry the center of her life instead of something she did on the side. During this 6 weeks, she met another woman named Frances Clayton, a white lesbian, and came to the realization that either she was going to have to divorce Edwin or the marriage will have to change and that, either way, Frances would be a permanent part of her life. Audre and Edwin went to marriage counseling and eventually divorced with Audre taking custody and Edwin frequently visiting, but gradually drifting from the family. In 1971, Frances moved in Audre and her children on Staten Island and set up a private clinic as a psychotherapist.

In 1973, her third volume of poetry, From a Land Where Other People Live, was published and was nominated for a National Book Award and soon after publicly came out as a lesbian. In 1975, Audre and her family took a trip to the coast of West Africa to try and connect with her ancestral past where she learned about a local deity named Seboulisa, a one breasted mother (this comes back) and this trip influenced her poetry for the rest of her life. After her return, she became very popular and speaking across the US and around the world for her poetry and activism.

End of Life

Remember her radioactive quartz factory job? In 1978, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to get a mastectomy, which was difficult for her because her breasts were important to her as a part of her womanhood. She rejected getting a breast prosthesis and would refer to Seboulisa and later wrote a booked called The Cancer Journals. By 1981, her relationship with Frances was diminishing and, in 1988, the sold their Staten Island house and split away, Frances moving to California and Audre moving to the US Virgin Islands. Why there? Because she met another woman named Gloria Joseph years earlier and became close with her. In 1984, a tumor was found on her liver and was considered incurable and eventually terminal. Over the next 8 years, she took up an invitation that was extended to her to visit Germany, regularly going over there, and teach at universities, being credited with helping to form the concept of the Afro-German identity in her time there. On November 17th, 1992, she passed away at the age of 58, leaving behind a note to her partner simply saying "Gloria, I love you".

ROLE-PLAY POST

2020/11/12
Chapter III: Hide and seek

The two children could not have been more different from each other. Dòchas had pale Chasach skin, short blond hair, and two icy blue eyes, which looked like gems, set in a crown of freckles. Teachd was clearly of the Dùth ethnic group: long dark hair, gathered in a triple braid, eyebrows already marked and pitch black, skin the same color as the sand of the Ghazi desert. Both were thin, gaunt, hollow. They had been hungry, it was obvious. They had suffered poverty: you could tell by the clothes they wore. Dòchas wore a large white t-shirt dappled with a sweat not his own, and jeans ripped and worn. Clothes that had probably been given to him after he entered Talamia. Teachd, on the other hand, kept what remained of his traditional Dùth clothes: a diut cloth tunic, the result of a particular carding of the wool of the Caoraich sheep, made only by the Dùth.

We were silent for several minutes. I would have expected everything, except to find myself in that situation. Two innocent children sitting in front of me. I tried to draw on my knowledge of the Cànan language but I didn't even know if those two spoke it or if they only knew their respective dialects. I knew very little of Dùth, much less of Chasach, a thorny language poor in vowels. When Bulesikur Egregori put his hand on my shoulder, I jumped, and I knew where to start.

"Who's the best at falaich?"

The four small eyes lit up and the dispute immediately ignited. Dòchas stood up on his chair waving his hands, Teachd started yelling "I" in a very narrow variant of his dialect. I had obtained the information I needed to start that interview: I needed a translator and the two children had already met. But where?

I was satisfied just that I had passed the barrier of the first question and when I turned to Bulseikur and Kremno, it was to ask them two requests. I got up and told them, "Kremno, take me to the nearest refugee camp. Bulesikur, play hide and seek with them in the meantime. Make them both win."

Later I found myself at the refugee camp number IV of Ereterma. Kremno had only agreed to accompany me alone after seeing how passionately Bulesikur had started playing falaich. An expanse of shacks covered with asbestos sheets welcomed me. Overlooking a single, long dirt road, there must have been about two hundred. At the entrance, two volunteers from the association for the defense of the rights of immigrants from Sorsluth had welcomed us with a big smile. The conditions of the camp were little more than decent. A family was assigned to each hut. The Sorlaidir family, however, is generally made up of two parents and at least three children, as tradition dictates. Those barracks were made to accommodate a maximum of two people. Ereterma had never faced a crisis of this kind. It was usually the second most affected city by migratory flows after Stamexo. I dare not imagine what the situation could be there.

I had explained to Kremno the reason for our visit: there we would have to look for a translator capable of speaking both the Dùth and Chasach languages. It was very rare to come across a Sorslaidir capable of this. But rumors were circulating about that place and I wanted to go and see for myself. Escorted to hut number 89 by the same volunteer who had let us in, a young Talamian from Anen named Ekousio, a large family welcomed us. A father, a mother and seven children were busy hanging freshly washed clothes on a metal wire. One of the ones I initially referred to as children, however, was far too big for those two parents. "He is the person you are looking for", Ekousio told us. I walked over to the frail bald man with glasses. He was hanging out a green shirt. I had seen similar ones in the past. I couldn't understand his ethnicity.

"Hi, my name is Barute Domonodo. I'm a-"
"I know very well who you are"
The answer stunned me.
"I expected you to be more responsive, given your reputation. The question you want to ask me is "what's your name?". I am Eadar-Theangaiche Beul. Dùnadh Beul was my direct ancestor."

I have posted my stance on the current legislation proposal in the voting thread. TL;DR I'm voting AGAINST - and I think you should too.

https://thedsa.proboards.com/thread/713/act?page=1&scrollTo=2401

Sorry, no politics allowed.

From The Ministry of Role-Play

Ever wanted to live a quiet peaceful life? Awake in your cottagecore shack next to your beautiful lesbian ent wife? Venture to town to fetch some meat from last night's hunt of the nighthorde? Go down to the pier and do some fishing, listening to the sounds of the murky creatures lurking below? Maybe go into the woods to pick some mushrooms while the birds chirp the sounds of the dead? Well now you can!

Join us in the start of a new alternate universe RP: Village RP. Create a village in a small but magical world. Read the dispatch below for more. If you want to post any RP about it here on the RMB, just mark it as "Village RP" or give some kind of indication that it is that (so we don't get confused)

Village Role Play

by The Isles of Student Loan Debt

Ever wanted to live a quiet peaceful life? Awake in your cottagecore shack next to your beautiful lesbian ent wife? Venture to town to fetch some meat from last night's hunt of the nighthorde? Go down to the pier and do some fishing, listening to the sounds of the murky creatures lurking below? Maybe go into the woods to pick some mushrooms while the birds chirp the sounds of the dead? Well now you can!

Here in the DSA, we have two role-play universes: Main RP and Village RP. The Main RP is, well, our main one with nations and global cooperation and the horrors of daytime television. Village RP, however, is different. There are no nations, no global interactions, none of that. It's all smaller and in an alternate universe of RP.

• Players can create a village or town, indicated by dots on the map. There are no borders, just villages. You can determine the extent of your influence through discusssion and roleplay with other villages. To claim a spot, directly message Student Loan Debt with the village name and where you'd like to be

• You can expand by making more villages. However, you are limited to 3 villages max

• There will only be 1 city, that being a neutral city anyone can do RP in called Orbonne

• There is no magic cap. Village RP allows you to be high fantasy. Go fight monsters, have your village be entirely populated by talking pumpkins, open a shop that only sells magical dental floss, anything. Just don't go and take over the world.

• The vibe is pre-industrial fantasy, meaning technology advancement is limited to being pre-industrial. No electricity and all that jazz

• The northern islands have a warm and wet climate while the southern islands are colder and frequently get snow in the winter. As you climb mountains, you'll also find them to be colder and with greater chances of snow

• This RP is for players who intend to roleplay. Any player who has been consistently inactive (like not posting for an entire month) will be removed from the map.

---

---

Orbonne is a city on the North Island with a diverse population of 80,000. The center of civilization, the city provides many amendities to its people. Home to many shops, facilities, and the Orbonne University, the city is a thriving home to any.

Orbonne- Neutral City
Bivale - Veyoris
Port Alerion - Oh my god it is so hard to find a name
Aroha - Sessnia
Kehidupan - Absovenia
Norford - Syvis
Sardra - Student Loan Debt
Grouzha - Bhexa
Elworth - Itini
Sakana Harbour - Mate Uniumburgia
Dragonborn Village - Greater Cebu
Ha-neu Do - Jasonvillee
Tsuko - Niasport
Dimont - Osreton

Read dispatch