Over at the Texas Observer, I interviewed groundbreaking lesbian feminist theologian Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward. Her new book unpacks the deep historic and modern ties between Christianity and white supremacy, and explains why Christians—and everyone who benefits unconsciously from white supremacy—needs to act more.
Kit O'Connell: Approximately 8,000 Words Posts
Getting Vicious With Dallas Punk Rockers
Posted in Journalism, and The Texas Observer
In Vicious Velma’s world, concerts are primal and raw, rich with immediacy and spattered with bodily fluids.
Photographer Vera “Velma” Hernandez got her start shooting concert photography in 2014 at a Tulsa punk festival called “Fuck You We Roll OK.”
She recalled, “I took some photojournalism in high school, never really did anything after that.” She’d been working at a mall photography kiosk, but didn’t even have a camera of her own. Hernandez (Instagram: @vicious_velma) had to borrow one from her friend Jenni, who’d invited her to the show. It was at that weekend festival where she realized she’d found her calling: “I just kept it going after that.”
Honor the Sandy Hook Families
Posted in Journalism
“A lot of folks are centering Alex when they should be centering the bravery and catharsis of Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis,” said Dan Friesen, cohost of the Knowledge Fight podcast, which has devoted more than 700 episodes to critically examining Jones.
This is a tall order, because making himself the center of attention is one of Jones’ most carefully honed skills. He’s an expert at saying and doing things so outrageous that the progressive left can’t help but share them—always in horror and disgust, but reaping him new viewers and more clicks nonetheless. (Even the Texas Observer is not immune from dwelling on Jones’ antics.)
Trans Lives Are Not Up For Debate
Posted in Journalism, and The Texas Observer
On June 15, the New York Times Magazine published “The Battle Over Gender Therapy,” an investigation into gender-affirming care for young people by staff writer Emily Bazelon. Since its publication, transgender-rights advocates, medical experts, and other journalists have condemned the article for inaccurately portraying such care as controversial, misrepresenting scientific research, and quoting anti-trans activists without proper context.
Now, the state of Texas is using it as evidence in an ongoing attempt to investigate trans-supportive healthcare as “child abuse.”
Everything is ready for the orgy. The snacks and drinks are prepared, the disco ball is hanging, and there are mechanical lifts to help people in and out of their wheelchairs. As a few guests mingle and a go-go dancer gyrates, Marvin (played by Eric Graise) rolls onto the stage in his wheelchair to act as emcee. With the help of a sign-language interpreter, he kicks things off by announcing, “I know you’re all dying to tear each other’s clothes off, or to have your attendants take them off for you.” This is no ordinary orgy; it’s “#F*CK Disabled People,” the titular orgy from Episode 4 of Queer as Folk.
Austin Marches Over End of Roe
Posted in Austin, Journalism, and The Texas Observer
More than 1,000 people marched through downtown Austin on Friday, June 25 to express their anger and sadness over the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe V. Wade and the impending, widespread erosion of abortion access as a result.
Organized coalitions like Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights and others called for protesters to gather at the federal courthouse and in the surrounding Republic Square Park on the night after the Supreme Court decision came down. Word spread rapidly via social networks and posters affixed to lampposts throughout the city.