Feministe,
I’m glad and eager to be reporting for my guest blogging duties and writing the obligatory introduction post.
My name is Lisa (formerly known as and using the pseudonym (“Sudy”) and I blog at My Ecdysis (formerly A Womyn’s Ecdysis) which is the harbor to my feminist ships, all my thoughts exploring the limitless waters of feminisms, equality, psychology, and self.
I’m a writer, not so much a blogger. The distinction between the two, for me, is that bloggers (at least, the bloggers I really respect and follow) are terrific at engaging and responding to their comments. Bloggers are those that frequently dialogue and interact with their readers.
I am a memoirist, an essayist, a poet. I write for the sake of writing. I write for the sake of revelation. I write for catharsis. I write to get a better grip on reality.
I’m more of a writer that uses a blog. See the distinction?
I use my blog for those reasons. I sometimes comment and engage, but oftentimes, I let it be. I let comments sit and soak for awhile. Contemplative writing is more my practice than reactionary-based blogging. Or, quite simply, I write as an offering. Nothing more, nothing less.
And it is with that that I share my “rules.”
I welcome dialogue and challenge, but that looks different for a personal essay than when you challenge, say, a post about the Hyde Amendment. Meaning, I welcome your words and thoughts, of course, but I may not always choose to engage, answer, or reply. Why? Because personal essay comes from reflective and questioning marrow. Flip comments or derailing questions go over my head and I let them pass. I’m not avoiding, I am just perpetually weighing questions, depth, and time. If that style doesn’t jive with you, hey, I take no offense. Skip, skip, skip to something more your fancy.
I write to offer. Nothing more, nothing less.
Currently, I’m 20 weeks pregnant which means my head is swarming with a lot of thoughts, not a lot of order, and an abbreviated amount of time. So, sometimes my passion radiates deep reds and oranges around my mainstay issues like spirituality, identity, sexual violence, feminisms, radical women of color, and liberation. Or, depending on the swing of the day, I probe into REALLY provocative conflicts like, “Why do so many people tell me about their birthing experiences while I’m grocery shopping, assuming I want to hear their stitch stories while I’m sniffing and weighing a cantaloupe?”
My favorite writing tools are humor, brevity, emotion and exploring conflict.
Here’s some information that I don’t really feel is critical except for the fact everyone asks for demographic-y kind of information once you start posting:
I identify Filipina-American, led by values concerned with social justice, transnational feminisms, and perfecting the definition of radical love. I’m a freelance writer and photographer and am a sections editor for (HOLLA!) make/shift magazine. To pay bills, I use my over-educated mind in the non-profit sector after breaking my addiction to academia and the university scene.
Did I mention that brevity is one of my favorite writing tools?