There is no doubt that the events of George Orwell’s magnum opus 1984 speak volumes in today’s political climate. The trouble is that both sides of the aisle will claim that the other is Big Brother and that they, the people on either side, are poor Winston. It is for this reason that out actor Todd Waite, who plays one of the party members in the Alley Theatre’s stage adaptation, offers a coy societal explanation. “For the LGBTQ community, there…
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“What’s past is prologue.” One of the first lines uttered in director Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust (1991) is from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, but it is redeployed here by the character Viola Peazant. Used as a means of creating distance between herself and the islands from which she hails, the quote grounds the discourse of the film to follow. The past is a place, both physical and psychic, and how much of that place we carry forward with us…
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The season of the witch has arrived. Simply scroll through Instagram and see for yourself: crystals, herbs, spell recipes, aesthetic posts of perfectly curated altars, candles, witchcraft 101 tips and tricks, the list goes on. Walk the aisles of any bookstore, and they’re front and center: books on witchcraft, magic, the moon, astrology. Tarot is experiencing a rebirth, a reinvigoration.…
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Photography, and the hierarchies that exist within the medium, have long been defined from a Western perspective. Accordingly, celebration and representation of the Black figure have largely been absent from museum collections, traditional gallery spaces, and other fine arts institutions. Houston’s FotoFest, the first and longest-running international biennial of photography and new media art in the United States, aims to confront and challenge “this shortsighted, albeit canonized lineage,” with this year’s exhibition, African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and the Other.…
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To kick off Women's History Month, Veer Queer interviewer Verniss McFarland talks with two Houston-based queer trailblazers, Judge Shannon Baldwin, Harris County’s first openly lesbian Black judge, and Fran Watson, Houston Municipal Court Associate Judge, attorney, and LGBTQ activist. These strong women open up about their personal journeys into politics, barriers they faced, and the legacies they wish to leave behind.…
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While there are many cute LGBTQ couples in the world, not many can compare with #TheKamahAndKelseyShow. That hashtag has come to summarize the relationship of Kamah Asha Wilson and Kelsey Reynolds, two Houston transplants who found their forever love in one another. When I first met Wilson and Reynolds, I was still discovering myself and my identity, and seeing them thrive within the LGBTQ community as a couple both inspired me and gave me hope for my own romantic future.…
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This February, Black History Month offers us an opportunity to remember and to learn about the civil rights movement, as well as focus on the courageous Black, queer, and trans individuals who paved the way. More and more histories are acknowledging the critical role that queer Black activists played in the movement to end segregation and pursue racial justice, from Mississippi politician Aaron Henry, to author James Baldwin, to the brilliant gender non-conforming lawyer, activist, and priest Pauli Murray. Yet lesser…
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By Addie Tsai The conversation around gender and sexuality has considerably shifted since the 1970s, when queer Cuban playwright Maria Irene Fornes wrote her avant-garde feminist play Fefu and Her Friends, set in 1930s New England. America would see the legalization of marriage equality just three years before Fornes’s passing, and Merriam-Webster would name the gender-neutral pronoun “they” as the word of the year in 2019. The #metoo movement would bring about a national conversation regarding consent, sexual assault, and…
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Texans (and American voters everywhere), the presidential primary election draws near! Although we are no longer contending with a whole circus of Democratic candidates, there are still a lot of people running in hopes of beating Donald Trump. It can be difficult to sift through the endless articles, advertisements, and heated debates to get to the true heart of these candidate’s issues. That’s why I have created this quick and easy guide to understanding each of the candidates’ stance on…
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Turn to any Hollywood film or television portrayal of Voodoo and you’re most often faced with the same, sensationalized representation—an evil, devil-worshipping religion practiced amongst impoverished Black communities in Louisiana. While the religion may be romanticized in some cases, it is still largely seen as violent, graphic, and wicked. These misconceptions directly stem from the very real racism and misogynoir that exists in Hollywood and society at large.…
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