Friday, January 13, 2012

The Fluidity of Me

"Sexuality is Fluid"
It's a phrase that gets tossed around a lot. I'm not sure what I think of it to be honest. Most of my friends are so straight I don't think they could even draw a curved line! I love them for this, but I don't think I could ever picture them not being straight. (that being said, if any of you ever feel like you aren't straight as an arrow, you know you can always come to me and I'll love you no matter what!)

For me sexuality has been a struggle. Not just who I'm attracted to, but how often I find myself attracted/ craving sexual attention. Lets go back to the beginning.

1993-
I'm two years old. You can usually find me in a frog position on the floor rocking back and forth. Two fingers in my mouth, blanky in hand. It sooths me, I feel peace. I think about lots of things while I do this- family, toys, tv shows. At a certain point in the process my head floods with thoughts and images and then BOOM one thing sticks out, then it's over.
I realize now that what I had been doing was masturbating. Orgasming.

1997-
I am six years old. "I'll be the boy!" I am always the boy. My alter-ego is Levi. I pull him off perfectly. My hair has been short for years, I push it back with finesse. I have a stick straight body, and when I'm not wearing skirts or dresses I am often mistaken for a boy. Levi is artsy and sensitive, but always very very horny. He prefers tall blonds with blue eyes, and is in awe with the female body.

It's that time in our game of house for the mommy and daddy to have alone time. "Lets kiss!" I suggest. We put our hands to our mouths and do our version of a stage kiss. Sloppily kissing my hand, I realize I'd rather be kissing her. I tend to turn all my games of house sexual at this stage in my life. Sometimes I would just run my hands along 'my wife's' sides, sometimes we'd just stage kiss. But I imagined much more.

1998-
I am 7 years old. I remember feeling a rush, knowing what I was doing was somehow not acceptable. I didn't understand why. My best friend is lying on my bed completely naked. Mom had told me before that my friends and I aren't supposed to get naked around each other, it was "inappropriate" (I kind of hate that word, who gets to decide what is appropriate?). I lean over her "what seems to be the problem?"
"Well doctor, my tummy hurts"
"Maybe you're going to have a baby! Let me check!"
I run my hands along her stomach. Then all of the sudden I hear it...stairs creaking.
"Quick! My mom is coming, hide somewhere!" I distinctly remember her hiding behind the corner of my dresser. It wasn't enough, mom saw her standing there completely naked. I immediately felt so much shame. I was a terrible person and I didn't even know why. I didn't see my friend for a little while after that. I think friends came and went because mothers decided they didn't want their daughters to be friends with a girl like me.
I remember around the same time another best friend and I would play barbies and when the barbies would start to make out and stuff I would really really want to make out with my best friend. We thought sex was when a boy peed on a girl. I would always play the ken doll so when it was time for sex I'd make a long "shhh" sound to signify peeing.

2003-
I am twelve years old. My best friend is one of the most popular girls in school. She is beautiful. She has thick long hair, a gorgeous carmel color. She has cheeks like a chipmunk, but on her they look perfect. She is so svelte, yet strong from swimming. All the boys love her. I love her. When she and my crush three-way called me to tell me they were going to start dating, even though they both knew I liked him. I don't know if I was more crushed that he was dating her, or that she was dating him.

I helped her time and time again with boys that broke her heart. She'd cry to me on the phone, in the crawl space of her room. I'd help her because I was a good friend, be silly so she would laugh and forget her hurt. But really I would cry, because I knew she deserved better, I knew I would treat her better.

2005-
I am fourteen. I'm in love with my best friend. I told myself it was a friendly kind of love. But at this point I realized this was the first time I'd really fallen for a girl. I wrote about her in my diary, later I would tear out these pages. I dated lots of guys, many of whom I'm still attracted to! None of them I really loved.

2007-
I am nearly 16, I have my first serious boyfriend. He is amazing. I love the way his bones protrude from under his thin skin, the way his big hands engulf my face when he leans in to kiss me. He is the first person I told about the things in my past I was so unsure of. He is the first person I give everything to. It doesn't last

2008-
I am 16. It's the summer before my junior year. I can drive. I have some older friends. I am a lifegaurd. Tan, thin with extensions that are long and blonde. I am hot and I know it. I sometimes refer to this as my reckless summer. I go to parties, drink, and make out with boys like it's my job. I meet my next serious boyfriend at the end of this summer.

2009-
I am 17. I'm depressed. I have a serious boyfriend. The second and only other boy I've given everything to. He becomes my world, but he would never let me become his. I'm too crazy, too this too that. Not enough of what he needs. I am not beautiful enough, not thin enough. I hate myself for not being everything he wants me to be.

2010-
I am 19. It's fall of my first year in college. It's a party in my room. The last boyfriend and I had broken up, but were still close. She is still in high school. She is drunk. She kisses me. She likes me. We talk about so much. She calls me beautiful, she listens, she cries. I am enamored with the warmth she fills me with. One day she stops talking to me. She leaves me for someone I could never be. A boy.

2011-
I am still 19. I am being awoken from my souls slumber. It wants to know who I am, it wants to know what makes me happy. I begin to find pieces of things that I can piece together to create happiness. I finally find what I've been looking for nearly my whole life. Someone who understands. Someone who's empathy matches my own. She is three years my senior, and she is everything I want to be. She teaches me how to find myself, holds my hand as I look for happiness. She is my first pure love. Love that makes me feel happy instead of sad. Love that feels full instead of empty. Love that asks for nothing in return. For a brief period of time we get to pretend like she isn't leaving in a few weeks. Like she isn't going across the country to start the rest of her life. That was a beautiful period of time. I will never regret that time, and I am so glad to still have her in my life :)

After finding that love, I realized I needed to figure out what my sexuality means to me. I've decided it is not something that defines me, but is inherently a part of me.

I am not straight, bisexual, pansexual, a lesbian.

I am Bri, a sexual being. I find love and sexual desire based upon the person's soul. I kind of enjoy the term I use in my head- omnisexual. I like all things sexual :)

So there you have it. Perhaps my sexuality is fluid, strange, unbelievable. But you cannot define it, because it does not define me. It simply is.


Thursday, January 12, 2012

Cunt

You're probably cringing right now at the title of this entry, you are aren't you?
Maybe you're wondering...'did she really just say that word?'

Yes, I said cunt, C-U-N-T!

I think vagina is a nice medical term, but such an ugly name for such an amazing extraodinary creature.


So, I've been thinking a lot about cunt, and no it's not because I'm on some sex binge. (In fact, quite the opposite) It is because I landed myself a role in the Vagina Monologues. If you've never heard of this play, or Eve Ensler, immidiately divert your attention from my blog and research. Go on! You have my permission! (I'd suggest going here too The V-Day Movement)

Eve Ensler


I decided to audition on a whim, missing my old theater days, wanting to find new friends with similar artistic interests. I didn't even realize I was auditioning for this amazing play that I'd always wanted to see. I told the story about The Mysterious Incident of the Piss in the Nighttime (for that story go here The Mysterious Incident of the Piss in the Nighttime) and then somehow landed the great role of introducing the monologues.

We've only had two rehearsals so far, but I can already tell this is going to be a life changing experience. The cast of strong smart women is amazing, we are all excited and nervous about this journey we are embarking on.

Last night I sat down, happy to have some alone time in my room, and thought about what I felt like doing. I recently bought lots of art supplies (see previous post) and so I decided I wanted to draw vagina's. Strange? I thought so.

Me and One of My Vaginas



I wanted to be able to see them as beautiful, as works of art. That is after all how Eve Ensler sees them. I decided I wanted to make my own interpretation of beautiful vagina's. I went to work creating and almost began to cry, it felt so wonderful to draw, and I began to realize how extremely beautiful vagina's are. I also learned I have a knack for drawing them! (I especially adore the one with pink glitter)

Aforementioned Sparkly Cunt


I felt like a different person sitting at my desk, drinking tea from an inspirational mug, and finding the beauty in cunt. 

Oops, my feminism is showing. But really, women are so powerful, graceful, beautiful, down right poetic. I love all the things I'm learning about myself and about feminism.

I AM WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR!

In the words of my lovely director "peace, and cunt love"
-The Queer Jewess

Sand Through an Hourglass

It's been ages since I've written anything, I know. This space is like my diary...one that I suppose a few people read. I've always made my diaries for someone else to read one day. I write to a future me, make my entries personal. I write with a hope that one day someone will discover my words and find them useful in their own life. So this is becoming an e-diary for me :)







Fall quarter felt like walking through a tar desert. Sticky, hot, and smelly?
I was struggling, falling to my knees in the tar and realizing I was stuck. I felt like lying down in the hot tar, letting it consume me because I was tired of the struggle.

I wanted to drop out of university, pursue my dreams.
My realization was that I didn't know what my dreams were...
Who am I?
Who/ what do I actually want to become?
I couldn't answer these questions, they haunted me through the last weeks of fall. "You don't want this, Bri!" "What about all your friends?" "You hate your stupid classes!" "But you've made so much progress!!"
The internal fighting was unbearable at times, I slept all day and the fighting kept me up at night. I took sleeping pills, but it didn't drown them out.
I was beyond ready to go home for winter break.
My bed is my throne (this isn't my bed)


I got home and did a lot of thinking, sleeping and crying. I had ended a relationship-esque thing at school just before break, I went home feeling like a lonely dog lady. (Harley is pretty cat-like though.) I talked to a lot of people, used my dreams to test out "what-ifs".

I ultimately realized, there must be an explanation for why school feels like walking through sticky melting tar. I was talking to my brothers girlfriend when I had an epiphany. She was describing her troubled previous year at school. I couldn't believe it, she is so bright, yet she struggled in school just as I had. ADD had been her problem, and her solution was ADD medication. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I have ADD. I turned to my mother "Mom...I think I have ADD" "Bri, I think you do too." Mom realized that when I was previously tested for a learning disability it was noted that I had trouble staying focused while completing long tasks. She immediately called my neurologist to see what he thought. He agreed with our hypothesis and thought he would have me try out a prescription. I started the medicine two weeks ago. I've now made it through the first two weeks of the quarter. I have taken on more than I ever have, I clean my room regularly, and I haven't napped during school days. I am also happier by an extreme margin!
I've decided to find out what my dreams are and go for them. I will take more risks to find my passions, and be more creative, because it keeps me alive. I love art and all it's forms.

My meds had a photo shoot :)

So there you have it. I'm a Queer ADD-battling Jewess, and I am a damn happy one at that.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

A Year In Review

Holy Fuckballs...my birthday is in a week. My twentieth birthday...two decades? Really? Sophomore year of college?

1 Year Ago-

September 1st 2010- I'm super anxious to begin college (this is when my insomnia began). I'm hyper aware of the fact that I move into my first dorm ever TOMORROW! I've known my roommate for years, she's the best, I feel comfortable leaving the house I've felt safe in for 10 years to live with her. I have no idea what I'm in for!

September 7th 2010- My birthday. I've made friends and I love college (little do I know I grow to dislike these initial "friends" I made) I've just found out my mom ordered me a cake for my special day! I invite everyone at college who i went to high school with, and the few new friends I've made. The cake is huge like my mothers heart. The company ends up to be just me, my roommate, and our mutual good friend from high school. Looking back it seems sad...but as I can remember I felt happy eating a huge cake with two people I knew truly cared.

Back to The Present-

This birthday I know I have many more friends to send me well wishes. I'm excited to see what we will do!
I also know how much I've grown. What strength I lack after the "freshman fifteen" I've made up for mentally. I realized true happiness came from being honest with myself, even if it hurt. I found what having a best friend means. I put my emotions aside to help my friends when they needed me, and learned to expose those emotions when I needed them. I learned love can be ridiculously painful, but that it doesn't have to be. That a smile can change a person's day. That I am not as stupid and ugly as I tell myself I am.

Although as rights-of-passage's go 20 is not a big deal, I grew up more during this year than I have in the last decade. I can only hope that this year will be a HAPPY continuation of self-revalations. 

4 a.m.

Its so quiet.

I've gotten to know 4 a.m. for a while now...my head seems to like it better than 4 p.m., I'm assuming thats why I'm awake.

Theres a lot of random shit you can do at 3-5 in the morning. For instance:


  • Follow random twitter accounts till you end up in some crazy country with a girl tweeting about pigmy elephants.
  • You can increase your knowledge, by "stumbling" (on StumbleUpon.com) for hours on end. 
  • You can read a 500 page book
  • Watch an entire season of "The L Word"
  • Cry for no reason
  • Cry for every reason you can think of in the world
  • Listen to your roommate snore
  • Eat
  • Do your nails
  • Do naked yoga
  • Text a whole bunch of people, but know you won't get a response for hours because every normal person is sleeping!
  • Eaves-drop on the drunk couple fighting in the hallway
  • Watch strange shows on the hundreds of channels you haven't explored
  • Write a blog post...
So clearly I'm at my last resort. I cannot sleep. Today this is probably my fault because I made the large mistake of taking a three hour nap around 6pm...buut I was sooo tired!!
Sometimes, however, I simply can't sleep for no apparent reason at all. This really bugs me, I love sleeping just let me goddamn-it! 

My mind is constantly racing...I think about people I've lost, people I love, people I haven't met yet. I think about school, work, blogging. 

I've been thinking a lot about how flakey I've been this summer. I've made a lot of plans with a  lot of people that never went through. Usually because I bailed. I think I felt alone this summer, I needed to feel alone. I needed to know that I'm not in that relationship anymore, but I can be my own person. I didn't want to see people that reminded me of him, so I simply avoided them. I did a really good job of being alone, so much so that I feel so genuinely lonely.

I go back to college in two days, I cannot wait! I mean I'm definitely nervous. I'm living in a new room, with a new roommate, in a new building. I'm worried about having panic attacks, if I'll bother my roommate with my anxiety.  Right now I'm focusing on the positives! I'm living with my best friend surrounded by more best friends. I get to feel the rush and independence of college again and get to bond anew with my beautiful college town.

Hello 4 a.m., we've been rather productive :)

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

A Walk Down Memory Lane (Post From Previous Blog)

I've always wished I was super cool and trendy but blissfully unaware of how cool I really was. This is not the case. I assure you.


It's me ya'll!




However, I am learning who I am. This fact in itself is pretty darn cool. It's been a while since I've written so I'm going to have to back track a bit.


If winter quarter was april showers, then spring quarter is may flowers. In fact May has been a beyond amazing month so far, and we're only on the eighth day! During the beginning of spring I was feeling a bit down and I wanted to connect to something, someone, anything really. My BFF Katie convinced me to go to a Christian Bible study. (Just so we're clear, I've been raised jewish...bat mitzvah and all) I've always considered myself to be open minded and I believe being open minded means you try to give everything and everyone a chance. Bible study was very interesting and I'm glad I went because during it I looked inside myself and realized that I'm jewish through and through and christianity just wasn't for me.


The second time I realized this was when I decided to attend a Passover Seder at Hillel (aka the building where you can find all the jews on a college campus). There was a twist to this Seder, it was all women and followed a feminist format. HOW FREAKING COOL IS THAT!? It was amazing, so many powerful college jewish women gathered around a table reading about standing up for women and gay people and eating a vegetarian meal. I felt totally connected and in awe of the sacred beauty of two of my biggest spiritual connections, feminism and judaism.


Via Hella Gloire




This leads to my next epiphany. Chris. Chris blows my mind every I talk to her, she has expanded my world in unbelievable proportions. I met Chris last quarter, in where else but group therapy. (OH HEY YA'LL IF YOU'VE NEVER SEEN THE SHOW "BEING ERICA" PLEASE DO SO!) At the time we met I was in a lackluster relationship with Raymond, who I love dearly, but just not as a boyfriend anymore. I was also still mourning Kayla's jump back into the straight world. Chris had a girlfriend, but she made my stomach spin every time she opened her mouth during our sessions. There was something about Chris that I fell in love with the moment I laid eyes on her. Winter quarter ended and so did group, I was sad to leave for many reasons, but especially because I didn't know if I would see Chris again. We were friends on facebook and we began to message back and forth. Eventually we exchanged numbers and met up at an LGBT dance. She introduced me to all of her friends as her "friend Bri, who is just wonderful!". I think I fell asleep beaming. Her girlfriend and her broke up, Raymond and I broke up. We continued to talk and hang out, she drag me out of my dorm more than I'd ever left it before! We went to pride week events, International Film Festival movies together, she gave me books like Rubyfruit Jungle, I was amazed by her depth and maturity. Each time I saw her I never wanted to leave. Finally after last weekend when we met each other's mothers I knew I wanted to tell her how I felt. She felt the same, and the next day she kissed me.


Via Effindykes




Chris is a senior. She's graduating in three short weeks. I am trying to take things one step at a time and I don't want to fall in love again like I did with Kayla, but it's going to take all I have not to.


In the last month or so I've realized I'm totally a Queer Jewess, and I never want the month of May to end.



Via Effindykes








Here We Go!

Post numero uno.

I'm a little nervous starting out on my own. Have you ever noticed it's much easier to do something under the guise of a group? Well, it is.




My last blog was super fun to write. With Em by my side I could do no wrong, and she was always there to post when I was lagging. Now I have to start a new school year without Em as my roommate, thus a new blog.

I'm starting over, turning a new leaf, <insert beginning cliche here>. So we will start with this blog!

Over the last year I am a completely different person, one I never knew I could be.

Here were some lovely things I learned about myself:
  • I never thought I'd actually make it to college (I was scared shitless!)
  • I didn't think I could ever be on my own (aka single for the last 6+ months)
  • I can be honest with myself about who I really am
  • I can still find my connection to God, even after all I've seen
  • I'm not very good at making a plan and sticking to it
  • I can live (barely) without gluten
  • My heart heals faster than my wisdom teeth :/
  • I am finding that I love me!
  • I'm also finding that I really really like girls ;)
  • I am capable of making a wonderful group of friends
This all began last year, and I talked about it a lot in my last blog. (I'll include a post from said blog)

I cannot wait for this year. I have a super close group of amazing, funny, easily agitated friends who love me unconditionally...well maybe with a few conditions. I am living with one of them, who is pretty much my twin in everything except for looks. And I have no strings attached, so I'm gunna live the good college girl single life!




This is a boring post to just let you know a little about why I'm writing this blog. They will get juicy don't you worry!