Hey there

I'm starting to cut back on the types of interviews I do & cut back on doing interviews in general for a few reasons. Check out this *thread* if you want to know more.
(This is for freelance journalist, college students, professors etc.) 1/8

2/8 Since last week it's actually become increasingly hard to speak, physically. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love being able to share the stories of HD88, Oklahoma, & my personal story. But my vocal cords need a little TLC.

3/8 as we head into session here in Oklahoma, I need to focus on the policy ideas I'm trying to implement, as well as those of my colleagues -again, thank you so much. I also need to brush up on my parliamentary procedure (which I haven't actually used since college )

4/8 as we have seen, & read, this movement we built shattered glass ceilings. 1 thing that's been made apparent by this is this is the 1st time a good portion of you are talking to someone who holds any combination of the identities that I possess.

5/8 For some of you (community members, journalist, professors, etc..) your questions are grounded in asking me to justify my existence in the world rather seeking to understand why visibility is so important, how we did what we did, or the policy that will come from this.

6/8 publications, school press, communities should be using this time, & beyond, to educate their readers, families, & themselves about the complexities of communities and personal identity..

7/8 And this shouldn't always be at the hands of our friends or family who happen to live in those margins. Being an ally means we are committed to doing shadow work to learn about our folks w/o making them produce free labor or relive trauma for clicks or our own personal gain.

8/8 With that I encourage you to do the research about the intersections I hold&what true allyship for my communities looks like. The question of how you hold space for us looks different for each of us, that's a question I encourage you to ask your friends.