By now, many of you have seen the AFA's recent post on Facebook about "the values of our ancestors and our folk". Personally, I'm disgusted by it, and I want to speak out loudly and publicly against this kind of rhetoric in my community. I am a married lesbian woman in an interracial relationship. I firmly believe that my biggest responsibility as a heathen is to protect and provide for my tribe, to make my tribe stronger and better, and everything I do should align with that.
Being a lesbian doesn't stop me from doing that. Being married to a half Mexican-American, half white woman doesn't stop me from doing that. In fact, being true to myself makes me happier and stronger and more secure! Aren't freedom and honesty supposed to be important values for all heathens? The love I have for my wife is something to be proud of, not something to be hidden away. My marriage is a boon to my tribe, not a weakness. And our future children, regardless of the color of their skin, will be no less heathen than the children of the AFA. Whiteness and straightness and gender comformity are not prerequisites of being heathen and racism has no place in this religion. How can you say that gender is a gift from the gods when the gods themselves have been known to bend gender every once in a while? It's ridiculous! This anti-LGBT and racist rhetoric comes from Christian baggage and ignorance, not from "the holy powers and from our ancestors". To say that this abhorrent ideology comes from our gods is an insult. I've read nothing in the lore that suggests only white, straight, gender-conforming people can be heathen and there's plenty to suggest that everyone is welcome here. Diversity and inclusiveness is our strength. I have seen too many people agreeing with the AFA, and too many people staying silent on this. I cannot be silent about this. I hope that others in the Heathen community will stand with me and speak out against this ideology.
Here is the text of the AFA's statement:
"Today we are bombarded with confusion and messages contrary to the values of our ancestors and our folk. The AFA would like to make it clear that we believe gender is not a social construct, it is a beautiful gift from the holy powers and from our ancestors. The AFA celebrates our feminine ladies, our masculine gentlemen and, above all, our beautiful white children. The children of the folk are our shining future and the legacy of all those men and women of our people back to the beginning. Hail the AFA families, now and always!
Matt Flavel
Alsherjargothi, AFA"
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
A Brief Update On My Life
It's been a while. I've been through a lot over the last 7 months and a lot has changed. So here's a little update for you guys!
I got married! My wife Alishia and I made our wedding oaths on March 16th, 2016 in a small outdoor heathen ceremony, officiated by a dear friend. We had less than 15 people there, which was absolutely amazing. Very low-stress.
We moved back to my hometown, a tiny town in rural Michigan (like seriously, there's 1300 people in the whole town and this is one of the bigger towns in our county). We're living in a much better situation now, a safer and more stable situation, so I think this was a really good choice for us.
My health has been..... complicated. I had medicaid and was seeing an amazing GP who strongly suspected that my stomach problems (which I was briefly hospitalized for in April) are caused by gastroparesis, a complication of my hypermobile joint syndrome. Basically, what was happening was my stomach was not contracting enough/correctly and so food was just getting trapped in my stomach and fermenting instead of moving through my digestive system. This explains my chronic nausea, abdominal pain, sulphur burps, and specifically it explains why my pain was occasionally so severe even though my ultrasounds and scans were coming back normal. She put me on Reglan, a medication that treats GERD and Gastroparesis, and it was like a miracle drug for me. After almost 3 weeks of literally crippling stomach pain and nausea that was so bad I had to be put on opiates and anti-anxiety meds, in addition to zofran (which had to be the dissolving kind because I kept puking the zofran back up), my symptoms evaporated within 48 hours of starting it. I've been able to stay on a solid diet since then, which is really good.
I also started seeing a physical therapist for my ankles, which are my most unstable joints. I've sprained/strained my left ankle over 30 times since I was 13 (including 3 third degree sprains), my right ankle has been sprained or strained more than 10 times. They "give out" on me regularly, which greatly compromises my mobility. So I've learned some really useful exercises for my ankles, and learned the exact degree of hypermobility (which is astonishing).
My asthma and allergies have improved a lot. I'm back on advair, and we've also added zyrtec and a nasal spray to my regimen. I now have "mild intermittent asthma" instead of "severe/acute asthma" and my chronic bronchitis has gone away, as it usually does during the summer. I still have chronic sinusitis. My allergies have been worse since moving, as there's a lot of dust in this house and a whole different set of pollens and trees that my body is no longer accustomed to.
Unfortunately though, due to a paperwork error my medicaid was retracted right before we moved. Now that I'm settled in to the new place, I'm going to have to reapply so I can resume medical treatment. Of course, that will mean the painstaking process of finding new doctors.... one of my least favorite activities. Ugh. Wish me luck, and a caseworker who actually responds to their emails.
I got married! My wife Alishia and I made our wedding oaths on March 16th, 2016 in a small outdoor heathen ceremony, officiated by a dear friend. We had less than 15 people there, which was absolutely amazing. Very low-stress.
We moved back to my hometown, a tiny town in rural Michigan (like seriously, there's 1300 people in the whole town and this is one of the bigger towns in our county). We're living in a much better situation now, a safer and more stable situation, so I think this was a really good choice for us.
My health has been..... complicated. I had medicaid and was seeing an amazing GP who strongly suspected that my stomach problems (which I was briefly hospitalized for in April) are caused by gastroparesis, a complication of my hypermobile joint syndrome. Basically, what was happening was my stomach was not contracting enough/correctly and so food was just getting trapped in my stomach and fermenting instead of moving through my digestive system. This explains my chronic nausea, abdominal pain, sulphur burps, and specifically it explains why my pain was occasionally so severe even though my ultrasounds and scans were coming back normal. She put me on Reglan, a medication that treats GERD and Gastroparesis, and it was like a miracle drug for me. After almost 3 weeks of literally crippling stomach pain and nausea that was so bad I had to be put on opiates and anti-anxiety meds, in addition to zofran (which had to be the dissolving kind because I kept puking the zofran back up), my symptoms evaporated within 48 hours of starting it. I've been able to stay on a solid diet since then, which is really good.
I also started seeing a physical therapist for my ankles, which are my most unstable joints. I've sprained/strained my left ankle over 30 times since I was 13 (including 3 third degree sprains), my right ankle has been sprained or strained more than 10 times. They "give out" on me regularly, which greatly compromises my mobility. So I've learned some really useful exercises for my ankles, and learned the exact degree of hypermobility (which is astonishing).
My asthma and allergies have improved a lot. I'm back on advair, and we've also added zyrtec and a nasal spray to my regimen. I now have "mild intermittent asthma" instead of "severe/acute asthma" and my chronic bronchitis has gone away, as it usually does during the summer. I still have chronic sinusitis. My allergies have been worse since moving, as there's a lot of dust in this house and a whole different set of pollens and trees that my body is no longer accustomed to.
Unfortunately though, due to a paperwork error my medicaid was retracted right before we moved. Now that I'm settled in to the new place, I'm going to have to reapply so I can resume medical treatment. Of course, that will mean the painstaking process of finding new doctors.... one of my least favorite activities. Ugh. Wish me luck, and a caseworker who actually responds to their emails.
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