More Tools for Resistance
Preview: Hear from three participants of the archival service about what tools they use at home
Start by reading about the service, here.
Stay tuned, some of these interviews will soon be published in full on youtube.
Here, I introduce Azar, Alice, and Akeema, three participants of Our Everyday Forms archival service. As a critical part of the service, they are invited to name specifically who their story is for.
Azar | March 2019
Dear wonderful people who have come across my [story],
I hope whatever part of you brought you here, finds a little bit of what it’s looking for.
Alice | March 2019
Dear peer group,
I want you to know that this is my room, I have a lot of objects that help me deal with daily life in here, and so do you.
Dear queer community,
It’s ok to not have that many objects too because I don’t think I have that much stuff. It’s ok if your objects are small.
Dear diasporic asian community,
Going to the gaze I was most afraid of from the camera, is like ‘Oh’ always, every time, ‘What if my mom sees this?’ I want you to know that it’s ok to have objects that are not within your culture that you use in a cultural way too.
Akeema | October 2019
Dear family, friends, black students, and marginalized people across the globe,
Please know that our stories are important to hold, cherish, and preserve.
Object A — Books
Titled, Westover by Laurie Lisle and Preparing for Power: America’s Elite Boarding Schools by Caroline Hodges Persell and Peter W. Cookson Jr.
[Akeema]: These two books I picked up because they’re representative of my boarding school experience. So Westover is the school that I went to and it’s an all-girls school and a few, several years ago, having had that experience and even while in boarding school I knew that I was like I’m going to, I just, was like, I’m going to write a book about my life and this is going to be a part of that. …
And there’s a chapter in here that speaks to like when black students started being recruited. This chapter, “Admitting negro students, desire for justice” is the chapter so I spent a lot of time trying to unpack that. And for me, boarding school is such a, this is my boarding school ring. It’s such a both like, it can stir a lot of traumatic memories, but it’s such a part of my formative experience and so it’s almost like a haunting. But being able to leave that space and then do research but also like initiate this process of, of like trying to recreate that through writing, whether it’s through my memory of it, recreating a new story or mythology, what could be, is an act of resistance for sure.
Object B — Essential Oils
[Azar]: I like that they are really small and compact, and they’re, it’s just you can put it in your pocket. I don’t do that but you can. And these ones, [gesturing towards oils in droppers] I don’t particularly… It’s good to smell like that but the roll-ons are, it’s gentle on the body and so smooth on your skin. I feel like it’s easy application and direct contact. And that’s nice. There are 3 ways to use essential oils. It’s like topical, you can eat it, you can put it on your skin, or you can breathe it in. I like breathing it in, thats nice, but part of me, well actually I just started using it just to breathe it in. At first I felt like having that physical contact on my body was [pause] I was more receptive to that. Then i started breathing it in, and picturing myself taking it in my body. I don’t know, it was really a nice experience. I hadn’t done that before. I think I like the different uses for them. And I’m experimenting with them so its nice. [pause]
[Me]: When do you find yourself reaching for it? [Azar]: Sometimes in the mornings like before I go to work. Oh here’s another one. It’s in my purse. I actually keep that on me and it’s like ‘on guard’ and I don’t feel like I need to be on guard but I feel that’s a way of, like when i go to work being on guard. As in being observant of the things around me. And I feel like that’s when I’ll wear, so that I am, or that it’ll help me. Or I think it does. [pause] [Me]: It kind of feels like a big part of it is putting it on, and setting some kind of intention. [Azar]: YES. [Me]: And taking care of yourself in that moment when you do it. [Azar]: Even if it doesn’t have that actual benefit. Like that reminds me of one of the women I stayed with in Spain. She has two glasses of water. One is labeled ‘love’ and the other one is labeled ‘joy.’ It’s just plain water in both of them but when she pours it just having that label there, it like, it makes a difference. Even if none of these have, but I do believe these have benefits, if its coming from a pure plant. And even if it doesn’t, having that intention like you said, putting it on makes a difference.
Object C — Journals
[Alice]: I do see them as objects of resistance because it’s like, my headspace. And then, just thinking about experiencing racism… A lot of it’s like ‘What’s going on.’ I feel like it’s easy to like not believe your own reality. And then writing it down so it registers. Yeah, it’s really important. I feel like it’s really hard to think. [pause]
I really like just having a notebook where I can literally put everything I’m thinking down … as you’re talking to yourself in it, you really do get to know yourself better. You think of things that you normally wouldn’t think about if you’re not writing.
I guess it is like a symbol of resistance as camouflaged as good behavior — Writing is. Just thinking about resistance as ‘bad behavior’ I think you can camouflage that bad behavior through writing [pause] I think it was a lot of writing. It was just a daily process, so a lot of it was just to help me feel stronger. And oh like there’s others like I have other potentials than just working through it like this. And make me just want to do those things more. …
[Me]: So I love that. So can you think of when, as you phrased it, when you are in the moment, like, think of when you are in the moment and think of what the notebooks and writing does for you, is there a link between the two?… [Alice]: … Yeaah! I don’t think I ever respond in the moment, no matter what happens. Like I ways have to process it in some way, and maybe going through this process of like, ‘Was I in the wrong? Why do I feel like this? And then I can respond so if I don’t go through that process then I can’t really respond. I think that’s what writing does to me.
[Me]: I feel like that’s a really clear and confident perspective to have, you know. ‘That works for me and that’s how i am!’ You know? I feel like a lot of people are like, will like, go through — I’m talking about myself — [laughs] will like go through phases where they’re like, ‘What’s wrong with me?! Why am I not able to like… [Alice]: Yeah no, I go through that too! [Me]: …say… That too? Yeah!
Read about one more tool for resistance, here.
Stay tuned, some of these interviews will soon be published in full on youtube.
