Let’s talk about “cultural appropriation” shall we? Or at least, let’s make fun of the severely traumatized in society who quite loudly give a fuck…you know who I’m talking about.

So me…apparently I am only allowed to wear the native clothing associated with mid-century Polish and Ukrainians (have you seen that goofy shit?), a Scottish tartan and/or whatever they wore in the UK during WW2. Because, um, well, that’s my lineage and based on “cultural appropriation” I can’t really “appropriate” anyone else’s clothing because that’s an inherent part of their culture and because it, um, it…um…because it’s just wrong dammit!!

No, I have no idea why it’s wrong.

The point is that there is a thing called freedom of expression that we all—WE ALL—should be thinking about when we see things we may not agree with or even like. We can certainly voice our opinion “Hey girl! That’s some fucked up shit!” but the next thing we say we shouldn’t EVER be “…and you aren’t allowed to wear/show/say that because it offends me.”

Christ on a cracker! There is no possible way to separate the gazillion influences that mass migrations and the various immigration events (think the Ottoman, Irish, Cuban, Hispanic and other waves) globally that have occurred in the last 5,000 years, all of which have subtly and not so subtly changed fashion and what people wear…the tattoos they get…the makeup they put on….but even that is beside the point.

The point is that no one has the right to infringe the freedom of expression of another human being unless, by that expression, the other person is infringing someone else’s rights.

Simple.

You don’t like what someone is wearing/saying/expressing? Awesome, great, brilliant!! Go protest, scream, cry, organize a boycott of their Instagram account, whatever but please, PLEASE! Shut the fuck up about their right to wear/say/express themselves.

Get over it.

Except maybe those new age wonders that end every conversation with “Namaste”…if they are not, in fact, a verifiable, 95 year old Indian Yogi then they really need to STFU.

Believe. Go. Do.

~TrevorZen

Some things I know…

When you accept and love yourself, the language you use changes significantly. In fact, it changes completely. If you are at a place now where you love and accept who you are, what you represent to yourself and others, then you may not notice…but as you transition there (and we are all transitioning there), it becomes very apparent that the words you use change. Every day words you use to describe and define, to assess and assign, to ultimately communicate with others.

Can’t becomes can.
Won’t becomes will.
Fear becomes fact.
Lose becomes win.
Hate becomes love.

And it is not just the words you use but also the words you hear when people talk to you and say negative things about you—or to you—you stop hearing the disapproval and disappointment and instead hear the personal pain and doubt in their voices. You hear that they can only talk to you in the words they know…and because these words are from a place of anger, fear and hatred of themselves, that’s all they can communicate to you. To anyone.

Just like you…

…used to.

And when you felt and used those words, they didn’t actually come from you, they came from others—parents, teachers, school mates and all those determined to spread their own personal fears & doubts—but never from “you”…because as a human on this planet, just by being, you are loving and deserving of love. When you finally accept and love yourself—not because you’re perfect and better than others but because you’re flawed and human—the words you use and understand become positive and helpful because they come from a place of love and confidence.

They come from you.

Believe. Go. Do.
~TrevorZen

I called to her, a wind battering sails
blowing sea into flesh into the wind
we sailed toward a moment
lost but for our eyes, she
was the raging life, the pristine
shining and meticulous, she called
back, we cannot falter, stop,
we must live outward, forward
we must believe in everything
that we can be—and are—she
was the moment, the wind howling
the day breaking, the everything
that I ever wanted that instant
every day and forever…she
gave me the direction, gifted me
her sight her being her fury…
and I lived from then on.

Nothing is clear, nothing
is what we want it to be, nothing
is the feeling we have when
we have a feeling…when we look out
at a world gone mad, gone
to the brink again and again
with violence…the lingua franca,
the currency that buys air time
that ensures the deepest cuts
to an entire planets psyche, it
seems to be never enough
it’s not
it’s not
it’s not
and even while blood still stains
the last impossibly horrific
dirty patch of cement and brick,
the last killing zone,
and the echoes have yet to fade…
another and another hits the airwaves
people
it hits and kills people
the 24 hour news cycle and hatred
is the tagline, the headline
the funeral line of coffins
of dreams destroyed…again
and again we see that’s it based on
your god versus their god…but we’re told
it’s not
it’s not
it’s not
it’s power and crisis
the human hatred, the fuel that burns us all alive
it is not god
or gods
it is not deities fighting above us
throwing lightning bolts,
crashing thunder
raging giants battling for the control of eternity
it’s people like you
me
them
misguided brainwashed manipulated
but
I have to ask
what is religion?

The mirror can tell you
many things
and you’ll believe them
mostly
my, how pretty you are
that shirt does not go with those pants
you disgusting fat pig
there’s a thing on your face
no, the other side
the other side
there
but the mirror won’t tell you
it can’t
tell you
the dreams that light up your night
bombastic and rolling
thundering thrill rides through fireworks and lightning
the ideas you like the best
and the ones that scare the shit out of you
the hole in your soul
that refuses to be filled by pretty
shiny things
by superficial smiles and even shallower
people
the mirror can only show
what you really
really
really
want to see…that is
if you even know
how
to ask…so
…maybe
look for that answer
instead

Ahh the age of self-broadcast.

But more and more lately I see people posting things like “If you don’t like my politics, my language or the issues I post, don’t try to censor me on my page or try to convince me that my ideas/politics/issues I post are wrong or inappropriate blah blah blah…just unfriend me …yadda yadda yadda…” and I just kind of giggle. Actually…

…I literally LOL.

My view is that if you don’t like my politics, my language or the issues I post then HELL YEAH!! WOO HOOO!! Bring it on mother fucker!! Whatever you do, do not—DO NOT—unfriend me and do not hold back, seriously…let er rip! Take your best shot and let’s go! Better yet…

…invite your friends and lets party!

Fight clean, fight dirty, ad hominin attacks, with facts, without facts, call me an asshole, dumb fuck, Nazi, teabag, nutcase, whatever but argue, debate, prove your point…have the cajones to stand behind your position. Tell me why I’m wrong, tell me that I smell, I’m a secret communist/homosexual/republican/New Jersey resident/whatever (any secret thing to be ashamed of…have at it!) but most important of all…

…tell your story.

With every new thing I learn, regardless if I believe it, regardless that it’s true or how fucked up crazy I think it is…I grow. My perception grows in ways that it won’t or that I can’t do on my own, with my own thinking. I have to hear your amazing and ditzy ideas, your astounding and dumb fuck conspiracy theories, your passionate pleas for reason and logic…but most important of all is that for me to be a better person in the long run…I have to hear…

…you.

Go!

Believe. Go. Do.

~TrevorZen

I dreamt you were
wearing white
leaning
on the edge
of forgiveness
allowing fate
to be decided
by gravity,
by the fall of tears,
…and I simply
watched
waiting
quiet
subdued
it was the limit
of my participation
I dreamt but
then it was gone,
as you were
as always, as it will be
when I wake up
you are walking away
through
the musings
of multiples
the mystic center
of yourself
and breathing
questioning
as you go
while waiting
I knew that
I was not the
gravity
that could
make you
stay.

In the end we are skin
bones and dreams
of living, of
shadows
…we are
the constructed hopes
of a millennium, the inevitable
slide toward immortality
…a totality of motion
veering closer to
an end
than a beginning…but
ever watchful
we want want
want to become our wishes
our fantasy’s, the
ever lengthening shadow
of ourselves without
restraint…we look at who we are
and see gods
and murder and kill,
justifying each death, each
loss we forget because
we have to…
in the end
it is the end, both
individually
and as a species, as
an idea, movement…dream
that a planet isn’t large enough
a universe too small
in the end
we look at ourselves
and see
gods
because they
always
destroy
themselves.

I try to wear my
shoes sideways, because
I only want to get
halfway there, a
small, absent minded
smile
on my face…
because I’m
not there
yet.
She is
there.
And the idea
of her
floats alongside me
showing me everything
that she is
to me…but…
I’m trying
to wear my shoes
sideways
for a reason
I think…
maybe too much, maybe
not
enough
because I only
want to know her
halfway there…
and I’m not
there.

To change your life…

…it’s never words from others. It’s not what people say to you. It will never be something you heard said by someone else that changes your life. The thing—the only thing—that will change your life are the words…

…you tell yourself.

The words you tell yourself that make you believe in you. The words you say with such deep conviction and passion that they make you believe yourself so utterly and completely that they become truth. Fact. Words that become who you are from the inside out. Not what I say, she says, they say but…

…what you say. To you. Only and ever your words.

Now it doesn’t matter where the words come from. You can beg, borrow and steal those words from any person on the planet, any book, any website, any newspaper, any talking head on the TV or internet but for those words to work, for those words to change your life they must become your words. Singularly and specifically…

…your words.

So?

Go find them..

Believe. Go. Do.

~TrevorZen