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About Me: Reader. Writer. Curious. Autistic. Abolitionist. Person. Creative. Introverted. Bisexual. Pansexual. Queer. Disabled. Tired. Relentless. Woman. Radical. Kind. Adaptable.

Topics of Interest: Trauma. Endometriosis. Justice. Compassion. Healing. Building community. Cooking delicious food. Dismantling white supremacy. The psychology of human behavior change. Tea.

Photo by Joyce Nash

My name is Joyce, I am a white woman in my mid thirties, currently living in an area of North Carolina that was previously home to the Catawba Indian Nation. I am a recent North Carolina transplant from Southern California, where I lived for nine years.

I’ve worked and volunteered in many different roles, including as a Pilates and fitness instructor; barista; newspaper reporter; nonviolence workshop coordinator for incarcerated men; aide for adults with developmental disabilities; and as a department aide at my local library branch. There’s more, too. I spent some time on a goat farm, and for a couple of years, I  was the president of a group of local volunteers.

In each of these roles, I’ve been able to dive into a unique slice of the human experience, gaining perspective on how people function (and sometimes don’t) within the larger systems that dictate our government, culture, and economy. 

The personal is political. 

The activities of our daily life are not separate from politics. In fact, politics dictates much of what our lives look like. Who gets to live in what houses, or eat what food, or go to a certain school are all choices that are made by political processes.

Even as a Pilates instructor, my everyday work life was set to the rhythm of white supremacy, capitalism, fatphobia, and trauma. I want to write about where the big meets the small, and how these larger systems of oppression manifest in our daily lives.

I also autistic and have endometriosis and Complex PTSD. I’m learning every day how to navigate these conditions. My experiences with childhood abuse, sexual trauma, chronic pain and illness are a big part of the frame through which I see the world. 

In many ways, I have enjoyed tremendous privilege: I’m white, thin, and although my family was often on the brink of financial disaster, we passed well enough for a stable working class family. This privilege has given me access to all sorts of places that I probably shouldn’t have been allowed into. The least I can do is pull back the curtains and show you what I find.