There’s a new (free!) post on my Substack! I’ve been thinking about the inherent strangeness of being a woman lately. Our bodies, our experiences, our lives are liminal spaces. This essay is an attempt to untangle that: open.substack.com/pub/bristoke... #WritingCommunity #substack

So is Nazism, racism and sexism phase, white people’s version of a Hotep phase

There’s a new post on my Substack! 🎉 This week, I’m thinking about writing in the context of warriorship—how craft is more than just sitting down to put words on a page 🖤 #WritingCommunity #substack open.substack.com/pub/bristoke...

Next year, I’m fully going back to physical media. CDs, DVDs, MP3 players, etc. Not just bc streaming platforms are increasingly capitulating to Trump, but bc I deserve to have some romantic whimsy in my life, dammit. I deserve to experience the magic and simplicity of 2005 all over again 😭

Trying to get in the habit of sharing more of my poetry on Substack. You can read some of my latest pieces for free here: open.substack.com/pub/bristoke... #WritingCommunity #poetry #substack

Written in a somewhat-manic haze after seeing Saul Williams perform a poetry set that sort of changed my life. You can read it (for free!) here: open.substack.com/pub/bristoke... #WritingCommunity #poetry #substack

the president of the united states wants to use the american military to kill american citizens on american soil. that's the whole story!

There’s a new post live on my Substack today! You can read or listen to the full article (for free!) at: bristokes.substack.com/p/in-defense... #WritingCommunity

There’s a new post on my Substack today! Initially taken from a diary entry on my relationships to God, desire and shame. Read or listen to the full article (for free!) here: bristokes.substack.com/p/divine-ara... #WritingCommunity

Anyone still using Twitter is either stronger than the Marines, or a raging, unrepentant masochist.

Last night I actually dreamt that I immigrated to a different country. It was peaceful. It was frightening in how new it was, but it felt right. I’ve never even entertained thoughts of leaving America before. What an incredibly bizarre feeling.

Today, the UN officially designated Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide. As a party to the Genocide Convention, the U.S. has a legal obligation to obey our own laws, stop weapons sales to Israel, and demand a permanent ceasefire. End the genocide. Ceasefire now.

Trey Reed and Cory Zukatis are lynched in Mississippi and there’s hardly any noise about it. A neo-Nazi who was virulently anti-empathy and believed people should be sacrificed for the sake of the 2nd Amendment gets shot and the media eulogizes him like a saint. Right.

New post up on my Substack 🥳 You can read the full piece (for free!) below: bristokes.substack.com/p/doomerism-... #WritingCommunity #Substack

Lovely little feature of yours truly is out today in Her Grruv Magazine ☺️ #WritingCommunity #poetrycommunity

I heard someone say that the reason why we’re experiencing all of this chaos is because a group of rich white men are afraid of dying, and…yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

We all need an ego death. Like let’s just take some ayahuasca and hit the reset button. Fr.

Today! 1:30pm pst! Come listen to me yap about words ✨ #WritingCommunity #poetry www.ashcoachingandconsulting.com/24authorsin1...

It occurred to me the other day that, once all of this is said and done (hopefully), we will have been dealing with Trump, to varying degrees, for 13 years. Thirteen years. Is it ANY wonder that we’ve lost our minds.

Nema needs to raise $100, please help her out chuffed.org/project/1382...

The people of Palestine are starving to death. A second flotilla carrying aid was just blocked from entering Gaza by Israel. Again—Palestinians are STARVING TO DEATH, and the world is simply watching it happen. I don’t even have words. I just cannot fathom that this is happening.

One of my neighbors is blasting the new Tyler album at FULL volume, God I love being from LA 😭

You mean I’m NOT an inherently brilliant writer? And I actually have to WORK at my craft and STUDY the authors I want to emulate?? Sounds fake. #WritingCommunity

The way having a traumatic childhood and an extremely early sense of survival skills has so aptly prepared me for the current cultural moment 😭 I used to hate the circumstances of my life, whole time I was in boot camp for what was to come, lmao.

Tyler albums be like: “I’m rich / I’m cool / fuck you / dance 👹👾🪩🌈🌼🎶” *5 minutes later* “I am unbearably lonely.”

HE’S DONE IT AGAIN. HE CAN’T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS (Tyler, the Creator) 😭

I’m convinced that rigorously consuming music makes you a better writer. Poetry/prose isn’t just about language. It’s about how you arrange certain sounds to evoke specific feelings in your audience. Paying attention to music can help you get there. #WritingCommunity

I'm looking for friends with benefits, and by that I mean friends who will pay for my healthcare.

There will come a time in history where we’ll collectively understand that it was not at all controversial to be pro-Palestine. But living through the moment before that is wild.

I saw Flavor Flav in the mirror

the priorities now are dislodging fascists from power, holding them accountable, and then going about rebuilding, probably from scratch. but there is no world in which Dems sweep into power and bring back America as it was in December of 2024.

Also like … “underage women” is not even a thing. Those are called “children.”

“After the Carnival” in Rio de Janeiro, photograph by Alain Draeger, 1983.

Remember: There is nothing natural or inevitable about extreme inequality; it’s the result of an economic system that values wealth and power over human dignity and justice. It doesn't have to be this way.

I needed this reminder today. So I'm putting it back out there for the other weird ones who also need reminding.

Congrats to Stephen Colbert for never bending the knee.

Thinking about how MAGA is currently imploding on itself re: Epstein, and how we seem to be in an era where, largely, people are having to confront the consequences of their hubris in real-time—and it’s happening everywhere. What a truly insane time to be alive.

Is it a coincidence that bisexuality arrived the same year I did? I don’t think so.

Just got the QUICKEST, most break neck turnaround time for a rejection letter in my life, omg. They said, “Are you being for real right now.” 😂 #WritingCommunity

I need the tea on the friend who’s refusing to make eye contact with them bc I’ve been her a hundred times over lol

It looks like we have some new friends, which means it’s time to reintroduce ourselves. 🥳 Hi! We’re Bookshop.org, an alternative to Amazon for buying books online where every single purchase financially supports independent bookstores.

Baldwin sun, Beyoncé moon, Morrison rising

I rarely get FOMO these days, but I do experience RANBA (Relief at Not Being Asked) 😂

The people crave and deserve Adam Driver as Dracula.

I think there’s a real, largely undisclosed grief regarding the pain of realizing you’ve outgrown a friendship. And we don’t take friendship/community as seriously in this country as, say, romantic partnership. So we don’t really have anywhere to put it.

THIS is what courage looks like.Today, striking farmworkers bravely stood in front of cameras, the community, and the press, risking their jobs, safety, and future. To speak the truth. About the stolen wages. About the years of being unheard. This is a movement. And today was a turning point.

one of the things that has struck me consistently throughout my entire adult life is how quickly people seem to completely forget what it was like to be a child. the way they felt, the things they wanted and needed. i don't understand because i have never forgotten that

I would rather be an empath than a sociopath, any day — every day. Living in an echo chamber of ignorance, versus one of growth and knowledge are not the same. Living a life where compassion, not cruelty, is my compass and I don’t apologize for wanting to protect my sanity, safety and mental health

Maybe this is nothing, but I am fascinated by the pendulum shift of the last 15 years wherein male sex symbols now seem to be a more indelible facet of pop culture than female sex symbols. We don’t have a Marilyn or a Megan Fox anymore. Now we have Pedro Pascal and Luigi Mangione 😂