Love Letters to My Child in These Hate-Filled Times

Authors

  • Pavithra Vasudevan Departments of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and African and African Diaspora Studies University of Texas – Austin

Keywords:

Queer pride, parenting, despair, hope, children

Abstract

In a series of three letters, Pavithra describes to their unborn child what it’s like to be pregnant. The first conveys the terror of carrying a new being into a violently homophobic and racist world. The second and third letters recall the desire and beauty that the unborn child sparks in them. In the fourth letter, Pavithra writes to Noor Momo, now six years old, reflecting on the realities of parenting amidst ongoing violence and the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this final letter, Pavithra invokes Noor’s aunts: her sister Raksha, and her dear friends Kriti, Batool, Mabel, and Marie. The words Chitthi, Masi, Khala and Chyama refer to “mother’s sister” in Tamil, Hindi, Urdu, and Nepali, respectively.

A collage of photos and materials provided by issue authors. These include: a photo of a landscape with stars shining above a curved snowy road disappearing into a wooded horizon along the coast of Gichigami/Lake Superior; a cutout of cursive text written by Caitilin McMillan’s mother that reads “to the world's best heart”; a photo of Neelofer Qadir’s hand holding colorful postcards in front of the blue water of Gris Gris, Mauritius; a handwritten letter in Spanish dated August 1983 from Alana de Hinojosa’s grandmother to her mother, Evelina “Bebe”, asking for her to come back home to Calexico, California; a black-and-white troll block print and a Valentine's Day card with porcupine quills piercing a red-and-black heart and the handwritten message “Happy Valentines Day! Contains two genuine porcupine quills, picked clean by ravens. Love, Elspeth”; a black-and-white photograph of Dr. Donald Deskins Jr. in a three-point stance wearing a football uniform; a colourful poster with doves and peace flowers and text that reads “Viva! Viva! Palestina!”; an orange envelope reading “don't you dare write back!” with a hand-drawn scowling figure; a screenshot of a Zoom grid of smiling attendees at the American Association of Geographers 2021 Desirable Futures sessions; and background text and images from valentines written by Elspeth Iralu.

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Published

2024-04-15

How to Cite

Vasudevan, P. (2024). Love Letters to My Child in These Hate-Filled Times. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 23(2), 120–124. Retrieved from https://acme-journal.org/index.php/acme/article/view/2399

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 2 (2024): Desirable Futures

Section

Special Issue: Desirable Futures

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Pavithra Vasudevan

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