The photo is a 1974 photo of Leslie Feinberg, from the FBI file on hir. I've written a piece on my interpretation of Transgender Warriors and Trans Liberation, but I don't think it's quite polished enough, so I'll post it later. Instead, I'll go over hir FBI file: https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/dc-metro/rg-065/6282555/Batch0010/6282555_100-HQ-480756.PDF.

The FBI thought Feinberg could be violating the Communist Control Act, advocating the overthrow of the government, and engaging in rebellion. Needless to say, a hero to all of us. Feinberg was a member of the Workers World Party (the party still exists, but more notably PSL split from it), which apparently wasn't openly advocating for the overthrow of the U.S, they just think it's inevitable.

My favorite line? "captioned subject is believed to be a white female, who became male through some kind of sex change operation, and is possibly homosexual". Some interesting language choice, and it's an interesting snapshot into the evolution of Leslie's identity.

The FBI found Leslie's place of birth and birthdate from public school records. It's a bit of an interesting look into all of the many places the FBI can get their information, along with how information like that was so much more patchwork before the digital age.

"Interview of subject is not being recommended because of the questionable nature of his sexuality". Hmm, interesting.

It's interesting how their investigation spanned multiple cities, from Kansas City to NYC to Bufffalo to Boston. It probably involved quite a few officers, though I'm sure it wasn't the main focus for all of them.

There's some interesting mention about changes in Leslie's gender identity. Born a girl, for a time wearing a beard and mustache, then going back to "she". I'm sure we all know, Feinberg's gender didn't stop evolving there.

"Subject reportedly contributes all extra money to WWP", Leslie definitely was dedicated to the cause. Leslie doesn't attend NYC WWP meetings, but the FBI doesn't mention why.

The FBI isn't immune to typoes, Leslie did some "criminal terspass" that garnered some attention.They wasted some time checking if Leslie was in Boston, but verified where Leslie in NYC lived by pretending to be a part of the Voter Registration Commission.

There's a whole 43 pages of documents, all just from 1974-75. There's plenty of interesting tidbits in there, so maybe check it out.


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  • bubbalu [they/them]
    ·
    1 month ago

    I been struggling through similar thoughts w yiddish. Ultimately I'm not a historian or nothing and it's not going to community to practice it in. To me you should do it if it's a special interest but otherwise it's a better use of time to learn languages of people you are going to be around.

    I suggest jumping around genre by genre. There's a lot of really good fem pop in there.

    Also if you wanna learn spanish I really recommend https://www.languagetransfer.org/complete-spanish I was able to have really simple and vital conversations with my students after about 2 hours of concerted effort with this program. It's based on transferring your innate knowledge about language to learn another AND also teaches you the cognate conversion rules which is super helpful.

    • lilypad [she/her, undecided]
      ·
      1 month ago

      Woah tysm for the language resource! cat-trans I mostly wanted to learn ladino because my family used to speak it a few generations back. Same with yiddish, but that ive had an easier time learning (the hard parts there are more the loshn koydesh and the slavic words, my family spoke more ukrainish and poylish so thats where I want to place my focus).

      Ill do some jumping around, i gotta get to the fem pop :)

      • bubbalu [they/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        Albums

        Pelada 'Movimiento para Cambio' dance pop

        Kali Uchis 'Orquidas' art pop

        Femina 'Perlas & Conchas' sad girl pop

        Liniker e os Carmelows 'Goela Abaixo' transcendatal ballads + trans singer!

        Lido Pimienta 'Miss Colombia' experimental pop

        Snow tha Product 'To Anywhere' Rap

        'Intimidade' by Liniker is maybe the most beautiful and romantic song I ever heard.

        • lilypad [she/her, undecided]
          ·
          1 month ago

          Omg ty for breaking it down for me aubrey-happy

          Was listening to fémina but gonna throw on intimidade now :)

        • lilypad [she/her, undecided]
          ·
          1 month ago

          I dont even understand the words but ive got tears running down my face T_T Intimidade is beautiful marisad

          (Also we dont have any happy-crying emoji, or just non sad and/or rage crying emoji 😔)

          • bubbalu [they/them]
            ·
            1 month ago

            She is so incredible!!! I found that song on a playlist I've since lost from a woman processing her coming out. That song hits me so hard every time I listen to it. It was my song with somebody too so it has a lot of extra meaning for me.

            • lilypad [she/her, undecided]
              ·
              1 month ago

              Ive been listening to her this whole evening, she is beautiful, her music is beautiful, thank you so much, my existence richer for having heard her music <3

            • lilypad [she/her, undecided]
              ·
              1 month ago

              It hits so hard right in my heart. I dont speak portugese, but just feeling all the emotion in the vocals, idk, it just hit really hard, i dont normally cry to songs i dont understand the lyrics to. Thank you for sharing it with me <3

    • Eco [she/her, he/him]
      ·
      1 month ago

      you're learning yiddish? that's so cool

      i was wanting to learn with the goal of being able to read the archives of the fraye arbeter shtime, a jewish anarchist newspaper that used to be published in new york, as jewish radical history is fascinating.

      • bubbalu [they/them]
        ·
        30 days ago

        I thought about it but haven't done it. One of my friends at temple teaches Yiddish to members but I could never commit. For me, it felt more important to better communicate with the people I am in community with than the history of my community. It's no perfect answers but that was my choice.