My hope is that you granted permission to the muralists to paint your picture, because I don’t believe there is enough representation of writer-activists like yourself who state the necessity of multi-issue politics and organizing.

Once I asked a prominent feminist academic if she would sign a book for me and she abruptly replied that she believed autographs were a form of self-institutionalization. I felt humiliated and was frustrated that someone whose work I had studied and whose politics I admired so much would be so quick to dismiss my request, however “self-institutionalizing” it might have seemed to her (wasn’t it arrogant of her to write me off while she rubbed elbows with other prominent academics?). She could have also simply told me in a kind manner that she doesn’t sign books. Of course, she was also getting paid tens of thousands of dollars to come speak at my school, so maybe I (unjustly?) felt that she could grant a student who had also paid thirty dollars for her book the small favor of a signature. Clearly this is a different situation. My point is that people with rad politics shouldn’t be so afraid of self-institutionalization because there are bigger problems in the world. Of course if you chose not to grant permission for any personal reason I am not one to pass judgement - I am sure from my emails with you that you were more gracious than the aforementioned academic and were under no obligation to those who asked you.