Liana DeMasi

New York

Writer and Journalist at Freelance

journalist covering the climate, queerness, etc. words in @globeideas @atmosmag @rewirenewsgroup @i_d & others. LGBTQ+ Editor @optoutnews

Articles

The People vs Overconsumption

3 weeks ago | blog.peoplevsbig.tech | Liana DeMasi

In New York City, spring is coming. This means I’m eager to get out of my under-sized and overpriced apartment at any chance I get. As a dog parent, that opportunity presents itself easily. But most mornings when my pup and I exit the elevator, we have to make our way past a mountain of packages in the lobby. Most are from tech giant Amazon – the arrow bent into a pseudo-smiley face, a sinister grin looking up at me... I’m not judging. Some days, these packages have my name on them.
Filmmaker Goran Stolevski Says, ‘85% of my brain can be described as a difficult woman’

Jun 11, 2024 | gomag.com | Liana DeMasi

Macedonian filmmaker Goran Stolevski’s 2022 debut, You Won’t Be Alone, is a lucid dream-like film that follows a witch around a 19th-century Macedonian village, as she assumes the identity of different people with varying genders and dispositions. Classified as a horror, You Won’t Be Alone turns the genre on its head, serving as a poetic visual documentation of what can become of us in isolation, and how that “monster” might be nursed back into human form with the proper care and community.
Queer, Trans Advocate Andy Izenson Wants to Take Us Back to Our Roots

Jun 3, 2024 | importantcontext.news | Liana DeMasi

“My partners and I planted that during our commitment ceremony, along with our vows to each other and to the land.” Andy Izenson says, pointing at a Rose of Sharon shrub just a few feet in front of us. We’re standing on their porch in Upstate New York; their old, but eager Beagle, a rescue named Toby, sits at our feet. WAIT!!! Before you continue reading this free article, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.
Why Student Protests for Gaza Are Microcosms for a Better World

May 20, 2024 | atmos.earth | Liana DeMasi

05.21.2024 A global movement is seeing students occupy university grounds in solidarity with the people of Palestine. With free mental health services and open libraries, the encampments can become blueprints for a more just world.
Taking The Time To Land In Flyover States

Dec 18, 2023 | gomag.com | Liana DeMasi

“I don’t think people realize the sheer magnitude of the threat our community faces [in this political climate],” David Miller, producer of documentary We Live Here: The Midwest, tells GO over Zoom. We’re discussing the steadfast alt-right influence and fascist uptick in U.S. politics, a calculated effort that has ushered ultra-conservative, . Those same efforts have introduced 500+ anti-LGBTQ+ bills in 2023 alone.
The GOP Debate Served as an Alarming State of the Union

Aug 24, 2023 | originals.optout.news | Liana DeMasi

Eight of the hopeful Republican Presidential candidates took the debate stage (Ohio Capital Journal) for the first time last night. The ninth, Donald Trump, refused to attend, likely because he needed his beauty rest before he turned himself in to Fulton County Jail in Atlanta today. The candidates’ positions on the stage were representative of where they were in the polls, so Florida Man Ron DeSantis was dead center.
Misinformation, History, and Death by Hate Crime

Aug 10, 2023 | originals.optout.news | Liana DeMasi

What will it take to protect our community? As I sit and write this newsletter, I’m thinking of O’Shae Sibley, a Black queer man who was stabbed to death in NYC last week while voguing with his friends. A 17-year-old, whose lawyer has described him as a “good Christian boy,” turned himself in and has been charged with murder as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon. (Hell Gate) I will not name him here because his name is not the one you should remember.
Storm Chasing While Trans

Aug 9, 2023 | atmos.earth | Liana DeMasi

The pursuit of extreme storms, like the weather industry, is a space dominated by white, straight, cis-men. But there’s much to learn from changing weather patterns in the fight for trans equality. Raychel Sanner sets up her camera on the side of some dusty, wire fence-lined road and hustles back into her red Hyundai hatchback.
Whose America is it, Anyway?

Jul 26, 2023 | originals.optout.news | Liana DeMasi

Land of the oppressed, home of the marginalized. Is that how it goes? Last week, I was having lunch with my father, and we were talking about politics. This isn’t always an easy conversation between the two of us, but we’ve done a lot of collective work to be able to have difficult, necessary discussions. I said, “If Trump or DeSantis wins, my life is on the line,” and without a moment’s hesitation he responded, “I know.” (The New Republic) He hung his head.
SCOTUS, DeSantis, and Existential Dread

Jul 13, 2023 | originals.optout.news | Liana DeMasi

The SCOTUS decided to end Pride Month exactly as expected and DeSantis is getting weirder by the minute, but I promise there’s joy amidst all this mess. Every once in a while—or, in this-day-in age, often—you get a push notification for a news story that’s so outlandish and sad that you almost have to laugh. This is precisely what happened to me when I saw Ron DeSantis’ “Trump is an LGBTQ+ Ally'' video a few days ago (The Majority Report).