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UpperCutt

@_uppercutt_

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Word Play Enthusiast 👹
Currently Reincarnating 🐦‍🔥
Florida Born, Raised, & Returned 🐊
Incubating Inspiration 💡

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📢 Good Grief Gathering is Postponed until 2027 📢

We will be taking time to finally settle into long-term stable housing next week 🏠 and focusing on recovering from… well, a lot! 😅

We are so excited to soon be living with family that can help with my new personal care and transportation needs. The biggest flex and privilege in my life are loving parents that will rearrange their life to help us in ours 🖤

During 2024 I dealt with personal and professional psychological stress that re-activated my CPTSD to the point of flashbacks and dibilitating anxiety. We know now that period of time also played a huge role in the onset of my CRPS and Fibromyalgia.

By 2025 we were struggling to keep our bodies together due to the toxic mold present in our food, A/C system, rooms, and shower. We tested positive for several mycotoxins in our bodies, sealing the deal on our physical decline.

🌬️We had to turn off our A/C to reduce the amount of mold blowing through our air into our home, so we lived in 89 degrees for 4 months until finding several different friends to house us until we could return to the condo. (Until we realized that we can’t return to the condo because of environmental and disability tings 🤷🏽‍♂️)

🐦‍🔥 6 months of displacement later, we are headed home to the safest nest we know with much exhaustion and relief! We are still in the midst of insurance, debt, rebuild, and recovery for the condo, while navigating medical costs for ongoing care.

☀️ We have hope and healing ahead on the horizon, and are gonna take time this season to celebrate and coordinate care with our loved ones 👨🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏽

Thanks so much to our collaborators @reneestee & @passionpowerhouse for holding and helping me through this decision to postpone our gathering 💐

And to all who donated to our fundraiser!! We will closing our GoFundMe at the end of the month 💰

We will still be in Tampa through textiles tho! Go see our These Colors Don’t Run 🏳️‍⚧️ Flag at @deviantlibation next month 👀 and support the bar 🤘🏽

With Care, El

#grief #goodgrief #care #disability #uppercutt by @_uppercutt_

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11 days ago

🤩 I FINALLY GOT MY WHEELCHAIR THANKS TO OUR GOFUNDME! 🤩

Gracias a todos los que donaran- I was able to go to @migente_mipueblo MOVIDA event this weekend thanks to my new chair!! 🇲🇽

The past two years we have tried joining MOVIDA as vendors - but each time health issues caused us to cancel. 🥴 so this year my new goal was to make it to the event as a guest- and succeeded thanks to my new lease on life and independence 🥹

I’ve been getting the hang of my hot new ride for the past couple weeks, and it has already brought me SO MUCH joy and long needed sense of freedom 😭 my mental health hit crisis mode earlier this month because of the isolation and inability to go to events, grocery stores, or even past flooring and terrain that made my legs turn to jello or neck feel like it was making a 4th herniation happen 😮‍💨

❔Why do I need a motorized chair? Because my hands were the first physical hardship in all of this, and there is no way I would be able to roll myself manually. I have Complex Regional Pain Syndrome in both manos, which means they can be very painful to the touch, and tend to swell/sweat/inflame at least once a day…And obviously, a foo can’t walk his talk like he used to 😅

👨🏽‍💻 I researched and tested many chairs over the past several months, and landed on the Jazzy 27x for it’s extreme lightness, foot rest style, seating, terrain ability, and joystick that can be installed on the right or left side.

🕹️ Since there’s usually a hand that I can’t use as much, or is hypersensitive from a flare up, that feature is hella important. I even had to switch it to my left side in the middle of yesterday, after an appointment before other errands.

🙋🏽‍♂️ I’m an ambulatory wheelchair user - for me, that means I can walk about 80% of the time, usually need at least a cane, (which hurts my hands,) or my walker, (which is only helpful on smooth flat surfaces.) This chair is what I use when my body can’t support me for a long duration.

If you wanna learn more about chronic pain, disability, and what you can do to make a more accessible world, follow my friend @annieelainey 🤓

#uppercutt #disability #wheelchair #hispanicheritagemonth taken in Tropical Home Fine Art Gallery by @_uppercutt_

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13 days ago

🗓️ Save the Date for our THIRD ANNUAL Good Grief Gathering on November 7th! 🗓️

Please RSVP in our 🔗🌳 via Partiful to participate in polling for this year’s timeframe!

🫱🏽‍🫲🏾 We linking up again with @reneestee & @passionpowerhouse to bring you a day of rest, relief, and resistance as we all continue navigating immense and intensifying personal and political grief.

📍We will be returning to Rowlett Park here in Tampa this year where it all began to share space, crafts, tea, and connection.

🖤 If you’re new to this gathering, here’s what it’s all about: coming together to provide a space and time to arrive in our full selves to express our loss, anger, isolation, anxiety, sadness, and vulnerability. Unmasking the pressure to be joy in/as resistance. Prioritizing and centering accessibility by recognizing barriers to access often overlooked, such as COVID safety.

☔️ Pride is often spoken of in rainbows, but Uppercutt has always been about the storm before the light, and the plight that is just as much a part of survival as masked positivity. Bring your worries, shame, sorrow, and solitude; every part of your process and life is important here. Cry openly, share your story to nonjudgemental ears, or be in calm quiet proximity to others feeling the weight of the world, too.

💡If you’d like to help make this gathering happen, these are the ways we are currently seeking support:

$30 to rent the pavilion (both Venmo and CashApp are “allofel”)

🎶Volunteer acoustic homies, djs, or mix makers that specifically create sounds for relaxation, and a calm collective mood.

🍞Volunteer makers n bakers that can accommodate vegan and gluten free needs- fruit n veggies also welcome! (estimated head count will be provided in advance after most RSVPs have come in)

💪🏽Volunteers with ultra able bodies who can arrive early or stick around afterwards to help set up or clean up! (Time TBD in Partiful with polling)

🤳🏽Please DM us here @_uppercutt_ with any questions or interest in assisting!

*Accessibility and more detailed information will be provided on IG and Partiful in advance in the next month*

#goodgrief #grief #gathering #collectivegrief #goodgriefgathering by @_uppercutt_

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a month ago

Home and Health Updates!

TLDR for the slides:
- We moving back to Dade City to live with fam
- Condo gonna be unfinished for a while still
- Not gonna return to condo, it’s inaccessible w stairs
- Having help with personal care and other tasks will change our life for the better
- Still need to see more specialists for legs & applying for benefits
- Hands better from Georgia, flare ups in Florida thanks to environment
- Hoping Elliott can recover from doing so much physical labor the past 2 years
- Raised $1,085.05 for wheel chair so far! Will either put down payment on a good one or buy secondhand
- Any additional donations will continue going toward medical costs
- Will end fundraiser once we are settled and stabilized

‼️ISO STRONG ARMS & TRUCK/S‼️ to help empty our storage BEFORE September 4th!

Much love and thanks from two weary boys,
El & Elliott

💜P.S.! I (El) won’t be able to finish or post my service slides until we are housed for good. I haven’t been able to work on them due to my hands being needed for constant organizing and packing and sorting and moving these past few months. I’m working on em and just as frustrated that I’m literally a year behind my goal!!!! But I guess the timing will happen when it’s meant to…. In the meantime PLEASE FILL OUT INTEREST FORMS YOU KNOW WHERE TO BECOME A NEW CLIENT! 🙏🏽⬆️ by @_uppercutt_

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a month ago

✨Thinking with gratitude on all the folks who believe in me and my value to this world on this last day of Disability Pride month✨

Losing my hands as I’ve always known them has been a pre-game to losing my legs as I’ve always used them.

My increased imbalance along with weakness, pain, and flares have left me immobile multiple times since March, to where I can’t move myself, by myself. I have dragged myself in office chairs while crying because it hurts my arms, neck, and hands.

Sometimes I try to get up and collapse instead. (And end up having to hold my bladder much longer because I can’t get to a bathroom.)

Sometimes my feet are so tender and sensitive, putting weight on them is unbearable. And someone else has to lift me up, put me on my walker that is NOT a wheelchair, and drag me to where I need to go while my painful feet drag.

Sometimes I get stuck, and pushing a walker isn’t an option between my neck, arms, and hand pain on top of my inability to push myself forward or back with my legs.

Using a cane is always painful for my hands; and usually unsteady with all the new movements my body makes without my command. (Yes I’m seeing a Neurologist again)

And still I rise like the most resilient yeast tryna make it as a sourdough, lol.

So any continued donations for an electric wheelchair within my specifications (dm for info,) is very appreciated still! And ANYONE WITH A GAMING RECLINING CHAIR - pls hmu bc yer boy really needs some neck support 😅

I am going to be looking into insurance coverage for a chair once my multiple doc appts get underway, but there is plenty still to pay for between meds, co-pays, overdue detox treatments, and ofc, still being displaced from our inaccessible home that I cannot return to.

And, I am not alone, or exceptional.

I just have the visibility to speak on it. Many others are suffering and surviving in similar ways, more isolated than I. I have the gift and beauty of much more community than I would have had without Uppercutt. Thank you for witnessing me, believing (in) me, and being here.

With care, El

#disabilitypridemonth #disability #transition #care #uppercutt by @_uppercutt_

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2 months ago

♿️Disability Pride Month Uppercutt Updates♿️

Image description: Elliott stands and El sits in his upright rollator walker in front of a staged background that includes large whimsical peach colored flowers on either side of them, disco balls on either side on top of pale pink fabric, and a backdrop of deep teal with a strip of light green down the middle, and lace curtains at the upper corners.

Elliott wears glasses, a floral navy blue shirt, and red shorts. El wears a lavender hat and forest green shirt with a white block printed design that he carved, which is says “Give Us Our Flowers” within a funerary wreath of thorns.

In front of El and Elliott, a banner in black and light yellow reads “Uppercutt” in jagged black letters. Below the banner in bold letters says, “Disability Updates”

#disabilitypride #disabilitypridemonth #uppercutt #updates #tqpoc

Image description: El sits in his upright rollator walker, smiling at the camera in a lavender hat, lavender wrist braces, black shorts, faded green high top shoes, and a green and white block printed shirt. He is in front of a DIY backdrop in greens, white, peach, and pink.

A black and yellow banner above his head says, “Disability Pride Month Support Request”

To his left is white text on teal, reading “We need help buying a small lightweight foldable electric wheelchair for the days my legs, neck, hips, shoulders, feet, and hands cannot handle pushing my walker through carpet, grass, or gravel… which has become more often, and more difficult.” Below this text are two light and dark green buttons that say, “Donate now” and “Share”

To his right in white text on a teal background says, “$300 = cheaply made / pre-owned, less mileage, heavy. $800 = lighter, more compact, more mileage and longevity. $1000+ = standard lower end price for increased reliability, portability, and support.”

Below this text in the lower right hand corner is a QR code that directs to El & Elliott’s fundraiser landing page. (Also available in b i o)

#walker #wheelchair #supportrequest #mobility #ambulatory

Image description: El and Elliott sit on a bright purple bench smiling at the camera. Elliott is wearing a tan and green cap, y by @_uppercutt_

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3 months ago

🧨None of us free til we all are free- and that includes everyone outside the U.S. affected by it’s selfish actions too🧨

Glad I got to print up so many things that helped the homies here in FL be seen amidst all the hypocrisy and hatred thrown toward us. Like all my past & present projects, Uppercutt was forged in the fires of political unrest, personal distress, and passion against ~fashism~

Thank you to everyone for believing in me and seeing yourself in my past print work- life has changed what that will look like going forward, but just know we are excited to find sustainable balance in our bodies and brains at this point in our lives!

This country is cruel, but our connections to one another are cool and soothing. It has been an honor to help y’all forge friendships over shared identities, values, and aesthetics 💞

May we all be in places of rest, recovery, safety, and stability today. (And if you aren’t, just know that we feel you, and see you. You’re not alone in your dissent, your disengagement, your downward feelings.

🎆You are vital and vibrant in the hearts of those who value your existence.

#politicalunrest #punkvalues #blockprinted #blockprintedtextiles #uppercutt by @_uppercutt_

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3 months ago

🧞 Coming out this Pride month as a Disabled Dude in addition to being Gay asf, Bi as the sky, & Trans in dez lands 🧞

In addition to Complex Regional Pain System in my hands/arms, I also have fibromyalgia, and likely CRPS in at least one of my foot/legs now, too. (Besides my 3 herniated neck discs and suppressed immune system.) 😷

I’ve been getting acclimated to my upright walker and new cane/s for getting around, and learning how much I can handle each day before my hands “go down” and flare up my whole arm to where I can’t use them.

(🥊 so when we land back in FL next month don’t be surprised when I roll up to the function in new hot wheels!)

It has been incredible to witness this transformation from the inside out. Everything I loved to do relied on my hands, my touch, and my physicality. Even the work I shared here. 🤲🏽

(For those new: I made Queer Anarcho block prints on textiles that I would sell at markets…Better bet you won’t see me pressing these palms down or hoisting a tent over my shoulder now! 😆)

In all sincerity, it has been rough to lose a lot of my abilities I took great pride in, that allowed me to work as a multimedia arts instructor, facilitator, and maker. It has been obviously difficult to lay those identities to rest and bury my dreams still kicking to be alive.

🚨Which is why it’s even more important now that I find more work and clients to provide services to virtually! It’s my only accessible way of income, and I can guarantee I know intimately the challenges and hardships that creatives go through. I love coaching, consulting, and facilitating; I want and NEED to do it more!

Lavender has been and always will be my color- and anyone who has known me closely can tell ya they think of me whenever they see it 🥹

Elliott and I went to a lavender farm last week and it meant so much to see the lil buds that have always been my buddies over the years 🪻

And now, my new work venture is lavender themed too! Check out my 🔗 in bio to see my site and services for proof 😉

Thank you to all who have donated to our fundraiser too- our faces are glowing thanks to you! Continue sharing & supporting plz!

#lavender #t4t #disability #trans by @_uppercutt_

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4 months ago

🌈ITS PRIDE MONTH YALL ☔️ and we still need more fundraising support to pay for health and housing tings! ☂️

👨🏻‍❤️‍👨🏽 Help two lil TQPOC fellas pay for medical costs, detox costs, and furnishing costs to get their lives back into a stable state 💞

🫯 El’s symptoms just keep a-spreading and causing him to need more mobility aids and medical support. Elliott’s own disabilities got him walking like the man from Up while still having to do extra manual labor to care for both himself and El. (El used to be the Strong Boi™️ doing all the heavy lifting and his upright walker alone is a big piece of equipment that Elliott has to load and unload from our SUV… tbh we might end up needing to get a van instead since a wheelchair may also be in order…)

We gotta re-purchase a number of furnishings like mattresses, seating, and more because of the permeability of those materials for mold. So although we would love to take donations of those items, we can only take metal and plastic items to prevent encountering more environmental allergens 🦠

💀Highkey, we need a detox. But a full detox is 4000+ for each of us, so we gotta figure out alternative ways to clear our systems as cheaply as possible 😬

🙏🏽All that said, we are HELLA GRATEFUL FOR THE $4,600+ that has been raised so far!!! It is almost all spent between medical costs, moving costs, mold-related payments, and accessibility aids. Thank you to everyone who has donated!! Please continue sharing our fundraiser and know that you have helped us survive the past two months!

Last but not at all least-
🎉🎉I FINISHED MY NEW WEBSITE YALL!!🎉🎉
Soft launch starting today please go check out my new services and offerings on my site,
CREATINGWITHEL . COM 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽

📲 More graphics and such to come regarding this new venture I have been working on throughout all of May- talking labor of love! 😮‍💨

Thanks for showing so much care to us over the past year, it has been a wild ride but we are hopeful for a fresh start with a new life (and lifestyle) ahead of us 🥹

With Care, El & Elliott

#pridemonth #tqpoc #trans #queer #uppercutt by @_uppercutt_

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4 months ago

🏳️‍⚧️ We Deserve Joy, and Safety. We Deserve Respect, and Safety. We Deserve Health / Care, and Safety. 🏳️‍⚧️

Reflecting on all of the Trans siblings we have loved and lost this year alone in the US:
Shyyell Diamond Sanchez-McCray, 42, Virginia
Davonta Curtis, 31, Illinois
Luca RedBeard, 39, New Mexico
Mommie Spotsie King/Hailey, 29, Florida
Juniper Blessing, 19, Washington
Currently missing: Murray Foust, 22, Kentucky

Additional victims that have been misidentified by misgendering are unknown: if I missed someone, please let me know so I can add them to this list 🫂

Special thanks to

🇧🇷 @dexmix96 for taking us to Brazil- we love to see you surviving despite and to spite internationally!

First Image Description: a joyous brown Trans man with black wavy hair smiles towards the camera, arms outstretched, wearing black shorts and an Uppercutt light gray shirt with black ink that reads “Surviving Despite and to Spite” within black barbed wire. He is standing on a sandy beach with ocean and mountains in the background. Above him says, “We Deserve Joy, and Safety”

🫡 @evrnest for showing our flag the respect at @yallternative.lklnd that it deserves - thank you for modeling the proper salutation to all Trans people!

Second image description: a Black man in black jeans, a black beanie, and a gray button up stands facing away from the camera, saluting a Trans Flag on a black wall. The flag is printed in black with bold letters centered that say, “These Colors Don’t Run.” Around these words are other black printed Uppercutt designs. Added text says, “We Deserve Respect, and Safety”

♿️ And thanks to my damn self for lowering my pride and ego to accept that I need mobility aids now in this ill body.

Third image description: a Brown Trans Man with a short buzz cut sits in a motorized wheelchair against a red wall. He is wearing a dark green Uppercutt shirt that says, “Give Us Our Flowers” in white ink surrounded by a circle of thorns. He is wearing a gold chain across his dark green KN95 mask, and sunglasses, making a peace sign with his right hand. Added text says, “We Deserve Health/Care, and Safety.”

#trans #transgender #transrights #uppercutt #inmemory by @_uppercutt_

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5 months ago

🔥May Our Work For a Better World Be Remembered🔥

Sending all our fellow working class friends and fam a hearty May Day with updates on our lives-

📍Today we made it to our temporary home here in Georgia where we will be staying throughout May and June while work begins on our home!

☀️ We will not be back in Florida until July, but will have one last long distance hoorah via @yallternative.lklnd where you can view and purchase our Florida Man Flag 🏳️‍⚧️ zines 📚 home decor 🖼️ and last patch!

♿️ This Sunday we will be attending a neat panel in Atlanta on the ~ability~ of Disabled artists to maintain a career in the field, and the barriers that present us from continuing!

🐊 For those new & unaware, we have been living with friends in Tampa and now with other friends outside of Atlanta because our home has toxic mold that has effed up basically every part of our lives. So we still got a fundraiser going for the never ending costs that we hope you will share! (Slide 3)

📧 We will be taking intermittent social media breaks over the next couple months, so if you have any urgent or logistics-related things to let us know, please use one of our emails instead:

Contact@uppercutt.com

Or

Withloveandloss@proton.me

With Care, El & Elliott

🦂p.s.- my Scorpio moon is living for today’s spotlight on the searing beauty of pain turned into purpose 🌕

#uppercutt #rebirth #transformation #scorpiofullmoon #thebestisyettocome by @_uppercutt_

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5 months ago

🐦‍🔥 The Ache of Burying Dreams is Soothed by Making Ashes from Their Flames 🐦‍🔥

The pieces and prints I had kept for my personal collection had to be purged from our home because of the mold. Every piece of meaningful paper and cloth exposed to our ventilation system’s toxic horrors had to pass out of our lives for the safety of our future home.

We burned and buried many things over the past two weeks- handmade cards, sweet paintings, and some of the only Uppercutt prints I kept from all the batches I made over the past 3 years.

I’m a ceremonial guy, and knew I had to send them off as honorably and intentionally as possible. In all the mediums I have ever worked with, my favorites were ceramics, glass, and silversmithing. All use the necessary transformative element of fire. And all three mediums I can no longer physically handle.

I’ve been missing fire in my life- the creation from destruction, the resurrection from death, the connection of material to ethereal.

Introducing fire to these beloved pieces that carried me through 4 years of distress and displacement was the closure and completion that I needed.

Throwing away all the blocks and designs I had made was already heartbreaking in December- Saying goodbye to years of memories, craftsmanship, and connection with my hands in a way that will never be the same again.

But saying goodbye to the marks they made and the patches I kept was something else. Something surprisingly meaningful and easy, knowing that these pieces will live on through every person they have touched, every conversation they have created, every connection formed in Florida and beyond.

If you ever bought a piece from me, know that your purchase is priceless. That your print is one of a kind, & will never to be made the same again. That you believing in me, my work, and the worth of both has touched my heart & life beyond measure.

Knowing these pieces live on through the lives you give them has helped me release them without a complete sense of loss. Nothing I have ever made has ever been for nothing. May my love and loss pour into yours ❤️‍🔥

#uppercutt #fire #blockprint #grief #reincarnation by @_uppercutt_

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5 months ago