Amores, remember that anthology that includes one of my essays? You know the one… pretty blue cover… pink train… lots of gay stuff….
Well… here’s a review of Windy City Queer that just happens to call my piece “hilarious.” Yay!
Coming soon… I’m a vegan, but I hate all-natural makeup! I’ll tell you why when I finish giving feedback on a dozen scripts. Uff.
For the past few years, I’ve had the honour of working as the Lead Artist for the Poetry Performance Incubator at the Guild Complex. The Incubator brings poets together to create ensemble performance, merging my two great loves: poetry and theatre. Our last show, Tour Guides, was an off-center love letter to Chicago. It enjoyed three different productions (and rumour has it might be picked up for a 4th run by an independent producer. Details when they’re official!)
Snapped this on the sidewalk in Pilsen!
Now we’re gearing up to create a BRAND NEW SHOW called Unnatural Spaces, about urban toxicity and environmentalism in Chicago. I’m so excited about this piece, which will take up a much needed conversation about urban environmentalism, especially from the perspective of people in marginalized communities who are most affected by urban toxicity. If you know my work, you know already this won’t be a “preachy” piece – hell, with all the chemicals it takes to maintain my “natural red hair,” I’m almost as bad for the environment as any factory! My hope is that together, we’ll write a piece that is complicated, honest, and (of course) funny. Interested in participating? Here’s what you might want to know: (more…)
Amores! Do you know what came for me in the mail the other day? This book:
It is a collection of ”LGBTQ Dispatches From the Third Coast” and one of the dispatches was written by ME! I’ll admit… I’m notoriously shy about publication, but it is a really good feeling to scan a table of contents and see your name in it. It makes me think it would be an even better feeling to look at the COVER of a book and see my name on it, so maybe I’ll get on that someday.
In the meantime, there are two ways for you to find out what I had to offer as a dispatch (spoiler alert: it is funny, crabby, and references my favourite song, which is the mariachi version of A Puro Dolor). 1.) You could buy the book, which is a great idea because it is edited by the wonderful Kathie Bergquist and includes writing by SO MANY WRITERS I LOVE: Sharon Bridgforth, Achy Obejas, avery r. young, kay ulanday barrett, David Kodeski and more. And 2.) you can come to one of the book signings where I’ll be reading from the book. If you don’t have a book for me to sign, then I can sign something else. I’m not a rockstar, and I am in a LTR with a kid, though NOT married (whoops, that’s another spoiler alert!) so it is better if the something is not a body part.
Wednesday November 17th
Windy City Queer Reading and Book Signing
57th Street Books
7pm
FREE!
Thursday November 17th
Windy City Queer Reading and Book Signing
Bucket O’ Blood Books
7pm
FREE!
I love trying new lip glosses. But I don’t love trying new lip gloss colours. As I’ve detailed before, I stick to a steady palette of orange, gold, and raspberry, with the occasional orangey-red thrown in. But right now, my go-to lip glosses are a pale coral and a kind of light fushia/pinky lavender, both picked out for me by platinum blondes who have a lot more faith in the possibilities afforded by my red hair than I do. (more…)
Amores, in case you don’t want to read my long post about Tour Guides (below, and totally brilliant, just saying), here’s the short version.
Tour Guides. Opens Friday. Worth Seeing. Tickets and Information at guildcomplex.org.
Chicago is… the lake I love/still can’t believe it ain’t an ocean. Chicago is… bipolar as projects next to million dollar condos. Chicago is… masochists and character builders knee deep in snow…
I found this here: http://designspiration.net/image/33165/
Amores, The Americans closed on Saturday night and today I’m jumping in to tech for TOUR GUIDES v.3, which opens on Friday. Wait a second, wait a second! some of you might be thinking… didn’t you do TOUR GUIDES last year? Haven’t I already seen this show?
Yes. And No.
TOUR GUIDES is a project of the Poetry Performance Incubator at the Guild Complex, which brings poets from across the city to collaborate together on making theatrical work. We did a one weekend version of it three years ago, a three weekend run of it last December, and we decided to bring it back one more time before moving on to our next new piece (Unnatural Spaces, coming next fall!). TOUR GUIDES is a love letter to Chicago, and like the city we write about, the show changes every time we put it up. This version (v.3) features a new cast, new stories, but the same great show so many people loved.
We’ll be going up at the Arts Center, Logan Square – Avondale (which also hosted The Americans.) The Arts Center is a new space and very interested in having conversations about what arts spaces can do in, and to, a community. We know that the arts can be central to community building, can heal rifts, can energize, can revitalize. But we also know that new art spaces often facilitate neighborhood change in ways that exclude or push out long term residents. TOUR GUIDES – a play created by writers from largely marginalized communities describing their experience of living in this city- is part of an attempt to open up conversation about these topics and more. At the same time, it is funny. Sweet. Honest. A review of the previous iteration of the show noted that we find “ways to push boundaries and draw audiences in to a place that feels both like home, and completely new.” Sound like something you want to see? Pos, come on over!
TOUR GUIDES
Fridays, Saturdays at 7pm October 14-November 6. Arts Center, Logan Square-Avondale 2800 N. Milwaukee $10 in advance, $15 at the door For tickets and information visit guildcomplex.org
